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At least 397 records · Page 22

SMALE: Enhancing Scalability of Machine Learning Algorithms on Extreme-Scale Computing Platforms

Deployment and execution of machine learning tasks on extreme-scale computing platforms face several significant technical challenges: 1) High computing cost incurred by dense networks – The computing workload of deep networks with densely-connected topology increases rapidly with the network size, imposing a non-scalable computing model of extreme-scale computing platforms; 2) Non-optimized workload distribution – Many advanced deep learning algorithms, e.g., sparsification and irregular net-work topology, produce very unbalanced workload distribution on extreme-scale computing platforms. The computation efficiency is greatly hindered by the incurred data and computation redundancies as well as long tails of the node with extensive workload; 3) Constraints in data movement and I/O bottle-neck – Inter-node data movement in extreme-scale computing platforms are associated with high energy and latency costs, and subject to the constraints of I/O bandwidth; and 4) Generalization of algorithm realization and acceleration on computing platforms – The large varieties of machine learning algorithms and structures of extreme-scale computing platforms make the derivation of a generalized algorithm realization and acceleration method very challenging, which, however, is the requirement by domain scientists and interested users. We call the above challenges Smale’s Problems in Machine Learning and Understanding for High-Performance Computing Scientific Discovery. The objective of our three-year research project is to develop a holistic innovation set at structure, assembly, and acceleration layers of machine learning algorithms to address the above challenges in algorithm deployment and execution. Three tasks are particularly performed, including: At the algorithm structure level, we investigate the techniques that can structurally sparsify on the topology of deep networks for computing workload reduction. We also study clustering and pruning techniques that can optimize the workload distributions over the extreme-scale computing platforms; At the algorithm assembly level, we derive a unified learning framework for unsupervised transfer learning and dynamic growing capabilities. Novel training methods are also exploited to enhance the training efficiency of the proposed framework; At the algorithm acceleration level, we will develop a series of techniques that can accelerate the computation of sparse matrix operations, which are one of the core executions in deep learning and optimize memory access of the concerned platforms. Our proposed techniques attack the fundamental problems in machine learning algorithms running on extreme-scale computing platforms by vertically integrating the solutions at three closely entangled layers, paving the long-term scaling path of machine learning applications under DOE context. Three tasks corresponding to the above respective research orientations are performed during the three-year project period with our collaborators at ORNL. The outcome of the proposed project is anticipated to form a holistic solution set of novel algorithms and network topologies, efficient training techniques, and fast acceleration methods to promote the computing scalability of the machine learning applications of particular interest to DOE.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Liquid-phase mega-electron-volt ultrafast electron diffraction

The conversion of light into usable chemical and mechanical energy is pivotal to several biological and chemical processes, many of which occur in solution. To understand the structure–function relationships mediating these processes, a technique with high spatial and temporal resolutions is required. Here, we report on the design and commissioning of a liquid-phase mega-electron-volt (MeV) ultrafast electron diffraction instrument for the study of structural dynamics in solution. Limitations posed by the shallow penetration depth of electrons and the resulting information loss due to multiple scattering and the technical challenge of delivering liquids to vacuum were overcome through the use of MeV electrons and a gas-accelerated thin liquid sheet jet. To demonstrate the capabilities of this instrument, the structure of water and its network were resolved up to the 3rd hydration shell with a spatial resolution of 0.6 Å; preliminary time-resolved experiments demonstrated a temporal resolution of 200 fs.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Advancing Fusion Research and Development at TAE Technologies Through INFUSE Program

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program serves as a crucial catalyst by fostering public-private partnership that accelerates technological innovation for fusion energy research and development (R&D) in the private sector. Further, this article provides a comprehensive overview of the technical goals and accomplishments of projects awarded to TAE Technologies through the INFUSE program since 2019. We offer high-level perspectives on how these projects have contributed to fusion energy R&D, and we address key challenges encountered during these collaborations.

