Advanced Computing, Mathematics and Data
Staff Awards & Honors

November 2014

Addressing Irregular Applications

John Feo and Antonino Tumeo on deck to co-edit 'Parallel Computing' special issue

For the third time this year, Dr. John Feo and Dr. Antonino Tumeo, of PNNL’s Advanced Computing, Mathematics, and Data Division, were chosen to serve as guest editors for a special edition journal. This time, they will pair up to tackle an issue of Parallel Computing devoted to “Theory and Practice of Irregular Applications (TaPIA).” Published by Elsevier, Parallel Computing is an international journal that centers on the practical use of parallel computer systems, including high-performance architecture, system software, programming systems and tools, and applications. The TaPIA issue is expected to be published in November 2015.

Antonino Tumeo (left) and John Feo (right).

The TaPIA issue will focus on uncovering solutions for supporting efficient design, development, and execution of irregular applications by showcasing new features at micro- and system-architecture levels, as well as novel networks, languages and libraries, runtimes, compilers, analyses, and algorithms.

“Research on irregular applications is clearly picking up momentum these days,” Tumeo said. “We need high-performance systems able to efficiently perform analysis, discovery, and inferencing on the exponentially growing volume of data we continue to accumulate from all aspects of life. These operations are mostly memory bound and employ inherently irregular data structures, difficult to partition without generating load imbalance, leading to fine-grained, unpredictable access patterns.

“Unfortunately, current HPC systems are mainly optimized for scientific simulations, which are mostly computation bound and usually employ regular data structures,” he continued. “Future systems must be able to address these issues to be useful in solving the scientific challenges of the next few years. Breakthroughs could be made only by studying, improving, and, eventually, disrupting all the layers of the stack, from algorithms to software to hardware.”

In anticipation of the Parallel Computing TaPIA special edition, a Call for Papers has been issued. Both unpublished and previously published (yet expanded) research will be considered. Additional details regarding submissions and potential topics are available at http://www.journals.elsevier.com/parallel-computing/call-for-papers/parallel-computing-on-theory-and-practice-of-irregular-appli/.

Paper submissions will be accepted through Monday, March 30, 2015. All manuscripts will be submitted through the Elsevier Editorial System.

With this journal, Feo and Tumeo now have partnered as co-editors for three special publications related to irregular applications, including:

• Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, “Architectures and Algorithms for Irregular Applications” (tentative publication date: March 2015)
• Computer, “Irregular Applications” (tentative publication date: August 2015).

In addition to the Parallel Computing call, Computer still is accepting submissions for its special issue (deadline Feb. 01, 2015). Read more.

For more information about the Parallel Computing TaPIA special issue, contact Antonino Tumeo or John Feo.