Upcoming Conferences and Workshops
CSEdWeek
December 4-10, 2011
Today’s students have the opportunity to change the world if they have access to rigorous computer science education, which teaches the skills necessary not only to succeed in our information driven world but also to engage in some of the most challenging scientific issues. Computer Science Education Week is a call to action to share information and offer activities that will advocate for computing and elevate computer science education for students at all levels. Everyone can participate! For more information, please visit http://www.csedweek.org/.
Research News and Announcements
Purdue University Computer Science Students Compete in Cluster Challenge at SC11
From November 14 through November 16, 2011, five Computer Science students participated in the Student Cluster Competition at SC11 in Seattle.
The competition featured small teams that competed to harness the incredible power of current-generation cluster hardware. In a real-time challenge, teams of six undergraduate and/or high school students built a small cluster of their own design on the SC exhibit floor and raced to demonstrate the greatest sustained performance across a series of applications. To read further, please visit: http://www.cs.purdue.edu/news/11-04-11_Cluster.html.
TACC supercomputers help researchers find deeper insight into the purity, structure and behavior of protein, DNA and RNA
In 1926, Theodor Svedberg won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for a novel method of separating proteins based on experiments performed on a new device he invented: the analytic ultracentrifuge. Analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) experiments spin samples at very high speeds to study how large molecules such as proteins, DNA and RNA, act in solution. Under the influence of centrifugal forces up to 250,000 times as strong as Earth's gravity, materials undergo sedimentation and diffusion processes over time, revealing aspects of the individual molecules' natures. These processes are essential measurements for biochemists: a way to understand how molecules behave under physiological solution conditions. And 85 years later, scientists are still finding ways to make the analytic ultracentrifuge more useful, now with the use of supercomputers. To read further, please visit http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2011/insights-from-spinning-samples.
Cornell University Launches Red Cloud
The Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing (CAC) announced today the launch of Red Cloud, an on-demand research computing service available by subscription. Two Red Cloud services are available. The basic offering, called “Red Cloud,” is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) that runs Eucalyptus, the open source cloud computing platform. Subscribers have root access to virtual servers and virtual disks. To read further, please visit http://www.cac.cornell.edu/about/news/111027.aspx.
GPUs: Path into the Future of Supercomputing – A Conversation with UIUC’s Wen-mei Hwu
With the announcement of a new Blue Waters petascale system that includes a considerable amount of GPU capability, it is clear GPUs are the future of supercomputing. Access magazine's Barbara Jewett recently sat down with Wen-mei Hwu, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois, a co-principal investigator on the Blue Waters project, and an expert in computer architecture, especially GPUs. To read the interview, please visit http://www.ncsa.illinois.edu/News/Stories/Hwu/.
Ohio Supercomputer Centers Simulations Unlock Carbon Nanotuve Potential for Industry
A special configuration of carbon atoms – a cylindrical network of molecules known as carbon nanotubes – Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be applied as additives to various structural materials through a process called adsorption, where they are used to modify the surface of industrial materials in order to achieve certain properties, such as water repellent coatings for automobile windshields and hydrophilic coatings for contact lenses. This potential has drawn interest from industry researchers in many areas, such as aerospace/naval materials, nano-electrical products, optical devices, chemical sensors, catalyst supports, water/gas treatments, drug carriers and artificial tissues. To read further, please visit http://www.osc.edu/press/releases/2011/Jana.shtml.
Campus Champions
Learning More About the XSEDE Campus Champions
The Campus Champions program supports campus representatives as a local source of knowledge about high-performance and high-throughput computing and other digital services, opportunities and resources. This knowledge and assistance empowers campus researchers, educators, and students to advance scientific discovery.
Through the Campus Champions program, your campus will have direct access to XSEDE and input to its staff, resource allocations for the use of your campus researchers, and assistance in using those resources. For a complete listing that indicates whether the Campus Champion site is an Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) state or a minority-serving institution (MSI), please visit https://www.xsede.org/current-champions.
Educator Programs and Curriculum
The University of Washington’s Computer Science Collaboration Project Presents CSTA: Services and Resources to Engage Youth in Computer Science
Monday, December 12, 2011 - 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM Pacific
This webinar will focus on services that CSTA provides for formal and informal educators and the free resources it provides for helping young people, their families, and their educational community better understand the computing disciplines and the world of opportunities they provide. CSTA is a membership organization of 10,000 educators, institutions, and companies dedicated to supporting and promoting the teaching of computer science and other computing disciplines in K-12. To register for this webinar, please visit http://www.cscproject.org/webinars/dec11/.
2012 Space Exploration Educators Conference
February 2-4, 2012 – Space Center Houston
Make plans to attend the 18th Annual Space Exploration Educators Conference!
This conference is for all K-12 educators. Activities presented use space-related themes to teach across the curriculum and can be used for science, language arts, mathematics, history and more. Attend sessions hosted by scientists and engineers working on the International Space Station, Mars exploration and the planets beyond. Hear from astronauts who will be leading the charge in exploration. Attend sessions presented by educators and receive ready-to-implement classroom ideas. Attendees can earn up to 24 hours of continuing professional education credit. For more information, please visit http://spacecenter.org/TeachersSEEC.html.
Faculty Opportunities
2012 Glenn Faculty Fellowship Now Open
Application Deadline – February 12, 2012
NASA John Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio is accepting applications from full-time, qualified STEM faculty in accredited US colleges and universities for the summer 2012 NASA Glenn Faculty Fellowship Program (NGFFP). The ten-week fellowship starts on Monday, June 4, 2012 and ends on Friday, August 10, 2012. The opportunity is open to US citizens. Underrepresented faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) are highly encouraged to apply. For more information and to apply, please visit http://rt.grc.nasa.gov/university-affairs/.
