HPC in the News
Moore's Law at 50: The Past and Future
When you're strapping on the latest smart watch or ogling an iPhone, you probably aren't thinking of Moore's Law, which for 50 years has been used as a blueprint to make computers smaller, cheaper and faster. Without Moore's Law it's quite possible that new types of computers like Microsoft'NHoloLens, a holographic wearable with which users can interact with floating images, would not have been developed. For decades, Moore's Law has been a guiding star for the development of modern electronics, though in recent years its relevance has been subject to debate. And did you know Gordon Moore was the co-founder of Intel? To read more, please visit http://www.computerworld.com/article/2911082/moores-law-at-50-the-past-and-future.html?utm_content=buffer3f686&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer.
CASC Announces New Director
HPCwire
The Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC) is pleased to announce that Ms. Lisa Arafune will be joining the organization as Director. Ms. Arafune comes to the position with a wealth of experience in government relations, including more than a decade representing higher education and university-based research interests on Capitol Hill. She has advocated for the research community and major federal science agencies, including NSF, DOD, USDA, NIH, DOE, and NASA. Ms. Arafune holds a Master’s of Science in Management from Purdue University and an MBA from Budapest University of Economic Sciences. Previously, Ms. Arafune led her own government relations firm, and managed federal relations for Purdue University as Director of the Washington, DC Office. Her interest in politics began when working in a state senate and later as Chief Clerk for a U.S. House of Representatives Congressional Committee. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/casc-announces-new-director/.
XSEDE Partners and Friends in the News
XSEDE Resource Stampede Supercomputer of TACC Simulated Molecular Dynamics in Design of Engineered Protein
For the first time, scientists recreated the biological function of substrate transportation across the cell membranes by computationally designing a transporter protein. The designed protein, dubbed Rocker, was shown to transport ions across the membrane, a process crucial to cell and organismal survival in various functions, such as nutrient intake, efflux of waste or drug, and cell signaling, for instance, between nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. "To our knowledge, this is the first transport protein designed from scratch - that is, it didn't exist in nature beforehand," said study co-author Michael Grabe, an associate professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.This research has wide potential application, such as targeting medicines more specifically into cancer cells and driving charge separation potentially for harvesting energy for batteries. The engineered Rocker protein acts like a tiny gate, designed so that zinc ions and protons can flow in a controlled way across the lipid-membrane barrier around the cell-like vesicle. To read further, please visit https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/-/computer-designed-rocker-protein-world-s-first-to-biomimic-ion-transport.
Upcoming Conferences, Webinars, and Seminars
IEEE/ACM CCGrid 2015
May 4-7, 2015 – Shenzhen, China
The 15th Annual IEEE/ACM International Symposium in Cluster, Cloud, and Grid Computing (CCGrid 2015) is a forum bringing together international researchers, developers, and practitioners to present leading research activities and results on a broad range of topics related to these concepts and platforms, and their applications. The conference features keynotes, technical presentations, workshops, and posters, as well as the Doctoral Symposium and the SCALE challenge, featuring live demonstrations. For more information, please visit http://cloud.siat.ac.cn/ccgrid2015/.
Univa Tech Day
May 5, 2015 – Washington, DC
A significant investment for both private and public organizations is the design and building of a modern workload optimization and data analytics ecosystem. Univa Tech Day brings together the brightest minds across dozens of industry verticals. Attendees will collaborate on best practices and discuss innovations that maximize the value of existing compute resources. Come learn about the industry’s most powerful high performance and integrated solution suite for mission-critical and dynamically shared clusters. For more information, please visit http://www.univa.com/resources/univa-tech-day.php.
Watch: Data Mining - How to Get Predictive Modeling off the Ground and into Orbit
May 5, 2015 – 4pm EDT
The vast majority of BI professionals and big data enthusiasts are excited about the prospects of predictive analytics and data mining, but are fully mystified about where to begin or even how to prepare. Of those who did initiate a modeling initiative, an industry survey of predictive modeling practitioners reported that 51% of data mining projects either never left the ground, did not realize value, or the results were not measurable. Thanks to modern analytic software, most who attempted an implementation did end up building technically accurate predictive models — that answered the wrong questions, were misapplied or never adopted. This is precisely like placing a perfectly good rocket upside down on the launch pad. So, how does one approach an intangible, cryptic, seemingly immeasurable technology? Beyond the inherent up-front risks of engaging in what is perceived as a discovery process, just identifying a starting point can be intimidating and mystifying. Despite its elusive nature, data mining success stories express significant impact in mainstream publications more frequently. Your competitors are discovering that success in this field does not lead with data and software. For more information, please visit http://the-modeling-agency.com/data-mining-webinar/.
