HPC Happenings
Faculty Mentors Needed for the Blue Waters Student Internship Program
Submission Deadline for Intern Positions – March 28, 2014
he goal of the Blue Waters Student Internship Program is designed to provide undergraduate and graduate students a unique learning experience by immersing them in projects associated with Blue Waters and/or XSEDE. We are looking for faculty to mentor an undergraduate student in a year-long internship that involves teaching or researching the use of high-performance computing in studying problems in sciences, engineering, and/or mathematics. The internship will provide students with s $5000.00 stipend, a two-week intensive high performance computing workshop, and travel to the Blue Waters Symposium in 2015. Interested faculty should submit an internship project description at bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/internships. For more information, including important dates, please visit bluewaters.ncsa.illinois.edu/internships.
XSEDE Deadline for Submissions Extended
Extended Deadline – March 24, 2014
The XSEDE14 conference deadline for paper and proposal submissions has been extended one additional week. XSEDE14 will take place in Atlanta from July 13-18, 2014 at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis and will showcase the discoveries, innovations, challenges and achievements of those who utilize and support XSEDE resources and services, as well as other digital resources and services throughout the world. The theme of XSEDE14 is “Engaging Communities,” to engage both traditional users of digital resources and people who have not traditionally used digital resources but would benefit from their usage. Early registration for the conference and hotel block availability begins on April 14, 2014. Visualization showcase abstracts, BoF proposals and poster abstracts—including student poster abstracts—are due by April 21, 2014. The XSEDE14 Call for Participation is available at conferences.xsede.org/xsede14/call-for-participation
Benchmarking MPI Communication on Phi-Based Clusters
Intel’s Many Integrated Core (MIC) architecture was designed to accommodate highly-parallel applications, a great many of which rely on the Message Passing Interface (MPI) standard. Applications deployed on Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors may use offload programming, an approach similar to the CUDA framework for general purpose GPU (GPGPU) computing, in which the CPU-based application is equipped with directives that send the compute-intensive parts of the code and related data from the host system memory to the coprocessor. Unlike GPGPUs, though, Xeon Phi coprocessors can operate as independent IP-addressable manycore nodes allowing MPI processes to be run on them without involving the host CPUs. The so-called symmetric clustering model is attractive because it allows for relatively easy porting of CPU-based applications to clusters with manycore computing accelerators. The end-user can speedup HPC applications without having to restructure the code to implement data offload. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/2014/03/12/benchmarking-mpi-communication-phi-based-clusters/.
HASTAC Conference Registration Now Open
April 24-27, 2014 - El Ministerio Cultura, Lima, Peru
HASTAC 2014: Hemispheric Pathways: Critical Makers in International Networks (Senderos Hemisféricos: Pensadores críticos en redes internacionales), the 6th international conference for the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory. HASTAC 2014 will be hosted by the Ministerio Cultura of Lima, Peru, making this event the first HASTAC conference to be hosted outside of North America. For more information and to register, please visit http://hastac2014.org/.
Cray Opens Supercomputer Manufacturing Facility in Wisconsin
Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. today announced the opening of the Company’s new supercomputer manufacturing facility in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. With the addition of this second facility and with recent upgrades to its existing primary manufacturing site, Cray has roughly doubled its manufacturing capacity. As a result, Cray supercomputers will continue to be made in the same city where Cray was originally founded – Chippewa Falls. “For more than 40 years now, we have enjoyed a proud and storied history with Chippewa Falls, and the opening of our new manufacturing facility affirms our commitment to building our supercomputers in a town that is synonymous with Cray,” said Peter Ungaro, president and CEO of Cray. “Maintaining direct control of our manufacturing process ensures our systems are built with the highest level of quality that customers expect in a Cray product. It also allows us to test and integrate Cray systems before they are shipped to customer sites, which decreases the time needed to get systems up and running, and puts productive systems in the hands of our customers as quickly as possible.” To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/cray-opens-supercomputer-manufacturing-facility-wisconsin/.
