ACADEMIA

Cornell University is hosting a National Science Foundation-sponsored “Workshop on High Performance Computing Center Sustainability" from May 3-5, 2010 to provide a forum for an open discussion among HPC center directors, campus information officers, and campus research officers on the topic of the sustainability of research computing centers. The discussion will yield a shared understanding of organizational, funding, management, and training models that result in sustainable research computing centers.

Participants in the workshop will be better prepared to elucidate and champion the need for established research computing centers, and they will have the necessary data to explain how and why such centers must be established and can be sustained. Further, this workshop will prepare higher education institutions located in economically disadvantaged areas of the country with models for successful research computing centers that, if created and sustained, can markedly impact local economies. Additionally, by developing and sharing institutionally-siloed knowledge across diverse centers, this workshop will facilitate the establishment and implementation of similar centers elsewhere, and will strengthen and enrich broader learning communities. Finally, by promoting sustained research computing centers, this workshop will help to ensure early exposure to advanced computational concepts for all science and engineering students.

Up to seventy-five invited leaders in the operation and organizational administration of sustainable HPC centers will participate on-site. WebEx conferencing of the meeting will reach additional participants. Broad engagement of the research computing community is sought to ensure adequate representation from various stakeholders and also to ensure meaningful participation by all during the event.

Submission of position papers from the academic research computing community is strongly encouraged. The position paper process is intended to solicit input from the larger community and to serve as a mechanism for individuals to be selected to participate on-site in the workshop. Position papers are limited to three pages and must be submitted by Friday, January 15, 2010. A review panel will review the papers and use them as the basis for deciding who will be invited to participate on-site.

Cornell University is hosting this NSF-sponsored workshop Monday, May 3 thru Wednesday, May 5, 2010 in Ithaca, NY. The workshop will include an informal reception at 6:00 pm on Monday, May 3 at the Cornell Johnson Museum of Art and an evening dinner cruise on Cayuga Lake on Tuesday, May 4. The workshop will conclude at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, May 5. Complete workshop information including a call for position papers and participation, a registration form for prospective attendees, and the event agenda are available at the Sustainable Research Computing Centers wiki.

The organizing committee, along with an invited group of participants, will generate a complete report on the findings of the workshop. The report will also be posted on the on the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC) website and submitted to EDUCAUSE for publication.

Please contact members of the organizing committee by email if you have questions or suggestions: Stanley Ahalt, Director, Renaissance Computing Institute, ahalt@renci.org; Amy Apon, Director, Arkansas High Performance Computing Center, University of Arkansas, aapon@uark.edu; David Lifka, Director, Cornell Center for Advanced Computing, lifka@cac.cornell.edu; or, Henry Neeman, Director, OU Supercomputing Center for Education & Research, University of Oklahoma, hneeman@ou.edu.