HPC Happenings
SC13 - Technical Paper Submission Deadline Extended to April 26, 2013
The Technical Papers Program at SC is the leading venue for presenting the highest-quality original research, from the foundations of HPC to its emerging frontiers. Papers presented at SC have to pass a high bar – only 21% of submissions were accepted for SC12. The SC13 Technical Papers program covers a variety of advanced research topics in HPC. For a list of topics and to submit, please visit http://www.sc13.supercomputing.org/content/papers?goback=.gde_1775643_member_229512948.
SC13 George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship
Submission Deadline – May 1, 2013
The ACM/IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship honors exceptional PhD students throughout the world whose research focus is on high-performance computing applications, networking, storage, or large-scale data analysis using the most powerful computers that are currently available. The ACM/IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship supports the two societies’ (ACM and IEEE-CS) long-standing commitment to workforce diversity. We encourage applications from women, minorities, and all who contribute to diversity. The award committee is selected by the two societies and includes past winners as well as leaders in the field. For more information, please visit http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/acmieee-cs-george-michael-memorial-hpc-fellowship. For questions or to request a flyer that can be posted, please contact: hpc-fellowship-questions@info.supercomputing.org.
UC San Diego’s Women in Computing Hosts Girls Day Out for High School Students
UCSD Women In Computing (WIC) is hosting its first annual outreach event, Girl's Day Out, on Saturday, April 20, 2013. The objectives of this event are to attract high school girls to the amazing opportunities that the Computer Science and Engineering/Information Technology offer. In order to accomplish this goal, this event will expose these girls to interactive and real-world applications to the field. The planned events of the day include: laboratory tours, developing an Android application, keynote speakers and a panel of speakers, both consisting of women from industry and academia. WIC's primary goal is to foster excitement to these young women into pursing a career in Computer Science/Information Technology. As it is WIC's first year hosting the event, we hope to reach out to 100 girls in the greater San Diego area. For more information and to register, please visit http://wic.ucsd.edu/girlsdayout.html.
HPC Call for Participation
ICNC-FSKD 2013 2nd Round: IEEE Xplore/EI Compendex/ISI – Call for Papers
Submission Deadline – May 16, 2013
July 23-25, 2013 - Shenyang, China
The 9th International Conference on Natural Computation (ICNC 2013) and 10th International Conference on Fuzzy Systems and Knowledge Discovery (FSKD 2013)will be jointly held in Shenyang, China. ICNC-FSKD is a premier international forum for scientists and researchers to present the state of the art of data mining and intelligent methods inspired from nature, particularly biological, linguistic, and physical systems, with applications to computers, circuits, systems, control, robotics, communications, and more. This is an exciting and emerging interdisciplinary area in which a wide range of theory and methodologies are being investigated and developed to tackle complex and challenging problems. All papers in conference proceedings will be submitted to both EI Compendex and ISTP (ISI Proceedings), as well as IEEE Xplore (ICNC-FSKD 2005-2012 have been indexed in Ei Compendex). Extended versions of selected best papers will appear in an ICNC-FSKD special issue of International Journal of Intelligent Systems (Impact Factor: 1.653), an SCI-indexed journal. ICNC-FSKD 2013 is technically co-sponsored by the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society. For more information, please visit http://icnc-fskd.lntu.edu.cn/. If you have any questions after visiting the conference web page, please email the secretariat at icnc_fskd_2013@126.com
Upcoming Conferences and Workshops.
Python for Scientists and Engineers by Enthought
April 22-26, 2013 – La Jolla, California
Enthought's training services are geared toward scientists, engineers, and analysts who would like to learn how to use Python in their specific work environments. Our targeted courses address both the scientific and the programming-related challenges of working in Python. For detailed information of the entire course, intended audience and registration, please visit http://www.enthought.com/training/python_for_scientists.php.
The Fourth International Green Computing Conference (IGCC13)
June 27-29, 2013 - Arlington, Virginia
IGCC13 will provide a forum for presenting and discussing innovative research on a broad range of topics in the fields of sustainable and energy-efficient computing, and computing for a more sustainable planet. The conference will hold a technical program, panels, workshops, and tutorials on these topics. IGCC13 will be technically co-sponsored by the IEEE. For complete workshop information, please visit http://cm.wsu.edu/ehome/index.php?eventid=51862&.
