CV

CURRICULUM VITAE

James Ahrens  

Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA Phone: (505) 667-5797 | Email: ahrens@lanl.gov

Biography

Dr. James Ahrens is a Senior Scientist in the Computing and Artificial Intelligence Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He earned his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts in 1989, followed by an M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1996) in Computer Science from the University of Washington. He joined Los Alamos National Laboratory as a Technical Staff Member in the High-Performance Computing Division in 1996.

Dr. Ahrens is widely recognized as the founder and design lead of ParaView, an open-source visualization application built to handle extremely large-scale scientific data. ParaView is used extensively for scientific visualization worldwide, including at supercomputing centers, national laboratories, universities, and industry, and has been downloaded more than four million times. Dr. Ahrens researched, designed, and developed the core abstractions, approaches, and algorithms that enable the visualization and analysis of massive scientific datasets on supercomputers. Industry partners such as NVIDIA and Intel have integrated their hardware-accelerated volume rendering (NVIDIA IndeX) and ray tracing (Intel OSPRay) technologies into ParaView.

An internationally recognized authority on visualization and data science, Dr. Ahrens has authored 162 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, earning multiple best paper awards. His research, spanning large-scale scientific visualization, rendering, compression, in situ analysis, and image-based approaches, has been cited more than ten thousand times.

Over the course of his career, Dr. Ahrens has received more than thirty-three awards as principal investigator or project lead from various program offices across the Department of Energy. These awards have grown in scope over time, evolving into multi-million-dollar, interdisciplinary projects involving multiple national laboratories and academic partners.

Dr. Ahrens served as Director of Los Alamos National Laboratory's Information Science and Technology Institute (2020 to 2026), where he advanced the Laboratory's Information Science & Technology Pillar by fostering high-quality research, driving specialized recruitment and strategic development, and sponsoring a range of initiatives, including summer schools, fellowships, rapid-response research, university collaborations, and workshops, that cultivated talent and innovation among students, postdoctoral researchers, and staff.

He is also recognized for his leadership as the U.S. DOE Exascale Computing Project's Data and Visualization Lead, overseeing seven storage, data management, and visualization software projects. In this role, he guided efforts to make high-impact software packages, including HDF5, ParaView, VisIt, and MPI-IO, exascale-ready.

Dr. Ahrens's expertise is frequently sought by laboratory leadership and the broader academic community. He has served as co-chair of the LANL Information Science and Technology LDRD Directed Research Science Committee on four occasions, regularly briefed leadership on data management for AI/ML applications, and served as an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics.

Dr. Ahrens is a Fellow of the IEEE Visualization & Graphics Technical Community (VGTC) Visualization Academy and a recipient of the IEEE Golden Core Member Service Award. A leader in the international visualization and computer graphics community, he served as the elected chair of the IEEE VGTC from 2019 to 2022, the governing body responsible for overseeing and sponsoring all IEEE visualization and virtual reality conferences.

Education

Ph.D. Computer Science University of Washington, Seattle 1996

M.S. Computer Science University of Washington, Seattle 1992

B.S. Computer Science University of Massachusetts, Amherst 1989

Professional Experience

Position Institution Years

Scientist 6, World-Class Authority and International Leader LANL 2024–present

Director, Information Science and Technology Institute LANL 2020–2026

Scientist 5, Recognized Authority and International Leader LANL 2010–2024

Scientist 4, Discipline Authority / National Leader LANL 2008–2010

Team Lead, Visualization Team LANL 2005–2008

Technical Staff Member LANL 1996–2005

Graduate Research Assistant LANL 1993

Graduate Research Assistant Thinking Machines Inc. 1991

Intern General DataComm Inc. Summers 1987–1989

Project Leadership

Large Projects (≥ $1M per year)

Project Role Sponsor Funding Years

NNSA Genesis LANL Data Pillar PI DOE Genesis $2M 2026–present

LANL DIANA Project Co-PI LANL Infrastructure $4M 2026–present

Supporting Cutting-Edge IS&T Research PI LANL LDRD $1.3M–1.7M 2024–2026

Data Science Infrastructure Project PI NNSA LANL ASC $1.2M–3.2M 2022–present

Data and Visualization Portfolio L3 PI DOE Exascale Computing $12M 2018-2023

(7 projects managed) Project (ECP)

