Supercomputing Challenge
Encyclopedia
The Supercomputing Challenge is an annual state wide competition in Supercomputing held in New Mexico
for high school
programmer
s.
Begun in 1991 from a grant from Los Alamos National Laboratory
, the Supercomputing Challenge offers students a chance to write a program and compete against different students from other schools. This program must simulate a "real world" problem, or solutions thereof, in an accepted language, ie. Java
, C
, C++
, StarLogo
, FORTRAN
, etc. Around October, the participants attend a conference held in Glorieta, New Mexico
, to discuss their projects and confer with scientists to determine the feasibility and other factors concerning their intended project.
During spring, usually in April, participating students and their sponsoring instructors attend a conference in Los Alamos, at the laboratories, to present their final work before a panel of judges. The finalists, previously selected from final reports submitted earlier, present once more in a closed-door session to another panel of judges.
The overall winners are awarded generous prizes at the awards ceremony, which is usually held the very next day after presentations.
The program also offers Scholarship
s to all participating seniors.
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
for high school
Secondary education in the United States
In most jurisdictions, secondary education in the United States refers to the last six or seven years of statutory formal education. Secondary education is generally split between junior high school or middle school, usually beginning with sixth or seventh grade , and high school, beginning with...
programmer
Programmer
A programmer, computer programmer or coder is someone who writes computer software. The term computer programmer can refer to a specialist in one area of computer programming or to a generalist who writes code for many kinds of software. One who practices or professes a formal approach to...
s.
Begun in 1991 from a grant from Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
, the Supercomputing Challenge offers students a chance to write a program and compete against different students from other schools. This program must simulate a "real world" problem, or solutions thereof, in an accepted language, ie. Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, StarLogo
StarLogo
StarLogo is an agent-based simulation language developed by Mitchel Resnick, Eric Klopfer, and others at MIT Media Lab and MIT Teacher Education Program in Massachusetts. It is an extension of the Logo programming language, a dialect of Lisp...
, FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...
, etc. Around October, the participants attend a conference held in Glorieta, New Mexico
Glorieta, New Mexico
Glorieta is a census-designated place in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, United States. It is part of the Santa Fe, New Mexico Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 859 at the 2000 census...
, to discuss their projects and confer with scientists to determine the feasibility and other factors concerning their intended project.
During spring, usually in April, participating students and their sponsoring instructors attend a conference in Los Alamos, at the laboratories, to present their final work before a panel of judges. The finalists, previously selected from final reports submitted earlier, present once more in a closed-door session to another panel of judges.
The overall winners are awarded generous prizes at the awards ceremony, which is usually held the very next day after presentations.
The program also offers Scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s to all participating seniors.
First Place Teams of the Supercomputing Challenge
- 1991 Albuquerque AcademyAlbuquerque AcademyAlbuquerque Academy is an independent co-educational day school for grades six through twelve located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. It is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest and the New Mexico State Department of Education. Albuquerque Academy is also a member of...
- 1992 Espanola Valley High SchoolEspañola Valley High SchoolEspañola Valley High School is a Title-1 public senior high school of the Española Public Schools District, located in Española, New Mexico. EVHS has a large Hispanic student body population, known for recent academic improvements and the successful AAAA boys' basketball program...
- 1993 Las Cruces High School
- 1994 Albuquerque Academy
- 1995 Albuquerque Academy & Espanola Valley High School
- 1996 Bowker Home School
- 1997 Highland
- 1998 Las Cruces
- 1999 Albuquerque Academy
- 2000 Sandia Prep
- 2001
- 2002 Silver
- 2003 Albuquerque Academy
- 2004 Eldorado
- 2005 Albuquerque Academy
- 2006 Manzano
- 2007 Manzano/St. Pius/Homeschool
- 2008 St. Pius/La Cueva
- 2009 La Cueva
- 2010 Melrose