XSEDE Happenings
XSEDE Allocating Time to HPC Projects with Shared Memory
Times are changing for HPC (high-performance computing) research, as non-traditional fields of study have begun taking advantage of powerful HPC tools. This was part of the plan when the National Science Foundation’s XSEDE (Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment) program launched in July 2011. In recent months, the program took big steps toward this objective, in that a number of non-traditional projects — the common denominator being the need to process and analyze large amounts of data — were awarded peer-reviewed allocations of time on XSEDE resources. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-03-30/xsede_allocating_time_to_hpc_projects_with_shared_memory.html.
Students: Participate in the XSEDE12 Student Program!
XSEDE12, the first conference of XSEDE, the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment, will be held July 16-19, 2012, at the InterContinental hotel in downtown Chicago.
XSEDE provides high-performance computational resources and services for scientists and researchers around the world.
If you are a high school, undergraduate, or graduate student and are interested or engaged in computational research, we encourage you to participate in the XSEDE12 Student Program. Attend introductory tutorials tailored for students new to computational science or more advanced tutorials designed to help you get the most out of XSEDE resources.
- Present your research that uses XSEDE or OSG resources by submitting a paper to our Technical Program.
Pending final approval, the National Science Foundation may provide limited funding to support student travel, lodging, and/or registration costs for attending XSEDE12.
For details on submitting posters and papers, see the Call for Participation:
https://www.xsede.org/web/xsede12/call-for-participation. To apply for travel funding, see the Student Program Support Request:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/XSEDE12StuProg
News at 11:00: XSEDE Partners in the News
UC San Diego Selects Carnegie Mellon’s Pradeep K. Khosla as New Chancellor
University of California President Mark G. Yudof announced today his selection of Pradeep K. Khosla, dean of Carnegie Mellon University’s highly regarded College of Engineering, also known as the Carnegie Institute of Technology, to serve as the eighth chancellor of UC San Diego. Citing Dean Khosla’s accomplishments as a leader, educator and researcher, President Yudof said Khosla emerged as the top candidate after an international search. Details of the appointment will be voted on at the May 16, 2012 meeting of the UC Board of Regents, and he will officially begin his service as Chancellor on August 1, 2012. The complete news release may be found at http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/.
Research News from Across XSEDE and Campus Champion Partners
UC Berkeley Chosen as Home for Computing Institute
The Simons Foundation has chosen the University of California, Berkeley to host the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at U.C. Berkeley. The new institute will explore the mathematical foundations of computer science and aims to help solve problems in fields such as health care, astrophysics, genetics, and economics. The $60 million institute will have about 70 visiting researchers, including faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students. “We’ve been talking to astronomers, climate scientists, fluid mechanics people, quantum physicists, and cognitive scientists,” says Berkeley professor Richard M. Karp, who will be the institute’s director. To read further, please visit http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/science/simons-foundation-chooses-uc-berkeley-for-computing-center.html?_r=1.
Harvard Researchers Use SDSC's Trestles Supercomputer to Speeds Clean Energy Research
A team of Harvard University researchers has been allocated time on the Trestles supercomputer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego to perform computational calculations with the goal of creating the next generation of organic solar cells as an inexpensive and efficient source of energy. The allocation is a key part of the team’s efforts to conduct larger, data-intensive computations related to its Clean Energy Project (CEP), which combines the group’s computational chemistry expertise with the large, distributed computing power of IBM’s World Community Grid (WCG). To read further, please visit http://www.sdsc.edu/News%20Items/PR042312_solar.html.
Cornell Researchers Use XSEDE Supercomputers to Investigate Next –Generation Solar Cells
Nanoparticles are increasingly found in all manners of products from sensors to skin care products to dirt-repelling khakis. Minute collections of atoms, typically from 1 to 100 nanometers in diameter, nanoparticles behave differently than their larger cousins, often exhibiting extreme characteristics like stickiness, slipperiness, or hardness. There's nothing new about nanoparticles. Artisans used them as far back as 9th century Mesopotamia to generate glittering optical effects on the surface of pots. What is new is our ability to produce, control and design new nanoparticles for industry. To read further, please visit http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2012/design-principles-for-nanoparticles
NICS Kreken Used to Make Drug Discovery Research Faster and More Efficient
An important element of computational simulation is the bridge it creates between theory and experimental testing. Perhaps no other field exemplifies the significance of this link quite like pharmaceutical drug design—arguably one of the most costly and universally essential fields of scientific endeavor. With the help of one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, scientists Yuri Peterson of the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) and Bhanu Rekepalli of the National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS) are working on taking drug simulation to a new level—the petascale.
