March 2025 Research Computing Newsletter

Welcome to the first edition of the monthly Research Computing Newsletter that will provide updated information on the activities and services of Research Computing and the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering (PICSciE).  To sign up to receive the monthly newsletter via email, please visit our Subscribe page. If you have suggestions for information that should be included in future editions and how it should be shared, feel free to email [email protected].

Highlights

• Visit the refreshed TigerData website
• Get information about the new Tiger cluster 
• Attend the Second PICSciE & CSML joint graduate certificate colloquium on April 18

Advanced Data and Storage Management

• A refreshed website has been released for the TigerData data and storage management service.
• Globus is now available for data movement from external storage to TigerData projects. To get started with Globus on TigerData please send email to [email protected].
• The Advanced Data team continues  to create new projects, migrate data into TigerData, and manage data movement strategies and best practices. To request a new project, please fill out a registration form.
• The TigerData web-based user interface (developed by the Princeton University Library) is live in a read-only manner for TigerData users to view their projects, quota, and metadata values. Advanced functionality will be released in CY25. 
• TigerData already has 58 projects totaling 13.6PB in quota and ~8PB in stored data, and new project requests continue to increase.
• The Advanced Data and Storage management team has had three new hires since November: Matt Duchnowski, Research Data Workflow Developer, Andrew Zawodniak, Data Movement Specialist, and Dominique Davis, Senior Manager for TigerData Technical Services.

Advanced Systems 

• Tiger cluster replaced with updated hardware and housed in a leased data center facility in Somerset, NJ.  
  • First Princeton cluster entirely cooled by direct liquid to the CPUs, memory, and network interfaces
  • 320 computers providing a total of 35,840 CPU cores
• Della cluster upgraded with 55 new computers replacing 160 outdated computers.
  • Two AMD Genoa CPUs totaling 192 cores each and 1.5TB of memory each  
  • All outdated Intel Broadwell CPU computers decommissioned
  • The new computers run the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9 operating systems
  • Remainder of the cluster will be upgraded to RHEL9 over the upcoming months

Researcher Engagement

Inviting you to get to know us and what we do:

• 6 hours of Help Sessions per week, for students, staff, and faculty, including customized training for individuals, groups, labs, or classes on a broad range of topics by request. Contact us at [email protected]
• Student employment opportunities for graduate students and undergraduate students.
• For consultations on software and research workflow optimization, including software performance tuning, and recommendations on best practices, contact us at [email protected]
• Advanced support for data visualization at your desk, on the web, or in the Fine Hall Visualization Lab as well as specialized support for Geographic / Geospatial Information Systems (GIS) can be obtained by contacting us at [email protected].

Research Software Engineering

• Currently two open RSE positions:
  • Lead Research Software Engineer to work with the Princeton Language and Intelligence Initiative.
  • Research Software Engineer II to work with the Princeton Quantum Initiative.
• Examples of RSE projects and a current list of the RSE group members are available on our website.  

PICSciE Graduate Certificate in Computational Science & Engineering Program

• Get information about the Certificate Program. 
• Application is ongoing throughout the year. 
• Second PICSciE and CSML Joint Graduate Certificate Colloquium
  • Friday, April 18, 1:00–4:30 PM, Bendheim House, 26 Prospect Avenue

Training and Workshops

• Upcoming workshops and mini-courses in March and April from major topic areas including: Research Computing Fundamentals, Machine Learning, Python and Julia Programming, Accelerated Computing, Visualization and Geographic Information Systems, and Data Analysis and Workflows.
• To sign up for events and workshops, please visit our website.
• Join user groups ranging from PrincetonPy, Julia, R, GPU, Deep Learning, and MATLAB. 

Princeton Open Hackathon

• Princeton’s Open Hackathon: Tackling diverse global challenges to advance science,
  7th Annual Hackathon, June 4-13, 2025 (Hybrid Event). 

For a recap of last year’s Hackathon, read the news story.