SC2004 News - May Edition

Welcome to the May edition of SC2004 News, the official newsletter of the SC conference series. The newsletter is intended to give you brief, useful, and up-to-date information about SC2004.

*** Research Exhibits Selection Process to Begin Late May ***

Research exhibit booth selection will begin in late May. Please prepare your abstracts of no more than 200 words. As in the past, the order of selection will be determined by a point system. Current information will be posted at www.sc-conference.org/sc2004/research_exhibits.html. For questions, contact research-exhibits04@sc-conference.org.

*** Exhibit Hall Filling Fast, But There’s Still Time for New Exhibitors ***

As of May 1, 119 industry exhibitors, which represents a 60% increase as compared to last year at this time, have been assigned booth space. Exhibitors range from the world’s largest technology and computer companies to new startup firms. If you haven’t signed up for exhibit space yet, there is still time to get a booth at SC2004. For information on industry exhibits, including an application form, click on the Exhibits button on the home page. This section of the web site also includes the latest floor plan for SC2004.

 *** HPC Software Challenge Applications Sought ***

As part of the SC2004 theme “Bridging Communities,” the HPC Challenge has been adapted to bridge the HPC and software engineering communities. This HPC Software Challenge will honor participants working to improve the productivity of HPC software developers and the quality of HPC software. HPC software developers are invited to submit case studies of development processes, strategies, or practices that they have applied to improve developer productivity and/or software quality. Submissions may cover anything from full life-cycle processes to simple, high-impact techniques in areas including but not limited to the following:

 --Project management
--Requirements definition, analysis, and management
--Configuration management
--Software specification, architecture, and design
--Implementation (coding standards, language subsets)
--Verification (code inspection, testing, formal proof)
--Productivity and quality metrics (collection and analysis)

 Submit online at www.sc-submissions.org. The submission deadline is July 26. For more information, see www.sc-conference.org/sc2004/hpc_challenge.html.

 *** Education Program Deadline Approaching Fast ***

Educators who plan to participate in SC2004 have until May 24 to submit their team applications. Teams of undergraduate faculty, K-12 teachers and directors and chief information officers at university-based educational centers are invited to participate in the program, which is held over the first four days of SC2004. This year’s theme is “A K-20 Comprehensive Educational Agenda for High Performance Computing.” The Education program will consist of two tracks: an Instructional Track aimed at both newcomers and experienced participants; and a new Technology Integration Leadership track, aimed at higher education Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and directors of teaching and learning centers. For more information, see www.sc-conference.org/sc2004/education.html or email education04@sc-conference.org.

 *** Conference Looking for Student Volunteers ***

The SC conference series offers undergraduates and graduate students a great opportunity to participate in the world’s largest high-performance computing conference by becoming student volunteers. Student volunteers meet and work with leaders in the high performance computing, networking and storage industries while performing a valuable service for the conference. This year an effort will be made to pair student volunteers with professionals having similar areas of interest. Opportunities include working with SCinet, StorCloud, media relations, exhibitor setup, SC Global and a host of other functions. Students from minority serving institutions are especially encouraged to volunteer. For more information, see www.sc-conference.org/sc2004/edu_outreach_vol.html.

 *** Poster Submissions Sought ***

The SC2004 conference is soliciting submissions for posters displaying cutting-edge research in high performance computing, networking and storage. Posters provide an excellent opportunity for short presentations and informal discussions with conference attendees. The posters will be prominently displayed throughout the conference, giving presenters a chance to showcase their latest results and innovations. Posters will be chosen competitively by a panel of experts, with an award presented for Best Poster.

The submission deadline is July 26. Please make your submissions at www.sc-submissions.org.

 *** MSI Program Deadline Extended to June 30 ***

Conference attendees who plan to participate in the Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) program have until June 30 to apply for grants. A web site with an application form will be activated soon and will be reachable from www.sc-conference.org/sc2004/msi.html.  The MSI program works to increase the participation of faculty and staff at institutions that have been underrepresented in the world of HPC. MSIs include Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The program provides grants to help the SC conference reach minority audiences and to encourage collaboration among MSI faculty and staff and scientists and technologists at major research institutions. The program is funded by IEEE and ACM.

 
UPCOMING DATES TO REMEMBER

May 24, 2004
Applications for Education Program due

June 15, 2004
Conditional acceptance of workshop suggestions

June 28, 2004
Notification of conditional acceptance for Tutorials
Notification of conditional acceptance for Technical Papers
Notification of conditional acceptance for all SC Global categories

June 30, 2004
Submission deadline for MSI Program applications

July 22, 2004
Conference registration opens

July 26, 2004

Final version of Technical Papers due to confirm acceptance
Submission deadline for Birds-of-a-Feather (BOFs) sessions (without Access Grid use)
Submission deadline for Exhibitor Forum
Submission deadline for Posters
Submission deadline for HPC Software Challenge

July 31, 2004
Submission deadline for Seymour Cray Computer Science and Engineering Award
Submission deadline for Sidney Fernbach Memorial Award
Full proposals due for StorCloud Challenge