This proposal from Rice University, in collaboration with the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Argonne National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory requests funds to establish a Science and Technology Center for Research on Parallel Computation. The Director of the Center will be Professor Ken Kennedy of Rice University. The principal goal of the Center will be to make parallel computing systems easier to use. To achieve this goal, the Center will attack this problem on many levels by taking advantage of the unique skills of individuals from each of the participating institutions. The complementary areas that will be brought to bear on all aspects of use/application of parallel systems are computer architecture, programming systems, computational mathematics, and scientific applications. In particular, the Center will attack the problem of parallel programming at all levels: application, algorithm, compiler, and machine. Experience must be gained in parallel programming by designing and building new application programs that solve important scientific and engineering problems on parallel machines. New, inherently parallel algorithms must be developed for the fundamental problems of computational mathematics. Programming systems must be developed that permit the computer user to solve problems at a high level of abstraction without compromising efficiency by involvement of the scientist in the architectural details of the system. Finally the technological base in parallel architectures must be continued by engineering shrewd compromises between designs that make use of the underlying components, designs that simplify the task of generating efficient code, and the algorithms that are incorporated within them. This effort will involve researchers and scientists from many different areas resulting in the cross- fertilization of all involved in this truly multidisciplinary Center.
