High Performance Computing Lab | GWU | SEAS

"Comparative Analysis of High Level Programming for Reconfigurable Computers: Methodology and Empirical Study", a study conducted last summer at ARSC has won "Synplicity Best Paper Awards" at SPL2007 held on February 26-28, 2007 in Mar del Plata, Argentina. [Link]

Synplicity Best Paper Awards

Synplicity Inc. has donated four sets of their most popular and powerful products —Synplify® Premier (which includes Synplify Pro® and Identify®), Synplify® DSP and Certify® software to award the Universities of the winning papers at SPL 2007 and the Designer Forum.

Winners:

Esam El-Araby, Mohamed Taher, Mohamed Abouellail, Tarek El-Ghazawi, Gregory Newby
The George Washington Univeristy
"Comparative Analysis of High Level Programming for Reconfigurable Computers: Methodology and Empirical Study"

Heiko Hinkelmann, Kai Groneberg, Manfred Glesner
Darmstadt University of Technology
"A General Model for Common Hardware Reconfiguration Techniques and their Optimization"

F. Gago Rodríguez, L. F. Rodríguez Ramos, G. Herrera Carlés, J. V. Gigante, A. Alonso, T. Viera, J. Piqueras, J. J. Díaz García
Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
"TIP-TILT Mirror Control Based on FPGA for an Adaptive Optics System"

Diego E. Costa, Esteban M. Peláez, Carlos F. Sosa Páez, Héctor Vellón
Universidad Nacional de San Luis
"Administrador de Paquetes para Capa de Protocolo USB 2.0"

"... The National Science Foundation announced last month that it would award GW with the funding to create a Center for High Performance Reconfigurable Computing in Tompkins Hall. The initiative is helping pave the way for the development of some of the world's most advanced and compact computers..." [Link]

Engineering School gets grant for advanced computing center

by Andrew Metcalf
Hatchet Reporter

"...The George Washington University's Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald R. Lehman announced today the selection of eight new signature academic programs and five strategic initiatives that will receive nearly $2.4 million as part of the University's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence. The funding comes from a nearly $4.5 million special endowment payout approved by GW's Board of Trustees..." [Link]

January 31, 2007

MEDIA CONTACT:
Matt Lindsay: (202) 994-1423; mlindsay@gwu.edu

GW EARMARKS $2.4 MILLION TO ADVANCE EIGHT NEW AREAS OF ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE AND FIVE STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

Funds Provided Through Special Endowment Payout Will Provide Tangible Benefits Including Additional Language Instructors, Funding for New Research Endeavors, and New Technology to Improve Teaching and Learning

WASHINGTON -- The George Washington University's Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Donald R. Lehman announced today the selection of eight new signature academic programs and five strategic initiatives that will receive nearly $2.4 million as part of the University's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence. The funding comes from a nearly $4.5 million special endowment payout approved by GW's Board of Trustees. Lehman plans to use the remaining money from this payout to recruit several senior faculty members to GW to help "catapult departments to a new level." The eight new areas of strategic academic excellence and five strategic initiatives supplement the original seven areas of academic excellence inaugurated during GW's 2002-2003 academic year.

The eight new signature academic programs are biomimetics and bioinspired engineering, corporate responsibility, decision sciences, evolution and systematics, high-performance computing, sociology, special education, and systems biology. The five strategic initiatives receiving funding are the University Writing and Writing-in-Discipline programs, language instruction in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences, international initiatives in GW's Elliott School of International Affairs, podcasting through GW Academic Technologies, and a new electronic classroom in GW's Gelman Library.

"During Steve Trachtenberg's 19 years as president, GW has raised the quality of undergraduate and graduate education and gained momentum toward becoming a top-tier research institution," said Lehman. "GW's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence is guiding our efforts to reach higher levels of excellence and prestige and the Board of Trustees is helping move us forward with the special endowment payout. This is an exciting time for GW."

