Annual Report

Katharine Chartrand, COO, New Mexico Consortium

The LANL Institute for Advanced Studies Completes Its Second Year

The LANL Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) invested $2M in FY ’08 to build statewide programs in key research areas: Information Science and Technology, Radiochemistry, Astrophysics and Cosmology and Energy and Environment. These programs build New Mexico’s reputation for leadership in these areas. The IAS participated in the development of $75M in proposals and supported eight conferences, six workshops, one seminar series, six collaborative activities, and eleven educational progams. Over 1200 students, faculty, and staff from the partner institutions participated in IAS programs.

A joint conference with the New Mexico Computing Applications Center (NMCAC) brought together 120 researchers from across the state to propose and evaluate research initiatives for the Encanto supercomputer. This innovative conference/workshop led by Dr. Robert Duncan resulted in prioritized agendas in four research areas for the NMCAC. In FY '09 the NMC will continue to build the partnership with NMCAC, particularly in the area of Energy and Environment, where we share an interest in modeling . The IAS has two joint programs with the LANL Information Science and Technology Institute (ISTI). Our Summer School on High-Performance Computing (HPC) Networks and Clusters trains New Mexico (NM) students and places the students in positions with LANL. Together we are also supporting the development of a $7M proposal to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for an NMC/UNM computer science user facility.

The theme of the IAS's Astrophysics and Cosmology Center (ACCent) in FY '08 was Uniting the Visible and Invisible Universe in recognition of the twin puzzles of dark matter and dark energy. In it’s first year, ACCent established a partnership that spans the universities and LANL. It supported five workshops and schools and the development of ~$1.5M in proposals and also made strategic investments in infrastructure.

The Emerging Health thrust area had a strong year with a focus in radiochemistry and particularly the application of LANL capabilities in radiochemistry to medicine. The Isotopes and Imaging Conference resulted in a $900K Department of Energy (DOE) award to LANL and $717K to UNM, as well as an additional $1M in funded programs to UNM. This program emphasized education, laying the groundwork for programs that will feed the pipeline with qualified staff in this area. It built partnerships between LANL and NM centers, including the New Mexico Center for Isotopes in Medicine, the UNM College of Pharmacy, and the UNM Cancer Center.

Energy and Environment focused on bio-diesel, building on NMSU's strength in this area. This thrust area produced a $9M Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) proposal. Although the proposal was not successful, the team went on to win $300K in DOE funding for this research and is actively pursue other funding. In FY '09 the IAS will assess the capabilities in this area across the partnership redefine this area through a process with broad participation.

Information Science and Technology (IS&T) made investments in Mathematical Biology in FY '08 that helped put New Mexico on the map internationally as a recognized leader in biology and mathematical biology. This program funded three conference/workshops and two educational programs. The program demonstrated NM’s leadership in this area, producing six proposals totaling over $20M. In FY '09, IS&T will investigate focused investments in Cyber Security and Computational Cognitive Science.

FY '08 was the second year of full operation for the IAS. The IAS funded about 40 programs and made $1.1M in awards in FY '08. We supported 11 educational programs that brought New Mexico university students and faculty together with LANL staff. IAS programs involved over 1200 participants from the partner institutions including about 175 students from the partner universities.

About the IAS

The Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) is one of the five academically led institutes within the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Institutes office. The IAS combines the strengths of New Mexico's research universities with the unique capabilities of Los Alamos National Laboratory. To support this partnership, LANL and the three New Mexico universities (Univ. of New Mexico New Mexico State University and New Mexico Tech) combined to form the New Mexico Consortium (NMC), a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit corporation that acts as an interface between the universities and LANL and operates the IAS. The IAS supports

• Strategic collaborations among the NMC members and other institutions.
• Educational programs to support recruitment and retention, and revitalization.
• Partnerships for new collaborative research efforts and enhanced infrastructure.

The IAS invests in Information Science and Technology, Radiochemistry/Nuclear Science, Astrophysics and Cosmology, and Energy and Environment. We seek to position the partnership to compete for funding in these areas by building and demonstrating capabilities and by establishing a reputation for leadership for the partnership in these areas.

Dr. Robert Duncan of UNM was IAS director and chief operating officer (COO) of the New Mexico Consortium in FY '08. He left the position to become Vice Chancellor for Research at University of Missouri in August '08. With Dr. Duncan's departure, Katharine Chartrand became COO of the NMC and manages the IAS with a Leadership Committee selected from the four partner institutions: Steve Buelow, LANL; Scott Burchiel, UNM; Kurt Anderson, NMSU; and Osman Inal, NMT.

IAS Path Forward

In FY '09 the IAS will increase the focus within the thrust areas. In addition to providing broad support for collaborative activities among the institutions, we will make building an identity for the partnership a priority. We will demonstrate our capability and build a reputation for leadership in our focus areas. The objective is to position the partnership well to compete for funding in these areas. Specifically, the IAS will

• re-emphasize, redefine, and refocus the energy and environment thrust area;
• continue the emphasis on mathematical biology within IS&T while evaluating opportunities for investment in cyber security and computational cognitive neuroscience;
• align our astrophysics and cosmology investment with ACCent; and,
• focus on the radiochemistry components of both threat reduction and emerging health care and combine those two thrust areas into a single radio-chemistry thrust area.

While the thrust areas gain increased focus and emphasis, building the partnership's identity in these areas, the IAS will remain open to strategic investments in a broad range of areas important to this partnership.

We have completed our first call for proposals for FY '09 funding in September. We had 20 proposals submitted and over $1.4M in requests.

Building The Partnership

Collaboration between LANL and the New Mexico Universities.

Every activity the IAS supported involved collaborative activities among the partners. Every summer school, conference and workshop involved students, faculty and speakers from multiple partner institutions. These are estimated statistics on participation in programs the IAS supported in FY '08:

Partnering to pursue new funding opportunities.

