Posted on March 2: SHARCNET launches campaign to promote high performance computing

The Shared Hierarchical Academic Research Computing Network (SHARCNET) launched its first annual outreach campaign: EXCELerate2004 at McMaster Monday.

The campaign, which spans March and April, will include interactive training workshops, research colloquiums, and open houses  all geared towards increasing the understanding of high performance computing (HPC) and its importance to research. Activities will be held at SHARCNET partner institutions across south central Ontario, from Windsor to York.

Through the application of HPC to research, SHARCNET promotes excellence in research and accelerates the production of research results in the natural and social sciences, engineering, mathematics, and business — research results which ultimately benefit the Canadian economy, the environment, our health, knowledge and culture.

McMaster physics and astronomy professor Hugh Couchman, SHARCNET scientific director, kicked off the EXCELerate campaign at McMaster. Couchman observed that HPC, and those who provide it, are critical to the Canadian research process.

“Through the provision of leading-edge technology, support services, training and researcher outreach programmes, SHARCNET enables innovation that would otherwise not be possible. The EXCELerate campaign aims to highlight the central role that HPC plays in modern research, and to build and broaden the community that is aware of, and that can take advantage of these crucial resources.”

Couchman's opening remarks were followed by a special seminar at McMaster on Computational Symbolic Algebra by Brock University professor Thomas Wolf.

EXCELerate events are open to all Ontario researchers, university students, and private sector representatives, SHARCNET-affiliated or otherwise.

The EXCELerate campaign wraps up in mid-April with Making Connections: The First Annual SHARCNET Academic-Industry Forum. This event will unite academic researchers and private sector representatives, and encourage open discussion of the important applications of HPC and the opportunities for collaboration in the province.

This year's calendar of activities, from workshops and training to open houses and special events, is available at www.sharcnet.ca/excelerate04″>.