Computer Science Professor Cuneo Awarded Grant for Work on Nuclear Security

Congratulations to Assistant Professor of Computer Science Braxton Cuneo, who was recently awarded funds from the Center for Exascale Monte Carlo Neutron Transport (CEMeNT) based at Oregon State University. CEMeNT is one of nine centers funded by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration to support modeling, simulation, and experimentation that advances the safety and security of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile.

Dr. Cuneo will specifically work on improving the performance of Monte Carlo Neutron Transport (MCNT) applications–a method that simulates particle interaction related to nuclear systems–on GPU (graphics processing unit)-based infrastructure. Through the development of general-purpose on-GPU resource management methods, Dr. Cuneo aims to support MCNT application development by automating the fine-grained memory/process management required for efficient operation. Through this automation, subject experts could focus on the business logic of simulation, rather than the details of its execution.

In addition to supporting Dr. Cuneo’s ongoing work, funding from CEMeNT will enable him to engage at least one undergraduate student researcher year-round for the duration of the project.