NSF Org:	OAC Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC)
Recipient:	UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
Initial Amendment Date:	July 25, 2019
Latest Amendment Date:	July 28, 2022
Award Number:	1940979
Award Instrument:	Cooperative Agreement
Program Manager:	Edward Walker edwalker@nsf.gov  (703)292-4863 OAC  Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) CSE  Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering
Start Date:	July 1, 2019
End Date:	June 30, 2024 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$1.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$0.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2019 = $1.00
History of Investigator:	Daniel Stanzione (Principal Investigator) dan@tacc.utexas.edu
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	University of Texas at Austin 110 INNER CAMPUS DR AUSTIN TX  US  78712-1139 (512)471-6424
Sponsor Congressional District:	25
Primary Place of Performance:	University of Texas at Austin Austin TX  US  78712-9998
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	25
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	V6AFQPN18437
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	Leadership-Class Computing
Primary Program Source:	01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s):	026Z
Program Element Code(s):	778100
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.070

ABSTRACT

NSF has played a central role in the transformation of scientific research and as a leader in enabling the use of High-Performance Computing (HPC) to advance discovery for almost four decades. The leadership-class computing program is intended to provision advanced computational capabilities to enable transformative research for all of Science and Engineering (S&E) that would not otherwise be possible. NSF's current leadership-class computing investment is the support of the Frontera project at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin. Frontera is the Phase 1 system of a two-phase approach to eventual deployment of a much more capable Leadership-Class Computing Facility (LCCF) in approximately 2024. This award will support the conceptual design of a Phase 2 system and facility.

The project design approach will extend best practices in the design/operate/evaluate cycle that TACC has used to successfully deploy some of the largest computing systems in the world for open scientific research. This process will have four keystones: science user requirements, future technology assessment, alternative design evaluation, as well as risk management for cost, scope and schedule. Testbeds feature prominently in the design process and will provide users with early access to future computational hardware and will offer system designers quantitative insights into the effectiveness of these technologies. Testbed partners will include major cloud and technology vendors as well as early exascale computing technology adopters. In addition, the design process will be guided by science inputs and technology drivers identified by science and technology engagement teams. These teams will be composed of distinguished scientists representing a broad range of expertise and experience to guide the Phase 2 system design. The team members will also serve as community leaders to bring together colleagues in workshops, meetings, and other engagement venues to inform the process further. Moreover, the project will engage with the scientific software community, including library and community code providers, to ensure the project optimizes the selection of Phase 2 computing technologies to enable transformative S&E discoveries for the future.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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