As the reign of the IBM Power System AC922 Summit supercomputer at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) was expected to conclude, a surprise extension has granted researchers a significant boon. The Summit supercomputer has continued to operate well beyond its five-year lifecycle into a sixth year due to its continued prowess and utility in scientific inquiry. In a statement obtained by ORNL News, Bronson Messer, director of science at OLCF, voiced the rationale behind this unexpected reprieve, "Summit has been a remarkably successful supercomputer, and there was no reason to limit that success to just five years."
The continued service of the supercomputer has manifested in the form of the SummitPLUS program established in late 2023, according to the same ORNL News report. Researchers from a spectrum of disciplines leaned into the extra computation time on Summit, which was actively giving way to its successor, the Frontier. Despite Summit's staying power, having crossed the threshold into potential outdatedness, it proved instrumental for a bonus year of scientific endeavors spanning brain research to aerospace innovation.
Philip Kurian's work at Howard University, as ORNL News revealed, delivered a striking revelation during Summit's extended run; amyloid fibrils, commonly associated with neurodegenerative diseases, may double as a protective response. Kurian, exploring protein structures at the quantum level, found these fibrils can "superabsorb UV photons" and emit them at safer wavelengths. "Our access to Summit has enabled the numerical simulation of huge mega-architectures of quantum optical networks in eukaryotic protein fibers," Kurian told ORNL News.
Another distinct advancement, as the SummitPLUS program facilitated, came from the aerospace sector. A start-up, Whisper Aero, utilized Summit's capabilities to iterate designs for electric ducted fans and aircraft that are quieter and more efficient. Vineet Ahuja of Whisper Aero stressed the supercomputer's importance to the company's rapid innovation: "This capability enables us to iterate designs very, very quickly." The computing power at hand allowed for complex simulations that have, in effect, reduced developmental cycles by over 20%, suggesting a future of serener skies is closer at hand, as per ORNL News.
The realm of health also witnessed profound insights. The research by the Amaro Lab at the University of California San Diego, which conducted all-atom molecular dynamics simulations on Summit, has shed light on the transmission mechanisms of viruses. They focused on the structure of SARS-CoV-2 within aerosols at various pH levels, aiming to grasp how the virus's stability changes. Rommie Amaro underscored the significance of their work in understanding aerosol transmission, which could pivot public health responses during pandemics. "Our work shows how leadership-class computing facilities will shed new light on scientific challenges," Amaro conveyed via ORNL News.
