CENTER FOR COMPUTATION & TECHNOLOGY

CCT Weekly, February 5, 2013

Pats on the Back:

• Susanne Brenner gave the opening plenary lecture at the Fourth Chilean Workshop on Numerical Analysis of Partial Differential Equations (WONAPDE 2013) in Concepcion, Chile, January 14-18.

• Carola Kaiser was awarded the Department of Homeland Security Science & Technology (DHS S&T) Impact Award for the work with the Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment (CERA) project. CERA is an automated visualization tool (http://cera.cct.lsu.edu and http://nc-cera.renci.org) to present hurricane forecast results related to impending or active hurricanes. CERA is part of the ADCIRC modeling group and visualize model outputs from the ADCIRC Coastal Circulation model with optional coupling to the SWAN Wave model. The award is for their work during hurricane Irene in conjunction with the University of North Carolina. "The DHS Science and Technology Directorate recognizes the Coastal Hazards Center (DHS) co-lead The University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill for the Advanced Circulation (AdCirc) Model, which has significantly improved hurricane storm surge and inundation predictions for the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. AdCirc has enabled agencies across the Federal government, including the U.S Coast Guard and FEMA, to better prepare for and respond to hurricanes, and to avoid costly and dangerous disruptions to emergency operations." The Coastal Emergency Risks Assessment (CERA) project has been funded and supported at LSU by SeaGrant (Robert Twilley) and CCT.

Please Note:

• The Office of Research & Economic Development at LSU is pleased to host the visit of Dr. William Brinkman, Director of the Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) who will be discussing Science for Energy Sustainability and will be providing information on the future direction of the Office of Science at DOE. You are cordially invited to attend the lecture in the Dalton J. Woods Auditorium at 8:30 AM on Thursday, February 7.

• The Beowulf Bootcamp is open for registration. CCT will host the sixth Beowulf Boot Camp July 8-12 on the LSU campus. This exciting course offers students and teachers a unique opportunity to work with advanced research technology not usually available in a typical classroom setting.
During Beowulf Boot Camp 2013, students will work hands-on with a number of LSU professors as they learn how to build and use supercomputers.
  • WHO:  Louisiana High School Students, Baton Rouge Community College Students, and Louisiana Teachers
  
            
  • Students will engage in the following activities:
    • building a computer cluster from scratch
    • installing the Linux operating system on the computer they've built
    • connecting computers put together by their peers to make a mini-supercomputer
    • learning how to program a mini-supercomputer in parallel with Python
    • interactive activities to help understand how Parallel computing works in Supercomputing
    • running performance benchmarks to determine how your cluster ranks in comparison with the fastest and largest supercomputers in the world
  • This camp is introductory so students do not need a strong computational science background to participate. Some knowledge of programming a plus.
  • For more information and to register, visit http://www.cct.lsu.edu/beowulfcamp2013

• Registration is open for Finite Element Circus & Rodeo, March 8-9, 2013, at Louisiana State University. For more information and to register, visit http://www.cct.lsu.edu/events/finite-element-circus-rodeo.

• Registration is now open for SCALA 2013:  Scientific Computing Around Louisiana. SCALA will be held at Tulane University in New Orleans, February 15-16, 2013. Tulane University's Center for Computational Science and the LSU CCT will co-sponsor, for the fourth time, a meeting to:

(1) highlight cutting-edge topics in scientific computing,
(2) showcase the research at Louisiana institutions and,
(3) promote collaborations across the state of Louisiana.
This meeting is open to any faculty, post-doctoral researcher or student from any college in and around Louisiana. For more information and to register, visit http://tulane.edu/sse/ccs/news/scala-2013.cfm.

• Prior approval is required for Special Meal Requests. Employees who make meal purchases without prior approvals may find that they must cover the cost of any monies spent for an unapproved event out of pocket. Dine-in restaurant meals are not allowed on LaCarte credit cards. Please contact Susie McGlone (susie@cct.lsu.edu) prior to any special meal with visitor(s) to file the appropriate request for approval. Prior approval could take up to two weeks, so please plan accordingly.

• Please remember to send your news concerning grants, awards, conferences, or other pertinent information to CCT Event Coordinator Jennifer Fontenot at jennifer@cct.lsu.edu

• Follow CCT with social media to access photos and see news, events or updated information. These pages are public; you do not need an account to view the information.
  • Facebook group : LSU Center for Computation & Technology
  • Twitter :  LSUCCT
  • YouTube channel : LSUCCT

Interest groups:

• MAG (Mobile App-Art-Action Group): Everyone interested in the potential for Mobile Apps is invited to come and add their vision for these revolutionary devices.
  • Spring 2013 semester MAG meeting schedule; 4:30- 6:00 pm, 338 Johnston Hall:
    • February 28
    • March 21
    • April 18
  • For more information visit: http://www.cct.lsu.edu/MAG
  • Contact:  Jesse Allison (jtallison@lsu.edu)

• GPU:  meets weekly (Thursdays @ 12:30 pm in 338 Johnston) and encourages participation from anyone who would like to join in the discussions. Join the mailing list:  lasigma-gpu@loni.org
  • Contact:  Zhifeng Yun (zyun@cct.lsu.edu)

Upcoming events:

February 6:  HPC Training:  HPC User Environment

February 15- 16, 2013:  Scientific Computing Around Louisiana Workshop

February 20:  HPC Training:  Regular Expression

February 21:  Apple At-Home Work Program for Students—Informational Meeting

February 27:  HPC Training:  Advanced Shell Scripting

March 1:  REU- Computational Sciences Applications Due

March 1:  REU- Materials/LA-SiGMA Applications Due

March 1:  RET- Research Experiences for Teachers Applications Due

March 8-9:  Finite Element Circus & Rodeo

Apply for positions w/Apple (for Students):  At-Home Advisor program