Funding, News and Announcements

ACENET has the following training sessions coming up that may be of interest to faculty and students. The sessions are all online. 

Basics of Computers

13 January, 12:00-14:00hrs Atlantic

Most of us have experience using a computer, whether for school, work, or entertainment, but how many of us have actually had an expert teach us how to use it? This talk won't teach you how to troubleshoot everything, but will give you insight to how media, programs and data are encoded and used by computers, so you can make more sense of why computers behave the ways they do, and solve some of your problems with greater efficiency and less frustration. We will provide an approachable overview of how a computer works, by both looking at their history and breaking one down to explain individual components, before highlighting some of the trade-offs to consider when buying a computer. We will provide practical, simple, and actionable advice on digital security and show you a few "pro tips" on how to make the most of your workstation, phone, or whatever device you happen to use. Whether you have a lot or a little experience using your digital technology, if you want to learn how to use your devices more effectively, this workshop is for you!  

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Introduction to Spreadsheets

14 January, 12:00-14:00hrs Atlantic

This is a hands-on introductory workshop focused on fostering best practices for data organization in spreadsheets. Participants will learn how to organize their data to prioritize clarity, reproducibility, and interoperability, such that they can seamlessly load their data later into an analysis program. The spreadsheet programs covered will be Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. The examples explored will be from the field of Social Sciences, but the principles are relevant for any discipline that collects data in spreadsheets. No previous experience with spreadsheets or programming is required.  

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ACENET Basics: Introduction to High Performance Computing (HPC) with ACENET & Compute Canada

17 January, 12:00-13:30hrs Atlantic

This is a beginner session. Researchers across many disciplines use HPC to tackle analyses that would be either inefficient or impossible on a desktop. This session offers: a basic description of the infrastructure and support accessible through Compute Canada and ACENET, with entry-level advice about how to begin; an overview of the software packages available through Compute Canada and ACENET for applications, data analysis, and software development, and how to request specific software relevant to your work; and insight into the potential of parallel computing to accelerate your analysis.  

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ACENET Basics: Introduction to Linux

18 January, 12:00-13:30hrs Atlantic

This workshop is designed for those with no prior experience in working with a terminal interface. To access and use the ACENET and Compute Canada HPC clusters from your desktop, you will use a text-based "command line" interface. You will use the command line to move data around and run calculations. In this session, learn how to get started with the command line and how to perform some basic tasks: create and navigate directories for your data; upload and download files; manage your storage; and run programs on the computing clusters.  

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ACENET Basics: Introduction to Shell Scripting

19 January, 12:00-13:30hrs Atlantic

This workshop is designed for both new and experienced users. You’ll learn how to use the command line to carry out repetitive tasks, extract information from files quickly, combine commands in powerful ways, and capture a workflow so you can re-use it easily. Save time, reduce errors, and use Linux more effectively. Prerequisite: ACENET Basic Series Introduction to Linux, or previous experience with Linux.  

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ACENET Basics: Job Scheduling with Slurm

20 January, 12:00-13:30hrs Atlantic

This workshop is designed for either new HPC users, or for experienced users either transitioning to Slurm or seeking to improve efficiency with the scheduler. Compute Canada’s national systems use a job scheduler called “Slurm”. In this session you will learn how Slurm works and how it allocates jobs, helping you to: minimize wait time by framing reasonable requests; ask for only the resources you need, to improve efficiency; increase throughput; run more jobs simultaneously; and troubleshoot and address crashes. Prerequisites: Completion of Introduction to Linux and Introduction to Shell Scripting, or prior experience with both.  

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Compute Canada Federation National Training: Machine Learning

25, 26 January, 13:00-17:00hrs Atlantic

This 8-hour interactive online workshop over 2 days is an introduction to the world of Machine Learning (ML), introducing participants to its algorithms, neural networks and when and how to use them. The workshop will be delivered in English. French-speaking instructors will be present to respond to questions in the online chat room. Materials will be available in both English and French. NOTE: This session is full, but there is a waiting list, and it will likely be re-run in the spring.

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Computational Fluid Dynamics: Ansys-Fluent

26 January, 9:00-12:00hrs Atlantic

With advancements in computers and new generations of CPUs and GPUs, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is becoming an indispensable tool in many fields. Researchers and industrial design engineers are using CFD to predict and understand complex fluid flow and heat transfer problems, and to verify and optimize designs. Among open-source and commercial CFD packages, Ansys Fluent is one of the most popular commercial tools. In this workshop, you will learn how to set up a small problem and solve it in Ansys Fluent on your personal computer. The instructor will then demonstrate how to design and solve a large problem using a supercomputing cluster.

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Tools of the Trade: Exploring a Premodern City: Locative Smartphone Apps & Digital Pedagogies

28 January, 12:00-13:00hrs Atlantic

Join Lydia Vermeyden, our Research Consultant in Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences, and a guest speaker for a lunchtime series on the last Friday of each month. Open to anyone.  

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