SDSC 2013 Summer Institute: Discover Big Data
August 5-9, 2013 – La Jolla, California
This year the SDSC Discover Big Data Summer Institute will focus on big data analytics, helping attendees explore their data using a wide variety of predictive data analytics tools. This weeklong summer institute combines both presentations and hands-on experience to introduce attendees to the latest approaches and tools to extract meaning and new insights from very large data sets. Participants will use SDSC’s Gordon data-intensive supercomputer as well as other computational resources at SDSC. An agenda and schedule will be posted in the coming months, but please hold the date now so you can attend! We also welcome expressions of interest by individuals and companies who would like to lecture, sponsor student attendees, or provide other forms of support for the institute. For more information, please visit http://www.sdsc.edu/Events/summerinstitute/index.html.
Extreme Scaling Workshop
August 15-16, 2013 – Boulder, Colorado
The NSF funded Blue Waters and eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) projects are hosting the seventh in a series of Extreme Scaling workshops. Scientists, engineers, scholars, and high-performance technologists from colleges, universities, laboratories, industry, HPC centers, and other organizations conducting related to this type of work are encouraged to submit presentations. Workshop proceedings will be produced that will include the accepted papers and white papers and a summary of recommendations from the discussions among the presenters and participants. Send submissions to Scott Lathrop at lathrop@illinois.edu by May 15, 2013. Notice of acceptances will be issued by June 1, 2013. Further information on this year's Extreme Scaling Workshop can be found at https://www.xsede.org/web/xscale/xscale13.
The 2013 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Advances in Social Networks
Analysis and Mining (ASONAM 2013) – Call for Participation
August 25-28, 2013 - Niagara Falls, Canada
The international conference on Advances in Social Network Analysis and Mining (ASONAM 2013) will primarily provide an interdisciplinary venue that will bring together practitioners and researchers from a variety of SNAM fields to promote collaborations and exchange of ideas and practices. ASONAM 2013 is intended to address important aspects with a specific focus on the emerging trends and industry needs associated with social networking analysis and mining. The conference solicits experimental and theoretical works on social network analysis and mining along with their application to real life situations. For more information, please visit http://asonam.cpsc.ucalgary.ca/index.php.
2013 SACNAS National Conference
October 3–6, 2013 - San Antonio, Texas
SACNAS is a way for you to expose your students to incredible resources and the validating and inspiring environment of SACNAS where they have the unique opportunity to engage with science, culture, and community. The SACNAS National Conference also provides an important place for you to recharge as a professional, as you connect with peers, build your own networks, and recruit new students.
For complete conference information, please visit http://sacnas.org/events/national-conf?.
SC13
November 17 - 22, 2013 - Denver, Colorado
SC13, the premier annual international conference on high-performance computing, networking, and storage, will be held in Denver, Colorado, USA, November 17-22, 2013. The Technical Papers Program at SC is the leading venue for presenting the highest-quality original research, from the foundations of HPC to its emerging frontiers. The conference committee solicits submissions of excellent scientific merit that introduce new ideas to the field and stimulate future trends on topics such as applications, systems, parallel algorithms, and performance modeling. SC also welcomes submissions that make significant contributions to the "state of the practice" by providing compelling insights on best practices for provisioning, using, and enhancing high-performance computing systems, services, and facilities. For more information, please visit http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/papers.
Research Features From Across the Country and Around the World
Oregon State Researchers Use Sound Waves to Increase Disk Drive Capacity
Computerworld
Oregon State University (OSU) researchers have found a way to use high-frequency sound waves to improve magnetic data storage techniques. The researchers say their work could allow greater amounts of data to be stored on hard disks and NAND flash-based solid-state drives. "There's always a need for approaches that could store even more information in a smaller space, cost less, and use less power," says OSU professor Pallavi Dhagat. The researchers note it has been problematic to use the technology, which is known as acoustic-assisted magnetic recording, to increase disk capacity because it involves the complex integration of optics, electronics, and magnetics. In acoustic-assisted magnetic recording, ultrasound is directed at a specific location on the platter while data is being stored, creating elasticity that enables a small portion of the material to bend. After the ultrasound is turned off, the material immediately returns to its original shape, but the data stored during the process remains in a dense form. To read further, please visit http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9236798/Sound_waves_used_to_increase_disk_drive_capacity.
