3608 - 33 Street NW [email protected] Calgary, AB www.westgrid.ca Design: Grin Design House Inc. >driving{big}science; T2L 2A6 @WestGrid Printing: Sundog Printing WestGrid.2010.Annual.Report UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA

ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH UNIVERSITY COLUMBIA OF VICTORIA SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF THE BANFF SASKATCHEWAN CENTRE UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE OF MANITOBA UNIVERSITY OF REGINA BRANDON UNIVERSITY

WestGrid is one of seven partner consortia that make up Compute Canada, a national platform that integrates high performance computing (HPC) resources to create a dynamic computational resource. Compute Canada brings together HPC, data resources and tools, and academic research facilities from around the country. WestGrid encompasses 14 partner institutions across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The consortium provides resources and services such as computing facilities, software, data storage, grid tools, training facilitation and visualization. Compute Canada and WestGrid have built a user community across Canada in disciplines ranging from the sciences and engineering to arts and humanities. This community is supported by a distributed team of technical staff and system architects.

2 >contents;

MISSION AND VISION 4 EXECUTIVE MESSAGE 5 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 6 HIGHLIGHTS 8 RESOURCES 10 USAGE AND STORAGE 14 RESEARCHER INTERVIEWS 16 STAFF AND COMMITTEES 26 FINANCIALS 28 PARTNERS 29

3 >mission;

To create a world-class sustained Western Canadian platform of shared HPC resources and foster a community of knowledgeable personnel that is accessible by researchers in all disciplines, independent of resource or researcher location. WestGrid also aims to promote HPC nationally and internationally within the Compute Canada framework.

>vision;

To advance research, support and accelerate innovation and excellence, develop highly qualified personnel, and ensure a competitive advantage and economic prosperity for the well- being of Canadians, as well as promote their well-being through the effective use of HPC.

4 Aside from our facilities, WestGrid’s ability to serve and support big science and data-intensive research stems from the strength of our distributed support team.

>executive.message;

HPC continues to magnify and multiply our capabilities to research – WestGrid welcomed Patrick O’Leary to provide tackle large-scale research challenges. Since 2004, when leadership and project management for the operations staff WestGrid’s first machines came online, we have witnessed and site team leaders. The WestGrid Executive would also the essential value of these resources continually grow. What like to thank each of the individuals acknowledged in the Staff is different now – and what we view as the “new” era of HPC – and Committees section of this report – from the front-line is the changing scale of today’s research investigations. support to the financial personnel at each partner institution. Their dedication and excellence allow WestGrid to operate Big questions. Big challenges. Big data. Big compute. These smoothly and effectively. are now common terms within WestGrid’s user communities, where petabytes and petaflops are becoming everyday orders The WestGrid Executive would also like to acknowledge of magnitude. In 2009, Microsoft Research identified this shift the forward-thinking strategies and dedication of many key as an emergence into a “fourth paradigm” for science based players in Canada’s innovation sector. Building a national HPC on data-intensive computing. While these scaled-up activities platform cannot be done by one organization alone. Compute are exciting, they also bring a new set of challenges and Canada’s evolution has truly been a collaborative effort, and demands for the tools and resources supporting them. Simply one in which WestGrid is proud to take part. Looking ahead, ramping up compute is not always the answer. Big data also WestGrid will continue to work closely with Compute Canada brings big requirements for storage, sharing, analyzing and and the other regional consortia to align Canada’s HPC visualizing. resources and better support researchers from coast to coast.

Currently, WestGrid systems support more than 1,800 In Western Canada, WestGrid’s success is due to its strong registered users and 760 project groups – and these numbers working relationships with its four provincial Optical Regional continue to grow. Purchases made last year added new Advanced Network (ORAN) partners: MRnet (Manitoba), resources to four of our partner institutions, and additional SRnet (Saskatchewan), Cybera (Alberta) and BCNET facilities at other institutions are due to be brought online (British Columbia), and 14 partner institutions. Other key this summer and into the fall. WestGrid’s collaboration collaborators from the 2010/11 year have been WestGrid’s infastructure has also expanded as nine of its partner vendor partners – HP, IBM, SGI and Dell – as well as CANARIE institutions have joined WestGrid’s network of interactive and the Canadian University Council of Chief Information Access Grid videoconferencing facilities. More details on Officers (CUCCIO), who have both been instrumental in all WestGrid infrastructure roll-outs can be found in the helping advance Canadian digital infrastructure. Resources section of this report. Lastly, WestGrid would like to acknowledge its users, who Aside from our facilities, WestGrid’s ability to serve and are an essential part of the HPC framework. Your research support big science and data-intensive research stems from challenges – all sizes – set the bar for achievement, and the strength of our distributed support team. These personnel together our successes have the potential to impact the lives play a critical role in ensuring that researchers make the most of all Canadians. of WestGrid’s resources and that our facilities are responsive to users’ needs. In January – after an extensive search for an individual with specific qualities in high-level leadership and

