New Director of High-Performance Computing to Lead and Develop Activities for University Researchers to Access Campus Supercomputer Resources
The University has named Honggao Liu, Ph.D., its new Director of High-Performance Computing, or HPC. In this role, Liu, who has worked at LSU for more than 11 years and worked for the past six years as a researcher in the HPC department, will oversee all high-performance computing activities on campus and will work with campus partners to establish the University as a leader in applying high-performance computing technology to research and education.
“I am excited by the prospects of Honggao’s leadership of this critical area as Director of HPC, and believe strongly that the University community at large will benefit from his focus on customer service and proven expertise in the field,” said Brian Voss, LSU Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and the University’s Chief Information Officer.
The University’s HPC department operates as a partnership between CCT and LSU Information Technology Services, or ITS. HPC staff can help campus researchers access the University’s supercomputing resources and discover new ways to apply this technology to their areas of study.
“The HPC group is an integral part of our efforts to advance the University’s Flagship Agenda and promote economic development for the state through advanced computational applications and high-performance computing, which benefit both researchers and businesses,” said Stephen David Beck, CCT interim director. “We are very happy to have Honggao in place as HPC Director, and we believe that with his understanding of campus users’ needs, he will continue to make HPC a vital resource for our faculty and research staff.”
Liu replaces former HPC Director Brian Ropers-Huilman, who left the University in 2007. He has prior experience in scientific computing and applications support, supercomputing system deployment and administration and providing scientific computing consultation to researchers in science and engineering.
“As our campus researchers develop initiatives for the coming semester, we want them to know that HPC is always available as a resource for them and their academic departments,” Liu said. “Our HPC staff can assist with projects across all disciplines, and we have consultants available in Frey and Middleton Library to meet with our faculty, staff and students about specific questions they may have. In the coming semester, I hope to meet with more researchers on campus and get them more information about how we can meet their needs.”
In his previous role with HPC, Liu was instrumental in establishing LSU as a nationally recognized facility for providing high-performance computing access to researchers on campus, the state, throughout the nation and across the world. He was part of the team that integrated the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative, or LONI, onto the TeraGrid in early 2008 and is currently the TeraGrid site lead for LONI. LONI is a high-speed, fiber optic network that combines supercomputing resources around the state through its research universities. TeraGrid is the backbone of U.S. cyberinfrastructure, combining resources from 11 partner sites around the country, including LONI.
Liu began his role as HPC Director in November 2008. He has a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from LSU, a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University in China and two master’s degrees in chemical engineering from Tianjin University, also in China, and LSU.
For more information on HPC at LSU, please visit http://www.hpc.lsu.edu/ .
CCT in the News:
• Red Stick fest brings Disney exec to luncheon
Source: Baton Rouge Business Report - Daily Report
Red Stick Animation Festival officials hope to generate more involvement—including sponsorships—from the Capital Region business community through an inaugural luncheon featuring Walt Disney feature animation executive Emily Hoppe, who will discuss the upcoming Disney feature film set in New Orleans, The Princess and the Frog, and talk about Disney's ongoing relationship with Red Stick.
http://www.businessreport.com/archives/daily-report/2009/jan/07/751/
• BR animation contest entries set record
Source: The Advocate
Red Stick International Animation Festival, now the largest event of its kind in the United States, received a record number of entries for its fifth annual “Best of the Fest” competition, with more countries more participating.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/entertainment/37213129.html
• ‘Red Stick’ Fest grows
Source: The Advocate
Red Stick International Animation Festival, which has grown to be the largest such event in the United States, has doubled the number of entries from last year for its fifth annual “Best of the Fest” competition, with 411 films from 45 countries.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/37253549.html?index=14&c=y
• Disney Rep To Address Local Businesses at Luncheon for Red Stick
Source: AWN
The Red Stick International Animation Festival will host a luncheon for the local business community on Friday, Jan. 16 to outline the economic development benefits the festival brings to Baton Rouge and tell them how their companies can become part of the event.
http://news.awn.com/index.php?ltype=top&newsitem_no=25996
• Liu to head LSU’s HPC Department
Source: The Advocate
LSU has named a new university director of high-performance computing.
http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/37486039.html
Pats On The Back:
• Several CCT students and faculty members had papers published in a set of special issues of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, titled "Crossing Boundaries: Computational Science, E-Science and Global E-Infrastructures. Congratulations to the following for their publications in the world’s oldest scientific journal:
P. Chakraborty, S. Jha, and D. S. Katz, "Novel Submission Modes for Tightly-Coupled Jobs Across Distributed Resources for Reduced Time-to-Solution."
