Progress and the Importance of Being...There.
 Bill Gropp, SC13 General Chair
Progress happens in teams. Our society faces big challenges related to our standard of living, economic justice, safety and security, and healthcare. Many of us came to high performance computing because of the leverage our discipline brings to the scientists, engineers, and policy makers trying to address those challenges. In all cases, HPC is part of the team that tackles the challenges.
As Dan Reed has said, HPC is the universal intellectual amplifier. High performance computing and networking provide the foundations for discoveries in important fields like climate change, renewable energy and biofuels, cancer drug research, and engineering.
Teams happen, at least in part, in person. Despite all of the connectedness that technical advances such as video conferencing and email have brought, we still need to get together once in a while for those "aha" moments: times when a chance comment or offhand remark might spark insight to a radically better solution, or ignite a new collaboration.
Scientific conferences such as SC have become the breeding ground for major advancements. They bring together the best minds in government, academia and industry at one time, in one collaborative environment, with the opportunity to focus on each other and the challenges we share. Even more importantly, SC is grooming the next generation of scientists who will build a better tomorrow on the foundations of the accomplishments of today.
SC isn’t just a conference, one of many in a year you might attend. It is the one conference where our community comes together each year, from program managers to system administrators, to celebrate our successes and sow the seeds of success to come. In a time when the necessity of travel is challenged in the face of technological change and financial crisis, I believe SC is worth every effort you make to attend in person.
Registration for SC13 has just opened; I’m looking forward to seeing you in Denver this November!
What to Look for in this Newsletter
This newsletter is particularly meaty, so here’s a quick guide to what follows for those of you that want to skip to your part:
1. Information on the program so far: Workshops and Tutorials are below; the full Technical Paper schedule is also posted at http://sc13.supercomputing.org/schedule/index.php?sort=time.
2. More opportunities to participate: you’ll find information on many elements of the program that have due dates at the end of this month.
3. It’s time to plan your trip to Denver! Information on hotels and on finding more to do in Denver is here.
4. When is that due? A summary of upcoming deadlines for SC’13 programs is within the left column of this newsletter.
SC13 Workshops
After an intensive and very competitive peer review process, we are happy to announce that SC13 will include several full-day and half-day workshops that complement the overall Technical Program events, expand the knowledge base of its subject area, and extend its impact by providing greater depth of focus. These workshops are geared toward providing interaction and in-depth discussion of stimulating topics of interest to the HPC community.
Overall, after collecting more than 180 reviews we were able to accept 26 out of 42 workshops, some of them are continuing series from former years.
The details of all workshops can be found at http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/workshops
If you have any questions, please send it to workshops@info.supercomputing.org
Sneak Peak at Tutorials
The SC13 Tutorials program will feature a variety of fundamental, as well as timely, topics related to high performance computing, networking, storage and analysis. With a rigorous peer-review process, the SC13 Tutorial committed accepted 30 tutorials among 70 submissions by well-recognized leaders in the field.
More than half of the tutorials will include hands-on sessions (usually in full-day lessons), where the attendees can directly work with the tutorial presenters to learn and to explore the given topic in detail.
Almost all other tutorials (often taking only a half-day) will include detailed demonstrations that still provide in-depth exposure to the topic.
This year, in addition to popular recurring tutorial topics, twelve new tutorials on hot topics and emerging technologies will be offered. These additions cover topics such as statistical data analysis, new many-core architectures, large-scale data management and even procurement!
Tutorials will be presented on Sunday, November 17 and Monday, November 18.
For more information, visit: http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/tutorials
Emerging Technologies Submissions Due July 31
The SC13 technical program is expanding onto the show floor, with both a Scientific Visualization Showcase and the Emerging Technologies Track. The latter is designed to provide a forum on the SC13 show floor for novel projects at a national or international scale. It is different from other aspects of the technical program, such as contributed presentations and posters, in that it will provide a forum for discussing large-scale, long-term efforts in high performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis, rather than a recent research result that such a project might have achieved. Emerging Technologies will provide space in a booth on the SC13 show floor. The booth will facilitate displays, presentations, and spontaneous discussions among participants and visitors.
