From Genes to Climate: How HPC Transforms Scientific Discovery

ABSTRACT

High-Performance Computing (HPC) is a driving force behind modern scientific discovery and technological innovation, powering complex simulations, data-driven models, and large-scale computations with remarkable speed and accuracy. This talk delves into how cutting-edge HPC architectures and software optimizations accelerate performance across a wide range of demanding applications—from genomic analysis to climate modeling. These applications often feature intricate data dependencies, irregular execution patterns, and significant performance bottlenecks. We will explore the challenges and strategies involved in harnessing heterogeneous computing resources, including multi-core CPUs and GPUs, to enhance efficiency and scalability. The talk will also spotlight the critical role of advanced runtime systems like PaRSEC in managing task execution and data movement at extreme scales. Through case studies, we will demonstrate the value of hierarchical algorithms, effective memory management, and scalable parallelization in real-world scenarios. By examining state-of-the-art solutions and emerging trends, this talk offers insights into how HPC continues to expand the frontiers of computational capabilities, enabling breakthroughs in both scientific research and industry.

BIOGRAPHY

Qinglei Cao is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Saint Louis University (SLU). He received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where he was advised by Dr. Jack Dongarra (Turing Award 2021) and Dr. George Bosilca. Dr. Cao’s research lies at the intersection of High-Performance Computing (HPC) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), with a focus on parallel and distributed computing, task-based runtime systems, linear algebra algorithms, large-scale machine learning and deep learning, and extreme-scale scientific applications. He is the recipient of the Best Paper Award at IEEE CLUSTER 2020 and a two-entry finalist for the TCSC SCALE Challenge Award in 2025. Notably, Dr. Cao won the ACM Gordon Bell Prize for Climate Modelling in 2024 and was twice a finalist for the ACM Gordon Bell Prize in 2022 and 2024.

Hosted by Xiaodong Yu