Supercomputing is at the heart of iVEC’s function. From the perspective of the end-user, a key source of capabilities in iVEC is the Supercomputing Technology and Applications Program (STAP). This Program aims to encourage the uptake of iVEC facilities by the scientific community in Western Australia and beyond. To help achieve this, a team of six supercomputing experts has been assembled to execute the Program. These include five technically-focussed specialists and a program leader.

The Program entails various activities, including:

• Engaging new researchers, communities and disciplines with supercomputing and data-intensive computing (with the iVEC DATA Team)
• Developing training material, focused on capability-scale and accelerator computing (with the iVEC Education Program)
• Embedding iVEC specialists into key research groups to stimulate capability and to grow supercomputing activities
• Promoting success stories through (for example) conferences, publications, and networking

Supercomputing is a term that covers a wide range of activities, which are capture by the diverse skillset of the STAP team. Skillset highlights include:

• Tertiary-level academic experience – covering computer science, computational science, geosciences, physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering.
• Parallel programming – distributed-memory programming (for example, MPI) and shared-variable programming (for example, OpenMP).
• High-performance computing – hybridisation; performance analysis; optimisation and scaling.
• High-throughput computing – batch processing; virtualisation; job management.
• (GPU) accelerator programming.
• Software engineering – for example, application integration, porting, and software testing.
• Scientific computing – numerical libraries; application-specific packages; academic writing.
• Data management – database design; data-grid and distributed computing; metadata / mark-up.
• Training and teaching.
• (Software) project management.