Supercomputing Crucial to Clean Energy Production
HPC Wire
The U.S. Office of Fossil Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) has acquired a 500-teraflop SGI supercomputer to advance energy and environmental research. Slated to go live in early spring, the High-Performance Computer for Energy and the Environment (HPCEE) has 24,192 2.6-gHz Intel Xeon E5-2670 cores with 48,384 GB of memory in 1,512 computational nodes. NETL's Chris Guenther says the system ranked 55th on the latest Top500 list, and 403rd on the Green500 list. However HPCEE offers cooling and power with a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) in the 1.03 to 1.06 range without any special modifications, meaning that just 1 percent of total electrical consumption is used to cool equipment. This efficiency boost is expected to save NETL an average of $450,000 per year. Guenther says NETL previously has relied on many small computer clusters, but users have sometimes been unable to find available cores to perform their work. The new supercomputer will provide researchers with more cores, enabling them to model complex problems. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-02-13/supercomputing_crucial_to_clean_energy_production.html.
When Google Got Flu Wrong
Nature
The latest U.S. flu season appears to have flummoxed the Google Flu Trends data-mining algorithms, as evidenced by wide disparities between its estimates and those reported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Several researchers think widespread media coverage of the flu outbreak may lie at the heart of the algorithms' difficulties by triggering many flu-related Web searches by healthy people. Despite these problems, many feel Google Flu will recover its accuracy following the refinement of its models. "You need to be constantly adapting these models, they don’t work in a vacuum,” says Harvard Medical School's John Brownstein. “You need to recalibrate them every year.” Meanwhile, several projects are underway to calculate flu outbreaks by crowdsourcing via citizen volunteers. Lyn Finelli with CDC’s Influenza Surveillance and Outbreak Response Team sees great potential in such efforts, particularly because the questionnaires are based on clinical definitions of influenza-like illness (ILI) and so generate very clean data. Some research groups also have published work suggesting that a close match can be made between official ILI data and models derived from analysis of flu-related Twitter messages. To read further, please visit http://www.nature.com/news/when-google-got-flu-wrong-1.12413.
Why the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is Building a 1-Billion Euro Model of a Human Brain
New Scientist
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology's Henry Markram has won a 1-billion euro research prize for his Human Brain Project, which will recreate the human brain in a supercomputer to significantly advance neuroscience. Markram says the supercomputer will serve as a CERN for research, bringing together neuroscientists in genetic, behavioral, and cognitive areas, as well as informaticians, chemists, and mathematicians. He says the model can explain the interaction of all molecules, and notes that drugs are molecules that hit other molecules, not a cell or the entire brain. One goal of the project is eventually to couple the brain model to a robot and study the robot learning, following the sequence from molecules to cognition. In addition, the model will be used to discover biological signatures of disease based on global hospital data, which could yield a new classification of brain disease with objective diagnoses not based on symptoms alone. To read further, please visit http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729036.800-why-were-building-a-1-billion-model-of-a-human-brain.html.
NICS Researchers Enhance Energy Models of the Future
Researchers have turned to XSEDE to realize their vision of a world in which an energy model can attain cost savings, security, and sustainability in buildings. A team of researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory are leading a project known as Autotune, working to develop a methodology which places the bargain of energy efficiency within reach for more commercial and residential buildings. Compute time on XSEDE-allocated Nautilus supercomputer is helping the team create a more accurate energy model than exists today. This advanced analytical and optimization methodology leverages terabytes of HPC-generated simulation data and data mining with multiple-machine learning algorithms for quickly calibrating a building energy model to measured (utility or sensor) data. The Autotune project has clocked approximately 300,000 compute hours on Nautilus -- completing about 1.6 million parametric simulations of the eventual 8 million and generating more than 50 terabytes of data of the planned 270 terabytes, so far. To read further, please visit http://www.nics.tennessee.edu/autotune.
Predictive Analysis
Bournemouth University
Bournemouth University researchers are developing intelligent software that enables computers to make judgments about the quality and reliability of the data they gather. "We are trying to design adaptive algorithms that learn on the basis of the data they receive," says Bournemouth professor Bogdan Gabrys. The researchers are working with Lufthansa Systems to help the airline accurately forecast demand for different types of plane tickets. Gabrys notes that "communications companies like BT also want to be able to predict whether a customer is going to switch providers as it costs BT between five to eight times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing one." The researchers are developing systems that process information in a similar way to the human brain. To read further, please visit http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=129318&CultureCode=en.
