XSEDE Happenings

XSEDE Gaining Speed as Year Two Begins

The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) program has made significant strides as it enters its second year. "XSEDE is becoming much more comprehensive in the number and type of resources and services we provide, and you’ll see an expansion of that over the coming years," says XSEDE project director John Towns. He notes XSEDE's first year included a lot of work that was transparent to the user community, including a complete change in the network infrastructure, a stronger emphasis and redefinition of its Advanced User Support operations, and the enhancement of the XSEDE User Portal as an interface to the community. Towns says XSEDE's second year will focus on providing solutions that are designed to evolve with the needs of researchers over a longer period of time. To read further, please visit http://www.hpcwire.com/hpcwire/2012-07-25/xsede_gaining_speed_as_year_two_begins.html.

Upcoming Conferences and Workshops

HUBbub 2012: The HUBzero Conference
September 24-25, 2012 – Indianapolis, Indiana

HUBzero is a platform for creating web sites that support scientific research, education, and collaboration. Released as open source during HUBbub 2010 and a new version being released this year at HUBbub 2011, the HUBzero Platform is the basis of nanoHUB.org and 25 other sites, delivering hundreds of scientific tools and seminars to more than 450,000 visitors each year. HUBzero is supported by a consortium of universities including Purdue, Indiana, Clemson, and Wisconsin. See how the unique HUBzero solution has empowered a wide spectrum of projects in nanotechnology, healthcare research, and other areas of engineering and science. Learn through hands-on tutorials how to set up your own hub using HUBzero's open source software, how to create and publish scientific tools on your hub, how to connect the tools to computing clusters and other Grid resources, and how to add new capabilities to the platform For more information and to register, go to: http://hubzero.org/hubbub.

Workshop on Managing Systems Automatically and Dynamically (MAD)
At the USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation (OSDI October 8-10, 2012 – Hollywood, California

The complexity of modern systems makes them extremely challenging to manage. From highly heterogeneous desktop environments to large-scale systems that consist of many thousands of software and hardware components, these systems exhibit a wide range of complex behaviors are difficult to predict. As such, although raw computational capability of these systems grows each year, much of it is lost to (i) complex failures that are difficult to localize and (ii) to poor performance and efficiency that results from system configuration that is inappropriate for the user’s workload. The MAD workshop focuses on techniques to make complex systems manageable, addressing the problem’s three major aspects: For more information please visit http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=132162306&gid=4178444&trk=eml-anet_dig-b_nd-pst_ttle-cn&ut=377CZVOKV4n5k1.

8th IEEE International Conference on eScience
October 8-12, 2012 – Chicago, Illinois

Researchers in all disciplines are increasingly adopting digital tools, techniques and practices, often in communities and projects that span disciplines, laboratories, organizations, and national boundaries. The eScience 2012 conference is designed to bring together leading international and interdisciplinary research communities, developers, and users of eScience applications and enabling IT technologies. The conference serves as a forum to present the results of the latest applications research and product/tool developments and to highlight related activities from around the world. Also, we are now entering the second decade of eScience and the 2012 conference gives an opportunity to take stock of what has been achieved so far and look forward to the challenges and opportunities the next decade will bring. A special emphasis of the 2012 conference is on advances in the application of technology in a particular discipline. Accordingly, significant advances in applications science and technology will be considered as important as the development of new technologies themselves. Further, we welcome contributions in educational activities under any of these disciplines. For more information, please visit http://www.ci.uchicago.edu/escience2012/

SACNAS
October 11-14, 2012 - Seattle, Washington
Registration Deadline – September 12, 2012

The 2012 SACNAS National Conference "Science, Technology, and Diversity for a Healthy World" will take place in Seattle, Washington. Join over 3,500 attendees for four days of scientific research presentations, professional development, networking, exhibits, culture, and community. One of the largest annual gatherings of minority scientists in the country, the interdisciplinary, inclusive, and interactive SACNAS National Conference motivates and inspires. For more information and to register, please visit https://sacnas.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=42.

EDUCAUSE
November 6-9, 2012 - Denver, Colorado

The EDUCAUSE Annual Conference is the premiere gathering for higher education IT professionals. It provides content and exploration of today's toughest technology issues facing campuses around the world, and convenes some of the brightest minds in the community. When colleagues from around the world converge with some of the most innovative corporate solution providers, you have an event that creates invaluable networking opportunities and professional development. For more information, please visit http://www.educause.edu/annual-conference.

SC12
November 10-16, 2012 -  Salt Lake City, Utah
Exhibition - November 12-15, 2012

For 24 years, SC has been at the forefront in gathering the best and brightest minds in supercomputing together, with our unparalleled technical papers, tutorials, posters and speakers. SC12 will take a major step forward not only in supercomputing, but in super-conferencing, with everything designed to make the 2012 conference the most ‘you' friendly conference in the world. We're streamlining conference information and moving to a virtually real-time method of determining technical program thrusts. No more pre-determined technical themes picked far in advance. Through social media, data mining, and active polling, we'll see which technical interests and issues emerge throughout the year, and focus on the ones that interest you the most. For more information and to register, please visit http://sc12.supercomputing.org/content/exhibitor-prospectus.

