Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Getting Unstuck
SCIDAC Outreach Center Brings Solutions to Scientists

Even though it too has a toll-free number (866-470-5547) and e-mail address (help@outreach.SciDAC.gov) for obtaining assistance, the center that David Skinner oversees isn’t quite like the help desks that computer makers run for perplexed users.  For one thing, callers to the SciDAC Outreach Center get better service.  The center is part of the second round of the Department of Energy’s Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC-2) program, which applies computational science to projects in a range of disciplines.  The center is a clearinghouse to disseminate computational tools and techniques SciDAC researchers develop throughout the program’s entire community.

“SciDAC has tried to bring software solutions to scientists and make them easier to use,” says Skinner, the outreach center coordinator and leader of the Open Software and Programming Group at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing (NERSC) Center.  But “Some of the technologies are quite complicated, and having someone who can assist in deploying a high-performance computing software library or a different methodology” is the outreach center’s role.

Skinner and NERSC staff member Andrew Uselton are the only people permanently assigned to the center, but they have access to other NERSC application experts.  More often, the center is an intermediary to connect researchers to each other.

Skinner says the most common thing he hears from researchers is “I’m stuck.”

“That’s the most motivating factor to get people to seek out help, is that they’re bottlenecked or can’t get their research done,” Skinner says.  Researchers contact the center seeking information on new software or technology they might use.  On the other side, researchers also contact the center to offer software solutions.

“We definitely are the matchmaker between producers and requesters of new technology,” Skinner says, but he and Uselton don’t just sit back and wait for calls.  They’re spreading the word, both in person and electronically, about available technologies.  They attend meetings to learn what scientists need and to help them learn new software.  For example, about 100 researchers attended a series of software tutorials the center staged in conjunction with the annual SciDAC conference in Boston in June 2007.

Electronically, the center provides tools for collaboration, including software testing and evaluation, software repositories, and even FAQs.  For example, the center is developing a GForge website for software development activities, including news, downloads, bug reporting, feature tracking and other tools.

The outreach center builds on NERSC’s strong track record, Skinner says.  “We have a lot of experience in bringing people up to speed on parallel computing resources,” he adds, but “The SciDAC Outreach Center has a broader scope than just NERSC.” It will connect researchers with any laboratory or computing center that might have the answers or services they need.

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