2014 OSG All Hands Meeting is Coming Up Fast
April 7-11, 2014 – Menlo Park, California
The Open Science Grid (OSG) provides a common service and support for resource providers and scientific institutions using a distributed fabric of high throughput computational services. The topics covered at this meeting are the US ATLAS and US CMS T2/T3 operations, Campus Grid Infrastructures, the state of OSG and talks and tutorials on technical directions in the grid and cloud communities. This year, the Federated Storage Workshop will take place concurrently at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. OSG is funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy. For complete meeting information, including registration, please visit http://app.certain.com/profile/web/index.cfm?PKwebID=0x5948342f2c&varPage=home.
Tabor Communications Appoints Alan El Faye as Company President
Tabor Communications Inc., (TCI) a leading international media, advertising, and communications company, and publisher of a complete advanced computing portfolio that includes HPCwire, Datanami, EnterpriseTech, and HPCwire Japan announced that Alan El Faye has been appointed President of Tabor Communications, Inc. As President, El Faye will execute the company mission, oversee all company operations, oversee marketing, audience development, reader engagement, and drive all business building activities including expansion of Tabor’s lead generation programs, and events business. With a growing Tabor team, El Faye will reinforce the company’s vision through guidance and direction of the executive, managerial and editorial personnel. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/tabor-communications-appoints-alan-el-faye-company-president/.
Video: How Simulation Fits in Science
In this video from the Science on Saturday series, Vic Castillo from LLNL and Rodger Johnson from Monte Vista High School present: Computer Simulation – Exploring Nature with a Computer. Computers are becoming an increasingly cheaper, more powerful tool that cannot be ignored by professionals. Computer simulation reproduces the behavior of natural and man-made systems to help us understand, predict, and communicate. In this series kick-off, we will show you how computer simulation is used by LLNL scientists on the world’s fastest computers. We will also show you how you can get started doing your own computer simulations with free, open-source tools for class projects or just for fun. To view the video, please visit http://insidehpc.com/2014/03/09/simulation-fits-science/.
Software Defined Networking for Higher Ed Workshop
March 27, 2014 - Tulsa Oklahoma
10:00am- 4:00pm
On Thursday, March 27th, the Tandy Supercomputing Center at the Oklahoma Innovation Institute will be hosting a workshop on Software Defined Networking, with an emphasis on higher education but appropriate to other sectors, presented by Brocade and Aruba Networks and co-sponsored by Internet2. Lunch will be provided. For more information, please visit http://sdnseminars2014.com/oklahomainnovationinstitute.
U.S. News & World Report Names UC San Diego Graduate Engineering and Science Programs Among Nation’s Best
The 2015 edition of the U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools guidebook, released Tuesday, highly ranks UC San Diego's professional schools in engineering and medicine, as well as its academic Ph.D. programs in the sciences. The U.S. News guidebook annually ranks professional school programs in business, education, engineering, law and medicine. To read further, please visit http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/u.s._news_world_report_names_uc_san_diego_graduate_programs_among_nations_b?utm_campaign=thisweek&utm_medium=email&utm_source=tw-2014-03-13.
HPC Call for Participation
HPCS 2014 Issues Call for Papers and Participation
July 21–25, 2014 - Bologna, Italy
Extended Submission Deadline 0 March 25, 2014
The conference is to address, explore and exchange information on the state-of-the-art in high performance and large scale computing systems, their use in modeling and simulation, their design, performance and use, and their impact. Participation is extended to researchers, designers, educators and interested parties in all related disciplines and specialties. The conference will include invited presentations by experts from academia, industry, and government as well as contributed paper presentations describing original work on the current state of research in HPC & simulation technologies and systems and related issues. For further information or questions about the HPCS 2014 conference, please consult the web site at URL: http://hpcs2014.cisedu.info/ Or http://cisedu.us/rp/hpcs14, or contact one of the Conference’s organizers or General Co-Chairs: Sanzio Bassini (s.bassini@cineca.it) or Mads Nygard (mads@idi.ntnu.no).