The IAS supported the development of $50M of proposals submitted through the NMC and an additional $25M in proposals through partner institutions. We have received about $1.7M in sponsored research programs in the NMC and additional $1.75M in sponsored research at partner institutions. We have an additional $8M in pending sponsored research that is highly likely.

• NMSU/LANL Collaborative Efforts in Chem/Bio/Nuclear Threat Reduction Dr. Rayson of NMSU met with LANL scientists to work on joint proposals for the investigation of chemical processes leading to the development of new sensing technologies for the detection or sequestration of chemical and biological warfare agents and the detection of nuclear materials. link
• Economic Analysis of Alternative Fuels Technologies The report was submitted to the Library of Congress to inform policy makers and contribute to the formulation of research agendas and funding opportunities for NMSU and the other IAS participant members in the area of algal bio-diesel. link
• LANL/UNM Collaboration in Nuclear and Radiochemistry Programs This effort laid the groundwork for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded joint summer school with UNM to train radiochemists with an emphasis on medical applications. It also supports collaboration with LANL on the proposal for the competed renewal of the UNM Cancer Center's National Cancer Institute grant. link
• Isotopes and Imaging Conference This conference resulted in a DOE appropriation of about $900K to LANL and $717K to UNM as well as an additional $1M in funded programs to UNM. link
• Living Matter as Computing Media Proposal Development Workshop The workshop was held in preparation for a joint UNM/NMC submission to the NSF Expeditions in Computing program. link
• ACCent The IAS Astrophysics and Cosmology Center (ACCent) (link) has three joint proposals in progress:
  • A LANL proposal to the DOE High Energy Physics (HEP) program for FY 2008 funds with the aim of carrying out simulations in support of dark energy missions. The results of these simulations would be made public; in particular we anticipate collaboration in the interpretation of these results with the group of Anatoly Klypin (NMSU). The proposal was funded at the requested level ($165K).
  • A $100K proposal aiming to apply some recently developed statistical methods to future National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions has been submitted to NASA's theory program. If funded, this too will involve non-LANL ACCent researchers.
  • A proposal to be submitted via a university/NMC collaboration to an NSF PetaApps call is in an early planning phase. This proposal is based on using results from the first petascale cosmological simulation suite, LANL's Roadrunner Universe Project. Along with several other institutions, we expect participation in this proposal from the National Radio Astronomy Obervatory (NRAO/NMT) and NMSU; details remain to be worked out.
• DARPA Bio-Diesel Proposal The IAS provided program development funds and two Red Team Review members (Rob Duncan and Steve Obrey) for an NMSU-led $8.7M proposal to DARPA in 2008 entitled "Processes for the Affordable Manufacture of Algal-Derived JP-8 Surrogate." This proposal wasn't funded but a smaller follow-up proposal to the DOE for $125K for 3 years was funded. link
• NMC Computer Science User Facility The IAS supported development of a $7M invited proposal to the NSF for PRObE, the NSF Parallel Reconfigurable Observational Environment for Data Intensive Super-Computing and High End Computing. This proposal is still active.
• Initiatives in Mathematical Biology The Mathematical Biology focus area within IS&T produced a number of collaborative proposals in FY '08.
  • A grant to the NIH for subsidized travel to the q-bio conference for junior research from across the U.S. has been recommended for funding, underscoring NIH's recognition of the q-bio conference as an important venue for scientific training and communications.
  • An NSF proposal for federal funding for the q-bio summer school has been submitted.
  • Building on the success of the q-bio series, it was possible to assemble a University of California (UC)-LANL collaborative structure in quantitative biology, which served as a backbone for the Center for Nonlinear Studies (CNLS)-led UC Office of the President (UCOP) proposal, currently in review.
  • The q-bio series was also the cornerstone of a major $20M proposal for a Center of Mathematical Biology to the NSF. This proposal was unsuccessful, but made it through the first stages of the selection process. It has played an important role in affirming New Mexico's leadership in quantitative biology in he nation. Importantly, the proposal has established a collaborative infrastructure among UNM, NMSU, LANL, Los Alamos County, and the state of New Mexico, which is leading to tighter integration of research initiatives across the state, and will allow to use the infrastructure for future proposals of the type.
  • The NMC won a $1.2M NSF proposal to develop the primitives that underlie the processing in biological neural circuits.
  • As a direct result of the vision workshop, a UCOP proposal between LANL and UC Berkeley has been submitted, and a Cyber-enabled Discover and Innovation (CDI) Type II proposal is being considered by the same participants.

Providing educational opportunities for New Mexico students.

We supported 11 educational programs that brought New Mexico University students and faculty together with LANL staff. These programs support recruitment into partner institutions as well as revitalization and retention of some valued staff members. About 175 students from the partner universities were involved in IAS programs in FY '08.

