By: Titus Nyarko Nde, PhD in Computing Student at Boise State University
Introduction
With this blog post I’ll share my unique experience at the supercomputing conference (or simply SC24) in Atlanta, Georgia. SC24 is the premiere International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis. It was highly recommended during the International High-Performance Computing Summer School (IHPCSS) in Kobe, Japan, by my mentor, Maciej Cytowski. Thanks to Elizabeth Leake (STEM-Trek) for igniting my interest in attending this conference and for initiating the process to fund my trip to Atlanta. She made it all happen and also paid for my accommodation and some fun activities, which I will talk about later in this blog. I also want to thank Leif Nelson and everyone in the Boise State Research Computing Department for sponsoring the remainder of the cost to attend. Special thanks to my Ph.D. advisor, Nancy Glenn, for her understanding and support. The SC conference took place November 17-22, 2024, but the ART@SC24 pre-conference workshop was November 15-16, 2024. Though this blog post is coming in a bit late, get a seat and grab some coffee as I take you through my unique experience at SC24. Note that the activities at the SC24 conference are inexhaustible; therefore, I will chronicle key highlights of my own experience. One couldn’t possibly participate in every activity! Thankfully, the digital experience was available until January 31.
Attendance and Event Venue
The conference welcomed around 18k attendees. This was overwhelming for me since it was my first time to attend such a big conference. Prior to SC24, the biggest conferences I had participated in only had a few hundred people. The event venue, Georgia World Congress Center, located in the heart (downtown) of beautiful Atlanta, Georgia. The area around the conference center is outstanding, most notably the Mercedes-Benz stadium located just opposite the conference center. The beautiful Signia Hilton Hotel is also beside the conference center. The Georgia Aquarium, which is the largest aquarium in North America and one of the largest in the world, is nearby. It holds over 11 million (42,000 meters cube) US gallons of water and more than 500 sea animal species, including whale sharks, beluga whales, sea lions, and manta rays. Events to watch for in the aquarium are the dolphin and sea lion shows. The aquarium is definitely a place to visit if you find yourself in Atlanta. Another interesting place near the conference center is the College Football Hall of Fame. The beautiful campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) is also not far from the conference center.
Pre-conference workshop
I arrived in Atlanta a few days early to participate in the ART@SC24 workshop organized by Elizabeth Leake (STEM-Trek). This workshop was one of my major highlights of SC24. I could not be thankful enough for being part of it. This workshop featured several HPC industry professionals from various institutions all over the world. The first day of the workshop was a jet lag day at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Though there were some presentations on this day, it was a day to relax and get to know new colleagues. This jetlag day was especially beneficial for international attendees who traveled long distances to get to Atlanta. The second day, November 16, 2024, was the actual workshop day. The presentations were incredible and so resourceful. Personally, I enjoyed listening to the presentations of Brian Kyanjo of Georgia Tech (and a former Computing Ph.D. student at Boise State University) and Bryan Johnston, the HPC Ecosystems project lead at the Centre for High-Performance Computing in Cape South Africa. Aside from the excellent presentations, we also had some really cool souvenirs, thanks to Elizabeth Leake and Google! I really love my jacket. In the future, if anyone ever attends any edition of the SC conference, I highly recommend that they attend STEM-Trek’s pre-conference workshop. It was one of the biggest highlights of the SC24 conference for me.
OLCF Hands-on HPC Crash Course
The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility organized a free hands-on HPC crash course for student attendees. The course was organized, led, and facilitated by Suzanne Parete-Koon and her team from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Purdue University. Initially, I was a bit skeptical. In my mind, I thought I did not need it since it’s just a crash course, and I am not new to HPC, so I probably know everything they will talk about. Guess what? I was wrong. This crash started from fundamental things to an advanced level. In the end, all skill levels were accommodated. Those who are new to HPC were not left behind, but at the same time, those who already had HPC experience, like me, also learned something substantial. Thus, newcomers didn’t feel lost, and we old-timers didn’t get bored. This crash course introduced key tools for HPC, which included ML, OpenMP, MPI, AI, GPU programming, and Quantum Computing. Participants were given tasks to work on and were awarded a certificate by the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility if the participant completed up to five of the hands-on activities using the Frontier Exascale system and Purdue’s Anvil supercomputer. Each participant was given tokens to access these systems during the crash course. Obviously, I received a certificate for my participation. Thanks to Suzanne and her team for organizing this activity. If you are a student attendee at any future SC conference, one of the activities I highly recommend you look out for is this hands-on HPC crash course. Thank me later. It does not matter whether or not you are new to HPC; just give it a shot.
Professional Development for Student Attendees
There were many custom activities for student attendees, one of them being professional development. One such event is the resume workshop, the art of the pitch, and the interview in action. In this workshop, recruiters from national labs, such as the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and industry professionals from big tech companies, such as NVIDIA and FaceBook, explained how to write a competitive resume and elevator pitch, and conveyed key interviewing skills. The whole idea is to teach students what recruiters expect of them. During this session, we were given the opportunity to sit with these recruiters one-on-one to ask them questions. They reviewed and offered feedback on our resumes.
