Digital Twins for Science

Abstract:

Digital twins, physically accurate virtual representations of real-world systems providing beneficial information in actionable time by combining sensor data with surrogate models, have a long, successful history in industry. The recent shift in HPC combining simulation, AI and edge computing is not only an opportunity to apply digital twins in science, but also magnify their impact on global public policy and institutional decision making, including climate change, renewable energy and global healthcare. Leveraging uncertainty quantification to inform physicians, assisted by real-time AI surrogate models can save lives now and in the future. Increasingly accurate simulations become single sources of truth for virtual datasets, capable of multi-physics synchrony with the real world in time and ranging from subatomic to interstellar spaces. Evolving from crude 3D approximations to near identical digital twins is critical to enable breakthroughs in computational biomedicine, nuclear physics, factory automation, cosmology and looking forward, the role of digital twins in quantum computing. The goal of this workshop is to bring together digital twin practitioners, domain scientists, middleware developers and compute resource providers to identify challenges and opportunities in establishing digital twins as a common HPC practice and identifying key principles for their use in high performance computing. 

Recently the US National Academy of Sciences established a definition of Digital Twin as:

"A digital twin is a set of virtual information constructs that mimics the structure, context, and behavior of a natural, engineered, or social system (or system-of-systems), is dynamically updated with data from its physical twin, has a predictive capability, and informs decisions that realize value. The bidirectional interaction between the virtual and the physical is central to the digital twin."

½ Day Workshop Format & Schedule - please use this link to access the SCAsia25 Programme Microsite

Monday, March 10th, 2025 – all times Singapore local time

09:00 am - 09:30 am Digital Twins for Science, Barton Fiske, NVIDIA

09:30 am - 10:00 am Keynote – Keynote Address: From Classrooms to Virtual worlds: The Comprehensive Potential of Digital Twins : Dr. Budianto Tandianus & Megani Rajendran

10:00 am - 10:30 am Creating Seamless City-Scale Digital Twins: Leveraging NVIDIA Omniverse for Urban Development  Kenneth Sung, Metason

10:30 am - 11:00 am Break

11:00 am - 11:30 am Using Digital Twins to Combat Climate Change - Jeff Adie, NVIDIA 

11:30 am - 11:45 Lenovo & NVIDIA: Powering the Future with Digital Twins and Omniverse - Sinisa Nikolic, Lenovo

11:45 am - 12:30 PM Panel discussion + Questions / Discussions - all speakers/presenters

12:30 pm - 13:30 PM Lunch Break

Workshop Organizer Information

Barton Fiske - Senior Alliances Manager - HPC DevTools, Math Libraries, Digital Twins

As senior alliances manager for the HPC developer tool chain at NVIDIA, Barton focuses on partners who develop and deploy profilers, debuggers, and math libraries. Barton has a lifelong fascination with 3D graphics, visualization, digital twins and more recently the intersections of HPC and AI. Barton holds a BSCS from Rochester Institute of Technology (BSCS) and supported graduate and post-doc research at Brown University. Barton’s career spans 4 decades across a variety of industrial and academic roles, from software engineering, solution architecture, technical sales, executive demos, and business development focusing now on industry and open-source alliances. Barton is the co-author of two books on Java programming and has developed dozens of interactive 2D, 3D and XR demos for a wide variety of industrial scenarios, from global product launches to end user applications. He is currently using Digital Twin technology in his own life to manage and maintain a digital twin of his seaside home in Newport, RI.

Dr. Simon See - Director of Developer Technology - Global Head NVIDIA AI Technology Centre, Singapore

Professor Simon See is currently the Solution Architecture Engineering Senior Director, Chief Solution Architect and Global Head for Nvidia AI Technology Center, NVIDIA Corporation. He is also a Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor in Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), and Professor in Universitas Indonesia (UI). He is being conferred as a Distinguished Fudan Scholar in September 2018 by Fudan University, Shanghai, China. Previously Professor See is also the Chief Scientific Computing Advisor for BGI (China) and has a position in Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) and King-Mong Kung University of Technology (Thailand). Professor See is currently involved in a number of International computational, mathematical science projects and national AI initiatives. Recently Dr Simon has been appointed as the Executive Director of the ASEAN Applied Research Centre (AARC). His research interests are in the area of High-Performance Computing, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Computational Science, Applied Mathematics and Simulation Methodology. Professor See is also leading some of the AI initiatives in the Asia Pacific. He is a Steering Committee member of NSCC’s flagship High Performance Computing Conference Supercomputing Asia (SCA) since March 2018. He has published over 200 papers in these areas and has won various awards. 

