Bio
Bronson Messer is a Distinguished Staff Scientist and Director of Science at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at ORNL. As Director of Science, his primary job is to ensure that the resources provided through the OLCF's allocation programs are effectively used to produce high-impact science and to communicate those impacts to all stakeholders, including the public. His primary research interests are related to the explosion mechanisms and phenomenology of supernovae (both thermonuclear and core-collapse), especially neutrino transport and signatures, dense matter physics, and the details of turbulent nuclear combustion. In addition, he has worked on the application of machine learning algorithms to the analysis of galaxy merger simulations and on performance modeling and prediction for high-performance computing architectures. Prior to joining ORNL, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, where he was Deputy Group Leader for Astrophysics in the ASC Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes.
Dr. Messer is a member of the American Astronomical Society and he recently served on the American Physical Society’s Committee on Informing the Public (2018-2020). In 2020, he was awarded the Department of Energy Secretary’s Honor Award for his part in enabling the COVID-19 High Performance Computing Consortium. Dr. Messer holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Tennessee, earning his PhD in physics in 2000