NSF-SPONSORED INTERDISCIPLINARY WORKSHOP ON COMPUTATIONAL THINKING THROUGH COMPUTING AND MUSIC
June 21-22, 2012 – Lowell, Massachusetts
The University of Massachusetts, Lowell Departments of Music and Computer Science are pleased to offer our first NSF-sponsored interdisciplinary Performamatics workshop on Computational Thinking through Computing and Music. The purpose of this workshop is to share our techniques and materials and to provide an environment in which other pairs of professors can work together to develop interdisciplinary relationships and materials of their own to use in courses at their home institutions. Workshop participants are required to attend in interdisciplinary pairs, preferably from the same institution. This will ensure that the workshop itself models interdisciplinary collaboration and produces outcomes that connect directly to participants' own situations. Professors and instructors from 2- and 4-year colleges are encouraged to attend. For more information and to apply, please visit http://teaching.cs.uml.edu/~heines/TUES/ProjectHome.jsp.
Student Engagement and Opportunities
Department of Energy Computational Science Graduate Fellowship
Application Deadline – January 10, 2012
This is an exciting opportunity for doctoral students to earn up to four years of financial support along with outstanding benefits and opportunities while pursuing degrees in fields of study that utilize high performance computing technology to solve complex problems in science and engineering. Benefits of the fellowship include a $38,000 yearly salary, payment of all tuition and fees, a 12-week research practicum at a DOE Laboratory and additional incentives. For more information and to access the online application, please visit http://www.krellinst.org/csgf/.
Rice University Leadership Alliance Summer Research Early Identification Program (SR-EIP)
Application Deadline – February 1, 2012
The Leadership Alliance offers a summer research experience for undergraduates who would like to work eight to ten weeks under the guidance of a faculty or research mentor at a participating institution. Research experiences are available in all academic disciplines. For more information, please visit http://www.theleadershipalliance.org/Programs/SummerResearch/ResearchExperiences/tabid/244/Default.aspx.
UNCF/ Merck Undergraduate Science Research Scholarship Awards
These awards are intended to help African American undergraduate students who are interested in science to further their science education and potentially pursue science and engineering careers. The UNCF /Merck awards provide tuition support and opportunities for research experience in a state-of-the-art research facility. At least 15 scholarship awards will be granted in 2012. Each award provides up to $30,000 in support, which includes up to $25,000 towards tuition, room and board, and billable fees. For more information, and eligibility requirements please visit http://umsi.uncf.org/ScholarshipsInternshipsFellowships/tabid/151/Default.aspx#Undergraduate
UNCF /Merck Graduate Science Research Dissertation Fellowships
These awards will help African American graduate students complete coursework, conduct research, and prepare the dissertation required for a doctoral degree in the areas of life or physical sciences and engineering. At least 12 dissertation fellowships will be awarded in 2012. Each fellowship provides up to a maximum of $53,500 in support, which includes a stipend of up to $43,500 for research needs. For more information and eligibility requirements, please visit http://umsi.uncf.org/ScholarshipsInternshipsFellowships/tabid/151/Default.aspx#Graduate.
New Mexico Consortium Summer Institute
June 4-August 3, 2012 – Los Alamos, New Mexico
The Computer System, Cluster, and Networking Summer Institute (CSCNSI) is a focused technical enrichment program targeting third-year college undergraduate students currently engaged in a computer science, computer engineering, or similar major. The program emphasizes practical skill development in setting up, configuring, administering, testing, monitoring, and scheduling computer systems, supercomputer clusters, and computer networks through a variety of activities including hands-on technical training, lectures, professional development seminars, and tours of LANL facilities. For more information, including program and application guidelines, please visit http://www.newmexicoconsortium.org/probe/summer.
News at 11 – XSEDE Partners in the Spotlight
SDSC Researcher Amarnath Gupta Named an ACM Distinguished Scientist
Amarnath Gupta, a researcher with the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego, has been named a Distinguished Scientist by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the world’s largest educational and scientific computing society. The Distinguished Scientist grade recognizes ACM members who have at least 15 years of professional experience and five years of continuous professional membership, and whose accomplishments in and impact on the computing field have been significant.
Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Wins High-Performance Computing Award
HPCwire, a leading electronic-news outlet for high-performance computing and communication (HPC), awarded a 2011 Reader’s Choice Award to the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) for Best Use of HPC in an Edge HPC application. The award recognizes PSC for its work with Blacklight, PSC’s SGI® Altix® UV1000 system, the world’s largest shared-memory system, a resource of XSEDE, the National Science Foundation cyberinfrastructure program. Because of Blacklight’s large amount of shared memory, scientists have been able to access up to 16 terabytes at a time, a feature that has enabled ground-breaking work in several fields, including fields of computer science — natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) — that haven’t traditionally made substantial use of HPC. To read further, please visit http://www.psc.edu/publicinfo/news/2011/112111_HPCAward.php.
Who, What, Where - XSEDE Across the Country
Make your plans for XSEDE12 -
July 16-20, Chicago – Chicago, Illinois
Bridging from the eXtreme to the campus and beyond
Begin making your plans for the annual conference of XSEDE, which is scheduled for July 16-20, 2012, XSEDE12 promises to bring together staff and users for an engaging, productive five days at the Intercontinental hotel on Michigan Avenue, in the heart of the city's downtown and its prime shopping area, the Magnificent Mile. Please bookmark the following link and check back for updates, which will be posted as they become available: https://www.xsede.org/xsede12
Contribute to the XSEDE Education Blog Spot
XSEDE News and Information is updated continually. To submit information for inclusion, please send email to amason@ucsd.edu.
