Join CSE for a seminar with Jeff Hittinger, director of the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

"Variable Precision Computing Research in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing"

Thursday, November 14th
Coda, Room 230 
11 am - 12 pm 
Host: Edmond Chow

Abstract: 
In collaboration with academic, industrial, and other government laboratory partners, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) conducts world-class scientific research and development on problems in computer science, computational physics, applied mathematics, and data science. CASC applies the power of high-performance computing and the efficiency of modern computational methods to the realms of stockpile stewardship, cyber and energy security, knowledge discovery for intelligence applications, and basic scientific discovery.  As the focus for research efforts in the Computation Directorate, CASC also leads the development of methods and techniques that advance the discipline of scientific computing.
 
In CASC, we are developing the methods and tools that will enable the routine use of dynamically adjustable precision at a per-bit level depending on the needs of the task at hand. We typically compute and store simulation results in 64-bit double precision by default, even when very few significant digits are meaningful. Many of these bits represent errors – truncation, iteration, roundoff – instead of useful information about the computed solution. This over-allocation of resources is wasteful of power, bandwidth, storage, and operations. Just as adaptive mesh refinement frameworks adapt spatial grid resolution to the needs of the underlying solution, our goal is to provide more or less precision as needed locally. Acceptance from the community will require that we address three concerns: that we can ensure accuracy, ensure efficiency, and ensure ease of use in development, debugging, and application.
 
In this talk, I will present an overview of CASC and then take a deeper dive into the benefits and the challenges of variable precision computing, highlighting aspects of our ongoing research in data representations, numerical algorithms, and testing and development tools.

Biography: 
Dr. Jeffrey Hittinger is the Director of the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.  At Livermore, he also leads a large interdisciplinary Strategic Initiative project on Variable Precision Computing. Dr. Hittinger has been actively involved in the Department of Energy (DOE) planning for exascale computing and co-chaired the working group that produced the Applied Mathematics Research for Exascale Computing community report for the DOE Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research program. His research interests include high-order numerical methods for hyperbolic systems, computational plasma physics, high-performance parallel computing, a posteriori error estimation, and code and solution verification. Dr. Hittinger earned his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and Scientific Computing from the University of Michigan, where he also earned master's degrees in Applied Mathematics and in Aerospace Engineering. He is a graduate of Lehigh University, with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering.

For scheduling information, please contact Anna Stroup at astroup@cc.gatech.edu.