Award-winning Research, Powered by ACCESS

By Megan Johnson, NCSA
The ACCESS logo over the HPCwire award logo.

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s ACCESS program supports researchers from all domains by providing valuable resources to help power their incredible work. This year, ACCESS has been recognized in the 21st edition of the HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards, presented at the 2024 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC24), in Atlanta, Georgia.

ACCESS was recognized with the following honor:

Readers’ Choice Award: Best Use Of AI Methods for Augmenting HPC Applications

A multi-institutional team from the UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University used machine learning on Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center’s Bridges-2 system, allocated via U.S. National Science Foundation’s ACCESS program, to identify 50 gene-regulatory elements in the brains of humans, bats, whales and seals associated with vocal learning across mammals. This research revealed parallel genetic evolutionary paths for vocalization and a potential link to autism spectrum disorder in humans.

ACCESS Allocation: BIO200055

John Towns and Tom Tabor are pictured.
John Towns, ACCESS ACO PI, accepts the HPCwire Reader’s Choice award from Tom Tabor at SC24.

The coveted annual HPCwire Readers’ Choice Awards are determined through a nomination and voting process with the global HPCwire community, as well as selections from the HPCwire editors. The awards are an annual feature of the publication and constitute prestigious recognition from the HPC community. They are revealed each year to kick off the annual supercomputing conference, which showcases high-performance computing, networking, storage and data analysis.

“This year, as we celebrate HPCwire’s 35th anniversary covering HPC and SC, and as we are at the advent of an HPC-led AI transformation, the 2024 Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards certainly reflect these exciting events,” said Tom Tabor, CEO of Tabor Communications, publishers of HPCwire. “Throughout the world, we see grand challenge problems that can only be explored and solved because of HPC, now aided by AI. Rarely do these accomplishments come to light, much less are they recognized for their contribution to society. Between our worldwide readership of HPC experts and the most renowned panel of editors in the industry, the Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards represent resounding recognition of the many deep and varied HPC accomplishments throughout the world. Our sincerest gratitude and hearty congratulations go out to all of the winners.”

ACCESS Resource Providers (RPs) have long been recognized by HPCwire for their efforts in making world-class research possible. ACCESS RPs work tirelessly to make sure researchers have the resources they need to accelerate their research and maximize the potential impact of their results. This year, affiliated Centers took home two awards that utilized ACCESS resources. Here are the awards that recognized work done on resources allocated through ACCESS:

Editors’ Choice Award: Best Use of HPC in Industry

Carnegie Mellon researchers used Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center Bridges-2 system to create a virtual water treatment plant, enabling AI to learn from veteran engineers’ responses to simulated breakdowns. This human-AI knowledge sharing aims to train new engineers and address potential staff shortages in water treatment facilities.

ACCESS Allocation: CIV220006

Editors’ Choice: Best Use Of AI Methods for Augmenting HPC Applications

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon and the University of British Columbia used AI and HPC to identify potential inhibitors for LRRK2, the primary genetic cause of familial Parkinson’s disease. Using computing resources at PSC and the San Diego Supercomputer Center, their method narrowed 4.5 billion molecules to 14 promising candidates, potentially accelerating drug discovery for the disease affecting over 500,000 Americans.

ACCESS Allocation: MCB180173

You can find the full list of award winners on the HPCwire website.


About HPCwire

HPCwire is the number one news and information resource covering the fastest computers in the world and the people who run them. With a legacy dating back to 1986, HPCwire has enjoyed a legacy of world-class editorial and journalism, making it the news source of choice selected by science, technology, and business professionals interested in high-performance and data-intensive computing.

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