One-on-One Mentorship and Career Coaching Session
Another student-focused event at SC24 was the one-on-one mentorship session, where interested students are assigned to a mentor who talks to them one-on-one about any topic of interest to the student. For example, their desired career path, how to blend academic life with social life, research, how to get your dream job, internships, job opportunities at the mentor’s place of work, and why HPC, etc. During this session, I was glad to be matched with Suzanne Parete-Koon whom I met after the crash course. I could then have a deeper conversation with her. One of the key topics we talked about is the fact that I have a broad background in different fields, such as actuarial science, cosmology, computer science, and geoscience, and I now have a growing interest in HPC-related topics. Sometimes, I have varied interests in many things and want to know which one is the best for me. Trust me, my conversation with Suzanne was fantastic. I couldn’t be thankful enough. I was grateful to have been assigned to her as my mentor at SC24. There were several other interesting student-oriented programs, including Creating Your Career through HPC – Career Panel, How to Create a Career through Grad School in HPC, Speed Mentoring Lunch, and the Mentor–Protégé Breakfast. I encourage student attendees to look out for these sessions or similar ones at future SC conferences.
HPC Creates Plenary Session
The plenary session was incredible; I don’t know where to begin. It was an extensive talk about how HPC is shaping the future. This session was moderated by a renowned award-winning journalist, Miles O’Brien. The panelists included Bronson Messer (Oak Ridge National Laboratory), Silvia Zorzetti (Fermi National Laboratory), Chris LeDoux (Luma Logic), and Juan Alonso (Standford University). Below is a snippet of the description of this session that I took from the SC24 website.
“… Under the theme “HPC Creates,” the panel will delve into four arenas where HPC has made transformative impacts…
Panelists will share insights on how HPC, along with artificial intelligence (AI), is driving advances in astrophysics, biomedical simulations, and sustainable engineering while revolutionizing creative industries such as film and music. In addition, the panel will discuss how the next generation of professionals is being equipped to tackle future challenges through HPC-driven education and training.
Attendees can expect a dynamic and thought-provoking conversation about HPC’s pivotal role in creating innovations that enhance our understanding of the universe, improve quality of life, and inspire new generations…”
Tutorials
There were several tutorial sessions at SC24. It was not possible to attend all of them since many ran simultaneously. My favorites were Python with OpenMP (PyOMP), parallel computing 101, deep learning at scale, and scalable big data processing on HPC systems. For future SC attendees, look out for the tutorial sessions; you may find one that interests you.
The Exhibition Hall
No one who has attended an SC conference can avoid talking about the exhibition hall. It is the major highlight of the conference for many, as it was for me. So far, the exhibition hall for SC24 is the biggest in the history of the conference. I spent much of that week walking the exhibition hall and talking to people, but I still couldn’t visit every booth. Yes, the hall is a whole world on its own, featuring companies and institutions from around the world. That’s where all the big tech companies showcase their prowess in the industry, cutting-edge technologies and advancements, especially in supercomputing. It’s also a place to meet and chat with recruiters and industry professionals from the biggest tech companies. There were a lot of startup tech companies as well. The number of activities that go on in the hall is inexhaustible. There were many engaging presentations from industry professionals and recruiters at various booths. I have to mention that you cannot walk out of the exhibition hall without a souvenir. Most booths give “SWAG” out to passers-by for free. Some of the booths also hosted challenges with prizes. Notably, I participated in the Intel daily challenge and won an Intel branded solar-powered headset, which I love, a three-in-one Intel branded charger for charging my iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch simultaneously, and an Intel branded t-shirt, among other items. However, I didn’t win the grand prize which was a high-quality laptop. Some of the big tech companies that were present at SC24 include Lenovo, NVIDIA, Intel, AWS, Google, Dell Technologies, FaceBook, Microsoft, AMD, VAST Data, ASUS, Pure Storage, and NextSilicon. There were also research and educational institutions present, such as NSF, NASA, NSF NCAR, EuroHPC, Texas A&M, Purdue University, RIKEN, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, US Department of Energy, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Fujitsu Limited, Indiana University, SCinet, and Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC).
Social Events
After a busy day at the conference, there are several social events and parties in the evenings to attend for free. Some of the parties had challenges where people participated in to win prizes. Others had raffle drawings and free giveaways. There was a social event every evening of the conference. Social events and parties are good places to relax after a stressful day, get some food and drinks, and network with other conference attendees. Some notable events included the Petaflop and Lenovo parties. One offered a free pass to the Georgia Aquarium, which I already talked about earlier in this blog. Also, as part of the ART@SC24 pre-conference workshop, we had a tour of the beautiful Georgia Tech campus and their Tech Data Center. Finally, my favorite social event was our visit to Medieval Times. This was part of the ART@SC24 pre-conference workshop. At Medieval Times, we had dinner and watched a jousting tournament on horseback. For me, this was the peak event among all the social events, followed by the visit to the Georgia Aquarium (SC24 Technical Program Reception).
Connecting and Networking
SC conferences are an excellent place for any HPC enthusiast to connect and network with professionals from industry, research and educational institutions in the field. For me, networking was the highlight of the conference. I had the privilege of meeting others whom I had met previously in Kobe, Japan, in July 2024. Notable among them is my mentor at the IHPCSS24 in Japan, Maciej Cytowski. Maciej is the Head of Scientific Services and Executive Manager of IT at Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre in Australia.
What next?
By now, I have given you convincing reasons not to miss future SC conferences and, more importantly, the STEM-Trek pre-conference workshop. I am already looking forward to it! I won’t miss it for anything. The theme for this year’s SC conference is HPC Creates. Next year, the conference will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, with the theme HPC Ignites. I can’t wait to see what HPC will ignite in me. Once again, I am grateful to Elizabeth Leake for making my unique experience at the ART@SC24 pre-conference workshop and SC24 happen.
Hoooorrrraaaayyyyyy!!! I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Please do not hesitate to leave a comment for me. Thank you.
