HPC Happenings
Purdue University Hosts CERIAS 14th Annual Information Security Symposium
April 3-4, 2-13 - West Lafayette, Indiana
Tired of all those conferences that feature the same old, same old -- military people talking about cyberwar and dire forecasts, and others talking about commercial opportunities and how wonderful their technologies are? Come hear experts talk about real issues, real research, and real information you can use. But that should be no surprise coming from us! Follow the symposium on Twitter: #cerias and @cerias For more information and to register, please visit http://www.cerias.purdue.edu/site/symposium2013/.
2013 International Summer School on HPC Challenges in Computational Sciences
June 23-28, 2013 – New York University
Submission Deadline – March 18, 2013
The U.S. National Science Foundation's Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) project, the European Union Seventh Framework Program's Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE), and RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) have collaborated to offer this expense-paid program for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars who use high-performance computing to conduct research. For more information and to apply, please visit https://www.xsede.org/web/summerschool13
XSEDE Student Engagement Program: Call for Students – 2013
The XSEDE Student Engagement Program is seeking undergraduate and graduate students for a 10-week project experience for this summer. Working with XSEDE researchers and staff, students will make meaningful contributions to research, development and systems projects that benefit the national scientific and computational community. In exchange, students will be provided with travel support for project orientation and to attend the XSEDE'13 conference in San Diego, CA in July, and a small stipend. Projects for 2013 address a wide variety of computational needs. Some of the projects allow students to work remotely (from their home or home institution), although some require the student to be onsite at their supervisor's institution. All projects will have well-defined work plans, established collaboratively at the orientation meeting. Students are also expected to participate in surveys and other evaluation activities, to help XSEDE track the effectiveness and impact of the program. For more information, please visit https://www.xsede.org/engagement.
Announcing the 20th Annual Open Science Grid User School
Application Period - March 4-29, 2013
OSG User School - June 24-27, 2013
XSEDE13 Conference - July 21-25, 2013
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 2013 Open Science Grid (OSG) User School, where they will learn how to use high-throughput computing to harness vast amounts of computing power for research. Using lectures, discussions, role plays, and lots of hands-on work with OSG experts in high-throughput computing, students will learn how HTC systems work, how to run and manage many jobs and huge datasets to implement a full scientific computing workflow, and where to turn for help and more info. Worried about costs? Successful applicants will get financial support to attend the OSG School (June 24-27) at the beautiful University of Wisconsin in Madison. Plus, some students will receive financial support to attend XSEDE13 (July 22-25) in San Diego, California. Ideal candidates are science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students whose research demands large-scale computing. Also, advanced undergraduates are encouraged to apply. Others may apply too; funding is tight this year, but we consider all great candidates! For more information, please visit https://www.opensciencegrid.org/bin/view/Education/OSGUserSchool2013 or send email to osg-school-2013-info@opensciencegrid.org. A flyer can be downloaded at https://www.opensciencegrid.org/twiki/pub/Education/OSGUserSchool2013/2013-osg-user-school-flyer.pdf
New for SC13: Emerging Technologies Track
Submission Deadline - July 31, 2013
The Emerging Technologies Track is a new element of the Technical Program at SC13. It is aimed at providing a showcase on the SC13 show floor for novel projects at a national or international scale. It is different from other aspects of the technical program, such as contributed presentations and posters, in that it will provide a forum for discussing large-scale, long-term efforts in high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis, rather than a recent research result that such a project might have achieved. Emerging Technologies will provide space in a booth at an attractive central location of the SC13 show floor. The booth will facilitate displays, presentations, and spontaneous discussions among participants and visitors. Possible presentation styles are manifold and can be chosen by the proposers. Emerging Technologies welcomes exhibitions of real hardware prototypes and demonstrations of software as well as project presentations in poster form, animated displays, and scheduled presentations or discussions. Successful projects will display future technologies with the potential to influence computing and society as a whole. For more information, please visit http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/emerging-technologies?goback=.gde_1775643_member_218892969.
