INDUSTRY

Supercomputers in high school? This spring, students in Joseph Liaw's physics class at Hinsdale Central High School in conjunction with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign/ TRECC had the opportunity to use a supercomputer to help them with designing and testing an engineering project—the trusses for a theme park roller coaster. This project was created for Liaw's students by Nancy Komlanc, Director of Education and Training for TRECC at UIUC and Rebecca Hartman-Baker, a graduate student in computer science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a GK-12 Fellow. TRECC, the Technology Research, Education, and Commercialization Center, is a program of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, funded by the Office of Naval Research and administered by the National Center of Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). Its Technology Center, located at the DuPage County Airport (2700 International Drive, Suite 305, West Chicago, IL), houses a 26-processor High Performance Computing Cluster which is dedicated to educational and entrepreneurial applications. There is also a 16-processor Graphics Cluster with a 15-panel tiled display, optimized for visual simulations. Ms. Hartman-Baker is supported by the National Science Foundation's Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) and administered by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The GK-12 Program supports teaching fellowships for graduate students in the sciences, mathematics, engineering, and technology disciplines. "Not many high school students can say they have utilized a supercomputing cluster to analyze stresses on the support trusses of their dream roller coaster," Liaw explained. He was invited to participate with the GK-12 program by Dr. James Polzin, assistant superintendent for Hinsdale Township High School District 86, who has worked with the GK-12 project for several years and was part of the committee that developed the G-K 12 program. According to Polzin, "Over the years the GK-12 program has become richer and better for both our students and the graduate students that work in the program. As they work through their projects, the students see what being a scientist is really like, what a mathematician really does... what is an historian? No longer do we want to teach these skills in a vacuum. Placing those skills in a context is a real key." Hartman-Baker stated, "I was a GK-12 fellow and I have a background in physics, so I was matched with a physics teacher, Mr. Liaw at Hinsdale Central High School. I told him about the type of research I had been doing with supercomputers and he thought that would be a great place to start. He knew about the TRECC supercomputer and I went from there." "People think supercomputers are amazing and esoteric, and somehow only available to university or government scientists," Hartman-Baker explained. "However, we do have access to a supercomputer located at TRECC facility which is available for educational use." "We had the privilege of visiting the TRECC facility a few times as faculty and once with a select group of students," Liaw related. "The TRECC facility has a superb array of supercomputing tools, visualization formats, and conference facilities that is waiting to be tapped into for a variety of unique, creative, and practical applications." "This was a perfect project to demonstrate the system's capabilities," stated Nancy Komlanc, Director of Education and Training at TRECC. "Part of our mission is to develop new educational applications and learning systems. We also showcase and demonstrate technology research developed at the University of Illinois, and help entrepreneurs and inventors to accelerate technology transfer and commercialization of emerging technologies from the academic and private sectors." According to Hartman-Baker, "The goal of this project was to use the TRECC supercomputer to perform engineering physics analysis for student-created structures; to find a suitable graphical user interface for students, and a suitable structural analysis (finite element analysis) program for the supercomputer. "I worked with the school throughout the school year, however, this project came about this Spring," she explained. "Mr. Liaw teaches a theme-based physics class. Earlier in the year they did art physics, studying sound waves and light. Later they did household physics and sports physics. In the fourth quarter they did 'roller coaster physics' which covers topics such as momentum, inertia, kinetic energy, and potential energy." "In this project, students got a taste of what it's like to be a civil engineer. We used a supercomputer in order to analyze a structure and get a feel for how civil engineers design structures. It has only been in the past couple of centuries that engineers began to rely more on experimentation and modeling," explained Hartman-Baker. "They would build small scale models using novel construction techniques to see if they could produce a building that would stand. Eventually, physicists figured out some laws of nature that helped civil engineers to quantify their work. Today, civil engineers use a combination of tradition, experience, training, and computer modeling to build safe structures." "The students designed a section of truss (that framework that supports the tracks) for a roller coaster—a minimum of ten meters tall and five meters wide. First, they used graph paper to draw the structure to scale, and we used the GiD program (a visualization program) to transform this drawing into a format that the computer understands. Next, we transferred the file to the supercomputer, where the effects of loading the structure with a large force was analyzed by a structural analysis program called FElt. Finally, transferred the output file back to our laptops and used GiD to visualize the stress analysis. "School laptops served as the primary hardware for the students," Hartman-Baker stated. "The TRECC computing cluster—which is a true supercomputer—was used for job execution. Since the file format were not compatible with each other, I wrote PERL scripts to translate back and forth. "The kids were great. I really enjoyed working with them," she remarked. "I think they got something out of it -— a taste of what it is like to be a civil engineer. I think they had fun. For their end-of-the-semester wrap-up, they went to Six Flags, so I'm sure they were able to relate to the roller coasters in a new light." According to Liaw, the use of technology in his classroom is nothing new. "In the physics classroom, we use a variety of computational tools to help enhance the students' learning experiences. We use interactive Java, Flash, and Shockwave simulations on the web to visualize and explore often-abstract concepts of wave behaviors, electric fields, and magnetic induction. "We also use lab-based tools like using digital audio software to perform spectral analysis on voiceprints of musical instruments, measuring the frequency of tuning forks, and measuring the speed of sound in steel. Ultrasonic motion detectors, video analysis, motion capture tools, and other lab-based multimedia tools extend the students' senses and experiences of measuring and observing natural scientific phenomena. "Overall, it was a positive experience working with TRECC, GK12, and Rebecca," Liaw remarked. "As computing power continues to evolve exponentially, it will be exciting to see the seamless creative integration of these powerful media and information tools into the teaching and learning process. I think anytime we are able to explore unique opportunities and provide rich experiences for our students, we are doing our jobs in public education."