Students attend symposium in Oklahoma

Five students and an instructor from LSMSA attended the annual Oklahoma Supercomputing Symposium Sept. 26-27.

The Oklahoma Supercomputing Symposium is a meeting of the staffs of supercomputer centers, faculty who work with supercomputers and vendors selling high performance computer equipment and services. Since the meeting emphasizes education and outreach, however, people interested in computed education come from all over the region.

“It was important for the students to attend because they got to see how an academic/industry meeting works and they got to hear about the concerns the industry has for its future and what they can do to prepare for the jobs that will be available for them,” said Brad Burkman, principal lecturer of mathematics and computer science.

The students toured the supercomputer center and heard about how it is built to withstand tornadoes and built with redundancies and backups to run for days in a disaster. They also got to hear talks and a panel with academic and industry leaders. The five students also got to meet people in the field at a reception and over snacks and meals.

While at the symposium, students stayed at the Oklahoma School of Science and Mathematics and got to meet students from one of LSMSA’s sister schools.

Students attending include Sydney Schroedter, a junior from Lafayette; Manjisha Lakhotia, a junior from Lafayette; Clara Kolterman, a senior from Sterlington; Donavan Dowden, a junior from Shreveport; and Jason Min, a sophomore from West Monroe.