HPC Call for Participation
Call For Papers: EuroMPI 2013
September 16-18, 2013 - Madrid, Spain
Submission Deadline - March 29, 2013
EuroMPI is the preeminent meeting for users, developers and researchers to interact and discuss new developments and applications of message passing parallel computing, in particular in and related to the Message Passing Interface (MPI). The annual meeting has a long, rich tradition, and the 20th European MPI Users' Group Meeting will again be a lively forum for discussion of everything related to usage and implementation of MPI and other parallel programming interfaces. Traditionally, the meeting has focused on the efficient implementation of aspects of MPI, typically on high-performance computing platforms, benchmarking and tools for MPI, shortcomings and extensions of MPI, parallel I/O and fault tolerance, as well as parallel applications using MPI. The meeting is open towards other topics, in particular application experience and alternative interfaces for high-performance heterogeneous, hybrid, and distributed memory systems. For more information, please visit http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=221012777&gid=4178444&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_nd-pst_ttle-cn&ut=1WltK_QBT8D5E1.
Upcoming Conferences and Workshops.
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&.
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.
IEEE International Conference on High Performance Computing (HiPC)
December 18 - 21, 2013 - Hyderabad, India
The 20th annual IEEE International Conference on High Performance Computing (HiPC 2013) will be held in Hyderabad, India. It will serve as a forum to present the current work by researchers from around the world. HiPC 2013 will focus on the design and analysis of high performance computing and networking systems and their scientific, engineering, and commercial applications. For more information, please visit http://www.hipc.org/hipc2013/index.php.
Research Features From Across the Country and Around the World
Can Computers Save Health Care? Indiana University Research Shows Lower Costs, Better Outcomes
IU News Room
Indiana University researchers have found that machine learning can improve both the cost and quality of health care in the United States. The researchers used an artificial intelligence framework combining Markov Decision Processes and Dynamic Decision Networks to show how simulation modeling that understands and predicts the outcomes of treatments can reduce health care costs by more than 50 percent while also improving patient outcomes by almost 50 percent. "The Markov Decision Processes and Dynamic Decision Networks enable the system to deliberate about the future, considering all the different possible sequences of actions and effects in advance, even in cases where we are unsure of the effects," says Indiana Ph.D. student Casey Bennett. The research addresses the rising costs of health care, the decreasing quality of care, and a lag time of as much as 17 years between research and practice in clinical care. To read further, please visit http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/23795.html. .
New Modeling Approach Transforms Imaging Technologies
Purdue News
Researchers are improving the performance of technologies ranging from medical CT scanners to digital cameras using a system of models to extract specific information from huge collections of data and then reconstructing images like a jigsaw puzzle. The new approach is called model-based iterative reconstruction, or MBIR. "It's more-or-less how humans solve problems by trial and error, assessing probability and discarding extraneous information," said Charles Bouman, Purdue University's Michael and Katherine Birck Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and a professor of biomedical engineering. To read further, please visit http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q1/new-modeling-approach-transforms-imaging-technologies.html#.
Carnegie Mellon Analysis Shows Online Songwriters Seek Collaborators With Complementary Skills, Status
Carnegie Mellon News
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) researchers have found a way of determining the unique balance of qualities that contribute to musical collaboration using a path-based regression technique with implications for further social science research involving big data. The group collected data over a four-year period from an online songwriting initiative called February Album Writing Month (FAWM), which challenges participants to compose 14 new works of music during the month of February. Using a path-based regression program recently developed through a project called Never-Ending Language Learning, the researchers analyzed 39,103 songs, 6,116 participants, song tags, locations, and forums. Taking "random walks" through the FAWM data set, the program analyzed paths between potential collaborators to assess, which paths were predictive and eliminate those that were not. "With this technique, the program can randomly sample thousands of paths and automatically identify the ones that seem most noteworthy," says CMU researcher Burr Settles. To read further, please read http://www.cmu.edu/news/stories/archives/2013/february/feb11_songcollaborators.html.
