Educating HPC Users in the Use of Advanced Computing Technology

Workshop:EduHPC-21: Workshop on Education for High Performance Computing

Authors: Eva Siegmann, Alan Calder, Catherine Feldman, and Robert J. Harrison (Stony Brook University)

Abstract: We examine a multi-modal approach to educating and training users of an advanced computing technology testbed at the Institute for Advanced Computational Science at Stony Brook University. Ookami provides researchers with access to Fujitsu A64FX nodes, this being the same processor technology powering the Japanese Fugaku supercomputer, the fastest computer worldwide since June 2020.

However, achieving high-performance on this Arm-based, leadership computing technology requires that users be familiar with details of computer architecture, performance analysis, and high-performance programming models that are commonly omitted in introductory programming courses. Indeed, regardless of their seniority, many users are surprisingly unfamiliar with basic concepts such as vectorization, latency/bandwidth, roofline models, computing energy/power, threads, and non-uniform memory access. Due to the national/global nature of our user community that is very diverse in discipline and experience, the inability to offer formal classes, we have consciously employed multiple approaches that emphasize personal interactions and transfer of skills.

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