• Living Matter as Computing Media Proposal Development Workshop This workshop involved 9 UNM graduate students in the proposal development process. link
• Open Model This program provided year-long internships for four UNM CS students. link
• Parallel Computing/HPC Curriculum Assessment This program supports statewide educational programs in the area of high performance and parallel computing. link
• Summer School on HPC Networks and Clusters This highly selective program is designed for 12 third-year (i.e., Junior) undergraduate students from New Mexico schools. Students receive technical training/lectures, professional development seminars, and laboratory experience with LANL staff and external mentors. link
• New Mexico Days This workshop is a forum where advanced Ph.D. students and postdoctoral fellows present their research and network. The agenda is dominated by young scientists. link
• Structured Problem Solving Using TRIZ The structured problem solving course, "Problem Solving with TRIZ," covered elementary and intermediate techniques of the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) for concept generation and added problem-definition tools that enable the problem solver to select tools and approaches to solve difficult engineering problems. The course was offered on site at New Mexico Tech with synchronous, off-site participation. link
• Synthesis Imaging School 2008 An eight-day workshop on interferometry techniques. Support for students from NM institutions was paid for by the IAS. link
• 2008 Los Alamos Summer School in Physics Twelve students, from institutions nationwide including UNM, participated in this year's program. The lecturers were distinguished scientists from LANL and from UNM, and discussed topics as diverse as climate modeling, high-energy physics, and the latest developments in astrophysics. Many of the students presented their research at the annual Los Alamos Student Symposium, which was held at UNM Los Alamos (UNM-LA) on August 5-6, 2008. Two students won outstanding presentation awards, as showcased in a recent Associate Director for Theory, Simulation and Computation (ADTSC) highlight. This year several of the projects are expected to lead to journal publications, leading to advances in the field. link
• Post-BA Internships for Radiochemistry Technicians This IAS program supports the formation of a technician internship program with UNM for radiochemistry technicians, drawing prospective technicians in the same way that the postdoctoral program draws prospective technical staff. link
• LANL/UNM Collaboration in Nuclear and Radiochemistry Programs This effort will support collaboration between UNM, LANL and UC San Diego (UCSD) on the UCSD radiopharmacy school by establishing a program that rotates UCSD students through active research programs at LANL and UNM. link
• Undergraduate Education at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology This program seeks to investigate educational models and strategies that will inform national efforts to enhance undergraduate education and training at the intersection of mathematics and biology. LANL and NMSU have partnered to provide intensive, multidisciplinary mentored research experiences for undergraduates supported by relevant coursework. To date, they have recruited three students for research stipends: Ryan Hatch, Tori Barron, and Jesus Perez. They are developing a new course that will be offered next spring entitled Introduction to Mathematical Biology. This program continues in FY ’09. link

Developing Thrust Areas

The IAS focused on specific thrust areas and sought to develop programs across the partner institutions in these areas.

Information Science and Technology

Description Leader: Katharine Chartrand, New Mexico Consortium

Information Science and Technology (IS&T) is a broad area of research that matches the rapid growth in hardware capability with sinvestment in effective tools to generate knowledge out of a growing flood of data. Within this area, the IAS focuses on Mathematical Biology. We partner with NMCAC on Energy and Environment programs and we partner with the LANL's Information Science and Technology Institute (ISTI) on computer science research and systems. In FY '09 we will investigate developing programs in computational cognitive science and cyber security.

Mathematical Biology

Mathematical biology seeks to establish a deep theoretical understanding, detailed modeling, and quantitative experimentation directed at understanding the behavior of particular regulatory systems and/or elucidating general principles of cellular information processing. We made a significant investment in molecular systems biology and neural computing. Within molecular systems, our most significant investments have been the q-bio summer school and conference. Additionally, we supported a world-recognized HIV conference in Santa Fe. The vision workshop, held in Santa Fe in May, has been a primary vehicle for establishing collaborations with out-of-state researchers in the field. In computational neuroscience, we funded a mentoring program for students and a workshop. These events put New Mexico on the international map as a recognized leader in quantitative biology and mathematical biology. link

This program produced numerous grant proposals that demonstrate our leadership in this area. A request to the NIH for subsidized travel to the q-bio conference for junior research from across the U.S. has been recommended for funding, underscoring NIH's recognition of the q-bio conference as an important venue for scientific training and communications. An NSF proposal for federal funding for the q-bio summer school is being considered now. Building on the success of the q-bio series, it was possible to assemble a UC-LANL collaborative structure in quantitative biology, which served as a backbone for the CNLS-led UCOP proposal, currently in review.

The q-bio series was also the cornerstone of a major $20M proposal for a Center of Mathematical Biology to the NSF. This proposal was unsuccessful, but made it through the first stages of the selection process. It has played an important role in affirming New Mexico's leadership in quantitative biology in he nation. Importantly, the proposal has established a collaborative infrastructure among UNM, NMSU, LANL, Los Alamos County, and the state of New Mexico, which is leading to tighter integration of research initiatives across the state, and will allow the NMC to use the infrastructure for future proposals of the type. Finally, the NMC won a $1.2M NSF proposal to develop the primitives that underlie the processing in biological neural circuits.

As a direct result of the vision workshop, a UCOP proposal between LANL and UC Berkeley has been submitted, and a CDI Type II proposal is being considered by the same participants. The Neuroscience Mentoring program has been instrumental in bridging the gap between psychophysical models of human vision and detailed HPC neural simulation models, which were the first scientific application to break the petaflop barrier early in the summer. As a result of this investment, we are now positioned to take full advantage of the Roadrunner architecture computers for neuroscience applications when they arrive on site in October.

• 2008 q-bio Conference The annual q-bio conference advances predictive modeling of cellular regulation, decision making, formation of response, and other information processing phenomena. The emphasis is on deep theoretical understanding, detailed modeling, and quantitative experimentation directed at understanding the behavior of particular regulatory systems and/or elucidating general principles of cellular information processing. Unlike many biological conferences, which focus on specific model systems, q-bio focuses on understanding of phenomena, which manifest themselves in many biological systems. link
• NSF q-bio Center Proposal The proposed q-Bio center would create a mathematical foundation for a quantitative, mechanism-based predictive modeling of biological process focusing on infectious diseases. This 5-year, $16M proposal to the NSF attracted ~$5M in matching funds and involved over 20 scientists from across the state. link
• Computational Neuroscience Mentoring The New Mexico Consortium supports a NSF research program to develop high-performance neural simulation tools and to use them to find the computational primitives that underlie the processing in biological neural circuits. The primitives make the brain much more powerful than the familiar von Neumann computer or artificial neural networks (ANNs). The IAS supported Garrett Kenyon to mentor four students in this program for the summer. link
• HIV Dynamics & Evolution 2008 Conference Analysis of the rapid evolution of HIV and high level of genetic variation exhibited by viral populations have always been recognized as requiring specialized computational techniques and knowledge. Bio-mathematicians and other individuals with expertise in statistical and computational biology have played a key role in these and later developments. In particular, LANL scientists have played an important part in these developments, which were a focus of this conference.link
• 2008 q-bio Summer School on Cellular Information Processing The q-bio Summer School on Cellular Information Processing seeks to advance predictive modeling of cellular regulatory systems. link
• High Level Perception, Low Level Vision Workshop The purpose of this workshop was to address how the semantic gap might be bridged, both in natural and computer vision, and to see if a set of common principles of visual understanding can be discovered from the collective, multidisciplinary knowledge of the participants. link
• Undergraduate Education at the Interface of Mathematics and Biology This program seeks to investigate educational models and strategies that will inform national efforts to enhance undergraduate education and training at the intersection of mathematics and biology. LANL and NMSU have partnered to provide intensive, multidisciplinary mentored research experiences for undergraduates supported by relevant coursework. To date, they have recruited three students for research stipends: Ryan Hatch, Tori Barron, and Jesus Perez. They are developing a new course that will be offered next spring entitled Introduction to Mathematical Biology. This program continues in FY ’09. link

