Department of Computer Science & Center for Computation and Technology
at Louisiana State University

Supercomputing, or more formally "High Performance Computing" (HPC), is the extraordinary new tool of mankind for predicting the future and controlling our world, complementing and augmenting the foundation paradigms of the scientific method of theory and empiricism. In a single life time, the capabilities of supercomputers have grown by more than a factor of a billion; greater than any other technologyl performance. The participating student will learn the concepts, methods, and means of HPC through a series of hands-on examples, exercises, and assignments to manage, apply, and evaluate the use of these greatest of all computers to real world problems. This course is being conveyed in a multi-media environment for maximum student convenience, accessibility, and interest. The course is being taught in high definition digital video via the internet with Access Grid technology com in human history. HPC is an interdisciplinary field combining digital electronics,computer architecture, system software, programming languages and tools, and algorithms and computational techniques, as well as the driver end applications that are served through these means. This introductory course in HPC provides a practical treatment of the topics comprising this dynamic field and their interrelationships tied together by the central cross-cutting theme of sustained computationabined with on-demand video streaming lecture segments for repetition, enhanced materials, and augmented explanatory discussions.