Presenter

Dr. Bronson Messer is a Distinguished Scientist and the Director of Science at the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is also a Joint Faculty Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Tennessee. His primary research interests are related to the explosion mechanisms and phenomenology of supernovae, 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, Messer was a research associate in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, where he was Deputy Group Leader for Astrophysics in the ASC Center for Astrophysical Thermonuclear Flashes.

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.