field-reversed configuration↗

FLASH: FPGA-Accelerated Smart Switches with GCN Case Study

Some communication switches, e.g., the Mellanox SHArP and those in the IBM BlueGene clusters, are augmented to process packets at the application level with fixed-function collectives. This approach, however, lacks flexibility, which limits their applicability in diverse and dynamic workloads. Recently, a new type of programmable packet processor, which uses high-level languages, e.g., P4, has emerged as possible candidates. P4-based switches, however, fall short in certain applications, including machine learning, where capabilities not currently supported by P4 are needed. These include more complex calculation, such as sparse computation and fused multiply-accumulate, data-intensive floating point operations, data reuse, and significant memory. The problem addressed here is that such a switch augmentation needs to support: a large amount of state, significant flexible compute capability, and ease of programming, all while maintaining full functionality, including ensuring high throughput, and demonstrating utility. In this work, we propose a programmable look-aside-type accelerator that can be embedded into, or attached to, existing communication switch pipelines and that is capable of processing packets at line-rate. The proposed in-switch accelerator is based on mixing an ISA (subset of RISC-V instructions) with dataflow graphs (found in CGRAs). To augment performance, vector instructions are also supported. To facilitate usability, we have developed a complete toolchain to compile user-provided C/C++ codes to appropriate back-end instructions for configuring the accelerator. While this approach is flexible enough to support various workloads, in this paper, we consider Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) as a case study. Experimental results show that this approach considerably improves the performance of distributed GCN applications.

Haghi, Pouya↗

Cooperative Research and Development Agreement With Georgetown University Report: National Institutes of Health, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Clinical and Translational Science Award

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is participating with Georgetown University (GU) as a subrecipient in response to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) (U54 Clinical Trial Optional) funding opportunity announcement. This Cooperative Research and Development Agreement is put in to place to facilitate the development and implementation of clinical interventions that demonstrably improve human health is currently a complex, recursive, and inefficient process that leads to delays of years or decades before discoveries in biomedical research result in health benefits for patients and communities. NCATS conducts and supports research in the science of translation, to discover the mechanistic and operational principles of the intervention development and dissemination process, thereby providing the scientific foundation for improvements in translational efficiency that will accelerate the realization of interventions that improve human health. Under NCATS’ leadership, the CTSA Program supports a national network of medical research institutions called hubs. GU is the lead institution in one of the NIH hubs that was created as a result of a previous NIH CTSA. The missions of the GU have historically included the advancement of health through research in the clinical and biomedical sciences, the education of future leaders in medical and nursing practice and academia, and the provision of compassionate and scientifically competent patient care and service to the Washington, DC community and the nation. GU is the lead institution for the Georgetown-Howard Universities Center for Clinical and Translational Science (GHUCCTS), a multi-institutional partnership of medical research institutions forged from a desire to promote clinical research and translational science. Through multiple collaborations among these institutions, GHUCCTS is transforming clinical research and translational science in order to bring new scientific advances to health care. Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the Department of Energy's (DOE) largest science and energy laboratory. Managed since April 2000 by a partnership of the University of Tennessee and Battelle, ORNL was established in 1943 as a part of the secret Manhattan Project to pioneer a method for producing and separating plutonium. During the 1950s and 1960s, ORNL became an international center for the study of nuclear energy and related research in the physical and life sciences. With the creation of DOE in the 1970s, ORNL's mission broadened to include a variety of energy technologies and strategies. Today the laboratory supports the nation with a peacetime science and technology mission that is just as important as, but very different from, its role during the Manhattan Project. ORNL is home to the world's premier center for high performance supercomputing to enable scientific discovery. ORNL has extensive expertise in various areas of computer science that are uniquely situated to support GU. Additionally, ORNL’s leading computational user facilities present a unique opportunity to leverage the largest scale machines for open science in support of the stated mission of the NCATS CTSA. ORNL's partnership with GU will offer unparalleled opportunity in data analytics, deep-learning, artificial intelligence, and urban dynamics.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Federated IRI Science Testbed (FIRST): A Concept Note

The Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) vision for an Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) is to empower researchers to smoothly and securely meld the DOE’s world-class user facilities and research infrastructure in novel ways in order to radically accelerate discovery and innovation. Performant IRI arises through the continuous interoperability of research workflows with compute, storage, and networking infrastructure, fulfilling researchers’ quests to gain insight from observational and experimental data. Decades of successful research, pilot projects, and demonstrations point to the extraordinary promise of IRI but also indicate the intertwined technological, policy, and sociological hurdles it presents. Creating, developing, and stewarding the conditions for seamless interoperability of DOE research infrastructure, with clear value propositions to stakeholders to opt into an IRI ecosystem, will be the next big step. Governance, funding, and resource allocation are beyond the scope of this document: it seeks to provide a high-level view of potential benefits, focus areas, and the working groups whose formation would further define the testbed’s design, activities, and goals.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

LANSCE Science Overview [Slides]

LANSCE is primarily focused on three science questions for NNSA and contributes to several other programs. We will primarily consider the NNSA questions: (1) How can we advance our understanding of dynamic material behavior using focused experiments? (2) What tools are needed to address Advanced Manufacturing and Aging? (3) How do we constrain the nuclear reaction networks involved in weapons?

