2008 Utah Advanced Computing Summer Institute
The UACSI held at Southern Utah University in August 2008 and attended by Utah students, academics, researchers and industry leaders. Among various presentations, Thomas Hauser presented an overview of HPC activity and nationwide momentum for HPC support of research.
2007 HPC@USU ACRES Symposium a Success
In March, 2007, HPC@USU hosted a two-day symposium on Opportunities for High Performance Computing in Agricultural and Life Sciences. This event was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture’s CSREES (Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service), and was attended by a national and local field of scholars, researchers, and students.
Keynote speaker Dr. Colien Hefferan, USDA administrator of CSREES, spoke of the need for HPC capabilities in all elements of scientific research to remain competitive and enhance research. She noted many researchers rely on outdated techniques learned decades ago in graduate school, but to remain competitive today requires the use of new tools for tracking, monitoring and computing analysis. HPC offers these capabilities and efficiencies, Hefferan stated, and praised the research investment of HPC@USU.
“This was an enlightening forum to demonstrate how HPC will improve my work” noted one USU faculty researcher. “I realize I need to think differently about my techniques; I can see how HPC will enhance my results and improve research efficiency”.
Speaker Presentations - HPC in Agriculture and Life Science
- The Cornell Computational Agriculture Initiative: HPC Solutions to Agricultural Problems
Harold M. van Es, Int'l Professor of Crop & Soil Sciences, Cornell University
PDF Presentation
- Applications of HPC in Plant Breeding, Conservation, and Genetics.
Steven R. Larson, Research Geneticist, Forage & Range Research Lab, USU
PDF Presentation
- Vision of HPC in Agriculture and Life Sciences
Rodney J. Brown, Dean, College of Agriculture & Biology, BYU
PDF Presentation
- Simulation of Large Scale Spatial Evolutionary Processes
Mark P. Miller, Assistant Professor, Biology Department & HPC@USU
PDF Presentation - Application of HPC in Geophysics
William P. Johnson, Professor Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah
PDF Presentation
Panel Discussions
- Opportunities for HPC in Agricultural Research transcript
- Rodney J. Brown, Dean College of Agriculture & Biology, BYU Moderator
- Colien Hefferan, Administrator CSREES
- Harold M. van Es, Int'l Professor, Corp & Soil Sciences Cornell University
- William P. Johnson, Professor Geology & Geophysics, University of Utah
- Steven R. Larson, Research Geneticist, Forage & Range Research Lab, USU
- Bringing HPC to New Research Communities ppt transcript
- Linda Callahan, Executive Director Cornell Theory Center Moderator
- Frank Williams, Director Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
- John Hanks, System Administrator HPC@USU
- Mark P. Miller, Biology Department & HPC@USU
Workshops (link to online player)
- Scientific Computing 101 - Mark Miller & Sarah Moody
- Visualization 101 - Michal Hardisky & Sarah Moody pdf
- Parallel Computing 101 - Mark Perl, Mark Miller, & Sarah Moody pdf

