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Center for High Performance Software Research

Note: HiPerSoft has ceased operations as a separate entity. This page is retained for archival purposes only.

Rice University established the Center for High Performance Software Research (HiPerSoft) in October 1998. The Center's goal is to foster research on the design and implementation of software critical to the usability of high performance computer systems. Over the past decade, the importance of high performance computing (HPC) to our nation has increased substantially. Research in this area has been interdisciplinary and has been central to many of the National and Grand Challenges established by the federal government. Federal funding for HPC research, even in the government's budget crisis of a few years ago, has remained a high priority. Based on the internationally recognized success of CRPC, Rice is a leader in HPC research and is poised to take on new challenges as they arise in the field. HiPerSoft is the successor to the Center for Research on Parallel Computation (CRPC), an eleven year effort at Rice that has focused on algorithms and software needed to make parallel computing truly usable for science and engineering applications. HiPerSoft will drive research on a variety of important topics including:

  • software for future-generation scalable, parallel computers,
  • software for distributed heterogeneous computers,
  • compiler-assisted memory-hierarchy management,
  • software for compilation of Java on high performance computers,
  • high performance software libraries,
  • tools to support the construction of correct, efficient programs, and
  • problem solving environments.

The long range goals for HiPerSoft are to build on the CRPC's success and create a more facile organization that promotes research in the topics mentioned above. HiPerSoft has already entered partnerships with other interdisciplinary and inter-institutional teams that include researchers from academia, federal and other nonprofit labs, and industry. Additional activities include:

  • technology transfer and knowledge transfer.
  • activities that increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities in science and engineering disciplines,
  • collaboration with industry, and
  • incorporation of new technology into undergraduate and graduate education.