Kjiersten Fagnan Appointed NERSC/JGI Engagement Lead

Kjiersten Fagnan has been named the NERSC/JGI Engagement Lead for Joint Genome Institute (JGI) computational and data analysis efforts carried out at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). 

Fagnan, who holds a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Washington, started at NERSC as a petascale postdoc in 2010 and in 2012 joined the team helping biologists at JGI exploit advanced computing systems hosted at NERSC.  She has taken a lead role in developing and implementing key components of the JGI Strategic Plan for Computing and providing expert consulting and training to JGI scientists.

The DOE established the JGI in 1997 to support DNA sequencing, informatics and technology development pioneered at DOE genome centers. NERSC and the JGI are collaborating to develop solutions to the genomic community's growing need for advanced computation, data storage and analysis. A significant portion of JGI projects are related to bioenergy and focus on three areas: developing plant feedstocks; using microbes to break down cellulose in plant cell walls; and fermenting sugars into biofuels. JGI researchers use NERSC systems to assemble and perform comparative analysis for genomes from plant, fungal, microbial and metagenome communities.

In her new role, Fagnan will coordinate NERSC activities carried out in support of JGI’s mission and lead NERSC’s JGI user support team, which provides expert technical computational science support and advice to JGI staff and users. In addition, Fagnan will be the NERSC co-chair with Shane Canon, Group Lead for NERSC’s Technology Integration Group, on the JGI/NERSC Coordinating Committee and will lead a number of high performance computing and analysis initiatives at the JGI.