5 >executive.committee;

BYRON SOUTHERN Paul Lu UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA Byron Southern joined the Department Paul Lu is an Associate Professor in the of Physics and Astronomy at the Department of Computing Science at University of Manitoba in 1979 the University of Alberta. His research following appointments at Imperial is in the area of HPC, including College in London, United Kingdom, algorithms, bioinformatics, virtual and the Institut Laue-Langevin in machines and cloud computing. Grenoble, France. He has been a user of various computational In 2004, Lu’s research group created a pan-Canadian resources for more than 40 years, beginning with the IBM metacomputer across 19 universities and 22 administrative 360 architecture he worked with at York University as a domains, known as the Canadian Internetworked Scientific summer undergraduate research student. Subsequently, Supercomputer. He also co-coached the University of Alberta he used HPC resources in France, England and Canada. He team that won the first annual Cluster Computing Challenge is also a member of the National Initiatives Committee of at Supercomputing 2007. Compute Canada. Peter Tieleman Tony Kusalik UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY UNIVERSITY OF SASKATCHEWAN Peter Tieleman studied physical Tony Kusalik is a Professor in the chemistry at the University of Department of Computer Science Groningen in the Netherlands, where at the University of Saskatchewan. he obtained his PhD under the There, he is also an Associate supervision of Herman Berendsen, Member of the School of Public one of the pioneers of biomolecular Health, a Member of the Division of simulation. After a year as a European Molecular Biology Biomedical Engineering, and Director of the Bioinformatics Organization (EMBO) fellow at the University of Oxford in Program in the College of Arts and Science. Kusalik’s research Mark Sansom’s research group, Tieleman joined the University interests range from logic programming and operating of Calgary. Since 2005, he has been a Professor in the systems, to computational biology; however, his main focus Department of Biological Sciences and an Alberta Heritage is on bioinformatics, specifically immuno-informatics. Foundation for Medical Research (AHFMR) – now Alberta Innovates - Health Solutions – Senior Scholar, working in the areas of biomolecular simulation and computational biology, and is now an AHFMR Scientist. Among his distinctions are an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, the Royal Society of Canada’s Rutherford Memorial Medal in Chemistry, and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Steacie Memorial Fellowship.

6 Mark Thachuk Dugan O’Neil UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Mark Thachuk is an Associate Dugan O’Neil is an Associate Professor Professor in the Department of in the Department of Physics at Simon Chemistry at the University of British Fraser University. His research is in Columbia. He received his PhD from particle physics at the energy frontier. the University of Waterloo. Thachuk’s He has an MSc from the University of research in chemistry has led to many Alberta and a PhD from the University publications, resulting in fundamental contributions to the of Victoria. In 2003, O’Neil founded a Canadian consortium understanding of the theory and computer simulation of the on the D0 Experiment, a worldwide collaboration of scientists dynamics of gas phase ions. conducting research on the fundamental nature of matter. His group used WestGrid resources at the University of British Nikitas Dimopoulos Columbia and Simon Fraser University to process hundreds UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA of terabytes of raw data from the experiment. The output Nikitas Dimopoulos is a Professor was utilized to find the first evidence of single top quark in the Department of Electrical production in 2006, and to observe the process in 2009. and Computer Engineering at His research now focuses on finding new physics using the the University of Victoria. His ATLAS experiment at CERN. He currently serves as Deputy research is in the general area of Spokesperson for the ATLAS-Canada collaboration. computer engineering. Dimopoulos is specifically interested in computer architecture, parallel Keith Archer computer systems, neural networks, power aware systems, THE BANFF CENTRE and the grid. He joined the University of Victoria in 1988 after Keith Archer is the Director of spending a year at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Research at The Banff Centre and USA. Prior to this, he held academic appointments with serves as the representative of the Concordia University in Montreal. Dimopoulos is a registered non-major partner institutions on Professional Engineer in British Columbia and Fellow of the the WestGrid Member Council. Engineering Institute of Canada. He holds the Lansdowne His academic training is in political Chair in Computer Engineering. science and he holds an appointment as a Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary.

7 >highlights;

>03.2011; >01.2011;

