Forrest M. Hoffman

Professional Experience

Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), [Managed for the U.S. Department of Energy by Martin Marietta Energy Systems (through 1995), Lockheed Martin Energy Research (LMER) Corp. (1996-3/2000) and UT-Battelle, LLC (4/2000-present)] MS 6008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6008: Performs software engineering on the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) as part of a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) project focussing on climate research. Performs systems analysis and design for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Archive. Develops and impelements Internet technologies for the U.S. Global Change Data and Information System's (GCDIS) globalchange.gov World Wide Web server. Develops and implements serial and parallel scientific models used in environmental analyses and predictions. Develops supporting software tools for visualization, analysis, and publication of scientific data and information. Requires direct interaction with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsors, knowledge of Unix and Linux systems, the X Window System, C, FORTRAN 90, DOE and ORNL computer and network security and configuration requirements, software engineering practices, and modeling and visualization techniques. Currently serving on the ORNL Secure On-Line Facilities Development Group and the ESD Electronic Communications Committee. Formerly served on the ORNL Scientific Computing User Advisory Committee, the ORNL IBM SP2 Access Committee, and the ORNL Internet Technologies Working Group (ITWG) (11/1993-present).

Linux Magazine: Contributing Editor and Columnist for "Extreme Linux" (2002-present).

University of Tennessee, Department of Geological Sciences, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996: Performed system administration, systems programming, and management of several Unix-based workstations and minisupercomputers in the Earth Sciences Modeling Center of Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Environmental Sciences Division. Developed and modified scientific models and tools used in environmental analyses, including numerical models and visualization systems used to model and analyze environmental data (7/1992-11/1993).

Automated Sciences Group, Inc., 800 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830: Knowledge Engineer for Hydrogeochemical Expert System Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Responsible for software design and development for contaminant transport modeling and Unix system administration and programming. Proficiency in knowledge engineering, knowledge representation, programming languages, and scientific modeling techniques required (5/1989-6/1992).

Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU), Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830: Science and Engineering Research and Professional Intern for Hydrogeochemical Expert System Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (9/1988-5/1989).

Hawai'i Data, Hilo, Hawai'i 96721-5059: Owner of company specializing in computer systems for plant and office automation, accounting, database design, telecommunications, and expert systems development. Managed HP3000 minicomputer (1.5 years) and networked and stand-alone PC's (4 years) at customer sites (1984-9/1990).

National Center for Atmospheric Research, Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hilo, Hawai'i 96721-0425: Operator of K-Coronameter, Prominence Monitor, and Calcium Variability Monitor. Performed scientific data collection and management, operated multiple computer systems and telescope control systems at high altitude observatory (1987-9/1988).

University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720-4091: Physics and Astronomy Department Laboratory Manager (9/1987-5/1988).

University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720-4091: Business/Economics Department Computer Laboratory Manager. Managed network of 10 PC's and assisted professors and students in the use of hardware and software (1/1987-5/1987).

Radio Shack and Radio Shack Computer Center, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720: Computer hardware and software sales, installation, and customer support (1985-1986).

University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Center for Continuing Education and Community Service, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720-4091: instructor of computer classes for children, adults, teachers and senior citizens (1984-1985).

Mississippi Academic and Marine Adventures Inc., Biloxi MS 39530: Member, Board of Directors; instructor of BASIC classes (1984).

The Hancock Bank, Gulfport MS 39501: IBM 1419 Computer operator, data entry and shipping clerk (1983-1984).

Education

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996: Master's of Science in Physics (12/2004).

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996: Bachelor of Science in Physics (8/1991). Undergraduate in the Department of Physics and Astronomy (1989-1991). Performed astronomical photometry research and developed computer software for data reduction and analysis.

Professional Organizations

• International Environmental Modeling and Software Society (iEMSs) (2006-present).

• Advisory Committee for Advanced Research Computing (ARC), Georgetown University, Washington, DC (2003-present).

• Smoky Mountain Chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) (1998-present). Invited speaker on September 18, 2000. Chapter President (2005).

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) - Computer Society (1998-present), Task Force on Cluster Computing (TFCC) (1999-present).

• American Geophysical Union (AGU) (1996-present).

• Sigma Pi Sigma (physics honor society) (1995-present).

Civic Organizations

• Judge for U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Education Adventures in Supercomputing program regional competition in Nashville, Tennessee (1995, 1997, 1998, and 2000).

