[TriLUG] High Performance Computing at Wake Tech

prhodes at vdsinc.com prhodes at vdsinc.com
Wed Jul 16 20:58:24 EDT 2003




Some of you may already be familiar with this, but some of you
who aren't might find this interesting...

Wake Tech has a new program, started about a year ago I think,
called "High Performance Computing."  Essentially it's an entire
degree program (results in an A.S. degree) based around
Beowulf clusters / Grid Computing / Linux / Parallel programming,etc.

There's a heavy focus on Linux in the curriculum, as Linux is the most
widely used OS for Beowulf clusters (although not the only one.. incredibly
some people are building Beowulf's using Windoze).

Now, why would I think this would be of interest to the TriLUG list? Well,
first because it's dealing with geeky cool high-end computing stuff, and it
involves Linux.. .but maybe more importantly, is because of future career
considerations.  We all know the tech economy is in the dump, especially
around here.  And we're all hearing horror stories about the constant
exporting of high paying tech jobs overseas...

However, there are some government projections that there will be
a huge short-fall of workers trained in dealing with HPC, developing
over the next few years.  The NSF is predicting a need for something
like 164000+ HPC workers by 2008.

"Based on survey findings and employment projections, the number
of HPC positions for which associate degree holders will be eligible
will be 164,397--at minimum--by 2008."
- From www.highperformancecomputing.org

This also seems particularly relevant in the Triangle region, as this area
appears to be developing more and more of a bio-tech bias, as opposed
to software and telecom.  And guess what kinds of companies use lots of
HPC clusters? Right.. bio-techs... for stuff like genome mapping, DNA
sequencing,
etc.

So anyway, for anybody who is maybe looking to learn some neat
skills, and possibly help "future proof" yourself a little bit, in terms
of employability, I recommend checking out the Wake Tech
HPC program...
their website is http://www.waketech.edu/curred/cis/hpchome.html
and the NSF homepage dedicated to the nationwide HPC
initiative is at www.highperformancecomputing.org

TTYL,

Phil




More information about the TriLUG mailing list