The International HPC Certification Forum : A Call for NZ Contribution

Transcript of a presentation to eResearchNZ, February 2022

There is well-known problem in research computing; the datasets and problem complexity are growing faster than the capacity of personal computing 
devices [1], with devices primarily limited by the heat issues associated with increased clock-speed [2]. Certainly, there have been numerous hardware 
and software attempts to reduce this problem in recent years and even decades; multi-processor systems, multi-core processors, shared and distributed 
memory parallel programming, general purpose graphics processing units, etc to name a few.

But these only provide part of the solution in the constant game of catch-up that hardware has with data size and complexity. The typically overlooked 
component is to provide researchers the necessary skills and knowledge to actually use the hardware. For many years this was a case of an issue that 
was being passed around without solution; increasingly researchers needed solutions such as high-performance computing, but the HPC engineering 
profession was primarily interested in the physical metrics of such systems. As for the education system, by the time the researcher was at the level 
that the needed HPC, the teaching resources were not available [3].

Fortunately, there have been some changes have been introduced in the past decade. Essential skills are taught to researchers in the form of software 
and data carpentry (and even with an ever-in-development HPC carpentry). HPC Centres themselves have largely taken up the need for training workshops 
where andragogical principles are applied to solving users problems. There is even a few cases - such as in New Zealand's University of Waikato - 
where higher education institutions have taught HPC as part of the curriculum [4]. Nevertheless, even with these decentralised training projects, 
there is still a need for a recognition of competency - and this is where the HPC Certification Forum comes in.

The international HPC Certification Forum was established at the 2018 International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt [5], developing from the 
Performance Conscious HPC (PeCoH) project in 2017 from the Hamburg HPC Competence Center (HHCC), which had the explicit goal of creating the broad 
standards for an "HPC driving license" [6]. Since its establishment, the Forum has developed a detailed skill-tree across multiple branches (e.g., HPC 
Knowledge, HPC Use, Performance Engineering etc) and levels of competencies (basic, intermediate, expert) where very specific skills have particular 
competencies. In addition, the Forum has developed a summative examination system and a PGP-signed certificate. The current Board consists of 
representatives from the the University of Göttingen, German Climate Computing Centre (Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum), University of Dresden, RWTH 
Aachen University (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen), the University of Edinburgh, the University of Melbourne, and the Indian 
Institute of Technology Gandhinagar. There are vacancies!

The HPC Certification Forum specifically does not provide content or delivery. That is up to the HPC Centres and education institutions themselves; 
however, as the skills and competencies of examinable material can provide learning objectives for HPC content and delivery provides, there is clearly 
and educational eco-system relationship present. Not only does the examinable material across the different competencies areas provide a very rich 
resource for teaching material, the HPC Certification Forum can and does endorse teaching programs for the exams. Further content and delivery 
providers can provide feedback for errors, omissions, and new technologies. In other words, as the HPC Certification Forum grows in contributions, so 
does the quality and the examinable content. Given that New Zealand has already made significant contributions in the HPC space, it would be very 
appropriate if there was increased participation. Thus encouragement is given here to join the mailing lists, join the Slack channel, follow us on 
social media, or even join the governance committee, and to add examination questions!

References

[1] Arbia, Giuseppe. "What Do We Mean by the Term “Big Data”?." Statistics, New Empiricism and Society in the Era of Big Data. 3-19, Springer, 2021.
[2] Markov, Igor L. "Limits on fundamental limits to computation." Nature 512.7513: 147,  2014
[3] Wilson, Greg. High Performance Computing Considered Harmful, 22nd International Symposium on High Performance Computing Systems and Applications, 2008
[4] Lane, Jo. Scientific supercomputing: Teaching practical skills for credit, Presentation to eResearchNZ, Dunedin, Feb 14, 2020
[5] Himstedt, Kai., et al., An HPC Certification Program Proposal Meeting HPC Users' Varied Backgrounds, 2018
[6] Kunkel, Julian., et al,, Towards an HPC Certification Program, Journal of Computer Science Education, Volume 10, Issue 1, 2019, p88-89