Construction for the Leadership Class Computing Facility

Over the past decades, NSF has played a central role in enabling the transformation of Science and Engineering (S&E) research using computation-based methods, not only as a leading funder of pioneering research for all of S&E but also as a funder of the nation’s advanced research computing ecosystem. The Leadership-Class Computing Facility (LCCF) project is part of NSF’s broad, holistic advanced computing strategy intended to provide unique resources and services to enable discoveries in the largest and most computationally intensive S&E frontiers that could not advance otherwise. NSF’s stewardship of the LCCF draws on decades of leadership and experience in serving the full S&E research community with transformative cyberinfrastructure(CI). This award supports the construction of LCCF. The LCCF project, led by the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), is envisioned as an advanced distributed leadership computing facility that will serve as a nexus for world-class computational capabilities. Integral to the facility will be the delivery of software and services that will support the continued transformation of the scientific discovery enterprise. At its core, the project will deploy a system called Horizon to support S&E simulation-based inquiry, data analytics, and Artificial Intelligence research at unprecedented scales. The Horizon system will be hosted at a commercial hyperscale datacenter by establishing a partnership to enhance academic-industry exchange. The project will partner with four Distributed Science Centers (DSCs) to expand its geographical footprint and leverage the deep expertise in our nation’s CI ecosystem. Moreover, the project will include a broad range of education and public outreach (EPO) activities designed to grow the future S&E workforce and ensure the entire nation benefits from access to the facility. The EPO plans include programs and exhibits based at a Visitor Center that will be constructed at TACC. These programs and exhibits will be piloted, assessed, and evolved during construction and are designed to reach a nationwide audience. 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.