Friday, March 9, 2012

Pakistan in Supercomputing Top 200

NUST's new 132 Teraflop supercomputer has catapulted the Pakistani university's supercomputing center to the elite Top 200 list of supercomputing sites in the world, a list dominated by a handful of industrialized nations. National University of Science & Technology's supercomputer is named ScREC after its supercomputing research and education center. The cluster consists of 66 nodes equipped with a total of 30,992 cores. The NUST site breaks down the components as follows: 32 dual-socket quad-core nodes, 32 NVIDIA GPUs, a QDR InfiniBand interconnect, and 26.1 TB of storage.



ScREC will be be deployed for research in the areas of computational biology, fluid dynamics, image processing, cryptography, medical imaging, geosciences, finance, and climate modeling. Specifically, RCMS is currently developing a direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method for subsonic nanoscale gas flows. Other projects include external flow analysis of heavy vehicles to reduce fuel consumption, and numerical investigation on performance and stability of axial compressors used in aircraft engines and gas turbines.

In his recent book Turing's Cathedral, computer historian George Dyson explores how the digital universe has exploded in the aftermath of World War II. The proliferation of both codes and machines has paralleled two historic developments: the decoding of self-replicating sequences in biology and the development of the hydrogen bomb, with the most destructive and the most constructive of human endeavors occurring at the same time.

In the decades after World War II, computers have become an absolutely essential tool for research in a variety of fields ranging from weapons to weather and life sciences.

In particular, the distinction between computing and biology has begun to blur in a way that will have enormous benefits for human health, productivity and longevity. Pakistan is among a handful of nations where there is significant research underway in genomics and biotechnology which requires substantial computing power.

Researchers at the Panjwani Center for Molecular Medicine and Drug Research (PCMD) in Karachi collaborated with Beijing Genomics Institute (BGI) to complete gene mapping of Dr. Ata-ur-Rahman, according to SciDev. Dr. Rehman, President of Pakistan Academy of Sciences, volunteered himself for the project.

Pakistan has significant research efforts in seed and livestock development at various agriculture universities, institutes and departments. Pakistani researchers and scientists are currently collaborating in life sciences with their counterparts in the US and China. A number of crops like cotton, rice, wheat, corn, potato, ground nut are being developed locally or with the collaboration of Chinese and US seed companies.

Currently, there are over two hundred life sciences departments which are engaged in genomics and biotechnology research at various Pakistani universities, and they all can benefit from access to modern high-speed supercomputing.

Pakistan has been a Science Watch rising star for several years for research papers in multiple fields, particularly in biological sciences. Publications by Pakistani research teams have increased four-folds in the last decade, and the majority of publications from major universities are in life sciences.

Let's hope that there will be many more high-speed supercomputing sites established at various universities and research institutes to meet the growing demand for computing power by Pakistani researchers.

Related Links:

Haq's Musings

Genomics & Biotech Research in Pakistan

Pakistani Students Studying Abroad

Pakistan Manufacturing Tablet PCs

Military's Role in Pakistan's Industrialization

Pakistan's Demographic Dividend

Pakistan's Defense Industry Goes High-Tech

Pakistan Launches UAV Production Line at Kamra

Pakistan Going Mainstream in IT Products

Pakistan Launches 100 Mbps FTTH Access

Pakistan's $2.8 Billion IT Industry

Pakistan's Software Prodigy

Developing Pakistan's Intellectual Capital

Pakistan Graduation Rates Higher Than India's

Pakistan Conducting Research in Antarctica

Pakistani Scientists at CERN

Higher Education Reforms in Pakistan

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tata CRL is on #85 in the list it debuted at world #4 a couple of years back.....

Anonymous said...

India has seven supercomputers the first one launched in Bangalore in 2008 (SERC)

Iqbal Singh said...

I'm not familiar with supercomputing needs of Pakistan but, I know India needs about 18 today. About 4 will be operational in the next few years and that still means a shortfall of 7 supercomputers.

Riaz Haq said...

Pakistan gets World Bank grant to set up mobile development lab for South Asia, reports Express Tribune:

In a move that would help spur the already booming development of IT content, Pakistan has beaten off competition from regional countries to bag World Bank’s contract for setting up a research lab for mobile software development including apps, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Pakistan Software Export Board – the agency tasked with the implementation of the project – has not made any official announcement, however, a well informed official told the Express Tribune that World Bank approved $380,000 in grants to Pakistan in November 2011 for a two-year project, mLab South Asia, to be set up in Lahore.