The funds devoted to the eight new areas of academic excellence will help establish and advance innovative centers and institutes at GW, including the Institute for Corporate Responsibility, the Institute for Integrating Statistics in Decision Sciences, the Institute for Massively Parallel Applications and Computing Technologies, and the Center for Biomimetics and Bioinspired Engineering. Additionally, the support will help provide GW faculty and students with advanced research and learning opportunities in the areas of evolution, molecular biological systems, urban social and economic inequality, and special education.

The tangible outcomes expected from the five strategic initiatives include the addition of 15 new language instructors in the Columbian College; the launch of two new research institutes focused on the Middle East and international security and conflict at the Elliott School; the debut of an additional high-tech classroom available for teaching, research, and writing in Gelman Library; the enhancement of student learning via podcast lectures and other material from select courses for 24/7 access by students through Academic Technologies; and greater support for the University Writing Program, including an increase in the number of Writing-in-Discipline courses available to students.

"We want to build on the existing strengths at the University," explained Lehman. "The programs that we have targeted for investment have the potential to improve educational quality and enhance research in areas that are meaningful to our faculty and students and of importance to society."

The new signature academic excellence programs and strategic initiatives were selected after a rigorous proposal process. Lehman led an effort to solicit two different groups of proposals from within the University to select the recipients of funds from the special endowment payout. Deans, vice presidents, directors of the GW schools and colleges (excluding the Law School and Medical School), and the primary academic units, such as Gelman Library, were solicited for proposals with a minimum request of $250,000 and a maximum request of $500,000. GW's faculty was solicited for proposals with a minimum request of $100,000 and a maximum request of $200,000. All of the applicants for the new signature program funding were required to identify matching funds available by Sept. 1, 2007 - 100 percent matching for the dean/associate vice president proposals, 50 percent matching for the faculty proposals. Each of the proposals was evaluated based on its relevance to a specific goal or goals/objectives of the University's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence and its ability to produce measurable outcomes that will enhance GW's prestige and reputation.

The first group of proposals - from the deans, associate VPs, directors, and primary academic units - were reviewed and selected by Lehman. The GW faculty submissions were evaluated and chosen by a panel comprising two deans and five senior faculty, and chaired by Lehman, who did not vote in their selection.

In the five years since the inception of the selective excellence initiative, GW has invested more than $7.8 million in its seven original signature programs. The original seven areas of excellence, which continue to receive University funding, are biomedical engineering, history, human evolution, political science, public policy/public administration, the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and transportation safety and security. Many of the original seven areas of academic excellence have seen an increase in outside research funding, improved student quality and selectivity, additional educational and research opportunities for students, more tenured faculty teaching undergraduate courses, and improved student job placement, among other notable accomplishments.

Located four blocks from the White House, The George Washington University was created by an Act of Congress in 1821. Today, GW is the largest institution of higher education in the nation's capital. The University offers comprehensive programs of undergraduate and graduate liberal arts study as well as degree programs in medicine, public health, law, engineering, education, business, and international affairs. Each year, GW enrolls a diverse population of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 120 countries.

For more information on GW's Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence, visit www.gwu.edu/~newsctr/strategicplan.cfm.
For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at www.gwnewscenter.org.

-GW-

"....Research in the field of high-performance computing at the University received a powerful boost with the recent establishment at GW of the National Science Foundation Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing (CHREC). Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), its Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers program (I/UCRC), and more than 20 government and industrial organizations, CHREC will be one of the world’s most advanced research centers for high- performance reconfigurable computers, known as supercomputers...." [Link]

New Center Paves Way for Supercomputer Research and Development

By Zak M. Salih

"Research in the field of high-performance computing at the University received a powerful boost with the recent establishment at GW of the National Science Foundation Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing (CHREC). Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), its Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers program (I/UCRC), and more than 20 government and industrial organizations, CHREC will be one of the world’s most advanced research centers for high- performance reconfigurable computers, known as supercomputers.

