BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

KEN FLURCHICK – Director, Scientific Programs, Ohio Supercomputer Center

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

OHIO SUPERCOMPUTER CENTER (OSC) - 12/95-Present

Director, Scientific Programs - Major focus is applications and training, Major activities include collaborative research with academic partners in computational physics, chemistry and visualization plus provide training on high performance computers, visualization and parallel computing. Recent contributions include:

• DOD High Performance Modernization Program, working with the Computational Chemistry and Materials CCM area.  Assisted with the design and implementation of the web site for CCM, provided web-based training material (see the training/Self-Paced Courses/Foundations under the CCM link) and conducted training classes, such as Scientific Visualization for Computational Chemistry.
• DOD High Performance Modernization Program, supporting users with Scientific Visualization. Part of the NCSA visualization support for the DoD activity helping scientists with visualizing data and using display technology (such as force feedback devices) and immersive displays (such as the Immersadesk© and the CAVE from Pyramid Systems, Inc.©).
• EPA Earthvision 2000 program for high schools.
• Scientific visualization development and training effort with the North Carolina Supercomputing Center.
• North Carolina State University on the NSF Metacenter Regional Alliance award called the Regional Training Center for Parallel Processing (RTCPP) that provides network based education material for parallel processing, (RTCPP).

NORTH CAROLINA SUPERCOMPUTING CENTER (NCSC) - 12/89-10/95
Chief Scientist - 01/92-10/95
Computational Scientist - 03/90-12/91
Research Consultant - 12/89-02/90

As a consultant, provided EPA with assistance in porting and optimizing the air quality models, RADM and ROM resulting in significant overall code improvement. Then hired full-time, researched collaboratively with academic and industrial partners, and providing training on high performance computers, parallel computing and visualization. Also assisted in the development of the Research Institute, and participated in the development and management of the industry funded International AV$ center co-located at NCSC. While at NCSC, served as Principal Investigator for the NSF sponsored "Regional Training Center for Parallel Processing”, and as assistant project director for National Institutes of Health (NIH) Research Resource called Parallel Computing In Structural Biology. Established research projects in several areas, including thermodynamic properties of moderately dense gases, Density Functional Theory, Quantum Field Theory and environmental modeling.

AMDAHL CORPORATION - 09/89-11/89

Senior Computer Performance Analyst

Evaluated a now architecture for physics and chemistry applications, mapping physics and chemistry algorithms to a software-pipelined architecture (never marketed). Investigated several approaches for pipelining computations for multiple stream CPU's, but did not test as the machine was never built.

ETA SYSTEMS, INC.

Computational Scientist - 09/84-06/89

Developed now algorithmic approaches for physics and chemistry applications for a vector-parallel architecture, the ETA10. Developed several algorithms for molecular dynamics and quantum mechanical calculations giving 50-100 times the performance of standard algorithms over standard department class computers. Parts of these algorithms have appeared in other work, (see publication 2).

EDUCATION:

Ph.D. Physics, Colorado State University, 1987
Thesis: Oxygen Molecules Adsorbed on Graphite and Free Radical Propulsion

M.S. Physics, Colorado State University, 1979

B.A. Mathematics, William Paterson College, 1975

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS:

Member, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Member, American Physical Society.
Member, Mathematical Society of America.

FUNDED TRAINING ACTIVITIES:

1997-1998 EarthVision 2000
Sponsored by the EPA, provided high school teachers a framework to add computational approaches for environmental studies in the high school

1994-1995 VTEC: Visualization Technology for Environmental Curricula
Developed visual models to investigate environmental issues. Worked with one of the researchers developing the graphical interface and visualizations for an existing model, using AVS.

1993-1995 EarthVision: EPA's Grand Challenge For High Schools
Sponsored by the EPA, provided high school teachers and students, computational science and scientific visualization skills. Both the high school teachers and students receive college credit for the training. Designed and taught the Summer Research Institute, a three-week intensive summer training session and several short courses for university faculty also participating in the program.

1993-1994 UFE: Undergraduate Faculty Enhancement Program
Introduced computational science techniques into the undergraduate curriculum. Taught computational science methods and visualization to the faculty.

1991-1993 SuperQuest: The North Carolina Connection
Introduced computational science techniques to high school students and teachers. Taught the three-week summer session, presenting computational science and visualization topics during the two-year program.

PUBLICATIONS:

1. Ken Flurchick, Margaret Hurley, Jan K. Labanowski, Gerald H. Lushington and Theresa L. Windus, "Chemistry and the Internet", to appear in Computational Chemistry: Review of Current Trends, vol.3, Jerzy Leszczynski, Ed., World Scientific, Singapore, 1998.
2. M.S.C. Reed and K.M. Flurchick, "Introduction to Molecular Dynamics Simulations: Mass, Momentum and Energy Transport", submitted to Computers in Physics (1997).
3. Lee Bartolotti and K.M. Flurchick, "An Introduction to Density Functional Theory", Computational Chemistry Volume 8, VCH Publishers, NY, pp 187-216,1995.
4. Mark S.C. Reed and K.M. Flurchick, "Hybrid Molecular Dynamics: An Approach to Low Density Simulations", Computer Physics Communications 81, 56, (1994).
5. John A. Patten, K. Flurchick, Joe Beeler and John Strenkowski, "Molecular Dynamics Simulation of the Precision Machining Process Including Radioactive and Conductive Heat Transfer Mechanisms", Modeling and Simulation in Material Science and Engineering 2, 223, (1994).

Questions? Send e-mail to cal@ucar.edu
Broken links? Send e-mail to dpetter@ucar.edu

LAST UPDATED: 03/30/2000