Petascale refers to computer systems capable of performing a quadrillion calculations per second (petaflops)—that’s a one followed by 15 zeros. HPC systems like Kraken make it possible to sort through vast arrays of compounds that may work as treatments against viruses and diseases. However, having this kind of computational power is only half of the solution; researchers need codes that can scale to a machine of such proportions. To read further, please visit http://www.nics.tennessee.edu/digital-drug-discovery.
TACC's Commitment to Enabling Discoveries in Energy Research
One of the central problems of our time is how to produce the energy required by modern society in a way that is affordable, sustainable, and non-polluting. Currently, fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas power our cars and provide electricity for our homes and factories. However, we're moving towards a more balanced energy economy where renewable resources, like energy from solar, wind, and waste materials, will offset some of our dependence on fossil fuels. Simultaneously, we're working towards making fossil fuels, and energy discovery, cleaner and less polluting. To read further, please visit http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/newsletter/1205/energy-research.
Research Breakthrough Takes Supercomputing Out of the Lab
University of Toronto researchers have developed a system that they say will make the production of a special class of photons used in supercomputing faster and easier. In order for advanced technologies, such as ultra-secure communication systems and optical quantum computers, to work a photon must be tightly coupled with another photon. The Toronto researchers have designed a new integrated system that could produce the entangled photon pairs using an integrated circuit, which could lead to the production of photons using a single chip. "The research offers the prospect of unleashing the potential of the powerful and underutilized quantum technologies into the main stream commercial world, out of the lab," says Toronto professor Amr Helmy. To read further, please visit http://www.engineering.utoronto.ca/About/Engineering_in_the_News/Research_Breakthrough_Takes_Supercomputing_Out_of_the_Lab.htm.
A 100-Gigbit Highway for Science
- NERDC, Argonne and ORNL Take Part in National “Test Drive”
The U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) is laying the foundation for a high-speed network that can transport an increasing amount of scientific data. "Over the last decade, the amount of scientific data transferred over our network has increased at a rate of about 72 percent per year, and we see that trend potentially accelerating," says ESnet director Greg Bell. ESnet researchers worked with the Internet2 consortium to develop the Advanced Networking Initiative (ANI), which is part of a 100 Gbps national prototype network and a wide-area network testbed. More than 25 groups have taken advantage of ESnet's wide-area testbed, which connects the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, and the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility. "Our 100G testbed has been about 80 percent booked since it became available in January, which just goes to show that there are a lot of researchers hungry for a resource like this," says ESnet's Brian Tierney. To read further, please visit http://es.net/news-and-publications/esnet-news/2012/a-100-gigbit-highway-for-science/.
Educator Curriculum and Opportunities
Summer Computational Workshops Offered to Educators
Through National Computational Science Institute and XSEDE
Several workshops are being held around the country this summer, aimed at educators who want to introduce or expand the use of computational resources in their classrooms. Faculty who are teaching at the college level, especially from Minority-Serving Institutions, are encouraged to apply. Applications from secondary school teachers in appropriate disciplines will be accepted on a space-available basis. A limited number of travel scholarships are available to interested faculty. The scholarships will provide partial or full reimbursement of travel costs to and from the workshops and/or local housing costs. Preference will be given to faculty from institutions that are formally engaged with the education program of XSEDE — Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment — and those institutions that can provide some matching travel funds. Recipients are expected to be present for the full workshop. Those interested in a travel scholarship should register for the desired workshop, and then create an account and complete the scholarship application at
http://www.computationalscience.org/login?came_from=/scholarship
Student Engagement Opportunities and Information
Did You Miss Rice University’s “Finding a Mentor Webinar?
If you missed Rice University’s recent webinar, you still have a chance to see it. Ron Metoyer, professor at Oregon Stat University, talks about the value of having a mentor and his own personal experience as a mentee. The session was recorded and is now available for viewing at http://bit.ly/ELA_Metoyer. Additionally, past ELA mentoring webinars available for viewing at https://empoweringleadership.rice.edu/spotlights/.
George Michael Fellowship Open to Applications Through July 1, 2012
Exceptional Ph.D. students in HPC and related fields are encouraged to apply for the George Michael HPC Fellowship, which includes a $5,000 honorarium, travel and registration for SC12 in Salt Lake City and SC13. Read more about the George Michael fellowship (PDF).Submit an application (via the SC12 submission site)
2012 STARS Celebration
August 11 – 13, 2012 - Hampton, Virginia
Join the 2012 STARS Celebration, an annual leadership conference that allows for student, faculty, and industry partners to share and disseminate their best practices among their colleagues from across the country. An integral part of the STARS Computing Corps, the Celebration showcases the accomplishments of the Corps’ past year, while simultaneously introducing fresh ideas to excite participants in their continued mission of broadening participation through student-led regional engagement. Through our dedication to recruiting, retaining, and engaging the brightest minds in computing, we are building and preparing a larger, more diverse national computing workforce for the 21st Century. For more information and to apply, please visit http://www.starsalliance.org/celebration/2012/.