In addition to GW, the University of Florida will host a CHREC location. Two other universities— Virginia Tech and Brigham Young—also will become partner institutions pending approval of their proposals by the NSF.

The field of high-performance reconfigurable computing involves the use of computers with both a standard processor and pieces of hardware that can be reconfigured to execute more specific tasks. The last decade has seen advancement in the study and use of these types of machines.

The center’s goals include establishing the nation’s first multidisciplinary research center in reconfigurable high-performance computing; cost-effectively supporting the research needs of other partners; enhancing the educational experience for graduate and undergraduate students; and advancing the technology and knowledge in the field with an emphasis on commercial relevance.

A key component of the new center is its cooperation with numerous research partners and founding members in government and industry, including the National Security Agency, Intel, Oak Ridge National Lab, Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, Intel Coporation, Silicon Graphics, Linux Networks, Hewlett-Packard, and the National Cancer Institute. These members, instrumental in helping CHREC secure initial funding from the NSF, also provide significant cash resources through annual membership fees in CHREC in addition to state-of-the-art equipment. In return, they play a hands-on role in the research process and have full access to the center’s work.

According to Tarek El-Ghazawi, GW professor of engineering and applied science and co-director of CHREC, the center’s corporate partners are very enthusiastic about its work. “Not too many of these big corporations have yet started their own research and development efforts in the field,” he says.

Each of the four partner institutions will focus on a particular area: GW on high-performance computing, the University of Florida on embedded systems, Virginia Tech on user interface, and Brigham Young on debugging and other chip-level issues. “It’s a very complimentary group,” says El-Ghazawi.

The GW site currently has three projects planned for 2007-08. El-Ghazawi
and a team of professors

and graduate students will explore and streamline computer applications to make them run as fast as possible, focus on biomedical imaging and gene sequencing in a study of portable applications used in hospitals, and examine how to productively program high-performance reconfigurable computers.

“GW and its partner institution are doing breakthrough research that is industrially relevant and will help the United States maintain competitiveness within the computer industry,” says Alex Schwartzkopf, director of the I/UCRC program at the NSF.

Alan George, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Florida and director of CHREC, agrees that GW’s participation is integral to the center’s work. “Because of its academic and research excellence in high-performance and reconfigurable computing, GW is widely respected and serves a vital role in the success of this new NSF center,” he says.

El-Ghazawi hopes CHREC will create momentum to attract more top faculty and students and strengthen the University’s expertise in the field. Already, other universities including Washington University, Rice University, and the University of California, Riverside, have expressed interest in the center.

“We definitely would like to see it become self- sustained once the initial NSF support ends,” El-Ghazawi says. “Also, from a structural and operational perspective, we’d like to use this as a vehicle to advance our own education and research agenda at GW.”

"...Two new GW centers will emerge from the winning proposals:[.....] The Institute for Massively Parallel Applications and Computing Technology (IMPACT), an interdisciplinary faculty team spanning the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Columbian College that will conduct research, educational, and outreach programs in high- performance computing, known as supercomputers..." [Link]

Language Instruction, Podcasting Among 13 Targeted Areas

By Jamie L. Freedman

The new year started on an exciting note at GW, with the University announcing the selection of 13 areas of excellence earmarked to receive substantial funding over the next several years, thanks to a special $4.5 million endowment payout. The Board of Trustees approved the investment to help propel GW to the next level of academic excellence, in accordance with the University’s strategic plan.

GW’s latest round of targeted program investment comes on the heels of a highly successful, multiyear initiative launched in 2003 providing valuable support to seven academic signature programs (see related story, page 4). Proposals, solicited from across the disciplines, were subject to a rigorous review process by a seven-member panel of deans and faculty members.

“We received an outstanding group of proposals,” says Donald R. Lehman, executive vice president for academic affairs, who oversaw the process. The criteria were stringent, requiring all candidates to address a specific goal of the University’s Strategic Plan for Academic Excellence in their proposals, as well as to identify substantial matching funds from their own budgets.

