1. The DoD High Performance Computing (HPC) Modernization Program (HPCMP)

The Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing (HPC) Modernization Program (HPCMP) was instituted in 1994 to modernize the total high performance computational capability of the military research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) community to a level comparable to that available in the foremost civilian and other Government agency RDT&E communities. A key component of this initiative is the DoD Major Shared Resource Centers (MSRCs).

The MSRCs provide complete HPC environments and include various types of computing systems, scientific visualization capabilities, extensive peripheral and archival storage, and expertise in use of these systems. The MSRCs support the wide variety of research and development problems arising from the science and technology programs supporting DoD's weapons development and warfighting support systems. The MSRCs provide the computer and computational sciences expertise to allow all of the DoD laboratories to advance their capability in science and technology. The types of computer systems in the MSRCs are determined by user requirements and differ from one MSRC to another.

The program selected four DoD sites to become MSRCs:

Army Corps of Engineers Waterways Experiment Station (CEWES), Vicksburg MS Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Aberdeen Proving Grounds MD

Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVO), Stennis Space Center MS

Air Force Aeronautical Systems Center (ASC), Wright-Patterson AirForceBase OH

In addition, DoD has identified ten Computational Technology Areas (CTAs) as being critical across all of DoD. These ten CTAs supported by the MSRCs are:

CFD: Computational Fluid Dynamics CSM: Computational Structural Mechanics CCM: Computational Chemistry and Materials Science CEA: Computational Electromagnetics and Acoustics CWO: Climate/Weather/Ocean Modeling SIP: Signal/Image Processing FMS: Forces Modeling and Simulation/C4I EQM: Environmental Quality Modeling CEN: Computational Electronics and Nano-electronics IMT: Integrated Modeling and Testing

An integral part of the DoD HPCMP is the provision of Programming Environment and Training (PET) at each of the MSRCs by university/industry teams in order to enable DoD researchers to develop and utilize the necessary HPC software. The PET program includes training courses in all aspects of HPC in the Computational Technology Areas (CTAs) and in relevant programming and technical infrastructure areas. And it includes side-by-side transitioning of research codes in all this into the MSRCs, as well as collaboration to advance and improve those codes.

The DoD HPCMP and the MSRCs are described more fully at the HPCMO website:

http://www.hpcmo.hpc.mil/

2. The Programming Environment & Training (PET) Program

The Programming Environment & Training (PET) component of the DoD HPC MSRCs is a bold and innovative approach to enhancing the capability of the MSRC users comensurate with the enhancement of the power of the hardware in the MSRCs, in order to realize the expressly stated goal of the DoD HPC Modernization Program to attain a level comparable to that in the foremost university, industry, and other Government agency HPC centers.

The purpose of the PET component of the MSRCs is to enhance the entire programming environment for the MSRC users through training and support for software enhancement, addressing both near-term improvements and long-term expansions, thus enabling use of the MSRC computing resources to fullest capacity and extending the range of applicability to of HPC to DoD technical problems.

The PET effort provides the essential user support and mode of capability enhancement that is necessary for the MSRCs to reach a level comparable to that in the foremost university, industry, and other Government agency HPC centers - and to address the wide variety of research and development demands arising from the science and technology programs supporting DoD's weapons development and warfighting support systems.

The PET component of the MSRC program is thus a true intellectual enterprise which breaks new ground in collaborative effort between DoD and academia in order to establish a two-way conduit of information and expertise enhancing the capability of the MSRC user and bringing demands of DoD HPC to bear early-on in programming environment developments in progress in the universities.

The PET effort is unprecedented in its concept and vision, in its management for long-term achievement, in its strong university commitment, in its approach through unique university/DoD collaboration, in its understanding and relationship between university researchers and MSRC users - and in its challenge to be faced in the interest of DoD by the universities and companies involved, the MSRC users, and the program management.

The PET team at the CEWES MSRC has now completed its second year of effort, and that is the subject of this report. The approach of this report is to collect complete data and item lists on all aspects of the Year 2 PET effort of the CEWES MSRC into a series of tables, so that the text can concentrate on a narrative of the operation and accomplishments of the effort. More complete and continually updated information on the current PET effort of the CEWES MSRC is accessible on the CEWES MSRC PET website which is reachable from the CEWES MSRC website:

http://apollo.wes.army.mil/

After discussing the strategic plan for the CEWES MSRC PET effort and its general implementation in Sections II and III, the specific organization of the CEWES MSRC PET support structure is described in Section IV. Major accomplishments of the PET effort at CEWES MSRC during Year 2 are presented in Section V, with the continuing vision given in Section VI. Of particular impact are the tools introduced into the CEWES MSRC covered in Section VII. The training component of the CEWES MSRC PET effort is a major means of transfering technology to CEWES MSRC users, and this component is reported in Section VIII. Further specific discussion of outreach to CEWES MSRC users, both on-site and remote, appears in Section IX. The HBCU/MI element of the CEWES MSRC PET effort in Section X is especially important in that it serves to enhance the capability of HBCU/MIs in high performance computing and in the ability of these institutions to produce future researchers in this area. Finally, a complete list of publications arising from the PET effort at the CEWES MSRC is included. The Appendix gives summaries of each of the specific focused efforts conducted by the PET team of the CEWES MSRC during Year 2.