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

FracML: A Machine Learning Based Tool to Quantify Reservoir Scale Fracture Network for CO2 Storage

Poster on “FRACML: A Machine Learning Based Tool to Quantify Reservoir Scale Fracture Network for CO2 Storage” for the CCUS 2025 conference held in Houston, Texas March 3-5, 2025. The accurate characterization of subsurface fracture networks is essential for the secure operation of carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) projects. A thorough understanding of the spatial distribution of subsurface faults and fractures is crucial for predicting CO2 plume evolution and minimizing risks such as potential leakage into overlying formations or induced seismicity. In this context, robust fracture network quantification plays a pivotal role in reservoir management, providing the data necessary to fine-tune operational parameters, and ensure the environmental and economic viability of CCUS projects. As part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SMART (Science-informed Machine Learning for Accelerating Real-time Decisions in Subsurface Applications) initiative, we focused on the development and application of a machine learning-based tool (FRACML) designed to quantify and map fracture networks using real-world (non-synthetic) data from an active CO2 injection site. Our objective is to demonstrate the utility of this tool in improving operational efficiency and safety across CCUS sites.

artifical intelligence / machine learning (AI/ML)↗

wa-hls4ml and lui-gnn: A benchmark and GNN-based surrogate model for hls4ml resource and latency estimation

As machine learning (ML) increasingly serves as a tool for addressing real-time challenges in scientific applications, the development of advanced tooling has significantly reduced the time required to iterate on various designs. These advancements have solved major obstacles, but also exposed new challenges. For example, processes that were not previously considered bottlenecks, such as model synthesis, are now becoming limiting factors in the rapid iteration of designs. To reduce these emerging constraints, multiple efforts are being launched toward designing an ML-based surrogate model that estimates resource usage of synthesized accelerator architectures. This model would reduce the design iteration time, especially when designing within a set of given hardware constraints. This approach shows considerable potential, but as it stands, the effort is early and would benefit from coordination and standardization to assist future work as it emerges. We introduce wa-hls4ml, a benchmark for ML accelerator resource and latency estimation, and its corresponding initial dataset of more than 100,000 fully connected neural networks, all synthesized using hls4ml and targeting Xilinx FPGAs. In addition to the resource utilization and latency data provided, the dataset includes generated artifacts and log files for many of the synthesized neural networks, in order to support future research in ML-based code generation. The benchmark evaluates the performance of resource and latency predictors against several common ML model architectures, primarily originating from scientific domains, as exemplar models, as well as the average performance across a subset of the dataset. We measure the performance of a given predictor model through multiple metrics, including $R^2$ score and SMAPE on regression tasks, as well as inference time to further characterize the estimator under test. Additionally, we introduce the latency/utilization inference graph neural network (lui-gnn), a surrogate model that uses a graph neural network to represent input architectures in the form of a directed graph. This graph representation allows for a diverse set of model architectures to all be effectively handled by a surrogate model. We present the architecture and performance of the model, as evaluated by the new proposed benchmark, including SMAPE, $R^2$ score, and inference times, and find that lui-gnn generally predicts latency and utilization for the 75\% quantile within several percent of the synthesized resources on the synthetic test dataset, indicating that this approach of estimating resource and latency via a surrogate models has promise and warrants further research.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A prediction interval method for uncertainty quantification of regression models

This paper considers calculation of prediction intervals (PIs) by neural networks (NNs) for quantifying uncertainty in regression tasks, so as to provide fast, accurate and robust emulators to accelerate scientific simulations. We propose a novel method to learn lower and upper bounds of the PI using independent NNs without defining an exclusive loss. Our method requires no distributional assumption, does not introduce extra hyper-parameters, and can effectively identify out-of-distribution samples and quantify their uncertainty. We demonstrate advantages of our method using a benchmark problem and two real-world scientific applications.