ALPINE: Algorithms and Infrastructure L4 PI DOE ECP $2M–3M 2017–2023

    for In Situ Visualization

Cinema: Image-based Visualization L4 PI DOE ECP $1.2M 2017-2018

and Analysis

BEE: Virtual Environments Project L4 PI DOE ECP $1.2M 2017-2018

Real-time Adaptive Acceleration of PI DOE LANL LDRD $1.7M 2016–2019

Dynamic Experimental Science

Visualization Portfolio L3 PI DOE ECP $5M 2016-2018

(3 projects managed)

Visualization Research & PI NNSA LANL ASC $4.5M 2013-2016

Development and Production

Visualization Research & Development PI NNSA LANL ASC $1M 2009–2013

Smaller Projects (< $1M per year)

Project Role Sponsor Funding Years

Enabling Cosmic Discoveries in Co-I DOE SC ASCR SciDAC $100K 2024–present

 the Exascale Era

Fighting Fire with Fire: Enabling a Co-I DOE LANL LDRD $100K 2022–2023

Proactive Approach to Wildland Fire

Foundational Research in PI DOE LANL LDRD $750K 2021-2023

Information Science & Technology

Exasky: Computing the Sky Co-I DOE ECP $500K 2016–2023

at Extreme Scales

Computing the Sky: Co-I DOE SC ASCR SciDAC $500K 2015–2016

Simulation and Analysis

Big Data and Analytics Co-I DOE EERE & FE $50K 2015–2016

for Induced Seismicity

Optimizing the Energy Usage and PI DOE SC ASCR $500K 2014–2017

Cognitive Value of Extreme-Scale 

Data Analysis

Non-Negative Tensor Factorization Co-I DOE LANL LDRD $200K 2018–2021

RAPIDS: Computer Science Institute Co-I DOE SC ASCR SciDAC $300K 2017–present

Sample-based, Perceptually- and PI DOE SC ASCR $650K 2017–2020

Cognitively-Driven Visual Analysis

of Massive Data

Scalable Data Management, Analysis, Co-PI DOE SC ASCR SciDAC $400K 2012–2017

and Visualization Institute

Computation-Driven Discovery for Co-I DOE SC ASCR SciDAC $100K 2012–2015

the Dark Universe

Plasma Surface Interactions Co-I DOE SC ASCR SciDAC $80K 2012–2015

Center for Exascale Simulation of Co-I DOE SC ASCR Co-Design $100K 2011–2016

Advanced Reactors

Exascale Co-Design Center for Co-I DOE SC ASCR Co-Design $200K 2011–2016

Materials in Extreme Environments

Exploration and Evaluation of Exascale PI DOE SC ASCR $700K 2011–2014

In Situ Visualization and Analysis 

Approaches

Co-design of Next Generation Co-I DOE LANL LDRD $200K 2011–2014

Simulations

Ultra-scale Visualization Climate Co-I DOE SC BER $300K 2010–2013

Data Analysis Tools (UV-CDAT)

The Dark Universe Co-I DOE LANL LDRD $350K 2009–2012

Intelligent Wind Turbines Co-I DOE LANL LDRD $100K 2009–2012

Remote Visualization for PI DOE SC ASCR $700K 2008–2011

Petascale and Exascale Simulations

Honors and Awards

• DOE Secretary's Award for the Exascale Computing Project Management Team, 2024

• Fellow of the IEEE VGTC Visualization Academy, 2023

• IEEE Golden Core Member, 2023

• Best Paper Award, IEEE Symposium on Parallel Graphics and Visualization, 2020

• Best Paper Award, IEEE Symposium on Large Data Analysis and Visualization, 2018

• Best Paper Award, IEEE Symposium on Large Data Analysis and Visualization, 2016

• Best Scientific Visualization & Data Analytics Showcase, IEEE Supercomputing, 2015

Technical Areas of Expertise

Visualization and Computer Graphics, Data Science, and High-Performance Computing

Founder and Design Lead of Open-Source Software

• ParaView – A visualization tool for extremely large datasets, used worldwide, with more than 4 million downloads

• Parallel VTK – An HPC parallel infrastructure for ParaView built on the Visualization Toolkit (VTK)

• PISTON – A cross-platform, data-parallel, GPU-based visualization and analysis library