XSEDE Training at a Glance.

Structured Data, Metadata and Provenance in the Context of Scientific Data Management Projects
August 23, 2012 – 3:00pm- 5:00pm CDT webinar
For more information, please visit https://www.xsede.org/web/xup/course-calendar/-/training/class/48.

XSEDE Training: Introduction to Scientific Visualization on Longhorn 9/6
September 6, 2012 – 9:00am- 5:00pm CDT in person workshop
For more information, please visit https://www.xsede.org/web/xup/course-calendar/-/training/class/50.

For a complete list of past and future XSEDE training opportunities, please visit https://www.xsede.org/web/xup/course-calendar.

Research Features from Across XSEDE and Campus Champion Partners

Chasing Science as a Service at TACC

The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) has developed the A Grid and Virtualized Environment (AGAVE) advanced programming interface (API), which aims to extend the U.S.'s advanced computing resources to a much larger audience. "When services have been built to that level, research starts moving really fast," says TACC's Rion Dooley. "You can start leveraging manpower and focus exclusively on the science rather than the computation and technology needed to accomplish that science." Dooley says AGAVE is a flexible, Web-friendly platform that enables researchers with little programming experience to add functionality to their scientific computing software. "If we can give thousands of researchers a few percent of their time back, that's a win," he says. AGAVE also gives developers access to some of the U.S.'s most powerful supercomputers to facilitate their research. To read further, please visit http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2012/agave-api.

UC Berkeley to Offer Free Online Classes Through edX


The University of California, Berkeley announced that it will join edX, an online education Web site founded by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that offers free, not-for-credit courses to students worldwide. Berkeley initially will offer one course in software engineering and one in artificial intelligence. The courses will closely follow the on-campus versions, although without contact with professors and the in-depth research projects that Berkeley students normally complete. The not-for-profit, non-commercial edX platform, which has an initial $60 million in funding, matches the university's "mission and values," says Berkeley chancellor Robert J. Birgeneau. Although Berkeley is not contributing any money to edX, it will allow the system to use some open source technology developed by Berkeley professors, according to edX officials. To read further. Please visit http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0725-berkeley-online-20120725,0,519697.story.

Half of Technology Leaders Are Bullish on Big Data

About 50 percent of technology leaders are optimistic that the collection and analysis of big data will yield huge societal benefits, while about 40 percent have a more pessimistic outlook, according to a study from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. The optimists say big data innovation will generate a more predictable economy, subtler healthcare diagnoses, and more intelligent business decisions. However, skeptics voiced concerns about governments and corporations' retention of most big data and associated analysis tools, the outcome of which could be commoditization rather than improvement of people's daily lives. "If big data could be used primarily for social benefit, rather than the pursuit of profit [and the social-control systems that support that effort], then I could 'sign on,'" says University of Pennsylvania professor Oscar Gandy. To read further, please visit http://www.nextgov.com/big-data/2012/07/half-technology-leaders-are-bullish-big-data/56903/www.nextgov.com/.

Campus Champion Carnegie Mellon Working on Security Shoe Sole to ID People
 


Carnegie Mellon University researchers are developing shoe insoles that can help monitor access to high-security areas. Sensors in the "bio-soles" check the pressure of the wearer's feet, monitor their gait, and use a computer to analyze the patterns to identify a person. The shoe will send a wireless alarm message if the patterns don't match. "It's part of a shoe that you don't have to think about," says Marios Savvides, director of Carnegie Mellon's new Pedo-Biometrics Lab. The Institute of Intelligent Machines also is researching gait biometrics, and is reportedly developing systems in which a floor monitors footsteps without people's knowledge. The bio-soles also could have medical uses, as several recent papers suggest changes in how the elderly walk can provide early warnings of dementia. "I must admit I find this news very exciting," says podiatrist John DiMaggio. To read further, please visit http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/07/Information-Tech-Biometrics-Military-New-lab-working-on-security-shoe-sole-to-ID-people/.

Stephen Hawking Launches Supercomputer


Stephen Hawking launched Europe's most powerful shared-memory supercomputer during the recent Numerical Cosmology 2012 workshop at the University of Cambridge's Center for Mathematical Sciences. SGI manufactured the COSMOS supercomputer, which will help expand understanding of the universe. "Cosmology is now a precision science, so we need machines like COSMOS to reach out and touch the real universe, to investigate whether our mathematical models are correct," Hawking says. He notes that significant advances have been recently made in cosmology and particle physics, pointing out that finding an ultimate theory in principle would enable researchers to predict everything in the universe. "Even if we do find the ultimate theory, we will still need supercomputers to describe how something as big and complex as the universe evolves, let alone why humans behave the way they do," Hawking says. To read further, please visit http://news.admin.cam.ac.uk/news/2012/07/20/hawking-launches-supercomputer/.