There are many possible manners in which the technology being celebrated can be presented, and these can be chosen by the presenters. Emerging Technologies welcomes exhibitions of real hardware prototypes and demonstrations of software, as well as project presentations in poster form, animated displays, and scheduled presentations or discussions. Projects will display future technologies with the potential to influence computing and society as a whole.
Submissions for the Emerging Technologies Track are accepted at http://submissions.supercomputing.org. Each submission should describe the project scope in detail and provide references to external resources (newspaper articles, webpages, etc.). Additional materials, such as prototype photos, are very welcome. Each project needs to describe how much space it would require and how it would use the space provided (include any additional requirements such as A/V equipment or network connectivity). Projects will be selected based on a peer-review process with a single round of reviews.
More information about the Emerging Technologies program can be found at http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/emerging-technologies and open questions will be answered by the chairs via emerging-technologies@info.supercomputing.org.
Soliciting Exhibitors for Participation in the Scavenger Hunt at SC13
The SC13 Broader Engagement (BE) program invites exhibitors to participate in their annual Scavenger Hunt for engaging participants at their booths and increasing their brand recognition. The scavenger hunt participants are challenged to find booths based on clues provided, and the winners are awarded prizes. You can participate in two ways:
- Being a destination in the scavenger hunt
- Sponsoring a prize for the scavenger hunt winners
Destination volunteers can participate by submitting three clues that will lead the participants to your booth.
They should be something the participants will be able to figure out based on information presented verbally and/or visually in your booth.
Prize sponsors can choose to provide gift items and/or cash rewards. Previous year’s prizes included iPads, cameras, Kindles, Amazon giftcards, etc. The prizes will be attributed to the sponsors with a note on the prize, and sponsors will be acknowledged during the BE wrap-up session when prizes are awarded.
Interested exhibitors should contact Yashema Mack at (ymack@utk.edu) or Veronica Bustamante at (vmejiab@gmail.com) by Friday, September 13, 2013. We look forward to hearing from you!
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Birds-of-a-Feather Submissions Due July 31
Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) sessions provide a highly interactive, non-commercial venue for building community around topics of mutual interest. BoFs provide a forum for audience-driven discussion, developing grass-roots participation, and professional networking. SC13 will continue the SC BoF tradition with a full slate of exciting, informal sessions focused around a variety of topics, including: applications, languages, and programming environments; computing, storage, networking, and analysis techniques; systems administration and data center operations; emerging technologies and architectures for HPC; and government and group initiatives. BoFs sessions will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of the conference, and sessions are open to all technical program conference participants and exhibitors.
For submission information, see http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/birds-feather-sessions-bofs.
Student Volunteer Program Submissions Due July 31
Applications are now being accepted for the SC13 Student Volunteer program, and undergraduate and graduate students are encouraged to apply. Applications must be submitted by Wednesday, July 31. Serving as a Student Volunteer is an excellent opportunity for students interested in high performance computing to learn from many of the world's leading experts in the field while supporting the conference. Student Volunteers also have an opportunity to meet their peers from other schools, compare notes on their student experiences and research, and meet potential future collaborators.
Student Volunteers will receive meals and complimentary conference registration, which provides access to all tutorials and workshops, technical talks, panels, the Technical Program reception- and much more. There is limited support for hotel rooms and transportation expenses. Student Volunteers are expected to work 4-5 hours per day during the week of the conference. No special skills or experience are required for most volunteer positions, but familiarity with computing platforms, audio/visual equipment, or office equipment is helpful.
Student Volunteers are part of SC’s HPC Interconnections program.
Learn more at: http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/student-volunteers
To apply, go to: http://submissions.supercomputing.org
Doctoral Showcase Submissions Due July 31
The Doctoral Showcase held each year at the SC conference highlights the research of graduate students in high-performance computing, networking, storage, and analysis, while allowing graduate students to receive feedback on their work from other HPC researchers and practitioners. Submissions are now being accepted for the two tracks of the SC13 Doctoral Showcase program:
- The Dissertation Research Showcase track for Ph.D. students who will be graduating in the next 12 months, and
- The Early Research Showcase track for Ph.D. and master’s students who are in the early stages (first one or two years) of their research.