Thirteen proposals emerged victorious—eight submitted by faculty members and five directly by the deans. “In all evaluations, the bulk of the emphasis was placed on whether the proposed investment would address the goals of the strategic plan and enhance the University’s prestige and reputation,” says Lehman.

The five winning proposals submitted by the deans—funded as strategic initiatives—will pump additional funds into the University Writing Program, language instruction, international initiatives, an electronic classroom at Gelman Library for the University Writing Program, and podcasting. The eight selected faculty proposals—coined the new signature programs—include Discovering and Interpreting the Diversity of Life; Urban Inequality: Costs, Consequences, and Policy Responses; Systems Biology: Virus-host Interaction; Doctoral Study in Special Education; Institute for Corporate Responsibility; Institute for Integrating Statistics in Decision Sciences; Center for Biomimetics and Bioinspired Engineering (COBRE); and High Performance Computing Technology and Applications.

Two new GW centers will emerge from the winning proposals: COBRE, directed by Rajat Mittal, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and the Institute for Corporate Responsibility, directed by Timothy Fort, Lindner-Gambal Professor of Business Ethics. “In the last few decades, much of the focus in engineering has shifted to small, multi-functional machines, technologies, and devices,” explains Mittal. COBRE’s goal is to facilitate and develop infrastructure for interdisciplinary research and education in the rapidly growing area of biomimetics and bioinspired engineering. The Institute for Corporate Responsibility will focus on four programs: peace through commerce, environmental sustainability, corporate governance, and global stakeholder strategies through scholarship, research, conferences, and global partnerships with business and government.

The deans’ strategic initiatives spotlight some of the hottest topics in academia today. A dozen GW classrooms are now podcast enabled through Colonial Cast, sponsored by GW’s Academic Technologies in conjunction with Apple Computer’s iTunes U, making it possible for students to access lectures and related videos 24/7 on their iPods, MP3 players, and personal computers. Academic Technologies, which is carefully monitoring the use of the podcasts by students to assess improvements in learning, says the number of courses participating in Colonial Cast will double or triple this spring.

A second state-of-the-art electronic classroom currently is under construction in Gelman Library to provide instruction in research and writing techniques to students in the University Writing 20 (UW20) and Writing-in-Discipline (WID) courses. Gelman Library was allocated a one-time endowment payout of $250,000
to cover construction costs of the e-classroom, which will be operational next fall. The acclaimed University Writing Program also is the recipient of funds to increase the number of WID courses and maximize training and support.

GW is poised to catapult to the forefront of foreign language instruction through Columbian College of Arts and Sciences’ language instruction initiative. Funds will help bolster language instruction at GW by creating a technology-based
language center and adding 15 foreign language faculty specializing
in Arabic, Chinese, French, Hebrew, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and American Sign Language. “High-level foreign language instruction is critical to providing a top-notch undergraduate education at GW as a global university delivering core competencies,” says Lehman.

International initiatives also received top billing among endowment-funded programs, with the Elliott School of International Affairs receiving money to strengthen graduate education, research, engagement, and advancement. “In the area of graduate education, the funds will support an expansion of our recruitment efforts for all 11 master’s programs, plus provide additional support for staff and program activities, helping us to better serve our 650 graduate students,” says Elliott School Associate Dean Kristin Lord. The funds also will support the launch of two new research institutes— focused on the Middle East and on international security and conflict—and a signature lecture series analyzing topics such as the future of democracy.

Another new institute arising from the University endowment payout is the Institute for Massively Parallel Applications and Computing Technology (IMPACT), an interdisciplinary faculty team spanning the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Columbian College that will conduct research, educational, and outreach programs in high- performance computing, known as supercomputers.

This year, $2.4 million of the special endowment funds will be allocated, shored up by matching funds of nearly $1.9 million. The remaining $2.1 million will be targeted toward strategic hires of senior faculty beginning in the fall. “Selective hiring of top faculty in our areas of strength will add stature, depth, and visibility to our programs,” says Lehman.

