HPC Happenings
Introducing HPC University, a Community Driven Online Resource
Whether you are looking for an upcoming conference, or wondering what is happening in the coming months as far as workshops and events, or maybe finding an internship or fellowship is on your mind or perhaps you want to know the latest computing news, HPC University has it all! Updated daily, news, events and job opportunities stay current. Do you have a workshop or conference that you want us to know about? Or maybe your institution has a job opening? Let us know! Visit HPC University and become part of the computational science community. To visit us (and bookmark us!), please visit http://hpcuniversity.org/.
XSEDE Seeking Partner Institutions to Offer Course in Applications of Parallel Computing
Course Begins – January 21, 2014
Course Ends – May 2, 2014
The XSEDE project and the University of California, Berkeley are offering an online course on parallel computing for graduate students and advanced undergraduates and are seeking other university partners that are interested in offering the course for credit to their students. The course includes online video lectures, quizzes, and homework assignments with access to free accounts on the NSF supported XSEDE supercomputers. Participating institutions will need to provide a local instructor that will be responsible for advising the local students and officially assigning grades. Students will complete the online course quizzes and exercises as part of their grade and can then undertake a final group project supervised by the local instructor. Course materials can be reviewed at https://www.cac.cornell.edu/VW/apc/default.aspx.
Instructors interested in the collaborative class should contact Steve Gordon, lead for the XSEDE education program at sgordon@osc.edu or by phone at 614-292-4132.
PRACE 8th Project Access - Call for Proposals
Submission Deadline – October 15, 2013
Allocations will be for one year starting from March 2014. The Call is intended to individual researchers, as well as multi-national research groups, asking for resources on a single or multiple machines. The 8th Call is open to academia and industry under specific mandatory conditions including that access is devoted solely for open R&D research purposes. Please carefully check the full eligibility criteria list in the text of the call for proposals. All applications, whether submitted by academia or by commercial companies, will be evaluated against the highest peer-review standards. Applications must demonstrate scientific excellence, include elements of novelty, transformative aspects and have a recognized scientific impact. The PRACE 8th Call for Proposals can be found on the PRACE website at http://www.prace-ri.eu/Call-Announcements. For queries related to applications, please contact: peer-review@prace-ri.eu.
XSEDE, NSF Release Cloud Survey Report
The Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) and the National Science Foundation Division of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure today released the XSEDE Cloud Survey Report with results of its survey identifying cloud computing use cases in research and education. Data was collected from eighty projects from around the globe, representing a cross-section of cloud users from twenty-one science and engineering disciplines and the humanities, arts, and social sciences. Quantitative dimensions of cloud usage (number of cores used peak/steady state, bandwidth in/out of the cloud, amount of data stored in the cloud, etc.) and qualitative experiences (the benefits and challenges of using the cloud) were explored. The report is available at http://hdl.handle.net/2142/45766.
Introducing EnterpriseTech - Inside Extreme Scale Challenges
Building on over a quarter-century of covering high-end technologies through its flagship publication, HPCwire, and establishing a solid reputation for deep insights into the emerging world of data-intensive computing with its big data publication, Datanami, the company is pushing new limits through today’s announcement of Enterprise Tech. Enterprise Tech will provide insights and analysis into how leading global companies are meshing high performance computing (HPC) technologies with the broader pool of hardware and software solutions feeding large-scale enterprise performance, productivity, efficiency and flexibility. Aimed at decision-makers, technologists, and thought leaders across the technology spectrum, Enterprise Tech is designed to deliver information, news, and analysis about how the world’s top companies understand, implement, and refine the technologies that define the new competitive edge. To view the site, please visit http://www.enterprisetech.com/?goback=.gde_4178444_member_275869533#!.
Submit Your Scientific Visualizations for Display at SC13
Submission Deadline – October 18, 2013
A loop scientific visualizations will run before and after the Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday plenary sessions. Submit your visualizations to be part of this loop! Videos will be projected on a 32’ by 18’ high-definition surface and should have at least a 1920x1080 pixel resolution at 30 fps in a standard Quicktime or Windows codec format. Submit via http://submissions.supercomputing.org. Please send questions to walkinvideo@info.supercomputing.org.
Marc Snir to Receive 2013 IEEE Computer Society Seymour Cray Award
Parallel computing expert Marc Snir, a major contributor to the Message Passing Interface, has been named the recipient of this year's IEEE Computer Society Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award. Snir is director of the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory and the Michael Faiman and Saburo Muroga Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), where he headed the Computer Science Department from 2001 to 2007. He is currently pursuing research in programming environments for high-performance computing. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-09-23/marc_snir_to_receive_2013_ieee_computer_society_seymour_cray_award.html.
