HPC Centres and Strategies for Advancing Computational Science in

Academic Institutions

Organisers:Dan Katz – University of Chicago

Gabrielle Allen – Louisiana State UniversityRob Allan – Daresbury Laboratory

http://www.grids.ac.uk/twiki/bin/view/GridAndHPC/EsiThemeCentres

Aims and Objectives

This workshop series will bring together HPC centre representatives, academics and policy makers to discuss the role of university based HPC centres in the advancement of computational science research, education and culture at academic institutions and how HPC centres fit into national and international cyber-infrastructures.

A resulting report targeted at influencing the future goals and roadmaps of agencies such as EPSRC and JISC will identify findings and recommendations for building, assessing and sustaining such centres.

The workshops will help to start a dialogue around iniatives such as the NSF Cyberinfrastructure for 21st Century Science and Engineering in the USA and could provide input to both the US initiative the European Commission and the G8.

Cyberinfrastructure for 21st Century Science and Engineering

… As a logical next step, it is imperative that NSF develop a strategic long term vision of what is being called a Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CF21). This vision will need to address concepts and capabilities such as:

1. High end computational, data, visualization and sensor-based systems and the associated user support needed for transformative science; HPC systems and services of all types and flavors, networking, interoperable data systems and mining, including a focus on sustainability and extensibility.

http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2010/nsf10015/nsf10015.jsp

CF21 contd...

2. Activities that link cyberinfrastructure framework into campuses (including government and business) and programs that provide the widely dispersed, most broadly based activities and resources; grids, cloud computing, loosely coupled campus services, federated ID management and hybrid networks involving wireless and social networks.

3. Major national and international research facilities and collaborations including large scale NSF collaborative facilities and projects, cyberinfrastructure developed across NSF and other government agencies, including international partners.

4. A comprehensive plan for education and outreach in computational science to support learning and workforce development for 21st century science and engineering.

...

CCT-TR-2010-1

Computational Science, Infrastructure and Interdisciplinary Research on University Campuses - Experiences and Lessons from the Center for Computation and Technology

Gabrielle Allen and Daniel S. Katz Computational science, interdisciplinary research and the use of

information technology are transforming education, research, and institutional culture in academic institutions. In the decade, Louisiana has targeted significant resources to these areas, one outcome of which has bthe establishment of the Center for Computation and Technology (CCT) at Louisiana State University (LSU). This white paper, a contribution to the NSF Workshop on HPC Center Sustainability, aims to catalyze a broader investigation into the motivation for interdisciplinary, computational science research centers, and best practices for establishing, running, and evaluating such centers in academic environments. This paper is the work of Gabrielle Allen (CCT Assistant Director, 2003 to 2008 and Daniel S. Katz (CCT Director of Cyberinfrastructure Development, 2006 to 2009), and does not reflect the views or opinions of the CCT or LSU.

Workshop Programme1. Meeting 21-22/4/2010 followed by writing up notes on 23/4/2010,

cancelled because of air traffic disruption

2. Consultation with HPC-SIG at meeting, Cardiff, 28/4/2010 (Rob)

3. NSF Workshop on High Performance Computing Center Sustainability - May 3-5, 2010 (Dan/ Gab will provide info to this US group)

4. Meeting at e-SI 2-3/6/2010 followed by writing on 4/6/2010Who can go? Please register here: http://www.nesc.ac.uk/esi/events/1083/

5. Feedback to NGS at their meetings or through contacts6. Feedback to HPC-SIG at next meeting (Rob)7. Second meeting at NeSC followed by writing. When? Should

this be a joint mtg. With HPC-SIG?8. There are also other meetings scheduled in USA9. Feedback as above10. Preparation of final report

ISC clash!

The Workshops

The workshops will be organized around discussion sessions with three different focuses that can be attended by all participants.

In addition, workshop participants will be divided into teams across three cross cutting themes.

Two sessions will be held for each focus, with the first discussing ideas and the second concentrated on providing findings and recommendations.

The cross cutting theme teams will meet twice during the meeting, and at the end of the meeting each theme will present the implications for the theme.

The meeting will close with a discussion of plans for the second workshop.

Focuses 1:

1) Goals and Assessment

• what should an effort to advance computational science achieve in an academic environment?

• what should be the goals of an HPC centre?• work at local level?• support regional initiatives?• how can the centres strengthen the national HPC identity?

• how should success or failure be measured?• what are reasonable timescales for success?• what are the challenges?

Focuses 2:

2) Models and Operations

• what is the optimal operational model for an HPC centre?• what are the different roles of local, regional and national

HPC centres?• how can HPC centres be sustained, how should they

evolve?• what level and what type of support personnel are

needed?• where should the centre fit in the overall university

structure and administration? • reporting and metrics?

Focuses 3:

3) Cyber-infrastructure

• what are the challenges for advancing cyber-infrastructure in a university setting?

• how should an HPC centre integrate with national and international cyber-infrastructure?

• what balance of compute, network, storage, visualization and collaboration infrastructure is needed?

Themes:

1. Research: How will research be enabled and integrated with the HPC centre? How are the needs of researchers with different computational experience and requirements met? Is innovative and transformational research encouraged? It there a well structured mechanism for research to drive the mission of the HPC centre? What is the involvement of faculty, postdocs, and students with the centre?

2. Education: What role will the centre have in the education and training of undergraduate and graduate students?

3. Interdisciplinary and non-traditional fields: How will the centre encourage and support interdisciplinary research? How will the centre support research in non-traditional computational fields such as the arts and humanities?

Day 1:

1-1.15 Talk from organizers (this talk)1.15-1.45 Intro Talk - Gabrielle Allen - experiences at CCT1.45-3.00 SESSION 1 - Goals and Assessment

3.00-3.30 BREAK

3.30-4.45 SESSION 2 - Models and Operations4.45-6.00 SESSION 3 - Cyber-infrastructure

DINNER: SEATED BY THEME

Day 2:9.00-10.00 SESSION 1 - Goals and Assessment10.00-11.00 SESSION 2 - Models and Operations

11.00-11.30 BREAK

11.30-12.30 SESSION 3 - Cyber-infrastructure

12.30-2.00 WORKING LUNCH: THEMES MEET

2.00-2.30 THEME 1 DISCUSSION - Research2.30-3.00 THEME 2 DISCUSSION - Education3.00-3.30 THEME 3 DISCUSSION - Inter-disciplinary and non-

traditional fields

3.30-4.00 PLANS FOR NEXT MEETING

Questions?

Welcome and Introductions...