HPC in the News
Extreme Scaling Workshop 2014 -
August 14-15, 2014 - University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado
The National Science Foundation-funded Blue Waters and eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) projects are hosting the 8th Extreme Scaling Workshop taking place this month. The Extreme Scaling Workshop 2014 will showcase the discoveries, innovations, and achievements of those who use, build, and/or support advanced architectures at extreme scales around the world. The workshop will also provide a forum for researchers, professional staff, students, high-performance computing center staff, and representatives from funding agencies to explore and discuss current successes and challenges as well as future needs and plans. For more information, please visit https://www.xsede.org/web/xscale/xscale14.
10th Call for Proposals for PRACE PACE (Partnership for Advance Computing in Europe) Project Access
Submission Deadline – Application Accepted from September 10, 2014 0 October 22, 2014,
This Call for Proposals targets large-scale, computationally intensive projects that would not be possible or productive without access to PRACE resources. Applications for Project Access must use codes that have been previously tested and that demonstrate high scalability and optimization to multi-core architectures or that demonstrate a requirement for ensemble simulations that need a very large amount of CPU overall. For more information, please visit http://www.prace-ri.eu/PRACE-Project-Access.
PSC Thinks BIG DATA: $7.6-Million NSF Grant to fund the Data Exacell, PSC's Next-Generation System for Storing, Analyzing Big Data
The term “Big Data” has become a buzzword. Like any buzzword, its definition is fairly malleable, carrying different meanings in research, technology, medicine, business and government. One common thread, though, is that Big Data represents volumes of data that are so large that they are outgrowing the available infrastructure for handling them. In many cases, research can’t be done because the tools don’t yet exist for managing and analyzing the data in a reasonable amount of time. Ultimately, we need to develop both tools and an overall strategy to make Big Data fulfill its promise in fields as disparate as biomedicine, the humanities, public health, astronomy and more.PSC is taking the next step in developing both tools and direction for harnessing Big Data. To read further, please visit http://www.psc.edu/index.php/88-biannual-report-and-science-book/biannual-report/942-thinking-big-data .
HPC Call for Participation
9th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE AND AUTOMATA THEORY AND
APPLICATIONS (LATA 2015) – Call for Papers
March 2-6, 2015- Nice, France
Paper Submission Deadline – October 10, 2014
LATA is a conference series on theoretical computer science and its applications. Following the tradition of the diverse PhD training events in the field developed at Rovira I Virgili University in Tarragona since 2002, LATA 2015 will reserve significant room for young scholars at the beginning of their career. It will aim at attracting contributions from classical theory fields as well as application areas. For more information, please visit http://grammars.grlmc.com/lata2015/.
ICCGI 2015, The Tenth International Multi-Conference on Computing in the Global Information Technology – Call for Participation
October 11 - 16, 2015 - St. Julians, Malta
Submission Deadline – May 12, 2015
The Tenth International Conference on Computing in the Global Information Technology (ICCGI 2015) continues a series of international events covering a large spectrum of topics related to global knowledge concerning computation, technologies, mechanisms, cognitive patterns, thinking, communications, user-centric approaches, nanotechnologies, and advanced networking and systems. The conference topics focus on challenging aspects in the next generation of information technology and communications related to the computing paradigms (mobile computing, database computing, GRID computing, multi-agent computing, autonomic computing, evolutionary computation) and communication and networking and telecommunications technologies (mobility, networking, bio-technologies, autonomous systems, image processing, Internet and web technologies), towards secure, self-defendable, autonomous, privacy-safe, and context-aware scalable systems. For more information, please visit http://www.iaria.org/conferences2015/CfPICCGI15.html.
Upcoming Workshops, Conferences and Webinars
23rd USENIX Security Symposium -
August 20- 22, 2014 - San Diego, CA, USA
USENIX Security ’14 brings together researchers, practitioners, systems programmers and engineers, and others interested in the latest advances in the security of computer systems and networks. The 3-day program includes a Keynote Address by Phil Lapsley; Invited Talks by Joseph Menn and Rolando R. Lopez; over 60 refereed paper presentations; and evening events including Birds-of-a-Feather sessions, a poster session, and more. For more information, please visit https://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity14.
