Stronger networks, better science: A review of the NHR Summer School at KIT
Between 18 and 22 May, KIT became a hub for early-career researchers in high-performance computing (HPC) for a week: Fellows from the NHR Graduate School – the joint graduate school of the National High-Performance Computing (NHR) centres – gathered from all over Germany for this year’s NHR Summer School. For a week, doctoral students from Germany and abroad were able to deepen their specialist knowledge, network and gain fresh inspiration for their research. The varied programme, comprising academic exchange, practical training and insights into the HPC infrastructure at KIT and within the NHR Alliance, provided the ideal setting for this.
Right from the start, the poster session made it clear that the Summer School focuses on the exchange of ideas, experiences and research findings. The fellows presented their current projects, discussed academic issues and forged new contacts within the NHR network. As well as bringing together the four existing cohorts, the event also centred on welcoming the new fellows, who were attending the Summer School for the first time.
To kick off the Summer School, Dr Swantje Schirmer from the Karlsruhe House of Young Scientists (KHYS) provided valuable guidance on pursuing a career in science. With practical insights into the day-to-day realities of doctoral study and specific recommendations on how to structure the doctoral phase, she offered the participants a wealth of ideas.
A particular highlight was the excursion to the SCC’s data centre on KIT’s North Campus. There, the fellows gained fascinating insights into the research and computing infrastructure in place. The focus was on a visit to the HoreKa supercomputer, which impressively demonstrates the capabilities of modern high-performance computers (see photo). At the heart of the Summer School were the practice-oriented workshops, which were designed by experts from the participating NHR sites. Researchers from the University of Paderborn, KIT and RWTH Aachen University imparted key skills for academic work in the HPC environment.
The tutors from the Paderborn Centre for Parallel Computing (PC2) gave participants an introduction to the scientific and technical programming language Julia, providing them with an initial insight into the use of a modern programming language for HPC applications. In the courses on “Best practices in Research Software Engineering: Automated Testing and Documentation” and “Introduction to Performance Engineering”, experts from the SCC familiarised participants with methods and tools for version control and collaborative software development, as well as for analysing and optimising the efficiency of scientific applications – both of which are indispensable tools for modern research projects. This was complemented by presentations from RWTH Aachen University on the MPI standard – widely used in the HPC environment – as well as on research data management and metadata, which addressed the structured documentation, organisation and long-term reusability of scientific data.
The NHR Summer School has once again demonstrated how valuable the exchange between researchers from different disciplines and locations is for scientific progress. By combining professional development, interdisciplinary networking and collaborative work on current challenges in high-performance computing, new perspectives, contacts and ideas for future collaborations emerged.
The NHR Summer School is thus sending out a strong signal in support of promoting early-career researchers and strengthening the German HPC community.
Feedback indicated that participants benefited from numerous opportunities for learning, networking and professional exchange, and were able to take away valuable insights for their future research work.