Guest Faculty Research Participant – Jordan Frith

When Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)launches Aurora, it will be one of the world’s most powerful public supercomputers. Despite the centrality of supercomputer development to maintaining the US’s global leadership position in the advancement of science and technology and substantial taxpayer investment, the public rarely has the opportunity to stand in the thrumming, chilly machine room among the rows and rows of towers of compute nodes that comprise a supercomputer. As a result, questions such as, “How do you build a supercomputer?” “What does a supercomputer do?”, “What do scientists and other staff do all day at the supercomputing center?”, “What does the supercomputer do that affects me?”, and “Why does the US need the fastest supercomputers?” don’t have concrete answers. This project is designed to answer those questions and deepen public understanding of massive supercomputing infrastructures for generating new forms of knowledge.

The researchers have been invited by the ANL Division Director Michael Papka to do on-site and remote observational and interview research with individuals and processes related to Aurora, including Argonne employees working on Aurora, scientists running projects on Aurora, and the technical documentation that makes Aurora possible. The project will proceed in two related phases: The first phase will focus on the everyday practices of supercomputing and how a big science project is used and maintained through the work of scientists, operations staff, and technical documentation processes; the second phase will move from analysis of the everyday practices of supercomputing to higher-level examinations of how the global competition for supercomputing leadership has been shaped by, and also shapes, the US’s identity as a leader in scientific and technological advancement. The project is designed to increase public awareness of the many hidden elements of supercomputing while also developing opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students at Portland State University and Clemson University to work with the US National Laboratory system and learn about the world of public supercomputing.

Position Requirements

Job Family

Visiting Faculty Appointment

Job Profile

Guest Faculty Research Participant

Worker Type

Long-Term (Fixed Term)

Time Type

Full time

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Argonne employees, and certain guest researchers and contractors, are subject to particular restrictions related to participation in Foreign Government Sponsored or Affiliated Activities, as defined and detailed in United States Department of Energy Order 486.1A. You will be asked to disclose any such participation in the application phase for review by Argonne’s Legal Department. 

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