Our conference begins in just a few days. Whether you’re joining us in Dallas, or virtually from elsewhere in the world, I’m delighted you will be attending SC22. Welcome.

To me, HPC is all about speed. That’s why our theme this year is “HPC Accelerates.” Throughout more than 200 sessions – lectures, panels, exhibits, award presentations and more – you’ll see that theme come to life. You’ll also see this theme in the exhibit hall, where you’ll find more than 350 exhibitors ready to welcome you.

“HPC Accelerates” also describes how supercomputing is rapidly changing the world, by “accelerating” the speed of finding solutions – for corporations, governments, and other organizations. That was certainly proven during the pandemic, when the HPC community answered the call and illustrated the importance of being able to ramp up scientific research in the blink of an eye.

The world is spinning faster than ever, and HPC plays a key role in helping us all keep up. Innovative hardware and software are emerging every day throughout the HPC community. HPC is “accelerating” our understanding of the world; from weather forecasting in a world challenged by climate change, to the critical importance of scientific computing combined with artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics, HPC is helping to make new discoveries happen. And with the advancements in exascale and the exciting new field of quantum computing, we are developing specialized hardware to solve particular problems with unprecedented speed.

Planning for SC22 began more than three years ago. You may not be aware that SC conferences are planned and executed by volunteers from the global HPC community. You can see the complete list of volunteers on the planning committee page on our website. This year, we have more than 1,000 people who donated their time and expertise to bring you this conference, including:

• 735 Volunteers who planned and organized the Technical Program;
• 15 Virtual Logistics Volunteers who devoted countless hours to developing a new digital platform, purpose-built for our conference;
• 1 Mobile App Volunteer who worked diligently to bring the Eventbase mobile app back to the conference so you can connect with other attendees, whether in Dallas or virtually, as well as find your way around the convention center;
• 175 SCinet Volunteers who designed and deployed the world’s fastest network for the conference, capable of 5.01 terabits per second of WAN capacity and WiFi 6E wireless capabilities in the convention center.

The Digital Experience is now live and the SC22 Mobile App is available for download, so you can start planning your schedule. In the mobile app, be sure to “opt in” to make yourself visible to your friends and colleagues, so you can easily message and stay in touch during the conference.

It’s going to be a great conference. There’s still time to register, so if you know of someone who’s not yet attending be sure to let them know it’s not too late.

I’ll see you in just a few days at SC22!

Candace Culhane, SC22 General Chair

Planning for SC22 began in early 2020 after I accepted the position as General Chair. The first tasks were to create a vision for the conference, choose a conference theme (HPC Accelerates) and establish an executive committee (EC) – the chairs responsible for organizing the individual aspects of the conference.

Each member of the EC leads a subcommittee to organize and execute their tasks; they’ve been hard at work for more than a year now. The job of the planning committee is to attend to all the large and small details that go into making an enjoyable conference experience so that you can focus on getting the most out of your time in Dallas.

Meeting Our Community’s Needs

While we don’t have a crystal ball to tell us what’s going to happen this year with COVID-19, we do know that SC21 showed our HPC community can safely gather in person and experience the knowledge and the excitement from being together. And that’s what we’re planning for this year – bringing our community together for an amazing in-person experience. We’re also planning a digital experience for those unable to travel to Dallas; details for that will be announced in advance of registration opening in July.

Encouraging In-Person Presentations

SC is built by our community, for our community. Our goal this year is to continue to strengthen that ethos by offering the in-person presentation guidance for the content types listed below. After reviewing last year’s conference experience and studying the results from the attendee survey, this guidance is an effort to bring our community together in an annual meeting that is both powerful and meaningful. Should you have questions, please reach out to the Technical Program Committee.

Note 1: For an accepted paper to be included in the proceedings, the author has to either present the paper at the conference (in-person or via live stream), or submit a pre-recorded video by the Final Materials Due deadline (September 30, 2022).

Note 2: It is encouraged that all workshop content (e.g., papers, panels) follow the same in-person guidance listed above.

Why Attend In-Person

SC is best experienced by attending the conference in person.

Being in Dallas means walking the exhibit hall, examining the latest technology and experiencing something akin to that new car tingle. Being in Dallas means easy access to experts to discuss your technical challenges and discover answers. Being in Dallas means connecting with old friends and making new ones. Many attendees report they make lifetime connections while at SC and dream up new research proposals that are jotted down on a cocktail napkin. It’s these connections and the knowledge you gain at SC that build your self-confidence and advance your career.

Updates to Come

Watch this space for more information about SC22; we’ll keep you apprised as various aspects of the conference are finalized. We’re planning a conference you won’t want to miss!

I’ve been attending SC since 1992, and never fail to be impressed by the many ways that high performance computing is rapidly evolving.

Candace Culhane

SC22 General Chair

That was certainly true in November at SC21 as well. I hope you were able to attend this event in person or online. The theme, Science & Beyond, expressed how HPC has expanded beyond the lab and into the real world, where scientists, engineers and others are tackling the toughest problems our planet faces. In doing so, they are opening the world to vast new frontiers, as was evidenced by the many innovations unveiled in St. Louis.

But just as HPC devotees are constantly looking around the corner to see how supercomputing will help solve the challenges ahead, so, too, should we begin looking ahead to what SC22 will have to offer.

At SC21 last November, I was privileged to share a glimpse of what we are planning for this year’s conference, which will take place in Dallas. Our theme for SC22 is HPC Accelerates. And I can’t think of a more apt description of how supercomputing is continuously changing the world, by accelerating the process of reaching solutions – for corporations, governments and other organizations eager for ASAP computing.

New hardware and software designs are created every day throughout the HPC community. I’ve seen countless examples of this at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Directorate for Simulation and Computation, where I serve as program/project director.

At Los Alamos, as well as in research labs around the globe, HPC use cases are emerging at breakneck speed. And thank goodness the HPC community has afforded us this capability, as the onset of COVID-19 in 2020 illustrated the importance of being able to ramp up scientific research in the blink of an eye.

Clearly, HPC is the fuel that is powering the turbocharged, rapid-paced field of COVID-19 scientific research, which is the reason that the development, approval and distribution of vaccines and treatments has occurred at scale and in record-setting time. HPC was the key to fast-tracking development efforts and advancing pivotal discoveries, as it offers the wherewithal to fiercely battle this deadly virus and its countless variants.

And there’s so much more on the horizon. From weather forecasting in a world grappling with climate change, to the critical importance of scientific computing combined with artificial intelligence, machine learning and data analytics, HPC propels us toward new achievements.

Speed serves as the foundation for HPC, and speed will also serve as the foundation for SC22.

Join us this coming November, in person at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center or virtually. In the meantime, we’ll keep you updated as more details and plans develop.

This year is sure to fly by. We’ll see you soon, when SC22 celebrates how HPC accelerates our ability to launch the next wave of life-changing innovations.