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The Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) celebrated its 10th anniversary on Oct. 5 in the Central Cafeteria. Current and former division leaders reflected on CASC achievements, an informal poster session highlighted some past and current CASC projects, and a slideshow broadcast on the cafeteria’s plasma screens gave attendees a glimpse of how CASC personnel have evolved over the past 10 years.
Current CASC director John Grosh emceed the festivities, which kicked off with remarks by Steve Ashby, CASC co-founder and current Deputy Associate Director and Department Head of the Computing Applications and Research (CAR) department. Steve said founding CASC is one of his "proudest achievements."
"The CASC 10th anniversary celebration was an emotional trip down memory lane for me," Steve said. "On one hand, it is hard to believe that it has been 10 years already. On the other hand, it is amazing how far CASC has come in this time."
Steve teamed up with Michel McCoy to found CASC in March 1996 after the National Energy Research Supercomputer Center (NERSC) and the Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering (CCSE) moved from LLNL to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. CASC was conceived as a new home for applied mathematics and computer science research at LLNL, and to ensure its future success, and Steve and Michel founded CASC on what Steve calls the "CASC model"—a world-class, in-house research group with strong internal ties to LLNL programs and strong external ties with academia to ensure that CASC was always bringing in new ideas and personnel to perform cutting-edge research. Steve became the first director of CASC, and its early successes, especially its role in achieving many ASCI milestones, led to additional funding and support, allowing it to grow to almost 100 people after only five years.
"It started as a small group of twelve researchers, and today, it is world renowned as a leading force in scientific computing," Steve said. "The members of CASC should be very proud of what they have accomplished and excited about the challenges ahead."
When Computation reorganized in 2001, the Computing Applications and Research (CAR) Department was formed, and Steve was named Department Head. Pete Eltgroth replaced him as director and oversaw CASC’s maturation, strengthening its ties to Lab programs and diversifying into other areas of the Lab.
"CASC has multiplied its size and its capabilities manyfold over a decade because it represents a conjunction of very able people (not all in CASC) who realize the power of computing in modern scientific enterprise," Pete said.
Pete retired in 2006 and was replaced by John Grosh, who will lead CASC through the upcoming contract transition and further diversify CASC’s sponsor base.
Some of CASC's earliest projects: scalable linear solvers (hypre), adaptive mesh refinement (SAMRAI), and subsurface flow (PARFLOW) are still among its most successful. Both hypre and SAMRAI impacted many different Laboratory programs, and although CASC discontinued its participation in PARFLOW many years ago, the PARFLOW project is still providing valuable contributions. Over the last several years, CASC has stayed at roughly the same size, but its research scope has expanded to include data science research. Other successful projects include Overture (object-oriented tools for solving PDEs in complex geometries, Ardra (neutron and radiation transport), large-scale visualization, and Sapphire (scientific data mining).
CASC employees have helped LLNL research teams win several prestigious honors including Gordon Bell Awards in 1999, 2000, 2005 and 2006 for excellence in using high-performance computing to solve scientific and engineering problems. R&D Magazine, which hands out the annual R&D 100 awards to recognize the 100 most technically significant new products and innovations, has recognized CASC excellence numerous times, including the Babel, Sapphire and Sonoma teams in 2006.
Looking ahead, Steve says that CASC’s future is brighter than ever.
"As we move into the era of petascale simulation, CASC's expertise is needed more than ever," he said. "In addition, more and more programs are counting on CASC to deliver capabilities across a range of topics. The challenge will be to prioritize properly and to meet the high expectations, and I have no doubt that CASC is up to this challenge."
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