PLUMAGE - Promoting Learning Using Mixed Advanced GPU Environments

The Holland Computing Center (HCC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) provides high performance computing (HPC) and advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) resources to the University of Nebraska (NU) system. Like many computing centers, HCC has seen tremendous growth in the use of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for scientific computation. GPUs have evolved from a mere curiosity to vital instruments, used in a wide range of domains, in a relatively short period of time. As the GPU technology itself has evolved, so have the tools and techniques to make effective use of it for research computing. Traditional batch-scheduled resources have been complemented by those offering more interactivity and alternate modes of access, such as the National Research Platform (NRP). PLUMAGE (Promoting Learning Using Mixed Advanced GPU Environments) will create a resource which may be subdivided among one or both types of environments upon demand. This flexibility will help to ensure a researcher has access to the right type of resource at the right time.

The goal of PLUMAGE is to create a flexible GPU resource that can adapt as research needs change over time. The traditional batch-scheduled environment and more interactive environments such as NRP should not be viewed as two competing alternatives, but as complementary approaches that are part of the same solution. Both approaches together create a methodology that is more effective than the sum of either alone. GPU-based computing has shown itself to be vital to a wide variety of disciplines; this is only expected to increase as time goes on. PLUMAGE will provide a vital resource to the NU research community to address these needs.