REU Site: Interdisciplinary Program in High Performance Computing

University Of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

The REU Site: Interdisciplinary Program in High Performance Computing in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is an eight-week residential summer program for undergraduate students majoring in mathematics, statistics, or computer science. This REU Site uses activities that can be grouped into three principal components to develop skills of the future workforce: (i) A transferrable three-credit senior undergraduate level course teaches fundamental skills in high performance computing through lectures and TA-supported computer labs, with specific tools of Linux, C, MPI, MATLAB, and R. (ii) The skills in scientific, statistical, and parallel computing are applied to interdisciplinary research projects posed by scientists from industry, government agencies, or departments outside of mathematics and statistics. (iii) The teaching and research are supported by a complete set of highly integrated professional development activities, including team work experience, presentation skills (poster, oral, project update, and 'elevator pitch'), writing skills (abstracts, webpage, and technical report), discussion of professional integrity in the sciences, topical field trips to local employers or computing centers such as the NSA, NASA, or NIH, information on graduate school application and GRE preparation course, and plenty of opportunity for informal contact with faculty, graduate students, and all visitors to the program. All aspects of the program are conducted by student teams, which one of the most important experiences to take away from the program. Scientific, statistical, and parallel computing skills are critical to the 21st century workforce. Equally crucial are skills in interacting and communicating in teams and in interdisciplinary projects. This REU Site will provide a comprehensive program integrating these elements under the guidance of the two co-directors and several graduate assistants and undergraduate peer mentors, many of whom have extensive experience with client-focused interdisciplinary consulting through the Center for Interdisciplinary Research and Consulting (www.umbc.edu/circ). The high performance computing environment will be provided by a state-of-the-art distributed-memory cluster in the NSF-supported UMBC High Performance Computing Facility (www.umbc.edu/hpcf). The REU Site participants will benefit from a complete professional development experience involving scientific, statistical, and parallel computing, interdisciplinary research projects, and integrated development of professional skills. These skills are of vital importance to the workforce of tomorrow and for the national competetiveness of the United States. This award is jointly supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Security Agency.