US Wins the Supercomputer Race!

In a study officially released, the US Cray computer, known as Jaguar, is rated the top supercomputer in the world, based on processing speed. The article Science-based US Supercomputer Fastest in the World details how the Jaguar, which is located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, was rated the top supercomputer out of the Top500. Professor Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee is the co-author of this study, which benchmarks the fastest supercomputers in the world. Professor Dongarra is also the long-serving editor of the International Journal of High Performance Computing Applications, on whose editorial board I serve as well. The article quotes the head of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Arden Bement, who well-understands the significance of high performance computing to solving grand challenge problems.

The Jaguar was actually the beneficiary of stimulus funds and it is used to formulate and simulate energy-related problems. It is fantastic news that the US now leads the world in supercomputing speed!

The third fastest supercomputer is based at the University of Tennessee, so this is great news for that university. By the way, the new Chancellor of UMass Amherst, Dr. Robert Holub, was the former Provost of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

A few years back, I had a wonderful collaboration with Dr. Frank Southworth, then of Oak Ridge National Labs, who is now at Georgia Tech. Our paper, with several co-authors, was published in Environment & Planning B and looked at complex supply chains from a multilevel perspective.