HPC Wire – 35 HPC Legends 2024 – Founding Director of NCSA

In a move that revolutionized the field of HPC itself, Smarr co-submitted a 10-page proposal to the NSF in 1983 titled “Center for Scientific and Engineering Supercomputing,” informally known as the “Black Proposal” after the color of its cover. The proposal was the first unsolicited submission to be approved by the NSF and led to the founding of four supercomputing centers: Cornell, Illinois, Princeton, and San Diego, with a fifth, Pittsburgh, established later.