Supercomputing and hpc

This year was my fourth time attending the IEEE Supercomputing conference.  My experiences at Super are almost opposite from my experiences at most other conferences I attend. At SC, I tend to hear information that I can't immediately apply back on campus (deeply scientific presentations based on highly advanced projects conducted on heavily specialized equipment). I'm surrounded by people whose occupations tend to be substantially different from mine (professors and scientists, grid/cluster administrators and scientific programmers). It sure isn't Educause.

So, what am I doing here? Other than sometimes bumping into my colleagues from the CIC Research Computing Group, I'm here as a trend-spotter and as an observer of the field and of faculty. I speak entirely in that capacity, and I'd like to share with you my highly un-scientific observations for your consideration.

Data