Teaching parallel programming in interdisciplinary studies

Abstract

Nowadays many fields of science and engineering are evolving by the joint contribution of complementary fields. Computer science, and especially high performance computing, has become a key factor in the development of many research fields, establishing a new paradigm called computational science. Researchers and professionals from many different fields require a knowledge of high performance computing, including parallel programming, to develop a fruitful work in their particular field. So, at Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona, an interdisciplinary master on Modeling for science and engineering was started 5 years ago to provide a deep knowledge on the application of modeling and simulation to graduate students on different fields (Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Engineering, Geology, etc.). In this master, Parallel Programming appears as a compulsory subject, because it is a key topic for them. The concepts learnt in parallel programming must be applied to real applications. Therefore, a subject on Applied Modelling and Simulation has also been included. In this paper, the experience on teaching parallel programming in such interdisciplinary master is shown.