Record Number of Submissions for SC13 Poster Session
The SC13 Poster Session will feature 73 regular posters, three electronic posters and five education posters, chosen from a record number of submissions, according to Michela Taufer, technical posters committee chair. Topics will span a variety of high performance computing specialties, including HPC performance, cloud computing, and how to accelerate data-intensive computing. Education posters will emphasize curriculum development and pedagogy, and best teaching practices of interest to undergraduate HPC educators. All posters were rigorously and academically peer reviewed by a selection committee and about one-third were accepted. For more information, please read http://sc13.supercomputing.org/node/169?goback=.gde_1775643_member_275826110#!.
HPC Conference Call for Participation
8th Parallel Data Storage Workshop (PDSW'13) - Call for Participation
November 18, 2013 - Denver, Colorado
Submission Deadline – October 6, 2013
Held in conjunction with SC13
Addressing storage media ranging from tape, HDD, and SSD, to new media like NVRAM, the workshop seeks contributions on relevant topics, including but not limited to:
- performance and benchmarking
- failure tolerance problems and solutions
- APIs for high performance features
- parallel file systems
- high bandwidth storage architectures
- support for high velocity or complex data
- metadata intensive workloads
- autonomics for HPC storage
- virtualization for storage systems
- archival storage advances
- resource management innovations
- incorporation of emerging storage technologies.
For workshop information and complete submission guidelines, please visit http://www.pdsw.org/index.shtml.
2014 IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium
May 19-23, 2014 – Phoenix, Arizona
Registration of Papers with Abstracts – October 11, 2013
Submission of Registered Papers – October 18, 2013
Authors are invited to submit manuscripts that present original unpublished research in all areas of parallel and distributed processing, including the development of experimental or commercial systems. Work focusing on emerging technologies is especially welcome. Topics of interest can be found at the conference website. For more information, please visit http://www.ipdps.org/.
ParLearning 2014 - Call for Papers
May 23, 2014 - Phoenix, Arizona
Paper submission Deadline – December 30, 3013
The 3rd International Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Computing for Large Scale Machine Learning and Big Data Analytics is being held in conjunction with IPDPS 2014. Authors are invited to submit manuscripts of original unpublished research that demonstrate a strong interplay between parallel/distributed computing techniques and learning/inference applications, such as algorithm design and libraries/framework development on multicore/ manycore architectures, GPUs, clusters, supercomputers, cloud computing platforms that target applications including but not limited to:
- Learning and inference using large scale Bayesian Networks
- Large scale inference algorithms using parallel TPIC models, clustering and SVM etc.
- Parallel natural language processing (NLP).
For more information, including paper guidelines and important dates, please visit https://edas.info/web/parlearning2014/#!.
Upcoming Conferences, Workshops and Webinars
XSEDE HPC Monthly Workshop – OpenMP (webinar)
October 2, 2013 - 8:00AM – 2:00PM PST
This workshop is intended to give C and Fortran programmers a hands-on introduction to OpenMP programming. Attendees will leave with a working knowledge of how to write scalable codes using OpenMP. For more details and to register, please visit https://portal.xsede.org/course-calendar/-/training-user/class/151
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?. .
Writing a Successful XSEDE Allocation Proposal 10/10
October 10, 2013 (Thursday) - 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. (ET)
This short webinar will introduce users to the process of writing an XSEDE allocation proposal, and cover the elements that make a proposal successful. This webinar is recommended for users making the jump from a startup allocation to a research allocation, and is highly recommended for new campus champions. To register, please visit https://www.xsede.org/web/xup/course-calendar. Please submit any questions you may have via the Consulting section of the XSEDE User Portal at https://portal.xsede.org/help-desk
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. 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. For more information, please visit http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/papers.
Research Features From Across the Country and Around the World
Louisiana State University Researchers Receive $4 Million NSF Grant for Supercomputing Cluster
Researchers at the LSU Center for Computation & Technology, or CCT, have received a $4 million Major Research Instrumentation, or MRI, award from the National Science Foundation, or NSF, for the acquisition of SuperMIC, a new supercomputer cluster. This is the largest NSF MRI award LSU has ever received. The instrumentation, which will be harnessed for a variety of research projects involving discovery of new drugs, modeling coastal processes and forecasting hurricane-generated waves and storm surges, will bring Louisiana to the next level in supercomputing. It will also allow LSU to prepare students and faculty for the next generation of high-performance supercomputers. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-09-23/lsu_researchers_receive_4_million_nsf_grant_for_supercomputing_cluster.html.
