University of Oklahoma

Braden Starcher

• What's your major and what led you to pick it?
  My major is computer engineering. Firstly, I was lead to programming by my high school hobby, graphic design. Eventually, I started writing small bits of code for After Effects animation effects, and got interested in coding. After I began some more serious coding and was exposed to supercomputing, I’ve changed direction towards HPC applications and big data, and the best major for this at the University of Oklahoma was computer engineering. Computer engineering sets you on course to learn just the right mixture of programming skills and hardware knowledge to ensure you can tackle HPC and big data problems.
• In what other events like this have you competed? Was that as a team or individually? How did you do?
  The only other competition I’ve been in is SC14. It was a team competition. I personally didn’t do as well as I wanted. I would have spent a lot more time helping in hardware considerations if I could go back, and spend time improving my sysadmin skills for the mystery application and troubleshooting stubborn datasets.
• What training routine are you following to prepare for this year's SCC15 competition?
  Reading a lot of books, learning more about hardware, going back and doing Linux exercises from the RHEL sysadmin training book.
• What's your primary role on your current team and why did you get that assignment?
  I am on the sysadmin team because I have a lot of experience setting up the last cluster.
• What's been your most challenging assignment in preparing for this competition? Do you think that assignment gave you an advantage in the competition?
  The most challenging to me is deciding on hardware because I’m not a hardware genius like some people seem to be—you can say a random string of letters and numbers and they know the part and vendor like it’s nothing. Some people on our team are like that, so I’d say we have an advantage as an outsider looking in.
• What's been the easiest part of preparing for the competition so far? How about the most difficult?
  The easiest part was not having to deal with licenses to activate the software.
• What architectural details can you share that will put fear into the hearts of your competitors?
  More is less.
• What do you like about mysteries? How are your preparing for the mystery application?
  The mystery aspect of the competition is the best way to view everyone’s skills since nobody will have help from their mentors. I’ll be more prepared by training more intensely than last time.
• Why do you want to win? What are you willing to do to win?
  I want to win because I want to prove that my school has the resources to mentor students and produce generations of hard working engineers. I’m willing to work an additional 20 hours a week on top of my 16 hour class schedule.
• What are you planning to do after the competition is over?
  Bug the vendors for internships.

Chase Gough

• What's your major and what led you to pick it?
  Physical Analysis and Modelling
• In what other events like this have you competed? Was that as a team or individually? How did you do?
  Student Cluster Competition SC14. We performed below our own expectations due to lack of experience.
• What training routine are you following to prepare for this year's SCC15 competition?
  Daily team meetings over the summer. Utilizing free time.
• What's your primary role on your current team and why did you get that assignment?
  Responsibility for MILC. Physics background.
• What's been your most challenging assignment in preparing for this competition?
  Do you think that assignment gave you an advantage in the competition? Optimizing MILC. I hope it has.
• What's been the easiest part of preparing for the competition so far? How about the most difficult?
  Team communication.
  Time management.
• What architectural details can you share that will put fear into the hearts of your competitors?
  We are not using accelerators. This means no wasted power on applications that cannot utilize them.
• What do you like about mysteries? How are you preparing for the mystery application?
  The mystery application tests general knowledge of an hpc system. The limited time aspect of the mystery application is very exciting. Our team members focus on a specific application. This gives us a wider range of deeper knowledge to draw from when the mystery application is revealed.
• Why do you want to win? What are you willing to do to win?
  We want to prove our excellent understanding of HPC systems and the application of this knowledge in our design. Sleep very little.
• What are you planning to do after the competition is over?
  Sleep very much.

Katy Franks

• What's your major and what led you to pick it?
  My major is Geographic Information Science. I have always been interested in big data, maps, and design. This incorporates all of these elements which really intrigued me. GIS also has a great after graduation job market, so I know I can be successful in this field.
• In what other events like this have you competed? Was that as a team or individually? How did you do?
  I previously competed on the first team from the University of Oklahoma accepted to compete in the competition at SC15. It was a great experience, we definitely learned a lot and really were able to get a good look as to how everything works at the competition and what to expect. Things may have been a little rocky, but every team has to start somewhere and we can only go up from there.
• What training routine are you following to prepare for this year's SCC15 competition?
  We have been meeting daily this summer, compiling applications with different compilers, benchmarking, running practice simulations of the applications, and just getting everything on our machine running smoothly.
• What's your primary role on your current team and why did you get that assignment?
  My primary role on the current team is team captain. I really tried this summer to be a good role model for the new team members, to encourage them to learn new things, and tried to push them past their limits.
• What's been your most challenging assignment in preparing for this competition? Do you think that assignment gave you an advantage in the competition?
  The most challenging thing in this competition has probably been getting all of the logistics figured out with our sponsors. It is always a nerve wrecking thing having to rely on someone else to follow through and get things done. It is definitely a test of my patience and faith.
• What's been the easiest part of preparing for the competition so far? How about the most difficult?
  Easiest for me has been learning my application. WRF, although it is a very intense and time consuming application it is so fascinating! The hardest part about preparing for the competition is probably being the one that has to maintain a level head and positive attitude at all times. Being the person that is to set the tone and example for others that have yet to experience this competition can be very challenging.
• What architectural details can you share that will put fear into the hearts of your competitors?
  Kathryn Franks, Senior GIS, University of Oklahoma
• What do you like about mysteries? How are you preparing for the mystery application?
  There is always a distinct feeling that goes along with mysteries. There is definitely an aspect of suspense when it comes to not knowing what to expect. There is also the rush of excitement when the mystery is announced and the sigh of relief. We are trying to become familiar with other applications out there that are similar to HPCC as the committee said the application will take the place of HPCC used in previous years.
• Why do you want to win? What are you willing to do to win? 10. What are you planning to do after the competition is over?
  Who doesn’t like winning?! I think winning would definitely bring great eyes upon the University of Oklahoma and the great things we are doing in High Performance Computing. It would definitely help grow our club, as I am a founding member of the Sooner Supercomputing Club at the university, it is important that my legacy lives on throughout the years. Also, just being able to get students involved in HPC and big data would be a huge step for the STEM field. Just being able to have part in that is a good reason to win.
  
