RCC Director Professor David Abramson has won this year’s SupercomputingAsia HPC Visionary Award.
David received the award for significant contributions to the advancement of Australian and global high-performance computing through the development of world-leading HPC research and distinguished service in international HPC communities.
David said he was delighted to accept the award. “We have engaged in Asia-Pacific activities in supercomputing over many years, and it has been a privilege to be in a leadership position,” he said.
Professor Lawrence Wong, Chair of the SCA22 Organising Committee, said: “The SCA Awards continues to identify and recognise individuals who have made significant achievements in their vision, leadership and contributions to HPC and related technologies. The three SCA22 award winners, indeed, have well established track records of impactful achievements that have greatly benefited the HPC communities, both domestically and across the region.”
The other SCA22 Award winners were Dr Jysoo Lee, Facilities Director of Research Computing Core Labs at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, who won the SCA HPC Leadership/Achievement Award; and Associate Professor Francis Lee Bu Sung, Founding President of the Singapore Advanced Research and Education Network (SingAREN), who received the SCA HPC Network Achievement Award.
The SCA Awards were presented at a ceremony in Singapore on Wednesday, 2 March 2022 as part of SCA22, a hybrid in-person and online conference.
Unfortunately, David was unable to attend the conference in person. He received his award plaque by courier at his home in Brisbane.
The SupercomputingAsia conference recognises key HPC pioneer-leaders with its annual awards, particularly those in the Asian or Indo-Pacific region.
One example of David’s regional leadership is the PRAGMA (Pacific Rim Applications and Grid Middleware Assembly) initiative. He was a key figure in establishing PRAGMA in March 2002, and as a result has “demonstrated the significant opportunities for collaboration in the region,” he said.
PRAGMA is a community of practice comprising individuals and institutions from around the Pacific Rim that actively collaborate with, and enable, small- to medium-sized groups to solve their problems with information technology. Key to PRAGMA's success is the active involvement of participants in scientific expeditions, technology development, student engagement, and outreach to new communities.
