Students Descend on LANL for Supercomputing Challenge Expo

Melrose High School students react to being named as the winning team at a recent New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge awards ceremony. Their research project modeled behavior of wildfires. Courtesy/LANL

LANL News:

  • Research by student teams to be showcased

More than 200 New Mexico students and their teachers will be at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) April 21-23 for the 23rd annual New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge expo and awards ceremony.

More than 60 teams of students from elementary, middle, and high school are expected at the event, said David Kratzer of the Laboratory’s High Performance Computer Systems group and LANL’s coordinator of the Supercomputing Challenge.

While at the Laboratory, students will present their projects and take part in tours, talks, and demonstrations with Laboratory scientists.

Student projects will be recognized during an awards ceremony 9 a.m. to noon, April 23 at the Church of Christ Auditorium, 2323 Diamond Dr. in Los Alamos.

Laboratory Director Charlie McMillan will present the top awards to the winning teams. More than $40,000 in scholarships will be awarded to student participants.

“The goal of the year-long competition is to increase knowledge of science and computing, expose students and teachers to computers and applied mathematics, and instill enthusiasm for science in middle- and high-school students, their families and communities,” Kratzer said.

The Challenge is project-based learning geared to teaching a wide range of skills: research, writing, teamwork, time management, oral presentations and computer programming. Any New Mexico middle-school or high-school student is eligible to enter the Supercomputing Challenge.

Kratzer noted the support of nearly 100 Los Alamos employees and another 50 individuals from Sandia National Laboratories, universities and business, who volunteer to work on the Supercomputing Challenge.

“Without the support of these volunteers we couldn’t provide the first-class event we do for the students who have worked so hard to get to this point. I am grateful for their assistance,” he said.

More information about the New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge, including lists of student projects and sponsors, is on the Supercomputing Challenge webpage: http://www.supercomputingchallenge.org

 

Search
LOS ALAMOS

ladailypost.com website support locally by OviNuppi Systems