Ian Foster's research interests include algorithms and programming languages for scalable parallel computers, software engineering, and the application of parallel processing to problems in computational science.
His current work includes developing techniques to integrate high- performance computing into large-scale internetworked environments, of which the Supercomputing 95's I-WAY network is an example. Foster also has other ongoing projects, such as parallel climate models and mesoscale weather models, the Nexus runtime system for multithreaded languages, the Scalable I/O Initiative, and the Fortran M modular parallel language.
Much of his work through the CRPC is with the Parallel Paradigm Integration Group and several applications projects. Foster has also worked in several outreach activities, including his mentorship of an ungraduate student in the Summer Research Participation Program (SRP) at Argonne.
Foster is the author of two books and numerous papers on parallel processing. His most recent book, Designing and Building Parallel Programs (1995), has been published simultaneously on the Web and in hardcopy format. The book provides an introduction to parallel program design and parallel programming, and uses examples of CRPC-related technologies, such as CC++, Fortran M, HPF, and MPI.
Foster was awarded the British Computer Society Award for Technical Innovation 1989 for being the the co-designer of the Strand parallel programming system. He has been a member of the Computer Hardware, Advanced Mathematics, and Model Physics (CHAMMP) climate modeling project's science team since 1991. Currently, he is on the editorial board for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Parallel and Distributed Technology, and on the program committee for several conferences, including PPoP '95, Supercomputing '95, Frontiers '95, and PARCO '95.
Designing and Building Parallel Programs: Concepts and Tools for Parallel Software Engineering