Second MHPC Class Graduates

The joint ICTP-SISSA program granting a Master's in High Performance Computing graduated its second-ever class this week. Thirteen students received their diplomas after a year and a half of intense studies and thesis preparation.

Course coordinator and ICTP scientist Ralph Gebauer proudly highlighted the geographical diversity of the graduating students, who hailed from Italy, Ghana, Pakistan, Colombia, Costa Rica, Germany, India, Cuba, Mexico, and the Philippines. In addition, there were three women in the graduating class this year, helping to fight the heavily skewed gender ratio in the field of high performance computing.

Graduate Marlon Esteban Brenes Navarro won the prize for the best thesis, delivering a talk on his project, 'Massively parallel implementation and approaches to simulate dynamics of 1D quantum interacting systems using Krylov subspace techniques.' Nicola Mazari, a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, gave the keynote talk, entitled, 'Computational materials science enters a new age.' He offered some career advice to the MHPC graduates, stressing that intelligence alone is not a guarantee for a successful career. Instead, Marzari urged the students to focus on hard work, drive, vision, and creativity.

"This is a very proud moment for us," said ICTP director Fernando Quevedo in his opening remarks and welcome. Gebauer is doubly proud that every member of the first class of MHPC students have jobs, as do the majority of this graduating class. Congratulations to the graduates, and best of luck on your next step!

Photos of the graduation can be found on ICTP's Flickr.

--- Kelsey Calhoun