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SUPERCOMPUTING AND AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP HEARING BEFORETHE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JANUARY 28, 2015 Serial No. 114–03 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 93–881PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY HON. LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas, Chair FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR. ZOE LOFGREN, California DANA ROHRABACHER, California DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland MICHAEL T. MCCAUL FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida STEVEN M. PALAZZO, Mississippi SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon MO BROOKS, Alabama ERIC SWALWELL, California RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois ALAN GRAYSON, Florida BILL POSEY, Florida AMI BERA, California THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut JIM BRIDENSTINE, Oklahoma MARC A. VEASEY, Texas RANDY K. WEBER, Texas KATHERINE M. CLARK, Massachusetts BILL JOHNSON, Ohio DON S. BEYER, JR., Virginia JOHN R. MOOLENAAR, Michigan ED PERLMUTTER, Colorado STEVE KNIGHT, California PAUL TONKO, New York BRIAN BABIN, Texas MARK TAKANO, California BRUCE WESTERMAN, Arkansas BILL FOSTER, Illinois BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia DAN NEWHOUSE, Washington GARY PALMER, Alabama BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY HON. RANDY K. WEBER, Texas , Chair DANA ROHRABACHER, California ALAN GRAYSON, Florida RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois MO BROOKS, Alabama ERIC SWALWELL, California RANDY HULTGREN, Illinois ELIZABETH H. ESTY, Connecticut THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky MARC A. VEASEY, Texas BARBARA COMSTOCK, Virginia KATHERINE M. CLARK, Massachusetts DAN NEWHOUSE, Washington EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas BARRY LOUDERMILK, Georgia LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas (II) C O N T E N T S January 28, 2015 Page Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 Opening Statements Statement by Representative Randy K. Weber, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Energy, Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .................................................................................................... 5 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 6 Statement by Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, Ranking Member, Com- mittee on Science, Space, and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .... 6 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 7 Witnesses: Mr. Norman Augustine, Board Member, Bipartisan Policy Center Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 9 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 12 Dr. Roscoe Giles, Chairman, DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 17 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 19 Mr. David Turek, Vice President, Technical Computing, IBM Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 50 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 52 Dr. James Crowley, Executive Director, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 59 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 61 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 66 Appendix I: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions Mr. Norman Augustine, Board Member, Bipartisan Policy Center .................... 76 Dr. Roscoe Giles, Chairman, DOE Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee ............................................................................................................. 77 Mr. David Turek, Vice President, Technical Computing, IBM ............................ 82 Dr. James Crowley, Executive Director, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics ......................................................................................................... 86 (III) SUPERCOMPUTING AND AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY LEADERSHIP WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2015 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE, SPACE, AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, D.C. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:08 a.m., in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Randy Weber [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. (1) 2 3 4 5 Chairman WEBER. Well, good morning and welcome to today’s Energy Subcommittee hearing titled ‘‘Supercomputing and Amer- ican Technology Leadership.’’ The Committee will come to order. Without objection, the Chair is authorized to declare recesses of the Subcommittee at any time. Without objection, the Chair authorizes the participation of Mr. Lipinski, Mr. Swalwell, Mr. Grayson, Ms. Esty, Mr. Veasey, and Ms. Clark for today’s hearing. And I understand Ranking Member Johnson will serve as the Ranking Minority Member today and give an opening statement a little later. In front of you are packets containing the written testimonies, bi- ographies, and truth-in-testimony disclosures for today’s witnesses. And I recognize myself for five minutes for an opening statement. At the outset let me say that this is my first Committee hearing as a Chairman of this Subcommittee and it is truly an honor to be selected to serve in this capacity. And I want to say a personal thanks to Chairman Lamar Smith for his help and his guidance. He has been just a stalwart friend of mine. I really appreciate that. This Committee will tackle a number of important issues related to America’s competitiveness