The project is addressing the need to train Computer Science undergraduate students in programming computer systems with multiple execution cores. Virtually all computer systems today have multiple cores and the trend is to have increasing numbers of cores, increasing the complexity of effectively using such computers. This project is exploring structured higher-level approaches, which begins with decomposing problems into widely known computational patterns and using higher-level tools to create programs. The work is drawing upon recent research techniques on pattern programming and bringing these techniques into the undergraduate curriculum. The educational materials are being developed at two universities, University of North Carolina Charlotte and University of North Carolina Wilmington and are being taught across the state of North Carolina on a televideo network reaching all the state universities and many private universities.
By design, this project is involving two principal universities, one comprehensive university with a strong undergraduate commitment (University of North Carolina Wilmington) and one research-oriented school (University of North Carolina Charlotte) and many other institutions through televideo distance learning. Two minority-serving institutions, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and Winston-Salem State University, are directly participating in the study. Two workshops are being presented for educators, one in Charlotte North Carolina and one in Washington DC at the headquarters of the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA).
