Online talk: Flow control in the presence of shocks

This one hour presentation was given by the director of the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics Enrique Zuazua.

Prof Zuazua who is also the scientific director was invited by prestigious NPL laboratory in the UK.

The Basque Center for Applied Mathematics is a world-class interdisciplinary research center on Applied Mathematics. The center is participating in relevant High Performance Computing projects and started operations in September 2008. It is located in Bilbao, Basque Country.

Energy and High Performance Computing Conference

In March 2012, the Basque cooperative research center, CIC Energigune, will host in Vitoria-Gasteiz the conference "Power our Future 2012". This two day conference is a perfect opportunity to visit a world class research place focused in Energy Research and also to visit the Basque Country -an historically active industry and research european hub.

One of the key areas of this centre is simulation and high performance computing in energy related areas. This talk will be a fantastic opportunity to discuss relevant aspects of the simulations with world class scientist like Bor-Yann Liaw or Petr Novak and many other leaders and corporations. "Topics will include new battery designs, emerging technologies, battery materials, power management, charging and testing systems, battery health, as well as the latest market trends affecting the industry".

Visit their website and register early to learn from the leaders!

The Basque Country is located in southern europe, an increasingly international research hub which is attracting world class talent. Scientific output grew by 10% in 2011 in comparison with 2010, pushed by a generous public and private funding.

CIC Energigune from Sonora Estudios on Vimeo.

Ángel Rubio Appointed External Director of Max Planck Society's Fritz Haber Institute

As indicated and covered by numerous media, Angel Rubio a top researcher based at the University of the Basque Country has been appointed external director of Max Planck.

Professor Rubio is one of Europe's biggest HPC users accessing Petaflop resources across numerous world leading research institutions. His team is based in young and attractive city of San Sebastian where the team hosts numerous computing platforms and actively develop world class scientific code. And they are hiring!

Once again, congratulations Prof Rubio!

How is it to live in the Basque Country ? Vitoria-Gasteiz

Vitoria-Gasteiz is the capital of the Basque Country in southern Europe. The city includes major researchers and industry in high performance computing, particularly applied to aeronautics&space, automovile and energy.

Vitoria-Gasteiz is also the European Green Capital in 2012. Find out why,

Opinion: A bad strategy for i2basque

Today we have known that i2Basque academic computing centre is giving away 20% of its computing power just for joining the spanish supercomputing network.

I suggested -me personally- that this was not the right way to go a few months back. Why ? because it is adopting the old-fashion supercomputing scheme of submit-application, four months to run and a fill out the forms again. Ah! and cite us in your paper (?). A bunch of senseless paperwork for academics who want to do research not paperwork.

I am sorry to say, serious researchers need more than 4 months. Just compiling on a new architecture is a nightmare -it is not the same ppc than intel than bluegene. Accounting for compute hours will never be precise. And having a system fragmented to bring some users from one site to another, where the support teams are not close to them is another huge mistake. Users want to be close to the technicians, visit them, see them interact as much as possible. They dont want to travel hours to bring their data, or work with a guy who is help them compile. That does not work, it is not efficient. But it is politically correct as this adds up to the petaflops that somebody claims to manage. False. It only creates a 'network' of scientists wasting money on trains, planes and buses and hotels. Great.

There is an obvious reason to this. The previous team who managed i2basque has been politically rebuilt in order to join a strategy which is not theirs. That cluster, the one they are going to split, is 95% full already, and that only using it for our own existing projects. The politics who decided that i2basque was going to be part of that network they do it just to show off, but it probably does not take into account the users. Unfortunately the new i2basque is being out-computed to favour other alternatives external to our scientists. People who do not want a real grid and free to compete network. Hey but that is the old supercomputing lobby.

Hopefully a new local government will change things when the elections come.

Disclaimer: This just represents my opinion and nobody else's. I am not linked to any of these organizations.

Radiopharmaceuticals for the Industry

Basque research centre Biomagune, and radiopharmaceutical firm Molypharma have signed an strategic cooperation agreement. Radiopharmacology is extremely important for instance in human race's war against cancer.

