The High End Computing (HEC) Interagency Working Group (IWG) coordinates Federal R&D that extends U.S. leadership in advanced computing and enables transformative research to support the Nation’s economic competitiveness, security, and leadership in science and engineering. Enabling R&D for High-Capability Computing Systems (EHCS) ensures the development of technologies critical to preparing for the next computing revolution and to overcoming challenges critical to ensuring continued progress in computing capabilities while ensuring that these technology advancements support national priorities. Advances in high-capability computing (HCC) impact the full spectrum of devices and open innovation prospects in areas such as precision medicine, advanced manufacturing, and autonomous machines.
In addition to coordinating EHCS R&D, the HEC IWG coordinates Federal activities to provide HCC systems and infrastructure (including expertise necessary to effectively use the HCC systems) and develop algorithms and applications to accelerate scientific discoveries and technological innovations in areas such as advanced weapons, materials discovery and design, energy applications, Earth and space science, early-stage research of advanced technologies, detection and treatment of diseases, forecasting and hazard response planning, and many other S&E applications vital to our Nation. The HEC IWG reports investments to the Enabling R&D for High-Capability Computing Systems and High-Capability Computing Infrastructure and Applications (HCIA) Program Component Areas.
Overview
The HEC Interagency Working Group (IWG) was created in 1991 and currently coordinates Federal HEC R&D across 14 participating agencies and supports activities that extend U.S. leadership in high-capability computing (HCC). Guided by Pioneering the Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem: A Strategic Plan, the IWG focuses on the development of technologies that anticipate future needs, overcome current challenges, and ensure the effective use of HCC systems to support the Nation’s economic competitiveness, security, and leadership in science and engineering. EHCS investments drive innovation in areas such as precision medicine, smart and connected communities, and the next wave of autonomous machines.
The HEC IWG also coordinates the operation and modernization of HCC infrastructure and applications to accelerate scientific discoveries and technological innovations. HCIA investments provide researchers from academia, government, and industry tens of billions of computing hours annually on the Nation’s most powerful computing platforms and provide the ecosystem and expertise the United States needs in areas such as materials discovery and design, earth and space science, detection and treatment of diseases, and other applications of national interest.
Strategic Priorities in Enabling R&D in HCC Systems
- Deliver innovative and capable HCC systems through novel computing and analytics approaches and technologies, and applications that fully exploit HCC capabilities.
- Pioneer digital and nondigital frontiers “beyond Moore’s Law” including the advancement of quantum, neuromorphic, and probabilistic computing.
- Boost productivity, programmability, portability, and usability of HCC systems through development of new architectural benchmarks and common tools for computational modeling, simulation, and data analysis.
- Extend the breadth and impact of HCC through investigating new uses in and across domains such as weather forecast data assimilation or fusing data from hundreds of video feeds.
- Ensure the future HEC workforce through improved education and increased training, re-training, and fellowship opportunities at all career levels.
Strategic Priorities in HCC Infrastructure and Applications
- Acquire, operate, and provide to researchers HCC systems with the capability to meet critical national needs and support research and education in all areas of science and engineering.
- Develop algorithms and applications software to support, maintain and improve the performance of applications, infrastructure, and the overall HCC ecosystem.
- Continue to enhance the HCC ecosystem and infrastructure capabilities for computational and data-enabled science, modeling, simulation, and analysis.
- Provide diverse user communities with efficient, effective, and dependable access to HCC and support collaborations to increase productivity and impact.
Co-Chairs
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Varun Chandola Program Director Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (CISE/OAC) National Science Foundation |
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Hal Finkel Program Manager Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science |
Current Activities
HEC IWG members are currently collaborating with the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem (FACE) to address goals and objectives in the FACE strategic plan. The current focus is the development of an implementation roadmap of planned Federal investments.
Recent Activities
- SC19 Birds of a Feather “U.S. Strategic Computing – An Update”, Denver, Colorado. November 20, 2019.
- Future Computing Community of Interest Meeting, Washington DC. August 5-6, 2019.
- SC18 Birds of a Feather “What the heck is HEC?” Dallas, Texas. November 13, 2018.
- The Convergence of High Performance Computing, Big Data, and Machine Learning, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. October 29-30, 2018.
Recent Publications
- High End Computing (HEC) Software Sustainability Efforts: Examples of Federal Activities, High End Computing (HEC) Interagency Working Group (IWG). March 2023.
- Software in the Era of Extreme Heterogeneity Workshop Report, High End Computing Interagency Working Group; Software Productivity, Sustainability, and Quality Interagency Working Group. June 2022.
- Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem Strategic Plan FY2022 Implementation Roadmap, Subcommittee on Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem; Committee on Technology; High End Computing Interagency Working Group; Networking & Information Technology Subcommittee; Committee on Science & Technology Enterprise; National Science and Technology Council, May 2022.
- Pioneering the Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem: A Strategic Plan, FACE; Committee on Technology; NSTC. November 2020.
- National Strategic Computing Initiative Update: Pioneering the Future of Computing, Fast Track Action Committee (FTAC) on Strategic Computing; NITRD; NSTC. November 2019.
- The Convergence of High Performance Computing, Big Data, and Machine Learning, Big Data IWG; HEC IWG; NITRD; NSTC. September 2019.
- Future Computing Community of Interest Meeting, FTAC on Strategic Computing; NITRD; NSTC. September 2019.
Resources and Reference Documents
- HPC Performance Improvements Through Innovative Architecture, NSA, DOE/SC, and DOE/NNSA, November 18, 2019.