PSAAP IV Kickoff Meeting

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

7:30 am | Registration and Breakfast

Welcome and Program Overview | Tim Germann, LANL

8:30 am | DOE NNSA Welcome | Stephen Rinehart, National Nuclear Security Administration, NA-114

8:40 am | ASC(I) and the Academic Alliance Program | Thuc Hoang, National Nuclear Security Administration, NA-114

9:05 am | PSAAP IV and Academic Programs Update | David Etim, National Nuclear Security Administration, NA-114

Predictive Simulation Centers (PSCs) | David Etim, NNSA

9:15 am | Center for Multiscale Modeling of Multiphase Combustion (CM3C) | S. “Bala” Balachandar, University of Florida

9:45 am | Center for AI-enabled Exascale Prediction of Long-time Events in Multimaterial Shock-assisted Chemical Reactions | Venkat Raman, University of Michigan

10:15 am | Break

10:30 am | Center for the Exascale Simulation of Coupled High Enthalpy Fluid-Solid Interactions, Raúl Radovitzky | Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

11:00 am | Center for Advancing the Radiation Resilience of Electronics (CARRE) | Todd Palmer, Oregon State University 

11:30 am | Center for Stochastic Simulations of Ablative Geometries with Error-Learning in Space and Time | Xinfeng Gao, University of Virginia

12:00 pm | Lunch 

Focused Investigatory Centers (FICs) | John Feddema, SNL

1:30 pm | Center for Information Geometric Mechanics and Optimization (CIGMO) | Brendan Keith, Brown University 

1:50 pm | Exascale Driven Topology Optimization of Nonlinear Metamaterial Systems under Impact, enabled by Machine Learning Accelerated Meshfree Modeling Methods | H. Alicia Kim, University of California, San Diego

2:10 pm | High Order Plasma Turbulence Modeling for Z-Pinch | Andrew Christlieb | Michigan State University

2:30 pm | Center for Optimized Modern Parallel Adaptive System Software (COMPASS) | Patrick Bridges
University of New Mexico

2:50 pm | Break 

Laboratory / ASC Program Overviews | Erik Draeger, LLNL

3:15 pm | Los Alamos National Laboratory | Scott Doebling

3:45 pm | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory | Jamie Bramwell

4:15 pm | Sandia National Laboratories | Lance Hutchinson

5:00 pm | Reception | No-host bar

6:00 pm | Dinner | Buffet dinner and no-host bar

Wednesday, August 27, 2025

7:30 am | Registration and Breakfast

PSAAP Program Operations | David Etim, NNSA

8:30 am | Putting the Cooperation in Cooperative Agreements| Tim Germann, Los Alamos National Laboratory

8:45 am | Computational Resources, SARAPE, and the CRT | Tim Fahey, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Amanda Sena, Sandia National Laboratories

9:15 am | Student Internships | Moderator: Tim Germann, Los Alamos National Laboratory

A discussion of required 10-week PSAAP student internships from the perspective of former interns, Lab mentors, and university Center PI/thesis advisors

Panelists:

  • Georges Akiki:
    • 2016 PhD Florida (Mechanical Engineering), LANL internship
    • 2016, LANL postdoc
    • 2018-19, LLNL staff
    • 2021-present
  • Patrick Bridges:
    • PSAAP III PI, UNM CUP-ECS FIC
  • Jimmy Carleton:
    • 2015 PhD Texas (Computational Science, Engineering, and Mathematics)
    • LLNL internship
    • SNL staff 2015-present
  • Robert Knaus:
    • 2015 PhD Illinois (Mechanical Engineering) 
    • SNL internship 2014
    • SNL postdoc/staff 2015-present
  • Christine Wu:
    • LLNL staff
    • Lab internship mentor

10:00 am | Break

Technical Challenges and Opportunities | Fernando Grinstein, LANL

10:15 am | Exascale Computing and El Capitan | Judith Hill, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

10:45 am | Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification | Greg Weirs, Sandia National Laboratories

11:15 am | Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning | Juston Moore | Los Alamos National Laboratory

11:45 am | Lunch |

Keynote Speaker, Kimberly S. Budil | Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

1:15 pm | TriLab Sponsor Team Panel Discussion | Moderator: Erik Draeger | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

A panel of experienced PSAAP PIs and TST members discuss various ways the TST members and meetings can be utilized

Moderator and Panelists:

  • Erik Draeger:
    • PSAAP II TST Chair, U. Utah CCMSC
    • PSAAP III TST Chair, MIT CESMIX SDC
    • AST Member
  • S. “Bala” Balachandar:
    • PSAAP II PI, U. Florida CCMT SDC
  • Youssef Marzouk: 
    • PSAAP III PI, MIT CESMIX SDC
  • Todd Palmer:
    • PSAAP III PI, Oregon State University CEMeNT FIC
  • Greg Weirs:
    • PSAAP II TST, U. Florida CCMT SDC
    • PSAAP III TST, Buffalo CHREST SDC

2:00 pm | Break

2:15 pm | Individual Center / TST discussions

Breakout session where each Center will meet with their TST.  

Suggested discussion topics:

  • Introductions: Each Center and TST member spends ~5 minutes describing their background, research interests, ongoing projects that may be leveraged, provide opportunities for collaboration, Lab internships, etc.
     
  • Discussion of 5-year Center goals and objectives, including roadmap and (for PSCs) annual predictions, anticipated risks and major research challenges
     
  • Deep dive discussion into selected major research areas, depending on time and those in attendance
     
  • Discussion of Center ramp-up in year 1: student recruitment, onboarding, initial activities and decision points, realistic and stretch goals for the first year’s work that could be presented at the first annual review in Fall 2026.
     
  • Plans for initial on-campus TST meeting in Spring 2026: exploratory studies and assessments that can be presented and discussed, with initial early/baseline results where possible, and refined plans in other cases. Potential dates for such a meeting (2 days for PSCs, 1-1.5 days for FICs) should be identified.

5:00 pm | Adjourn