Radiopharmaceuticals use of high performance computing resources consists on advanced and large datasets imaging amongst others. Biomagune is a European leader on the application of these technologies to real life problem-solving.

Picture by Biomagune.

Did you know that ... ?

Basque multinational engineering firm Sener, created 52 years ago(!) the CAD/CAM/CAE software system known as FORAN used in the design and production of ships and offshore platforms. The System was conceived by SENER’s co-founder, José Manuel de Sendagorta, and it is one of the most widely used naval construction programmes in the world: used by 130 shipyards in 30 countries.

This extreme piece of high performance computing software works "As an integral part of the enterprise IT infrastructure, FORAN offers the possibility of expanding ship design and engineering data throughout the organization, by interfacing with existing legacy software, PLM, ERP and MM systems, FEM structural analysis tools and other specific CAE applications."

Here some screenshots from Sener:

CERN Accelerator School was in Bilbao, Basque Country

CERN Accelerator School took place in Bilbao during May 2011. The school attracted 100 scientists from around the world and lasted 10 days. ESS Bilbao was the local organising committee.

The importance of simulation and data analysis on today's High Power Hadron Machines is crucial without any doubt. That is one of the reasons why basque scientific and technological firms attracted the attention of the school.

Bilbao is also a high quality congress destination. Amongst its strengths, we would like to highlight personal safety and high quality tourism. In comparison with other mediterranean cities, Bilbao and the Basque Country are extremely safe. The region is well connected with other European cities and Trans-Oceanic links and provides a unique country side and high quality cultural destinations for visiting after, during and before. Many other international conferences are relocating to Bilbao and other Basque cities.

CERN Accelerator School in Bilbao

European Space Agency astronaut to give a talk in Bilbao

Pedro Duque will talk about forecasts and planning for the possible impact of asteroid Apophis with earth. As we know high performance computing is being used in multiple labs to predict how much 'explosive power it would take to destroy or sidetrack an asteroid that's got Earth in its cross-hairs'.

The following video is from Sandia Labs and simulates the impact asteroid Tunguska.

The event is sponsored by basque institutions and GE.

International Particle Accelerator Conference in San Sebastian Basque Country

This 2011 world class conference will be held in San Sebastian-Donostia, cultural capital of the Basque Country. This conference will get together 1,200 scientist and industry partners from around the world from the 4th to the 7th of September 2011.

It will be held at the Kursaal Palace and it will include sessions on Code Developments and Simulation Techniques and Applications of Accelerators. High profile computational scientist are expected to attend to this world class conference which includes not only a scientific exhibition but also an industry exhibition with multiple high profile computational firms like National Instruments, Integrated Engineering Software, Thales, Research Instruments or Computer Simulation Technology.

Basque laboratory ESS-Bilbao is part of the organising committee.

Picture by Flickr' Vautrin Baires

50m€ Venture Capital for Energy Startups

Gamesa, a basque Wind energy firm, has recently launched a corporate venture capital fund.

The 6 key areas for this fund are:

• wave (converting tidal currents and waves into energy);
• next generation photovoltaic energy (converting the sun's photonic energy into electricity);
• energy storage designed to guarantee high-quality supply;
• green mobility (electric vehicles);
• energy efficiency (maximising energy use while minimising consumption);
• and off-grid (small renewable generation units that are not connected to power grids, for use in remote locations).

Further information, please contact Gamesa site.

Gamesa received the visits of president Obama in 2008 and recently in April 2011. Here is the white house video of the last visit:

Max Planck Meteorology Institute Director in Bilbao, Basque Country

Klaus Hasselmann, director of the Max Planck Metereology Institute and ex-director of the German High Performance Computing Centre DKRZ gave a talk in Bilbao at the Basque Climate Change Centre in the context of the KlimaGune Workshop. This workshop aims to Address the Climate Change through Adaptation and is in line with a prominent and successful Basque Research Ecosystem.

The slides of the talk from a very interesting and humble pioneer of advanced high performance computing here.

Send us your stories!

Any person with any documented information regarding the Basque HPC ecosystem, is very welcome to send us his/her story. We would like to hear about everyone and we would like to publish it here.

