Oak Ridge Today

ORNL engineer dies of COVID-19

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William “Bill” Lee Collier

An engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory died of COVID-19 on Saturday.

It’s the first death of an ORNL employee due to COVID-19.

The engineer, William Collier, 59, became sick the last weekend of August. He appears to have contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the community, the lab said Tuesday.

Collier worked in the Nonreactor Nuclear Facilities Division at ORNL. His obituary said he grew up in Oak Ridge, graduated from Oak Ridge High School in 1979, and graduated from Tennessee Technological University in 1983 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He worked for 37 years at ORNL and the Y-12 National Security Complex.

“The loss of a coworker was a possibility we have feared since the pandemic began, and our hearts go out to their family, friends, and colleagues,” ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia said in a message to staff members Tuesday. “This news tragically underscores the significance of the lab’s efforts to understand and combat COVID-19 and hardens our commitment to preventing its transmission and spread, through our own behaviors on campus and through research that is aiding the global fight against the virus.”

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Volkswagen, UT, ORNL announce collaboration, innovation hub

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Volkswagen Group America Innovation North University Tennessee Research Park
Volkswagen Group of America will lease space in the Innovation North building on the UT Research Park campus. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

Volkswagen Group of America, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the University of Tennessee on Friday announced a collaboration to create Volkswagen’s first innovation hub in North America at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm.

“Working with the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a great opportunity to continue growing Volkswagen’s engineering footprint in the North American region,” said Wolfgang Demmelbauer-Ebner, executive vice president and chief engineering officer for Volkswagen’s North American region. “This hub, along with other research institutions here, is an integral part of Volkswagen’s global research and development efforts and can also directly contribute to vehicles in North America.”

The collaboration involves research opportunities for doctoral students and space in the Innovation North building at the UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm in Knoxville, a press release said. Initial work will focus on developing lighter vehicle components made from composite materials and the electrification of vehicles.

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UT-Battelle provides scholarships for Roane State Middle College students

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ORNL UT-Battelle Roane State Middle College Scholarship

From left, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Director Thomas Zacharia is joined by Roane State Middle College students Layla Malenovsky of Kingston and Anthony Ciccarelli of Kingston, along with Roane State President Chris Whaley, for the presentation of the $34,000 UT-Battelle Scholarship for Roane State Middle College students. (Photo courtesy Roane State)

Twelve Roane County students participating in Roane State Community College’s Middle College have received $34,000 in annual scholarships thanks to UT-Battelle, a press release said. The scholarships were made possible through a gift to the Roane State Foundation.

Roane State’s Middle College program allows high school students to take college classes in their junior and senior years and then graduate with their associate degrees and their diplomas. Middle College graduates are then able to complete their bachelor’s degrees just two years after finishing high school.

Middle College students pay for tuition through a combination of out-of-pocket funds, use of state grants, and other private scholarships, the press release said. The UT-Battelle Scholarship was established in fall 2015, and it is awarded to Middle College students from Roane County. The scholarship is administered by the Roane State Foundation. [Read more…]

UT Board approves Oak Ridge Institute

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University of Tennessee Board of Trustees Chair John Compton and Interim President Randy Boyd (Photo by UT/Wade Payne)

An Oak Ridge Institute approved in June is expected to foster a stronger, more coordinated relationship between the University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In June, the University of Tennessee System Board of Trustees approved a resolution creating the Institute, which will be at the University of Tennessee. It will move five joint UT and ORNL programs under a single administrative “umbrella,” the university reported.

It will allow the coordinated expansion of graduate education programs to prepare scientists and engineers for a global economy that demands interdisciplinary problem-solving, teamwork, and innovation, according to a resolution proposing the Institute.

“Coordination of joint efforts through ORI (Oak Ridge Institute) will promote greater focus, efficiency, and accountability; ensure innovative education, training, and workforce development; and provide flexibility to respond to emerging research challenges and the potential of disruptive technologies,” the resolution said.

The Oak Ridge Institute will build on the “track record of success” established by ORNL and UT, the resolution said. It will be led by an executive director who will pursue interdisciplinary research and workforce development in emerging fields.

