Advances in science and engineering are increasingly dependent on effective use of high performance computers for simulation of physical phenomena and analysis of experimentation data. Yet experts in the US in the development and application of supercomputing are relatively few; even as national demand and international competition increasingly stress the nation's capabilities in this area. Critical to satisfying the countryss needs in the field of high performance computing is the ready access to quality education to train future computational scientists, computer scientists, and design engineers as well as systems' administrators in the application, development, and management of the most powerful computers in the world. The field of HPC as a whole comprises many areas of specialization. But they all share the same common interrelated foundations. This project is developing a new college level course in High Performance Computing to serve as an entry-level introduction for all who wish to enter the field. The new syllabus presents the concepts, knowledge, and skills required by everyone who will be engaged in activities associated with high performance computing. In a closely synergistic manner, the separate topics related to parallel programming interfaces, supercomputer architecture, applications and parallel algorithms, and software environments and tools are combined in a mutually supportive presentation across about two-dozen lectures. Students become familiar with the material through hands-on programming examples and independent exercises for experience with methods and tools, as well as to be exposed to the sensitivity of system operational behavior to a range of alternative approaches and use-cases. Cultural aspects of the field are also shared including the extensive domain specific terminology, the rich history, and key leadership institutions and people. Students who have completed this intense first-year graduate (and advanced senior-level) college course will be capable of proceeding on to advanced areas of specialization, accepting entry-level positions in industry and national laboratories for which computation is of critical importance in fulfilling their mission, or in preparation to guide such courses in the future at home educational institutions.
This course will achieve the widest possible dissemination and impact by being recorded in high definition digital video and made available on-line and on-demand to all who wish to view the lectures. Organized as short segments of between 5 and 11 minutes each, the material is easily viewed and reviewed for best educational experience. Detailed slides to which the lectures are directed are edited into the video stream and made available separately for study. This use of MOOC-like technology will extend the reach of this discipline to many geographic regions and socio-economic groups that do not have ready access to world-class experts and educators in the field of high performance computing but who would greatly value to extend their educational opportunities in these directions. This course material will provide the foundation for a future Indiana University course giving transferable credit for having taken this course.
