Third Annual Texas A&M Research Computing Symposium

Last Updated: May 14, 2019

Symposium Details

Dates: May 13-17, 2019
Location: Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building, Texas A&M Main Campus, College Station, TX
Contact us at (979) 458-8414 or help@hprc.tamu.edu

Texas A&M University High Performance Research Computing is hosting a two day series of talks and three days of workshops on May 13-17, 2019 to showcase the A&M community’s work in computing and data-intensive research. Topics covered will include:

  • Applications of High Performance Computing to solve real-world problems
  • Exascale computing at the frontiers of science
  • Cloud computing for scientific research
  • Novel hardware and software for advanced computing

Keynote talks will be given by Irene Qualters, Associate Laboratory Director, Simulation & Computation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Dr. Erwin Gianchandani, NSF Deputy Assistant Director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. In addition to local and national speakers, training workshops will be offered on computational tools for research. A reception and poster session is planned for late Wednesday afternoon.

In addition to talks by leading national and local computational scientists, some very exciting workshops on these and other topics are scheduled:

  • Getting up to speed on the Google Cloud Platform
  • Advanced use of the Abaqus Finite Element modeling and simulation package
  • Classical and Quantum Mechanics modeling of chemical and biological systems
  • Using the IBM PowerAI and PowerAI Vision packages for developing deep learning applications
  • Long-Read Sequencing Technologies and Sequence Analysis
  • Computing with the R statistics package; and Web access to HPRC supercomputers


A Reception and Poster/Demonstration Session are planned for late Wednesday afternoon.  Please plan to attend!

Keynote Talks


Wednesday May 15, 2019, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building, Room 1105 -- 0930-1100

Computational Co-design: Exascale and Beyond

Irene Qualters, Associate Laboratory Director, Simulation & Computation, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Irene Qualters

Abstract:

Bio: Irene Qualters serves as the Associate Laboratory Director for Simulation and Computation. She previously served as a Senior Science Advisor in the Computing and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate of the National Science Foundation (NSF), where she contributes to strategic leadership in new directions for the CISE Directorate. In her nearly nine years at NSF, she has had responsibility for developing NSF’s vision and portfolio of investments in high performance computing, and has played a leadership role in interagency, industry, and academic engagements to advance computing. Irene also served on the Science and Technology Committee of the LLNS/LANS Board of Governors. Prior to her NSF career, Irene had a distinguished 30-year career in industry, with a number of executive leadership positions in research and development in the technology sector. During her 20 years at Cray Research, she was a pioneer in the development of high performance parallel processing technologies to accelerate scientific discovery. Subsequently as Vice President, she led Information Systems for Merck Research Labs, focusing on international cyberinfrastructure to advance all phases of pharmaceutical R&D. Irene has a M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Detroit and a B.S. from Duquesne University.




Wednesday May 15, 2019, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building, Room 1105 -- 1300-1400

Utilizing FPGAs for Advanced Computing

Jeff Nigh, Technical Solution Specialist Enterprise Acceleration, Intel

Jeff Nigh

Abstract:FPGAs are now more readily available as general purpose compute devices, enabled by new development and investment in FPGA acceleration. Researchers, software developers, and data scientists can leverage Programmable Accelerator Cards, qualified open-source driver stacks, and high-level programming languages to accelerate custom algorithms, database accesses, image inferencing, genomics, and more.

Bio: Jeff has been with Altera/Intel for 19 years holding both technical and technical sales role positions and prior to Altera Jeff was a design engineer at Rockwell Collins designing avionics for commercial aircraft focusing on embedded systems. He is also a college lecturer teaching Digital Logic Lab at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and earned his Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Iowa in 1993. In his free time he host the weekly www.stemonfire.com podcast and enjoys pretty much anything outdoors.




Thursday May 16, 2019, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building, Room 1105 -- 0930-1100

The Frontiers of Computer and Information Science and Engineering

Dr. Ken Calvert, National Science Foundation Division Director for Computer & Network Systems (CNS) in Computer and Information Science and Engineering

Dr. Ken Calvert

Abstract: NSF's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) seeks to expand the frontiers of computing, communication, and information technologies; support advanced data and computing capabilities across all fields of science and engineering; and help prepare a workforce with the skills and competencies necessary for the 21st-century digital economy. This talk will present an overview of CISE and its programs and investments, along with a vision for evolving programs and priorities to support the frontiers of the field, and of science and engineering more broadly.

Bio:Ken Calvert is Division Director for Computer and Network Systems in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) Directorate at the National Science Foundation. He is there on temporary assignment (since May 2016) from the University of Kentucky, where he is Gartner Group Professor in Network Engineering and former Chair of the Department of Computer Science. His research interests include future Internet architecture, software-defined networking, and network security. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a M.S. in computer science from Stanford University and a B.S. in computer science and engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to his appointment at the University of Kentucky, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ, and served on the faculty in the College of Computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is an IEEE Fellow and a member of the ACM.