From March to April 2011, WestGrid and Compute three seminars are held as Canada welcome Patrick part of WestGrid’s Spring O’Leary as the new Seminar Series. They are Director of Operations shared across participating for WestGrid. O’Leary institutions via Access provides leadership and Grid videoconferencing technology. The series provides project management for WestGrid operations staff a venue to educate users on WestGrid equipment and and site team leaders at the 14 partner institutions. He explore how WestGrid and Compute Canada resources relocated from Wyoming, USA. help advance research investigations in the fields of science, engineering, medicine and the humanities. Compute Canada announces the results of its National Resource Allocations 2011. This program is designed Compute Canada and to award both computational time as well as additional CANARIE announce HPC storage to researchers and research groups, based on and storage facilities will scientific merit. Researchers who require more resources be used in CANARIE’s than they would normally receive under standard access new Digital Accelerator policies are invited to participate. for Innovation and Research (DAIR) program. The Compute Canada – >12.2010; WestGrid node will be hosted at the University of Alberta. The Compute Canada – Réseau québécois de calcul de The new HPC system, haute performance (RQCHP) node will be hosted at Lattice, located at the the University of Sherbrooke. The DAIR program helps University of Calgary, small and medium-sized ICT companies create new, is made available to complex, large-scale products - and demonstrate them Compute Canada users. to customers - without having to build costly R&D Lattice is comprised of infrastructure themselves. 4,096 Nehalem low-power compute cores contained within 512 individual nodes. This compute resource, when >02.2011; coupled with QDR InfiniBand and an IBRIX scalable parallel file system, is especially suited to parallel applications Grex, the new HPC in areas such as chemistry, chemical and petroleum system at the University of engineering, astronomy and biological sciences. Manitoba, is operational. Grex is an SGI Altix XE >10.2010; 1300 cluster with 316 computational nodes, each From October to December 2010, five seminars are equipped with two Intel X5650 2.66 gigahertz six-core held as part of the WestGrid Fall Seminar Series. A new processors, 48 GB of memory and 250 GB of node-local format is tested in which each speaker presents their scratch disk space. In addition, there is 120 TB of shared research in one session, followed by a complementary storage. For more information on this system, please refer “how to” technical session. The WestGrid Seminar Series to this report’s Resources section. is open to all users and researchers in Canada. They are broadcast across western Canada using Access Grid videoconferencing technologies.

8 >08.2010; >05.2010;

WestGrid installs graphics Compute Canada hosts a town hall meeting on May processing units (GPUs) 6 at the University of British Columbia to share and on a number of nodes on discuss the strategic direction and organization of the University of Alberta’s Compute Canada. A number of key issues are discussed, Checkers cluster. By including the distribution of computing resources, the connecting to the GPU-enabled nodes, researchers at continuing development of the national HPC platform, remote sites can render large data sets interactively and other measures that will give Canadian researchers from their desktops. The upgraded nodes also provide a a competitive advantage through HPC. platform for exploring the use of GPUs for accelerating general scientific computations. Hydra, the old visualization server, is decommissioned. WestGrid presents at the BCNET/CANARIE 2010 Conference. The event, set at Simon Fraser University in Hermes and Nestor, located at the University of Vancouver, BC, draws more than 200 attendees including Victoria, are installed and made available>07.2010; to users. researchers, IT professionals and students. WestGrid Nestor, designed for large, hosts four guest speakers in two sessions: Shared HPC computationally intensive Services in Health R&D and Why Humanities Should parallel processes, has Harness the Power of HPC. WestGrid’s annual general 2,304 processor cores and meeting takes place alongside the BCNET/CANARIE uses a non-blocking QDR 2010 conference. InfiniBand network for high-speed communication between collaborating nodes. >04.2010; For serial jobs, Hermes provides 672 cores and a bonded gigabit Ethernet network, and also hosts a Nimbus cloud The University of Manitoba collaboration facility is computing environment. Hermes and Nestor provide completed and opened to users. The facility features a access to 654 TB of usable storage for user data, software stereoscopic projector for visualization purposes, three and system-wide scratch space. For more information on video cameras, three projectors, and also supports these systems, refer to this report’s Resources section. Access Grid and IOCOM videoconferencing. Since opening, the room is regularly used for interactive multi- point videoconferencing by faculty members, including Breezy is opened to users. The new system, hosted at the broadcasting sessions of the WestGrid Seminar Series University of Lethbridge, is a Linux AMD Istanbul cluster and hosting WestGrid committee meetings. with large-memory nodes connected by InfiniBand. Breezy is a 16-node computing cluster with 24 cores >02.2010; per node. Each node has 256 gigabytes of RAM, making the system suitable for running applications with large A reception is held at memory requirements. the University of Victoria to celebrate a nearly $8 >05.2010; million investment into the university’s HPC WestGrid provides access to two computing nodes resources, made possible on Checkers for Mind the Gap: Bridging HPC and the by WestGrid, Compute Canada, the Canada Foundation Humanities, a workshop at the University of Alberta. The for Innovation, the Government of British Columbia and workshop is the first output of a seed project aiming to IBM. facilitate the advancement of a common research agenda for humanities specialists across Canada, as well as spark dialogue between humanities faculty and researchers/ staff associated with HPC at the University of Alberta.

9 >resources;

WestGrid Compute - Driving Big Science

WestGrid computing facilities are distributed among multiple provider sites and connected via high-speed research networks, allowing users to access the system that best suits their computing needs, regardless of where it is physically located. WestGrid operates several types of computing systems, including those capable of running serial and parallel code (both shared and distributed memory programs). WestGrid makes a conscious effort to provide the necessary balance of resources to better serve researchers across Canada.

