USING THE NEXT GENERATION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO LAUNCH A PROCESS OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IN EDUCATION - Henry Kelly (Federation of American Scientists)

Grid computing, widespread broadband connectivity, Web 2.0 software and a new generation of software for gaming and virtual worlds has the potential to revolutionize not only how people learn but the way we build, evaluate and share resources and instructional strategies. These tools let us implement approaches to learning that we know are effective – an ability to respond quickly to the needs and interests of each individual, an ability to use knowledge mastered to achieve an authentic challenge and a seamless mixture of learning and evaluation. They also permit people around the country to collaborate in building and using synthetic environments for learning – environments that will persist and continuously improve.

BUILDING A MATHEMATICAL MODEL FROM EXPERIMENTAL DATA – Susan Ragan (Maryland Virtual High School), Scott Sinex (Prince George’s Community College, Maryland Virtual High School)

Using Excel, we will build a mathematical model based on data collected using easily-obtained resources such as Styrofoam cups. We will then explore the mathematical model and its physical significance by introducing parameters for the model, examining measurement error via simulation and interpreting the goodness-of-fit and linear regression curves. Assessment questions for students will also be covered. This workshop will demonstrate the power of Excel in visualizing data. No prior Excel experience is needed.

A SURVEY OF COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS - Rubin Landau (Oregon State University)

Landau's new textbook, "A Survey of Computational Physics: Introductory Computational Science," will be presented. Participants will have hands-on activities applying examples from "A Survey of Computational Physics."

MOLECULAR VISUALIZATION (LEVEL 1, BEGINNER) – Clyde Metz (College of Charleston), Shawn Sendlinger (North Carolina Central University)

This largely hands-on session will demonstrate a variety of free browser plug-ins and software that allow interactive manipulation and visualization of chemical structures. Interactive dynamics software used to visualize chemical and physical changes will also be discussed and demonstrated.

MPI: INTRODUCTION AND ADVANCED - Tom Murphy (Contra Costa College), Kay Wanous (Earlham College)

These talks will introduce the audience to the basic principles of distributed parallel programming using MPI, the message passing interface. The first half of the talk will cover seven basic MPI calls as well as the essentials of augmenting C code with MPI. We will walk through a Hello World program and implement these fundamentals. The second half will cover communication in more detail, including looking at specific differences amongst modes of blocking and non-blocking messages and will end with open-ended lab exercises assisted by the instructors. These talks are geared towards an entry-level MPI programmer with basic experience in C or Fortran programming.

INTRODUCTORY MODELING EXAMPLES FOR ENGINEERS – James Giuliani & Steve Gordon (Ohio Supercomputer Center), Steve Stevenson (Clemson University)

We will introduce some exercises aimed at undergraduate freshman engineers and provide an opportunity for the audience to try some of the exercises. They will include a simple traffic model using Excel and MATLAB; exploration of some elementary arithmetic, algebra and trigonometry that illustrate the interesting issues that arise in floating point arithmetic on computers and the related accuracy and precision problems; and applets for understanding basic concepts in computational fluid dynamics.

INTRODUCTION OF DEAF STEM, LEARNING AND PHYSICAL CHALLENGES EDUCATION– Kent Robertson (Shodor)

Since 2001 the DEAF STEM team has examined issues related to Deaf Educational Access For Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. DEAF STEM has developed online materials to present inquiry-based math and science lessons to Deaf students. These lessons incorporate background information, computer models and on-demand ASL signing of the lessons. Issues involved in signing standardized tests were examined through the development of an online ASL signed Algebra test. ASL dictionaries of technical terms, which include definitions and example sentences, have been created along with tools for deaf educators to evaluate the signs. Additional practical skills in the use of technology in the production of video and signed materials for deaf students. The DEAF STEM team has used these skills to produce a variety of additional resources for deaf students. The materials developed and lessons by the DEAF STEM team will be presented along with a discussion of future opportunities to bring STEM to deaf students.

FINDING THE COMMON ROOTS OF PROBABILITY AND CALCULUS: APPICATIONS TO MODELING POPULATION DYNAMICS - Eric Jakobsson (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, National Center for Supercomputing Applications)

In this session we start with the defining equation of calculus and modify one of the underlying assumptions to produce the defining equation of probabilistic dynamic modeling. We use the correspondence thus revealed between probability and calculus to create deterministic and probabilistic versions of a model for population dynamics and explore the different behaviors of the two models. The exercise developed in this session raises questions about the traditional separation of the subjects of calculus and probability in mathematics instruction in the context of using both to model the same biological system.

