D3.2: Outreach Plan

This deliverable (Outreach Plan, D3.2) outlines the planned work of the outreach team during PRACE-3IP to describe the usage and empowering potential of High Performance Computing (HPC). This plan formalises the activities of WP3, defines the schedule of tasks and assigns responsible partners. The general objectives of the PRACE-3IP outreach effort are defined, along with the audiences that will be targeted and the various methods that will be used.
PRACE wishes to inspire and encourage the next generation of software engineers, system administrators, and general users of HPC systems in order to keep Europe at the forefront of supercomputing. To this end PRACE-3IP expands on previous outreach work (PRACE-1IP WP3 Plan; PRACE-2IP WP3 Plan; PRACE-1IP Final Report; PRACE-2IP First Annual Report) to include a summer internship programme called the PRACE Summer of HPC (SoHPC) and coordinated PRACE Campus Schools and HPC Classes across Europe.
The PRACE SoHPC will offer up to twenty undergraduates and junior postgraduate students of accredited universities the opportunity to spend two months at one of 10 HPC centres in PRACE partner countries. Students will undertake a visualisation project based on outcomes from PRACE technical work or other work using PRACE resources such as Tier-0/Tier-1 computers. The end product will be available for future outreach and dissemination activities to be carried out by the PRACE aisbl. The primary goals of the PRACE SoHPC is to ensure a positive experience for all students and through that experience to encourage them in their path to become the next generation of HPC users plus the successful completion of the student projects. This deliverable describes in detail the necessary steps to organise, monitor, and evaluate the PRACE SoHPC programme.
The PRACE Campus Schools and HPC Classes’ activity will host numerous events during the course of the project across Europe. Students from secondary schools will learn about supercomputing through taught introductory classes, exhibition booths plus interactive and inspiring demonstrations. Using materials prepared in the PRACE-1IP project (D3.2.4) this subtask will encourage students to embark on a career in HPC, enlighten the general public of the utility of HPC and illustrate the advantages HPC can bring to industrial users.
The outreach results along with the dissemination outcomes from WP3 will be outlined in two annual reports, first in M12 (D3.3) and later when the project concludes in M24 (D3.4). It is anticipated that the PRACE SoHPC and PRACE Campus School programmes will provide valuable insights and lessons, which can be applied to subsequent programmes or transitioned to the PRACE AISBL.