D. S. Katz, G. Allen, R. Cortez, C. Cruz-Neira, R. Gottumukkala, Z. D. Greenwood, L. Guice, S. Jha, R. Kolluru, T. Kosar, L. Leger, H. Liu, C. McMahon, J. Nabrzyski, B. Rodriguez-Milla, E. Seidel, G. Speyrer, M. Stubblefield, B. Voss, S. Whittenburg, "Louisiana: A Model for Advancing Regional e-Research through Cyberinfrastructure."
A. Luckow, S. Jha, J. Kim, A. Metzky, "Adaptive Distributed Replica-Exchange
Simulations."
• Thomas Sterling received a grant award from the National Security Agency through a research partnership with the University of Delaware. The project is titled "A Robust Hybrid I/O Storage Hierarchy for Future High-End Computer Systems," and the grant award is for $50,000 for one year with an option for an additional year with $50,000 in funding. Through this project, Sterling will use his research expertise in parallel computing architecture to work as part of an interdisciplinary team with University of Delaware researchers to develop an innovative computer architecture model that the National Security Administration can use to enhance its high-performance computing capabilities.
CCT Welcomes:
• Robert Kooima, an AVATAR postdoctoral researcher who also will work closely with the CCT. Kooima previously studied with Professor Jason Leigh, and he will co-teach LSU’s video game class this semester. His AVATAR research specialties include real-time 3D computer graphics for data visualization, scaleable display systems, virtual reality and gaming.
Upcoming Lectures:
• Linda Petzold from the University of California Santa Barbara will be speaking as a part of the IT Eminent Lecture Series on “Multiscale Simulation of Biochemical Systems.” The lecture will take place Jan. 23 at 2:30 p.m. in 145 Coates Hall. There will be a reception following the lecture at 3:30 p.m.
• Margaret H. Wright of New York University will give a lecture titled “What Can Be More Important Than “Faster” And “Bigger”? on Jan. 26 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. The lecture will take place in 145 Coates Hall with a reception and refreshments following the lecture.
Please Note:
• All University offices, operations and departments will be closed Monday, Jan. 19, in observance of Martin Luther King Day.
• CCT will host Computational Science Poster Day, an initiative of faculty working on the CyberTools project, on April 17. This event is open to all undergraduate students in the state. Please encourage your students to submit ideas for a poster as they return to campus for the new semester! Poster abstracts are due Thursday, Feb. 12. Please visit http://www.cct.lsu.edu/posterday09 for more information.
• The Virtual Worlds Research Group meeting for January will take place Wednesday, Jan. 21 at 10:30 a.m. in Room 338 of Johnston Hall. Anyone interested is welcome to attend.
• The CCT Faculty Research Retreat has been rescheduled for Jan. 30 in 338 Johnston from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• CCT is accepting applications from high schools to attend the CyberTools Boot Camp (July 6-10, 2009). If you have worked with Louisiana high school students and know of a school, teacher or students who might be interested, please notify Kathy Traxler, ktraxler@cct.lsu.edu. More information about the camp is available online at: http://www.cct.lsu.edu/CyberToolsCamp09 .
• If you have any news for the CCT Weekly, please e-mail PR Manager Kristen Sunde directly at ksunde@cct.lsu.edu.
Upcoming Grant Deadlines:
Note: Please see the CCT deadline Web site, as many NSF deadlines are listed here:
http://www.cct.lsu.edu/about/grants/deadlines/events.php
Major Research Instrumentation Program (MRI)
January 22 2009 10:00 am
At Most $ 4,000,000.00 available
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09502/nsf09502.htm?govDel=USNSF_25
RFP--Amendment--Communications and Networking Technology
ONR-BAA-07-012
February 16 2010 10:00 am
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=da7a0376fc5b9f2ffae2f66dd64b07dd&tab=core&_cview=1
Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS)
February 24 2009 10:00 am
At Most $ 5,000,000.00 available
http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08611/nsf08611.htm?govDel=USNSF_30
Publish Date:
01-13-2009
