Workshop on Modeling & Simulation of Systems and Applications
August 12-14, 2015 ♦ University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

Multiagency Workshop Examines State of Performance Modeling and Simulation Research

Invited forum provides distinct look at methods and tools of the ModSim trade

Release available for download.

SEATTLE–The 2015 Workshop on Modeling & Simulation of Systems and Applications, held last week in Seattle, marked the fourth annual gathering of computer scientists, hardware architects, application developers, and computer vendors, who spent more than two days addressing critical technology and research areas of emphasis for modeling and simulation (hereafter ModSim) activities.

The invitation-only workshop hosted an array of personnel from institutions including national laboratories, government, academia, and industry, all of whom participated in discussions and debates related to integrated ModSim of performance, power, and reliability of systems and applications. These discussions spanned ModSim tools and methodologies encompassing a diverse landscape of numerically and data-intensive applications, various topics related to architectures, and ways to address computing on a large spectrum of scales, from embedded to extreme.

ModSim

Each day included a mix of invited talks and presentations examining various aspects of ModSim predictive modeling and simulation research, along with industry-, applications-, and tools-focused panels. Many of these presentations are available for review here.

The initial two days culminated with topical discussions geared toward measurement and benchmarking, best practices for model validation, predictive modeling of algorithms, and integration of thermal models into computer system modeling. This year also included an invited presenter poster session.

The workshop’s Organizing Committee was chaired by Adolfy Hoisie, Advanced Computing, Mathematics, and Data Division Director at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, who noted that this year’s meeting included some of the most engaging and lively discussions to date, proving how deeply this topic permeates the larger computing community.

“ModSim continues to be a valuable commodity for understanding and optimizing computing ecosystems and will continue to grow in importance, especially as we move toward exascale,” he said. “As this workshop has bloomed into a multiagency event, we have been more aptly able to assess how ModSim interacts in a range of research areas, including those affecting national security and the domain sciences. Meetings like this one are elemental to remaining at the forefront of that progress and for steering research in the right direction for the broadest benefits.”

Already, plans for next year’s Modeling & Simulation of Systems and Applications workshop are underway. For a closer look at the 2015 ModSim workshop, visit the website: http://hpc.pnl.gov/modsim/2015/.

Organizing Committee
Adolfy Hoisie (PNNL, Chair); Rich Carlson, DOE/SC; Laura Carrington, SDSC; Bruce Childers, University of Pittsburgh;
Jon Hiller, STA; Darren Kerbyson, PNNL; Martin Schulz, LLNL; Dolores Shaffer, STA; Ankur Srivastava, UMD; Jeffrey Vetter, ORNL and Georgia Tech; Noel Wheeler, DoD; and Sudhakar Yalamanchili, Georgia Tech

Steering Committee
Almadena Chtchelkanova, NSF; Adolfy Hoisie, PNNL (Organizing Committee, Chair); Anne Fitzpatrick, DoD/HPCMod;
Sue Kelly, DOE/NNSA/ASC; Karen Pao, DOE/SC/ASCR; Dolores Shaffer, STA; and Noel Wheeler, DoD