Supercomputing and Visualization
Russ Miller, Director
Center for Computational Research

Outline
Pervasive Computing
Computer Trends
Definition of Supercomputer
Overview of Center for Computational Research
Sample CCR Projects
Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics
H.S. Workshop

Take-Home Message
Computers play an important role in your life
Currently ~10 processors per person
Working with computers can be fun and exciting

Computers Touch Every Aspect of Our Life….

…. including entertainment

Computers are used in Many Professions
Science and Engineering
Physics, Chemistry, Biology
Aerospace, Mechanical, Civil, Environmental
Architecture
Building and Bridge Design
Computer Animation
Cartoons, Movies, Advertising
Games (Playstation, Nintendo, PC games, etc)
Graphic Arts/Design
Computer programmers

What is a CPU?

Gordon E. Moore
Co-Founder of Intel
Predicted (1965/75) that transistor density would double every 12/18 months
Processing speed doubling every 18 mos.
Disk storage doubling every 12 mos.
Aggregate bandwidth doubling every 9 mos.

Slide 9

Parallel Computing Architectures

What is a (Beowulf) Cluster?
Industry Standard Hardware and Software
PC-Based Components (Intel or AMD)
Ethernet or Myrinet
Linux, PBS, MPI
“Commodity Off-The-Shelf” (COTS)
Operates as a Single System
Rivals Performance of Traditional Supercomputer at a Fraction of the Price

What is a Supercomputer?
Fastest computers at any point in time
Used to solve large and complex problems
Machines 1000 times faster than a PC
Machines 10 times slower than what    you need to solve the most challenging problems

Example

Fastest Computers

Earth Simulator in Japan
(NEC Vector Supercomputer)

Earth Simulator
40TFlops Peak
Homogeneous, Centralized, Proprietary, Vector
Expensive!
CFD-Weather, Climate, Earthquake
640 NEC SX/6 Nodes (5120 CPUs)
Footprint = 4 tennis courts
$6M/year in power

Center for Computational Research
High-Performance Computing and High-End Visualization
70 (40+ active) Research Groups in 27 Depts
13 Local Companies
10 Local Institutions
External Funds: $108M
Vendor Contributions: $41M
Deliverables
350 Publications and Presentations
Hardware, Software, Algorithms, etc
Training
Workshops
Courses
Degree Programs

Computational Resources
Dell Linux Cluster - #22 in World
600 P4 Processors  (2.4 GHz)
600 GB RAM; 40 TB Disk
Dell Linux Cluster - #187 in World
4036 Processors (PIII 1.2 GHz)
2TB RAM; 160TB Disk; 16TB RD
Private Use

Sample Computational Research
Computational Chemistry (King, Kofke, Coppens, Furlani, Tilson, Lund, Swihart, Ruckenstein, Garvey)
Algorithm development & simulations
Groundwater Flow Modeling (Rabideau, Jankovic, Becker, Flewelling)
Predict contaminant flow in groundwater & possible migration into streams and lakes
Geophysical Mass Flows (Patra, Sheridan, Pitman, Bursik, Jones, Winer)
Study of geophysical mass flows for risk assessment of lava flows and mudslides
Bioinformatics (Zhou, Miller, Hu, Szyperski – NIH Consortium, HWI)
Protein Folding: computer simulations to understand the 3D structure of proteins
Structural Biology; Pharmacology
Computational Fluid Dynamics (Madnia, DesJardin, Lordi, Taulbee)
Modeling turbulent flows and combustion to improve design of chemical reactors, turbine engines, and airplanes
Physics (Jones, Sen)
Many-body phenomena in condensed matter physics
Chemical Reactions (Mountziaris)
Molecular Simulation (Errington)

Visualization Resources
Fakespace ImmersaDesk R2
Portable 3D Device
Tiled-Display Wall
20 NEC projectors: 15.7M pixels
Screen is 11’´7’
Dell PCs with Myrinet2000
Access Grid Node
Group-to-Group Communication
Commodity components
SGI Reality Center 3300W
Dual Barco’s on 8’´4’ screen
VREX VR-4200 Stereo Imaging Projector
Portable projector works with PC

Sample Visualization Areas
Computational Science (Patra, Sheridan, Becker, Flewelling, Baker, Miller, Pitman)
Simulation and modeling
Urban Visualization and Simulation (CCR)
Public projects involving urban planning
Medical Imaging (Hoffmann, Bakshi, Glick, Miletich, Baker)
Tools for pre-operative planning; predictive disease analysis
Geographic Information Systems (CCR, Bisantz, Llinas, Kesavadas, Green)
Parallel data sourcing software
Historical Reenactments (Paley, Kesavadas, More)
Faithful representations of previously existing scenarios
Multimedia Presentations (Anstey, Pape)
Networked, interactive, 3D activities