and energy future, and I am excited to be part of these important discussions. Today, we are going to hear from a distinguished panel of witnesses about the importance of high-performance computing to American technological competitiveness, specifically focusing on the Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program, also known as the ASCR program within the Office of Science. High-performance computing provides a platform for breakthroughs in all scientific research and accelerates applications of scientific breakthroughs across our economy. Progress in computing has paved the way for breakthroughs in medical imaging, genetics research, manufacturing, engineering, and weapons development. Faster computing speeds have revolutionized the energy sector, improving the efficiency of energy production and aiding in distribution technologies. Advances in modeling and algorithm development offer opportunities for scientific discovery in fields where experiments are too difficult, too costly, or too dangerous to conduct. They are reducing costs and opening the door to more innovative discoveries. The work underway in the ASCR program drives breakthroughs in high-performance computing. The Department of Energy’s national labs host world-class computational science facilities, and the Department funds the applied mathematical and computational science research that will drive the next stage of advancement in this field. As we face the reality of ongoing budget constraints in Wash- ington, it is our job in Congress to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely on innovative research that is in the best national interest and provides the best chance for broad impact and long-term success. The basic research conducted within the ASCR program clearly meets this requirement. High-performance computing can lead to scientific discoveries, economic growth, and will help maintain America’s leadership in science and technology. 6 I want to thank the witnesses in advance for participating in today’s hearing and look forward to further discussion. [The prepared statement of Mr. Weber follows:] PREPAREDSTATEMENTOFSUBOMMITTEECHAIRMANRANDYWEBER Good morning and welcome to today’s Energy Subcommittee hearing titled ‘‘Supercomputing and American Technology Leadership.’’ Today, we will hear from a distinguished panel of witnesses about the importance of high performance computing to American technological competitiveness, specifically focusing on the Department of Energy’s Advanced Scientific Computing Re- search program, also known as the ‘‘ASCR’’ program within the Office of Science. High performance computing provides a platform for breakthroughs in all scientific research, and accelerates applications of scientific breakthroughs across our economy. Progress in computing has paved the way for breakthroughs in medical imaging, genetics research, manufacturing, engineering, and weapons development. Faster computing speeds have revolutionized the energy sector, improving the efficiency of energy production and aiding in distribution technologies. Advances in modeling and algorithm development offer opportunities for scientific discovery in fields where experiments are too difficult, costly, or dangerous to conduct, reducing costs and opening the door to more innovative discoveries. The work underway in the ASCR program drives breakthroughs in high performance computing. The Department of Energy’s national labs host world-class computational science facilities, and the department funds the applied mathematical and computational science research that will drive the next stage of advancement in this field. As we face the reality of ongoing budget constraints in Washington, it is our job in Congress to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, on innovative research that is in the national interest, and provides the best chance for broad impact and long-term success. The basic research conducted within the ASCR program clearly meets this requirement. High performance computing can lead to scientific discoveries, economic growth, and will maintain America’s leadership in science and technology. I thank the witnesses for participating in today’s hearing and look forward to further discussion. Chairman WEBER. I now recognize Ranking Member Johnson for an opening statement. Ms. JOHNSON. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, and I thank you for holding this hearing. And I want to thank our very excel- lent panel of witnesses for their testimony and being here today. America has historically been a leader in advancing new energy technologies, as well as the fundamental sciences of physics, chem- istry, engineering, mathematics, and computational science that support energy innovation. But our leadership in technology is challenged by the growing investments of other countries in edu- cation and research, investments that are now predicted to quickly outpace our own investments here at home. High-performance computing or supercomputing is one area that we have led in for decades and the United States currently holds more than 45 percent of the 500 fastest supercomputers in the world. These computers are capable of processing vast amounts of data and mathematical equations at amazing speeds. In the past, high-performance computers were needed primarily for specialized scientific and engineering applications. Now, as we enter the world of big data where thousands of devices all around us are generating millions of bytes of data to be analyzed, high-performance computing is needed not just by scientists and government researchers but by many civic and commercial enterprises as well.