Washington, D.C. –The Energy Subcommittee today examined the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program within the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Science as a mechanism to support technological advancement in the United States. Witnesses discussed high performance computing (HPC) facilities’ unique ability to accelerate innovation and encouraged sustained federal investment in the ASCR program. The greater availability and utilization of HPC makes increasingly complex scientific research possible.
Energy Subcommittee Chairman Randy Weber (R-Texas): “As we face the reality of ongoing budget constraints in Washington, it is our job in Congress to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, on innovative research that is in the national interest, and provides the best chance for broad impact and long-term success. The basic research conducted within the ASCR program clearly meets this requirement. High performance computing provides a platform for breakthroughs in all scientific research, and accelerates applications of scientific breakthroughs across our economy.”
Scientific discovery in which large volumes of data is gathered and mined to exploit information, sometimes referred to as “big data,” has transformed computing technology needs. Medical research, energy and environment system simulations, computational chemistry, and innumerable other scientific problems directly benefit from this modeling.
Within DOE’s Office of Science, the ASCR program develops and maintains world-class computing facilities and provides funding for research in applied mathematics, computer science, and advanced networking. ASCR’s programs fund discovery-based science in the areas of modeling, analysis, and simulation that may enable breakthroughs in other fields of research and technology development. In May 2013, the Subcommittee held a hearing on one of ASCR’s major new initiatives involving exascale computing.
The following witnesses testified:
Mr. Norman Augustine, Board Member, Bipartisan Policy Center
Dr. Roscoe Giles, Chairman, DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee
Mr. Dave Turek, Vice President, Technical Computing, IBM
Dr. James Crowley, Executive Director, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
For more information about the hearing, including a link to the archived webcast, visit the Science, Space, and Technology Committee website.
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