NASA Postdoctoral Program Application Deadline

November 1, 2008 - 12:00 am

AOSS 749 Fall Seminar Series

November 6, 2008 - 3:30 pm

Jonathan Cohen, NVIDA, "Scientific Computing Using Massively Parallel Graphics Processing Units"

ABSTRACT:  NVIDIA's GT200 architecture for GPU computing is a massively multithreaded chip with up to 240 scalar processor cores, and is fully programmable in C using NVIDIA's CUDA platform.  GT200 is capable of delivering a teraFLOPS in single precision and 84 gigaFLOPS in double precision.  Because GT200 excels at floating point-intensive calculations, researchers have realized up to 2 orders of magnitude speedups over traditional multicore CPUs on a wide variety of scientific applications.

In this talk, I will provide an overview of the GT200 architecture and introduce CUDA, a scalable programming model and platform for parallel computing.  I will present a range of interesting applications that use CUDA, such as FFT and dense linear algebra, as well as initial results from NCAR's CUDA port of the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. Finally, I will present some preliminary results from my own work, in which I am developing a CUDA-based computational fluid dynamics code suitable for ocean modeling.

BIO:  Jonathan Cohen is a Research Scientist with NVIDIA, where he develops methods for using NVIDIA's massively parallel GPUs for scientific computing.  Previous to joining NVIDIA, he spent several years working in the Hollywood feature film visual effects industry, where he developed software for use in films that included "Spider-Man 3" and "The Chronicles of Narnia."  He was awarded a Technical Academy Award in 2007 for his work in fluid simulation for visual effects.  Jonathan holds Bachelor of Science degrees in mathematics and computer science from Brown University.  He currently lives in Ann Arbor.

2008 Fall Recruiting Event

November 12, 2008 - 4:30 pm

Earn your BSE in Earth System Science and Engineering.  Learn how you can be a part of this dynamic department!

AOSS 749 Fall Seminar Series

November 13, 2008 - 3:30 pm

Prof. John Marshall, EAPS/MIT, "Thought experiments on climate and paleoclimate: speculations on the climate of an aquaplanet"   Abstract: We speculate on the climate of an earth-like planet comprised of an atmosphere and ocean just like our own, but on which there is no land. The role of the ocean in transporting energy polewards is highlighted, modulating the extent of polar ice caps and hence the planetary albedo. Implications for climate and paleo-climate are briefly discussed.
 

Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge

November 15, 2008 - 5:00 pm

The Dow Chemical Company has established the Dow Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge award. The Dow Challenge presents a unique opportunity to recognize outstanding students at the University of Michigan for their innovative sustainability efforts. This new award provides up to three graduate students (or teams) with $10,000 in recognition of their innovative work related to sustainability. The deadline to apply is November 15, 2008. Additional information and the online application are available at http://www.graham.umich.edu//funding/DowSISC_apply.php.

Michigan Space Grant Funding Opportunities

November 17, 2008 - 12:00 am

The MSGC announces funding opportunities for the 2009 - 2010 interval. The application and review processes are all online at www.umich.edu/~msgc. The deadline for the Michigan Space Grant Consortium's funding opportunities is no later than Monday, November 17, 2008 at midnight.

Program categories are listed below:

• Fellowship Program
• Research Seed Grant Program
• Precollege Education Program
• Public Outreach Program
• Teacher Training Program

***Women, under-represented minorities, and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply to all Michigan Space Grant Consortium funding opportunities.

*** Only US citizens may apply for a MSGC Fellowship.

For Research Seed Grant applicants: Funding can be used for travel and to purchase supplies and services. Funding can also be used for faculty and student salaries if they are US citizens. Funding cannot be used to purchase equipment or to pay salaries, stipends, or travel to persons that are not US citizens.

Undergraduate and Graduate Fellowship Program (this includes the Undergraduate - Underrepresented Minority Fellowship Program). Fellowship awards for undergraduate and graduate students are for $2,500 and $5,000, respectively. $500 for supplies and materials can be provided for mentors of underrepresented minority students that are awarded a MSGC Fellowship.

The following funding opportunities require at least 1:1 cost matching (cash contributions or in-kind support) with non-federal funds. Maximum award in each category is $5,000.

• Research Seed Grant Program
• Program Funding Opportunities: Pre-College Education Program
• Public Outreach Program
• Teacher Training Program

Additional support is available for Pre-College Education, Public Outreach, and Teacher Training proposals targeted toward the recruitment and retention of women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities. Additional funding is limited to one proposal per applicant.

Applicants can propose individual projects to any of the three programs (Pre-College Education, Public Outreach, or Teacher Training) or can propose one project to multiple programs simultaneously, depending on the scope and relevance of their project. A detailed budget specifically describing how the funds will be used is required.

AOSS 749 Seminar Series

November 20, 2008 - 3:30 pm

Pierre-Yves Meslin, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, University Pierre and Marie Curie, Paris   “Evidence of the presence of radon in the Martian atmosphere and perspective of use as a geophysical tracer”  ABSTRACT:  Radon-222, an inert and radioactive gas stemming from the uranium decay series, and its progeny are often used as tracers on Earth to study gas and fluids transfers in soils and in the atmosphere. Since the Surveyor and Apollo programs and up to the present Kaguya-Selene and Chandrayaan-1 missions, 222Rn and 210Po have also been key isotopes for understanding gas release events and their spatial and temporal variations on the Moon. However, quite surprisingly, they have never been studied on Mars so far, although their measurement could provide new insight and constraints on the chemical nature of the hydrogen measured in the Martian soil, in surface-atmosphere exchange processes, in atmospheric transport and, finally, in the dust cycle, as we will show. The reason for this disregard may be due to the relative difficulty to measure these isotopes from orbit on Mars, in contrast to the Moon, whose lack of atmosphere enables their characteristic alpha particles to reach space. After recalling the main results from the lunar missions, and some interesting properties of these radioisotopes, we will show that some indirect evidence of the presence of radon in the Martian atmosphere has fortuitously been brought by two different instruments (the Alpha Particle X-Ray spectrometer on board Opportunity and the Gamma Ray Spectrometer on board Mars Odyssey), which were able to measure two of its decay products in the atmosphere: polonium-210, an alpha-emitter, and bismuth-214, a gamma-emitter. Our results, some of which are still preliminary, place the magnitude of Mars' radon out gassing intermediate between that of the Earth and Moon. This tentative conclusion is most likely due to differences in soil moisture contents and in the role that water played in altering the regolith. We will also present some modelling work and lab experiments that were performed to obtain predictive maps of the radon exhalation rate as well as 3D fields of its concentration in the soil and atmosphere, which allows direct comparison with bismuth-214 measurements made by the GRS on board Mars Odyssey. We will present the possible applications of this research, which resulted from a collaboration between the Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety at Saclay, the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique and Service d'Aéronomie at the University of Paris 6, and the Mars Odyssey GRS team.

No Seminar - AOSS 749 Fall Seminar Series

November 27, 2008 - 7:00 pm

Thanksgiving Recess