Dr. H.J. Siegel, an old colleague of my advisor and a leading figure in multiprocessing, will be at UK to give a talk next Monday. Abstract:
Title: An Introduction to Research Issues in Heterogeneous Parallel and Distributed Computing
Time: 10AM, Monday, March 1, 2010
Room: 112 RMB
Abstract:
In heterogeneous parallel and distributed computing environments, a suite of different machines is interconnected to provide a variety of computational capabilities. These capabilities are used to execute a collection of tasks with diverse computational requirements. The execution times of a task may vary from one machine to the next, and tasks must share the computing and communication resources of the system. An important research problem for heterogeneous computing is how assign tasks to machines and schedule the order of their execution to maximize some given performance criterion. An overview of a conceptual model of what this involves will be given. An example of resource allocation research will be presented. The example involves an ad hoc grid environment, with energy constrained mobile computing devices that could be used in a disaster management scenario. Open problems in the field of heterogeneous parallel and distributed computing will be discussed.
“Alligators” that make heterogeneous computing challenging will be shown.
To give a little background on Dr. Siegel, tweaked from a discussion with a friend and former group-mate who went to do his PhD under Dr. Siegel:
“There is a threshold, somewhere around tenure in academia, at which you are no longer effectively discouraged from cultivating eccentricities.” This is true for most tenured faculty, but the cowboy + leading figure in multiprocessing combination is a winner among winners.
