Treffer: Distributed collaboration for engineering and scientific applications implemented in Habanero, a Java-based environment.

Contemporary practice of engineering, science and education places an ever-increasing emphasis on, the temporary assembly of expertise that may be widely distributed geographically. The National Computational Science Alliance has identified a group of scientists and engineers to work on computationally challenging chemical engineering applications. The members of that team are located in Illinois, Massachusetts, Kansas and South Dakota. Individually, they offer special expertise, lead diverse professional lives, and are committed to advancing the art and technology of chemical engineering design. Clearly, a research base without walls is necessary for the logistical support such a group. Although the concept of a collaborative session among peers, wherein computational tools and information may be shared freely, is a familiar one, it has been implemented recently as a software product named Habanero. The Software Development Group at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications is developing Habanero, an environment that supports Java applications. The Kansas Engineering and Scientific Interface is a Java application and certainly is a work in progress.