Learn more about the two tracks at the SC13 Doctoral Showcase web page. Submissions for both tracks must be made through the SC Conference submissions page, https://submissions.supercomputing.org/, by Wednesday, July 31, 2013.
SCinet Network Research Exhibition Call for Proposals Due August 15
The SC conference series has traditionally been home to cutting-edge developments in high-performance networking, alongside those in high-performance computing, storage and analytics. Continuing in this spirit, SC13 is sponsoring the SCinet Network Research Exhibition (NRE) to highlight and expand this SC tradition.
The NRE is soliciting proposals from research and industry participants for demonstrations of network testbeds, emerging network hardware, and advanced network intensive scientific applications.
Proposals should include a description of the technology and proposed demonstration. A program committee comprised of networking experts as well as SCinet engineers will review proposals and work with participants to develop, customize, and integrate with SC13's network infrastructure as appropriate.
For more information, visit http://www.sc13.supercomputing.org/content/scinet-network-research-exhibition.
Submit via: http://submissions.supercomputing.org
Submissions Due: Thursday, August 15, 2013
Notification: Friday, August 30, 2013
Questions: network-research@scinet.supercomputing.org
Donations to Help Student Attendees
The SC13 HPC Interconnections program broadens the reach of HPC and provides a welcoming entry to attendees who may be new to the community or the conference. To help make the programs available to more students, HPC Interconnections is asking SC13 attendees and exhibitors for tax-deductible donations. These donations will help support student attendees in Broader Engagement, Mentors & Protégés, a program for international attendees, and student programs, including Student Volunteers, the Doctoral Showcase, the Student Job Fair, Experiencing HPC for Undergraduates and the Student Cluster Competition. Donations are tax deductible and non-refundable.
To participate, simply choose the donate option when you register for the SC13 Conference and list the amount that you would like to contribute
Call for Participation of Exhibitors in SC13 Silver Anniversary Celebration
This year is the 25th anniversary of the SC conference series. As part of our Silver Anniversary Celebration, we are inviting all exhibitors to display artifacts of historical significance in their booths. Your exhibit can be part of the celebration by simply registering at the submissions website, providing the exhibit information and a brief 20 word description of the artifacts to be displayed, by September 1, 2013. (See https://submissions.supercomputing.org/ under Silver Anniversary Exhibit). A map and information on historical displays of participating exhibitors will be included on the website and in the registration packets. This is a great opportunity to attract more attendees to your booth.
Do You Have a Hotel Room Yet?
Where will you hang your hat at SC13? You can make your hotel reservations on the SC13 hotel reservation site from now until October, but when it comes to reservations for your home away from home at SC, earlier is definitely better: reserve now for the best choice of rooms and hotels.
All SC13 hotels are located close to the Colorado Convention Center - more than half of them are within 3 blocks. Therefore, no bus transportation will be provided. A range of prices is available, and free internet access is included with all rooms booked through the SC13 website. Check individual hotel sites for details about on-site restaurants, fitness centers, and other amenities.
For complete information, and to book now, check out the SC13 website at http://sc13.supercomputing.org/content/hotels.
Denver - Multicultural & Mile High
Denver is a dynamic city of diverse cultures, rewarding those who visit with a montage of sights, sounds, smells, and flavors. Today, the metropolitan area of 2.6 million people celebrates its diversity with a number of ethnic events, celebrations and festivals. From the nation's largest Cinco de Mayo Festival celebrating Mexican culture, to the annual Dragon Boat Festival celebrating Asian traditions, to the Denver March Pow Wow, the nation's largest and most diversified Native American gathering, Denver has a celebration for everyone. Whatever your cultural interests, the Mile High City is certain to have something for you.
Throughout the year, visitors to Denver will find ample opportunities to explore the city's unique attractions and diverse neighborhoods. We invite you to discover local favorites and hidden gems in the Mile High City.
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