DATA ANALYTICS 2014 – Call for Papers, Tutorials, Panels
August 24-28, 2014 - Rome, Italy
Deadline Extension – April 12, 2014
The topics suggested by the conference can be discussed in term of concepts, state of the art, research, standards, implementations, running experiments, applications, and industrial case studies. Authors are invited to submit complete unpublished papers, which are not under review in any other conference or journal in the following, but not limited to, topic areas. All tracks are open to both research and industry contributions, in terms of Regular papers, Posters, Work in progress, Technical/marketing/business presentations, Demos, Tutorials, and Panels. Before submission, please check and conform with the Editorial rules: http://www.iaria.org/editorialrules.html.
General page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2014/DATAANALYTICS14.html
Call for Papers: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2014/CfPDATAANALYTICS14.html
Submission page: http://www.iaria.org/conferences2014/SubmitDATAANALYTICS14.html
Upcoming Conferences, Workshops and Webinars
Intel Xeon Phi Workshop
March 20, 2014 – San Diego Supercomputer Center, La Jolla, California
SDSC recently received an Intel Xeon Phi node (dual SandyBridge with a Xeon Phi 7120 coprocessor) for short-term evaluation (through May), installed in the TSCC hotel cluster. In conjunction with that, Intel is willing to come and do a 1-day Xeon Phi programming workshop. To reserve a space, please email Susan Rathbun at susan@sdsc.edu.
Code for the Kingdom
March 21 - 23, 2014 - Seattle, Washington
Code for the Kingdom is a weekend Hackathon and an on-going ecosystem where global issues are tackled with a Christian perspective. If you are passionate about impacting the world, join us at our next stop, Seattle, WA, as we release the creativity of the entrepreneurial community to address the challenges confronting our society, our churches, and our spiritual lives. For more information, please visit Website: http://www.codeforthekingdom.org.
Research Features From Across the Country and Around the World
PSC Projects Make Top Supercomputing Discovery List
Two public health projects at Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center have made HPCwire’s list of “The Top Supercomputing-Led Discoveries of 2013.” The HERMES project is analyzing vaccine supply chains in lower-income countries to identify and repair under-appreciated choke points. The VecNet Cyberinfrastructure project has created a prototype computational system to support a global malaria eradication effort. HPCwire, the major trade publication of the high-performance computing industry, named the two PSC projects among 30 supercomputing discoveries chosen from their news archives. According to the publication, these discoveries are “set to change the world in 2014 and beyond …” The full article can be read at http://www.hpcwire.com/2014/01/02/top-supercomputing-discoveries-2013/ .
SDSC Team Develops Multi-scale Simulation Software for Chemistry Research
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego's San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) have developed software that expands the types of multi-scale mixed quantum and molecular mechanical (QM/MM) simulations of complex chemical systems that scientists can use to design new drugs and better chemicals. The researchers say multi-scale QM/MM computational methods are crucial to advancing the understanding and solution to problems in the chemical sciences. "Our software enables QM/MM simulations with a variety of advanced quantum mechanical models, and by integrating it with the popular AMBER molecular simulation package, which is used by hundreds of academic and industrial research labs, we can reach a very large user base," says SDSC researcher Andreas W. Goetz. In QM/MM simulations, an accurate but computationally complex quantum mechanical model is used to identify important features of the electronic structure of a chemically relevant region. The researchers relied on SDSC's Trestles and Gordon supercomputers to run many tests to validate the software in various stages. To read further, please visit http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/sdsc_team_develops_multi_scale_simulation_software_for_chemistry_research.