>breezy, university of lethbridge;

COMPUTE 16 Nodes - Appro Supermicro • Four 2.4 GHz 6-core AMD Istanbul processors per node • 256 GB of RAM per compute node • 20 Gb/s 4X DDR InfiniBand interconnect STORAGE • 30 TB

>bugaboo, simon fraser university;

COMPUTE 160 Nodes - 10 Dell chassis with 16 blades • Two 2.67 GHz quad-cores Intel Xeon E5430 processors per node • 16 GB of RAM compute node • 20 Gb/s DDR InfiniBand interconnect STORAGE • DDN 861 TB

10 >checkers, university of alberta;

COMPUTE 160 Nodes - SGI Altix XE320 • Two 2.5 GHz Intel quad-cores E5420 processors per node • 16 GB of RAM per compute node • 20 Gb/s DDR InfiniBand interconnect GPUs • Four NVIDIA Quadro Plex 2200 S4 (each with 4GB Quadro FX 5800 GPUs) STORAGE • SGI 102 TB

>grex, university of manitoba;

COMPUTE 316 Nodes - SGI Altix XE 1300 • Two 2.66 GHz six-cores Intel Xeon X5650 processing per node • 48 GB of RAM per compute node • 40 Gb/s 4X QDR InfiniBand interconnect STORAGE • DDN 120 TB

>hermes, university of victoria;

COMPUTE 84 Nodes IBM iDataplex • Two 2.67 GHz quad-cores Intel Xeon X5550 processors per node • 24 GB of RAM per compute node • 2 Gb/s Bonded GE interconnect STORAGE • DDN 655 TB shared with Nestor

>lattice, university of calgary;

COMPUTE 512 Nodes 128 HP DL1000 chassis with four nodes each • Two 2.27 GHz quad-cores Intel Xeon L5520 processors per node • 12 GB of RAM per compute node • 40 Gb/s QDR InfiniBand interconnect STORAGE • HP 75 TB

11 >nestor, university of victoria;

COMPUTE 288 Nodes IBM iDataplex • Two 2.67 GHz quad-cores Intel Xeon X5550 processors per node • 24 GB of RAM per compute node • 40 Gb/s QDR InfiniBand interconnect STORAGE • DDN 655 TB shared with Hermes

>orcinus, university of british columbia;

COMPUTE 384 Nodes - 12 HP chassis with 16 blades each has two nodes • Two 3.0 GHz quad-cores Intel Xeon E5450 processors per node • 16 GB of RAM per compute node • 20 Gb/s DDR InfiniBand interconnect STORAGE • IBM 28 TB

>silo, university of saskatchewan;

STORAGE • Dual IBM/DDN DSC9900 Controllers • DDN 1.35 PB

NEW RESOURCES (WESTGRID PURCHASES) INSTALLATIONS IN PROGRESS • Breezy Simon Fraser University is adding to Bugaboo: • Grex • 1.5 PB storage • Hermes • 3,048 computational cores • Lattice • Nestor The University of British Columbia is adding to Orcinus: • 0.87 PB of storage upgrade for Silo • 0.75 PB storage • 6,528 computational cores

12 >collaboration.facilities;

To meet the needs of collaborative scientific computing, WestGrid has deployed collaboration resources at many of its partner institutions. The consortium also provides personnel distributed across WestGrid institutions to support researchers in their use of these facilities. WestGrid maintains collaboration facilities at the following institutions:

• Athabasca University

• Simon Fraser University

• The Banff Centre

• TRIUMF

• University of Alberta

• University of British Columbia

• University of British Columbia - Okanagan

• University of Calgary

• University of Lethbridge

• University of Manitoba

• University of Saskatchewan

13 >usage;

Saskatchewan Quebec USAGE BY PROVINCE (%) Nova Scotia Manitoba

Ontario Alberta 49% British Columbia 36% Ontario 5% Manitoba 3% Nova Scotia 3% Saskatchewan 3% Quebec 1% Newfoundland <1%

British Other <1% Columbia Alberta

600 Computer and USAGE BY DISCIPLINE (%) Information Science Astronomy Other Environmental and500 Chemistry and Earth Sciences Biochemistry Chemistry and Biochemistry 43% Biological and 400 Life Sciences Physics 20% 300 Engineering 15%

200 Biological and Life Sciences 10% Environmental and Earth Science 4% 100 Astronomy 3% Engineering 0 Computer and Information Science 2% Psychology <1% 350 Mathematics and Statistics <1% 300 Medical Science <1% 250 Physics Humanities <1% 200 Business <1% 600 150 Social Science <1%

500 100 Other 3%

400 50

14 0 300

200

100

0

350

300

250

200

150

100

50

0 >storage;

