Empowering the next generation of HPC experts: Highlights from the EUMaster4HPC summer school 2024

The event hosted over 40 students of Master's programmes from eight universities participating in the pan-European EUMaster4HPC programme. Thanks to MathWorks sponsorship, additional Czech Republic, Italy, France, and Iceland students also had the opportunity to join.

Throughout the week, participants delved into preparing datasets, understanding their main characteristics, and modeling and simulations on supercomputers using open-source libraries and programming languages such as R, Python, Scikit-Learn, PyTorch, Tensorflow, and others. They also participated in hands-on projects in MATLAB, where they practiced high-performance computing, deep learning, image processing, and signal analysis using real data on the Karolina supercomputer at IT4Innovations.

Dedicated tutors, including Ondřej Meca, Radek Halfar, Simeon Harrison, Tomáš Martinovič, Franziska Albers, and Mike Croucher, carefully tailored the educational content to address the diverse needs of all participants. Karina Pešatová, the main coordinator on behalf of IT4Innovations, reflected on the preparations: "We've been planning for this since January, and it was a rewarding challenge to design lectures that went beyond the standard curriculum, taking into account the students' varied levels of prior knowledge." She added, "Besides the academic content, we organised team-building activities that focused on developing essential soft skills such as teamwork, time management, strategising, and organisation. These activities also allowed students from different universities and countries to connect, even exploring cultural differences."

Tomáš Kozubek, IT4Innovations scientific director, commented on the significance of the event: "Hosting the EUMaster4HPC Summer School in Ostrava was a unique opportunity to showcase the potential of our supercomputing (HPC) infrastructure. It allowed students to engage with cutting-edge technologies and real-world applications in data science, providing them with invaluable experience for their future careers."

The event was organised by IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center, part of VSB – Technical University of Ostrava, the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC) Research Center, part of TU Wien (TUW), and MathWorks, which contributed expertise and resources to enrich the experience for all participants. A special acknowledgment goes to the enthusiastic students whose passion and dedication made this event successful. Their commitment made the week truly unforgettable.

Simeon Harrison from the Vienna Scientific Cluster remarked, "Summer School – HPC in Data Science – lectures, hands-on labs, coding challenges, quizzes, student team competitions, social events – we had it all. What an exciting event!"

Summer School website: https://eumaster4hpc.uni.lu/summer-school-2024/
Website of the EUMaster4HPC Master's programme: https://eumaster4hpc.eu/