Supercomputing Event

ICTP and the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) host one of the largest high performance computing facilities in Italy, so it was natural that the two institutes, both of which have strong educational missions, would extend the use of those facilities to train young researchers. The resulting Masters in High Performance Computing (MHPC) programme has produced its first group of graduates, who will be honoured during the upcoming MHPC Workshop on High Performance Computing, taking place at SISSA’s main campus from 24 to 26 February 2016.

The Workshop will feature some of the world’s leading names in supercomputing, including Jack Dongarra of the University of Tennessee, an expert in high performance computing and co-editor of the TOP500 project, a bi-annual ranking of the world’s most powerful supercomputers.

The graduation ceremony for the first MHPC graduates will be held 25 February. Two of the graduates received fellowships from ICTP: Edwin Fernando Posada Correa from Colombia and Jimmy Aguilar Mena from Cuba. "The Master in HPC was a great opportunity to grow not only as a professional but also as a human being,” says Mena, adding, “I have been amazingly fortunate to be selected to make this master in HPC supported by ICTP, it will define any future achievement in my life."

The two ICTP students will have a chance to present their theses during the MHPC Workshop, allowing them to defend their ideas amongst the major scholars attending the event. Other Workshop speakers will include Wolfgang Bangerth, from Texas A&M (USA) and author of the DEALII reference library for computational mathematics, and Nicola Marzari, professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and visiting professor at MIT. The many topics that will be addressed in the workshop also include the applications of supercomputing to various fields such as renewable energies, the LHC (for the ALICE experiment) and astronomical observations.

The Master in High Performance Computing (MHPC) is an innovative degree program that prepares students for exciting careers in the fast-growing field of HPC. Set in the stimulating research environment of its co-organizer institutions, SISSA and ICTP, the program combines lectures with hands-on and applied projects to prepare future HPC specialists for academia and industry. For more details, visit the MHPC website.