STORAGE BY PROVINCE

600 British Columbia 536 TB

500 Alberta 89 TB Nova Scotia 16 TB 400 Saskatchewan 11 TB 300 Quebec 3 TB 600 200

500 100

400 0 British Columbia Alberta Nova Scotia Saskatchewan Quebec 300 350 200 300

100 250

2000 STORAGE BY DISCIPLINE

150 350 100 Physics 301 TB 300 Astronomy 177 TB 50 250 Environmental and Earth Science 61 TB 0 200 Chemistry and Biochemistry 43 TB

150 Engineering 27 TB

100 Biological and Life Sciences 22 TB Computer and Information Science 14 TB 50 Mathematics and Statistics 6 TB 0 Physics AstronomyEnvironmentalChemistry and EarthEngineering and ScienceBiochemistryBiological Computerand Life Sciences Mathematicsand InformationOther and Science Statistics Other 4 TB

15 >driving.big.research; Meet some of WestGrid’s User Community

Georg Schreckenbach is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manitoba.

16 >georg.schreckenbach;

Schreckenbach’s research involves the use of WestGrid’s Bugaboo, Checkers,

Q1: Can you describe your research Orcinus and Grex systems. project that makes use of WestGrid? What are the goals of this project?

In general terms, our research can be described as of computational chemistry is inherently demanding in terms computational quantum chemistry, which is using computers of computer power, storage, and so on. Indeed, historically, and the models of quantum mechanics to simulate and computational chemists, such as our group, have often been understand elementary chemical processes. Sometimes I call the largest users of such facilities. it “chemistry in silico”. Specifically, on WestGrid systems, we are working on two separate projects. Had it not been for access to WestGrid and other Compute Canada facilities, I would not have even embarked on the We are testing - or benchmarking - approximate computational computationally intensive projects described, as well as other methods for the simulation of olefin polymerization catalysts similar projects. - what also can be referred to as the production of plastic materials. The benchmarking is necessary since we have Q4: What drew you to this field of research? to apply approximate methods - the problem is just too complex to allow for the application of exact or even nearly The first project basically evolved out of a collaboration with exact approaches - and we need to know how good our Peter Budzelaar, a professor in the Department of Chemistry approximations are. at the University of Manitoba, and colleagues in Naples, Italy. The work is funded by the Dutch Polymer Institute. In addition, we model the interactions of uranium that could have gone into the ground water at nuclear waste repositories The second project is part of a long-term research area in my or mine tailings, with mineral surfaces, specifically titanium group that I can describe as “theoretical actinide molecular oxide. If the radioactive uranium associates strongly with the science”. My motivation for this research area stems from mineral surface, the conclusion is that it is effectively removed both fundamental interest - the chemistry of these heavy from the ground water, and cannot spread any further. elements (uranium, neptunium, plutonium) is quite rich Q2: What long-term impacts could and fascinating, but also challenging and, therefore, under- this research have on the way explored - and practical interest, due to the enormous issues Canadians live, work or play? and challenges surrounding nuclear waste. Regarding the latter, while we don’t pretend our calculations might be key to Our work is basic research. That said, the overall, long-term solving these problems, we believe we can provide data and goal of the first project is the improvement of the way plastic understanding and, thus, make a meaningful contribution. The materials are produced. Likewise, the long-term goal of the specific project, uranium at surfaces, is a logical next step in second project is to come up with a new method for containing this overall research program. and possibly removing radioactive uranium at contaminated sites, such as the mentioned mine tailings in northern Q5: What do you find to be the most Canada. This work, in particular, is done in collaboration with exciting part of your work? experimental researchers at the University of Manitoba, who test such methods in the lab and in the field. For me, the answer is two-fold: the joy of discovery and understanding where there was no understanding before, and Q3: How important is the WestGrid working with the students and post-doctorates; seeing them infrastructure to your research? develop and grow and helping them succeed.

Access to modern state-of-the-art computational infrastructure is crucial for our research since the simulation 17 Left to right: Tomasz Wysokinski, Denise Miller, Dean Chapman, and George Belev, staff and researchers of the BMIT project.

Tomasz Wysokinski is a Staff Scientist for the Biomedical Imaging and Therapy (BMIT) project at the Canadian Light Source (CLS), Canada’s national synchrotron research facility in Saskatchewan.

18 >tomasz.wysokinski;

The BMIT project uses WestGrid’s Silo storage facility at the University of Saskatchewan to store off-site copies of all users’ data, which equals several terabytes per year. The BMIT team is investigating options for implementing parallel data reconstruction algorithms using additional WestGrid systems.

Q1: Can you describe your research project that makes use of WestGrid? Q3: How important is the WestGrid What are the goals of this project? infrastructure to your research?

