Large-Scale Scientific Computing in the Fight Against COVID-19

U.S. computing leaders, including the National Science Foundation, have partnered with universities, government agencies, and the private sector to accelerate research into responses to COVID-19—providing an unprecedented collection of resources that include some of the fastest computers in the world. This article expands on last month's Leadership Computing article by continuing to showcase the range of contributions that the national cyberinfrastructure is making global efforts to stop the pandemic. This article touches on research efforts to learn how SARS-CoV-2 spreads among different populations, the biology and structure of the virus, and its mechanisms of infection, and to develop effective vaccines for prevention and antiviral therapies for treatment. Even though we are still early in the process of developing an effective therapeutic response, the rapid mobilization of the national research cyberinfrastructure is a timely reminder of the strategic importance of robust, ongoing investments in large-scale scientific computing.