Thursday May 16, 2019, Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building, Room 1105 -- 1300-1400

Predictive Analytics using Amazon Web Services

Sanjay Padhi, Ph.D., AWS Research and Technical Computing; Physicist and Adjunct Professor of Brown University

Sanjay Padhi

Abstract: One of the most explored features of Big Data is predictive analytics. Predictive analytics is a set of techniques that are fundamental to large organizations like Amazon. Methods such as Machine Learning are used in many aspects of life, including health care, education, financial modeling, and marketing. Analytics on Big Data has given rise to various “smart” projects, such as Connected Intersections, Smart Cities, and Smart Health. This talk will provide a range of such studies using predictive analytics including detailed overview of methods such as Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning using AWS. Fully managed Artificial Intelligence (AI) services to help researchers build, train and deploy ML models in various domains including Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing (NLP) will also be outlined. Supervised and unsupervised based learning frameworks and its implications in the fields of Scientific Computing, Medical Imaging, Cancer detection, Diabetic Retinopathy, and Voice-enabled solutions to improve management of chronic disease will be discussed. Collaborations on research with funding agencies such as the NSF and NIH (including NIH STRIDES), as well as AWS Research Credit program will also be outlined.

Bio: Dr. Sanjay Padhi, leads the AWS Research Initiatives including AWS’s federal initiatives with the National Science Foundation. Dr. Padhi has more than 15 years of experience in large-scale distributed computing, Data Analytics and Machine Learning. He is the co-creator of the Workload Management System currently used for all the data processing and simulations by CMS, one of the largest experiments in the world at CERN, consisting of more than 180 institutions across 40 countries. He also co-founded the ZEUS Computing Grid project at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Germany before joining CERN. Sanjay obtained his Ph.D from McGill University in High Energy Physics and is also currently appointed by the Dean of Faculty as an Adjunct Professor of Physics at Brown University.




Tutorials and Workshops

>>>> Register for workshops here <<<<


Monday, May 13


  • Quantum Mechanics - Brief introduction to quantum mechanics with a focus on DFT molecular calculations (1300-1700)
    There will be hands-on exercises for the ORCA and Gaussian software packages.
  • Instructor: Lisa M. Pérez, Ph.D., Manager, Laboratory for Molecular Simulation

Tuesday, May 14


  • IBM Power AI and Power AI Vision Software and Hardware (1300-1700)
  • Instructor: John Pace, Ph.D., Mark III Systems

  • Abaqus Workshop: Modeling Contact and Convergence Issues with Abaqus/Standard, with workshop on 3D contact simulation (1300-1600)
  • Instructor: Yuan Di, 3DS.COM/Simulia

  • Long-Read Sequencing Technologies and Sequence Analysis (1300-1500)
  • Instructor: Yanni Lun and Joshua Hill, AgriLife Research, and Michael Dickens, High Performance Research Computing

Friday, May 17 Workshops

  • Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (0900-1700)
    This one-day instructor-led class provides an overview of Google Cloud Platform products and services.
    Syllabus at https://cloud.google.com/training/courses/core-fundamentals

    • Classical Simulations - Brief introduction to classical simulations with a focus on protein dynamics and ligand docking. (1300-1700)
      There will be hands-on exercises for the AutoDock VINA, Glide, and Desmond software packages.
      Instructor: Lisa M. Pérez, Ph.D., Manager, Laboratory for Molecular Simulation

      Schedule

      Last update: May 14, 2019

      Monday, May 13 Workshops and Tutorials
      0900 - 1200 Introduction to HPC Using the Open OnDemand web portal
      Instructor: Ping Luo, High Performance Research Computing
      Register for all workshops here
      1200-1300 Lunch Sponsored by Google
      1300 - 1700 Quantum Mechanics - Brief introduction to quantum mechanics with a focus on DFT molecular calculations.
      Instructor: Lisa M. Pérez, Ph.D., Manager, Laboratory for Molecular Simulation
      Register for all workshops here
      Tuesday, May 14 Workshops and Tutorials
      1000 - 1200 Using the R Statistics Package on the HPRC supercomputers
      Instructor: Dr. Noushin Ghaffari, Agrilife Research
      Register for all workshops here
      1200-1300 Lunch Provided by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel
      1300 - 1700 IBM Power AI and Power AI Vision Software and Hardware
      Instructor: John Pace, Ph.D., Mark III Systems
      Register for all workshops here
      1300 - 1600 Abaqus Workshop: Modeling Contact and Convergence Issues with Abaqus/Standard, with workshop on 3D contact simulation
      Instructor: Yuan Di, 3DS.COM/Simulia
      Register for all workshops here
      1300 - 1500 Long-Read Sequencing Technologies and Sequence Analysis
      Instructor: Yanni Lun and Joshua Hill, AgriLife Research, and Michael Dickens, High Performance Research Computing
      Register for all workshops here
      Wednesday, May 15 Keynote and Research Talks
      0930 - 1000 Opening remarks, Day 1 - Costas Georghiades, Senior Associate Vice President for Research, Texas A&M University Division of Research
      1000 - 1100 Keynote: "Computational Co-design: Exascale and Beyond"
      Irene Qualters
      Associate Laboratory Director, Simulation & Computation, Los Alamos National Laboratory
      1100 - 1115 Break sponsored by VMWare
      1115 - 1200 "Using Google Cloud Platform for Scientific Computing"
      Ward Harold, Google Solutions Architect, Scientific and Technical Computing
      1200 - 1300 Lunch Provided by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel

