UT Wordmark Primary UT Wordmark Formal Shield Texas UT News Camera Chevron Close Search Copy Link Download File Hamburger Menu Time Stamp Open in browser Load More Pull quote Cloudy and windy Cloudy Partly Cloudy Rain and snow Rain Showers Snow Sunny Thunderstorms Wind and Rain Windy Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Twitter email alert map calendar bullhorn

UT News

ICES Celebrates 10 Years, Honors O’Donnells

The Tower will shine orange tonight to honor the renaming of ACES for Peter and Edith O’Donnell and the 10th anniversary of the institute they have championed.

Two color orange horizontal divider
visualization of HIV RT protein

ICES researchers have simulated the behavior of the HIV RT protein to help design therapeutic drugs. Protein motions are displayed as multiple light blue ribbons. The green and dark blue spheres represent the DNA which the protein HIV RT synthesizes. Learn more about these researchers at www.ices.utexas.edu/research/centers-groups/clsb/. 

Vision is that powerful ability to see situations clearly, not only for what they are, but also for what they can become. When you combine vision with supercomputing, you have a strong force for predicting the future.

J. Tinsley Oden, director of the Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences

J. Tinsley Oden 

What starts as mathematical models and raw data is transformed through computer code and supercomputers into tangible trends, structures and patterns that need to be visualized. ICES uses the university’s visualization laboratory with “Stallion,” one of the world’s largest tiled display screens which has 80 30-inch screens and more than 150 times the resolution of a standard high-definition screen to examine results.

“Sometimes I tell students that computer modeling and simulation enables us to see the future,” says J. Tinsley Oden, the director of ICES. “We can explore the consequences of different decisions made well in advance of any actual decision. That will continue to be the strength of computational science.”

On March 26, the UT tower will shine orange to commemorate ICES’ 10th anniversary.

Models Reduce Guesswork

Since the beginning, ICES has worked closely with UT’s Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), which, in partnership with the National Science Foundation, operates some of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. ICES scientists make extensive use of the TACC supercomputers Lonestar and Stampede and their predecessors.

visualization of nano-scopic models of the human brain

ICES researchers have begun automating construction of nano-scopic models of the human brain and its activity like this single chemical synapse between a (green) neuron segment and a (yellow) dendritic spine head surrounded by (blue) neurotransmitters. Learn more about these researchers at www.ices.utexas.edu/research/centers-groups/cvc/. 

During the last decade the institute has significantly accelerated development of computational science. By using high-performance computers to simulate the real world in extreme detail, computational science removes dangerous guesswork.

For example, the Texas Division of Emergency Management used storm surge models developed by Clint Dawson, director of ICES’ Computational Hydraulics Group, to create evacuation plans during Hurricane Ike. ICES research has also impacted such diverse fields as cardiology, energy extraction and space flight.

To educate leaders in this relatively new science, ICES includes the prestigious Computational Science, Engineering and Mathematics (CSEM) graduate program. Graduate students work on a broad array of research topics. Atomic system modeling, gas well leakage, storm surge modeling and lung cancer drug development are interests mentioned by four students profiled earlier in the year by the institute.

With a highly selective philosophy, it currently enrolls 75 students. “It is intentionally kept small because we want to train future leaders in the discipline,” said Oden.

In total, ICES is home to 17 different research centers and groups that conduct research spanning the disciplines of biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, earth science, applied mathematics and more.

Some of the ICES research centers and groups were part of ICES’ predecessor, the Texas Institute for Applied Mathematics. Once forged, ICES soon added the $18.7 million U.S. Department of Energy Center for Predictive Engineering and Computational Sciences, and the $27 million KAUST-UT Austin Academic Excellence Alliance, a partnership with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia that helped develop a cutting-edge university where only a sandlot existed five years ago, according to Oden.

Visionary Champions

Peter O

Peter O’Donnell Jr. 

The computational science at the core of this research enables ICES investigators to probe the world from the atomic up to the global scale, all under the same roof named for visionary champions Peter and Edith O’Donnell Jr. Their name will be placed on the building that houses the institute to commemorate the unique organization’s 10th anniversary.

Consistent with their support of graduate-level engineering, science, and mathematics education, Peter and Edith O’Donnell Jr.’s foundation built what is now the O’Donnell Building (it was formerly called ACES) and gifted it to the university in 2000. The $32 million state-of-the-art 180,000-square-foot facility was built to house 300 graduate students and researchers, more than 70 faculty, and 60 annual visitors from industry and other universities. Located near the center of campus, the building was designed as an easily accessible home to the ICES interdisciplinary team, which draws faculty from 18 different departments from all over campus.

Facing and modeling the future in a newly renamed home, ICES will continue to be an important player in the advancement of science on and off the UT campus, said Oden, especially in the fields of medicine, energy and materials.

“I see a growth in the impact of computational science in virtually every aspect of human existence,” said Oden.


Related stories:

Supercomputing Elevates Accuracy of High-Stakes Predictions

Bajaj Helps Define Structure of Sleeping Sickness Parasite’s Ribosome

Building Renamed O’Donnell Building for Applied Computational Engineering and Sciences