Technip, TACC Design Safer Offshore Oil Platforms
Petroleum products are everywhere, from the fuel in our cars to our cell phones and computers to makeup products and medical equipment. However, obtaining this essential energy source is a complex process and a constant battle between man and nature. One method to extract petroleum involves offshore floating platforms. Like miniature cities, these massive structures house dozens of crewmembers, while tapping into oil reservoirs deep in the ocean. Their design is paramount, as the offshore platforms face an array of random wind, wave and current events over their 20 to 30 year lifespan. Inadequate attention to small details in the platform design can lead to unintended results. Offshore mishaps can often be traced to platform malfunction and can become disasters if they involve the loss of human life and/or environmental damage. To read further, please visit https://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2014/technip-tacc-work-together-to-design-safer-offshore-oil-platforms.
Meet Your Match: Using Algorithms to Spark Collaboration Between Scientists
University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge scientists have developed an algorithm that matches scientists in research partnerships, using genes as a model. The method matches academics at conferences based on pre-established criteria, resulting in unexpected research opportunities that can encourage renowned scientists to look beyond their usual circles. In addition to conference matches, the algorithm can arrange "would-like-to-meet" matches across disciplines and knowledge areas. "We wanted to avoid the usual pattern that happens at conferences, especially at interdisciplinary meetings, of like sticking with like," says Cambridge University's Rafael Carazo Salas. "Then we came up with an idea--what if we treated the delegates like we treat genes, and used mathematical algorithms to build a connectivity picture that could enable new links to be made?" Prior to the conference, attendees submitted information about their research areas, and wrote a wish list of areas about which they would like to know more. To read further, please visit http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/meet-your-match-using-algorithms-to-spark-collaboration-between-scientists.
Huge Potential of High-Performance Computing Showcased at HiPEAC Conference
CORDIS News
HiPEAC, a European Union-funded project designed to facilitate research and innovation in high-performance computing, recently demonstrated how new solutions constantly emerge in the field. For example, silicon photonics could be a technology that can be used in the future to build advanced computing systems. Silicon photonics integrates a photonic layer with electronic circuits and provides low-latency and low-energy cost for on-chip communications, higher bandwidth, and low manufacturing costs. Silicon photonics' importance was confirmed at the recent HiPEAC conference, which brought together scientists, academics, and industry leaders from the European computing systems community. "The main advantages of silicon photonics for computing systems are the use of standard tools and foundry--which means wafer scale co-integration for low manufacturing costs--alongside high integration, low energy consumption and high bandwidth," says HiPEAC organizer Jose M. Garcia. To read further, please visit http://cordis.europa.eu/news/rcn/36452_en.html.
IIT Professor Establishes New Mathematical Model for Reducing Data Access Delay
HPCwire
As the amount of data grows ever larger but memory speed continues to greatly lag CPU speed, Xian-He Sun, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at Illinois Institute of Technology and creator of Sun-Ni’s law—one of three scalable computing laws along with Amdahl’s law and Gustafson’s law—has established a new mathematical model for reducing data access delay. Called “Concurrent Average Memory Access Time (C-AMAT),” it promises to cut the penalty associated with accessing data and increase speed by up to 100 times through parallel memory access, which in turn will create a “break” in the memory-wall problem. A paper on C-AMAT is forthcoming in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Computer Society’s Computer magazine and can be viewed at http://www.computer.org/csdl/mags/co/preprint/06560068-abs.html. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/iit-professor-establishes-new-mathematical-model-reducing-data-access-delay/.
Educator News and Opportunities
Consortium Aims to Boost Minority Faculty in STEM Fields
Stanford University
The University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the California Institute of Technology have formed the California Alliance for Graduate Education and Professoriate, a partnership that aims to solve the problem of having too few minority Ph.D. students in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. The group launched the initiative with a $2.2-million U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to provide increased diversity in mathematics, physical science, and computer science. Together, the four schools are creating a new, cross-institutional community of underrepresented minority Ph.D. students, postdoctoral scholars, and faculty members. The alliance "draws on the strength of the institutions involved and is developing a model for moving the needle in this area," says NSF program director Mark Leddy. To read further, please visit https://pangea.stanford.edu/news/uc-berkeley-stanford-ucla-caltech-unite-boost-number-minority-phd-students-faculty-members.
