Program

Software Prerequisites and Optional Recommendations

If you wish to set up one necessary ssh client on your laptop before we get started on Tuesday, check our requirements and recommendations. There will also be time to take care of this with our guidance during the workshop itself.

Monday, August 3

See the logistics page for travel and arrival information.

7:00 - 9:00 Reception (location: Cuneo Hall 218)

Tuesday, August 4

7:30 - 8:45 Community breakfast and introductions
(Location: Damen Dining Hall, carpeted area for this meal only)

Who are you? What is your institution like? How much parallelism is in your curriculum? What are the key things you want your students to be able to do?

9:00 - 11:45 Morning session (Location: Cuneo Hall 203)

9:00 - 9:20 Introduction to CSinParallel
Dick Brown's presentation (Acrobat (PDF) 1.9MB Jun14 16)

9:20 - 9:50 A survey of parallel and distributed computing (PDC) concepts 
Joel Adams' presentation (Acrobat (PDF) 25.7MB Jun14 16)

9:50 - 10:30 A closer look: modules and resources

10:30 -10:45 Break

10:45 - 11:45 Work time: You explore the modules and ask questions on the workshop email list chi15@stolaf.edu as you prepare a 5-minute "lightning" presentation for the afternoon. Focus on items such as the following:

  • What is your institution like?
  • How do you envision using modules to teach PDC, and where might they fit in your curriculum?
  • Which particular modules are you interested in adopting?
  • Are there other PDC topics you would like to see in modules?
  • Do you have material you would like share with CSinParallel?

11:45 - 12:45 Lunch (location: Damen Dining Hall)

1:00 - 5:00 Afternoon Session (Location: Cuneo Hall 203)

1:00 - 2:20 Presentations by participants

2:20 - 2:40 Break

2:40 - 5:00 Hands-on introduction to software platforms (refer to handout)

Open the modules page in a separate browser window. Note that you can narrow your search by computational model on the right.

  • Shared Memory Computational Model (OpenMP) (Joel)
  • Message Passing Computational Model (MPI) (Libby)

Dinner (location: Damen Dining Hall, hours 5-6:30)

Later in the evening: Optional "wind-down" session at a local establishment
Our local hosts recommend:

Wednesday, August 5

7:30 - 8:45 Breakfast (location: Damen Dining Hall)

9:00 - 11:30 Morning session (Location: Cuneo Hall 203)

9:00 - 9:40 Using remote resources to teach PDC

9:40 - 10:00 Local PDC resources

  • Beowulf clusters, physical and virtual. Student support (Dick, 20 min)
    Local Beowulf clusters (Acrobat (PDF) 2.3MB Aug5 15)

10:00 - 10:20 Break

10:20 - 11:30 Local PDC resources, continued

  • Pis To Go (by Jake Caswell '17, St. Olaf, presented by Dick, 15 min) 
    Pi's To Go presentation (Acrobat (PDF) 5MB Aug5 15)

11:45 - 12:45 Lunch (Location: Damen Dining Hall)

1:00 - 1:30 Hands-on introduction to software platforms, continued

1:30 - 1:45 Where do we go from here, for the rest of this workshop?

1:45 - 4:15 Hands-on focus on technology I (Location: Cuneo Hall 203)

Self-paced exploration of PDC technology topics, selected according to participant interests

See the list of all available code for modules as your guide to find the module you are interested in exploring on the shared memory or distributed memory machines available for this workshop. For WMR, go to the module from the modules page, choose the module you are interested in, then go to the section labeled Description and Teaching Materials to find the link to the module material that you can use now (and your students would use later).

4:15 - 5:00 Workshop assessment focus group (Location: Cuneo Hall 203)

6:00 Community Dinner

Reza's Restaurant
5255 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60640

Map - Loyola to Reza's Restaurant (Acrobat (PDF) 282kB Aug2 15)

Thursday, August 6

7:30 - 9:00 Breakfast (location: Damen Dining Hall)

9:15 - 12:15 Morning session (Location: Cuneo Hall 203)

9:15 - 10:00 Hands-on introduction to software platforms, continued

10:00 - 10:30 Visualizing parallel computation with TSGL (Joel)

TSGL github site

10:30 - 10:50 Break

10:50 - 12:00 Choice of activities. The group will choose among the following:

  • More hands-on exploration of technology
    • Choice of: OpenMP; MPI; WebMapReduce; CUDA; micro-clusters; other?
    • Self-paced? Group exploration?
  • Stories from the front: What has worked, and what hasn't, when adding PDC to undergraduate CS courses
  • How to make a CSinParallel module
  • Other activity ideas that arise

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch discussion (location: Cuneo Hall 218, catered)

Where do we all go from here after this workshop?

  • next-step strategies for adding more PDC at your home institution
  • input/feedback/what's needed for CSinParallel and the PDC education movement
  • future events?

1:15 - 4:30 Afternoon session (Location: Cuneo Hall 203)

Choice of activities. The group will choose among the following:

  • More hands-on exploration of technology
    • Choice of: OpenMP; MPI; WebMapReduce; CUDA; micro-clusters; other?
    • Self-paced? Group exploration?
  • Other activity ideas that arise during the day

Dinner available in Damen Dining Hall, 5-6:30pm