Energy and Environment/ Partnership with NMCAC

Energy and Environment (E&E) is an independent IAS thrust area link that includes IS&T components such as modeling energy economics and transport as well as climate modeling. The IAS IS&T effort partners with E&E thrust area on IS&T components such as modeling. IS&T will participate in the E&E-led workshops planned this year to define E&E priorities for the IAS in FY '09. The IAS shares an interest in the IS&T component of E&E with the New Mexico Computing Applications Center and partners with the NMCAC to coordinate programs in E&E and other areas. link

• IAS '08 Annual Conference This years annual conference was held in partnership with the New Mexico Computing Applications Center. Over 100 scientists from across New Mexico met to propose and evaluate research initiatives for the NMCAC. link
• Open Model The program establishes an open platform for geographical and temporally referenced information on, and analysis of, global energy systems and the energy end-use and associated environmental impacts of individuals. link

Partnership with LANL's Information Science and Technology Institute

ISTI leads LANL's partnership with UC Santa Cruz with a focus on IS&T. The IAS's IS&T program partners with ISTI in key areas including systems and streaming data. ISTI leads these efforts and the IAS brings in partnerships with the New Mexico universities.

• Summer School on HPC Networks and Clusters The Information Science and Technology Institutes and the Institute for Advanced Studies jointly fund this recruiting activity. During the eight-week institute, employed students receive technical training/lectures, professional development seminars, and laboratory experience with LANL staff and external mentors link
• NMC Computer Science User Facility The IAS supported development of a $7M invited proposal to the NSF for a computer science user facility. This program is a collaboration with NMC, LANL and UNM.

Strategic Investments in IS&T

The IAS made strategic investments in a broad range of collaborative IS&T programs in FY '08.

• New Mexico Days This annual workshop fosters collaborations in Nonlinear Science and Applied Mathematics between LANL (primarily CNLS and the T Division), the University of Arizona, Arizona State University and UNM. This year, the conference covered topics in Nonlinear Science including Mathematical Biology, Sea Ice Modeling, Turbulence, Ocean Waves. link
• Living Matter as Computing Media Proposal Development Workshop This workshop identified grand challenges and future research opportunities in the area of computing and information processing in synthetic bio- and nano devices. The workshop was held in preparation for a joint UNM/NMC NSF proposal submission. link
• Benford's Law Conference The goals of the workshop were to provide a deeper understanding of this law, to consider common themes that may exist across multiple application domains, and to catalyze new research activities related to this law. link
• Southwest Quantum Information and Technology (SQuInT) Workshop This workshop brings together researchers in theoretical and experimental quantum information science from around the Southwest and beyond to look at cutting edge problems in the field. link
• LANL/CNLS Workshop on Quantum Trajectories This workshop provided an interdisciplinary forum for chemists, physicists, and mathematicians to discuss both fundamental and computational aspects of the de Broglie-Bohm description of quantum mechanics. The workshop focused on the computational methods that have been developed for solving the relevant quantum hydrodynamic equations and their applications in molecular and chemical physics. link
• Parallel Computing/HPC Curriculum Assessment This program identified priorities for the IAS in supporting statewide educational programs for high performance and parallel computing. link
• Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Telehealth Infrastructure Proposal The University of New Mexico is leading a proposal to the FCC to invest $20M in internet hardware to support telehealth programs in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado. About three-fourths of that investment will be in New Mexico across the three New Mexico universities. $500K of that award would be to model the network. Hristo Didjev of LANL is leading the modeling effort as UNM Visiting Faculty. The IAS facilitated LANL participation in this proposal.

• 2008 Los Alamos Summer School in Physics The school includes a dual track of lectures and student research projects to give the students their first taste of real research. The lecturers were distinguished scientists from LANL and from UNM, and discussed topics as diverse as climate modeling, high-energy physics, and the latest developments in astrophysics. The research projects, each individually mentored by a LANL scientist, concentrated on specific problems ranging from atomic physics, high-energy physics, and computational neuroscience to supernovae modeling. link

IS&T in FY '09

In FY '09 the IAS will continue its investment in Mathematical Biology and Energy and Environment and we will continue to build our partnership with ISTI. We will also investigate two new areas to increase the focus within IS&T:

• Cyber Security Cyber Security is an interdisciplinary endeavor that includes specialties such as networks, architecture, operating systems, languages, information theory, machine learning, visualization, simulation, human-computer interaction, data management, statistics, and management. The IAS fosters collaborations between LANL and the NM universities, with emphasis on student recruitment and retention into cyber-security initiatives in the government arena. We will be working with LANL's Advanced Computing Solutions Program, and with UNM's Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC), as an initial proposed collaboration. An early step will be to host a brainstorming workshop on the subject, most likely to be held at UNM, and to include LANL and the NM universities. link
• Computational Cognitive Science This field conducts research to advance our ability to more accurately model complex social behavior through the incorporation of behavioral based reasoning, such as with emotions. The objective is to develop an analytical theory underlying cognition to understand how groups are motivated, how they are organized, how they recruit members, and how they evolve with time as their own goals and survival are threatened. It is based on formal mathematical and computational models of the collective actions of such human groups, in terms of the cognitive and emotional processing of the individuals who make up the group. We assert that models of human cognition that properly account for seemingly irrational behavior will greatly improve the predictive value of systems that incorporates them. Finally, these models will be incorporated into large-scale agent-based modeling systems for computational studies and validation. link