How 'Bullet Time' Will Revolutionize Exascale Computing
Technology Review
Kobe University researchers have developed a method for compressing output data without losing its essential features in exascale computing. The approach uses "bullet time," a Hollywood filming technique that slows down ordinary events while the camera angle changes as if it were flying around the action at normal speed. The technique involves plotting the trajectory of the camera in advance and then placing many high-speed cameras along the route. The Kobe researchers want to use a similar technique to access exascale computer simulations by surrounding the simulated action with millions of virtual cameras that all record the action as it occurs. The compression occurs as each camera records a two-dimensional image of a three-dimensional scene. To read further, please visit http://www.technologyreview.com/view/510371/how-bullet-time-will-revolutionise-exascale-computing/.
University Data Sharing Project Takes Big Step Forward
InformationWeek
The Predictive Analytics Reporting (PAR) Framework recently released the common data definitions for all of the variables in its database, which now includes more than 1.7 million anonymized and institutionally de-identified student records and 8.1 million course-level records. The PAR Framework originally was developed to identify factors that influence student retention and progression, and to guide decision-making designed to improve postsecondary student completion in the United States. "Interest in analytics across the board, and learning analytics in particular, have taken higher education by storm," says WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) executive director Ellen Wagner. The PAR Framework also includes whether a particular student passed a course, achieved a major, or dropped out. The data definitions were issued under a Creative Commons license "to encourage distribution of the definitions into the higher education research community," according to WCET. To read further, please visit http://www.informationweek.com/education/data-management/university-data-sharing-project-takes-bi/240148153.
Educator Opportunities and Information
Initiative Hopes to Double Maine’s Computer Science Graduates by 2017
Bangor Daily News (ME)
The University of Maine intends to double its computer science and information technology graduates over the next four years through the new Project>Login initiative. Project>Login is a collaboration between Maine's business community, the nonprofit Educate Maine, and the University of Maine System to address a critical labor shortage faced by the state's companies. At the current graduation rate, Maine could fill only 39 percent of the 977 computer science and information technology (IT) jobs projected for 2018, according to Southern Maine Community College estimates. The University of Maine graduated 71 students with computer science degrees in 2012, so Project>Login must help the campuses graduate 142 students by 2017 to meet the initiative's goal. Increasing the 33-percent retention rate for computer science and IT programs will be critical, and the initiative hopes to boost the rate to a minimum of 43 percent by next year. To read further, please visit http://bangordailynews.com/2013/02/07/business/initiative-hopes-to-double-maine-universities-computer-science-graduates-by-2017/.
Alice Symposium Update
You can still submit a poster abstract or an Alice world for the Alice Symposium. The deadline for both has been extended to April 12. Registration for the Symposium and Alice workshops are also open. More information is available here: http://www.cs.duke.edu/csed/aliceSymposium2013. Questions? Contact Kathy Menchaca at menchaca@cs.stanford.edu
Software Developers Expected to See the Highest IT Job Growth Come 2020
InfoWorld
There are currently about 4.16 million information technology (IT) professionals working in the United States, and that number is expected to grow by 22 percent through 2020, according to a new CompTIA report. The report provides a picture of how core IT positions break down today and a prediction of how the IT job landscape will look in 2020. The IT occupation with the highest projected growth rate through 2020 is systems software developer, which will grow by 32 percent from 387,050 positions today to 510,906 positions in 2020. The other positions with the highest projected growth rates include database administrators, application software developers, and network and systems administrators, which are expected to increase 31 percent, 28 percent, and 28 percent, respectively, by 2020. To read further, please visit http://www.infoworld.com/t/it-jobs/software-developers-expected-see-the-highest-it-job-growth-come-2020-212709.
Student Engagement and Information
2013 SACNAS National Conference]
October 3–6, 2013 - San Antonio, Texas
Submission Deadline – April 3, 2013
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. To ensure your students don’t miss the opportunity to connect with SACNAS and be part of this exciting event, please encourage them to apply for a travel scholarship and/or submit an abstract! [http://sacnas.org/sites/sacnas.org/themes/sacnastheme/standalone-template/hr.gif] For complete conference information and submission guidelines, please visit http://sacnas.org/events/national-conf.
Google Summer of Code
Application Submission Period - April 22 to May 3, 2013.