Zhang, Pei↗

Exocortex Network for AI-Augmented Human-Led Scientific Expedition

AI advances in science can be viewed along two main directions with a fluid boundary: enhancing efficiency through automation and smart tools to accelerate tasks that humans can already perform; and enabling exploration into uncharted territories and potentially toward AGI. These advances manifest in the AI cognitive core through the development and explainability of foundation models; in the physical embodiment of instruments and facilities; and in the integrated agency of AI workflows exemplified by the science exocortex. To address the role of humans in this evolving landscape, in this Perspective, we suggest a third direction: the development of personalized agents that form human-centered networks, supporting both efficiency and exploration while ensuring that AI remains aligned with human vision.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

5G Enabled Energy Innovation: Advanced Wireless Networks for Science (Workshop Report)

Rapidly expanding, new telecommunications infrastructure based on 5G technologies will disrupt and transform how we design, build, operate, and optimize scientific infrastructure and the experiments and services enabled by that infrastructure, from continental-scale sensor networks to centralized scientific user facilities, from intelligent Internet of Things devices to supercomputers. Concurrently, 5G will introduce, or exacerbate, challenges related to protecting infrastructure and associated scientific data as well as to fully leveraging opportunities related to expanded infrastructure scale and complexity. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science operates scientific infrastructure, supporting some of the nation’s most advanced intellectual discoveries, spanning the country and including 30 world-class user facilities from supercomputers to accelerators. Along with field experiments and remote observatories, every aspect of DOE’s scientific enterprise will be affected by 5G, which amounts to a complete renovation of the underpinnings of the nation’s information infrastructure. In this report we explore the scientific opportunities and new research challenges associated with 5G, ranging from scalability to heterogeneity to cybersecurity. The rapid commercial deployment of 5G opens the opportunity to rethink and reinvent DOE’s scientific infrastructure and experimentation, from intelligent sensor networks at unprecedented scales to a digital continuum of cyberinfrastructure spanning low-power sensors, high-performance computing embedded within and at the edge of the network, and DOE’s large-scale user instrument and computing facilities. New programming paradigms, workflow and data frameworks, and AI-based system design, operation, and autonomous adaptation and optimization will be necessary in order to exploit these new opportunities. Field deployments and centralized scientific instruments can also be revolutionized, moving (without traditional performance penalties) from wired to wireless connectivity for data and control systems, improving flexibility, and opening new sensing modalities, including the use of the 5G electromagnetic spectrum itself as an environmental probe. For DOE science, in contrast to commercial 5G applications and settings, devices will be deployed in extreme environments such as cryogenically cooled instrument control systems and in remote settings with harsh conditions, requiring the design of new materials for RF communication and edge processing to operate in these regimes. Concurrently, 5G infrastructure comprises both hardware and sophisticated software systems - currently closed and proprietary. The cybersecurity challenges to 5G-empowered reinvention mirror the complexity and variety of new 5G features, from virtualization to private network slices to ubiquitous access. Research is also needed in order to accelerate the development of secure and open 5G software infrastructure, reducing reliance on hardware and software produced outside the United States and providing the transparency and rigorous evaluation and testing afforded through open software. Twelve broad research thrusts are laid out in four chapters, with a companion fifth chapter (and three additional research thrusts) underscoring the needs and opportunities for an aggressive testbed program co-designed by networking experts and scientists involved in the 15 research thrusts. The urgency of undertaking this research is fueled by a global, accelerating deployment of new telecommunications infrastructure that is designed for entertainment and commercial applications - barely scratching the surface of what 5G can do to extend U.S. leadership in scientific discovery.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Building an Integrated Ecosystem of Computational and Observational Facilities to Accelerate Scientific Discovery

Future scientific discoveries will rely on flexible ecosystems that incorporate modern scientific instruments, high performance computing resources, parallel distributed data storage, and performant networks across multiple, independent facilities. In addition to connecting physical resources, such an ecosystem presents many challenges in logistics and accessibility, especially in orchestrating computations and experiments that span across leadership computing systems and experimental instruments. Past efforts have typically been application-specific or limited to interfaces for computing resources. This paper proposes a general framework for integrating computation resources and instrument operations, addressing challenges in code development/execution, data staging and collection, software stack, control mechanisms, resource authorization and governance, and hardware integration. We also describe a demonstration use case wherein a Bayesian optimization algorithm running on an edge computing resource guides a scanning probe microscope to autonomously and intelligently characterize a material sample. This science edge ecosystem framework will provide a blueprint for federating multi-institutional, disparate resources and orchestrating scientific workflows across them to enable next-generation discoveries.