Astrophysics, Cosmology, and Fundamental Physics (ACCent)

Description Salman Habib, Los Alamos National Laboratory

The Astrophysics and Cosmology Center (ACCent) link is a virtual center within the IAS which functions as a general umbrella for more targeted programs in observational and theoretical astrophysics and cosmology. ACCent brings together researchers in NM institutions to work on common-ground projects. The broad aim of ACCent is to enhance cooperation and collaboration across a diverse set of observational and theoretical activities, helping to promote strategic connections with the national and international community in the associated research areas. The first year's theme of ACCent activities was Uniting the Visible and Invisible Universe in recognition of the central importance posed by the twin puzzles of dark matter and dark energy, as emphasized in various national reports (DOE/NSF High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP), Quarks to Cosmos, National Academy of Science/National Research Council NAS/NRC Beyond Einstein, DOE/NASA/NSF Dark Energy Task Force, etc.) Much of the theoretical and analytical resources in the astrophysics, cosmology, and high-energy physics communities are being increasingly directed toward. this dark frontier.

ACCent activities in FY '09 included workshops, community building across the New Mexico institutions, proposal development and investments in infrastructure.

Workshops and Schools

Four ACCent-sponsored workshops (two already held, one planned for November) have targeted the dark frontier theme. ACCent also sponsored NM student participation in NMSU's 2008 Synthesis Imaging School.

• Cosmic Web Workshop. The aim of this meeting was to focus on selected topics related to galaxy formation in the context of large-scale distribution of matter in the Universe, the main topics being: galaxy formation and evolution, neutral hydrogen and reheating, the dynamics of large-scale structure, and large cosmological simulations. Follow this link for more information.
• 2008 Santa Fe Cosmology Summer Workshop. The three-week-long workshop covered current and expected observational advances, including the cosmic microwave background, large-scale structure galaxies and clusters, and dark matter and dark energy theory. Follow this link for more information.
• Great Surveys Workshop. This workshop takes an integrated view of next-generation surveys - the next frontier of a large part of astrophysics and cosmology - targeting unifying themes common to most of the next-generation surveys. Follow this link for more information.
• Workshop on Particle Physics and Cosmology The forthcoming ground- and space- based experiments (such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC,) PLANCK, GLAST, and many dark matter direct and indirect detection experiments) motivate this series of workshops on particle physics and cosmology. This workshop considered issues related to the exploration of the connections between these two areas. link
• Synthesis Imaging School 2008 An eight-day workshop on interferometry techniques. link

Building Partnerships

ACCent activities in this theme area included community-building to generate new ideas and collaborations to target major opportunities. In this regard, a good beginning has been made in the area of radio astronomy, by looking ahead to the data and scientific challenges posed by the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and its precursor experiments (Carilli, Habib, Myers, Taylor). ACCent participation in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III (SDSS-III) is natural, considering that the SDSS telescope is in New Mexico, and that LANL and NMSU participated in SDSS-II. Despite enthusiasm for the overall idea from prospective participants at LANL (Habib, Heitmann, Pope) and NMSU (Anderson, Klypin, Murphy, Walterbos), no mechanism for defraying membership costs has yet been found, although the search continues. The recent decision by LANL to join the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will also help ACCent-associated researchers to join the LSST Science Collaborations (possible without institutional membership) and have their interests represented on the LSST Board. As an example, John McGraw's group (UNM) is already helping LSST better characterize their site in Chile; John has indicated his strong interest in appropriate LSST participation.

Proposal Development

Proposal writing to external agencies under ACCent has so far followed a ground-up strategy, rather than top-down. The idea is to first identify, and then initiate joint work before writing proposals. Hopefully this will lead not only to better proposals, but also to better-balanced collaborations (the SKA discussions mentioned above will be a part of the NSF PetaApps proposal mentioned below).

Proposals in this theme area include a LANL proposal to DOE HEP for FY 2008 funds with the aim of carrying out simulations in support of dark energy missions. The results of these simulations would be made public; in particular we anticipate collaboration in the interpretation of these results with the group of Anatoly Klypin (NMSU). The proposal was funded at the requested level ($165~K). A $100~K proposal aiming to apply some recently developed statistical methods to future NASA missions has been submitted to NASA's theory program. If funded, this too can involve non-LANL ACCent researchers.

A proposal to be submitted through a university/LANL/NMC collaboration to an NSF PetaApps call is in an early planning phase. This proposal is based on using results from the first petascale cosmological simulation suite, LANL's Roadrunner Universe Project. Along with several other institutions, we expect participation in this proposal from NRAO/NMT and NMSU; details remain to be worked out.

Infrastructure

In the past year, ACCent has also moved into an office within the LANL Institutes space at the Research Park at Los Alamos and invested in a significant computer/storage platform that will be made available to researchers participating in ACCent/IAS activities. Large-scale computations are essential in both designing and interpreting next-generation surveys. Both the simulations and the surveys can easily generate data at rates that can swamp current hardware and software systems; thus, a significant area of research has grown around approaches to tackle this problem. We are putting together compute and storage systems (both local and distributed) to study these issues in advance of the expected results from the Roadrunner Universe Project, and later from LSST. The IAS has invested in an important component of this work, via partial funding of a compact 128 CPU cluster that will be used in consort with a large storage system (currently 108 TB, but slated to double in size in FY 09). This system will be made available to ACCent and other IAS-sponsored projects as a more or less unique resource, the closest being UC San Diego's CADAC (Computational Astrophysics Data Analysis Center), which is similar in size and scope. Leveraged funding has been obtained to partially support a student [Kim McCormick (UNMLA)] on this project.

