The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) will participate in the fifth National Computational Science Alliance Chautauqua, giving users and educators an opportunity to learn about Access Grid technologies. Registration is free for the event (see http://www.ncsa.edu/chautauqua).
The Chautauquana nationwide conference to showcase the technologies and research of the AllianceÑwill be held Aug. 1-3. The University of Kansas will host the conference, and as many as nine sites are expected to connect to the events through the Access Grid.
The Access Grid refers to the technology used to link people together in virtual spaces, such as teamwork sessions, remote training programs, and distance education classes.
Originally a Seneca Indian word for "meeting" or "gathering," this year's Chautauquas (in Columbus and Kansas) build upon late 19th century traveling educational meetings. Recent technological developments were taught to participants from diverse locations and backgrounds through Internet2, just as an increasingly diverse American population learned the latest innovations of the industrial revolution a century ago.
"The Alliance Chautauqua 2000 meetings follow the success we had last year when we used these events to introduce the Access Grid as an environment for distributed meetings," said Alliance Director Dan Reed.
The main purpose of this year's Chautauqua conference is to introduce researchers, educators, and students to the collaborative environment of the Access Grid and to specific uses of the Computational Grid as a computing resource for research. Through powerful computers and networks, the Access Grid links people in virtual spaces regardless of their physical location. The use of Internet2 technology during the OSC Chautauqua provided the highest quality multi-channel video and audio available.
Conference sessions will be broadcast over the Access Grid as researchers and scientists from around the country participate. Some of the highlights of the Kansas Chautauqua include:
- The Vision of Scientific Computing for the 21st Century by Alliance Director Dan Reed.
- Emerging Grid Technologies by Rick Stevens, Alliance chief computational architect and head of the Mathematics and Computer Science division at Argonne National Laboratory.
- Examples of how advanced technology is aiding the research efforts of scientists.
- In-depth tutorials such as the "Use of Enabling Technologies for Research Competitiveness" for bioinformatics and computational materials sciences.
OSC, a state supported resource, provides a reliable high performance computing and communications infrastructure for a diverse, statewide/regional community including education, academic research, industry, and state government. As a shared resource, OSC accelerates the use of information technologies to strengthen the state's attractiveness and global competitiveness.
