Jay Boisseau
John (“Jay”) Boisseau, Ph.D. is an experienced, recognized leader and strategist in advanced computing technologies, with over 20 years in the field. Jay has built and led many computing-focused programs, departments, and organizations. Jay’s current position is CEO and co-founder (June 2014) of Vizias. Vizias is a small team of talented, passionate technology professionals who are determined to change the world by leveraging their advanced computing expertise and experience, especially in high performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and smart cities, including Intern of Things (IoT) technologies. Jay’s recent Vizias projects include working with Dell EMC (since September 2014) to further develop its high-performance computing (HPC) strategy and new solutions for a broader use of HPC, contributing to increased revenue, staff expertise, and internal R&D capabilities. He is now also helping Dell EMC develop a new AI strategy and solutions including recently announced solutions to be delivered in 2018.
Through Vizias, Jay founded the Austin CityUP Consortium (July 2015) and currently serves as the executive director, with a vision of creating an integrated smart city fabric throughout Austin—leveraging mobile devices and IoT data collectors, as well as supercomputers and AI for predictive analytics and scenario simulation—in the years ahead to address city issues, empower city planning, and improve city life in general. Jay is also the director of The Austin Forum on Technology & Society, the leading monthly technology outreach and engagement event in Austin. Finally, Jay also worked with Data Vortex (2014-15) to provide strategic guidance for this HPC technology company with a revolutionary interconnect technology.
Prior to creating Vizias, Jay created the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin and led it (2001-14) to world prominence. Under Jay’s leadership, TACC deployed numerous world-class computing systems for U.S. open scientific research, and developed new programs to enable thousands of researchers to accomplish more with these powerful technologies. Jay also raised more than $200M for UT Austin, and secured the construction of a world-class facility and data center.
Background:
Jay graduated with a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and physics from the University of Virginia in 1986 while also working as a computer consultant. He entered the graduate program in astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, obtaining his masters degree in 1990. Jay initiated his dissertation research on modeling the dynamics of Type Ia supernovae using Cray supercomputers. This work stimulated his interest in high performance computing and led him to join the staff of the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC) as a programmer analyst in 1994 while continuing his supernova modeling research. At ARSC, Jay helped develop and lead several projects and activities at the relatively new center while supporting a growing scientific user community.
Jay completed his dissertation at The University of Texas at Austin and joined the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) in 1996. At SDSC, Jay became an Associate Director and created the Scientific Computing Department, with groups specializing in applications optimization, performance modeling, parallel tools development, grid portals development, and user support. He led several major SDSC projects for the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) and also led SDSC’s participation in the Department of Defense (DoD) Programming Environments and Training (PET) program. In addition, he founded the IBM Scientific Computing User Group while at SDSC.
In June 2001, Jay returned to Austin to create the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin. Under his direction, TACC grew in size and stature to become one of the leading academic advanced computing centers in the world, with over 100 staff, world-class supercomputing systems, and several competitive-awarded multi-million dollar federal grants. He established a strong research and development program at TACC and expanded the computational resources by winning two of the largest National Science Foundation (NSF) awards in UT Austin history: for Stampede deployed in January 2013, which was one of the ten most powerful computing systems in the world, and for Ranger, which debuted as one of top 5 systems in the world and was the largest NSF award in UT Austin’s history at $59 million in 2007. Jay was also one of the leaders in the NSF-sponsored eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) project, the most powerful and robust collection of integrated advanced digital resources and services in the world. He was also instrumental in the creation and execution of the University of Texas Research Cyberinfrastructure (UTRC) Project, designed to enhance the UT System’s 15 institutions’ research programs by leveraging TACC’s advanced computing systems and expertise.
Through Vizias, Jay founded the Austin CityUP Consortium (July 2015) and currently serves as the executive director, with a vision of creating an integrated smart city fabric throughout Austin—leveraging mobile devices and IoT data collectors, as well as supercomputers and AI for predictive analytics and scenario simulation—in the years ahead to address city issues, empower city planning, and improve city life in general. Jay is also the director of The Austin Forum on Technology & Society, the leading monthly technology outreach and engagement event in Austin. Finally, Jay also worked with Data Vortex (2014-15) to provide strategic guidance for this HPC technology company with a revolutionary interconnect technology.
Prior to creating Vizias, Jay created the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin and led it (2001-14) to world prominence. Under Jay’s leadership, TACC deployed numerous world-class computing systems for U.S. open scientific research, and developed new programs to enable thousands of researchers to accomplish more with these powerful technologies. Jay also raised more than $200M for UT Austin, and secured the construction of a world-class facility and data center.
Background:
Jay graduated with a bachelor’s degree in astronomy and physics from the University of Virginia in 1986 while also working as a computer consultant. He entered the graduate program in astronomy at The University of Texas at Austin, obtaining his masters degree in 1990. Jay initiated his dissertation research on modeling the dynamics of Type Ia supernovae using Cray supercomputers. This work stimulated his interest in high performance computing and led him to join the staff of the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC) as a programmer analyst in 1994 while continuing his supernova modeling research. At ARSC, Jay helped develop and lead several projects and activities at the relatively new center while supporting a growing scientific user community.
Jay completed his dissertation at The University of Texas at Austin and joined the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) in 1996. At SDSC, Jay became an Associate Director and created the Scientific Computing Department, with groups specializing in applications optimization, performance modeling, parallel tools development, grid portals development, and user support. He led several major SDSC projects for the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI) and also led SDSC’s participation in the Department of Defense (DoD) Programming Environments and Training (PET) program. In addition, he founded the IBM Scientific Computing User Group while at SDSC.
In June 2001, Jay returned to Austin to create the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin. Under his direction, TACC grew in size and stature to become one of the leading academic advanced computing centers in the world, with over 100 staff, world-class supercomputing systems, and several competitive-awarded multi-million dollar federal grants. He established a strong research and development program at TACC and expanded the computational resources by winning two of the largest National Science Foundation (NSF) awards in UT Austin history: for Stampede deployed in January 2013, which was one of the ten most powerful computing systems in the world, and for Ranger, which debuted as one of top 5 systems in the world and was the largest NSF award in UT Austin’s history at $59 million in 2007. Jay was also one of the leaders in the NSF-sponsored eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) project, the most powerful and robust collection of integrated advanced digital resources and services in the world. He was also instrumental in the creation and execution of the University of Texas Research Cyberinfrastructure (UTRC) Project, designed to enhance the UT System’s 15 institutions’ research programs by leveraging TACC’s advanced computing systems and expertise.