ACCent Structure

Overall coordination is the responsibility of Salman Habib as the Center Leader, with the five institutional representatives being Przemyslaw Wozniak (ISR-1, LANL), Anatoly Klypin (Astronomy, NMSU), Steven T. Myers (NRAO), Lisa M. Young (Physics, NMT), and Gregory B. Taylor (Physics and Astronomy, UNM). In addition to LANL, NMSU, NMT, NRAO, and UNM, other NM-based universities, labs, or observatories, and selected external university and lab collaborators were also expected to participate in ACCent-supported activities.

Conclusion

The first ACCent focus area has been launched with some success. However, work remains to be done in making the opportunities better known to (busy) university and LANL scientists, and then having them exploit it. There is a substantial effort barrier in initiating new collaborations across institutions, especially as there may already be a history of institutional competition. Furthermore, the fact that ACCent support is limited to general and administrative costs and is also (typically) limited in total amount makes it difficult to cross the effort barrier. This makes identification of the right individuals and the right projects crucial. This is clearly the key task for ACCent in this focus area in the coming year.

Identification of a second focus area is also very important. Nuclear and stellar astrophysics appears to be a good candidate, perhaps combined with time-domain astronomy, with which it shares a strong synergy. Another interesting possibility is to look further afield and collaborate with university researchers in addressing broader problems that cut across several fields (such as large dataset analysis, data-intensive computing, etc.). Discussions with university colleagues at IAS-sponsored workshops indicate that this may be a viable direction.

Radiochemistry and Nuclear Science

Description Scott Burchiel, University of New Mexico

The New Mexico Consortium (NMC) has outstanding physical and intellectual resources to develop a world class program in nuclear and radiochemistry in association with the Los Alamos National Lab. There is a tremendous need for trained scientists capable of separating and handling radioactive wastes that are generated in the nuclear weapons programs and nuclear energy industries. In addition, many of the state-of-the-art facilities at LANL have important peacetime applications for the development of novel radioisotope products and nuclear imaging technologies useful in medical procedures, development of novel therapeutic agents, and environmental monitoring.

Building on the outstanding success of the collaborations between the New Mexico Center for Isotopes and Medicine (NMCIM) and the graduate and research education programs in Chemical and Nuclear Engineering at UNM, the Nuclear and Radiochemistry thrust area seeks to further develop collaborative research and education programs. Several outstanding collaborations with the Dept of Chemistry at NMSU and the College of Engineering at NM Tech have already been developed and will play important roles in this thrust area. The IAS will seek to develop formal workshop, seminar, and student-faculty exchange programs that will lead to proposal development for collaborative research and joint training programs. This investment will increase the competitiveness of NMC and LANL faculty and scientific staff for external funding as well as provide badly needed scientists and engineers to meet the future nuclear and radiochemistry needs of the nation.

Background

Through the IAS Emerging Health thrust area, the New Mexico Center for Isotopes and Medicine (NMCIM) at the UNM College of Pharmacy (COP) and the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center (CRTC) has received programmatic support for several activities for partial leader salaries and workshops. The mission of NMCIM is to develop unique medically useful radioisotopes, in collaboration with the LANL Isotope Production Facility (IPF). The IPF is a beam spur off of the LANL linear accelerator (LINAC) that produces unique gamma-emitting and positron-emitting isotopes that historically have not been available in sufficient quantities for product development. The IPF represents a $30M investment in infrastructure. While LANL has unique capabilities in the production of novel isotopes, it does not have the ability to formulate or test potentially useful medical products. Thus, NMCIM was established to develop medically useful radioisotope formulations for cancer imaging and therapy, and eventually for the detection of other diseases.

The UNM Radiopharmaceutical Sciences Program (RSP) brings its longstanding expertise in handling, formulation, research and development of medical isotopes to establish medically useful radiopharmaceuticals. The UNM RSP will work with renowned scientists and commercial sponsors to develop products and markets for the radioisotopes from LANL IPF. UNM RSP will develop radiochemical procedures and formulations, and will test these novel radiopharmaceuticals in appropriate in vitro and in vivo models leading to clinical trials for diagnostic and therapeutic agents. It is anticipated that the NMCIM will contribute to the interdisciplinary research and education programs of the UNM Health Sciences Center (HSC) and UNM main campus and will strongly support the Cancer Center imaging and therapy program in product development and future neuroscience imaging approaches. NMCIM will also support economic development in New Mexico by attracting new radioisotope- and radiopharmaceutical-related businesses and activities to the state. The Center also plans to be active in workforce development through the new Technology Research Consortium (TRC) State of NM initiative. For more information please visit our website located at http://hsc.unm.edu/pharmacy/isotope.

Excellence and Competitive Advantages

The UNM College of Pharmacy has a national and international reputation in the area of radiopharmacy. We started the fist centralized radiopharmacy at UNM in 1971 and have trained many of the world’s leaders in the commercial radiopharmacy field. Over 31 graduate students have been trained in our program and we currently offer the only web-based on-line radiopharmacy certification program in the U.S. referred to as NEO (http://www.nuclearonline.org) that has trained over 300 students. Drs. Burchiel, Norenberg, and Miao have experience in the development of radiolabled antibodies, peptides, and small molecule imaging agents that have proved useful in cancer detection and other diseases. Summa Medical Corporation (now Cardinal Health Care) was started in 1979 based on the promise of research and patents that came from COP technology. There is now a unique opportunity to use novel radioisotopes being produced at the LANL IPF to develop a new generation of radiopharmaceuticals.

Relationship to Institutional Goals

NMCIM has been identified by the COP as one of its two Signature Programs. Cheryl Willman, MD (Director) and the UNM CRTC have identified medical isotope imaging and therapy as one of its key areas for development. The UNM CRTC and COP currently operate and support the Keck University Small Animal Imaging Resource (KUSAIR). At the request of Governor Richardson and Governor Napolitano (Arizona) new partnerships are currently being developed between the UNM CRTC and the University of Arizona Cancer Center for preclinical and clinical imaging and therapy. Dr. Burchiel serves on the Senior Leadership team for the UNM Cancer Center. The NMCIM will also be highly integrated with the Clinical Translation Science Center (CTSC), a top research priority of Dr. Paul Roth, EVP HSC. Thus, NMCIM is a Center that bridges the UNM HSC and the UNM Main Campus. The Center is a critical part of the Institute of Advanced Studies and is receiving funding to support workshops and leadership from IAS. The Center will be considered for direct funding by IAS during 2008. The Center has been identified as a key priority and strategic initiative by LANL.

