Advancing computing and data capabilities for scientific discovery and continued U.S. technological leadership
The Computing and Computational Sciences Directorate (CCSD) oversees Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) immense store of computing power and its talented staff of computational scientists and mathematicians, conducting state-of-the-art research and development in support of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) missions and programs.
The directorate houses the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF), home to the world's fastest supercomputer and the first exascale computer, Frontier. ORNL delivered Frontier to advance leadership-class computing for open science. Frontier enables us to address, with greater complexity and higher fidelity, questions concerning who we are, as well as our place on earth and in the universe.
CCSD contains the institutional knowledge needed to transform basic science into cutting-edge energy and security applications critical to national interests. Our organization is committed to research and development in the data sciences, including the modeling, simulation, and analysis of rapidly growing data sources. The directorate is also a premier source for high-performance computing, applied mathematics, artificial intelligence research, and quantum information science.
The strength of our base programs contributed to the capture of a new DOE Office of Science National Quantum Information Science Research Center known as the Quantum Science Center. The QSC aims to design materials that enable topological quantum computing, implement new quantum sensors to characterize topological states and detect dark matter, and design quantum algorithms and simulations to provide greater understanding of quantum materials, chemistry, and quantum field theories.