Harnessing the most powerful open computational resources of the nation as integrated by the TeraGrid (TG) and its future extensions will enable otherwise infeasible discoveries in simulation science, in general, and in life sciences, in particular, as well as presenting an unprecedented opportunity to share this unique scientific achievement with our nation's students and educators. Our demonstration of using effectively TG resources in performing the first cross-site simulations and visualizations of the human arterial tree has created great enthusiasm among faculty and their students who are interested in accessing this new simulation environment. As developers and users of some of the most advanced tools in computational science today, we want to make these tools available to the wider scientific community, to train the trainers, and to engage postdocs, graduate and undergraduate students as well as high school students and their teachers in this effort. Our goal is to lower barriers to the use of TG simulations and our objectives are to: (1) mobilize the biomechanics research community, (2) train a new generation of simulation scientists, and (3) inspire young students to become tomorrow's leaders in inter-disciplinary simulation science. To this end, we will implement a biomechanics gateway on the TG and establish it as the main platform and simulation framework for further developments and biomedical research. The framework we have developed for the human arterial tree can serve as the common thread in integrating a number of large biological endeavors into a coherent and exciting future research direction and in developing effective new training methods.
Broader Impact: The software implemented in this project will be open source and will be distributed to all TG users, facilitating a transition in computational biology from traditional computing to grid computing on the TG with potentially unlimited scalability. The new simulation environment will be critical in educating and training a new generation of inter-disciplinary scientists to be comfortable in using advanced software tools and concepts across many disciplines. New courses developed in this project, on grid computing, multiscale biological modeling, and scientific visualization in immersive interactive environments will better prepare future generations of scientists and engineers and educators in the use and development of cyberinfrastructure. We will work with community colleges in the Chicago area to train their faculty. This project also promotes engaging students, especially undergraduates, of diverse groups in inter-disciplinary projects, and in outreach activities engaging high school students, especially women and minorities.