Google Summer of Code 2013 is designed to encourage college student participation in open source development. Google will be offering successful student contributors a 5,000 USD stipend, enabling them to focus on their coding projects for three months. This program is done completely online. Students and mentors from more than 100 countries have participated in past years. Find full details on requirements for participating at http://www.googlemelange.com. If you have questions not addressed on the site, please contact Carol Smith at carols@google.com.
U.K. Students Not Lining Up to Study IT
InformationWeek
Only 3,420 British students, or 0.4 percent, took a computer science A-level--similar to a high school diploma in the United States--in 2011-2012, according to the U.K. Department of Education. The figure is down from a peak of 12,529 in 1998. And only 7 percent--255--of computing A-level students were female. London would like to challenge Silicon Valley in the future, but had only 376 students registered for A-level in computer science, and only 33 students were selected from the six central London boroughs that make up the Greater London Authority to study computing at a pre-college level. "The statistics show the sheer scale of the challenge in front of us to get programming back in schools," warns Ian Livingstone, who chairs the Next Gen Skills campaign. To read further, please visit http://www.informationweek.com/education/k-12/uk-students-not-lining-up-to-study-it/240147916.
Career Opportunities
Software Developer
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Stimulating academic community—exciting research—intriguing computer science: establish the vision—develop the solution! Support academic research in a software-development capacity, working independently and as part of a dynamic, multidisciplinary team focusing on LLNL/DOE programs. For more information and to apply, please visit http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=5057449&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_premjb-ttl-cn&ut=2zwtKuRjmVOBE1.
Pre-Sales Engineer (SE)
Allinea Software - Coventry, United Kingdom
Allinea is in a rapidly growing market and seeks to recruit an ambitious Pre-Sales Engineer (SE). The candidate will be based in North America working from home, or in the UK headquarters, and will report to the VP of Sales Americas. Periodic (30% to 50%) travel in North America is required. Allinea supports the customer base through a combination of direct sales and partnerships with the leading system vendors. The SE will be the main technical point of contact for customers throughout the sales process and in post-sales activities such as training. The SE’s sales support activities include conducting remote web-based and on-site demonstrations, liaising during product trials and supporting the evaluations process and building relationships with client technical staff. For more information and to apply, please visit http://www.linkedin.com/jobs?viewJob=&jobId=5079244&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_premjb-ttl-cn&ut=2XeGVEEBqZOBE1.
On the Lighter Side: Computational News of Interest
Study Uses Grins and Frowns to Predict Online Game Hits
Phys.Org
Researchers at Academia Sinica's Institute of Information Science have developed a method for predicting an online game's success by studying gamers' initial emotional response. The researchers analyzed the movements of gamers' smile and frown muscles during the first 45 minutes of play. The model should be able to forecast a game's addictiveness according to facial electromyography (EMG) measures from a focus group, according to the researchers. First, the researchers used archival game data and several EMG experiments for a forecasting model that could predict a game's ability to retain active players for a long time. Next, they analyzed the account activity records of 11 games, generated a general addictiveness index, and then gathered 155 hours of facial-expression data from 84 gamers. The researchers hope to help game publishers avoid wasting money on bad investments and to proceed with developing games that are more likely to succeed. To read further, please visit http://phys.org/news/2013-02-frowns-online-game.html.
Ancient Board Game Offers Insight Into Military, Cyber Threats: Penn State Study
Penn State Live
Penn State University researchers are using the ancient Chinese game of Go to help students learn new methods for countering future cyber-attacks. "We’re using the game as a training ground to think strategically and tactically," says Penn State's Stan Aungst, who teaches a course that introduces students to thinking visually about attacks, attack patterns, spatial analysis with individual performance evaluation via interactive virtual scenarios, missions, and gaming. "During the course, Go is used as the means for analyzing widely divergent problems, and for developing effective tactics and strategies to address those problems by means of conversion rather than elimination," says Penn State's John Hill. At the end of the course, the students take a test that is used to measure their ability to predict cyber and physical attacks. To read further, please visit http://news.psu.edu/story/142168/2013/02/07/ancient-board-game-offers-insight-military-cyber-threats