MATHEMATICAL MODELING USING REAL-WORLD DATA – Steve Gordon (Ohio Supercomputer Center), Susan Ragan (Maryland Virtual High School), Scott Sinex (Prince George’s Community College, Maryland Virtual High School)

Using a variety of data sets, we will build mathematical models using Excel. We will look at graphing the data, a number of regression types (linear, power and exponential) available in Excel to examine curve fitting, and consider goodness-of-fit using R2 as well as residuals. We will also explore data transformations of non-linear data to linearize the model. Minimal Excel experience required.

EASY JAVA SIMULATIONS AND THE OPEN SOURCE PHYSICS PROJECT (PART 1) – Mario Belloni & Wolfgang Christian (Davidson College)

The premise of EJS modeling is that when students are not actively involved in modeling they lose out on much of what can be learned from computer simulations. Although the modeling method can be used without computers, the use of computers allows students to study problems that are difficult and time-consuming, to visualize their results and to communicate their results with others. EJS is a free, "point-and-click," open-source Java application that simplifies the modeling process by breaking it into activities: (1) documentation, (2) modeling and (3) interface design. The EJS authoring tool and examples of existing models will be distributed on CD and are also available in the comPADRE digital library. Workshop participants will begin by modifying and examining existing models in order to gain experience with Easy Java Simulations.

MOLECULAR MODELING (LEVEL 1, BEGINNER) – Shawn Sendlinger (North Carolina Central University)

This session will cover the basics of molecular modeling and will provide comparisons between available techniques. Participants will have time to begin hands-on exercises that demonstrate many of the techniques discussed.

OPENMP: INTRODUCTION – Christian Trefftz & Greg Wolffe (Grand Valley State University)

Microprocessors with multiple cores are the future of computing: ubiquitous, affordable, with distinct performance and power advantages over single-core chips. Software developers face the challenge of effectively exploiting these and other parallel processing platforms. OpenMP is an Application Programming Interface (API) that simplifies the task of developing shared memory parallel programs. It is supported by most major hardware and software vendors and is available for C/C++ and Fortran. The three basic components of OpenMP will be covered in this tutorial: environment variables, runtime library functions and compiler directives. Participants will obtain hands-on experience with OpenMP via simple examples in C, using both Visual Studio and the GNU tools.

INTERMEDIATE MODELING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS: IMAGE PROCESSING EXAMPLES WITH MATLAB (PART 1) – Ashok Krishnamurthy (Ohio Supercomputer Center)

MATLAB is a computational science integrated development environment that incorporates an easy-to-use scripting language, editor, visualization environment, debugger and profiler. A powerful numerical library and a large number of discipline-specific toolboxes make it easy to rapidly prototype and simulate models in many engineering disciplines. In this workshop, we will use MATLAB to develop and simulate many commonly-used models in electrical engineering; in particular, in controls, communications, signal and image processing. The follow-up Parallel MATLAB course will show how many of the larger models can be simulated on a distributed memory computer cluster.

ASL-STEM FORUM: BUILDING SIGN LANGUAGE FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY THROUGH AN ELECTRONIC COMMUNITY – Richard Ladner (University of Washington)

Because of the lack of standardized American Sign Language (ASL) signs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) the ASL-STEM Forum was created. The forum will allow deaf students, teachers, interpreters and sign language experts to upload ASL videos for proposed or existing signs in STEM fields and discuss them either in sign language or text. The forum will help enable more deaf students to enter STEM fields because their language will be better able to accommodate advanced topics in their fields of study. The forum is a good example of "social networking for a purpose." The forum will be described and demonstrated.

DISTRIBUTED DISCRETE-EVENT EPIDEMIC SIMULATIONS WITH EPISIMS – Doug Roberts (RTI International)

EpiSims is an agent-based model (ABM) that is used to simulate epidemics of infectious diseases in human populations. It runs on large distributed-memory clusters. In this session we will present the distributed discrete-event design of EpiSims. As background to this topic, we will also present simple example designs for discrete event-driven ABM simulations. These simple models will be appropriate for instructional use in the classroom to introduce the methodology to students who do not have experience with DES-driven ABMs.

