Founded in 1989, the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC) is an educational nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization with 64 member institutions representing many of the nation’s most forward thinking universities and computing centers. CASC is dedicated to advocating the use of the most advanced computing technology to accelerate scientific discovery for national competitiveness, global security, and economic success, as well as develop a diverse and wellprepared 21st century workforce.

The mission of CASC is to:

• disseminate information about the value of high performance computing and advanced communications technologies;
• provide an ‘expert resource’ for the Executive Office of the President, the Congress, and government agencies; and
• facilitate information exchange within the academic scientific computation and communication community.

Computational science has become the third pillar of the scientific enterprise, a peer with traditional methods of physical experiments and theoretical investigations. Coalition members provide high performance computing (HPC) resources that offer powerful advantages over other research methods, enabling rapid calculations, simulating natural phenomena and environmental challenges, managing and analyzing enormous data sets, and creating insightful visualizations. By applying advanced technology, CASC members help extend the state of the art to achieve scientific, technical, and information management breakthroughs beyond imagination to keep the U.S. at the forefront of the 21st century knowledge economy.