An Invitation to Diverse Universe: CUG 2024
Dear Cray User Group colleagues,
Australia’s Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre and the CUG Board would like to invite you to the 2024 CUG Conference in Perth, Western Australia, on May 5-9, 2024. The theme for the 2024 event is Diverse Universe, highlighting our commitment to supporting diverse scientific workloads and services including world-class radioastronomy. The theme pays tribute to Australia’s biodiversity, represented by the inclusion of the quokka in the event logo and the importance of diversity and inclusivity in our industry.
Pawsey is home to Setonix, the most powerful public research supercomputer in the Southern Hemisphere. In November 2022, it was ranked 15th in the Top500 list and 4th in Green500. Setonix is a 50Pflop/s HPE CRAY EX system, fully commissioned in 2023. The system is named after WA’s iconic marsupial, the quokka (Setonix brachyurus) and displays artwork from First Nations artist, and Wajarri Yamajti elder, Margaret Whitehurst.
Energy Efficient Leadership Class Supercomputing
Setonix operates with direct liquid cooling of all system components. Additionally, the system is cooled by a geothermal solution pioneered by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO. Annually, this cooling saves approximately 7 million litres of fresh water. This cooling system is powered by a 120kW solar panel system, which helps offset Pawsey’s carbon footprint. Pawsey is also piloting other novel approaches to energy efficiency in its operations and infrastructure. Read more on our green credentials.
Exploring the Universe with Supercomputing
Pawsey provides critical infrastructure and expertise for one of the world’s largest and most ambitious science projects, the $3 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA). This global project has representation from organisations from sixteen countries and will support exascale data flows and storage via an international network of regional supercomputing centres. Setonix is essential infrastructure supporting the pathway to construct and operate the SKA over the next five years.
Future workforce strategies
Pawsey is committed to growing its expertise and diversity through concerted strategy and specific actions. Increasing diversity and inclusion within the HPC community is vital to its future CUG2024 will also showcase the importance of gender, cultural and neurological diversity in our industry.
Kaya! (The Noongar word for “Welcome”)
The Pawsey team is honoured to be your host at CUG2024 to discuss the opportunities made available by the technology we use to enable the greatest science across the globe. We look forward to welcoming you to Perth and WA, recently identified by CNN as the world’s second most desirable place to visit in 2023.