President Obama Honors Exemplary Math and Science Teachers
Teachers know something about snow days. A snow and ice storm hit Washington, D.C., as about 100 science and mathematics teachers arrived here on March 2. The next day, they traveled by Metro and by foot through heavy snow to the White House, where they met with the President, the pinnacle of a three-day visit to the nation's capital. They are winners of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST), the U.S. government's highest honor for K-12 math and science teachers. Administered by the National Science Foundation (NSF), this recognition offers each awardee $10,000, along with the trip to Washington and the chance to network with government and education leaders, policy makers and each other. To read further, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=130722&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click.
Internationalizing STEM
Inside Higher Ed
Presenters at this year's Association of International Education Administrators conference described a pair of programs in which students double major in a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field and a foreign language. Currently in its third year is Northern Arizona University's Global Science and Engineering Program, a five-year initiative in which students earn both a B.S. in a STEM discipline and a B.A. in a foreign language. Students take courses in both the language and the STEM field during their freshman year, while their fourth year is spent abroad before returning to campus for the final year. "We try hard not to sell it as an elite program because I think that kind of language is a language of exclusion and we want to have as many students participate in the program as possible," says Northern Arizona's Harvey Charles. To read further, please visit http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/02/18/universities-create-programs-so-stem-majors-earn-2nd-degree-foreign-language.
The Joy of Teaching Computer Science in the Age of Facebook
The Atlantic
In an interview, Stanford University professor Mehran Sahami discussed changes in computer science education over the past three decades. He says students today understand computing's potential and are technology consumers, whereas in the past the average person did not have a computer in their house. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, students did not view computer science as a field full of job opportunities, and entered the discipline only because of a deep interest in the subject, Sahami says. At that time, a single set of requirements existed for all computer science majors. Today, the field has broadened and numerous subareas such as human-computer interaction and computational biology have emerged. Although the number of students enrolling in computer science dropped significantly from 2000 to 2005 due to the dot-com bubble burst, computer science enrollment is now increasing as the economy turns around and perceptions change about high-tech opportunities. "When people see companies like Google and Facebook being founded by relatively young people, they feel empowered and think: 'I can do that,'" Sahami says. " To read further, please visit http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/02/the-joy-of-teaching-computer-science-in-the-age-of-facebook/283879/.
Computing Educators Oral History Website
The Computing Educators Oral History Project (CEOHP, pronounced "see 'ope") has four distinct, relatively independent, project goals:
- Collecting: To collect oral histories with the life stories of individuals with careers in computing education and properly archive these.
- Presenting: To present the interviews in the collection by means of the Internet and curricular materials. This goal includes the hope of providing inspiration, as well as virtual mentors and role models, to encourage individuals at all career stages.
- Discovering: To analyze the materials and understand trends.
- Modeling: To serve as a model project for sibling efforts.
To explore the CEOHP website, please visit http://www.cs.southwestern.edu/OHProject/.
Earth Observatory's Tournament Earth 2014
Thirty-two Earth images will vie for the title, but only one will be the winner! From March 3 through April 4, 2014, visitors to NASA's Earth Observatory website can vote for their favorite images from 2013, whittling them down each week in a tournament of remote-sensing science. The competition is divided into four categories: data, art, event and photograph. Voting takes place online. A printable bracket is also available to let you pick your favorites and track your selections as the competition progresses. To get started, visit http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/TournamentEarth/. Questions about this opportunity should be directed to Kevin Ward at kevin.a.ward@nasa.gov.