LBNL Develops a Better Way for Supercomputers to Search Large Data Sets
Government Computer News
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory researchers have developed techniques for analyzing huge data sets by utilizing "distributed merge trees," which take better advantage of a high-performance computer's massively parallel architecture. Distributed merge tree algorithms are capable of scanning a huge data set, tagging the values a researcher is looking for, and creating a topological map of the data. Distributed merge trees separate the data sets into blocks and leverage a supercomputer's massively parallel architecture to distribute the work across its thousands of nodes, according to Berkeley Lab's Gunther Weber. He notes the algorithms also can separate important data from irrelevant data. To read further, please visit http://gcn.com/articles/2013/09/09/berkeley-lab-big-data-topology.aspx.
Beyond Peer Review: NIST and Five Journals Find a Way to Manage Errors in Research Data
NIST News
Traditional peer review is not enough to ensure data quality amid the recent boom in scientific research findings, according to a recently completed 10-year study between the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and five technical journals. The study found that the traditional peer-review process is under pressure to work too fast to fully evaluate all new experimental data. NIST researchers have developed NIST ThermoLit, a set of customized software tools and procedures for validating experimental data and eliminating errors after a paper is approved by peer review, but before a journal formally accepts the paper. "The solutions we offer, while centered on the field of thermodynamics, should be applicable in principle to other areas of science and engineering," says NIST's Michael Frenkel. Advances in measurement science have boosted data collection, but increased automation has resulted in the loss of personnel expertise and knowledge required to run manual systems, according to the report. NIST ThermoLit enables researchers to generate a literature report containing relevant references retrieved from a NIST database. If the proposed paper passes a journal's peer review, NIST generates a report highlighting any inconsistencies between the new experimental data and critically evaluated data based on past research. To read further, please visit http://www.nist.gov/mml/acmd/peer-090913.cfm.
UCSD Center for Networked Systems: Finding the Silver Lining in a Sometimes Dark 'Cloud'
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego Center for Networked Systems (CNS) design and improve data center and wide-area networks, with some scientists working to make data widely accessible via mobile and cloud computing while others paradoxically work to make access nearly impossible. CNS researchers refer to their divergent goals as "the beauty of the decentralized system," which now prevails as a way of creating, sharing, and storing information. Principal investigators at CNS "are known for making big contributions in designing scalable, fault-tolerable networks and understanding how networks work," says CNS associate director George Porter. "They're known for developing and designing next-generation storage technologies and they're also making advances in terms of security writ large, from understanding how spam works to understanding how to make the computerized systems in cars safer and more reliable." To read further, please visit http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/pressrelease/center_for_networked_systems_finding_the_silver_lining_in_a_sometimes_dark.
Educator Opportunities and Information
Applications Open for 2014 Aspirations in Computing Awards
Application Deadline – October 31, 2013
The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing recognizes young women in high school for their computing-related achievements and interests and generates visibility for women’s participation in computing-related pursuits. With one application, high school girls will be considered for the award on both the national and the affiliate levels. Competition for the 2014 NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing is open to any U.S. high school-level female (grades 9-12). Application information, prizes and an educator note can be found at https://www.aspirations.org/. Winners will be announced in early December 2013.
CS4HS at Duke University
October 26-27, 2013 - Durham, North Carolina
CS4HS@Duke is designed for high school educators to learn about new ways to teach and use computer science in the classroom. This two-day workshop is filled with examples from across the discipline that can be integrated into classrooms and become part of curricula at different levels. Participants will have a chance to work with faculty, educators, and researchers from Duke and other institutions, as well as with high school teachers from across the country as part of a two-day introduction to many aspects of computer science. Scheduled speakers, topics, stipend information and application information can be found at the workshop website at http://www.cs.duke.edu/cs4hs.
Fall Computer Using Educators Conference
October 27-28, 2013 – Napa Valley, CA
Pre-Registration Deadline – October 4, 2013
CUE provides leadership and support to advance student achievement in the educational technology community. Fall CUE 2013 Conference attendees will have the chance to dive deeper into innovative educational tools through a host of new workshops. Topics for these fee-based BYOD workshops include “Connecting to Common Core,” “MinecraftEDU,” “Google Workshops for Educators,” and “iPads in Education.” For more information, please visit http://www.cue.org/fall.
Rising to the STEM Challenge
HPCwire
Around the world, community, industry and academic leaders bemoan the "skills gap," the divide between the profile of those seeking employment and the actual requirements of the marketplace. A number of studies have reported that during the next decade, there will be millions of available jobs in so-called STEM fields (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and not enough qualified candidates to fill those positions. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine describe STEM as "high-quality, knowledge-intensive jobs...that lead to discovery and new technology," benefiting the US economy and standard of living. The US may be short by as many as three million of these highly-skilled workers by 2018, putting national competitiveness at risk To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2013-09-19/rising_to_the_stem_challenge.html?featured=top.
Student Engagement and Information
Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in STEM
February 20-22, 2014 - Washington, D.C.
Abstract Submission Deadline - October 4, 2013.
