On January 6, 2009, Caltech’s Center for Simulation of Dynamic Response of Materials was recognized by the National Nuclear Security Administration for its decade-long contribution to computational science and engineering. The Caltech center was one of five university centers in the Academic Strategic Alliance Program of the NNSA’s Advanced Simulation and Computing program (ASC).

The ASC program has provided significant funding for Caltech and CACR since 1998. Dan Meiron, ASC center director, accepted a Certificate of Service from Dmitry Kusnezov from the NNSA, “for your steadfast dedication and leadership in advancing the field of computational science and engineering by using high-performance computing … to elevate the state of technology of materials design through the Virtual Test Facility’s capability to simulate the dynamic response of materials under intense loading conditions.” The Caltech center’s work included constructing a proof of concept for a Virtual shock physics Test Facility in which the full three-dimensional response of a variety of target materials could be simulated for a wide range of compressive, tensional, and shear loadings, including those produced by detonation of energetic materials.

Caltech’s ASC ASAP center’s success was key in securing a role in the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program (PSAAP).