Engineering for You Video Contest
Submission Deadline – March 31, 2014
In celebration of its upcoming 50th anniversary, the National Academy of Engineering, or NAE, is launching the Engineering for You, or E4U, video contest to highlight the impact that engineering has or will have on society. In the last 50 years, engineering achievements include helping to land astronauts on the moon, creating the Internet and decoding the human genome. What will engineering create in the next 50 years? Rev up your creativity, pull out your camera or phone and produce a one- to two-minute video showing the world how you see engineering enhancing quality of life and serving the needs of society. The video must highlight a period during the years 1964-2064. The main prize is $25,000. For more information, visit www.e4uvideocontest.org. Questions about the E4U Video Contest should be directed to E4Uvideocontest@nae.edu.
American Meteorological Society's Project Atmosphere Workshop
July 13-25, 2014, at the National Weather Service Training Center, Kansas City, Missouri
Applications Deadline - March 28, 2014
Project Atmosphere is a two-week workshop offered by the American Meteorological Society. Designed for K-12 educators who teach science courses with atmospheric content, this workshop will introduce participants to the latest technologies and techniques for sensing, analyzing and forecasting weather. Each participant will be supplied with a variety of instructional resource materials, including those to be used in peer-led teacher training sessions. For more information, visit http://www.ametsoc.org/amsedu/Proj_ATM/projatm.html. Questions about this opportunity should be directed to amsedu@ametsoc.org.
NES Web Seminar -- Electromagnetic Spectrum: Remote Sensing Ices on Mars
March 20, 2014, 6:30pm EDT.
As part of a series of electronic professional development experiences, the NASA Explorer Schools project and the National Science Teachers Association are hosting a 90-minute web seminar. Learn how to use authentic NASA mission data to investigate the composition and distribution of ice in the high-latitude regions of Mars through analysis of visible light, infrared light and gamma rays. The seminar includes information about a unique student extension activity, where students access a free computer simulation illustrating how gamma rays are used to determine the chemical composition of Mars. For more information and to register online, visit http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NES4/webseminar9.aspx. To learn more about the NASA Explorer Schools project, visit http://explorerschools.nasa.gov. Email any questions about this opportunity to the NES Help Desk at NASA-Explorer-Schools@mail.nasa.gov.
Student Engagement and Opportunities
ACM/IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship
Application Deadline – May 1, 2014
The ACM/IEEE-CS George Michael Memorial HPC Fellowship is now open for submissions from exceptional PhD students 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. Recipients receive a $5000 honorarium, travel and registration for SC14, and recognition at the SC14 Awards Ceremony. For more information, visit the SC14 site at: http://sc14.supercomputing.org/program/awards/acmieee-cs-george-michael-memorial-hpc-fellowship Submit applications via: https://submissions.supercomputing.org/
Questions: hpc-fellowship-questions@info.supercomputing.org.
Open Science Grid User School 2014 – Apply Today!
July 7-10, 2014 – University of Wisconsin
Application Deadline – April 4, 2014
If you could access thousands, maybe millions of hours of computing, how would it transform your research? What discoveries would you make? We are looking for qualified students to attend the 2014 Open Science Grid (OSG) User School, where they will learn how to use high throughput computing (HTC) to harness vast amounts of computing power for research. Ideal candidates are science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students whose research demands large-scale computing. More information can be found at Web: http://www.opensciencegrid.org/UserSchool
Email: osg-school-2014@opensciencegrid.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OSGUserSchool
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OSGUserSchool
NASA's REEL Science Communication Contest
Submission Deadline – March 31, 2014
So you want to be a NASA producer? NASA is looking for talented high school students to create videos that engage younger students in earth science. Students are consuming over 10 hours of media each day, and video is increasingly important to reach and engage this audience about science. NASA is hosting the second annual video contest, challenging high school students to produce a two-minute video for middle school students. The videos should communicate one of the following science concepts: how climate impacts ice and ice impacts climate, forest fire effects on air quality or water of the water planet. For more information and instructions for submitting a video, visit http://reelscience.gsfc.nasa.gov/. Questions about this contest should be emailed to Tassia Owen at tassia.owen@nasa.gov.
