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EduHPC-26: Workshop on Education for High-Performance Computing

EduHPC-26: Workshop on Education for High-Performance Computing

TBD (Co located with SC26 in Chicago, IL)

From supercomputers forecasting weather and developing vaccines to multicore desktops, laptops, and mobile devices, most people use the methods and paradigms of high-performance computing (HPC) and parallel and distributed computing (PDC), either directly or indirectly.

Consequently, companies and laboratories require skilled personnel to efficiently utilize these modern computing systems. It is essential that Computer Science (CS), Computer Engineering (CE), Data Science (DS), Machine Learning (ML), Computational Biology (CB) and similar compute-intensive programs provide students with HPC/PDC skills. However, rapid changes in hardware, programming languages, and development environments pose challenges for educators in deciding what and how to teach to suitably prepare students for HPC/PDC careers.

The EduHPC workshop invites unpublished manuscripts from academia, industry, and national laboratories on topics in HPC and PDC relating to computation-oriented undergraduate and graduate curricula, education, professional training, and workforce development. Previous workshops have featured papers from diverse fields, including Computer Science, Computational Science and Engineering, Data Science, and computational courses across STEM and non-STEM disciplines.

We also encourage "research to education" submissions that discuss how technical research translates into classrooms. For instance technical HPC research could translate to education in the following ways: parallel algorithm visualization and interactive learning tools, resource allocation simulations, fault tolerance demonstrations, multi-core programming exercises, GPU computing introductions, programming models and frameworks, software performance engineering, emerging technologies integration, such as, quantum computing basics, edge computing scenarios, machine learning parallelization. Early career faculty, including those applying for or already having CAREER awards from NSF or other agencies, are especially encouraged to submit.

The workshop unites stakeholders from industry, national labs, and academia in the context of SC (Supercomputing) to discuss pedagogical challenges, share approaches, and exchange ideas on incorporating HPC/PDC education in undergraduate and graduate curricula. Activities include paper presentations, panels (e.g., sustainability and reproducibility in technical education), special sessions like "Peachy Assignments," "Lightning Talks," and collaboration opportunities, resource sharing, educator training, internships, and other cross-sector interactions.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

  • Pedagogical issues in incorporating HPC and PDC in core courses of undergraduate and graduate education for all/any computing degrees.
  • Evidence-based educational practices and innovative teaching methods in relevant fields.
  • Professional training and workforce development initiatives.
  • Reports on integrating HPC and PDC topics into core CS/CE courses and into other STEM fields and areas.
  • Pedagogical tools, materials, infrastructures, languages, and projects for HPC/PDC/DS/AI/ML/IoT/Edge education.
  • Employers' experiences and expectations regarding new graduates' proficiency in HPC/PDC/IoT/Edge.
  • Resources based on advanced programming languages and environments/frameworks.
  • Projects or units introducing concepts related to distributed computing at scale.
  • Evaluating generative AI impacts on teaching HPC.
  • Addressing the gender gap in computing disciplines and enhancing the pipeline to research/development careers in HPC/PDC and related areas.
  • Addressing software engineering challenges in HPC/PDC.

Contributions

EduHPC is seeking contributions in 4 different categories. A Best Paper will be awarded for the workshop. Both Education Research paper and Research to Education papers are eligible for the award. To maximize the utility for the educational community, we ask that submissions provide links to materials whenever possible. An inclusion of an Artifact Description (AD) appendix is highly encouraged, though not required. Papers that make materials available for community use will be ranked higher than those that do not.

Full paper

A Full Paper is a previously unpublished work that addresses the above mentioned topics and themes of the workshop. Full papers are 7-8 pages, including figures, tables, and references (fully counted toward the page limit), with a recommended Artifact Description (AD) appendix (up to 2 pages). All submissions are peer-reviewed (single blind). Research papers will appear in the SC proceedings.

Short paper

Short papers address specific topics of interest at EduHPC. Short papers are 5-6 pages long, including figures, tables and references. All submissions are peer-reviewed (single blind) with accepted papers appearing in the SC proceedings. This year, there are two categories of short papers we are interested in:

Education to Research Papers: We welcome researchers to submit short papers discussing their innovative experiences in integrating their research, as well as associated methods, tools, models, simulations, or datasets, into educational settings, with a focus on undergraduate or K-12 levels, or fostering broader community engagement. Submissions do not need to include an assessment of teaching techniques or in-class evaluations. Up to An optional additional 2 additional pages for the Artifact Description (AD) appendix is recommended

Reproducibility Papers: Have you tried to integrate a previously described educational tool or method to teach HPC concepts at the undergraduate or graduate level? Reproducibility papers describe the details of the intervention, any differences from the original paper, a reflection of what worked and didn’t work, and a description of in-class evaluation. Since these papers are based on a previously described tool or method, the literature review for these papers can be minimal, and additional materials are not necessary.

