This proposal seeks $ 15,000 of funding to support around 20 students from US-based universities to attend the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing Conference by defraying travel and hotel expenses for them. The web page for this important conference, also known as CLUSTER2010, is www.cluster2010.org
Synopsis: The goal of this project is to enable students recruited from around the country to attend IEEE International Conference on Cluster Computing (CLUSTER 2010, www.cluster2010.org), and to learn about current and future research and development in the field. CLUSTER 2010 offers opportunities for students to interact and learn about the state-of-the-art in High Peformance Computing (HPC) by bringing together professionals from academic and industrial backgrounds in what has become a premier forum for discussing the design, implementation, and implication of cluster systems. Students were able to attend two days of tutorials with hands-on training. We also required students to report on their experiences after the conference, and used these reports to determine how best to continue/modify this program in future years. Project Outcomes: The grant supported eleven (three female, 8 male) US-based graduate students to travel to IEEE Cluster. The students were able to interact with leaders in the field and able to get feedback on their research, as well as establish long-term contacts with future employers. As part of the travel grant application, the students were asked to submit a one-page write-up summarizing their research and objectives for attending the conference. We were able to accommodate all applicants. Also, all recipients were main authors for at least one paper accepted to the conference. Activities during the conference: The students made presentations for their papers, interacted with peers, and received crucial feedback on their research. The students also selected 5 talks that they attended and prepared a brief discussion summary of the research. On the last day of the conference, the PI held an "after-the-conference" discussion forum with the students, where they introduced the selected papers and commented on pros and cons of the research. The group also tried to identify key areas in cluster computing, which would offer interesting high-impact PhD topics. Finally, the PI and the conference chair actively helped introduce the students to leaders in the field and potential future employers. Post conference activities: The students were encouraged to make presentations for the papers they discussed in the discussion forum and introduce the papers to their respective research groups. Finally, the students were not asked for volunteer work (assisting session chairs etc.) at the conference. Specifically, the award resulted in the following contributions: Enabled students to: attend a key HPC conference; interact with leaders in the field; present their research and gain feedback from peers; and receive mentoring and guidance in building a successful research career in HPC. This field is growing and needs a cadre of new researchers and scientists. The conference travel opportunity provided by this project helps to train such future scientists. The travel provided the students with an in-depth education experience by giving them the opportunity to learn about the state-of-the-art in the field of HPC. The grant engaged students from underrepresented groups, especially women, to participate in a key HPC conference event. Such activities are key in enabling students from underrepresented groups to be part of the HPC community. Summary: The broader impacts of this project are the opportunities for the students to gain access to contacts with industry and labs, leading to opportunities for future work, including future internships. Additionally, we leverage excellent diversity programs in CS (CRA-W, VT MAOP, BPC) to encourage students from underrepresented groups to attend the conference. The opportunity afford students from US-based universities significant networking opportunities with academic and industrial professionals from around the world.