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Titan, once the world’s fastest computer, will be retired Aug. 1

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The Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory debuted as the fastest computer in the world in 2012, and it remained in the top 10 for seven years, providing billions of core hours of total computing time to researchers from around the world. The system will be decommissioned on Aug. 1, 2019, and its data center space will be retrofitted for a new supercomputer, Frontier. (Photo by ORNL)

A supercomputer that was once the world’s fastest will be retired at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on August 1.

The supercomputer is a Cray XK7 machine called Titan. It is operated by the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. It’s a petaflop system capable of performing up to 27 quadrillion calculations per second.

Titan was the world’s fastest supercomputer in November 2012, but it was bumped to number two by Tianhe-2, a Chinese supercomputer in June 2013. Still, Titan continued to rank as one of the world’s top 10 fastest supercomputers from its debut at number one in 2012 until this June, when it dropped to number 12.

In June, ORNL said Titan, which has been operating for seven years, will be decommissioned on August 1 and disassembled for recycling. Titan will be removed to make room for a new, much more powerful supercomputer, Frontier. That will be an exascale system capable of 1.5 exaflops, or 1.5 quintillion calculations per second (a billion billion calculations per second). Frontier will be a $600 million Cray computer that is expected to be the world’s most powerful when it debuts in 2021.

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ORNL: New research facility will serve expanding missions in computing, materials R&D

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A conceptual drawing is shown above for the new Translational Research Capability at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Image courtesy ORNL)

Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Congressman Chuck Fleischmann, and lab officials broke ground Tuesday morning on a multipurpose research facility that will provide laboratory space for expanding scientific activities at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The new Translational Research Capability, or TRC, will be built for world-leading research in computing and materials science, and it will serve to advance the science and engineering of quantum information, a press release said.

“Through today’s groundbreaking, we’re writing a new chapter in research at the Translational Research Capability Facility,” U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry said in the press release. “This building will be the home for advances in quantum information science, battery and energy storage, materials science, and many more. It will also be a place for our scientists, researchers, engineers, and innovators to take on big challenges and deliver transformative solutions.”

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DOE: New $600 million supercomputer at ORNL will be world’s most powerful

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Pictured above from left during an announcement for the Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on Tuesday, May 7, 2019, are Energy Secretary Rick Perry; ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia; Peter Ungaro, Cray president and chief executive officer; and Lisa Su, AMD president and CEO. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 3 p.m. May 21.

The U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday announced a contract with Cray Inc. to build the Frontier supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It is expected to be the world’s most powerful supercomputer when it debuts in 2021.

The contract with Cray is valued at more than $600 million for the system and technology development, a press release said.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry was at ORNL on Tuesday morning to make the announcement.

“This is a big deal,” Perry said. “Frontier’s record-breaking performance will ensure our country’s ability to lead the world in science that improves the lives and economic prosperity of all Americans and the entire world. Frontier will accelerate innovation in AI (artificial intelligence) by giving American researchers world-class data and computing resources to ensure the next great inventions are made in the United States.”

Besides the supercomputing announcement on Tuesday, Perry also delivered the keynote speech at InnovationXLab: Advanced Manufacturing Summit at ORNL.

Frontier is expected to perform at greater than 1.5 exaflops. It will be able to solve calculations up to 50 times faster than today’s top supercomputers, exceeding a quintillion, or 1018, calculations per second, the press release said. That’s a billion billion calculations per second.

Oak Ridge Today has previously reported that Frontier would be built at ORNL. But the contract with Cray and its value and the specific performance estimate of more than 1.5 exaflops are all new announcements. The contract award includes technology development funding, a center of excellence, several early-delivery systems, the main Frontier system, and multi-year systems support. The Frontier system is expected to be delivered in 2021, and acceptance is expected in 2022. 

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Suresh Babu to lead UT-ORNL Bredesen Center

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Suresh Babu

Suresh Babu

Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville have selected Suresh Babu as the next director of their jointly operated Bredesen Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Graduate Education.

Babu will retain his position as UT-ORNL governor’s chair for advanced manufacturing when he assumes his new role on January 3, a press release said. He will be replacing Lee Riedinger, who is retiring at the end of January.

