Advanced Computing Research Institute Semi-annual Research Activity Report, April 1992 - September 1992

Abstract

The Advanced Computing Research Institute (ACRI) is a unit of the Cornell Theory Center and is affiliated with the Cornell Computer Science Department. The ACRI is concerned with research in scientific computation and its application to engineering and scientific problems. Of particular importance is the use of and potential of advanced computer architectures and environments. Research areas include parallelizing compilers for scientific computation and the design of algorithms for numerical linear algebra, optimization, and partial differential equations. Currently, ACRI researchers are collaborating on several large-scale applications in the computational sciences, including: protein-folding and related molecular chemistry problems, structural optimization and biomechanics, particle methods for turbulent combustion, discrete-control problems, and the application of boundary element methods. The parallel computers available to the ACRI for research include the Theory Center machines - a 64-node KSR computer, an IBM ES/9000, a network of IBM RS/6000s, as well as Computer Science resources: an 8K CM-200, a 32-node Intel iPSC/860, and a 64-node BBN Butterfly. This report consists of two parts. The first part contains a short summary of the progress made in the last six months on each of the four main projects: parallelizing compilers, computational linear algebra, computational optimization, and numerical methods for partial differential equations. Included also are a list of ACRI researchers and their research interests, a list of technical reports produced in the last six months, and a list of ACRI seminars. In the second part we highlight one of the projects, the parallelizing compiler work, where we give a more detailed introduction into this area and sketch our novel approach.