EnterpriseHPC Summit
May 11-13, 2015 – San Diego, California
EnterpriseHPC'15 is the world's live event dedicated to exploring the emergence of advanced scale computing in commercial settings. The event is designed to bring together technology and business leaders responsible for tackling issues that enterprise technology users and decision-makers are faced with as they navigate the build-out and maintenance of next-generation enterprise software/hardware infrastructures. This first summit of its kind, EnterpriseHPC is an invitation-only hosted summit that provides a uniquely immersive experience for enterprise IT leaders in industries ranging from financial services, retail, healthcare, oil & gas, manufacturing, and more who are in the process of building next generation scalable systems (and the applications that span them). Explore the trends, benefits, and challenges of advanced scale computing in the commercial environment. Summit delegates will network, learn, collaborate and share their experiences with cross-vertical peers and solution providers who are also actively engaged in addressing these tasks. For more information, please visit http://enterprisehpc.com/.
20th Annual Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, (ITiCSE 2015)
July 6-8, 2015 – Vilnius, Lithuania
ITiCSE 2015 will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, hosted by Vilnius University. The ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) is sponsoring the event. The program of the conference will consist of keynote lectures, paper sessions, panels, working groups, tips and techniques, courseware demonstrations, posters, and exhibits. The conference also features opportunities to partake in excursions enabling attendees to see some of the surrounding district and mingle in a less intense and formal environment. The conference will be held in the Seimas Palace, the site of the Lithuanian Parliament. For more information, please visit http://www.iticse2015.mii.vu.lt/.
LinuxCon
August 17-19, 2015 – Seattle, Washington
LinuxCon is the leading annual technical conference in North America, providing a much needed collaboration and education space for the Linux community. Launched in 2009, LinuxCon has quickly become known for offering top speaking talent, a cross-section of the leading players in the Linux community, innovative and timely content, a wide variety of opportunities for attendee collaboration and a place for smaller groups to co-locate for topic-specific mini-summits and workgroups. For more information, please visit http://events.linuxfoundation.org/events/linuxcon-north-america.
Research News From Around the World
The National Academies Forum on Cyber Resilience
The National Academies Forum on Cyber Resilience held its inaugural meeting last week in Washington, DC. The Forum is focused on advancing the national dialogue about our cyber systems and their resilience and plans to address issues including cybersecurity and trustworthiness; stakeholder values; and preparation, response, and recovery in the face of malicious attacks, technological disruptions and natural disasters. It is chaired by Fred B. Schneider, directed by Lynette I. Millett, and made up of a multidisciplinary group of experts, with perspectives spanning research, practice, technology, and policy. The Forum will convene three times annually to plan and execute workshops and supplementary activities. At the public session this week, forum member Richard Danzig discussed his recent paper, Surviving on a Diet of Poisoned Fruit: Reducing the National Security Risks of America’s Cyber Dependencies. Danzig talked about how our society is growing dependent on computing systems, but that comes with risk since these systems are inherently insecure. To read further, please visit http://www.cccblog.org/2015/04/09/the-national-academy-of-science-forum-on-cyber-resilience/.
Mapping the Cosmos: Dark Energy Survey Creates Detailed Guide to Spotting Dark Matter
Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey have released the first in a series of dark matter maps of the cosmos. These maps, created with one of the world's most powerful digital cameras, are the largest contiguous maps created at this level of detail and will improve our understanding of dark matter's role in the formation of galaxies. Analysis of the clumpiness of the dark matter in the maps will also allow scientists to probe the nature of the mysterious dark energy, believed to be causing the expansion of the universe to speed up. The new maps were released today at the April meeting of the American Physical Society in Baltimore, Maryland. They were created using data captured by the Dark Energy Camera, a 570-megapixel imaging device that is the primary instrument for the Dark Energy Survey (DES). Dark matter, the mysterious substance that makes up roughly a quarter of the universe, is invisible to even the most sensitive astronomical instruments because it does not emit or block light. dark energy, which is the ultimate goal of the survey. To read further, please visit http://www.fnal.gov/pub/presspass/press_releases/2015/Mapping-The-Cosmos-20150413.html.
Student Engagement and Opportunities
International HPC Summer School 2015
June 21-26, 2015 – Toronto, Canada
Graduate students and postdoctoral scholars from institutions in Canada, Europe, Japan and the United States are invited to apply for the sixth International Summer School on HPC Challenges in Computational Sciences, to be held June 21-26, 2015, in Toronto, Canada. Applications are due March 11, 2015. The summer school is sponsored by Compute/Calcul Canada, the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) with funds from the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) and the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (RIKEN AICS). Leading Canadian, European, Japanese and American computational scientists and HPC technologists will offer instruction on a variety of topics, including: HPC challenges by discipline (e.g, earth, life and materials sciences, physics), HPC Programming Proficiencies, performance analysis and profiling, lgorithmic approaches and numerical libraries, data-intensive computing, scientific visualization, Canadian, EU, Japanese and U.S. HPC-infrastructures. For more information, please visit https://ihpcss2015.computecanada.ca/wp/.
ISC Student Volunteer Program Deadline Extended
Application Deadline – April 30, 2015 Frankfurt, Germany
We will be hosting more sessions this time around and we need more young people help us run the conference as smoothly as possible. Participating as a student volunteer is a great opportunity to learn about the most important developments in the HPC field. Undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply. We will provide out-of-town students accommodation and most of your meals are also covered. Besides getting to attend the conference for free, you also come in contact with HPC employers. Consider this a great opportunity and an experience to include in your résumé. For more information, please visit http://www.isc-hpc.com/student-volunteers.html.
SC15 Seeks Student Volunteers
November15-20, 2015 – Austin, Texas
Student Volunteers play a key role in supporting the overall conference and conference attendees. Undergraduate and graduate student volunteers help with the administration of the conference and have the opportunity to participate in student-oriented activities, including professional development workshops, technical talks by famous researchers and industry leaders, exploring the exhibits and developing lasting peer connections. This year the Student Volunteers program will accept an increased number of students, both local and international, with the goal of transitioning students into the main conference by way of the Technical Program, Doctoral Showcase, and Early Career professional development sessions. Students will be required to work a maximum of 8 hours during the conference, which will give them more time to engage in important education and career-advancing activities such as tutorials, technical talks, panels, For more information, please visit http://sc15.supercomputing.org/conference-program/student-programs/student-volunteers.
Ohio Supercomputer Center’s Summer Institute 2015 for High School Girls
June 14-26, 2015 – Columbus, Ohio
SI is a two-week residential program that gives gifted Ohio high school students entering their sophomore, junior or senior year project-based, hands-on learning. Working in small peer teams, the students use supercomputers for practical applications such as solving complex science and engineering problems, conducting network forensics to catch hackers, studying the spread of the bird flu and designing computer games. The cornerstone of the Ohio Supercomputer Center's Summer Institute is the projects. The students work together in small teams on diverse and challenging research-level projects. Teams are comprised of a project leader (staff member who conceived and designed the project) and three or four students. For more information, please visit https://www.osc.edu/education/si.
Computational Science News of Interest
Driving on Glass? Inventor Hopes to Lay Down Solar Roads
A truck tire supporting a 36,300-kilogram load repeatedly traverses an 18-meter stretch of road, day in and day out, rolling up 483,000 kilometers on the odometer at the U.S. Department of Transportation's (DoT) testing facility in Virginia. The goal is to thoroughly challenge any new paving techniques and see how the road surface holds up. Now imagine putting a solar panel under there. That's exactly what Scott Brusaw of Sagle, Idaho–based Solar Roadways hopes to do next February. The electrical engineer is currently at work building a prototype of his so-called "Solar Road Panel" with the help of a $100,000 small business contract from the DoT. To read further, please visit http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/driving-on-glass-solar-roads/.
Fighting the Next Generation of Cyberattacks
The next generation of cyberattacks will be more sophisticated, more difficult to detect and more capable of wreaking untold damage on the nation's computer systems. So the U.S. Department of Defense has given a $3 million grant to a team of computer scientists from the University of Utah and University of California, Irvine, to develop software that can hunt down a new kind of vulnerability that is nearly impossible to find with today's technology. The team is tasked with creating an analyzer that can thwart so-called algorithmic attacks that target the set of rules or calculations that a computer must follow to solve a problem. Algorithmic attacks are so new and sophisticated that only hackers hired by nation states are likely to have the resources necessary to mount them, but perhaps not for long. Typically, software vulnerabilities today rely on programmers making mistakes while creating their programs and hackers will exploit those mistakes. To read further, please visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150416132023.htm. \
Quantum Computing: Bounds on the Quantum Information 'Speed Limit' Tightened
ScienceDaily
If you're designing a new computer, you want it to solve problems as fast as possible. Just how fast is possible is an open question when it comes to quantum computers, but physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have narrowed the theoretical limits for where that "speed limit" is. The research implies that quantum processors will work more slowly than some research has suggested. The work offers a better description of how quickly information can travel within a system built of quantum particles such as a group of individual atoms. Engineers will need to know this to build quantum computers, which will have vastly different designs and be able to solve certain problems much more easily than the computers of today. While the new finding does not give an exact speed for how fast information will be able to travel in these as-yet-unbuilt computers--a longstanding question--it does place a far tighter constraint on where this speed limit could be. To read further, please visit http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150413095202.htm.