2014 High Performance Computing for Wall Street-
September 22, 2014 - New York, NY
The 2014 High Performance Computing Shows for Wall Street will provide the opportunity to meet face to face 800 Wall Street executives’ .Technology is changing the way Wall Street does business. This 11th Annual show provides live on the show floor technology demonstrations. The conference provides knowledgeable speakers sharing their Wall Street experience. The event provides networking and person-to-person collaboration. Our Gold Sponsors include Intel, HP, IBM, Cisco, Microsoft, AMD, DataDirect Networks, Corvil, Red Hat, Forsythe, Myricom, SGI, SuperMicro, Arista, Sybase, Appro, among other leading Wall Street providers. For more information, please visit http://www.flaggmgmt.com/hpc/.
International Conference on Educational Technologies 2014 (ICEduTech) – Call for Papers
December 10- 12, 2014 - New Taipei City, Taiwan
The Educational Technologies 2014 conference (ICEduTech) is the scientific conference addressing the real topics as seen by teachers, students, parents and school leaders. Both scientists, professionals and institutional leaders are invited to be informed by experts, sharpen the understanding what education needs and how to achieve it. The conference covers six main areas: Education in Context, Education as Professional Field, Curricular Evolution, Learner Orientation, Integrating Educational Technologies and International Higher Education. These broad areas are divided into more detailed areas. For more information please visit http://icedutech-conf.org/call-for-papers/.
Research Features from Around the World
NICS Supercomputer Helps Recreate Universe’s Evolution
University of Tennessee
An international team of researchers used resources at UT’s National Institute for Computational Sciences to develop components that would serve as the basis for “Illustris,” a collaborative project which achieved the most ambitious simulation of galaxy formation ever done. Illustris allows one to journey back and see in high detail our universe twelve million years after the Big Bang and then watch the cosmos evolve over a period of 13.8 billion years. To read further, please visit http://tntoday.utk.edu/2014/07/22/xsede-supercomputers-recreate-universe-evolution/.
New Phantomize Feature: Automatic installation of Tcollector Sensor Agent
FutureGrid is an XSEDE resource provider
FutureGrid is happy to announce "phantomize", a new Phantom feature that will automatically install and run the tcollector sensor agent on the first boot of your virtual machines thereby automatically instrumenting your VMs to provide sensor measurements. Phantom offers autoscaling based on sensor measurements from a variety of sources, including user's virtual machines. To collect these measurements, Phantom relies on the tcollector sensor agent being running on each of those virtual machines. Until now, users had to manually install tcollector in their virtual machines or use an image provided by us with tcollector already installed. The former requires extra effort and the latter restricts the user to the types of images provided by us. To read further, please visit https://portal.futuregrid.org/news/new-phantomize-feature-automatic-installation-tcollector-sensor-agent.
Emc² Wins Grant to Create Virtual Fabrication Technology App
Ohio Supercomputer Center
The U.S. Department of Energy recently awarded Engineering Mechanics Corporation of Columbus (Emc2) and its partners $1 million to develop a cloud-based tool that will simulate welding processes employed in the manufacture of metallic products. The funding gives added momentum to AweSim, a public-private, Ohio-based initiative to boost industrial use of modeling and simulation. Emc2 seeks to adapt a welding design software package known as Virtual Fabrication Technology, or VFT, to a more accessible “app” format through the Ohio Supercomputer Center’s (OSC) AweSim program. VFT is a mathematics-based computational tool developed in conjunction with Caterpillar in the late 1990s, with improvements since then to permit small- and medium-sized manufacturers (SMM) to take advantage of the benefits of high performance computing. VFT allows designers to “predict weld-induced distortion and residual-stress states so that weld-design strategies can be implemented to significantly reduce or eliminate these undesirable states prior to fabrication. To read further, please visit https://www.osc.edu/press/emc%C2%B2_wins_grant_to_create_virtual_fabrication_technology_app .
Educator News and Opportunities
Middle-school girls dive into STEM education at Darby Creek
Ohio Supercomputer Center
Fifteen middle school girls from around the state are studying the biological systems of Big Darby Creek and then are leveraging powerful technology to compare their findings with federal environmental data to determine the human impacts. The students are attending the Ohio Supercomputer Center’s annual Young Women’s Summer Institute (YWSI) at The Ohio State University this week. These academically gifted young women are investigating environmental watershed issues, while exploring career opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) began this annual weeklong residential program in 2000 to encourage young women to develop an interest in primarily male-dominated STEM fields. YWSI teaches young female students that an interest in math and science can transform into a lifelong career. Women who work in various STEM industries will visit the students throughout the week to discuss their rewarding professions. To read further, please visit https://www.osc.edu/press/middle_school_girls_dive_into_stem_education_at_darby_creek.