CMIST – CONNECTING CONCEPTS ACROSS THE CURRICULUM – Jacob Czech, Jenda Domaracki, & Pallavi Ishwad (National Resource for Biomedical Supercomputing, Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center)

CMIST (Computational Modules in Science Teaching) is a high school and undergraduate outreach program of the National Resource for Biomedical Supercomputing (NRBSC) at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC). CMIST dramatically enhances comprehension in multidisciplinary STEM areas through a leading-edge approach to computer simulation and visualization, set within the context of typical classroom lectures and content. For example, the pilot CMIST module focusing on "Molecular Transport in Cells" brings fundamental concepts of diffusion and osmosis to life with a seamless integration of biology, math, physics, and chemistry.

EASY JAVA SIMULATIONS AND THE OPEN SOURCE PHYSICS PROJECT (PART 2) - Mario Belloni & Wolfgang Christian (Davidson College)

Presentation of additional models in physics, chemistry, biology and presentation of additional EJS features, such as Events and 3D modeling. Participants will continue their previous work in creating and modifying models and will learn how to organize and distribute their EJS models as stand-alone programs, applets, and Launcher packages. Downloading and using EJS-based curricular material from the comPADRE OSP Collection will be discussed.

MOLECULAR MODELING WITH WEBMO (LEVEL 2, INERMEDIATE) – Clyde Metz (College of Charleston), Shawn Sendlinger (North Carolina Central University)

This session is a continuation of the hands-on session from 1:30 pm. Participants will be provided with various exercises that demonstrate and compare computational time and accuracy, and will have freedom to perform calculations on molecules of their choosing.

BENCHMARKING AND TUNING METHODOLOGIES AND TOOLS FOR PARALLEL PROGRAMS – Paul Gray (University of Northern Iowa), Charlie Peck (Earlham College)

What is the fundamental difference between codes that run across dedicated processors and codes that run across multiple cores? Where are the bottlenecks in your application and what can you do about bottlenecks as an application programmer? If high performance computing is to make a difference in the teaching of computer science, computer scientists need to teach the difference between traditional and high performance computing. In this session, we will examine tools and techniques for assessing performance bottlenecks in parallel and multi-core programs, including compiler tricks and analyzing performance counters.

INTERMEDIATE MODELING SKILLS FOR ENGINEERS: CFD EXAMPLES (PART 2) - James Giuliani (Ohio Supercomputer Center)

This session will continue the introduction to the capabilities and characteristics of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). The process of building, solving and analyzing a system with CFD will be discussed. Fundamental fluid mechanics principles will be reviewed briefly to introduce a variety of model equations which frequently arise in fluid dynamics applications. Several example problems will be analyzed numerically using the open source CFD software OpenFOAM. Access to the OpenFOAM software running on a remote supercomputer will be provided through the Ralph Regula School Computational Fluid Dynamics web portal interface.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION - Kathy Hoellen & Suzie Medders (Clemson University)

The next generation of distance education reaches beyond access and convenience. While we see current online tools used to manage content and assignments, next-generation tools will be used to create collaborative pedagogical models which have an enormous impact on current teaching paradigms. Students will join faculty in the construction of teaching and learning environments developed to meet their specific needs. As new tools such as virtual worlds are adopted for educational use by faculty and students, new models of distance education are evolving. In this session we will explore tools such as Adobe Connect and Second Life.

AGENT-BASED MODELING OF DISEASE SPREAD WITH MATLAB'S PARALLEL COMPUTING TOOLBOX AND GRIDMATHEMATICA – Diglio Simoni (RTI International)

This session will survey computational resources and tools that can be used to allow students to see the operating principles of the cell's molecular machines and to help them to make the connection to mathematical and computational representations of these operating principles. Molecular structure viewing software and agent-based simulations will be used to demonstrate the fundamental molecular processes of association-dissociation, conformational change and catalysis. Then the processes of abstracting these phenomena into a system diagram, system dynamics model and system of equations will be presented. Visualization and analysis of model behavior will be linked to experimental approaches that are used to try to isolate model parameters to enable more accurate estimation and model validation. Finally, standards-based tools that have been developed to facilitate the construction and sharing of models of biochemical reaction systems will be introduced.