HPC 2013-14 | Education


European Commission Governments


Technical institutions and associations Industry


Schools Universities Research institutes


Technical associations Scientific institutions Technology suppliers


Institutions Private / commercial education


High school Undergraduate


Postgraduate masters Doctoral


Research training Technologists Business leaders


Cross-domain scientists and engineers Lifelong/ongoing learning


Environment for HPC education Needs Target Deliverers


Education and training


Nations and regions Providers Subject


Techniques, methods and algorithms


Applying / using HPC Computer engineering Enablers Computer science


Software engineering and programming Data analysis and management System architecture / engineering I O systems and storage Communications and interconnects Generic


Domain-specific


Business-oriented Technically oriented Multi-disciplinary


HPC technology suppliers HW, SW, ISV, etc Infrastructure or service providers Application software and tools developers


Domain users


Existing HPC users Potential users


Non-academic users


The ETP4HPC has established a working group to analyse the state of education and training


industry-led consortium that targets the growth of HPC technology supply and use within Europe. In its Strategic Research Agenda (SRA), it identifies education and training as a critical item for the HPC supply industry, the HPC system operators, current users, and for expanding the applications of HPC (and big data). Te organisation has established a working group to further analyse the state of education and training, its strengths and weaknesses, and identify where gaps (or chasms) can be filled. Te group is working very closely with the PRACE-RI team providing HPC education through PRACE Advanced Training Centres (PATC) (www.training.prace-ri.eu) and with the European Exascale Soſtware Initiative project (EESI2) (www.eesi-project.eu). Te group’s goals expand the scope beyond the HPC users to include the needs of the technology suppliers and the infrastructure providers themselves. Te work is not yet complete and the team is currently studying all areas of needs, targets, providers and subjects, as can be seen in the mind-map above. Our analysis can be expected to lay out


requirements for improvements in depth and breadth of the education and on- going training across the board, and will look at all the potential providers, be they governmental, commercial or institutional. All of these interest groups agree that there


must be significant changes in our education and training if we as a society are to reap the benefits that can be created from the effective provision and use of HPC technology. At the roots, we see a continued decline


in the level of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) with qualified school leavers and with first-degree qualified students. Beyond this, we must address the


“Tere must be significant changes in our education and training if we are to reap the benefits that can be created from the effective provision and use of HPC technology”


courses and qualifications suited to the HPC supply and user communities: here we see major problems with the content of computer science curricula and, even more critically, the need to address multidisciplinary skills pivotal to bridging the scientific or technological problems with the mathematical, simulation or analysis techniques suited to parallel computing, particularly as we extend toward the exascale era. For the technology industry the need for ‘computer engineers’ with suitable hardware


and soſtware skills to enable the next generation of suppliers is at a critical level, with far higher numbers of suitably qualified individuals coming out of China and India than European universities, and equally low levels of doctoral and research activity in Europe. We are hopeful that this will change as we re-emphasise the value of our industrial and scientific investments in HPC across Europe. It is not just about universities and


research institutes, though today they are oſten the primary users of HPC and increasingly recognise they will have to educate extensively to enable changes in their methods, algorithms and code to reach exascale. It is also critical that for our society to gain true wealth and prosperity we must look to apply the power of the supercomputer to our industrial and commercial enterprises much more than we do today. We must inspire the vision of organisations to see the opportunities that can be created and we must reduce the risks associated with applying HPC in their businesses. Tis can be aided by such multidisciplinary knowledge and skills where real problems can be transformed into the language of HPC.l


Malcolm Muggeridge is VP Emerging Technology at Xyratex


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