Groundwater Flow Modeling
Regional-scale modeling of groundwater flow and contaminant transport (Great Lakes Region)
Ability to include all hydrogeologic features as independent objects
Current work is based on Analytic Element Method
Key features:
High precision
Highly parallel
Object-oriented programming
Intelligent user interface
GIS facilitates large-scale regional applications
Utilized 10,661 CPU days (32 CPU years) of computing in past year on CCR’s commodity clusters

Risk Mitigation
Integrate information from several sources
Simulation results
Remote sensing
GIS data
Develop realistic 3D models of geophysical mass flows
Present information at user appropriate resolutions

Protein Folding
Ability of proteins to perform biological function is attributed to their 3-D structure.
Protein folding problem refers to the challenge of predicting 3-D structure from amino-acid sequence.
Solving the protein folding problem will impact drug design.

3D Medical Visualization App
Collaboration with Children’s Hospital
Leading miniature access surgery center
Application reads data output from a CT Scan
Visualize multiple surfaces and volumes
Export images, movies or CAD representation of model

Multiple Sclerosis Project
Collaboration with Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC)
Developers of Avonex, drug of choice for treatment of MS
MS Project examines patients and compares scans to healthy volunteers

Peace Bridge Visualization
International Crossing
The Problem
75 year old bridge
3 lanes – poor capacity
Existing US plaza: small and poor design

Select WNY Synergies
IBC Digital
Gov. Pataki Visit
Peace Bridge (Early & Current)
Buffalo-Niagara Medical Campus
Compute Cycles for Animation
Bergmann Associates
Peace Bridge (Current)
NYS Thruway Toll Plaza
Azar & More
Reenactment of 1901 Pan Am Exhibition
PHSCologram & Courses
Avid Digital Editing
Niagara College
Start up
Peace Bridge (Current)
Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute
Computing
Collaboratory
The Children’s Hospital of Buffalo
Medical Visualization
Veridian
Battlespace Management

Bioinformatics in Buffalo
“This Center [of Excellence in Bioinformatics] will, through the University of Buffalo’s Center for Computational Research, create academic and industrial partnerships …”
- NYS Gov. George S. Pataki, January 2001

WNY Biomedical Advances
PSA Test (screen for Prostate Cancer)
Avonex: Interferon Treatment for Multiple Sclerosis
Artificial Blood
Nicorette Gum
Fetal Viability Test
Implantable Pacemaker
Edible Vaccine for Hepatitis C
Timed-Release Insulin Therapy
Anti-Arrythmia Therapy
Tarantula venom
Direct Methods Structure Determination
Listed on “Top Ten Algorithms of the 20th Century”
Vancomycin
Gramacidin A
High Throughput  Crystallization Method: Patented
NIH National Genomics Center: Northeast Consortium
Howard Hughes Medical Institute: Center for Genomics & Proteomics

Bioinformatics in Buffalo
UB Center for Advanced Bioengineering & Biomedical Technologies
$1M/yr NYS
Med Tech for Product Dev & Commer.
Center Disease Modeling & Therapy Discovery
UB, HWI, RPCI, Kaleida
$15.3M NYS
Software, device development, and drug therapies
Buffalo Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics
UB, HWI, RPCI
$61M NYS
$10.6M Federal Government
$151 Corporate Funding
Significant Local Foundation Support

 Buffalo Center of Excellence
in Bioinformatics
Act as a research, development, education, and economic resource for industries based on bioinformatics, including information technology, biotech, and pharmaceuticals.
Combine state-of-the-art computational facilities with high-throughput experimental facilities to enable the development of new medical treatments.
Develop and exploit new algorithms for data acquisition, storage, management, and transmission.

Academic Programs
Bachelor’s & Master’s Program in Bioinformatics
Related Disciplines
Chemical Biology
Computational Chemistry
Environmental Analysis (Sloan Support)
Medical Informatics (Sloan Support)
Advanced Degrees under Development
Pharmacometrics, Biophotonics
UB-HWI Department of Structural Biology
Complementary Degrees
Canisius College
Niagara University

Outreach

2003 H.S. Summer Workshop
Bioinformatics
June 30 – July 11
Perl Scripts
Public Databases
Filtering Results
Graphics & Visualization
Contact
Dr. Bruce Pitman (pitman@buffalo.edu)

Lunch & Exhibition
miller@buffalo.edu
www.ccr.buffalo.edu
H.S. Program
pitman@buffalo.edu