2009 High Performance Computing Grant Winner Profiles

Pictured (L to R) holding the check are grant winner Ming Ye from Florida State University and ORAU Council Chair Sandra Degen. Pictured L to R, back row, are ORAU Board Chair Win Phillips, Interim ORAU President Homer Fisher and Deputy Associate ORNL Lab Director for Computing and Computational Sciences Jeff Nichols.

Dr. Ming Ye

Assistant Professor, Florida State University (FSU), Department of Scientific Computing

Co-researchers/students
Geoffery Miller, graduate student in computer science

ORAU Member Councilor
Dr. Kirby Kemper

Research Focus
Delivering computer code that will allow computing on thousands of processors simultaneously to expedite the study of large-scale groundwater problems.
The contamination of groundwater resources is a worldwide concern. Environmental remediation of groundwater is urgently needed. Due to the complexity of the groundwater environments (e.g., invisibility and complex geology), remediation designs heavily depend on computational modeling instead of lab measuring and field observing. However, existing computer software code for groundwater modeling occupy only one processor (i.e., involve the use of a personal computer) and cannot be applied in simulating large-scale problems. For example, simulating a groundwater system in a year is unrealistic.
Thus, robust software is needed. The purpose of this project is to develop code for parallel computing that can use thousands of processors simultaneously to greatly accelerate groundwater modeling.

What does it mean to you to win this grant?
“The ORAU HPC grant provides the unique opportunity to establish a new collaboration and reinforce the existing one with ORNL scientists to conduct cutting-edge research in high-performance computing.”

What will it help you accomplish in your research that you couldn’t have done otherwise?
“In our research on groundwater reactive transport modeling, advancing scientific understanding of complex subsurface environments is hindered by the lack of software with parallel computing capability. Working with ORNL’s staff of scientific computing and environmental modeling, this project will develop a parallel code for simulating fluid flow, solute transport and chemical reactions.”

How will others (your students, the research community, your university, etc.) benefit from what you plan to accomplish through your research under this grant?
“The developed code will be tested on the ORNL’s supercomputer and used by ORNL scientists to facilitate their ongoing research of environmental remediation. In particular, this parallel computing code will be used to assess the uncertainty of reactive transport models, an undertaking that will require massive computational algorithms known as Monte Carlo simulations and parallel computing capability.

The ORAU HPC grant makes the software development possible, because the grant provides access to the ORNL computing resources and staff. This grant will benefit my students, since they can stay the entire summer working with world-class scientists at ORNL. In addition, they will have the opportunity to be involved in the ongoing project of environmental remediation. FSU will benefit from the project in terms of student education, curriculum development and exposure through journal publications. The developed software will be open to the entire community of groundwater modeling researchers.”