BME Students ‘need more support’ in Computer Science
Timeshighereducation
“While most computer science graduates go on to well-paid, professional jobs, too many find themselves unemployed,” the Labour-backed report, Digital Skills for Tomorrow’s World, says. “This is concentrated among black and minority ethnic students, who tend to achieve lower grades at university and are then more likely to be unemployed. This cannot be excused and is an urgent issue that universities must address. The report – by the UK Digital Skills Taskforce – cites research by the Council of Professors and Heads of Computing, a professional association for staff of university computing departments, that highlights that fewer than half of BME computer science graduates obtain a first or 2:1 degree, compared with 63 per cent of their white peers.To read further, please visit http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/bme-students-need-more-support-in-computer-science/2014765.article.
Student Engagement and Opportunities
Twelve FIRST Students Celebrated for Achievements in STEM and Innovation at 2014 White House Science Fair
As part of the 2014 White House Science Fair, President Obama celebrated the student winners of a broad range of STEM competitions from across the country. He also announced new steps as part of his Education to Innovate campaign, an effort to get more girls and boys motivated to succeed in STEM fields. Additionally, this year’s Fair included a specific focus on girls and women who are excelling in STEM and inspiring the next generation with their work. In a White House press release, President Obama said: “When students excel in math and science, they’re laying the groundwork for helping America compete for the jobs and industries of the future. That’s why I’m proud to celebrate outstanding students at the White House Science Fair, and to announce new steps my Administration and its partners are taking to help more young people succeed in these critical subjects." To read further, please vusur http://www.usfirst.org/aboutus/nljun14/twelve-first-student-celebrate-for-achievements-in-stem-at-white-house-science-fair.
SDSC Summer High School Outreach Program Featured on Local News Segment
This past Saturday, San Diego’s local news station, KFMB’s Innovate 8 program, highlighted the SDSC’s Research Experience for High School Students program. Featured were four of their14 summer high school research projects. To view the news segment, please visit http://www.cbs8.com/category/155799/video-landing-page?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10437038.
Faculty Opportunities
NASA Call for Proposals -- Innovative Early Stage Technology
NASA is seeking proposals from universities to advance the agency's plans for exploration to deep space and Mars. The Early Stage Innovations NASA Research Announcement calls for innovative space technology proposals that could benefit the space program, other government agencies and the greater aerospace community. Researchers will investigate transformative space technologies in areas such as advanced thermal protection materials modeling, computational materials, in situ use of asteroid materials, mobile robotic surface probe concepts for planetary exploration, kinetic penetrators for icy planetary moons and advanced technology habitat system designs for continued human exploration of space. For more information about NASA's investments in space technology, visit http://www.nasa.gov/spacetech.
2014 Open Call for Participation in the Beacon Project -
Submission Deadline – September 20, 2014
Individual researchers and teams are invited to submit proposals for projects investigating the impact of the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor(s), the large amounts of memory per CPU core, and/or the use of parallel SSD storage on areas of interest to their particular field of study. Projects involving high-performance computing (HPC) applications in fields such as biology, economics, social sciences, and other non-traditional HPC domains are especially encouraged, as are projects associated with data-intensive computing and data-driven workflows. While Beacon is primarily a development cluster, projects involving production runs at small scale are welcome. To read further, please visit https://www.jics.tennessee.edu/aace/beacon/open-call. Each proposal should be submitted as a single PDF file to beaconproposal@nics.tennessee.edu.
The Lighter Side – Computational News and Innovations
Software Would Make 3D Maps Using Smartphones
Columbus Dispatch
Researchers at the University of Minnesota and Google have developed software that can create a three-dimensional (3D) map with a smartphone. The software enables the phone's camera and motion sensor to work together to create a grid of data points that become a 3D image. The research is part of Google's Project Tango, a smartphone specifically optimized for 3D mapping. "We will soon be able to get smartphone directions for how to go from one place to another in a building, such as how to go from the entrance to my classroom," says University of Minnesota professor Stergios Roumeliotis. To read further, please visit http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2014/03/24/software-would-make-3-d-maps-using-smartphones.html.
