Join us on Tuesday, February 7 at 11:30 am (Pacific) for the kick-off session of the Spring 2012 Coast to Coast Seminar Series:

Speaker: Ljiljana Trajkovic, School of Engineering Science
Broadcast Live from: Simon Fraser University

Spectral Analysis and Dynamical Behavior of Complex Networks
Discovering properties of the Internet topology is important for evaluating performance of various network protocols and applications. The discovery of power-laws and the application of spectral analysis to the Internet topology data indicate a complex behavior of the underlying network infrastructure that carries a variety of the Internet applications. In this talk, we present analysis of datasets collected from the Route Views and RIPE projects. The analysis of collected data shows certain historical trends in the development of the Internet topology. While values of various power-laws exponents have not substantially changed over the recent years, spectral analysis of matrices associated with Internet graphs reveals notable changes in the clustering of Autonomous Systems and their connectivity.

This session is being broadcast at participating WestGrid partner institutions. Visit the Seminar Locations page to find a host site near you.

For more details on the entire series and other upcoming sessions, click here.

Upon completing its Fall 2011 series of seminars, the WestGrid Seminar Series is taking a brief hiatus for Spring 2012 to re-evaluate the design, content and delivery of its sessions. WestGrid has been collecting attendee feedback throughout the series, but if you have any additional suggestions for topics, speakers or methods of presenting the material, please send your ideas to info@westgrid.ca.

Stay tuned to the website for upcoming events as WestGrid's collaboration rooms will still be used for presenting partner events, such as the Coast to Coast Seminar Series and other institution-based HPC tutorials or seminars. On that note, if you have a research-related event, seminar or distributed videoconferencing need for which you would like to use WestGrid's collaboration facilities, please contact info@westgrid.ca.

Join us Wednesday, Nov 30 at 1:00 pm MST for the WestGrid and Compute Canada Seminar

Installing Software Packages on WestGrid Systems
Presented by Belaid Moa, HPC Specialist, University Systems, University of Victoria

TOPICS COVERED:

• Global software installation on a WestGrid system
• User-based software installation: When, where and how?
• Specific software package customization
• Software installation challenges faced by WestGrid users
• Effective guidelines to address these challenges

Researchers are invited to attend in person at a WestGrid Access Grid site. If your institution is not listed as a WestGrid accessible site and you would like to attend, please contact us for more information.

The WestGrid Seminar Series is shared live with researchers at participating WestGrid institutions via videoconference. The series explores how WestGrid and Compute Canada resources are being used to advance research investigations in the sciences, engineering, medicine and humanities. There are two types of seminars: resource training seminars and research-based seminars. The series is open to all users and researchers in Canada.

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Join us Tuesday, October 18 at 12:30 MST for the Coast to Coast Seminar...

Exploiting sub-structure in non-smooth optimization problems
By Warren Hare, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus
Mathematical Optimization, the study of how to locate maximizers and minimizers of a function, arises naturally in almost every scientific research field. Applications can be found in everything from microchips to forest roads. In many applications, the underlying optimization problem is non-differentiable, discontinuous, or worse. This has lead to new collections of very robust and powerful algorithms that work a a huge variety of problems. However, such approaches are often too slow for practical usage. In this talk we will discuss examples of how a close examination of an optimization problem can often reveal substructures that can used to help understand and solve the problem.

Click here for more info, including a list of locations.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

12:00 PST / 13:00 MST / 14:00 CST

Speaker: Patrick O'Leary, Director of Operations, WestGrid

Abstract: 

This introductory seminar will focus on introducing users to WestGrid. An overview of the WestGrid/Compute Canada structures will be given, as well as the description of our existing systems and new systems coming online. The seminar will also instruct attendees on how to obtain a WestGrid/Compute Canada account and cover all general operations issues. Details on the purchase plan for the upcoming year will be covered, as well specifications regarding the RAC process, including who should apply and how to apply. Information on who to contact for assistance with WestGrid/Compute Canada accounts and operations will be given.  

Join us on Tuesday, October 4 for the second Coast to Coast seminar of the season:

Modelling of cell movement in tissue and application to glioma growth

By Thomas Hillen, Department of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, University of Alberta

Hillen will discuss mathematical models for the movement of cells in aligned tissue. These cells are typically cancer metastasis, which invade along fibre tracks into healthy tissue. A new MRI modality called DTI imaging (diffusion tensor imaging) can be used to measure the fibrous structure inside the brain (e.g. white matter tracks). He will discuss how transport equations and non-isotropic diffusion equations can be used to implement DTI data into the modeling of glioma growth.

Click here for more info on the Coast to Coast Seminar Series.

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We are pleased to announce the dates for the Fall 2011 WestGrid Seminar Series:

• October 12: Introduction to WestGrid, Patrick O’Leary, Director of Operations, and Rob Simmonds, Chief Technology Officer, WestGrid
• October 19: How to Use WestGrid Resources, Edmund Sumbar, Programmer and Systems Analyst, Academic Information and Communication Technologies, University of Alberta
• November 16: How to Schedule Jobs on WestGrid Resources, Martin Siegert, Professor, Department of Physics, Simon Fraser University, and WestGrid Site Lead
• November 23: Using WestGrid Resources to Simulate and Understand Elementary Chemical Processes, A Research-based Presentation, Georg Schreckenbach, Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Manitoba
• November 30: How to Install Software in Your Home Directory, Belaid Moa, HPC Specialist, University Systems, University of Victoria

The WestGrid and Compute Canada Seminar Series is shared across participating institutions via videoconference. The seminars are also webcast at www.westgrid.ca/live. The series explores how WestGrid and Compute Canada resources are being used to advance research investigations in the sciences, engineering, medicine and humanities.

Times:

Coming soon...

The University of Alberta Academic Information and Communication Technologies' (AICT) Visualization Tools and Techniques Workshop is on now until August 19. Broken into a series of courses, the workshop is focused on the tools and techniques of scientific visualization. The courses will involve hands-on examples for participants to work through to reinforce discussion of theory. These courses are offered without charge, but registration is required. Click here for more information.