Frontera Computational Science Fellowships
2024-2025 Fellowship Awardees
Welcome to TACC’s Frontera Computational Science Fellowship awardees for 2024-2025. The program provides a year-long opportunity for talented graduate students to compute on the most powerful academic supercomputer in the world and collaborate with experts at TACC.
Chishan Zhang
Academic Institution: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Field of Research: Ph.D. candidate, Geography & Geographic Information Science
Why did you become a scientist?
From an early age, I was captivated by the complexities of the natural world and the potential of cutting-edge technologies to unravel its mysteries. Inspired by the power of combining computer science with space-borne sensors to monitor our planet and address environmental challenges, my research seeks to leverage satellite remote sensing to investigate how climate change impacts crop growth and productivity.
What is your favorite aspect of your research?
I love the interdisciplinary nature of this work. Operating at the intersection of geography, computer science, and agriculture allows me to seamlessly integrate diverse fields and unlock novel insights that transcend traditional boundaries.
What excites you the most about the opportunity to work on the NSF-funded Frontera supercomputer?
Frontera’s unparalleled computing power will allow me to perform complex simulations and process vast datasets at unprecedented speeds. This Fellowship also provides a unique opportunity to collaborate with top experts at TACC, enabling me to harness advanced computing techniques and push the boundaries of satellite-driven crop growth modeling.
What do you hope to accomplish during your time as a Frontera Fellow?
I want to develop models that accurately predict crop yields across vast regions, enabling proactive measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change on food security. Also, I hope to forge collaborations with experts from diverse disciplines and foster an exchange of ideas and techniques that will enhance my research endeavors.
What do you like to do when you are not working on research?
I enjoy exploring the outdoors through activities like hiking and stay active by playing badminton. I also find solace in reading a good book or diving into immersive role-playing games, where I can unwind and lose myself in captivating worlds.
Ayodeji Omoniyi
Academic Institution: Stevens Institute of Technology
Field of Research: Ph.D. candidate, Chemical Engineering (Computational Heterogeneous Catalysis)
Why did you become a scientist?
From a young age, I was fascinated by explanations for everything, no matter how simple. This fascination extends beyond nature with a deep need to understand how everything works becoming a core part of my being. Each encounter piques my interest further. My thirst for knowledge drives me to devote myself to answering some of life's unanswered inquiries.
What is your favorite aspect of your research?
I love making a discovery and connecting the results of a project to tell a beautiful, cohesive, and compelling story. These breakthrough moments are why I do research.
What excites you the most about the opportunity to work on the NSF-funded Frontera supercomputer?
My research requires calculations and simulations that are computationally expensive and demanding. Frontera offers a great blend of ease of use and speed. I’m excited for all everything I will be able to do on one of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.
What do you hope to accomplish during your time as a Frontera Fellow?
I hope to network and make the best use of available resources to make my computational models that push biofuel usage toward more commercial levels. The experts at TACC and the CPU hours available through this Fellowship have raised the limits of what I hope to achieve with my research.
What do you like to do when you are not working on research?
I watch about five movies a week (streaming and in theaters) and two seasons of TV shows a month. I get on a soccer field twice a week and listen to diverse musical genres and attend lots of concerts.
Mikayla Darrows
Academic Institution: University of Florida
Field of Research: Ph.D. candidate, Chemistry
Why did you become a scientist?
I was fascinated by how a vast array of complex problems can be explained with a few fundamental concepts. This sparked an interest in the physical world and how chemistry can answer so many questions. My passion for understanding and sharing these concepts, along with the potential to unlock new discoveries, has driven me to become a scientist.
What is your favorite aspect of your research?
My research involves developing a machine learning model to predict chemical shifts for proteins using experimental data. I love how it combines my prior knowledge of using computational methods to efficiently study chemical problems with the challenge of self-learning how to program a neural network model from scratch. In an era where machine learning has surged in popularity and utility, it’s an exciting time to participate in this field.
What excites you the most about the opportunity to work on the NSF-funded Frontera supercomputer?
I am excited to gain valuable insights on my work from experts in high performance computing. Diverse ideas and collaboration are crucial for scientific advancement. I look forward to exploring the possibilities this Fellowship will create.
What do you hope to accomplish during your time as a Frontera Fellow?
I aim to parallelize my machine learning model on GPUs to predict chemical shifts for ultra-large datasets at unprecedented speeds. I plan to utilize Frontera’s resources for creative visualization and analysis of these outputs.
What do you like to do when you are not working on research?
I enjoy hobbies that tap into my artistic side like dancing, music, and drawing. I am also a lifelong surfer.
Jeffrey Lotthammer
Academic Institution: Washington University, St. Louis
Field of Research: Ph.D. candidate, Computational Biology, Biophysics, Bioinformatics
Why did you become a scientist?
Growing up with low vision, I became fascinated with science when I wondered why my visual acuity and color recognition were different from my classmates. Throughout my scientific education, I’ve been fascinated with math, physics, biology, and chemistry. Multidisciplinary training is essential for bridging gaps between fields, providing new perspectives, and approaching scientific problems. I first realized this during my undergraduate studies when I was introduced to biophysics.
What is your favorite aspect of your research?
I love the collaborative environment, critical thinking, and problem-solving involved in my research. I enjoy the strategic thinking required to identify a question, design an experiment to test a hypothesis, and analyze the results to gain insights. I especially enjoy communicating and discussing fascinating scientific concepts with others.
What excites you the most about the opportunity to work on the NSF-funded Frontera supercomputer?
I look forward to being able to rapidly prototype and scale using Frontera’s exceptional resources.
What do you hope to accomplish during your time as a Frontera Fellow?
I want to progress on my research projects and learn about the cool science others in the community are working on. One of my favorite things about research is being exposed to different areas of science and seeing how these domains may or may not interact and interface.
What do you like to do when you are not working on research?
I love to travel and explore new cities. I also love to cook and am a fan of miscellaneous kitchen gadgets to help make the process easier.
2024-2025 Frontera Fellowship Awardees
2023-2024 Frontera Fellowship Awardees
2022-2023 Frontera Fellowship Awardees