SciDAC Management Transition

As SciDAC-5 projects kick off, the SciDAC program is in its transition for new management.

After a decade of service as the Program Manager for DOE Office of Science wide SciDAC Program, Dr. Randall Laviolette has retired on Oct 31^st 2022. The BER-ASCR SciDAC Partnership, as part of the SciDAC Program, has been focusing on the Earth System Model advancement and in particular, since 2014, with the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) efforts (formerly known as Accelerated Climate Modeling for Energy (ACME)). By supporting deep, necessary and productive collaborations between BER’s earth science scientists and ASCR’s applied mathematicians and computer scientists, the BER-ASCR SciDAC Partnership has enhanced E3SM capability and accelerated its progress in many ways (e.g., MALI, Islet in this issue). We owe Dr. Laviolette our sincere appreciation for his strategic vision and management, and strong support for ACME and E3SM. Dr. Laviolette will be very much missed by the SciDAC science community and he has our best wishes for the new phase of adventure! Holding a Ph. D in chemistry from UC Berkeley, Dr. Laviolette has worked at Sandia National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Rockwell Science Center and Bell Laboratories before joining DOE headquarters.

Upon Dr. Laviolette’s departure, Dr. Lali Chatterjee has rejoined ASCR as the SciDAC interim Program Manager during the transition. Dr. Chatterjee has been with DOE since 2007. She served as the SciDAC Program Manager before Dr. Laviolette and initiated the icesheet modeling SciDAC effort during the time. Trained as a physicist with a Ph.D. in Particle Physics from Jadavpur University, Dr. Chatterjee has extensive knowledge, experience and skill in science management and finding creative solutions to complex challenges. We welcome Dr. Chatterjee back and look forward to working with her on BER-ASCR SciDAC partnership in advancing E3SM!