The 10th PAIR Distinguished Lecture, “An Overview of High-Performance Computing and Future Requirements”, was delivered by Prof. Jack DONGARRA, 2021 A. M. Turing Award Laureate and University Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, University of Tennessee, USA, on 6 December 2023 and achieved massive success! The hybrid lecture attracted over 160 participants joining in person and online from more than 50 countries and regions in Australia, Asia, Europe and North America. It was also broadcast live on multiple social media platforms and viewed by an online audience of over 12,000 in total.
The lecture commenced with a warm welcome address by Prof. CHEN Qingyan, Director of PAIR, and a brief speaker introduction by Prof. CAO Jiannong, Dean of the Graduate School, setting the stage for Prof. Dongarra’s inspiring presentation. Prof. Dongarra explained that computing now pervades all aspects of society. Cloud vendors are pursuing breakthroughs in computer architectures such as processors, accelerators, interconnects and operating systems, with a view to achieving high-performance computing. He noted that countries worldwide are in a race to build top exascale supercomputers. Prof. Dongarra also pointed out that the emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning is driving advances in software and hardware. To conclude the lecture, he emphasised that the hardware for high-performance computing is constantly evolving, and a new generation of software libraries and algorithms is needed for effective and reliable dynamic, distributed, and parallel computing.
A question-and-answer session moderated by Prof. Cao followed the presentation. The audience and Prof. Dongarra had a thought-provoking and fruitful discussion, exchanging views on a variety of issues in computing development.