The BMIT facility is designed for the purpose of imaging Our plans are to include WestGrid infrastructure as a main biological tissues – live animals and potentially even humans method to store and process the large quantity of data that – and conducting radiation therapy research. The facility our users generate. Potentially, it can be developed to the point includes two beamlines that provide access to several new of having a public library of images available to researchers modes of imaging and very high-resolution 3D scans. The across the nation. Access to WestGrid facilities allows us to BMIT group would like to develop a system where WestGrid concentrate efforts on collecting data and developing new is used as a means to transfer and share data between BMIT imaging techniques. researchers from different parts of Canada. In the long-term, Q4: What drew you to this field we are also interested in implementing a nation-wide picture of research? archiving and communication system (PACS) for storing data in a format easily accessible to medical staff. The challenge of developing a world-class facility with unique Q2: What long-term impacts could this synchrotron-specific imaging and therapy capabilities. research have on the way Canadians live, work or play? Q5: What do you find to be the most exciting part of your work? Biomedical beamlines are designed for imaging and therapy research, primarily in biomedical systems such as mice, The variety of experiments that are performed at the humans and horses, as well as tissue specimens, including beamline, the ability to meet world-class scientists plants. Core research programs include human and animal from different fields of science, and the participation in reproduction, cancer imaging and therapy, spinal cord injury experiments where, for the first time, certain methods of and repair, cardiovascular imaging and disease, bone growth imaging are developed and tested. and development, mammography, developmental biology, gene expression research, development of new imaging methods, as well as extending present imaging capabilities. We would like to help scientists and clinicians create a better system for the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases and other health conditions, as well as design new materials that could be used to repair nerve and tissue injuries. 19 Chris Pritchet is a Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria, and Principal Investigator at the Canadian Advanced Network for Astronomical Research (CANFAR), a CANARIE Network- Enabled Platform (NEP) project.

20 >chris.pritchet;

CANFAR uses WestGrid’s Hermes and Nestor systems at the University of Victoria and WestGrid’s Breezy system at the University of Lethbridge to support its research activities.

Q1: Can you describe your research project that makes use of WestGrid? Q4: What drew you to this field What are the goals of this project? of research?

CANFAR is a network-enabled platform (NEP) developed for I have always been interested in astronomical computing. the processing, storage, analysis, and sharing of very large In astronomy, as in many scientific disciplines, there are astronomical datasets. The project is managed by scientists at fundamental questions we are trying to answer, such as the University of Victoria, the University of British Columbia, “Where did the universe come from?” How we probe these and the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC) at the questions in detail is impacted by our access to computational Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics. There are six astronomical resources. As data is acquired, we need computer power to computing research projects, all under the Canadian harness the data from telescopes. These are the main drivers Advanced Network For Astronomical Research (CANFAR), behind our work. that are using a cloud computing environment. The software Q5: What do you find to be the most being developed for this cloud environment will hopefully be exciting part of your work? applied to many other projects in the future. The involvement of CADC is a critical part of this work. Seeing and producing scientific results, as well as making Q2: How important is the WestGrid discoveries that impact life-changing questions. Even the infrastructure to your research? smallest discoveries get everyone really excited, and that is what drives us to keep moving forward with our work. Cloud computing is the way of the future. There are already many projects taking place around the world where astronomical data are being processed by cloud computing, and this research is paving the way for more of that technology to be used.

Q3: Has access to WestGrid facilities enabled you to attract researchers to your institution, or enabled your local research team to collaborate with other international groups or projects?

The connection to CANARIE’s NEP grant has helped attract attention to our project, and that interest is growing. The project would definitely not be feasible without WestGrid resources, as those have enabled us to obtain support for our work. 21 Dennis Salahub is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Biocomplexity and Informatics, as well as the Institute for Sustainable Energy, Environment and Economy at the University of Calgary.

22 >dennis.salahub;

Salahub’s research involves the use of WestGrid’s Lattice system, but in the past, his team has also used Orcinus, Glacier and Matrix.

Q1: Can you describe your research project that makes use of WestGrid? Q4: What drew you to this field What are the goals of this project? of research?

We are developing multi-scale methodologies for The challenge of complex and multi-scale modeling. Over the computational modeling of complex systems, with years, computational methodology and computer power have applications for biology and heavy oil upgrading. These advanced. Now, we can use different methods in an integrative methods combine quantum mechanics with molecular approach, allowing length and time scales - spanning several mechanics. This allows us to focus computationally–intensive orders of magnitude - to be brought together to yield real quantum mechanics on just the parts of the system where insight into how the system works. chemical bonds are being made or broken. Q5: What do you find to be the most exciting part of your work? Our biology project is aimed at understanding the mechanism of transcription, the enzymatic process in which messenger Realizing there is a way to understand something that a few RNA is produced according to the genetic code. years ago would have been impossible to contemplate, and working with colleagues, post-docs and students who bring Our heavy oil upgrading project is aimed at improving the with them different backgrounds and perspectives. nano-scale catalysts used to upgrade heavy oil, with particular interest on environmentally friendly processes.

Q2: What long-term impacts could this research have on the way Canadians live, work or play?

The end goals are new therapeutics (drugs) and more efficient catalysts for upgrading heavy oil. Our models will contribute to the design of these new materials, resulting in a positive impact on health, the environment and the economy.

