Team Phoenix VIP Class

The Team Phoenix VIP class (section VWP) provides a structured opportunity for students to learn about high-performance computing topics and to participate in student cluster competitions at venues like Supercomputing and the International Supercomputing Conference.

See our 2021 Undergraduate Research Opportunities in Computing (UROC) presentation slides for some additional details!

NOTE: To sign up for this course you need to request a registration permit each semester using the VIP site. See more information here.

What is the goal of “Team Phoenix?”

We want to train teams for the national Supercomputing Student Cluster Competition (SCC), where you race against a 48-hour clock to assemble, evaluate, and manage the fastest and most reliable cluster you can given a specific power budget and occasional surprise power failures.

What skills do you need to join?

• Proficiency in a “systems-oriented” programming language, like C, C++, recommended
• Experience with modeling and simulation, numerical methods, or data analysis
• Familiarity with command-line environments and scripting (Linux)

What majors are eligible?

• CS, CM, ECE, and ME are especially well-suited, but anyone with an interest in computer-based modeling and simulation is welcome!
• You typically will sign up for 1-3 hours as an undergrad (starting with 1 hour). Graduate students can sign up for up to 3 credit hours.

What topics will you learn about in this course?

• Parallel algorithms for shared memory and distributed memory systems, including how to reason about correctness and scalability
• Multicore and GPU programming in OpenMP, MPI, and CUDA
• Performance analysis and profiling
• Basic performance enhancement and tuning techniques, including how to use advanced features of a compiler
• How to manage a cluster system
• How real parallel applications “look and feel”
• How to estimate the “speed of light” of a program

How is the course graded?

• Like all VIP courses, you are required to keep a weekly notebook for the course with your Todos and items discussed with your subteam.
• You will work in “subteams” of 5-7 students, with each team focused on a specific competition deadline. Each subteam is responsible for developing an application and any related materials like posters (see an example here).
• You are required to do two short peer evaluations each semester as part of the VIP program to evaluate your subteam’s group dynamics.
• There are no final exams - this is more of a project-oriented course!