High-end computation alters the research landscape

By Judy Lin

How do you ascertain the origin of the universe?

In 21st-century science, you write up computer code and algorithms. You fire up hundreds, if not thousands, of processors. And you churn out incredibly complex analyses that may well offer some answers.

The Institute for Digital Research and Education (IDRE) is poised to assist campus researchers in employing high-end computation and visualization — regarded as an equal and indispensable partner to theory and experiment — in the advance of scientific knowledge.

Under new leadership and with support from Chancellor Gene Block and a campuswide council of deans, IDRE hosted a kick-off event on Oct. 30 at the California NanoSystems Institute to introduce IDRE's mission to the campus community and to showcase computational research currently under way.

Vice Chancellor for Research Roberto Peccei, said, "We're very excited about IDRE because it will act as a focus for all of the activities that we have in computational science — from engineering to humanities — on campus."

High-end computation is particularly well-suited to collaborations across disciplines, noted Chancellor Gene Block. "Interdisciplinary study is required to address complex problems in the world today, and it is a hallmark of UCLA. The interdisciplinary work here is remarkable."

Warren Mori, director of IDRE and professor of electrical engineering and physics, makes use of high-end computational analysis in his own research in plasma physics.

"One compelling question my group works on is trying to miniaturize particle accelerators — trying to get them, hopefully, a thousand times smaller," Mori said. By using computer algorithms, he said, "we can test ideas to determine whether it's feasible to use this technology, rather than spending millions of dollars to build it first."

Using computer-based simulation and model building to test ideas without a laboratory is useful in many areas of research, he said, from climate modeling to visualizing an archaeological site to understand how a culture has evolved.

The ability to compile, merge and analyze large data sets, said Peccei, combined with the ability to use visualization tools to represent problems in new ways, "has radically changed the landscape" of research.

"Whether you're talking about people at Theater, Film and Television or researchers working with stem cells, everybody is being affected by the ability to do high-end computation and visualization," he said.

IDRE, Peccei said, will serve as a "convener" for these efforts. On a practical level, working with Academic Technology Services, IDRE plans to offer a data center and technical support staff, freeing individual research units from having to maintain computational clusters of their own.

Coordination of tools and efforts is anticipated to foster even more collaboration. It will also serve as a more effective approach to seeking support from funding agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation, which recognize the importance of computational research.

Said Block: "The performance of computational science and the competitiveness of the UCLA research community require both personnel and physical infrastructure.

"I want you to know that as chancellor I am deeply committed to ensuring that UCLA faculty have the necessary resources to help solve the major, complex challenges of this century."

For more information visit IDRE.