Peachy Parallel Assignments

Peachy Parallel Assignments are HPC/PDC educational assignments that cover any topics related to HPC or PDC education, and are:

  1. Tested - Assignments should have been used successfully in a class.
  2. Adoptable - Preference will be given to assignments that are widely applicable and easy to adopt. Traits of such assignments include coverage of widely taught concepts, use of common parallel languages and widely available hardware, having few prerequisites, and (with variations) being appropriate for different levels of students.
  3. Engaging and Inspirational - Peachy assignments should be fun and inspiring for the vast majority of students, encouraging students to spend time with the relevant concepts. Ideal assignments are those that students want to demonstrate to their roommate. Ideally, peachy assignments will be of interest to students of all backgrounds and experiences and have broader societal impacts.

Peachy assignments should be submitted as a 1-2 page paper that includes a 150-word abstract describing the assignment and the context in which it was used, a short paragraph summarizing how the assignment relates to other PDC education literature/applications, references, plus a link to a public web page containing the complete set of files actually given to students (assignment description, scaffolding code, etc.)

The document should include the following:

  • What is the main idea of the assignment?
  • What concepts are covered?
  • Who are its targeted students?
  • In what context was it used?
  • What prerequisites do students need?
  • What are its strengths and weaknesses?
  • Are there variations that may be of interest?
  • How does it relate to the literature?

Between the submission and the online materials, it should be clear what an instructor needs to do in order to use the assignment. The 2-page limit includes figures, tables, and references.

The Peachy short papers will not appear as is in the SC Workshop proceedings. A paper encompassing all the accepted Peachy submissions will be submitted to the paper track of EduHPC and will go through peer review in that track, with materials included in the appendix. If accepted by the program committee, the collective paper will appear in SC Workshop proceedings. The paper will be authored by the Peachy team and all the authors of the individual Peachy assignments accepted for EduHPC.

Lightning Talk

A Lightning Talk is a short (5-minute) presentation of a new or innovative idea, preliminary or intermediate research results, opportunity for partnership and collaboration, preliminary curriculum adoption experience of TCPP early adopters, or similar brief talk that will be of interest to HPC/PDC educators.

To propose a Lightning Talk, submit a (maximum) 2-page document that includes the following elements: an abstract of 150 words, a description of the challenge/problem/educational need that your submission is addressing, a detailed description of the work and its significance or novelty, and lessons learned or potential insights to be drawn from your talk. The 2-page limit includes figures, tables, and references.

The Lightning Talks short papers will not appear in the SC Workshop proceedings. The authors will submit the paper to an archival server (such as arXiv) at the time of camera ready submission and they will provide the reference to EduHPC. Logistical details will come as part of the acceptance notice.

Information for authors:

All papers are to be submitted through Linklings: https://submissions.supercomputing.org/ The papers should follow the SC26 submission format; see templates here: https://www.acm.org/publications/proceedings-template

Important Dates

  • Submission (paper tracks): July 17
  • Notification (paper tracks): August 31
  • Camera ready (paper tracks): September 29
  • Submission (Lightning talks): July 17
  • Notification (Lightning talks): August 31
  • Camera ready (Lightning talks): Sep 29
  • Submission (Peachy): July 10
  • Notification (Peachy): July 16

Committees

Workshop Committee

  • Workshop Chair: Sushil Prasad (University of Texas at San Antonio)
  • Program Chair: Suzanne J. Matthews (United States Military Academy)
  • Program Vice-Chair: TBD
  • Peachy Assignments Chair: David Bunde (Knox College)
  • Proceedings Chair: Satish Puri (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
  • Website Chair: Buddhi Ashan Mallika Kankanamalage (University of Texas at San Antonio)

Program Committee

  • Joel C. Adams (Calvin University)
  • Mario Badr (University of Toronto)
  • Neelima Bayyapu (Manipal Institute of Technology)
  • Steven Bogaerts (University of Michigan)
  • Kate Cahill (New Jersey Institute of Technology)
  • Debzani Deb (Winston-Salem State University)
  • Samantha S. Foley (University of Wisconsin-La Crosse)
  • Brian Larkins (Rhodes College)
  • Henry Neeman (Oklahoma Supercomputing Center)
  • Tia Newhall (Swarthmore College)
  • Alan Sussman (University of Maryland)
  • Ramachandran Vaidyanathan (Louisiana State University)
  • Charles Weems (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
  • Richard Weiss (The Evergreen State College)

Peachy Committee

  • David Bunde (Knox College)
  • H Martin Bucker (Friedrich-Schiller-Universitat Jena, Germany)
  • Steven Bogaerts (University of Michigan)

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