Alistair Rendell

Alistair Rendell is the Vice President and Executive Dean of the College of Science and Engineering at Flinders University, effective since 2019. Previously, he served as Director of the Research School of Computer Science at the Australian National University. His academic journey began with a chemistry undergraduate degree and a PhD in theoretical chemistry, focusing on solving the Schrödinger equation for molecular systems using high-performance computing resources. His research spans computational chemistry, high-performance computing (HPC), and exascale computing architectures. He has led collaborative projects with industry partners like IBM, Microsoft, Fujitsu, and Intel, and currently contributes to US-led exascale computing initiatives.

Rendell's career includes a postdoctoral role at NASA Ames Research Center in the 1990s, where he worked on vector supercomputers. His work emphasizes optimizing computational chemistry software for emerging architectures, including GPUs and exascale platforms. He has authored numerous articles on algorithm scalability, parallel computing, and energy-efficient HPC systems. His research interests include developing robust, scalable algorithms for electronic structure calculations and advancing software for next-generation supercomputers.

Notable contributions include advancements in the General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System (GAMESS), RI-MP2 method scaling, and GPU-accelerated Fock matrix builds. His work bridges theoretical chemistry with computational science, addressing challenges in both algorithm design and hardware utilization.