
Rich Hornung
Computational Scientist
COMP / CASC DIV / Center for Applied Scientific Computing Division

Computational Scientist
COMP / CASC DIV / Center for Applied Scientific Computing Division
Rich Hornung is a Computational Scientist in the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). During his career at LLNL, Rich has performed algorithm research and software development for a wide range of problems in high-performance computing (HPC). He created or co-created several open-source HPC software projects including: SAMRAI (parallel adaptive mesh refinement), RAJA (C++ abstractions for hardware architecture portability), RAJA Performance Suite, and Axom (HPC application building blocks). Currently, Rich leads the RAJA, RAJA Performance Suite, and Axom projects. He is a member of the Project Coordination Council (PCC) in the Weapons Simulation and Computing / Computational Physics (WSC/CP) Program at LLNL, where he represents the development of shared CS infrastructure software projects used throughout the program. His research interests include scalable parallel adaptive mesh refinement, MPMD algorithms for multi-scale simulations, programming abstractions for high performance multi-architecture portability, and software infrastructure for large-scale multi-physics applications.
Rich joined LLNL in 1996. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. degrees in Applied Mathematics from Duke University in 1994 and 1991, respectively, and his B.A. degree in Mathematics and Music from Lawrence University in 1989. Following the completion of his Ph.D.,, he was a National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Industrial Research Postdoctoral Fellow working with researchers at Duke University and Mobil Exploration and Production Technical Center in Dallas, TX.
Software Projects
See Rich’s GitHub profile. Here’s a list of projects Rich has made substantial contributions to are:
Other projects with which Rich is affiliated include:
R. Anderson, A. Black, L. Busby, B. Blakeley, R. Bleile, J.-S. Camier, J. Ciurej, A. Cook, V. Dobrev, N. Elliott, J. Grondalski, C. Harrison, R. Hornung, Tz. Kolev, M. Legendre, W. Liu, W. Nissen, B. Olson, M. Osawe, G. Papadimitriou, O. Pearce, R. Pember, A. Skinner, D. Stevens, T. Stitt, L. Taylor, V. Tomov, R. Rieben, A. Vargas, K. Weiss, D. White. The Multiphysics on Advanced Platforms Project. Technical Report LLNL-TR-815869, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 2020.
D. A. Beckingsale, W. P. Gaudin, R. D. Hornung, B. T. Gunney, T. Gamblin, J. A. Herdman, and S. A. Jarvis. Parallel Block Structured Adaptive Mesh Refinement on Graphics Processing Units. Technical Report LLNL-TR-664446, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 2014.
A. Black, R. Hornung, M. Kumbera, R. Neely, and R. Rieben. Computer Science Recommendations for LLNL ASC Next-Gen Code. Technical Report LLNL-TR-658622, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 2014.
H. Johansen, L. Curfman McInnes, D. Bernholdt, J. Carver, M. Heroux, R. Hornung, P. Jones, B. Lucas, and A. Siegal. Software Productivity for Extreme-scale Science. Technical report, U. S. Department of Energy Advanced Scientific Computing Research Workshop Report, Rockville, MD, 2014.
R. D. Hornung and J. A. Keasler. A Case for Improved C++ Compiler Support to Enable Performance Portability in Large Physics Simulation Codes. Technical Report LLNL-TR-635681, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, 2013.
2024: Promoted to Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
2023: LLNL Director’s Science and Technology Award: “Next-Generation Simulation Technologies for the Exascale Era”
2022: LLNL Weapon Simulation and Computing Program Bert Still Award, given annually to an individual who demonstrates significant program impact at the intersection of research and application development
2021:LLNL Weapon Simulation and Computing Program Bronze Award for development of high-performance GPU capabilities in the next-generation multi-physics code, MARBL
2019:LLNL Weapon Simulation and Computing Program Bronze Award for developing and presenting the LLNL plenary talk at the JOWOG34 Applied Computer Science meeting
2018: LLNL Weapon Complex and Integration Directorate Gold Award for Significant Outstanding Contributions leading the RAJA portability software effort which enabled production programmatic applications to effectively use the Sierra supercomputer
2018:LLNL Weapon Simulation and Computing / Computational Physics Program Silver Star Award for developing and applying the RAJA performance portability programming model to enable WSC applications to demonstrate substantial early successes on the GPU-enabled Sierra platform
2017:LLNL Weapon Simulation and Computing Program Silver Star Award for teamwork in porting the Ares and ALE3D applications to the Sierra supercomputer
2015:LLNL Computation Directorate award for Significant Outstanding Contributions
2013: LLNL B Division / B Program award for exceptional effort in developing a new Livermore Loop benchmark application, leading to guidance for compiler vendors that will have a real impact on ASC simulation tools
2012:LLNL Defense Programs Award of Excellence for significant contributions to the Stockpile Stewardship Program enabling new and unprecedented high fidelity simulation capabilities
2012: LLNL Weapons Complex and Integration Directorate award in appreciation of exemplary teamwork in the initial deployment of the ASC Code System for full system simulation
2012:LLNL B Division / B Program award for overcoming nearly insurmountable challenges to gain approval and host the 2012 NECDC conference
2010: LLNL Computing Applications and Research Department Award of Appreciation for contributions and dedication to improving standards in LLNL software development
2008: LLNL B Division / B Program award for outstanding work in demonstrating early success on the ASC Dawn machine for scaling of a multi-physics code
1994-1996: National Science Foundation Mathematical Sciences Industrial Research Postdoctoral Fellowship
1989-1992: USAF Office of Scientific Research Laboratory Graduate Fellowship
1989: Phi Beta Kappa, Lawrence University