Events

Here are the events at which ACET is represented. 

For further information on our participation, please follow the appropriate link.

British Computer Society

ACET was pleased to welcome members from the local branch of the BCS to an evening event at the University on 19 June. 35 members attended and following presentations on Advanced Algorithmsby Prof Vassil Alexandrov and on VR & Visualization by Ronan Jamieson, they visited ThamesBlue and The Cave.

Professor Alexandrov started the programme with a presentation on Computational Science covering the mathematical modelling of complex systems and scalable algorithms. Developments in Computational Science, led by ACET researchers include Super-scalable Algorithms, Collaborative Environments, fault tolerant computing and visualisation techniques.

Professor Alexandrov then illustrated this talk with examples of where these techniques are applied to large scale problems in Computational Biology & Biomedical Applications; Climate & Global Air Pollution Modelling; Financial modelling; Material Science; Risk analysis and Virtual Organisations. He then outlined ACET's research programme into Monte Carlo methods, CellBE processors and Air Pollution modelling.

Ronan Jamieson then provided an introduction to the world of VR and Visualization. This whole area has become recognised as a valuable tool by the Military; the Medical, Scientific, Construction sectors; in Training and Education at all levels; as well as in the world of Entertainment. Reading's current research programme includes Interactive Immersive Visualization (IIV), and its use in Biology and Meteorology. For the future, ACET is planning research into Computational Steering, Integration of GPU/Accelerators, Scene graphs and Haptics.

The BCS members were then able to experience, first hand the IIV environment with a tour of 'The Cave' and appreciate the full scale of ThamesBlue with a visit to the computer centre.

We would like to thank the BCS committee for helping to organise this event and we hope to be invited to repeat this programme at a later date.

For a more details please contact the BCS Organiser or email  Geoff Round at Reading University.  

BioTrinity 2009

2-3 April 2009, Oxford

Now in its 3rd year, OBN's BioTrinity 2009 conference unites the UK's life science industry. Reading University undertakes research in computational biology and addresses two challenges: visualization and computational complexity.

Computational complexity
The quality, accuracy and completeness of data processing will depend not only on the computational models used, but also on the computing resources available.  The increased sophistication and complexity of computation, such as with 454 sequence analysis, and the sheer volumes of data available for analysis, requires greater processing power if results are to be obtained within acceptable timeframes.

Visualization
Structural biology forms the foundation of our understanding of life's cellular processes at the molecular level, but our understanding has been challenged by the size and complexity of the information now made available. To take advantage of our inherent spatial awareness skills and build upon the brain's ability to analyse visual information, Reading University has developed a range of interactive 3-dimensional tools to help solve these complex problems.

Details on what Reading has to offer in these two areas can be obtained from Geoff Round.  

SIFMA's European Technology Management Conference & Exhibition.

2-3 December 2008, East Wintergarden, Canary Wharf, London.
Competitive forces are re-shaping the face of the European financial markets as never before. Professor Alexandrov spoke on the subject of  "The multi-dimensional world of supercomputers: ready for mainstream?" revealing the practical implications of evaluating the advanced computational methods used in financial mathematics to calculate risk and pricing.

Supercomputing conference 2008.

Austin, Texas, November 2008
The International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC08) is the premier international conference on high performance computing (HPC), networking, storage and analysis.  SC08 attracts scientists, researchers, software developers, network engineers, policy makers, corporate managers, CIOs and IT administrators from universities, industry and government from all over the world.   To illustrate how advanced computational techniques and HPC resources can be applied to real-world problems, ACET presented a number of solutions in the exhibition hall, including a demonstration of its use of novel techniques for visualization.
ACET participated at Supercomputing '07 which attracted over 10,000 delegates.  

Intel fasterCITY

7 October 2008, IEE, Strand, London
Infrastructure technologies around processors, networks and hardware are innovating, and leading exponents of computational analysis are embracing these new architectures. The combination of components and possibilities for solutions were debated at the Intel fasterRisk event in front of over 100 of London's leading bankers. 
Professor Alexandrov presented the results of the research undertaken at Intel's HPC labs.  The ACET research involved deploying a number of Monte Carlo algorithms and data sets to compare performance and scalability across a range of Intel's HPC environments. Details of the  results of this benchmarking exercise can be obtained from Geoff Round.