Top Stories:

Developing the Next-Generation Batteries

As part of DOE's Batteries and Energy Storage Hub, researchers will use NERSC resources to predict the properties of electrolytes—liquid solutions that conduct ions between battery plates and aid in energy storage. When the center is up and running, collaborators will combine their results with the existing Materials Project to get a complete scope of battery components. Together these tools allow them to employ a systematic and predictive approach to battery design. More>

A Screening Strategy to Capture CO₂

Crystalline porous materials, like zeolites, are widely used to purify water and separate gases. But scientists believe that these structures could do a lot more—like capture CO₂ from the emissions of coal-burning power plants before it reaches the atmosphere. By combining novel tools developed by Berkeley Lab computational researchers, with a screening strategy inspired by the pharmaceutical industry, researchers can now quickly find the right structures to effectively do this job. More>

NewsBytes:

New to Berkeley Lab Computing Sceinces

Introducing: Ulugbek "Bek" Baymuradov, NERSC Outreach, Software and Programming Group. More>

ESnet Tests a Novel Approach for Guiding Large Data Flows

Software Defined Networking (SDN) is an emerging field that makes it easier for software applications to automatically configure and control the various layers of the network. ESnet has been conducting localized tests to demonstrate the value of SDN when applied towards end-to-end support of data-intensive science collaborations and applications. In late November, ESnet joined Infinera to demo a prototype SDN Open Transport Switch (OTS) capable of dynamically controlling bandwidth services at the optical layer. The demo marked the first time an open architecture with SDN was used to provide traffic-engineered paths at the optical layer and was accomplished through extensions to the OpenFlow protocol. More>

Kathy Yelick Named ACM Fellow

Associate Lab Director for Computing Sciences Kathy Yelick has been named a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Yelick was named an ACM Fellow "For contributions to parallel languages that improve programmer productivity." Yelick was one of 52 ACM Fellows announced Tuesday, December 11. She will be formally inducted at an ACM awards banquet to be held June 15, 2013, in San Francisco. Fellow is "ACM's most prestigious member grade recognizing the top one percent of ACM members for their outstanding accomplishments in computing and information technology and/or outstanding service to ACM and the larger computing community." More>

Wes Bethel Is ACM Distinguished Scientist

Wes Bethel, leader of the Visualization Group in CRD, has been named an ACM Distinguished Scientist. The Distinguished Scientist level recognizes "Those ACM members with at least 15 years of professional experience who have achieved significant accomplishments or have made a significant impact on the computing field." Bethel is responsible for coordinating and leading or co-leading a number of multi-institutional research activities, such as the “Scalable Data Management, Analysis and Visualization Institute” and “Visual Data Exploration and Analysis of Ultra-large Climate Data.” More>

In the News:

IEEE Spectrum: Exabyte Problem: Climate Scientists Grapple With a Deluge of Data

Prabaht, a scientist in Berkeley Lab's Visualization and Analytics Group, talks about using the Toolkit for Extreme Climate Analysis (TECA) to find extreme weather events, like cyclones and atmospheric rivers in massive climate datasets. More>

Live Science: 20-Year-Old Report Successfully Predicted Warming

Time has proven that even 22 years ago, climate scientists understood the dynamics behind global warming well enough to accurately predict warming, says an analysis that compares predictions in 1990 with 20 years of temperature records. After an adjustment to account for natural fluctuations, the predictions and the observed increases matched up, the current research found. The predictions in question come from the first climate assessment report issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in 1990. The analysis, co-authored by Daithi Stone of the Computational Research Division, was published online in the journal Nature Climate Change. More>

HPCWire: John Shalf Named NERSC CTO

John Shalf has been named the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of the NERSC Division at Berkeley Lab by NERSC Director Sudip Dosanjh. More>

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