• Cinema – An image-based, in situ visualization and analysis tool

• Data Science Infrastructure Project – A metadata/data management library for scientific ML on HPC systems

Peer-Reviewed Publications

• 162 peer-reviewed publications

• h-index of 42, 10,643 citations (as of 9/7/2026)

   Google Scholar Results for paraview.org

• h-index of 80, 34,989 citations (2024)

• This metric documents citations in publications to the website paraview.org. For comparison, the top-cited ParaView publication is Chapter 36 of the Visualization Handbook, by Ahrens, Geveci, and Law, cited 3,625 times. The 34,989 citations capture the much broader impact of ParaView on the scientific community.

Presentations

• 9 keynote and plenary presentations at conferences, symposiums, and university events, 2009–present

• 42 invited presentations, panels, and tutorials at conferences and symposiums, 1998–present

Professional Activities

Steering and Executive Committees

• Member, EuroVis Steering Committee, 2022–present

• Director, IEEE Visualization and Computer Graphics Technical Community (VGTC) Executive Committee, 2022–present

• Elected Chair, IEEE VGTC Executive Committee, 2019–2022

• Member, IEEE Visualization Executive Committee, 2016–2019

• Co-Founder and Executive Committee Member, IEEE Large Data Analysis and Visualization Symposium, 2012–2018

• Member, SciDAC Scalable Data Management, Analysis and Visualization Institute Executive Committee, 2012–2017

• Member, DOE SciDAC Ultrascale Institute Advisory Board, 2006–2010

Academic and Laboratory Review

• Associate Editor, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2017–2022

• Scientific Visualization Papers Co-Chair, IEEE Visualization Conference, 2015–2016

• Review Committee Member, Computing Environment and Life Sciences Directorate Capability Review, 2012

• Guest Editor, IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, Special Issue on Ultrascale Visualization, 2010

• Co-Program Chair, Eurographics Symposium on Parallel Graphics and Visualization, 2010

• International Program Committee Member, IEEE Visualization, 2006–2008

• Manuscripts Referee, IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 2006–present

• Proposal Reviewer, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), 2005–present

Conference and Workshop Leadership

• Co-Lead, "Envisioning Science in 2050," DOE SC ASCR, OSTI Report ID: 1871683, 2022

• Co-Chair, "Future of Online Analysis Platform," DOE SC ASCR, OSTI Report ID: 1634770, 2018

• Organizing Committee, LANL Workshop, "Gap Analysis: Materials Discovery through Data Science," 2018

• Participant, "Restructuring IEEE VIS for the Future," Banff, 2018

• General Chair, IEEE Visualization Conference, 2017

• Section Lead, "Management, Analysis, and Visualization of Data," DOE SC ASCR, OSTI Report ID: 1525145, 2015

• LANL Lead, DOE Response to White House Big Data and Privacy 90-Day Study, 2014

• Co-Organizer, DOE SC ASCR Scientific Data Management, Analysis and Visualization PI Meeting, 2010

• Visualization Collaboration Lead, NNSA/CEA HPC Collaboration Meeting, 2009–2012

• Area Lead, LANL IKS Capability Review, Data Science Area, 2008, 2011, 2014

• Co-Organizer, DOE SC ASCR SciDAC PI Meeting, 2008

• Section Lead, DOE SC ASCR Visualization and Data Discovery Workshop, 2007

• Breakout Lead, DOE SC Simulation and Modeling for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems, 2006

Knowledge Transfer to Community via Reports

• "Assessment of Data-Management Infrastructure Needs for ML and AI," OSTI Report ID: 2212844, 2023

• "ECP Software Technology Capability Assessment," OSTI Report ID: 1888898, 2022

• "Case Study of In Situ Data Analysis in ASC Integrated Codes," LANL ASC L2 Milestone, OSTI Report ID: 1091315, 2013

• "Scientific Discovery at the Exascale," DOE SC ASCR, OSTI Report ID: 1198987, 2011

• "Data Intensive Science in the Department of Energy," White Paper for OSTP, OSTI Report ID: 1029569, 2010

• "Visualization on the Supercomputing Platform," LANL ASC L2 Milestone, OSTI Report ID: 1048818, 2010

Miscellaneous

• DOE "Q" Security Clearance

• ORCID: 0000-0001-9378-282X