From Bison Nation to Berkeley: NDSU graduate student spends the summer at Berkeley National Lab

This summer, NDSU graduate student Tam Nguyen has traded the prairie winds of Fargo for the coastal breezes of the Bay Area. Nguyen is working on ND-ACES research in computational fluid dynamics at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. We checked in with him to see how his research is going and how life in California compares to North Dakota.

Q: How did your visit to LBNL come about? 

A: Collaboration is a big theme at Dr. Trung Le’s fluid dynamics laboratory in the Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering department. We thrive in the scientific environment by working together to solve world-class problems. Our focus for almost a decade has been pushing computational contribution to the field of biomedical science, particularly cell migration in the bloodstream. 

Apart from circulatory cells (red/white blood cells, platelets), cancer cells are one of the most active exploiters in this regard. Metastasis has been studied for a long time, yet the mechanism remains unclear. Dr. Trung Le has put vast effort into applying computational fluid dynamics and the coarse-grain approach to model the interaction of cancer (single or group of) cells with the cardiovascular flows.  

In addition, such a complex phenomenon requires parallel computing power which takes full advantage of the next-generation high performance computer’s multi-GPU architecture. The goal of my PhD thesis is to develop a computational code using exascale computing techniques for multi-scale simulation of blood flows. This quest leads us to collaborate with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory via the help of the Sustainable Horizon Institute from the Department of Energy in 2023. August 2024 marks the first complete year of this collaboration, and we have great preliminary results to share with the scientific community.

Q: Was it an off-shoot or related to your experience as a Cyberinfrastructure Intern last year?  

A: It was both. First, the Cyberinfrastructure Internship has given me a wonderful experience in the needs of high-performance computing and next-generation GPU-based architecture. Dr. Khang Hoang and my colleagues at CCAST gave me valuable insights into software development which directly translated into the skills I am using right now in this project. Second, the LBNL came naturally later while we were searching for the tools to complete our goals. Their research focuses on exascale applications for complex modeling problems, which gave birth to our collaboration with the AMReX team at LBNL. With knowledge of what to do and how to do it, we are developing modeling software based on AMReX targeting cancer metastasis research. Overall, it was the people involved who brilliantly connected the ND EPSCoR project to LBNL's promising technology. 

Q: Is the work you are doing at Berkeley related to the ND-ACES project?  

A: Yes, we are developing a computational framework for fluid-structure interaction of biological cells (red blood cells, white blood cells, and cancer cells) in fluid flow at Berkeley. Meanwhile, ND-ACES is funding the study of cancer therapies. One of the contexts is cancer metastasis which leads to the transport and widespread migration of malignant cells from the primary tumor to other parts of the body by exploiting body fluids (lymphatic fluid, bloodstream, and interstitial fluid). Therefore, the ability to simulate the migration of cancer cells in body fluids is crucial in understanding cancer metastasis and supporting future medical discoveries. 

Q: How do you see the experience at LBNL helping your graduate work? Your career?  

A: A huge part of my PhD work will contribute to modeling cell-fluid interaction. Before LBNL, I only had a strong background in biophysics which enabled me to model the cell’s membrane. In my fellowship, so far, I have accumulated a stronger skillset in applied mathematics and numerical methods to apply to fluid modeling. Both physics and math are crucial not only for my graduate research but future career as I cannot imagine a computational modeling engineer short of any of these skills. 

Q: On a more personal note, are you enjoying being in California? Is it very different from Fargo? 

A: California is a great state, and the Bay Area is beautiful. But, in my mind, nothing beats Fargo. On a good note, the state has more sunny weather all year round, and Yosemite. However, California state’s commodities are quite expensive, and the people are less friendly than Midwesterners. I am Vietnamese and I enjoy places that have great boba milk tea and pho. Surprisingly, Fargo has better stores for both. I am proud of my Bison roots (and being a Bison Ambassador).