“Dr. Babu has worked extensively with both UT and ORNL through his governor’s chair position, and we’re excited about him taking on this new role,” UT Knoxville Interim Chancellor Wayne T. Davis said in the press release. “He is a nationally recognized expert in the development of advanced materials and advanced manufacturing and has helped us emerge as a leader in those critical research areas.” [Read more…]

Neutron production at ORNL’s SNS reaches design power level

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The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached its operational power design level by running a neutron production cycle at 1.4 megawatts, the lab said Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has reached its operational power design level by running a neutron production cycle at 1.4 megawatts, the lab said Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2018. (Photo courtesy ORNL)

 

The Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory has broken a new record by ending its first neutron production cycle in fiscal year 2019 at its design power level of 1.4 megawatts.

Higher power provides more neutrons for researchers who use the facility to study a wide range of materials, an ORNL press release said. The achievement marks a new operational milestone for neutron scattering in the United States and opens the door to studying significantly smaller materials with greater complexity, the press release said.

“The operation of SNS at 1.4 megawatts this cycle has been an outstanding achievement,” said Paul Langan, associate laboratory director for neutron sciences. “It reflects on the maturity of our facility and the high level of technical excellence of our engineering, operational, and scientific staff.”

The power increase was enabled by the combination of extensive improvements to the linear accelerator, including the recent replacement of the radio frequency quadrupole—the first accelerating structure of the accelerator’s frontend assembly, as well as improvements to the liquid mercury target. [Read more…]

ORNL Director Thomas Zacharia to present community lecture Thursday

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Thomas Zacharia

Thomas Zacharia

Thomas Zacharia, director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, will give a community lecture on Thursday. It’s the 21st season of the Dick Smyser Community Lecture Series.

Besides being ORNL director, Zacharia is also president and chief executive officer of UT-Battelle LLC, which operates ORNL for the U. S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

On Thursday, Zacharia will talk about the scientific agenda at ORNL in a presentation titled “Science and the State of the Lab,” a press release said. The event is co-sponsored by Friends of ORNL (FORNL) and the Oak Ridge Public Schools Education Foundation (ORPSEF). It is free of charge, and it will be held at the Pollard Technology Conference Center at 210 Badger Avenue in Oak Ridge. A reception will be held in the auditorium lobby starting at 5:30 p.m. (snacks will be served), and the lecture starts at 6 p.m. in the auditorium, the press release said.

“The talk will be of interest to students and the general public,” the press release said. [Read more…]

ORNL’s Bland receives DOE Secretary’s Appreciation Award for computing leadership

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Buddy Bland (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Buddy Bland (Photo courtesy ORNL)

Arthur “Buddy” Bland, program director of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has received the Secretary’s Appreciation Award for his nearly four decades of achievements in providing high-performance computing resources for science, a press release said.

Bland was cited by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry for his work “in recognition of nearly 40 years of leadership in delivering high-performance computing resources to address the nation’s science and engineering challenges across a wide array of disciplines and for critical contributions to the success of the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility and sustained U.S. leadership in high-performance computing and computational science.”

Bland led the project to deliver the Summit supercomputer, launched June 8 at ORNL as “the world’s most powerful and smartest supercomputer” with a peak performance capability of 200 petaflops, or 200,000 trillion calculations per second. Summit was listed number one in the TOP500 list released on Monday. [Read more…]

For first time since 2012, US has top supercomputer in world

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Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Summit supercomputer was named number one on the TOP500 List, a semiannual ranking of the world’s fastest computing systems on Monday, June 25, 2018. (Photo credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Summit supercomputer was named number one on the TOP500 List, a semiannual ranking of the world’s fastest computing systems on Monday, June 25, 2018. (Photo credit: Carlos Jones/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy)

 

For the first time since 2012, the United States has the most powerful supercomputer in the world, and it’s again located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The new supercomputer, called Summit, is capable of 200 petaflops, or 200,000 trillion calculations per second. Equipment delivery for Summit was completed in March, and officials celebrated the launch of the supercomputer in a ceremony attended by U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry on June 8.

The last time the United States had the top supercomputer was in November 2012. That machine, which is still in use, is named Titan, and it’s also at ORNL. It’s now number seven on the semiannual TOP500 list, which was released Monday.

China had held the top spot since June 2013, and the country had held the top two spots since June 2016. That ended with Monday’s TOP500 announcement. Previously at number one and number two, the top two Chinese supercomputers have fallen to number two and number four.

ORNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory, now has two of the top seven systems on the list. They are Summit at number one and Titan at number seven. The United States now has six of the top 10 machines, according to the TOP500 list. [Read more…]