Travel Award Application Deadline - October 4, 2013.
Conference Registration Deadline – January 18, 2014
The Emerging Researchers National (ERN) Conference in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) is hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), Education and Human Resources Programs (EHR) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Human Resource Development (HRD), within the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). The conference is aimed at college and university undergraduate and graduate students who participate in programs funded by the NSF HRD Unit, including underrepresented minorities and persons with disabilities. The objectives of the conference are to help undergraduate and graduate students to enhance their science communication skills and to better understand how to prepare for science careers in a global workforce. For more information, please visit http://www.emerging-researchers.org/.
2014 Space Technology Research Fellowships-
Submission Deadline – November 13, 2013
The NASA Space Technology Research Grants Program plans to release its annual call for applications for the NASA Space Technology Research Fellowships this week. Applications will be accepted from students pursuing or planning to pursue masters or doctoral degrees in relevant space technology disciplines. The fellowship awards, worth as much as $68,000 per year, will coincide with the start of the fall 2014 term. NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) seeks to sponsor U.S. citizen and permanent resident graduate student researchers who show significant potential to contribute to NASA’s goal of creating innovative new space technologies for our Nation’s science, exploration, and economic future. Please direct your correspondence/inquiries, in writing, to Ms. Claudia Meyer, Space Technology Research Grants Program Executive, at hq-nstrf-call@mail.nasa.gov. For more information, please visit http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=44675.
2013 SACNAS Student Orientation - Have You Signed Up?
October 2, 2013 – San Antonio, Texas
This fun and interactive session will help orient and prepare attendees to get the most out of the SACNAS conference to meet their educational and career goals. Topics will include: identifying your conference goals, working effectively with exhibitors, and maximizing networking opportunities with the SACNAS community. For more information on what to expect before, during and after the conferences, plus resources for undergraduates, graduates and post docs, please visit https://sacnas.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=71.
Career Opportunities
K-12 Education Outreach Specialist
Google – Mountain View, CA
Google’s K-12 team is looking to hire an amazing CS teacher who wants to scale their impact by working with education nonprofits and leaders around the world. This person would advise our team and external partners on best practices in teaching CS, and would also help build out programs and projects in this space. The role description can be found at https://www.google.com/about/jobs/search/#!t=jo&jid=3814001&
On the Lighter Side - Computational News of Interest
Your Future iPhone May Be Stuffed With Wax
Wired News
Researchers from the universities of Michigan and Pennsylvania are using wax to investigate a new kind of smartphone and tablet processor to address overheating issues related to chip speed. Michigan professor Milo Martin and his collaborators think microprocessors can achieve significant performance upgrades if they are built to make intermittent bursts of unprecedented speeds and then allowed to rest. The wax or paraffin would protect the chips from overheating during "computational sprinting" by absorbing the heat. The researchers believe computational sprinting can lead to energy savings, with Martin noting "there are actually some situations where it makes more sense to operate in sprint and rest." To read further, please visit http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2013/08/sprinting/.
Self-Driving Cars Could Create 1GB of Data a Second
Computerworld
Self-driving cars will come with a wide range of sensors, creating machine-to-machine data at the rate of 1GB per second, according to BigData-Startups.com founder Mark van Rijmenam. He also notes the sensors will provide greater opportunities to spot mechanical problems before they happen. "With the amount of cars worldwide to surpass one billion, it is almost unimaginable how much data will be created when Google's self-driving car will become common on the streets," Rijmenam says. By 2020, there will be several autonomous vehicle offerings that consumers can buy at a reasonable price point, according to Gartner analyst Thilo Koslowski. If the 1GB per second prediction is accurate, self-driving cars would, on average, create about two petabytes of data per year. To read further, please visit http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9240992/Self_driving_cars_could_create_1GB_of_data_a_second.
Google Boosts Handwriting Feature in Google Translate
CNet
With Google Translate's new handwriting tool, users can draw an unfamiliar word or character on their Android smartphone or tablet and immediately get a translation. "Handwriting input lets you translate a written expression, even if you don't know how to type the characters," says Google's Xiangye Xiao. "For example, suppose you see [a] Chinese expression...and want to know its meaning in English, but have no idea how to type these characters. Using the new handwriting input tool, you can simply draw these characters on your screen and instantly see the translation." The application is especially useful when encountering words that use alphabets not based on the Latin alphabet, such as Chinese, Russian, or Arabic. Google initially acquired the first phase of the handwriting tool for Android in January 2012 and has been developing the technology for the past year. In February, it updated the input features by adding new virtual keyboards and transliteration tools. The handwriting tool now supports 45 languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Greek, Lao, and Yiddish. To read further, please visit http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57595412-93/google-boosts-handwriting-feature-in-google-translate/.
