The new Frontiers in Computing Systems group, part of Columbia's Data Science Institute, is hosting an inaugural full-day symposium, with leading speakers and panelists, to highlight the advances and grand challenges in Big Data infrastructure: extreme-scale computing systems (hardware, parallel computing, software, databases) and their application to solve diverse cutting-edge problems in climate and ocean science, population-scale biomedical informatics, genomics, materials science, neuroscience, astrophysics and engineering.

The symposium includes an exciting keynote by Ruchir Puri, the chief architect of IBM's Watson system, on "Engineering the Future of Cognitive Systems." Other speakers include those developing state-of-art high-performance parallel computers and large-scale Python-based software platforms, as well as experts on computational problems in climate science, astrophysics, and protein folding simulation.

The event will include a keynote talk, lunch, two talk presentation sessions, a networking and poster session, and a panel of experts with audience participation.

A summary of the event is listed below.

AGENDA

Keynote Session: 11:00am-12:15pm

Opening Remarks:

Steven Nowick
Professor of Computer Science
Chair, Frontiers in Computing Systems working group
Columbia University

G. Michael Purdy
Executive Vice President for Research
Professor of Earth & Environmental Sciences
Columbia University

Keynote Talk:

Ruchir Puri — "Engineering the Future of Cognitive Systems"
Chief Architect of IBM Watson (IBM Fellow)

Lunch 12:15-1:15pm

Afternoon Welcome: 1:15pm

Mary C. Boyce
Dean of Engineering
Morris A. and Alma Schapiro Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Columbia University

Presentation Session I: Systems 1:15-2:15pm

Session Chair:
Martha Kim, Associate Professor of Computer Science

"Big Data, Streaming Graphs, and the Need for Innovation in Parallel Computer Architecture"
Peter Kogge
Chief Scientist and Founder, Emu Technology
McCourtney Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Notre Dame

"Why Science Must Lead Computing in the Era of Big Data"
Peter Wang
CTO and Co-Founder, Continuum Analytics

Poster Session 2:15-3:00pm

Presentation Session II: Applications 3:00-4:30pm

Session Chair:
Nicholas Tatonetti, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Informatics

"Climate Science in the Age of Big Data"
Gavin Schmidt
Director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

"How to Make a Galaxy from Scratch: Challenges in Computational Galaxy Formation"
Rachel Somerville
Co-Lead, Galaxy Formation Group, Center for Computational Astrophysics, Simons Foundation
Downsbrough Chair in Astrophysics, Rutgers University

"Exploiting Hardware-Software Co-Design in a Special-Purpose Supercomputer to Speed Up Molecular Dynamics Simulation"
Mark Moraes
Head of Engineering, D.E. Shaw Research

Panel Session: Views from the Computing Frontier: Insights from Experts 4:30-5:15pm

Moderator:
Kyle Mandli
Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University

Panelists:
Sankar Basu
Program Director, National Science Foundation (CISE/CCF)

Leslie Greengard
Director, Center for Computational Biology, Simons Foundation (Flatiron Institute)
Professor, Courant Institute, New York University

Sitharthan Kamalakaran
Director of Bioinformatics, Institute for Genomic Medicine, Columbia University

Brad Spiers
Principal Solutions Architect, Micron Technology

Renata Wentzcovitch
Professor of Materials Science & Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University

Closing Remarks 5:15-5:20pm
Steven Nowick
Professor of Computer Science; Chair, Frontiers in Computing Systems working group, Columbia University

Online Event Agenda: https://theinauguralfrontiersincomp2017.sched.com/
Mobile-Friendly Agenda: https://theinauguralfrontiersincomp2017.sched.com/mobile