[MODEST] Princeton GPU workshop

[Piet Hut]

Hi All,

Here is an announcement of a workshop that we are organizing
at IAS in Princeton, early November, on the use of Graphics
chips for astrophysics simulations.  My apologies if you get
more than one copy of this announcement,

Piet


**** PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS ANNOUNCEMENT TO YOUR COLLEAGUES
     WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN THE WORKSHOP. *****

***********************************************************************
Dear Colleagues,
    We are pleased to announce a two day workshop:

                      AstroGPU 2007
           IAS, Princeton, 9-10th November 2007
                 http://www.astrogpu.org

on high performance General Purpose Computation on Graphics Processing
Units (GPGPU) in Astronomy and Astrophysics, to be held November 9-10th
2007. at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ, USA.


Rationale and Goals
-------
Graphics processing unit (GPUs) are rapidly emerging as a powerful and
cost-effective general purpose platform for high performance computing.
The current generation of GPUs sports capabilities in TFLOP range,
already an order of magnitude greater than the most powerful x86 CPUs.

Such an increase in computational power opens opportunities to explore
previously inaccessible problems in astronomy and astrophysics. However,
it also brings the challenges of adapting existing algorithms and codes
(and devising new ones) to run efficiently on intrinsically massively
parallel SIMD/SPMD GPU architectures.

The goal of this workshop is to explore and discuss the applicability of
GPUs to astrophysical problems. It will bring together astrophysicists,
colleagues from other areas of science where GPGPU techniques have been
successfully applied, and representatives from the industry who will
demonstrate in tutorial sessions the GPU hardware, programming tools,
and GPGPU techniques.


Program Outline
------

A tentative program can be found at

	http://astrogpu.org/index.html#Program

The program is divided in three conceptually distinct sessions:
scientific talks, hands-on GPGPU tutorial and discussions. The
scientific talks will focus on current and emerging computational
problems in astrophysics requiring TFLOPS-level computational power, and
efforts under way to apply GPUs to astrophysical problems.

A one-day course on the CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) GPGPU
programming interface will be presented by representatives from NVIDIA.
The course will assume a basic knowledge of the C programming language.
Participants will be able (and encouraged) to experiment with sample
GPGPU codes both during and after the tutorial sessions. GPU hardware
and software will be provided, but participants are asked to bring their
own laptops in order to access it (with wired or wireless networking).

The workshop will conclude with a roundtable discussion on the
directions of high performance computing, the viability of GPUs as a
computing platform for astrophysics, and comparisons to alternatives
(Cell, GRAPE, etc.).


Participation
------

The workshop will be limited to ~70 participants. Those interested in
attending should preregister by filling out a form at:

	http://astrogpu.org/prereg.php

to receive further announcements and updates.

We expect no or only a modest registration fee. Hotel accommodation will
be offered at nearby hotels, possibly at reduced rates depending on the
number of participants. A list of hotels and rates will be posted on the
website in time for second announcement, which is expected in late August.

We may be able to provide some assistance to junior participants and
participants coming from outside of the US. If you need assistance to
attend the workshop, please send us a request by email (to
mjuric at ias.edu), with details about your needs and a brief justification.

Free wireless internet access will be provided at the Institute. A
limited number of public computers and wired ethernet connections will
also be available.


Invited and Contributed Papers
------

A current list of invited speakers may be found at

	http://astrogpu.org/index.html#Speakers

It will be updated as we receive confirmations and responses from the
speakers.

Due to time constraints, we do not plan for contributed oral
presentations. Participants are however encouraged to contribute poster
papers. There will be no proceedings.

Further details will be provided in time for second announcement.


Location
------
The Institute for Advanced Study is located in Princeton Township in
central New Jersey. The Institute is approximately 2km from the center
of the town of Princeton and is easily accessible by car, train, or taxi
from major cities along the Eastern seaboard. Major airports serving
Princeton include New York metropolitan area airports -- Newark (1 hour
by train or car), JFK or La Guardia (2-3 hours), and Philadelphia
airport (2-3 hours):

	http://www.ias.edu/about/directions/

For further information about the Institute and the School of Natural
Sciences, visit us at:

	http://www.sns.ias.edu/
	http://www.ias.edu/about/


Organizers
------
Mario Juric (Chair, IAS)
Piet Hut (IAS)
Eric Ford (U. Florida)


Please circulate this message widely to others you believe may be
interested.

On behalf of the organizers,
-- 
Mario Juric,
Member, School of Natural Sciences, Institute for Advanced Study
Web   :  http://www.sns.ias.edu/~mjuric
Phone :  +1 609 734 8352          PGP: ~mjuric/crypto/public.key

E-mail reading/answering policy:       http://majuric.org/email/