Optimization Techniques in High-Performance Computing for
Sustainability
Ishfaq Ahmad
University of Texas at Arlington
http://ranger.uta.edu/~iahmad/
Date and Location: Monday, April 7th,
2014, 12:45pm - 1:45pm @ SB 111
Abstract
Energy is one of the most valuable and scarce resources available to
humanity, a significant portion of which is now being consumed to
power up computers and their accessories. In particular, high-
performance parallel and distributed computing systems, including
data centers, supercomputers, clusters, real-time systems, embedded
architectures, and grids not only consume considerable amounts of
power but also require extensive air-conditioning. The explosive
growth in computing is leading to rapidly increasing consumption of
precious natural resources such as oil and coal, strengthening the
looming danger of an energy shortage. The conversion of these
resources to electricity results in carbon emissions that can
negatively affect the environment, a threat that is continually
escalating. However, energy saving usually comes at the expense of
performance. Energy-aware "green" computing requires a comprehensive
and multi-disciplinary approach that involves myriad research
challenges. In this talk, we present our research activities
pertaining to various aspect of energy and performance optimization
in parallel computing environments. We propose multi-objective
optimized scheduling algorithms and tools that can save energy while
ensuring performance. We propose game theory and evolutionary
computing based scheduling algorithms that simultaneously optimize
energy and quality of service. Our optimization techniques not only
yield efficient solutions for this problem with low overhead, but
are also flexible to self-tune for accommodating various problem
scenarios and management policies.
Biography
Ishfaq Ahmad received a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from
the University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan, in 1985, and
an MS degree in Computer Engineering and a Ph.D. degree in Computer
Science from Syracuse University, New York, U.S.A., in 1987 and
1992, respectively. Since 2002, he is a professor of Computer
Science and Engineering at the University of Texas at Arlington
(UTA). Prior to that, he was an associate professor of computer
science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His
research focus is on the broader areas of parallel and distributed
computing systems and their applications, optimization algorithms,
multimedia systems, video compression, and energy-aware green
computing. Dr. Ahmad has received numerous research awards,
including three best paper awards at leading conferences and 2007
best paper award for IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for
Video Technology, IEEE Service Appreciation Award, and 2008
Outstanding Area Editor Award from the IEEE Transactions on Circuits
and Systems for Video Technology.
His research work in parallel computing and video compression is
widely cited. His current research is funded by the U.S. Department
of Justice, National Science Foundation, SRC, Department of
Education, and several companies in the U.S. He is the Co-founding
Editor-in-Chief of the new Journal, Sustainable Computing:
Informatics and Systems, co- founder of the International Green
Computing Conference (IGCC). In addition, he has been editor of IEEE
Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, IEEE Distributed
Systems Online, Hindawi Journal of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing, IEEE
Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, and IEEE
Transactions on Multimedia. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.