[hpc-announce] Call for Papers - EduPar-24, San Francisco, CA, USA

[Srivastava, Srishti]

EduPar-24: 14th NSF/TCPP Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Computing Education
In conjunction with the 38th IEEE International Parallel & Distributed Processing Symposium (IPDPS),
San Francisco, CA, USA
May 27, 2024
https://tcpp.cs.gsu.edu/curriculum/?q=edupar24

Submission deadline: January 14, 2024
Submission site: https://ssl.linklings.net/conferences/ipdps/
(New Track on "Research to Education" for IPDPS researchers)
Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) permeates most computing activities - the "explicit" ones, in which a person works directly on programming a computing device, and the "implicit" ones, in which a person uses everyday tools that incorporate PDC below the user's view. The penetration of PDC into the daily lives of both "explicit" and "implicit" users makes it imperative that users can depend on this technology's effectiveness, efficiency, and reliability. The pervasiveness of PDC is evident in today's general-purpose computing devices, such as PCs, laptops, and handheld devices that contain multiple cores and graphics processing units (GPUs). It is also seen in the increasing reliance on web and cloud services and the growing need for parallel and distributed solutions to data-intensive problems associated with Big Data from various disciplines. The growing ubiquity of parallel and distributed computing and the increasing reliance on parallel and distributed technology make PDC topics an essential and core part of computing curricula. The rapid advancements in computing hardware platforms, programming languages, and applications in parallel and distributed computing (PDC) present ongoing challenges in determining what to include in the educational curriculum and how to integrate PDC seamlessly into existing and new courses. This is vital in preparing students for careers that are increasingly expected to involve PDC.

The EduPar workshop is designed in coordination with the NSF/TCPP curriculum initiative on Parallel and Distributed Computing (http://tcpp.cs.gsu.edu/curriculum) and the Center for Parallel and Distributed Curriculum Development and Educational Resources (CDER). Held with IPDPS (www.ipdps.org), EduPar brings together individuals from academia, industry, and other educational and research institutes to explore new ideas, challenges, and experiences related to PDC pedagogy, curricula, and workforce development.

EduPar invites unpublished manuscripts from individuals or teams from academia, industry, and other educational and research institutes from all over the world on topics about the teaching of PDC topics in the Computer Science and Computer Engineering curriculum as well as in domain-specific computational and data science and engineering curricula. EduPar invites researchers, scholars, and practitioners to submit their work for consideration in either of the following two paper tracks or for posters or peachy assignments sessions.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following areas:

- Exploration of emerging Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC), Big Data, Data Science, and Energy topics to contribute valuable insights to TCPP and associated educational initiatives
- Development and models for integrating PDC topics into fundamental computing curricula, focusing on curriculum design
- Examination of pedagogical challenges associated with incorporating PDC topics into computing courses
- Sharing experiences integrating PDC topics into core computing courses, new curricula/courses, or other practical applications
- Evaluation and discussion of pedagogical tools, programming environments, infrastructures, languages, and projects designed for PDC
- Innovative approaches to teaching PDC topics, including informal learning environments
- Employers' perspectives and expectations regarding PDC proficiency in new graduates and training curricula for their employees
- Educational resources based on higher-level programming languages and directives like Chapel, Haskell, Python, Cilk, CUDA, OpenCL, OpenMP/OpenACC, Pthread, Hadoop, and Spark
- Exploration of educational resources and techniques for online pedagogy, e-learning, e-laboratory, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC), and Small Private Online Courses (SPOC)
- PDC experiences at non-university levels, including secondary schools, postgraduate education, industry, and the diffusion of PDC knowledge
- Parallel and distributed models of programming/computation suitable for teaching, learning, and workforce development

- - Track 1 - Educational Research: For this track, we welcome researchers unpublished 6-8 page manuscripts from individuals or teams from academia, industry, and other educational and research institutes from all over the world on topics about the teaching of PDC topics in the Computer Science and Computer Engineering curriculum as well as in domain-specific computational and data science and engineering curricula. This track emphasizes conducting pedagogical research related to PDC education and evaluating it within classroom or other settings.

- - Track 2 - Research to Education (New): For this particular track, we welcome IPDPS researchers to submit 3-4 page manuscripts discussing their innovative experiences in integrating their research, as well as associated methods, tools, models, simulations, or datasets, into educational settings, with a focus on undergraduate or K-12 levels, or fostering broader community engagement. Submissions do not need to include an assessment of teaching techniques or in-class evaluations. Early career faculty, including those applying for or already having CAREER awards from NSF or other agencies, are especially encouraged to submit.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: We are accepting submissions for Track 1 Full Papers (6-8 pages), Track 2 Short Papers (3-4 pages), Posters (2-page abstracts), and Peachy Parallel Assignments (2-page abstracts). Please see the details below for each category of submission. All entries must be submitted via the Linklings submission site (https://ssl.linklings.net/conferences/ipdps/). Ensure that submissions adhere to the IEEE format (https://www.ieee.org/conferences/publishing/templates.html), featuring single-spaced, double-column pages with proper inclusion of figures, tables, and references.

