Advanced Computing interns at UT Austin

20 Aug 2010

Nine Portuguese students from the Universities of Minho, Coimbra, and Porto spent five weeks in July and August with researchers at The University of Texas at Austin.

by Meiling Guentzel

Some students worked alone with their faculty mentors and others joined research project teams. Topics varied from software development to computer reproductions of bio-molecular motion.

Luís Correia worked with protein dynamics research. “The thing I liked the most was that I needed to learn about all kinds of physics – keywords, behavior in fluids, all kinds of forces that explain molecular behavior – and more math than what I already knew just to understand the phrases that people in the lab kept saying to me,” stated Correia. “Now that I look back to that first week and see myself having to read books and papers just to understand small details, I think it must have been very frustrating. But then again, isn’t that the definition of a good challenge? Now that I’m done and can read related work papers, understanding basic implications in molecular dynamics, I feel much more confident, happy (I really like physics), and I am looking forward to finding a place where I can apply what I learned and expand my knowledge.”

Other students researched topics with which they were more familiar. “I liked the opportunity to work in my field of study,” Luís Miranda said. He and Nuno Barbosa focused on parallel and distributed computing. Filipe Brunido analyzed “ways to parallelize streamline calculations across multiple GPUs and multiple compute nodes. The research mainly focused on two technologies, NVIDIA’s CUDA and MPI.”

Some students learned different ways to view their courses of study. “The main benefit was that I learned a new perspective of computer science where it can be used as a tool for other sciences,” André Lourenço said. He teamed with Luís Correia. “My task was to implement an algorithm in MOIL. The main difference between the existing algorithm and the one that André Lourenço and I implemented is the increased precision of the calculations without adding too much stress to the system,” Correia said.

Roberto Ribeiro and Rui Magalhães da Costa explored a topic that consisted of “simulation and numerical experiments with materials with microscale structure – namely, heat conductivity,” Ribeiro said. “The experience in Austin was quite profitable because I learned and developed several research methods and capabilities that I hadn’t experienced before. I was also quite surprised with the mentoring. Very experienced supervisors were always supporting us which was quite helpful in achieving the project goal in five weeks.”

André Rocha and Nuno Faria temporarily joined the “computational visualization center (CVC) crew,” Rocha commented. “Our main goal was to enhance a software project by adding additional features that would increase the software’s performance significantly.” Faria said that he and Rocha worked with a team that developed “an application for volume rendering. More specifically, we helped develop the I/O module of HDF5 files in the Volume Rover application. I noticed that the available projects are important and the results that we reach may have a very important role in someone else’s research. I started having a new perspective on how to manipulate very large scientific data, and I think it will come in handy in the future.”

Students stayed in a UT Austin dorm. Most of them secured their research opportunities by telling their supervising professors in Portugal that they were interested in studying abroad, writing a CV, and submitting a motivation letter. Dr. Keshav Pingali, a computer science professor at UT Austin, selected the students.

“I met Dr. Pingali in a summer school that he [facilitated] in Portugal,” Correia said, “I found out about this opportunity and asked a professor in my university about the chance to come to the U.S.” To Portuguese students interested in researching with UT Austin, Barbosa advises, “Sometimes the offers aren’t public. You need to search and investigate. Speak with your supervisor or with a teacher who is close to you to find out if it is possible to visit.” Magalhães da Costa suggests, “Be professional with your work, bring comfortable summer shoes, and maybe some hankies in the first few days until you get used to the thermal shocks of going into and out of buildings in Austin!”

The students and their mentors

Nuno Miguel Monteiro Barbosa
University of Porto
Supervising Professors in Porto: Drs. Verónica Orvalho and Álvaro Reis Figueira
Supervising Professor in Austin: Dr. Paul Navratil

Filipe Brunido
University of Coimbra
Supervising Professor in Coimbra: Luís Moura e Silva
Supervising Professor in Austin: Dr. Paul Navratil

Luís Filipe Pinho Correia
University of Porto
Supervising Professor in Porto: Dr. Miguel Dias Costa
Supervising Professor in Austin: Dr. Ron Elber

Rui Sérgio Magalhães da Costa
University of Minho
Supervising Professor in Minho: Dr. Alberto Proença
Supervising Professor in Austin: Dr. Ivo Babuska

Nuno Filipe Monteiro Faria
University of Minho
Supervising Professors in Minho: João Luís Sobral, Rui Ralha, Dr. Alberto Proença, and António Pina
Supervising Professor in Austin: Dr. Chandrajit Bajaj

André Gonçalo Pereira dos Santos Lourenço
University of Coimbra
Supervising Professor in Coimbra: Luís Moura e Silva
Supervising Professor in Austin: Dr. Ron Elber

Luís Filipe Teixeira Miranda
University of Minho
Supervising Professor in Minho: Dr. Alberto Proença
Supervising Professors in Austin: Donald Nguyen and Mario Méndez

Roberto Carlos Sá Ribeiro
University of Minho
Supervising Professors in Minho: João Luís Sobral, Rui Ralha, Dr. Alberto Proença, and António Pina
Supervising Professors in Austin: Drs. Ivo Babuska and Karl Schulz

André Silva Rocha
University of Minho
Supervising Professor in Minho: Dr. Alberto Proença
Supervising Professors in Austin: Dr. Chandrajit Bajaj