DoD PET Program

The Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) "will provide advanced hardware, computing tools and training to DOD researchers utilizing the latest technology to aid their mission in support of the warfighter." (from the Modernization Office homepage)

Programming Environment and Training (PET) is a component of the Modernization Program with the objective of enabling the user community to utilize DoD HPC resources to their fullest capacity and to extend the range of applicability to DoD technical problems through training, support for software development, and technology transfer. The PET Program includes teams of universities associated with each of the four Major Shared Resource Centers (MSRCs) operated by the Modernization Program. Collectively, around two dozen universities are involved in the four PET teams (many unversities work with multiple MSRCs).

Prof. Geoffrey Fox and his research group have been involved in PET since its inception, first at Syracuse University and now at Florida State and works in a variety of areas. A sampling of past and present projects includes...

• Leading the Information and Communications (IC) support area at ARL, and the equivalent Communication and Collaboration (C/C) area at ERDC.
• Leading Training activities at ERDC.
• Development and deployment of tools for synchronous and asynchronous delivery of training and educational materials over the Internet.
• Distance education and training: we have taught six semester-long academic credit course at Jackson State University (another PET team member) and other locations over the Internet.
• User Training in areas such as basic and advanced web technologies, Java, web-linked and parallel database technologies.
• Use of recent and emerging web/Internet technologies (especially CORBA) to develop a new way for large HPC applications and integrated problem-solving environments to interact with computer resources. In this multi-tiered approach, a middle layer of software provides seamless access to a wide variety of back-end resources, including HPC systems, database engines, etc., simplifying the development of web-based front-ends for complex codes.
• Scientific seminars

For more detailed information...

• A complete listing of PET projects at CSIT...
• A listing of specific events and activities (i.e. site visits, meetings, etc.)...
• Whitepapers, reports, and other documents...

For more information about CSIT PET activities, please contact Geoffrey Fox. For information about PET in general, and the activities of other team members, please visit the MSRC web sites.