Jeffrey Hittinger is a computational scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), where he develops and applies advanced discretization methods for partial differential equations that underlie multiphysics numerical simulations. He has worked on applications in plasma physics, fluid dynamics and radiation hydrodynamics, devising high-order finite-difference and finite-volume methods, parallel computing strategies and adaptive mesh refinement techniques. He also has made advancements in a posteriori error estimation and finite-precision floating-point representations, recently leading a Laboratory Strategic Initiative on Variable Precision Computing.
Hittinger joined LLNL in October 2000 as a postdoctoral researcher. He earned a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and Scientific Computing, an M.S. in Mathematics and an M.S.E. in Aerospace Engineering, all from the University of Michigan. He received the prestigious Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship (DOE CSGF) and is one of the first recipients of the Frederick A. Howes Scholar in Computational Science award. Hittinger also earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University.
Hittinger directs LLNL’s Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC), the nexus of research in computational mathematics, computer science and data science in the Computation Directorate. He previously led the Scientific Computing Group within CASC, where he was a computational scientist. He also manages the DOE Office of Science Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program portfolio at LLNL.
Hittinger serves on many internal and external technical review panels, conference committees and committees supporting scientific computing education at the graduate and postdoctoral levels. He was deeply involved in DOE’s exascale computing planning, culminating with his role as co-chair for the working group responsible for ASCR’s Applied Mathematics Research for Exascale Computing report. He is regularly involved in outreach activities for the Computation Directorate and has given dozens of invited talks at both domestic and international venues. Hittinger has co-authored more than three dozen peer-reviewed articles and, in 2019, received a LLNL Deputy Director for Science & Technology Excellence in Publication Award.