Hollingsworth Elected Chair of ACM Special Interest Group on High Performance Computing

Jeff Hollingsworth, a professor of computer science with an appointment in UMIACS, was just elected chair of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on High Performance Computing (SIGHPC).

Hollingsworth—a noted expert in large-scale parallel computing systems—begins a three-year term as chair of ACM SIGHPC on July 1.

He helped establish the group in 2011, collaborating with outgoing chair Cherri Pancake to form a diverse cohort of individuals and organizations engaged in the study, development, teaching and support of high performance computing platforms, networks and software.

Hollingsworth notes that the mission of SIGHPC is very much aligned with the mission of UMIACS. “They both foster research and industry participation at the boundary of computer science and other scientific disciplines,” he says.

One of his goals as chair of SIGHPC, Hollingsworth says, is to expand its membership to include those whose primary scientific affiliations are not tied with ACM.

“High performance computing sits at the border of computer science and most of the physical sciences and, increasingly, the humanities,” he says. “So I would like to include researchers who may also be involved in SIAM, the American Physical Society, or several of the chemical engineering or chemical societies.”

In addition to his teaching and research at the University of Maryland, Hollingsworth is active in the logistical planning for the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Innovation, set to open in 2018.

He foresees the Iribe Center as a catalyst for fostering education, research and innovation that crosses traditional academic disciplines.

“It will be a great place for computer scientists,” he says. “And it will also be a great space for artists, engineers, business students and others to collaborate with computer scientists on new discoveries and knowledge that will benefit everyone.”