Small Molecule May Play Big Role in Alzheimer's Disease

Simulations on the Ranger supercomputer are helping researchers determine how fibrils form in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Their findings are inspiring new diagnostic and treatment options that may help eradicate the disease. Researchers at UC Santa Barbara use computer simulations to understand the formation of toxic entities in the brain. Since 2007, the research group has run thousands of simulations of amyloid peptides using the Ranger supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) to better understand the structure, formation and behavior of amyloid accumulations. To read further, please visit http://www.tacc.utexas.edu/news/feature-stories/2012/alzheimers-disease.

Educator News and Curriculum

HPC Educators Applications for Travel Support
Application Opened: June 1, 2012
Application Deadline: August 15, 2012
Conditional Notification: August 22, 2012
Web Submissions: https://submissions.supercomputing.org
Email Contacts: hpceducators@info.supercomputing.org

Learn from and interact with internationally recognized experts teaching undergraduate and early career students in all areas of computational science and engineering, computer science and engineering, high performance computing, networking, and storage.

Competitive grants are available to support travel to and participation in SC12 and will cover the following:

• SC12 Education and Technical Programs conference registration fees waived
• Round-trip airfare purchased through SC travel system
• Conference-paid hotel for six nights in a shared double room
• A meal stipend and incidentals for the duration of the stay (not to exceed six days).

Special consideration will be given to applicants from post-secondary educational institutions that traditionally have been underrepresented in HPC, but are aspiring to introduce HPC into classrooms. Highest consideration will be given to teams of 2-3 faculty from a single institution who apply together and demonstrate institutional interest to support HPC curriculum development (a signed letter from the department head will satisfy this requirement). For more information, please visit http://sc12.supercomputing.org/content/hpc-educators-applications-travel-support. .

Student Engagement Opportunities and Information

Rice University Offers August PhD Webinar Discussions: Proposal Writing & The Final Defense
Registration Deadlines – August 27 and August 29, 2012 respectively

The ELA Mentoring Program is excited to announce that we will be hosting two Ph.D. workshops in August. Both sessions will be led by presenters Dr. Rubin Landau, Dr. Renetta Tull and Dr. Wendy Carter-Veale. 

Proposal Writing: Tuesday, August 28, 10AM Pacific, 12PM Central, 1PM Eastern.  To register, please visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDNheWZYUTBDcWNOTEFleVlmVVhhYkE6MA#gid=0 by Monday, August 27, 2012.

The Final Defense: Thursday, August 30, 10AM Pacific, 12PM Central, 1PM Eastern. To register, please visit https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGt5dmNXOU1oRE5iUFlCSUZhVjdpWkE6MA#gid=0  by Wednesday, August 29, 2012.

Last But Not Least – Computational News of Interest

So, Who Really Did Invent the Internet?

The Wall Street Journal's Gordon Crovitz recently reopened the debate about who invented the Internet, arguing that giving the U.S. government credit is an "urban legend." However, Michael Hiltzik notes that ACM president Vint Cerf, who along with Robert Kahn invented TCP/IP, the fundamental communications protocol of the Internet, on a government contract. Crovitz's main point in discrediting the U.S. Pentagon's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) with the development of the Internet is a quote from Robert Taylor, who was a top official at ARPA when the agency was developing ARPANet, the commonly agreed upon precursor to today's Internet. "The ARPANet was not an Internet," Taylor says. "An Internet is a connection between two or more computer networks." However, Hiltzik says Crovitz confuses "an internet" with "the Internet," as Taylor was citing a technical definition of "internet" in his statement. Cerf himself wrote in 2009 that ARPANet ultimately led to the Internet. Hiltzik says the fact is the Internet as we know it was born as a government project and without ARPA it may not have come into existence at all. To read further, please visit http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul/23/news/la-mo-who-invented-internet-20120723.

Angry Birds Meets Bioinformatics

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) researchers have developed ImageJS, a free smartphone application system that enables pathologists to drag a digitized pathology slide into a Web app and analyze it for malignancy based on color. "We created a new kind of computational tool that promises to make patient data more useful where it’s collected," says UAB's Jonas Almeida. Future modules will perform genomics analysis, support cloud computing, and enable doctors to compare their patient's data to similar cases stored in national databases such as the Cancer Atlas, Gene Expression Omnibus, and 1,000 Genomes Project. Almeida says the potential of ImageJS depends on whether or not pathologists partner with biostatisticians to write modules that add value. He says if that happens, ImageJS could eventually resemble the kind of social coding communities that surround smartphones. To read further, please visit http://www.uab.edu/news/latest/item/2596-angry-birds-meets-bioinformatics.

MIT Software Detects Motion That the Human Eye Can't See


Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed the Eulerian video magnification process, a set of software algorithms that can amplify certain aspects of a video and reveal what is normally undetectable to the human eye. The process deconstructs the visual elements of each frame of a video and reconstructs them with the algorithm. "Just like optics has enabled [someone] to see things normally too small, computation can enable people to see things not visible to the naked eye," says MIT's Fredo Durand. He predicts the primary application will be for remote medical diagnostics, but it also could be used to detect any small motion. To read further, please visit http://www.technologyreview.com/news/428498/software-detects-motion-that-the-human-eye-cant/