SC14, an international supercomputing conference, in coming to New Orleans from November 16th – 21st. The conference is expected to bring together 11,000 attendees, “some of the smartest minds of our time,” and the industry’s top scientists to the Crescent City.
Supercomputing is big news, explains a rep for the conference. Its application can help predict storms, climate change, increase security and more.
This year’s theme is “HPC Matters,” which stands for high-performance computing. According to the SC14 website, HPC is helping to solve some of the hardest problems in the world. “Innovations from our community have far reaching impact in every corner of science, all the way to investment banking, in the discovery of new drugs, to the precise prediction of the next superstorm. For more than two decades, the SC Conference has been the place to build and share the innovations that are making these life-changing discoveries possible.”
Topics covered at the conference include:
- Hurricane/Weather forecasting/Earthquake prediction. High Performance Computing (HPC) is critical for forecasting/storm and disaster predictions, resulting in major reductions in human lives and financial losses. Especially interesting is the new super storm prediction models being run on supercomputers by NOAA and NWS.
- Climate Change Modeling. HPC is the key component for discovery and prediction, and the results are used for influencing public policy and public opinion around the world.
- Network Security: This has never been a hotter topic with corporations getting breeched on what seems like a daily basis. The people behind SC help protect governments and some of the world’s largest corporations. Get behind-the-scenes insight from some of the brightest in the world.
- Consumer goods: HPC is used by major companies to develop consumer products and services that either improve performance or lighten environmental impact. Potentially showing/explaining how products like a laundry detergent container or cars have changed over time because of supercomputing. Most people don’t even realize that supercomputers are used in the production of everything – including their toothbrush.
- Health Sciences/Medical research: HPC visualizations are key in helping medical experts and researchers find solutions to major diseases; make more exact medical procedures/surgery and provide better care for ailments like cancer.
- Heavy/Mega Industry: From planning, building and installing oil platforms to today’s commercial airline fleets, the impact of HPC saves billions of dollars and improves safety and performance.
- Entertainment: HPC is critical to the film and entertainment industry, specifically at places like Disney or Dreamworks.
- Disease/Epidemic Management. HPC modeling plays a key role in helping governments make difficult decisions in the time of crisis.