NPACI Hours

This URL is http://www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/projects/sdsu_NPACIhours.html

Dr. Kris Stewart (stewart@cs.sdsu.edu)
Assoc. Professor, San Diego State University
Director, Education Center on Computational Science & Engineering

What is the mission of the EC/CSE?

Foster the incorporation of high performance research tools for scientific investigation into the undergraduate curriculum to better prepare learners for post-Baccalaureate activities where

• collaborative, interdisciplinary teams,
• sophisticated computer tools, and
• effective communication among the team members and with others

are used in research and problem solving.

Curricula

Computational Physics activities in this department are well established already:
• Herb Shore
• Massimo Boninsegni
• Al Sweedler, Environmental Physics/Energy Studies
• Do you have contacts within the CSU who are interested in High Performance Computing?

Some sample curricula and discussions developed with EC/CSE staff:
• Civil Engineering Applications of Spatial Information Science (CEE 499/798) Fall Semester 1998; M 4:00-6:00; Instructors: Ilya Zaslavsky (EC/CSE), John Kaiser (Geography) and Govindarajalu Krishnamoorthy (Engineering)
  
• High Performance Computing CS 575 Supercomputing, upper division, undergraduate course at SDSU, emphasis: evaluating performance (accuracy and work), validating computed results, responsible computer use, group-work on computational experiments. Spring (Stewart)
• Group Learning Experiment with Intuitive Numerical Analysis, SIAM98
• Learners' Problem Solving Skills, Bottom-Up Design of Computational Experiments and Their Reporting
• Group-based work on Responsible Computer Use, a Case Study

• Rubin Landau, Computational Physics, Oregon State U. Rubin spoke to this group last year and will be in Orlando for SC98 in November.

Overview of the National Partnership for Advanced Computing Infrastructure (www.npaci.edu)

NPACI (www.npaci.edu/Partners/partner.html) is an association of 39 universities and research centers from 18 states, with SDSC as the leading edge site. The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) conducts and supports activities in computational science, a third fundamental method for conducting scientific research (in addition to laboratory experimentation and theoretical investigation). Computational Science is defined as using computers (in this context, high performance computers) and related computing technologies (such as applications software, high speed networking, scientific visualization technologies, and large data storage systems) to visualize, analyze, and simulate natural and social phenomena.
Application Thrust Areas of NPACI include

• Molecular Science,
• Neuroscience,
• Earth Systems Science, and
• Engineering.

Technology Thrust Areas of NPACI include

• Data-intensive Computing,
• Interaction-Environments,
• Metasystems, and
• Programming Tools & Environments.

AND Education, Outreach and Training NPACI showcase from EC/CSE home page

Collaborations with SDSU Faculty

NPACI hours - invite us to speak to your classes

The Ed Center staff invites faculty to examine our web pages, visit us in the Library Addition on campus, send email to start a conversation on just what you think might be appropriate for your students to hear about in the world of High Performance Computing. News like the Macromolecular Structure Database (MSD) and accessing it through tools such as CE - Combinatorial Extension of the Optimal Path for comparing Protein structures might be of interest in Biology.

very-high-performance Backbone Network Service (vBNS)

vBNS proposal coordinated by CSU Chancellor's office. Participatation by SDSU (six projects), CalPoly Pomona, and CSU/SB within the CSU (granted by NSF February '98). More information is available (June '98 summary). Stewart attends the Internet2 Fall Meeting, Sept. 26-29, 1998, expecting to get further updates on the status. FYI, the CSU's 4CNet network will team with the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute (ISI) to operate the CalREN-2 network. Phase 1 went into production use last week.

Workshops from the EC/CSE

We offer workshops on new technologies to SDSU and CSU faculty Materials of the workshop Spring '98 "Collaborative Web-based Technologies: a Comparative Review and Live Demonstration, with Special Focus on Distance Learning Opportunities" are available from our Web page.

Current Projects for the EC/CSE

Of special interest might be the VRML representation of topographic and geologic layers on top of a GIS database.

VRML Links by Discipline

Student assistants began working on these projects Spring '98

Java Applets by Discipline

Student assistants began working on these projects Spring '98

Evaluation and Assessment

Next month, researchers from the Leadership through Evaluation, Adaptation and Dissemination, LEAD center, at National Institute for Science Education, NISE, U. Wisconsin, Madison, will visit the SDSU campus. We hope you have already responded to the survey distributed via email this week (9/21/98) from Dean Steve Roeder.

Dr. Kris Stewart (stewart@sdsu.edu), Director
Dr. Ilya Zaslavsky (zaslavsk@rohan.sdsu.edu), GIS Staff Scientist
Education Center on Computational Science & Engineering
San Diego State University, Love Library Addition ("under the dome"), Rm 073
www.edcenter.sdsu.edu

This URL is www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/projects/sdsu_NPACIhours.html

Physics Colloquium
2:30pm, Sept. 23, 1998 P148
Handout NPACI & SDSC enVision Quarterly Science Magazine
Education, Outreach & Training partnership for advanced computational infrastructure.