• Atomic City Aquatic Club (ACAC), Oak Ridge, Tennessee: President (1995-1996) and First Vice President (1993-1995) of the Board of Directors for swim team of 100+ young athletes.

• Physics facilitator for regional Science Olympiad competition (1992-1995).

• Simple Machines facilitator for Tennessee State Science Olympiad competition (1994-1997).

• Science/Physics reader for Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, Oak Ridge, Tennessee (1989-1990).

Software Development

Designed, developed, and implemented the following systems:

• pzs, a web-based interface for panning, zooming, scrolling, and viewing maps.

• The Stone SouperComputer, the first Beowulf-style parallel computer at ORNL.

• An on-line database for the U.S. Global Change Data and Information System's (GCDIS) globalchange.gov website which can be maintained remotely via the World Wide Web (WWW).

• The Virtual Field Site, a small field prototype system for collection and distribution of remote sensing data, including imagery, used for field site monitoring and event detection. Data and images are made available via the World Wide Web (WWW) in near real-time.

• The Climate Library, an interpolation module for use in global change models which automatically uses temperature and precipitation data from the Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC) to provide a model with interpolated global maps for any desired year.

• moviemap, a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) package for dynamic generation of movie/animation sequences on the World Wide Web (WWW). Movies are created based on multiple image point selections made by the user.

• A World Wide Web (WWW) Information System, the first such server at ORNL, for public relations, internal administrative information dissemination, and global scientific and technical information distribution.

• A Gopher Information System for the ORNL Environmental Sciences Division.

• sphere, a package for interpolating global climate data using Robert Renka's tsphpak and sphtrpak routines.

• The Geochemical Expert System for describing complexation and precipitation in complex geochemical compositions. Designed and implemented the knowledge base, geochemical model interface, and graphics displays.

• The Plant Management System, an intelligent system for fish plant management which tracks perishable product inventory.

• The Remote Sales System, a communication package with distributed processing for multisite organizations.

• The Freight Management System, which tracks customer shipments, provides customer billing and packing records, and reconciles freight charges.

• A prototype for institutional inmate control including inventory tracking and individual management.

• A government-related contract processing and accounts management system with a custom-designed, integrated accounting package.

• A commercial, menu-driven accounting and inventory system for retail and wholesale sales with accounts receivable and payable, inventory tracking, and general ledger capabilities.

• Nate's Learning Machine, an educational package for the handicapped that includes hand-eye coordination and fine motor control.

Computer Environments

Parallel Systems Cray XT3 (>5,000 processors), Cray X1E (1,024 processors), IBM Power4 (24 nodes/768 processors), IBM SP WinterHawk I/II (184 nodes/720 processors), Compaq AlphaServer SC Series Supercomputer (64 nodes/256 processors, 16 nodes/64 processors), Beowulf-style Linux clusters (2-150 processors), Sun UltraSparc clusters, Silicon Graphics Origin 2000 (32 processors), IBM SP2 (16 processors), Intel Paragon (2048 processors), Intel iPSC/860 (128 processors), Intel iPSC/2, Maspar MP-2, Cray X-MP, Cray Y-MP. Serial Systems Apollo DN10000, AT&T 3B2, DEC 3000 and 7000 AXP (all models), DECsystem and DECstation 5000 and 3100 (all models), DEC VAX and MicroVAX and VAXstation (all models), DEC 20 (all models), HP 9000 (all models), HP 3000 (all models), IBM RS/6000 (all models), IBM 3090, IBM 360, NCR 8200, Silicon Graphics IRIX Workstations (all models) , Stardent/Kubota Titan, Sun SPARCstation, SPARCserver, and UltraSPARC (all models). Micro Systems Apple II (all models), Macintosh and Power Macintosh (all models), Atari 800/XL/XE, Commodore 64, HP 110 and 150, IBM PC/XT/AT and PS/2, Intel-based PC's (many models and manufacturers), NCR DecisionMate, Radio Shack Models I/III/IV, and Tandy 1000/2000/3000.