The story must be written in English, and must use a nickname so the readers can identify your posts and we can credit your published work! Please send your stories via a private message to us on Linkedin through our group or to our Twitter account.

Thank you!!

Follow us on Twitter and Linkedin!

http://twitter.com/basquehpc

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This blog, this twitter and this linkedin group are not affiliated with any institution private or public from the Basque Country or others. This online community is made by people that live and work in and for the Basque Country, and as such they have their on responsibilities, jobs and careers, and they use their spare time to write here about an important, small, humble and highly advanced community of high performance computing -industrial and public research- users (aka in marketing as supercomputing). This community is non for profit and it is completely anonymous.

We do not represent any of them and all the information published is based in publicly available web sites, reports or research publications, plus our own individual and anonymously published thoughts on the subject.

Bilbao, the city -Why should your HPC project be in the Basque Country?

Today's video is Basque Country's biggest city: Bilbao



This video was played at the Shangai's Exhibition.

Bilbao Web Summit - Semantic Knowledge Conference at the Semantic Valley

Join Tim Berners-Lee, W3C, Guidewire Group, BBVA, Boein, BlackBerry, PWC, NASA, Garrigues amongst other knowledge leaders at the Bilbao Web Summit this May 17th to 18th in Bilbao, Basque Country

Mountain Bike and Outdoors - Why should your HPC project be in the Basque

The Basque country offers incredible MTB opportunities for everyone! Beautiful landscapes between the greenest mountains covered in Oak trees and other local varieties and the beautiful Cantabric sea. In the Basque you can cycle and have a swim on the sea after work and finish your day having an amazing dinner at the local towns.

The following video is from a local company suited for non spanish speakers which organizes MTB routes, hiking routes and cultural trips around the gorgeous Basque landscape. If your team is into outdoors activities, the Basque Country is the place!

More Mountain Biking Videos

via blog.aboutbc.info

More on Jobs: Seniors, Postdocs and Phds on Computational Jobs

Some of them are ERC calls. Areas of expertise:

• Analysis of Partial Differential Equations

• Waves in continuous and discrete media

• Numerical analysis

• Optimal design and control problems

• Applications in Aerodynamics

• Data Mining

• Statistics and Applied Probability

• Financial Mathematics

• Partial Differential Equations, Numerics and Control (PDE)

• Computational Mathematics(CM)

• Network Design,Analysis and Optimization (NET)

• Calculus of Variations and Elasticity (CVE)

• Mathematical Biology and Molecular Simulation(MBMS)

In the Basque country's center for Mathematics.

All the information and application details here (follow the link do not email me!).

top500 bubble burst

The bubble is bursting, that is for sure. We are facing a tremendous downturn. Governments are making cuts and cuts. And I shall remember that many countries in very difficult situations have stop announcing new speed improvements/new machines/etc.

It makes sense. Jack Dongarra states that he would not like to make policy based on only one number. He is right. Unfortunately much of the spanish science policy has been exactly that: THAT number for the last years and for a lot of another number : €s. That policy in which infrastructure accumulation equals science output. That childish behaviour in which more high--end and future computing commodities mean better. That kiddies behaviour by which I have more I rule my micro-world. Probably FALSE. Probably it is a cultural problem rather than a rigorous science policy.

This is exactly the point that is different on the Basque Science and Industry System -IMHO. The Basque Country is using HPC in a more modest and strategic way. That is a way that is not in the lists, and it does not mind.

Ey! but that is my humble opinion. Worst case is 'someone' will 'pull some strings' to knock this 'stupid' blog-writer down. If they are not ready to read this, then they are not ready to dictate science. I feel sorry that other regions in Spain have wasted my taxes on more rather than better.

Computer Scientist at ESS-Bilbao

the CV's have to be sent to recruitment@essbilbao.org

Full job description here.

The Computing group at the ESS-Bilbao Centre is currently looking for an engineer/scientist to collaborate in the development and maintenance of its computer and network facilities.

Preferred training and knowledge

Computer/Electronic Engineering or Physics degree.

Desirable skills

Experience in UNIX-like operating systems and their administration.

Experience in e-mail and world wide web services design and administration.

Experience in high-performance computing networks administration.

Experience in interfacing software to hardware and GUI development.