      Special Lunch Talk: "HPC/AI Convergence/Workload Matters/Tensor Cores and AMP"
      Mark Hill, Solutions Architect, NVIDIA
      1300 - 1400 Industry Keynote: "Using FPGAs to Accelerate Science"
      Jeff Nigh, Technical Solution Specialist Enterprise Acceleration, Intel Corporation
      1400 - 1500 Afternoon Session 1
      • "HPC Future Trends", Sammy Zimmerman, Group Manager, Apollo Product Management, Hewlett Packard Enterprise
      • "Advances in energy storage materials driven by high performance computing", Prof. Perla Balbuena, Chemical Engineering
      1500 - 1520 Break Sponsored by Dell and NVIDIA
      1520 - 1700 Afternoon Session 2
      • "Probing the hidden details of biomolecular motion", Prof. Wonmuk Hwang, Biomedical Engineering
      • "AI for research", Matthew Ziegler, Director HPC and AI Strategy and Architecture, Lenovo
      • "Generation of concrete microstructures and analysis of long-term performance", Christa E. Torrence, Zachary Grasley, Materials Science & Engineering
      • "Modeling Controllable Gene Drive Systems", Josef Zapletal, Neda Najmitabrizi, Madhav Erraguntla, Kevin Myles, Mark Lawley, Zach Adelman, Industrial and Systems Engineering
      1600 - 1700 Set up for poster session and demonstrations (in parallel with talks above)
      1700 - 1900 Reception in the ILSB Foyer Sponsored by Dell and NVIDIA
      Research Poster Session and Demonstrations in the ILSB Foyer Sponsored by Google
      Thursday, May 16 Keynote and Research Talks
      0930 - 1000 Opening remarks, Day 2 - Honggao Liu, Director, High Performance Research Computing
      1000 - 1100 Keynote: "The Frontiers of Computer and Information Science and Engineering"
      Dr. Ken Calvert, National Science Foundation Division Director for Computer & Network Systems (CNS) in Computer and Information Science and Engineering
      1100 - 1115 Break Sponsored by Amazon Web Services
      1115 - 1200 Networking and discussion session
      1200 - 1300 Lunch Provided by Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel
      1300 - 1400 Industry Keynote: "Predictive Analytics using Amazon Web Services"
      Sanjay Padhi, Ph.D., AWS Research and Technical Computing; Physicist and Adjunct Professor of Brown University
      1400 - 1500 Afternoon Session 1
      • "Texas A&M Institute of Data Science status and futures". Prof. Nick Duffield, Electrical and Computer Engineering
      • "Simulation and Crash Testing of Rubber Mounted Concrete Barrier", Dr. Akram Abu-Odeh, Texas A&M Transportation Institute
      1500 - 1520 Break Sponsored by Lenovo
      1520 - 1700 Afternoon Session 2
      • "Reconstructing 3D Heterogeneous Mechanical Property Distribution using Surface Displacement", Baik Jin Kim, Dr. Sevan Goenezen, Mechanical Engineering
      • "On the feasibility of estimating 3D material parameters of transversely isotropic material using plane stress boundary value problems and Digital Image Correlation (DIC)", Maulik Kotecha, Dr. Sevan Goenezen, Mechanical Engineering
      • "Mesoscale Modeling of High Burn-up Structure (HBS) Formation and Evolution in UO2", M. Gomaa Abdoelatef, F. Badry, Karim Ahmed, Sudipta Biswas2, Andrea Jokisaari, Daniel Schwen, Yongfeng Zhang, Cody Permann, Nuclear Engineering
      • "Applications of population genomics to agricultural pest management", Tyler Raszick, Ashley Tessnow, C. Michael Dickens, and Gregory Sword
      • "Patterns of global soil moisture drydown", Vinit Sehgal, Nandita Gaur, Binayak Mohanty
      1700 Closing Remarks
      Friday, May 17 Workshops and Tutorials
      0900 - 1200 Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (morning session)
      This one-day instructor-led class provides an overview of Google Cloud Platform products and services.
      Syllabus at https://cloud.google.com/training/courses/core-fundamentals
      Register for all workshops here
      1200 - 1300 Lunch sponsored by Dell and NVIDIA
      1300 - 1700 Google Cloud Fundamentals: Core Infrastructure (afternoon session)
      1300 - 1700 Classical Simulations - Brief introduction to classical simulations with a focus on protein dynamics and ligand docking. There will be hands-on exercises for the AutoDock VINA, Glide, and Desmond software packages.
      Instructor: Lisa M. Pérez, Ph.D., Manager, Laboratory for Molecular Simulation
      Register for all workshops here

      Thanks to our Sponsors!

      Symposium Sponsors