Collaborations and Partnerships

There are over 20 members of NMCIM, four of whom are full-time faculty in the COP (Burchiel, Miao, Norenberg, Pieper), 2 COP staff members (Anderson, and a post-doctoral student). In addition, there are 3 LANL scientists who have graduate faculty appointments within the COP (Atcher, Peterson, Nortier). There are also several commercial partners who are members of the NMCIM, including Robert Rubin, MD, CEO Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, and Roy Brown, Executive Director, Commission on Radiopharmaceuticals and Radionuclides (CORAR). There are also three key collaborators from the CRTC in Drs. Larson, Prossnitz, and Sklar working on two projects pursuing radiolabeled biomarkers for cancer detection and/or therapy. There are also key partners at New Mexico Highlands (Martinez), and New Mexico State University (Arterburn). NMCIM is partnering with GE Healthcare on the development of a Ga68 Generator for PET imaging.

Collaboration with UNM Cancer Center

The UNM Cancer Center and its director, Dr. Willman, have expressed strong interest and support for NMCIM and have developed a plan for novel and unique imaging and radiotherapy facilities in the new CRTC 2 facility. NMCIM investigators have been working with Drs. Willman, Sklar, Heintz, Burchiel, Norenberg, and Pieper on the evaluation of RFP responses from existing cyclotron-operating companies as potential partners for the purchase, installation, and operation of a cyclotron and PET radiopharmacy. This facility would be used for routine clinical studies in cancer, a training facility for nuclear medicine scientists, and could be a key component of a new emphasis for translation science and the CTSC. The PET isotope labeling facility (with hot cells) in the new CRTC 2 would greatly augment the capacity of the Cancer Center to perform clinical evaluation of therapeutic responses to therapies through PET imaging, allow for the development of novel imaging agents (in collaboration with LANL), and develop novel radioisotopes and formulation for cancer therapy. A clinical PET imaging facility will also be of interest to other investigators at UNM in neurosciences and cardiovascular disease; an RFP was issued and UNM CRTC is currently in negotiations with respondents. We believe that this new dimension and unique partnership will improve patient care and will make the UNM CRTC extremely competitive for its future P30 renewals (as highlighted by the CRTC External Advisory Committees)

PharmD/PhD program with UC Campuses

UNM COP is developing new partnerships on the development of a PharmD/PhD program in PET Radiopharmacy, Radiochemistry, and Radiopharmacology with University of California campuses that have similar or complimentary programs; successful teaming with UC campuses may eventually lead to research funding through LANL

UNM/LANL Collaboration in Nuclear and Radiochemistry Programs

This effort identified four possible initiatives to develop collaborations between UNM and LANL in nuclear and radiochemistry programs. (1) An NIH-funded joint summer school to train radiochemists with an emphasis on medical applications. (2) Collaboration with LANL on the proposal for the competed renewal of the UNM Cancer Center's National Cancer Center Institute grant. (3) Joint appointments between LANL and the UNM Cancer Center to support this collaboration. (4) Supporting collaboration among UNM, LANL, and UCSD on the UCSD radiopharmacy program by rotating the UCSD students through active research programs at LANL and UNM. The challenge presented in this effort was to identify opportunities to improve and expand interactions between LANL and the New Mexico campuses in nuclear and radiochemistry programs.

In connection with this activity a workshop on the training and education needs of the nuclear and radiochemistry programs at LANL. One of the objectives of this workshop was to identify where UNM could play a role in training and education. We believe there is an opportunity to apply to NIH for support for a summer school to train radiochemists at the undergraduate level (modeled on a similar program supported by DOE) with a special emphasis on medical applications. The summer school would be housed at UNM with substantial time spent at LANL for introduction to topics including radioisotope production and separations, radionuclide generator development, radiopharmaceutical chemistry, ligand generation, and enriched stable isotope applications for structural NMR, proteomics, metabolomics and other applications. We anticipate that this activity will continue in FY '09.

We have also identified an opportunity to increase collaborations between LANL investigators and the UNM Cancer Research and Treatment Center. The National Cancer Institute recently awarded Cancer Center designation to UNM. The center grant that is part of this designation is due for competing renewal in 2010. We will identify collaborations that will strengthen this renewal application with a target of draft proposals in the spring of 2009. In addition, we will identify candidates for joint appointments in the appropriate department at UNM to solidify these interactions.

Joint Educational Programs with UC in Radiochemistry

We have been exploring opportunities for interactions that include LANL, UNM and UC campuses. One example has been the creation of a radiopharmacy program at UCSD. UNM is involved in this activity and LANL has also participated in the planning stages. We are at the early stage of preparing a proposal for rotating students and trainees at UCSD through laboratories of investigators who have successfully competed for external, peer-reviewed funding in order to familiarize them with projects that range from basic research to much more applied development stage activity.

Partnership with NMCAC in Emerging Health Applications for Encanto

We organized a session at the recent IAS 2008 meeting in Las Cruces, NM on the potential use of the new Encanto supercomputer that the state of New Mexico has purchased and placed at Intel. The breakout session focused on the use of the supercomputer for real-time image processing and quantitative pharmacokinetic modeling for preclinical drug development. Genomic applications were also discussed with presentations from all three of the NMC universities.

Center for Temporal Spatial Analysis

The IAS supported Dr. Jan Oliver’s Center for Temporal Spatial Analysis P50 grant ($10K/year for students and seminars) and the q-bio conference ($20K/yr for students and conference costs).