Experience in database operation and software development.

Good spoken and written English.

Group Leader in Advanced Modelling at Energigune, Basque Country

At Energigune, an excellent Group Leader on Modelling position. Further Information here.

- PhD in Materials Science, Physics, Solid-state Chemistry, or related fields
- >5 years direct R&D experience in advanced modeling for advanced batteries or electrochemical capacitors.
- Proven leadership and management skills and team building experience. - Record of directing multi-year research and development programs
- Good verbal and written communication skills in English

Euskaltel is doing research on Cloud Computing

As per Basque Research, the Basque telecom firm -and Basque Country's lead comm provider-, Euskaltel is working on a SaaS applied research project in conjunction with other Basque Centers.

A consortium of companies and technological organisations in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, led by Euskaltel, have begun to work on the Smart Work project, the aim of which is to develop and launch a Platform in which software companies can host and exploit their Software solutions as a (SaaS) Service in a centralised manner.

The participants include Anbot0, the best start-up of the year 2010.

All I can say is this is great news!!

Computational Services Manager Position at Donostia, Basque Country

Download this here.

The Computer Center of the Donostia International Physics Center DIPC is currently accepting applications for a computational services manager position.

Requirements

Degree in Physics, Chemistry or equivalent.
Fluent in speaking and writing English.

Good programming skills in Fortran (77/90/95) and C languages.
Advanced knowlegde of Linux operating system.
Script languages (Cshell, Python, Perl, Tcl...)
Experience in queue systems (PBS, Torque) and especially research experience in the field of Condensed Matter Physics.

Interested candidates please send a CV to txomin.romero@ehu.es by March 31st.

----

Please note that San Sebastian is offering excellent housing opportunities.

POLYMAT: Institute of Polymer in Materials

POLYMAT is polymer a research and technology organization of the University of the Basque Country. It is based in Basque Country's San Sebastian. It is leaded by Jose M. Asua. They are a very active HPC user in the Basque Country and they have an very interesting and challenging industrial liason program (see their webpage).

The video, in English, is here:

A video of the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics

This video is an interview in Basque, subtitled in Spanish about researcher Urtzi Ayesta, a PhD in Electrical Engineering working to design through mathematics efficient WAN networks like the internet.

The video is designed by local TV science program Teknopolis.

Another video regarding the research and in English is available here.

Jobs for CFD software engineers and researchers in the Basque Country

DEADLINE: APRIL 4th 2011 at 15:00 ECT

PLEASE CLICK HERE (BASQUE CENTRE FOR APPLIED MATHEMATICS) FOR BOTH APPLICATIONS: THIS BLOG IS PURELY INFORMATIVE!

There are two positions available in the Basque Country:

1)CFD Research Professor


BCAM and Baltogar are offering a Joint Position for a candidate to lead a Research Project, scheduled in 5 years to develop an Innovative CFD Platform for the Design and Optimization of High Performance Turbomachinery.



2)CFD Computational Software Engineer


The candidate will work in a project that is aiming to develop a new innovative CFD platform for the design and optimization of high-performance turbomachinery applications. He is supposed to strengthen the team of experts with state-of-the-art software engineering knowledge. Incorporated in the multidisciplinary team of experts the candidate will mainly focus on the design, testing, maintenance, and quality of the simulation platform.

To hear about others who relocated to the Basque Country please see this video linked from our post.

Nanoscience & Nanotechnology and High Performance Computing

The conference IMAGINENANO 2011 to be held in Bilbao on Aprill 11-14, 2011 at the Bilbao Exhibition Center will held a symposium on High Performance Computing and nanotechnology. Bilbao will become the capital of the strong Basque HPC ecosystem. The symposium is organized in conjunction with Sandia Labs, and includes speakers from CEA, Tyndall, AIST, CIN2, EHU, RIST, QuantumWise, CNR-ITSM and many others.

Registrations and further information here.

HPC-NN2011 (1-Day symposium) will be held on the 14th of April (Thursday). The aim of this symposium is to assemble an international panel of key individuals involved in High-Performance-Computing (HPC) developments focused on Nanoscience & Nanotechnology (N&N) applications. HPC became a strategical tool to explore complex physical and chemical properties of matter at the nanoscale.