World Bank’s division InfoDev planned to establish five mobile software development research labs across the world including one in the Saarc region, the official said. India and Sri Lanka were also shortlisted for the region but Pakistan was picked as the final destination.

The business plan focuses on combining arts and science schools under the umbrella of PSEB. “We proposed that we will bring these two communities together for content-based applications,” a PSEB official who requested anonymity. “Our plan inspired them and we won the grant to set up the lab, he added.

PSEB is leading the project while Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture, National College of Arts, and University of Engineering and Technology (UET) are among the implementation partners, the official said. The lab will be setup at UET, he added.

The purpose of the project is to establish mobile labs as specialised business incubators supporting mobile technology entrepreneurs, application developers and innovators, said infoDev Senior Communications Officer Angela Bekkers in an e-mail.

Bekkers said the grant comes from a Finland-financed trust fund, managed by infoDev, a global partnership programme in the World Bank. InfoDev’s mission is to enable innovative entrepreneurship for sustainable and inclusive growth, she added.

The blue print of the project is ready, according to PSEB official, and WB has already released the first year installment of $240,000 to PSEB earlier this year. The paper work is complete, courses have been designed, events have been planned for tech and art people, he said. The project will be executed after PSEB disburses funds to implementation partners. Pakistan Software Export Board did not respond to email queries sent by The Express Tribune.


http://tribune.com.pk/story/354211/software-development-lab-pakistan-beats-india-and-sri-lanka-to-get-contract/

Riaz Haq said...

Here's a News report on US assistance for higher education & research in Pakistan:

Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dr. Javaid Laghari, Chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to create three Centers for Advanced Studies at Pakistani universities.



With US support, these centers will promote the development of Pakistan's water, energy, and agriculture sectors through applied research, training for specialists, university linkages, and the contributions towards policy formulation, said in a press statement issued by US Embassy here on Friday.



"US-Pakistan cooperation in higher education spans more than six decades. This new program presents a new milestone in our joint efforts to strengthen Pakistan's university system to support the growth of the country's economy," said Dr. Rajiv Shah at the signing ceremony.



The Centers for Advanced Studies is a five-year $127 million program sponsored by USAID. The Center for Advanced Studies in Agriculture and Food Security will be established with US support at the University of Agriculture in Faisalabad, Punjab.



The Center for Advanced Studies in Water will be created at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology in Jamshoro. Meanwhile, the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad will open the Center for Advanced Studies in Energy.



A satellite center for energy will be established at the University of Engineering and Technology in Peshawar.



A key component of the Center for Advanced Studies Program is linking Pakistani universities to universities in the United States.



These linkages will help engender, support, and fund joint applied research, student and faculty exchanges, pedagogical improvement, and development of new courses according to the needs of industry. It is expected that other universities will use these centers as a model for future growth and improvements.



The signing ceremony for the launch of the Centers for Advanced Studies Program was attended by the Vice Chancellors from the four participating universities, representatives from the Higher Education Commission, members of the Ministry of Science and Technology, other officials, and students.


http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-44233-USAID,-HEC-sign-MoU-for-advanced-studies

Anonymous said...

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/china-overtakes-us-with-worlds-fastest-supercomputer-8663035.html

Anonymous said...

The first on our list is the National University of Sciences and Technology located in Pakistan. The university was established in 1991. Why this university is ranked at number one in our list? To put it simply although the university was established in 1991, the main campus upon which its ranking is based was established in 2008.The campus was built on a whole sector in the capital city of Pakistan; Islamabad. NUST’s ranking, as per QS World University Rankings, is among the top 500 universities of the world. NUST has managed to reach top 500 in shortest time when compared to other universities of its size. The university allows entrepreneurial opportunities for its students who are allowed to bring their ideas to the forum and are then provided with a portal to industry. The university is rapidly building links with more and more industries in Pakistan and abroad to facilitate its students. The university is the leading university when it comes to research and faculty in Pakistan and has made a name for itself in quite a short span of time. The university has also been awarded the “International Quality Award” at 2014 Asia Pacific Quality Network Conference and Annual General Meeting held in Vietnam.

http://wonderfulengineering.com/10-young-emerging-universities-of-the-world/