Sixth NASA Summer School in High Performance Computational Physics

Objective

Train the next generation of Earth and space scientists in massively parallel techniques and algorithm development to support the goals of the HPCC Program.

Approach

The NASA Summer School in High Performance Computational Physics is an intensive three-week program of lectures and lab sessions held at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in the early summer. It is jointly sponsored by the ESS Project and GSFC's Space Data and Computing Division. Sixteen students are selected through a national solicitation performed by USRA. They must be working toward PhDs in a physical science discipline related to NASA/GSFC's research and have an interest in utilizing massively parallel computer architectures to solve problems within their respective fields. The students are brought to GSFC from their home institutions and housed at the University of Maryland during the program.

The GSFC/ESS Inhouse Team presented a series of lectures on advanced topics in computational fluid dynamics, while vendors of scalable parallel computer systems lectured on developing software for their machines. Attendees also were afforded small group interaction and hands-on computer training, with the latter facilitated by access to a CRAY T3D. At the end of the program, students presented 15-minute summaries of what they learned and its relation to their fields of study.

Accomplishments

• Students became functional in the art of "thinking parallel"
• They became knowledgeable in advanced computational techniques
• They became hooked on the power of emerging scalable parallel systems
• Most students requested continued access to Goddard's parallel testbed computers

Significance

The six sessions that the school has operated have assisted the ESS Project to understand the formal training requirements of intelligent but novice users of scalable parallel systems and to evolve a suitable curriculum to meet these needs. Consideration is being given to publication of the lecture series in the form of a book. The sessions also provide the Project insight into the types of difficulties new users will experience on scalable parallel systems. This information is shared with the hardware vendors to help their hardware and software design.

Status/Plans

Based on the success of the program and the positive reactions of the students, ESS plans to continue the Summer School in FY97 and is considering its expansion in order to provide training for members of the Investigator teams selected through the ESS CAN.

Points of Contact

Lisa Hamet Bernard
Goddard Space Flight Center
hamet@nibbles.gsfc.nasa.gov
301-286-9417

Steve Zalesak
Goddard Space Flight Center
zalesak@gondor.gsfc.nasa.gov
301-286-8935

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