2016 GPU Hackathons

We are excited to announce 2016 GPU Hackathons!

Background
General-purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPUs) potentially offer exceptionally high memory bandwidth and performance for a wide range of applications. The challenge in utilizing such accelerators has been the difficulty in programming them.  The OpenACC Directives for Accelerators offers straightforward pragma extensions to C++ and Fortran to address this programming hurdle, but other GPU programming paradigms are also welcome.

Hackathon goal
The goal of each hackathon is for current or prospective user groups of large hybrid CPU-GPU systems to send teams of at least 3 developers along with either (1) a (potentially) scalable application that needs to be ported to GPU accelerators, or (2) an application running on accelerators which needs optimization. There will be intensive mentoring during this 5-day hands-on workshop, with the goal that the teams leave with applications running on GPUs, or at least with a clear roadmap of how to get there.  Our mentors come from national laboratories, universities and vendors, and besides having extensive experience in programming with OpenACC/CUDA, many of them develop the GPU-capable compilers and help define the OpenACC standard.

Target audience and format
We are looking for teams of 3-6 developers with a scalable** application to port to or optimize on a GPU accelerator. Collectively the team should know the application intimately. If application is a suite of apps, no more than two per team is allowed and a minimum of 2 people per app must attend.

(** by scalable we really mean node-to-node communication implemented, but don’t be discouraged to apply if your application is less than scalable. We are also looking for breadth of application areas.)

Ok, so how can I attend?
Prior GPU experience is not required! Entry period will stay open for only 2 weeks, per event! See events below for deadlines. Selected teams will be notified approximately a week after deadline closes.

What applications are you targeting?
No application domain specifically. We hope to have open-source community codes in need of porting individual modules. This is a great opportunity for grad students and post-docs.

Will there be prizes?
Besides your code running über fast on a machine like Blue Waters, Piz Daint and Titan? At the end of the event, you will divulge your amazing transformation into OpenACC Expert, in front of your admiring fans. We also are working to setup opportunities for your team to present your work at upcoming supercomputing related conferences such as SC, GTC, CUG, ISC. Oh and one more thing…there may be goodies too. Stay tuned! ;)

But what if I want to use something other than OpenACC?
For beginners, we recommend starting with OpenACC, but we are opening this year to other GPU paradigms for those that have apps that already have some partial GPU port. We also host a number of events on programming hybrid architectures. Please visit the OLCF training events page for more info.

But we don’t even know how to use OpenACC…
Programming experience with OpenACC is not a requirement. You will learn quickly in the intense 5-day schedule, working on your code 95% of the time with the mentors.  In the weeks preceding the hackathon, you will have a chance to attend training to prepare you for the event.

Participation Costs
Participation in the training event is free of charge. The meeting room and lunches, as well as access to the supercomputers throughout the event are offered by participating sites. Mentors and learning materials introduced by the instructors are sponsored by participating sites the following partner organizations: Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility(OLCF), National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), Swiss National Supercomputing Centre (CSCS), Tokyo Institute of Technology, Technische Universität Dresden, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Delaware, Jülich Supercomputing Centre, Cray, NVIDIA, PGI, and IBM.

Who can I contact for more information or questions?
Please contact Fernanda Foertter [email protected] for questions.

Where are these Hackathons being held?
This year we are partnering with multiple centers to bring hackathons to more locations.  Three have already been scheduled with more in the works. Please see tabs below for details.

EuroHack@Dresden, Feb 2016

Dates: Feb 29-Mar 4, 2016, Deadline extended!  December 18th.
Venue: This hackathon will be held at TU-Dresden in partnership with Jülich Supercomputing Center.
Lodging: Information will be available soon.

UDelHack, May 2016

Dates: May 2-6 Deadline Feb 19th.
Venue: University of Delaware
Lodging: Information will be available soon.

EuroHack@CSCS, July 2016 

Dates: July 4-8 Deadline April 9th.  (more info)
Venue: Hotel de la Paix, located in Lugano
Lodging: Hotel de la Paix, located in Lugano

OLCFHack, October 2016

Dates: October 17-21, 2016
Venue: This hackathon will be hosted at the Knoxville Marriott in Knoxville, TN.
Lodging:

If your team has been accepted, please have every individual register for the Hackathon below: