Dan’s journey began with a focus on high-performance computing, leading him to work on numerous initiatives that bridge scientific research and advanced technologies. His leadership at various institutions and his work as an NSF program officer have been instrumental in fostering collaboration between different disciplines, bringing together experts to solve complex challenges.

Beyond his technical prowess, Dan’s commitment to open science, research software sustainability, and data sharing is evident in his advocacy for the importance of transparent and accessible research. This dedication is evident through his involvement in creating policies that encourage open-source software, data sharing, and reproducibility, thereby shaping the future of scientific research.

Dan’s role as an educator at the University of Illinois further solidifies his impact. By mentoring students and collaborating with fellow researchers, he imparts his vast knowledge and enthusiasm for computational science to the next generation. This dedication to education ensures that his influence extends beyond his own work, leaving a lasting mark on the wider scientific community.

Advancing Research & Innovation

Dan stands as a luminary in the world of computational and data-enabled science. His technical expertise, commitment to open science, and passion for education collectively underscore his significant contributions to advancing research and innovation in the digital age. In this I Am HPC blog, Dan graciously shares with us.

Daniel S. Katz

Chief Scientist, NCSA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Daniel on LinkedIN

Q: What single event most made you realize you wanted a career in HPC/computing?

Katz: I was excited as a graduate student to realize the power of computational simulation to model the physical world to make it understandable and predictable, and quickly realized that HPC was essential to using simulation for understanding of the world with detail and at scale.

Q: What do you consider your biggest contribution to the HPC/computing community?

Katz: Raising awareness about the importance of research software—that it must be maintained by people in order to continue to be useful over time, and that those people (many of whom are now known as Research Software Engineers or RSEs) need to have career paths in academia as well as national labs, and that these career paths depend on the use and impact of their work being seen, measured, and valued.

Q: In the past 35 years, what is the most significant overlooked breakthrough that has impacted the field in your eyes?

Katz: The commoditization of HPC at many levels, from the systems (starting with the Beowulf project and moving through GPUs) to the usage modalities (such as cloud and AI/ML).

Q: What would you like to see change about, within, or among the HPC/computing community?

Katz: While there have been improvements during my career, we still need much more work on diversity, ranging from demographics (e.g., gender, ethnic background, etc.) to discipline (e.g., STEM vs. other fields) to opportunities (e.g., students in non-research-focused universities and community colleges). The best ideas aren’t limited to those who are currently in HPC, but also exist in those who aren’t in HPC and may not even be aware of it.

Dan Katz (left) with 2023 REU students and team members.

Dan Katz, Chief Scientist, NCSA (right) with Bill Gropp, Director, NCSA.

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