Languages, Development Environments, and Application Programming Interfaces C, C++, FORTRAN 90, FORTRAN 77, dbx, GNU Software (gcc, g++, g77, gdb, gdbm, etc.), Concurrent Versioning System (CVS), Revision Control System (RCS), netCDF, Hierarchical Data Format (HDF), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Personal Home Page (PHP), Common Gateway Interface (CGI) protocol, JavaScript, Make, Perl, DBM, PostgreSQL, Sybase SQL, Parallel Virtual Machine (PVM), Message Passing Interface (MPI), Postscript, BASIC, LOGO. Scientific Models Community Climate System Model (CCSM), Community Land Model (CLM2), Community Atmospherre Model (CAM2), and Fifth-Generation NCAR/Penn State Mesoscale Model(MM5).

Operating Systems Unix BSD 4.3 and 4.4, OSF/1, Digital Unix, Compaq Tru64, Domain OS, HP-UX, IBM AIX, SGI IRIX, RedHat Linux, Slackware and other implementations of Linux, SunOS and Solaris, Ultrix, Unicos, System V. Others CP/M; IMOS; Apple MacOS; HP MPE V; DEC TOPS 20 and VMS.

Applications/Software Systems IDL, PV-Wave, Application Visualization System (AVS), Matlab, Vis5D, Cave5D, GRASS, xv, xpaint, The Gimp, gPhoto, the X Window System and XFree86, Gnu Network Object Model Environment (GNOME) and K Desktop Environment (KDE), Digital DECwindows, Sun OpenWindows, OSF Motif, TGV Multinet, Network File System (NFS), Berkley lpd, vi, Pine, Pico, awk, sed, tar, gzip, Zip, Network Time Protocol (NTP), Secure Shell (SSH), Samba, TeX, LaTeX, troff/eqn/tbl, MBONE (sd, sdr, vic, vat, nv, wb), MPEG, Gopher Server and Client, Mosaic, Netscape, Mozilla, Microsoft Internet Explorer, NCSA HTTP Server, Apache httpd, WAIS and Isite, qi and ph, Post Office Protocol (POP) Server, Domain Name Server (DNS), Laser Knowledge Representation (KR) and Rule Production System (RPS), Rulemaster, KES Expert System shell, Mineql, Image/Query/Vplus, BPI Accounting Systems, dBase II/III/III+, Lotus 1-2-3, Symphony, Open Office, ApplixWare Office, Star Office, WordStar, PC Calc/File/Write/Talk, Mac Draw/Write/Paint, Cricket Graph, Usenet News, PC Gopher III, Eudora, POPmail, NCSA Telnet, PC-TCP/On-Net, ProComm, Crosstalk, and Kermit.

Honors and Awards

1st Place, People's Choice Poster Award for A Cluster Analysis Approach to Comparing Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Data with Global Climate Model (GCM) Results, by Forrest M. Hoffman, Salil Mahajan, William W. Hargrove, Richard T. Mills, and Tony Del Genio. The U.S. Department of Energy, Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program, at the 18th Annual ARM Science Team Meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, March 10-14, 2008. ORNL Outstanding Mentor Award. The U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge Associated Universities, February 2008. Significant Event Award for contribution to NSF's National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) Design Committee. Oak Ridge National Laboratory/UT-Battelle LLC, March 2006. Outstanding Paper in the Discipline of Landscape Ecology. W. W. Hargrove, F. M. Hoffman and P. M. Schwartz, "A fractal landscape realizer for generating synthetic maps," Conservation Ecology 6(1):2 (2002). Awarded by the International Association for Landscape Ecology, U. S. Regional Chapter, April 2004. World-Class Teamwork Award for building and using the Stone SouperComputer, the first Beowulf-style supercomputer at ORNL. Oak Ridge National Laboratory Values Committee, October 19, 1999. President's Award for Continuous Improvement. Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp., November 1997. ORNL Technical Achievement Award. Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Lockheed Martin Energy Research Corp., 1996. Distinguished Achievement Award for Operational Support. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Environmental Sciences Division, August 1995. Significant Event Award. Oak Ridge National Laboratory/Martin Marietta Energy Systems, June 1995.

References

• William E. Blass, University of Tennessee, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996.

• Sigurd W. Christensen, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Environmental Sciences Division, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6036.

• Richard A. Crowe, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720-4091.

• John B. Drake, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Computer Science and Mathematics Division, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6016.

• William W. Hargrove, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Environmental Sciences Division, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6274.

• William D. Heacox, University of Hawai'i at Hilo, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hilo, Hawai'i 96720-4091.

• G. Paul Lewis, University of Tennessee, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996.

• Raymond A. McCord, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Environmental Sciences Division, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6407.