Micro-Nano-Bio Convergence Systems Conference 2011

Conference to be held in Mondragon, Basque Country next April 5-6 2011.

Organized by Ikerlan:

Micro-Nano-Bio Convergence Systems is a major domain within the field of Microsystems & Smart Systems Integration, which is being supported by the European Commission under the Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) priority.

We already talked about ikerlan's work. The group announced today with another company the expansion of infrastructure with an investment of 160m€.

Anboto the world's startup of 2010, at Stanford

After more than 30 Pitch Slams on five continents over the last 10 months, Anboto Group was named the Startup of the Year at Guidewire Group’s Innovate!Summit 2010.

Anboto is the company leader in Semantic and Natural Language technology applied to Web Customer Service and eCommerce.

Xavier Uribe-Etxebarria, the CEO and Basque Entrepreneur gave a talk at Stanford European Entrepreneurship program last week. The slides of his presentation are here. Congratulations!

Xabier Uribe-Etxebarria - Anboto - Stanford - Feb 7 2011

View more presentations from Burton Lee.

By the way Anboto is the name of one Basque mountain!

The Basque contribution to SIESTA

The famous physics code (SIESTA), developed and advanced from 1996 onwards, accounts with key contributions from scientists appointed at the university of the Basque Country and the Donostia International Physics Center.

Today we have known that one publication about it, resulted to be the 15th most cited physics paper in the world: congratulations!

This is perhaps one of the most remarkable examples, in which scientists of various disciplines integrate with computing resources. It shows that is not necessary to have huge resources but the right ones. And these scientists seem to have had the right amount for doing exceptional science. Congratulations!

International Call for Researchers

The Basque Science Foundation, Ikerbasque, launches the prestigious 2011 new call.



All the conditions, computing groups (and others), relocation services and applications are here.

Advances in Multiple Sclerosis through Data Mining

The Intelligent Systems Group -we already talked about them- and the Biodonostia Research Institute based in San Sebastian, Basque Country, are using computing power to identify biomarkers for multiple sclerosis.

All the information here.

Postdoctoral and PhD positions in Dynamical processes in Open Quantum Systems (DYNamo ERC project)

Angel Rubio's team is hiring scientific staff for his new ERC advanced grant.

Please proceed with your applications to his website or www.sciencecareers.eu

Angel Rubio receieves European Research Council's Advanced Grant

"Professor of Materials Physics and Director of the NanoBio Spectroscopy Team at the UPV/EHU, Ángel Rubio, has received one of the prestigious Advanced ERC grants for senior researchers awarded by the European Research Council. The project selected seeks the development of new materials which will have energy applications, using nanostructures and biomolecule. “It is a totally basic research project with highly ambitious objectives”, explained Ángel Rubio. In fact, the final goal is to draw up a theoretical framework that would explain the physical phenomena linked to the processes of capturing, storing and transmitting energy in real systems. The project will receive 1.9 million euros and will be undertaken between 2011 and 2015."

Congratulations to the professor! this is indeed great news.

We already talked about the huge needs of the nano-bio group based in San Sebastian, Basque Country. They are a major prestigious simulation group in the Basque Country.

Read more on www.basqueresearch.com

Ph.D studentship position in Mathematical Biology & Molecular Simulation

The Basque Center for Applied Mathematics

"The project is devoted to the computation and analysis of regions in parameter planes that characterize stability and instability of equilibria for so called structured population models. In this context, in particular, the principle of linearized stability and Hopf bifurcations for infinite dimensional dynamical systems play a role. Our fields of application include population dynamics in cell biology, ecology and epidemiology."

Follow link here: www.sciencecareers.eu

Scholarships to study at DigiPen Bilbao, Basque Country

"3 full scholarships (one per student) for one of the university degrees (RTIS, Real Time Interactive Simulation or BFA, Fine Arts in Digital Art and Animation) given by DigiPen in Bilbao in the amount of € 54,000 per scholarship."

DigiPen Bilbao organizes this competition to win the scholarships. All details here: http://www.createyourvideogame.com

The courses start in September 2011.

Image courtsey the competition website.