NASA's National Community College Aerospace Scholars Program at NASA Johnson Space CenterApplication - Application Deadline - June 5, 2012
National Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) is a program funded by NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) and the Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP) and administered by NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC). Community college students from across the nation who are interested in the areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics will apply to travel to NASA for a three-day experience. This opportunity will provide a hands-on project featuring engineering career possibilities. Selected students will begin the semester commitment with Web-based preparation prior to their onsite visit. The only cost to the student is a $30 registration fee; NASA covers travel (up to $700), food, and lodging. For more information and to apply, please visit http://ncas.aerospacescholars.org/apply.
Alabama Computer Science Camps
July 16- August 3, 2012 – University of Alabama
The University of Alabama Department of Computer Science within the College of Engineering will host a series of Computer Science camps. High School students have the option to stay in our dormitories as residential campers (the 2011 camps had students attending from 7 states). Students will be taught multiple topics of Computer Science while learning to program a computer in several exciting contexts (e.g., game programming in Java, robotics in Java, and Android smartphone programming in App Inventor and Java). For more information, please visit http://www.cs.ua.edu/outreach/camps/ or contact Dr. Jeff Gray at gray@cs.ua.edu.
SDSC Offers Computer Science Camps for Middle and High School Students
June 20-August 17, 2012 – San Diego Supercomputer Center, UC San Diego
The San Diego Supercomputer Center at the University of California, San Diego is offering eight weeks of computer science camps for middle and high school students. This full day, non-residential program is open to students in grades 6-12. Classes include Introduction to Computer Programming in a 3D Environment with Alice, Object Oriented Programming with Java, the use of App Inventor, computer security classes, coding with MIT’s Processing and GIS focused workshops. For more information and to apply, please visit http://education.sdsc.edu/teachertech.
Last But Not Least – Items of Interest
Big Data's Big Problem: Little Talent
A shortage of data scientists capable of providing analysis is an impediment to realizing the advantages of mining big data, according to a recent McKinsey report. Bit.ly chief scientist Hilary Mason says key skills for data scientists include modeling and understanding the data set mathematically, and extracting insights and narratives from the data. Transforming data into information and action is the most challenging aspect of a data analyst's job, and University of Southampton professor Nigel Shadbolt points to the current lack of courses for training data analysts. "As an integrated discipline it is only just starting to emerge," he notes. EMC Corp. president Pat Gelsinger says data science will become a new discipline much like computer science did 30 years ago. "Now nobody has a data-science department; in 30 years every school on the planet will have one," he says. To read further, please visit http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304723304577365700368073674.html.
A Stock Exchange for Your Personal Data
The creation of a marketplace for personal information would be a way for people to regain control of their data in the information age, says Hewlett-Packard (HP) Labs senior fellow Bernardo Huberman. In a recent paper, Huberman, director of HP Labs' Social Computing Research Group, and co-author Christina Aperjis describe a New York Stock Exchange for personal data. A trusted market operator could take a small cut when people decide to sell their data, and help arrive at a realistic price for the transaction. On the proposed market, a person who values her privacy might choose to sell her shopping patterns for $10 at a risk of not finding a buyer, for a guaranteed payment of 50 cents, or might opt out and keep her privacy entirely. Huberman says such pricing options gauge how a person values privacy and risk, and thus helps address how to put a realistic dollar value on data to make transactions worthwhile to sellers and buyers, and how to sell unbiased data so buyers can use small samples of people to infer information about larger populations. To read further, please visit http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/40330/.
A Ride on MIT Media Lab's Digital Bandwagon
Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab recently hosted its annual Inside Out conference where speakers from several projects discussed the future of technology and design. A recurring theme is that more everyday objects are becoming digital and that shift opens up new ways of engaging with the physical world. For example, the WristQue project is developing a wristband with a few basic sensors designed to control building temperature and the lighting of smart buildings, while the Augmented Product Counter project enables computer control through tapping on the surface of a table. The Sparsh project enhances the touch interface by letting a person transfer information from a smartphone to a PC. The Recompose project allows users to manipulate an actuated interface of small squares by moving their hands above them. To read further, please visit http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57421987-76/a-ride-on-mit-media-labs-digital-bandwagon/.