If accepted, regular and short papers will be published in the workshop proceedings and included in the IEEE Xplore digital library, and authors will present their work in a technical workshop session. Authors of accepted Posters and Peachy Assignments will present their work during the workshop poster sessions. Summary papers of all accepted posters and all accepted Peachy Assignments will also be published in the workshop proceedings. Proceedings of the workshops are distributed at the conference and will be included in the IEEE Xplore Digital Library after the conference. Summary papers will be written by the Poster and Peachy Assignment chairs and will include, as co-authors, all Poster and Peachy Assignment authors. In addition, all individual abstracts, posters, and preprints of papers will be published on the EduPar-24 CDER website.

Papers: Authors are asked to submit 6-8 page papers in pdf format for Track 1 and 3-4 page papers in pdf format for Track 2. Submissions will be reviewed based on the novelty of contributions, impact on the broader undergraduate curriculum, particularly on the core curriculum, relevance to the workshop's goals, and, for experience papers, the results of their evaluation and the evaluation methodology.

Posters: High-quality poster presentations are an integral part of EduPar. We seek posters (2-page abstracts) describing recent or ongoing research.

Peachy Parallel Assignments: Course assignments are integral to student learning and also play an important role in student perceptions of the field. EduPar will include a session showcasing "Peachy Parallel Assignments" - high-quality assignments, previously tested in class, that are readily adoptable by other educators teaching topics in parallel and distributed computing. Assignments may be previously published, but the author must have the right to publish a description of it and share all supporting materials. We are seeking assignments that are:

Tested - All submitted assignments should have been used successfully in a class.
Adoptable - Preference will be given to widely applicable and easy-to-adopt assignments. Traits of such assignments include coverage of widely taught concepts, using common parallel languages and widely available hardware, having few prerequisites, and (with variations) being appropriate for different levels of students.
Cool and inspirational - We want assignments that excite students and encourage them to spend time with the material. Ideally, they would be things that students want to show off to their roommates.
Assignments can cover any topics in Parallel and Distributed Computing. Preference will be given to assignments aimed at students in the early courses. Submissions (2-page abstracts) should describe the assignment and its contextual usage and include a link to a web page containing the complete set of files given to students (assignment description, supporting code, etc.). The document should cover the following items: What is the main idea of the assignment? What concepts are covered? Who are its targeted students? In what context have you used it? What prerequisite material does it assume they have seen? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Are there any variations that may be of interest?

IMPORTANT DATES
Papers, Posters, and Peachy Assignments due: January 14, 2024
Author Notification: February 18, 2024
Camera-ready papers due: February 29, 2024
Final versions of Poster abstracts and Peachy Assignments due: February 22, 2024
Best Paper Award: All submitted papers will be peer-reviewed and considered for the Best Paper Award.

KEYNOTE: To be announced

COMMITTEES
Program Committee
Joel Adams (Calvin University)
Michael Bane (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Gregory Benson (University of San Francisco)
Neelima Bayyapu (Manipal Institute of Technology)
Massimo Canonico (University of Piemonte Orientale)
Debzani Deb (Winston-Salem State University)
Samantha S. Foley (University of Wisconsin-La Crosse)
Shanzhen Gao (Virginia State University)
Ana Gonzalez (University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez)
D. Brian Larkins (Rhodes College)
Shubbhi Taneja (Worcester Polytechnic Institute)
Ming Li (University of Tulsa)
Suzanne J. Matthews (West Point)
Charlie Peck (Earlham College)
Upsorn Praphamontripong (University of Virginia)
Jawwad Shamsi (National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences)
Joel Sommers (Colgate University)
Alan Sussman (University of Maryland)
Jerry L. Trahan (Louisiana State University)
Denis Trystram (University of Grenoble Alpes)
Ramachandran Vaidyanathan (Louisiana State University)
Vladimir Voevodin (Moscow State University)
Charles Weems (University of Massachusetts)
Conference Committee
Workshop Chair: Sushil Prasad (University of Texas at San Antonio)
Program Chair: Mary Smith (Hawaii Pacific University)
Program Vice-Chair: Srishti Srivastava (University of Southern Indiana)
Poster Chair: Satish Puri (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
Peachy Assignments Chair: David Bunde (Knox College)
Proceedings Chair: Satish Puri (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
Past Program Chair: Steven Bogaerts (University of Michigan)
Webmaster: Buddhi Ashan Mallika Kankanamalage (University of Texas at San Antonio)
Contact
Questions about paper submissions: Mary Smith (mlsmith at hpu.edu)
Questions about Peachy Assignment submissions: David Bunde (dbunde at knox.edu)
Questions about poster submissions: Satish Puri (satish.puri at mst.edu)