Sustainability Research Recognized at ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference
ECE Associate Professor Devesh Tiwari and a group of his PhD students were recognized at the ACM/IEEE Supercomputing Conference for four papers focused on cutting-edge solutions to address the climate challenge of the massive energy usage of quantum and high performance computing. The papers were selected from nearly 500 submissions and two were finalists for Best Student Paper Award.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Cody Mello-Klein.
The necessary next step for quantum and high-performance computing is sustainability, Northeastern experts say
Quantum and high-performance supercomputers are some of the most powerful tools we have for solving some of the world’s most pressing problems, but they come with a cost: energy usage.
Sustainability has become one of the most pressing issues in the world of ultra-powerful computing. It wasn’t always the case. For a long time, the industry failed to recognize what some see as its darkest secret. But that has changed in recent years, in part due to the work being done by a team of researchers at Northeastern University who have been championing the need for more sustainable computing even before the industry accepted it as the necessary next step.
Devesh Tiwari’s Goodwill Computing Lab has been leading the way in using quantum computers to solve the world’s most pressing issues. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
“Sustainability is something that will become more and more important,” says Devesh Tiwari, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern and director of the Goodwill Computing Lab. “We really have to think about the next generation. … People are starting to think about it, and my students are actually proposing solutions to these problems.”
For years, Tiwari and a team of students have been developing cutting-edge solutions to the energy usage question, work that was honored at the most recent International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis, otherwise known as SC (for supercomputing). Four of the 99 papers selected from about 470 submissions at the conference, which had 18,000 attendees, were from Tiwari and his students. Two of them were selected as best student paper award finalists out of a total five finalists. The norm is for a researcher to have one or two papers selected in their lifetime.
Tiwari’s group has an exceptional record stretching back years. In 2023, his group had four accepted papers at SC out of 90 accepted papers, while in 2022 and 2021, his group had two papers accepted.
“We have been really creative in staying ahead of the curve, not just solving old problems and making incremental progress,” Tiwari says.
Tiwari says the conference also highlighted how work is not just about quantum computers but people. His former PhD student Tirthak Patel, who is now a tenure-track assistant professor at Rice University, was there to receive the ACM SIGHPC Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation Award.
“Seeing people whom you have mentored, achieve recognition and do exceptionally creative things is the biggest achievement and best part of my job,” Tiwari says.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News