Q3: How important is the WestGrid infrastructure to your research?

We absolutely could not carry out these projects without substantial access to WestGrid. It has helped us to collaborate extensively on an international basis. The biological modeling is done in collaboration with colleagues in France. The heavy oil work is supported by a National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Inter-Americas Research in Materials Science grant. This involves colleagues in Mexico and Brazil, as well as our experimental colleagues here at the University of Calgary. 23 Jack Chen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry at Simon Fraser University, a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar, and a Canadian Institutes of Health Research New Investigator.

24 >jack.chen;

Chen is using WestGrid’s Bugaboo system for his research in genomic architecture and expression.

Q1: Can you describe your research project that makes use of WestGrid? Q3: How important is the WestGrid What are the goals of this project? infrastructure to your research?

My research group uses WestGrid facilities for a few projects, WestGrid is critical to our research on genomics, as the all of which involve genome analysis. The goal is to identify volume of genomic sequences is large, and beyond the power critical genomic differences that may underlie functional of normal computers or computer clusters to process. We can differences between various individuals or species. no longer host, manage, or analyze genomics data using small lab computer clusters. Additionally, our access to WestGrid In one project, we aim to identify genomic differences that resources has enabled us to expand the scope of our research are responsible for the virulence of malaria parasites, which and initiate collaborative work with scientists in China. will facilitate the identification of drug targets and subsequent drug design. In another project, we aim to identify genomic Q4: What drew you to this field of research? differences in worms, which will be analyzed in molecular biology studies for their role in defining the adaptation of Genomics is an interesting and dynamic field. It has the worms in different environments. This effort will shed light potential to solve major puzzles in biology and medicine. on worm speciation and, more importantly, the impact of environmental factors on the fitness of worms. We are also Q5: What do you find to be the most working towards the identification of genomic factors that exciting part of your work? drive the formation of cancer cells. My work has a dynamic and unpredictable nature, as well as Q2: What long-term impacts could the chance to have an important impact on medicine. this research have on the way Canadians live, work or play?

Malaria parasites are no longer a major threat to Canadians, but they can emerge as a threat if our living environment deteriorates. However, malaria continues to be a major threat to lives in developing countries in Africa and Asia. Access to WestGrid facilities has enabled us to investigate this disease as well as others that have an effect on human life. This includes a collaborative project involving liver cancer genomics research. 25 >staff+committees;

MEMBER COUNCIL

Howard Brunt University of Victoria Vice-President (Research) John Hepburn University of British Columbia Vice-President (Research) Mario Pinto Simon Fraser University Vice-President (Research) Gail Fondahl University of Northern British Columbia Vice-President (Research) Daniel Weeks University of Lethbridge Vice-President (Research) Jon Meddings University of Calgary Interim Vice-President (Research) Mary Hofstetter The Banff Centre President and Chief Executive Officer Lorne Babiuk University of Alberta Vice-President (Research) Rory McGreal Athabasca University Acting Vice-President (Research) Rod Kelln University of Regina Acting Vice-President (Research) Karen Chad University of Saskatchewan Vice-President (Research) Digvir Jayas University of Manitoba Vice-President (Research) Neil Bessner The University of Winnipeg Vice-President (Research) Scott Grills Brandon University Vice-President (Research)

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE TECHNICAL SUPPORT TEAM

Nikitas Dimopoulos University of Victoria Ryan Enge University of Victoria Mark Thachuk University of British Columbia Belaid Moa University of Victoria Dugan O’Neil Simon Fraser University Ryan Taylor University of Victoria Peter Tieleman (Chair) University of Calgary Brent Gawryluik University of British Columbia Paul Lu University of Alberta Ataollah Roudgar Simon Fraser University Tony Kusalik University of Saskatchewan Lixin Liu Simon Fraser University Byron Southern University of Manitoba Sergey Chelsky Simon Fraser University Keith Archer The Banff Centre David Schulz University of Calgary Brian Corrie WestGrid Doug Phillips University of Calgary Jill Kowalchuk WestGrid Kim Wagstaff University of Calgary Rob Simmonds WestGrid Robert Fridman University of Calgary Stephen Cartwright University of Calgary Denise Thornton University of Alberta ACCESS GRID TECHNICAL SUPPORT (AGTECH) Chris Want University of Alberta Edmund Sumbar University of Alberta Brian Corrie Simon Fraser University /WestGrid Jon Johnsson University of Alberta Jason Hlady University of Saskatchewan Kamil Marchinkowski University of Alberta Jon Johansson University of Alberta Maryia Maizlin University of Alberta Jonatan Aronsson University of Manitoba Maseo Fujinaga University of Alberta Luke Tymowski University of Calgary Terry McGuire University of Alberta Roman Baranowski University of British Columbia Erming Pei University of Alberta Ron Manke Athabasca University Jennifer Hadley University of Saskatchewan Terence McGuire University of Alberta Sean Cavanaugh University of Saskatchewan Todd Zimmerman UBC Okanagan / WestGrid Micah Gerlach-Miller University of Manitoba Tyler Heaton University of Lethbridge Chris McCann University of Manitoba Brian Greenberg University of Manitoba Jonatan Aronsson University of Manitoba *The Technical Support Team also includes all members of the Technical Site Leads Committee and all WestGrid staff. 26 STAFF FINANCIAL COMMITTEE

