Presenter

As Assistant Division Chief of HPC Operations, William (Bill) Thigpen leads key supercomputing environment development efforts—including operation of an energy-efficient system called Aitken, in NASA's new modular supercomputing facility—to significantly reduce the water and power required to cool today’s supercomputers and provide more computing capability to NASA users.

As project manager for NASA’s High-End Computing Capability Project, Thigpen also leads the team that provides day-to-day operations to ensure delivery of world-class supercomputing resources and services supporting NASA missions. The cornerstones of these resources are the Pleiades and Electra supercomputers, which rank among the world’s fastest and most capable systems.

In addition, Thigpen oversees the deployment and testing of ground-breaking technologies. Currently, these efforts include utilizing technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and cloud technologies to further enhance our high-end computing users’ experience. He is also engaged in evaluating the potential benefits of quantum computing for NASA’s mission challenges.