Spanish Researchers Study Use of Robots in the Pediatric Ward of an Oncological Hospital
Carlos III University of Madrid
About 10 European research centers are working on the Multi-Robot Cognitive Systems Operating in Hospitals (MOnarCH) project, which aims to introduce a set of robots that collaborate with medical personnel and relate with patients. Instead of using a single robot, the MOnarCH project will simultaneously use several formats. "In addition, we intend to move forward in the development of robots that can carry on autonomously for long periods of time without the aid of their operators," says Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M) professor Miguel Angel Salichs. The UC3M researchers are responsible for programming all of the robots' behaviors that are related to robot-human interaction. To read further, please visit http://www.uc3m.es/portal/page/portal/actualidad_cientifica/noticias/robots.
Caltech Creating Indestructible Self-Healing Circuits
Caltech
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) researchers say they have developed self-healing integrated chips that can automatically repair themselves. During testing, the researchers destroyed various parts of the chips by zapping them with high-powered lasers, and then observed as they developed a work-around in less than a second. We "blasted half the amplifier and vaporized many of its components, such as transistors, and it was able to recover to nearly its ideal performance," says Caltech professor Ali Hajimiri. The chips rely on sensors that monitor temperature, current, voltage, and power. The information from the sensors feeds into a custom application-specific integrated-circuit (ASIC) unit on the chip, a central processor that acts as the brain of the system. "We have designed the system in a general enough way that it finds the optimum state for all of the actuators in any situation without external intervention," says Caltech's Steven Bowers. To read further, please visit http://www.caltech.edu/content/creating-indestructible-self-healing-circuits.
Educator Opportunities and Information
U.S. Coast Guard Academy's AIM Program for High School Students
Application Deadline – April 15, 2013
The Academy Introduction Mission (AIM) is a challenging summer program for high school juniors interested in serving their country and exploring technical degree programs. For six action-packed days in July, students will be immersed in Coast Guard tradition and Academy life in the classroom, engineering lab, playing fields, and on the water. Students compete in a water based robotics project as they interact and learn from cadets, faculty and Coast Guard professionals. Applications are now open to high school juniors. Please have your students visit www.uscga.edu/AIM.
New Study Exposes Gender Bias in Tech Job Listings
Wired News
A series of five studies by researchers at the University of Waterloo and Duke University indicates there is a subtle gender bias in the way companies word job listings in fields such as engineering and programming, according to a paper recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The paper suggests that the language in the job listings could discourage many women from applying. The researchers found that job listings for positions in engineering and other male-dominated fields used more masculine words, such as "leader," "competitive," and "dominant," while listings for female-dominated professionals did not contain those words. The researchers also found that the mere presence of masculine words in job listings made women less interested in applying. Another reason for the imbalance is the historical lack of women being trained in the first place. To read further, please visit http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/03/hiring-women/.
Student Engagement and Information
2nd Annual Whyville Game Design Contest
Interested in engaging your students in technology and game design? Enter your class in Whyville’s game design contest! There are no submission or registration fees, and the winning classroom will win choice of a lenovo IdeaPad Notebook, Nintendo Wii U Console 32 GB, or Xbox 360 with Kinect. The Game Design Contest is based on Whyville’s unique collaborative game design platform that allows students to design games together within an interactive, avatar-based interface. Sponsored by AMD, Whyville’s game design platform allows students to create tile-based maze games involving fire-spitting dragons, mirrors, crystal blocks, and wormholes to keep a wand-wielding wizard from capturing his flag. High school mentors experienced in game design will be available in Whyville to help students with the game design and submission process. The classroom with unique submissions from the most students will be the winner! All games must be submitted through registered accounts in Whyville. For more information on Whyville, the contest, and how to register, download the contest brochure at http://www.whyville.net/contest/brochure.pdf. For questions, please email contest@whyville.net.
Faculty Opportunities
George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Research (NEESR) Planning Grants (NEESR Planning)
Full Proposal Submission Deadline – June 1, 2013
National Science Foundation (NSF) support for operations of the current George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation (NEES) ends on September 30, 2014, when the five-year NSF cooperative agreement with Purdue University for NEES operations expires. Under the separate program solicitation NSF 13-537, entitled "George E. Brown, Jr. Network for Earthquake Engineering Simulation Operations FY 2015-FY2019 (NEES2 Ops)," NSF is soliciting proposals to configure and operate the "second generation" of NEES infrastructure, hereinafter referred to in this solicitation as "NEES2." The competed infrastructure includes the management office, experimental facilities, cyberinfrastructure, and education and community outreach. As the outcome of that competition, the intent is to award one cooperative agreement to a lead institution for NEES2 operations with an award start date of October 1, 2014, and a duration of up to five years. For complete information, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2013/nsf13544/nsf13544.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click.
