Retirement of our SX-ACE

On July 31, 2020 at 3:00 p.m., the Cyber Science Center’s supercomputing system with SX-ACE, has been shut down for a system upgrade.
The old system has been in operation since February 2015 and has produced numerous results while being used by researchers across Japan.
Here are SX-ACE at the time of its introduction (above) and before its shut down (below).
Let’s spot the difference!
The answer is added “translucent partitions”!
SX-ACE is cooled by cold air drawn in from the front, and the warmed air is exhausted from the back.
By separating them with partitions, the cooling efficiency was improved.
Improvements in performance have been made while operation!
The system is currently being replaced with a new system with SX-Aurora TSUBASA and is scheduled to be operational in October 2020.
We are looking forward to it, including its nickname!
Click here for the list of research results from the supercomputing system (In Japanese)

IEEE Computer Society Japan Chapter xSIG Young Researcher Award @SWoPP 2020

The SWoPP 2020 will be held  on July 29-31 2020.  M1 student Ishizuka  got the IEEE Computer Society Japan Chapter xSIG Young Researcher Award at this conference.


New Supercomputer System

Cyberscience Center’s new supercomputer system will be in service from Oct. 2020.

Performance information:
https://www.cc.tohoku.ac.jp/NEWS/newcomputer/new-supercomputer-2020.html
The Tohoku University is soliciting the nickname for this new system from the public.
If you are interested, please check the details at the following link:
(Please be reminded that the deadline for submission of proposals is on the 31st of July)
https://www.cc.tohoku.ac.jp/news.html?url=https://www.cc.tohoku.ac.jp/NEWS/nickname/nickname-supercomputer.html

Mike and Sasaki made a poster presentation at ISC2020

Japan Captures TOP500 Crown with Arm-Powered Supercomputer.
The new TOP500 list was released at ISC (International Supercomputing Conference). The inaugural ISC 2020 Digital held from Monday, June 22 – Thursday, June 25, replacing the live event in Frankfurt attracted 4,735 participants from 94 countries, emerging as a very successful online event for the HPC community.
Our lab also participated in ISC 2020. M2 student Mike and M1 student Sasaki gave a poster presentation.

Challenges in Solving Scheduling Problems with the D-Wave Quantum Annealer
Michael R. Zielewski, Mulya Agung, Ryusuke Egawa, Hiroyuki Takizawa

Quantum Compiler : Automatic Vectorization Assisted by Quantum Annealer
Yuta Sasaki, Michael R. Zielewski, Mulya Agung, Ryusuke Egawa, Hiroyuki Takizawa
Please check the details at the following link:
http://2020.isc-program.com/

HPC IN ASIA POSTER AWARD at ISC2020

The International Supercomputing Conference (ISC2020) was held on June 22~25, 2020. M2 student Michael Ryan Zielewski got the HPC IN ASIA POSTER AWARD at this conference.
Challenges in Solving Scheduling Problems with the D-Wave Quantum Annealer
Michael R. Zielewski, Mulya Agung, Ryusuke Egawa, Hiroyuki Takizawa

Online welcome party was held.

Welcome three new B3 students to become a member of our lab!
An online party was held. It seems like hosting an online party is increasingly becoming a new way during the Covid-19 outbreak.
B3 students introduced themselves at first.

Students played games together.

Everyone enjoyed the party and had a great time.
We hope to have a long and successful journey together.

Presentation at iWAPT2020

The Fifteenth International Workshop on Automatic Performance Tuning (iWAPT2020) was held from 18th to 22nd May. Two students participated and presented their work. Their topics are as follows:
– Task Priority Control for the HPX Runtime System
Authors: Suhang Jiang, Mulya Agung, Ryusuke Egawa and Hiroyuki Takizawa (Tohoku University)
 

– Automatically Avoiding Memory Access Conflicts on SX-Aurora TSUBASA
Authors: Naoki Ebata, Ryusuke Egawa, Yoko Isobe (Tohoku University), Ryoji Takaki (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and Hiroyuki Takizawa (Tohoku University)

 
Because of the COVID-19, the iWAPT2020 was held in online discussion forum. If you want to view the presentation video with slide, please check the details at the following website:
http://www.iwapt.org/2020/iwapt2020-papers.html

Online drinking party was held for this new academic year

Finally, the academic year 2020 has begun!
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we cannot hold the kickoff party as usual.
Thus, an online drinking party was held.
More than expected, 13 people in total participated in the drinking party!

Despite the remote participation, we enjoyed delicious dishes and drinks and got excited.

On the other hand, because it’s remote and easy to participate, there was someone participated with his bed hair (lol)
I know things must be so tough these days due to the COVID-19.
That’s why we should keep healthy, and have a positive attitude towards the new academic year!

A scaled-down graduation ceremony was held in our lab

Due to the coronavirus, the graduation ceremony of Tohoku University was canceled. Instead, a small one was held in our lab.

M2 student Shitsuki

M2 student Jiang

M2 student Zhang

Group photo of all alumni this school year along with professors and secretary.
Hope all alumni could enjoy their job and study in the future.
Also, don’t forget to come back again and keep communications with our labmates!

Presentation at Multidisciplinary Seminar / Techno-Festival Match-making Session

Multidisciplinary Seminar was held on 28th Feb.
Techno-Festival Match-making Session was held on 29th Feb.
Because of the COVID-19, almost only the posters were exhibited.
Multidisciplinary Seminar is the event for M1 students from multi-disciplines to present their research achievements during the whole year, as well as their future plans.
Students Watanabe, Liu, Ke and Ebata presented there.

Liu was presenting his posters on 29th Feb.