“Selective excellence is ultimately about building prestige and propelling GW into the ranks of top-tier research institutions,” Lehman explains. “These types of high-impact investments pay off, as shown by the strength of our seven original signature programs. Thanks to the many things we’ve accomplished over the past 20 years under President Trachtenberg, we’re poised to become one of the nation’s preeminent research universities. It’s an exciting time for GW.”

Over the next 13 months, each issue of ByGeorge! will examine in-depth one of the new strategic initiatives.

Send feedback to: bygeorge@gwu.edu

"...CHREC researchers will investigate new efficient architectures and tools for high-performance reconfigurable computers. These are supercomputers that, in addition to having conventional microprocessors, have reconfigurable hardware processors that can change its hardware to fit the problems they are trying to solve. High-performance computing holds tremendous promise in addressing the needs of a broad range of applications including signal and imaging processing, bioinformatics, cryptology, communcations processing, data and text mining, optimization, and complex system simulations..." [Link]

MEDIA CONTACT: Wendy Carey
(202) 994-3087, wcarey@gwu.edu;
Joanne Welsh
(202) 994-2050, jwelsh@gwu.edu

GW'S SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION TO DEVELOP HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING CENTER
New Partnership Aligns GW, University of Florida, Government and Industry Leaders to Further Research in Reconfigurable Supercomputing
WASHINGTON - The George Washington University's School of Engineering and Applied Science has joined with the the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a national research center at GW that will offer one of the most advanced research test beds in the world for high-performance reconfigurable computers. The NSF awarded GW funding creating a NSF Industry/University Center, named the National Science Foundation Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing (CHREC), effective December 1, 2006.

"Given the expertise we have in place at GW, the importance of high performance computing to our national security and national competitiveness, and the relationship of high performance computing to other priority research areas at GW, I feel very strongly that additional investment in this area will yield important results," said Donald R. Lehman, GW executive vice president for academic affairs.

CHREC researchers will investigate new efficient architectures and tools for high-performance reconfigurable computers. These are supercomputers that, in addition to having conventional microprocessors, have reconfigurable hardware processors that can change its hardware to fit the problems they are trying to solve. High-performance computing holds tremendous promise in addressing the needs of a broad range of applications including signal and imaging processing, bioinformatics, cryptology, communcations processing, data and text mining, optimization, and complex system simulations.

"This unique confluence of academics, government, and industry will greatly enhance the research opportunities in the area of reconfigurable supercomputering," said Tarek El-Ghazawi, GW professor of engineering and applied science and the GW CHREC site director. "GW is very fortunate to have this center and I am very grateful to the NSF along with our academic, government, and industry partners for their support."

A nationally distributed center, CHREC is a joint effort with the University of Florida, where another CHREC site is located. Brigham Young University and Virginia Tech also have submitted NSF proposals to create two more CHREC sites. El-Ghazawi serves as the GW site director and the national co-director. Alan George, professor of electrical and computer engineering, at the University of Florida is site director at Florida and the national director for CHREC.

CHREC is funded by NSF and through memberships from industry and federal labs and agencies. In addition to NSF, the CHREC founding members of the GW site are the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, Hewlett Packard, Intel Corporation, Linux Network, National Cancer Institute, National Security Agency, Oak Ridge National Lab, and Silicon Graphics. In addition to its membership, Silicon Graphics has just provided the GW CHREC site with its state-of-the-art Altix/RASC 4700 reconfigurable supercomputer.

GW's School of Engineering and Applied Science prepares engineers to address society's technological challenges by providing outstanding undergraduate, graduate, and professional educational experiences and by stimulating and providing innovative, fundamental, and applied research activities.

For more information about GW's School of Engineering and Applied Science, visit www.seas.gwu.edu.
For more news about GW, visit the GW News Center at www.gwnewscenter.org.
-GW-