Career Opportunities
HPC Performance Engineer
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory - Req # 75745
As a member of the Advanced Technology Group you will contribute to an on-going team effort to develop a complete understanding of the issues that contribute to optimal application and computer system performance on extreme-scale advanced architectures. The HPC Performance Engineer (Computer Systems Engineer) will assist NERSC in evaluating existing and emerging HPC systems by analyzing the performance characteristics of leading-edge DOE Office of Science application codes. The successful applicant will require knowledge of computer architecture, with a particular focus on understanding the implications of upcoming computer technologies on the scalability and programmability of future scientific computing applications. For more information and to apply, please visit
https://lbl.taleo.net/careersection/2/jobdetail.ftl?lang=en&job=75745.
High Performance Computing Framework Architect
EPFL/Blue Brain Project
The successful candidate will co-leading the design of the Blue Brain HPC/HTC middleware/software stack with the HPC section manager, interacting with HPC/HTC developers to implement best parallel software development practices. The position includes software testing, benchmarking and optimization. It is preferred that the candidate possesses proficiency in implementing application software building system using Cmake, has several years of experience in developing software in the industry and has professional experience with agile methodologies. For more information and to apply, please visit http://emploi.epfl.ch/page-92559-en.html.
On the Lighter Side _ Computational News of Interest
Google App Engine Research Awards Go to 7 Innovative Projects
eWeek
Google recently awarded its first-ever Google App Engine Research Awards to seven projects that will use the App Engine platform to work with large data sets for academic and scientific research. "We selected seven projects and have awarded each $60,000 in Google App Engine credits recognizing their innovation and vision," says Google's Andrea Held. "We are excited about the proposals' creativity and innovation and look forward to learning about their discoveries." The winning projects include the California Institute of Technology's Cloud-based Event Detection for Sense and Response project; the University of Texas at Dallas' Software Benchmark and Simulation Forecaster; the University of Bristol's Personalized DNA Analysis system; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Vision Blocks project; Carnegie Mellon University's Mapping the Dynamics of a City & Nudging Twitter Users project; the University of Washington's Sage: Creating a Viable Free Open-Source Alternative to Magma, Maple, Matlab, and Mathematica; and Arizona State University's Cloud Computing-Based Visualization and Access of Global Climate Data Sets project. To read further, please visit http://www.eweek.com/cloud/google-apps-engine-research-awards-go-to-7-innovative-projects/.
Self-Driving Car Given UK Test Run at Oxford University
BBC News
Oxford University researchers have developed a self-driving car that uses lasers and small cameras to memorize regular routes. "It's not depending on [global positioning systems], digging up the roads, or anything like that--it's just the vehicles knowing where they are because they recognize their surroundings," says Oxford professor Paul Newman. The technology allows the car to gain control when driving on roads it already has traveled. At first, a human drives the car, and it builds a three-dimensional model of its environment. When the car goes on the same route again, an iPad built into the dashboard gives a prompt to the driver, offering to let the computer take control of the car. The driver can regain control of the car at any time by tapping on the brake pedal. To read further, please visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21462360.
Google Wants to Replace All Your Passwords With a Ring
Technology Review
Google has developed rings designed to be worn on the finger for logging into a computer or an online account. Google's Mayank Upadhyay says using personal hardware for security applications removes the dangers of people reusing passwords or writing them down. Google previously has worked on developing a slim USB key that performs a cryptographic transaction with an online service to prove the key’s validity when it is plugged into a computer. However, Google now is developing a prototype ring that could take the place of the key and is working with other companies to lay the foundation for using the technology to access different services and Web sites. Upadhyay notes that effort is still in its early stages as Google seeks more partners. To read further, please visit http://www.technologyreview.com/news/512051/google-wants-to-replace-all-your-passwords-with-a-ring/.
AT&T Smashes Distance Record for 400Gbps Data Connection
Network World
AT&T researchers have successfully sent 400Gbps data transmissions more than 7,456 miles with minimal loss, thanks to new materials and a new modulation technique. The approach addresses several key concerns for next-generation networks, notes AT&T researcher Xiang Zhou. "Our method has the unique capability to allow tuning of the modulation spectral efficiency to match the available channel bandwidth and maximize the transmission reach, while maintaining tolerance to fiber nonlinearities and laser phase noise, both of which are major factors limiting performance for high-speed optical systems," Zhou says. To read further, please visit http://www.networkworld.com/news/2013/031213-att-data-connection-267625.html.