  We will do whatever it take to win, sleep less, read more, compute more, drink more coffee, drink more water. Work as a team. These are all things that I plan to do to win.
  
  After the competition is over, I plan to sleep, but first study for a midterm that is the following Tuesday. Gotta love juggling the aspects of school and extracurricular activities! Then, I plan to eat a lot of yummy turkey at my family thanksgiving celebration. Also, I plan to celebrate with my team every success and failure that we encounter.

Mark Glose

• I chose Computer Engineering because I've always liked tinkering with computers and circuits and thought, why not make a career out of it?
• This will be my first event like this
• Along with my finger and neck exercises, I am constantly recompiling programs with different parameters to see if I can shave those extra seconds off the run time.
• My primary role is working on the HPC Repast application.
• Figuring out what my errors mean and how to solve them.
• Learning how to use bash and navigating through the file system.
• I like the fun in discovering the mystery.
• I want to win because we've put a lot of hard work into our cluster.
• I would want to get back to my other programming projects and Clubs that I've been neglecting in order to prepare for this competition

Nicholas Scalzo

• My major is computer engineering. I decided to go with computer engineering because I took three years of computer science in High School and really enjoyed it.
• I competed in Odyssey of the Mind in high school. It was a team activity. We placed in the top three at world finals for three years.
• I am spending time everyday this summer and twice a week working on my application.
• My current role is co-system administrator. I got the position because I showed the most interest in hardware.
• My most challenging application has been setting up the workload manager. I think having a workload manager is essential for competing.
• The easiest part of the competition was installing the operating system. The most difficult part was troubleshooting the workload manager.
• I prefer to leave these things a mystery.
• I like the fact that the mystery application makes you think on your feet.We are looking into hpl like application.
• We want to win to show everybody what the Sooners can do! We are willing to work hard to make sure the computer is ready to compete.
• We are planning on partying after the competition is done.

Ryden Neal

• What's your major and what led you to pick it?
  Computer Engineering. I picked it because I love computers, physics, and math. My ADD led me to pick the major with all of those subjects combined.
• In what other events like this have you competed? Was that as a team or individually? How did you do?
  I haven't participated in an event of this scale before.
• What training routine are you following to prepare for this year's SCC15 competition?
  For training schedule during the summer I was meeting with the team on a daily basis Monday thru Friday in order to learn the basics of Linux, Compiling, and Parallel Processing. Since school has started back up I'm now working more independently but still meeting with the team at least twice a week to keep me on track.
• What's your primary role on your current team and why did you get that assignment?
  My primary assignment was to work on the Trinity program. I ended up with this job because I'm very familiar with the RNA transcription process and have a background in Nursing and the sciences that go along with that.
• What's been your most challenging assignment in preparing for this competition? Do you think that assignment gave you an advantage in the competition?
  My most challenging assignment in preparing for this competition was honestly to get all of programs compiled and running correctly. I think it gives me an advantage in the fact that I now know how to troubleshoot problems with compiling more efficiently now.
• What's been the easiest part of preparing for the competition so far? How about the most difficult? There was an easy part?
  I'm not aware of anything so far being easy so far since I just started. Before joining team I had only used Windows. Learning all of the intricacies of Linux and parallel computing have been difficult because of my zero experience.
• What architectural details can you share that will put fear into the hearts of your competitors?
  Our cluster is built of many materials, such as, silicon.
• What do you like about mysteries? How are your preparing for the mystery application?
  I prepared for the mystery application by trying to compile many different programs in different ways.
• Why do you want to win? What are you willing to do to win?
  I want to win because it would be an achievement to actually say that I can proficiently tune a SUPERCOMPUTING program. How many of your family members and friends would be mystified? In order to win I'm willing to spend my summer and free time from classes to working on this competition.
• What are you planning to do after the competition is over?
  After the competition is over I plan on studying everything about the results because there is still so much more to learn. I can see my mistakes and the results of everyone to further my understanding of HPC. With this knowledge I will immediately start to look towards the next competition.