Podcast/Video Interviews by Stephen Ibaraki

A Chat with Bronson Messer: Distinguished Staff Scientist and Director of Science for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)

This week, Stephen Ibaraki has an exclusive interview with Dr. Bronson Messer.

Bronson Messer is a Distinguished Staff Scientist and Director of Science for the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (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. One of the primary programs he oversees is the Director's Discretionary (DD) allocation program for OLCF (see "https://my.olcf.ornl.gov/project-application-new"). The DD program facilitates access to the OLCF's resources by industry, academia, and other governmental agencies.

Dr. Messer is also Joint Faculty Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Tennessee. 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.

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.

The SC Conference (International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis) 16-21 November, 2025 - St. Louis, MO.

Credit bio: Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)
Photo Credit: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.