FY '08 Reports on Radio-chemistry Programs

• Isotopes and Imaging Conference The workshop brought together collaborators and future partners of UNM's New Mexico Center for Isotopes and Imaging to identify opportunities and challenges for program development in this field. link
• Post-BA Internships for Radiochemistry Technicians Supports the formation of a technician internship program for radiochemistry technicians, drawing prospective technicians in the same way that the postdoctoral program draws prospective technical staff. link
• LANL/UNM Collaboration in Nuclear and Radiochemistry Programs This effort identified four possible initiatives to develop collaborations between UNM and LANL in nuclear and radiochemistry programs. (1) An NIH funded joint summer school to train radiochemists with an emphasis on medical applications. (2) Collaboration with LANL on the proposal for the competed renewal of the UNM Cancer Center's National Cancer Institute grant. (3) Joint appointments between LANL and the UNM Cancer Center to support this collaboration. (4) Supporting collaboration among UNM, LANL, and UCSD on the UCSD radiopharmacy program by rotating the UCSD students through active research programs at LANL and UNM. link

Energy and Environment

Description Pete Lammers, New Mexico State University; Steve Buelow Los Alamos National Laboratory; Osman Inal, New Mexico Tech

Energy and Environment is a developing thrust area in the IAS. The IAS member institutions have broad and deep capabilities in the modeling of energy infrastructures and the modeling and observation of global and regional climate systems. In addition, the IAS institutions have significant programs in the development of technologies that can provide new or enhanced energy sources with reduced emission of greenhouse gases. This year the IAS will identify areas for development in Energy and Environment.

Areas of interest for the IAS in Energy and Environment include:

• Elucidating and predicting climate change over wide ranges of spatial and temporal scales: modeling and experiment.
• Energy infrastructure: modeling, reliability, security, storage, transmission, and efficiency.
• Understanding and solving the problems associated with greenhouse gas emissions: capture, sequestration, measurement, and emissions monitoring.
• Renewable energy sources: biofuels, solar, wind, and geothermal.
• Nuclear energy: advanced fuel cycles and reactor concepts and waste disposition.

Over the past year the IAS has started to explore several of these areas. It has funded an economic analysis of alternative fuel technologies. This activity provided information to the IAS to help guide the IAS investment in the area of renewable energy, and second, by submitting the report to the Library of Congress for congressional reference, it helped to raise New Mexico’s profile in this area. Also in the area of alternative fuels, the IAS supported the development of a bio-diesel proposal submitted to DARPA.

In the area of energy infrastructure, the IAS supported the development of the Global Energy Observatory. IAS support allowed the development of the initial computer infrastructure for collecting global energy supply and distribution information. This open model will provide the base on which to build both education and research programs.

In the area of climate change the IAS supported two efforts. The first supported a New Mexico EPSCoR NSF proposal. As part of this proposal, the IAS agreed to fund the development of a Climate Change Research Training Group (RTG). The RTG is a significant collaboration among the IAS institutions. The objectives include the promotion of transdisciplinary linkages across climatology, hydrology, and the socioeconomic sciences. This multi-million dollar proposal was successful and the RTG will start next year. The second effort supported by the IAS was the New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute at NMSU. This annual symposium attracts about 200 water experts from around the state to discuss their latest research and technological developments relevant to water resources.

FY '08 Reports on Energy and Environment Programs

• Climate Change Research Training Group In support of a New Mexico EPSCoR project, the IAS is funding the development of a Climate Change RTG. The RTG is a significant collaboration among the IAS institutions. The objectives are a) to promote transdisciplinary linkages across climatology, hydrology, and the socioeconomic sciences; b) to create a cadre of scientists that are well-versed in modeling tools and the underlying frameworks used in the three scientific domains; and c) to engage MS and PhD students and faculty from all degree-granting institutions in the state as well as the national laboratories. link
• Economic Analysis of Alternative Fuels Technologies The report was submitted to the Library of Congress to inform policy makers and contribute to the formulation of research agendas and funding opportunities for NMSU and the other IAS participant members in the area of algal bio-diesel. link
• DARPA Bio-Diesel Proposal The IAS provided program development funds and two Red Team Review members (Rob Duncan and Steve Obrey) for an NMSU-led response submitted to DARPA in 2008 entitled "Processes for the Affordable Manufacture of Algal-Derived JP-8 Surrogate." link
• Open Model This project combines information management systems, systems analysis and modeling expertise with global public participation in order to understand emergent behavior in energy systems and public perceptions and opinions. link
• New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute Symposium The New Mexico Water Resources Research Institute at NMSU holds their technical research symposium annually. The symposium attracts about 200 water experts from around the state to discuss their latest research and technological developments relevant to water resources. link

Strategic Initiatives

Katharine Chartrand, New Mexico Consortium

• 2007 Biothreat Nonproliferation Conference The conference brought together experts and representatives from biomedical research, the biothreat reduction community, and relevant government agencies to discuss the current status of biothreat non-proliferation and science and technology development necessary to support an integrated approach to non-proliferation. link
• NMSU/LANL Collaborative Efforts in Chem/Bio/Nuclear Threat Reduction Dr. Rayson of NMSU met with LANL scientists to work on joint proposals for the investigation of chemical processes leading to the development of new sensing technologies for the detection or sequestration of chemical and biological warfare agents and the detection of nuclear materials. link
• UNM Center for Science, Tech and Policy/NM Nuclear Study Group Workshop This workshop considered four questions central to nuclear weapon policy: (1) What role have nuclear weapons played in the past? (2) What role do nuclear weapons now play? (3) What role can nuclear weapons play? (4) What role, if any, should nuclear weapons play in the future? link
• Nuclear, Particle, Astrophysics and Cosmology (NuPAC) Seminar The IAS supports a regular weekly NuPAC seminar by video conference every Tuesday at 2pm. UNM and LANL partner to put together the seminar, which takes place at UNM and is sent by videoconferencing to the Oppenheimer Study Center at LANL. link