The IndySCC is an event sharing the goals of the SCC but with an emphasis on education and inclusion, intended for less-experienced teams. Teams compete remotely using provided hardware through an education-focused experience supported by HPC industry experts during the months leading up to the conference. A 48-hour contest the weekend prior to SC will be the culmination of the experience and knowledge gained by the teams in the preceding months.
IndySCC ScheduleFriday–Sunday, November 3–5, 2023
IndySCC ChairLe Mai Weakley, Indiana University
MAR 1, 2023
Applications Open
May 15, 2023
Applications Close
JUN 15, 2023
Notifications Sent
Teams are composed of six students and an advisor. The advisor provides guidance and recommendations, and the students provide the skill and enthusiasm. Teams that are not selected for SCC will be considered for an invitation to IndySCC. Teams new to the cluster competition world are encouraged to submit an application to the SCC. Experience gained from competing in IndySCC can be leveraged to return with a stronger team the following year having expanded institutional knowledge and strengthened vendor relationships.
Selected teams are invited to participate in a remote phased-style competition from July to November:
The main aim of IndySCC is to provide HPC education, and lower the entry barrier to the competition. Continuous support is provided by HPC experts in the months leading up to the competition. Webinars are recorded for the cloud vendor platform, the benchmarks, and the two applications. At the end of each phase, teams will turn-in a report and will receive feedback from experts.
This is the third year for the IndySCC. See the IndySCC pages on the past SC websites for information on the first year’s competition, including team profiles, photos, winners, and more.
IndySCC is looking for scientific applications from the HPC community that could be used as the IndySCC Mystery Application. If you have a scientific application that you think would be a great fit for the competition, please consider submitting.
The application should not have export control restrictions and must have up-to-date documentation. Submissions and selections must be kept confidential until the beginning of the SCC when the mystery application selected will be revealed.
Each submission must list an application owner who will:
Applications Open March 1–May 31, 2023
Final scoring of winners will be determined from a combination of the final competition scoring and participation during the educational and training periods leading up to the competition. The educational period may include brief reports or submissions and mandatory instruction (e.g., live or recorded webinar or written material). The final competition will be very similar to the SCC competition, with scoring based on completing computational tasks, interviews with the application judges, lightning talks, and poster submissions.
Violation of any rule may result in a team’s disqualification from the competition, or point penalization, at the discretion of the SCC committee. Any unethical conduct not otherwise covered in these rules will also be penalized at the discretion of the SCC Committee.
All decisions are the sole discretion of the IndySCC committee, and IndySCC committee decisions concerning the rules in a given situation, are final.
IndySCC is a fully remote competition, however, safety is still a priority consideration at all times. If a task cannot be done safely, then it is unacceptable. When in doubt, ask an SCC supervisor or team liaison.
Teams are composed of six students and an advisor:
Teams can optionally nominate up to two “logistics coordinators” who are secondary advisors or other support staff who should receive a copy of any communications sent to the primary advisor.
Teams will be invited to participate based on their Team Application, submitted via the SC Submission System. The Team Application includes a description of the team, the proposed hardware and software that will make up their cluster, and their approach to the competition. The SCC Committee reviews each proposal and provides comments for all submissions. The team composition and proposed hardware and software must all conform to the rules described below.
Student Team Members must:
The intent of the IndySCC is to keep teams who do not make it into the SCC engaged in the world of cluster competitions and to build up new and inexperienced teams into successful teams that go on to compete in the SCC.
Entry into the IndySCC will be by invitation. Teams are selected from those who are not selected for the SCC, as well as from teams that indicate a preference to join the IndySCC. An indication of a preference of one competition or the other is not a guarantee of an invitation into that or any competition.
During preparation for the competition and during the educational periods, the Team Advisor and other supporters are encouraged to help the team train for the competition. Team advisors may have access to the computational resources during the educational period, however, only the six registered team members should be doing actual work, configuration, and working on tasks. During the final competition, only the six registered team members will have access to the computational resources.
External Assistance
Teams must conduct themselves professionally and adhere to the Code of Conduct. Students must compete fairly and ethically.
The IndySCC committee will provide the hardware the teams will use during the educational and final competition periods. Teams may not use any other hardware or other resources (other than laptops and PCs for interfacing with the provided hardware) during the final competition or to complete tasks for submission during the educational period.
Other limitations such as power draw limitations (static or dynamic) may be implemented as other dimensions to the final competition, so teams may want to consider how they would manage power or prioritize work to fit within constraints. These details will be provided at a later date.
Participation in the educational portion of the competition is mandatory. Any webinars or other “live” sessions will be recorded and made available for those who have scheduling or time zone conflicts. Teams and all team members are expected to participate in any hands-on activities and submissions throughout the educational period. Failure to participate may result in penalties in final scoring or disqualification.
Create an account in the online submission system and complete the form. A sample form can be viewed before signing in.
If you have questions about IndySCC applications, please contact the program committee.
During the Student Cluster Competition, teams of undergraduate students build, operate, and tune powerful cluster computers.