Category I: Nexus: A Confluence of High-Performance AI and Scientific Computing with Seamless Scaling from Local to National Resources

About This Grant

Science and engineering research has evolved to increasingly rely on data-intensive and artificial intelligence (AI) driven methodologies. This, in turn, has led to more complex workflows that involve hardware and software resources at different scales and operating in different environments. These growing complexities necessitate a flexible and heterogeneous hardware and software infrastructure that transforms existing, disjointed workflows via a seamless and more productive computational environment that is easier and more intuitive to use. Nexus provides such a critical national resource to the science and engineering research community; it serves both as a standalone platform and as a gateway to effectively utilizing other national resources, significantly accelerating AI-driven scientific discovery. Nexus will advance American leadership in artificial intelligence and advantage U.S.-based research and industry enterprises in diverse areas of science and engineering, enabling breakthrough discoveries, increasing economic competitiveness, and advancing human health. Nexus is a next-generation, national-scale computational resource integrating cutting-edge heterogeneous hardware, AI-accelerated computing, and advanced software services to unify scientific and engineering research workflows. Led by the Georgia Institute of Technology in collaboration with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Nexus provides a seamless and scalable computational environment that bridges local and national resources. The Nexus computational infrastructure incorporates substantial CPU and GPU resources that deliver 14.5 petaflops of peak double-precision calculations and over 400 petaflops of peak AI-focused, reduced-precision calculations. This computing capability is augmented by high-speed memory, a 10-petabyte all-flash file system, and a next-generation high-speed network based on InfiniBand and Socket Direct technologies. This infrastructure is integrated with a novel software platform incorporating the Nexus computing infrastructure within researchers’ local environments, allowing them to harness powerful computational capabilities without disrupting their workflows. The Nexus platform will also facilitate federated resource sharing, enabling interoperability with national cyberinfrastructure assets, including the NSF-funded Delta and DeltaAI systems at NCSA. Finally, it supports multi-scale, heterogeneous computing, giving researchers access to diverse computational architectures through a unified interface, an essential capability for AI-driven research and computational sciences that require tailored, scalable computing power. Regional engagements, training workshops, student and faculty development programs, and collaborative research partnerships will be developed to leverage innovative features of the Nexus resource for supporting and expanding the nation’s globally competitive STEM workforce equipped with essential AI and HPC skills. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.