Invited Workshop Speakers (in order of agenda)

Keynote - Dr. Budianto Tandianus
Senior Professional Officer, Singapore Institute of Technology

With over eight years of research and development experience in computer graphics, I am an Academic Staff at Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), where I lead and support various projects involving SLAM, VR, and animation technologies. Previously, I was a Senior Research Fellow at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where I worked on DRM, 3D rendering, and brain training game projects, and published multiple papers in prestigious journals and conferences, winning best paper awards. I have a PhD in Computer Graphics from NTU and a Bachelor of Computing from STMIK Mikroskil. I am proficient in OpenGL, Algorithms, SLAM, and other computer graphics skills. I am passionate about creating innovative and impactful solutions for entertainment, education, and healthcare applications, using my expertise and creativity. I value collaboration, learning, and problem-solving, and I strive to contribute to the advancement of computer graphics and metaverse alongside their applications.

Meg Rajendran is a solutions architect under the NVIDIA AI Technology Center. Her current research focuses are synthetic data generation and generative AI. She's also working on bridging the gap between the virtual world and the real world using Omniverse. Meg is extremely passionate about exploring new areas in research. She's actively looking for ways to utilize the capabilities of Omniverse in research, both academic and non-academic. 

Kenneth Sung is a seasoned professional specializing in Computer Graphics (CG), Information Technology (IT), and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). With a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Hong Kong (1992), Kenneth has led groundbreaking 3D visualization projects for city-scale deployments in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. As the founder and managing director of Metason Ltd, an NVIDIA Inception company, Kenneth spearheaded the creation of a Dynamic Digital Twin of Hong Kong using NVIDIA Omniverse, enhancing accuracy and efficiency in urban development.

Jeff Adie - Jeff Adie is a principal solutions architect working in the NVIDIA AI Technology Center (NVAITC) in Singapore. Jeff has over 30 years of experience in operational weather forecasting and ocean modelling, combining traditional numerical approaches with the latest in AI techniques. Jeff has a postgraduate diploma in computer science from Auckland University, New Zealand, and he is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, U.K. 

Sinisa Nikolic

Director of HPC/AI and CSP, Lenovo Asia Pacific

As the Director of HPC/AI and CSP for Asia Pacific at Lenovo ISG, Sinisa Nikolic is a dynamic executive leader with over 20 years of experience in driving business growth, market expansion, and P&L management. He has a proven track record of leading high-performing, cross-cultural teams and delivering strategic initiatives that accelerate revenue and profitability.

Sinisa excels in solving complex Go-To-Market challenges, developing impactful business strategies, and fostering strong partnerships across the IT ecosystem. Recognized with multiple awards for outstanding sales performance and leadership, he brings a results-oriented approach to navigating competitive markets.

Passionate about innovation and technology, Sinisa is committed to leveraging his expertise to create value for clients, partners, and stakeholders. Always eager to explore new opportunities, he thrives on collaboration and continuous learning to drive long-term business success.

Sean Whitely, Founder, Axomem.io; member of Digital Twin Consortium

Sean specializes in developing digital twins while working in technology strategy, IT innovation, enterprise architecture and data analytics. He’s worked in multiple industries including mineral resources, automotive, financial services, government and healthcare across Asia Pacific, including Australia, Singapore, China, and Japan. He has a wide and deep knowledge in many areas of IT, demonstrated on projects ranging from coding AI/neural network/machine learning algorithms in R through to IT strategy for Fortune 50 companies.