2014 Thacher Environmental Research Contest
Application Deadline – May 5, 2014
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies is pleased to invite U.S. high school students to participate in the 2014 Thacher Environmental Research Contest. This annual contest gives students the opportunity to show off their science and technology skills by submitting research projects focused on the use of remote sensing and analysis tools. Students are asked to identify a U.S. protected area of interest, and design a research project that identifies why the area is unique, why it significantly contributes to our society, how this area has changed over time, and ways remote sensing and geospatial tools can be used to monitor these environmental treasures. Applicants must be U.S. citizens in grades 9-12. Students in public, private, parochial, Native American reservation and home schools are eligible. For full contest rules and to enter, visit http://strategies.org/education/student-contests/thacher-contest/.bQuestions about this contest should be emailed to ThacherContest@strategies.org.
Lego Robot Shatters Rubik's Cube Record
Cubestormer 3, a robot built with Legos and powered by a smartphone, shattered its predecessor's record over the weekend, solving the iconic '80s puzzle in just over 3.5 seconds. The lightning-quick feat, pulled off Saturday at the Big Bang Fair in Birmingham, UK, shaved nearly two seconds off the former Guinness-recognized world record of 5.27 seconds, accomplished by the same team's Cubestormer 2. That mark narrowly bested the best human time of 5.5 seconds, set by Mats Valk of the Netherlands last year. "We knew Cubestormer 3 had the potential to beat the existing record, but with the robot performing physical operations quicker than the human eye can see, there's always an element of risk," said David Gilday, who built the robots along with co-inventor Mike Dobson. To read further, please visit http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/17/tech/innovation/lego-robot-rubiks-cube/index.html?hpt=hp_t2.
The Largest and Best High School Hackathon Ever Held
More than 700 students from over 50 high schools participated in a 24-hour hackathon during the first weekend in March in San Jose, California. Another 300 high school students participated remotely. The event, named “HSHacks,” was conceived organized and funded by high school students through sponsorships and through the generosity of eBay who provided the event venue free of cost at its San Jose headquarters. Staff from Microsoft was on hand to provide workshops for students at the beginning, intermediate and advanced levels. Students self-organized into working teams to develop ideas that would bring value to technology users or solve problems. For 24 hours the teams worked through the night to build apps and games to win prizes provided by the many event sponsors. California schools are falling behind other states in both its use of technology in the classroom and the courses offered. At the same time, computing jobs are growing at 4.3 times the state average. According to the Conference Board and the National Science Foundation, as of December 2013, there are 77,309 open computing jobs in California but only 4,324 computer science graduates. In states where computer science counts as an academic class, 50 percent more students enroll than in states where it is treated as an elective.
Faculty Opportunities
High Performance Computing System Acquisition: Continuing the Building of a More Inclusive Computing Environment for Science and Engineering.
Full Proposal Deadline – May 14, 2014
The intent of this solicitation is to request proposals from organizations willing to serve as Resource Providers within the NSF eXtreme Digital (XD) program. The current solicitation is intended to complement previous NSF investments in advanced computational infrastructure by exploring new and creative approaches to delivering innovative computational resources to an increasingly diverse community and portfolio of scientific research and education. To read further, please visit http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2014/nsf14536/nsf14536.htm?WT.mc_id=USNSF_25&WT.mc_ev=click.
On the Lighter Side – Computational Science News on the Edge
Want Your Computer to Go Faster? Just Add Light
Northeastern University News
Two Northeastern University professors say they have developed a series of devices that make computer processors more efficient. Professor Swastik Kar studied graphene, while professor Yung Joon Jung focused on the mechanics of carbon nanotubes. The two researchers combined their efforts to discover a phenomenon that could lead to a new generation of highly efficient electronics. "People believe that the best computer would be one in which the processing is done using electrical signals and the signal transfer is done by optics," Kar says. He says the devices, which are the first to integrate electronic and optical properties on a single electronic chip, represent a critical breakthrough in making this type of computer a reality. To read further, please visit http://www.northeastern.edu/news/2014/02/karjung/.