Somnath, Suhas↗

Scale-invariant machine-learning model accelerates the discovery of quaternary chalcogenides with ultralow lattice thermal conductivity

We design an advanced machine-learning (ML) model based on crystal graph convolutional neural network that is insensitive to volumes (i.e., scale) of the input crystal structures to discover novel quaternary chalcogenides, AMM'Q 3 (A/M/M' = alkali, alkaline earth, post-transition metals, lanthanides, and Q = chalcogens). These compounds are shown to possess ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (κ l ), a desired requirement for thermal-barrier coatings and thermoelectrics. Upon screening the thermodynamic stability of ~1 million compounds using the ML model iteratively and performing density-functional theory (DFT) calculations for a small fraction of compounds, we discover 99 compounds that are validated to be stable in DFT. Taking several DFT-stable compounds, we calculate their κ l using Peierls–Boltzmann transport equation, which reveals ultralow κ l (<2 Wm -1 K -1 at room temperature) due to their soft elasticity and strong phonon anharmonicity. Our work demonstrates the high efficiency of scale-invariant ML model in predicting novel compounds and presents experimental-research opportunities with these new compounds.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

AI-Driven Smart Community Control for Accelerating PV Adoption and Enhancing Grid Resilience

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has launched a Connected Communities program that supports projects that expand DOE's network of grid-interactive, efficient building communities nationwide. As an early pilot of Connected Communities, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and its partners have developed and demonstrated a community-scale, hierarchical control solution to address the potential grid issues arising from high penetration of solar photovoltaics (PV) as well as to improve grid reliability and resilience in this residential community. A field pilot study has been performed at an affordable housing development called the Basalt Vista Community, which was built for school teachers and other professionals in the local workforce and represents an autonomous energy grid with all-electric, energy-efficient homes. With no natural gas line in the community, this is the first all-electric net-zero community in rural Colorado. In the field pilot study, NREL has validated the performance of the hierarchical control solution, which consists of NREL's foresee home energy management systems (HEMS) and community aggregators, in increasing demand flexibility and self-consuming PV, reducing potential over-voltages, and supporting critical loads during emergency events. In this presentation, we will present the methodology, simulation and field pilot results, and lessons learned from the project.

all-electric community↗

Learning to Simulate Aerosol Dynamics with Graph Neural Networks

Aerosol effects on climate, weather, and air quality depend on characteristics of individual particles, which are tremendously diverse and change in time. Particle-resolved models are the only models able to capture this diversity in particle physiochemical properties, and these models are computationally expensive. As a strategy for accelerating particle-resolved microphysics models, we introduce Graph-based Learning of Aerosol Dynamics (GLAD) and use this model to train a surrogate of the particle-resolved model PartMC-MOSAIC. GLAD implements a Graph Network-based Simulator (GNS), a machine learning framework that has been used to simulate particle-based fluid dynamics models. In GLAD, each particle is represented as a node in a graph, and the evolution of the particle population over time is simulated through learned message passing. Here, we demonstrate our GNS approach on a simple aerosol system that includes condensation of sulfuric acid onto particles composed of sulfate, black carbon, organic carbon, and water. A graph with particles as nodes is constructed, and a graph neural network (GNN) is then trained using the model output from PartMC-MOSAIC. The trained GNN can then be used for simulating and predicting aerosol dynamics over time. Results demonstrate the framework's ability to accurately learn chemical dynamics and generalize across different scenarios, achieving efficient training and prediction times. We evaluate the performance across four scenarios, highlighting the framework's robustness and adaptability in modeling aerosol microphysics and chemistry.

aerosol chemistry dynamics↗

Physics-constrained machine learning for electrodynamics without gauge ambiguity based on Fourier transformed Maxwell’s equations

We utilize a Fourier transformation-based representation of Maxwell’s equations to develop physics-constrained neural networks for electrodynamics without gauge ambiguity, which we label the Fourier–Helmholtz–Maxwell neural operator method. In this approach, both of Gauss’s laws and Faraday’s law are built in as hard constraints, as well as the longitudinal component of Ampère–Maxwell in Fourier space, assuming the continuity equation. An encoder–decoder network acts as a solution operator for the transverse components of the Fourier transformed vector potential, $\hat{A}_⟂(k,t)$, whose two degrees of freedom are used to predict the electromagnetic fields. This method was tested on two electron beam simulations. Among the models investigated, it was found that a U-Net architecture exhibited the best performance as it trained quicker, was more accurate and generalized better than the other architectures examined. We demonstrate that our approach is useful for solving Maxwell’s equations for the electromagnetic fields generated by intense relativistic charged particle beams and that it generalizes well to unseen test data, while being orders of magnitude quicker than conventional simulations. We show that the model can be re-trained to make highly accurate predictions in as few as 20 epochs on a previously unseen data set.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