Brian Corrie Collaboration and Visualization Coordinator Bob Hollmann Athabasca University Jill Kowalchuk Executive Director Al Dunthorne Brandon University Patrick O’Leary Director of Operations Erin Zurawski Brandon University Rob Simmonds Chief Technology Officer Judy Lew Simon Fraser University Todd Zimmerman Collaboration and Visualization Specialist Leann Liew Simon Fraser University Norris Weimer Operations Manager Martin Siegert Simon Fraser University Pat Nickel Simon Fraser University SENIOR PLANNING COMMITTEE (SPC) Reiko Andrew Simon Fraser University Cindy Schatkoski The Banff Centre Dugan O’Neil Simon Fraser University Doug Edge The University of Winnipeg Gino DiLabio University of Alberta Andrea Smart University of Alberta Mark Thachuk University of British Columbia Lynda Brulotte University of Alberta Nikitas Dimopoulos (Chair) University of Victoria Neil Sulakhe University of Alberta Peter Graham University of Manitoba Trudy Smith University of Alberta Rob Simmonds WestGrid Janet Lodge University of British Columbia Sergei Noskov University of Calgary Roman Baranowski University of British Columbia Martin Siegert (rep. Site Leads) Simon Fraser University Rowena Wong University of British Columbia Sharon Wu University of British Columbia TECHNICAL SITE LEADS Aneta Douglass University of Northern British Columbia Evelyn Evens University of Northern British Columbia Drew Leske University of Victoria Sean Kinsley University of Northern British Columbia Roman Baranowski University of British Columbia Cordana Mak University of Calgary Martin Siegert Simon Fraser University Ross Hill University of Calgary Jeremiah Merkl University of Lethbridge Sandra Jones University of Calgary Paul Wellings University of Calgary Ana Wang University of Calgary Waldemar Lysz University of Alberta Mark Sera University of Lethbridge Jason Hlady University of Saskatchewan Maureen Eyolfson University of Manitoba David Anthony Wyatt University of Manitoba Tracy Mohr University of Manitoba Patrick O’Leary (Chair) WestGrid Don Landry University of Regina Rob Simmonds WestGrid Marci Main University of Saskatchewan Julie Tsui University of Saskatchewan RESOURCE ALLOCATION COMMITTEE (RAC)* Sandy Bligh University of Victoria Jill Kowalchuk WestGrid Andrei Frolov Simon Fraser University Dugan O’Neil Simon Fraser University ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT Seamus O’Shea University of Lethbridge Cybera is a not-for-profit organization that works to Peter Kusalik University of Calgary spur and support innovation, for the economic benefit Dennis Salahub University of Calgary of Alberta, through the use of cyberinfrastructure. Bart Hazes University of Alberta Cybera provides project management to WestGrid, Yuanming Pan University of Saskatchewan specifically by coordinating WestGrid’s financial, Kevin Stanley University of Saskatchewan administrative and communications activities. Stanimir Bonev Dalhousie University Jill Kowalchuk WestGrid Rob Simmonds WestGrid *Works in conjunction with the Compute Canada Resource Allocation Committee. 27 >financials;

REVENUES TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET ACTUALS TO MARCH 31, 2011

Canada Foundation for Innovation 20,000,000 17,999,397

Government of Alberta 6,750,000 4,293,083

BC Government 9,375,000 6,273,290

Government of Manitoba 1,937,500 1,937,500

Government of Saskatchewan 1,937,500 1,937,500

Western Economic Diversification 750,350 750,350

Private Sector 10,510,674 16,295,945

Institutions 989,831 1,109,622

52,250,855 50,596,687

EXPENSES TOTAL PROJECT BUDGET ACTUALS TO MARCH 31, 2011

High Performance Computing 32,110,071 21,335,005

Collaboration/Visualization 2,192,100 1,283,542

Storage 9,906,051 8,076,595

Personnel 1,000,000 540,869

Software 1,031,000 360,055

Warranties 780,452 2,891,815

Renovations 5,240,181 5,270,942

52,250,855 40,758,823

*All figures are unaudited *Total project budget amended April 2011 - approved by Canada Foundation for Innovation

28 >partners;

29 3608 - 33 Street NW [email protected] Calgary, AB www.westgrid.ca Design: Grin Design House Inc. >driving{big}science; T2L 2A6 @WestGrid Printing: Sundog Printing WestGrid.2010.Annual.Report