Super Computing

 

2007 Glorieta

 

General	The Contest	UNM Presentation	UNIX	Teams
Final Report	Orals Evaluation Form	Internet Links	Posters	Pictures

 

In addition to Super Computing, I also sponsor events in the Science Olympiad, Computing Olympiad, and Science Fair contests. Although all of these activities are valuable to the students, it is very clear that students consistently receive the greatest benefit from their participation in Super Computing.

 

These benefits result from the instruction provided by contest personnel at Glorieta on relevant computational topics, the information and guidance provided on the Challenge Internet site, and the feedback received throughout the contest. The experience students gain from writing an abstract, learning how to work effectively as a team,  writing a detailed technical paper, giving oral presentations to and answering questions from evaluators, and preparing both an Internet site and a poster that explains their work is invaluable.

 

Because of the relevance of Super Computing to the courses I teach, I treat it as a co-curricular activity and give an increment to student grades based on the quality of their work in the contest.

The Contest

The Challenge is a program that offers a unique experience to students in our state. The opportunity to work on the most powerful computers in the world is currently available to only a very few students in the entire United States, but in New Mexico, it is just one of the benefits of living in the "Land of Enchantment."

The program encompasses the entire school year. Teams of students complete science projects using high-performance supercomputers. Each team of one to five students and a sponsoring teacher defines and works on a single computational project of its own choosing.

Throughout the program, help and support are given to the teams by their project advisors and the Challenge organizers and sponsors. The Challenge is open to all interested students in grades 9 through 12 on a nonselective basis. The program has no grade point, class enrollment or computer experience prerequisites.

Participants come from public, private, parochial and home-based schools in all areas of New Mexico. The important requirement for participating is a real desire to learn about science and computing. Those teams who make significant progress on their projects can enter them in the competition for awards of savings bonds and scholarships for the individuals and computer equipment for the school. Team trophies are also awarded for: Teamwork, Best Written Report, Best Professional Presentation, Electronic Search & Browse, Creativity and Innovation, Environmental Modeling, High Performance, Multimedia and the Judges' Special Award.

The Challenge is offered at minimal cost to the participants or the school district. It is sponsored by a partnership of federal laboratories, universities, businesses, and New Mexico TechNet. They provide food and lodging for the kickoff conference during which students and teachers are shown how to use supercomputers, learn programming languages, how to analyze data, write reports and much more.

These sponsors also supply time on the supercomputers and lend equipment to schools that need it. Employees of the sponsoring groups conduct training sessions at workshops and advise teams throughout the year.

The Challenge culminates with awards day activities in the spring at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Numerous awards are presented. The top awards are listed below.

  First Place.

Each participant receives $1,000 and about $500 in software, along with a trophy. The teacher receives a computer for use in the classroom.

  Second Place.

Each participant receives $500 and about $500 in software, along with a trophy. The teacher receives a computer for use in the classroom.

  Honorable Mention.

Each participant receive about $500 in software.

UNM Presentation

  The judges will have a table set up in a room with a projector.

  I will bring a laptop for each team with PowerPoint and either C++ or Java loaded.

  Prepare a PowerPoint presentation and show a sample of the code you have written

  Coat and tie, etc.

  Suggested format

 

        Introduce team members and summarize their main tasks 

        Statement of the problem and your hypothesis

        Where you are now: data collected, equations to use, algorithms etc.

        Summary of Major accomplishments

        Items remaining

 

  Plan from now until submission

  REHEARSE!

 

Final Report

 

  Cover page w/category, title, team number and members, teacher, and project mentor.

  Table of contents

  Executive Summary

  Introduction

  Hypotheses

  Description to include data collection, assumptions, math model, and algorithms used

  Results

  Conclusions

  Acknowledgements

  References

  List of Appendices

 

DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE-I WILL REVIEW

 

 

 

 

  You will be in a room with 10-15 judges.

  Follow the format listed above.

  Everyone should have a part.

  Rehearse!

 

Internet Links

 

 

  http://www.challenge.nm.org

  http://www.challenge.nm.org/ctg

  http://www.challenge.nm.org/Mentors