Promoting International Collaboration on Developing Scalable, Portable & Efficient HPC Software for Modern HPC Platforms

在工程、物理科学和医疗保健等众多学科中，超级计算机被用于推动发现并缩短获得结果的时间。需要可扩展和高效的软件来优化使用大型超级计算平台，从而有效地利用国家科学基金会在国家先进网络基础设施（CI）方面的投资。随着计算机体系结构学科的快速发展，用于超级计算机的处理器的复杂性也在增加，相应地，为超级计算机开发高效软件的任务也变得更加具有挑战性和复杂性。为了减轻这些挑战，有必要建立一个论坛，将不同的利益相关者——来自软件工程和超级计算领域的研究人员和实践者——聚集在一起。为了提供这样一个平台，正在印度组织关于“百亿亿次计算的软件挑战”的第二次讲习班。该项目资助10名来自不同背景的美国学生参加研讨会，并将为他们提供在“超级计算平台软件”领域发展技能的机会。SCEC研讨会不仅将向与会者介绍超级计算机大规模软件开发中的挑战，而且还将引导他们朝着建立国际合作以寻找这些挑战的解决方案的方向发展。该项目为劳动力发展提供了机会，并服务于国家利益，正如NSF的使命所述：促进科学进步；促进国家健康、繁荣和福利；或者是为了保卫国防。研讨会的参与者将了解NSF资助的两台超级计算机Stampede2和Comet，并通过教程和“自带代码”会议获得在这些系统上开发可扩展、高效和可移植软件的实践经验。SCEC研讨会将提供一个论坛，硬件供应商和软件开发商可以通过该论坛相互交流，并影响下一代超级计算系统的架构和支持软件堆栈。通过促进跨学科协会，SCEC研讨会将成为未来创新的踏脚石。该研讨会将为超级计算领域的研究人员、学生和实践者提供一个向公众传播他们的成果并寻找潜在合作者的机会，从而使他们受益。通过该项目获得资助的学生将有机会与超级计算机和软件工程领域的专业人士、教师和研究人员建立联系，并将了解实习、工作和高等教育的机会。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Supercomputers are used to power discoveries and to reduce the time-to-results in a wide variety of disciplines such as engineering, physical sciences, and healthcare. Scalable and efficient software is required for optimally using the large-scale supercomputing platforms, and thereby, effectively leveraging NSF investments in the nation's advanced CyberInfrastructure (CI). With the rapid advancement in the computer architecture discipline, the complexity of the processors that are used in the supercomputers is also increasing, and, in turn, the task of developing efficient software for supercomputers is further becoming challenging and complex. To mitigate such challenges, there is a need for forums that brings together different stakeholders - the researchers and practitioners from the areas of software engineering and supercomputing. To provide such a platform, the second workshop on "Software Challenges to Exascale Computing (SCEC)" is being organized in India. This project funds the participation of ten US students from diverse backgrounds in the workshop and will provide them the opportunities to develop their skills in the area of "software for supercomputing platforms". The SCEC workshop will not only inform the participants about the challenges in large-scale software development for supercomputers but will also steer them in the direction of building international collaborations for finding solutions to those challenges. The project provides opportunities for workforce development, and serves the national interest, as stated by NSF's mission: to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity and welfare; or to secure the national defense. The workshop participants will learn about the two NSF funded supercomputers - Stampede2 and Comet - and will get practical experience at developing scalable, efficient, and portable software on those systems through tutorials and "bring your own code" sessions. The SCEC workshop will provide a forum through which hardware vendors and software developers can communicate with each other and influence the architecture of the next generation supercomputing systems and the supporting software stack. By fostering cross-disciplinary associations, the SCEC workshop will serve as a stepping-stone towards innovations in the future. The workshop will benefit researchers, students, and practitioners in supercomputing by providing them an opportunity to disseminate their results to the public, and find potential collaborators. The students funded through this project will get an opportunity to network with professionals, faculties and researchers working in the areas of supercomputing and software engineering, and will get to learn about the opportunities for internships, jobs, and higher education.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.