Kratzer on KRSN today
More than 250 New Mexico middle- and high-school students and their teachers are at the Laboratory next Monday and Tuesday (April 21-22) for judging and the awards ceremony in the 18th annual New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge.
Forty-seven teams are involved in the competition, said David Kratzer of High Performance Computing Systems (HPC-3), Laboratory coordinator of the Supercomputing Challenge. Another 40 Growing Up Thinking Scientifically (GUTS) teams also are presenting projects that they have been working on for several months, he said.
Kratzer is scheduled to talk about the challenge at 7:30 this morning on radio station KRSN AM 1490.
"The mission of the Supercomputing Challenge is to teach teams of middle and high schools students how to use powerful computers to analyze, model and solve real world problems," Kratzer said.
The goal of the year-long event is to increase knowledge of science and computing; expose students and teachers to computers and applied mathematics; and instill enthusiasm for science in middle- and high-school students, their families and communities. Any New Mexico high-school or middle-school student is eligible to enter the Supercomputing Challenge.
Laboratory personnel can visit the Santa Clara Gallery on the second floor of the J. Robert Oppenheimer Study Center on Monday afternoon to view posters that describe students' computational science projects.
Employees can watch judging of finalist teams Monday on LABNET Channel 9. Check the Supercomputing Challenge Web page later this week and again on Monday afternoon to find out when teams will be presenting.
While at Los Alamos, students will present their projects and take part in tours, talks and demonstrations with Laboratory technical staff members.
Student projects will be recognized during an awards ceremony from 9 to 11 a.m., Tuesday at the Church of Christ, 2323 Diamond Drive in Los Alamos.
Kratzer noted the support of nearly 100 Lab employees who volunteer to work on the Supercomputing Challenge. "Without the support of these volunteers we couldn't provide the first-class event we do for the students who have worked so hard to get to this point. I am grateful for their assistance," he said.
The Supercomputing Challenge was conceived in 1990 by former Laboratory Director Sig Hecker and Tom Thornhill, then president of New Mexico Technet Inc., a nonprofit company that in 1985 set up a computer network to link the state's national laboratories, universities, state government, and some private companies. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, and John Rollwagen, then chairman and chief executive officer of Cray Research Inc., added their support.
More information on the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge, including a list of student projects, is on the Supercomputing Challenge Web page. Or see the April issue of Currents magazine.
