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| Project Title | High Performance Data Visualization Lab Assistant |
| Summary | The Data Visualization Lab Assistant will work on the development of an application to be used to illustrate the use of high performance computing for the visualization of vast amounts of data. The Lab Assistant will also present the illustrations to elementary and middle school students. The application will be developed using the C programming language running in Linux and will be implemented on a PC based cluster. |
| Job Description | The goal of this project is to make a computer lab available for elementary and middle school students to come and see the simulations of problems that involve the processing of vast amounts of data and how those simulations are possible with high performance computing. The application will initially run on a PC-cluster at St Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill, NY. The intention is to create a lab and application that can be easy replicated in similar settings such as those available in local schools and the Challenger Center. The Lab Assistant will work on the implementation of the PC-Cluster in an existing 25-PC lab, using the Bootable Cluster CD (BCCD â http://bccd.net). The application will be written in C or similar programming language using the Message Passing Interface (MPI). The application will be used to visualize massive sets of data used to study DNS sequencing, global warming, storage of energy in nanostructures, aerodynamics space vehicle design and similar problems. The intern must good programming skills with at least two years of programming experience in C, C++ or Java. Additional knowledge includes basic Linux scripting and the ability to learn MPI. Good presentation skills are also required as the intern will make demonstrations to K-12 and undergraduate students. Upon implementation of the lab, the lab assistant will lead presentations for K-12 students illustrating how massive amounts of data need to be processed in order to study common physical phenomena and the benefits of high performance computing for the analysis of such data. The application will be developed during the summer of 2011 and presentations and demonstrations will take place throughout the 2011-2012 school year. One goal of this project is to create a PC-cluster and develop an application that can be reproduced in other school labs and the Challenger Center. |
| Conditions/Qualifications | Undergraduate computer science student at St Thomas Aquinas College with programming experience in C/C++ or similar language and the ability to learn MPI. Additional experience coaching and leading technology workshops for K-12 students is required. |
| Start Date | 05/16/2011 |
| End Date | 05/15/2012 |
| Location | St Thomas Aquinas College 125 Route 340 Sparkill, NY 10976 |
| Interns | Paola Garcia
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