NEWS BRIEFS

TACC releases GotoBLAS software

During the last decade, a number of projects have pursued the high-performance implementation of matrix multiplication. Typically, these projects organize the computation around an "inner-kernel", C = trans(A) B + C, that keeps one of the operands in the L1 cache, while streaming parts of the other operands through that cache. Variants include approaches that extend this principle to multiple levels of cache or that apply the same principle to the L2 cache while essentially ignoring the L1 cache. The purpose of this tuning is to optimally amortize the cost of moving data between memory layers.

Our approach is fundamentally different. It starts by observing that for current generation architectures, much of the overhead comes from Translation Look-aside Buffer (TLB) table misses. While the importance of caches is also taken into consideration, it is the minimization of such TLB misses that drives the approach. The result is a novel approach that achieves highly competitive performance on broad spectrum of current high-performance architectures. In addition, we support a large number of BLAS routines as part of the library.

As of April 2006, GotoBLAS is being distributed to the academic community as source code. Commercial parties interested in licensing GotoBLAS may contact Rick Friedman at the Office of Technology Commercialization, UT Austin.

New emergency preparedness Web site announced

Employee and Campus Services personnel along with safety and security representatives from across campus have worked with the Office of Public Affairs to develop an emergency preparedness Web site. The site will be permanently housed at a link titled "Emergency Preparedness, Safety and Security" in the lower left-hand corner of the university's home page. Should the university experience an emergency or close, an alert symbol will appear in the "News" and "Spotlight" sections of the home page that will link to more details.

Cycling champion Lance Armstrong promotes fit nation during CNN taping of Town Hall Meeting on campus

Lance Armstrong and Dr. Sanjay Gupta. -Photo by Christina Murrey

Cycling champion Lance Armstrong joined CNN's senior medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta's final Fit Nation college tour stop at UT Austin on April 20 to discuss obesity, one of the biggest epidemics in the United States. ‘It's an issue that's very similar to the issue I fight most of the time, which is cancer,’ Armstrong said. ‘In fact, the two are so integrated that it's scary.’ Said Gupta: ‘We recite the numbers over and over again. I think people get it. We're not doing well with our weight in this country, and now it's time to turn the corner and start to come up with some solutions. The answers lie in all of you.’ Students attending the Fit Nation conference also heard from Brooke Webb Gunning, a dietician with University Health Services, a representative from the American Heart Association and a Coca-Cola executive. The meeting was telecast on CNN Pipeline. The special will air in June on CNN.

A Tribute to leaders

Photo by Christina Murrey.

Pat Spurr, wife of former UT Austin President Stephen H. Spurr, stands beside the new Presidential Medallion of her husband recently installed at the Texas Union. The carved wood portrait medallions of former university presidents are displayed in the Texas Union Presidential Lobby. Spurr was president from 1971-74. Portrait medallions of Theophilus S. Painter, Joseph R. Smiley and James C. Dolley also were unveiled during the March ceremony.

Physical Plant announces name change, restructuring

The Physical Plant has been restructured into two separate departments — Facilities Services and Project Management & Construction Services (PMCS).

As part of the reorganization, the Physical Plant has changed its name to Facilities Services, responsible for providing high-quality custodial, landscaping, maintenance and general services.

Project Management & Construction Services was created by moving Planning and Construction and Architectural and Engineering Services from the Physical Plant to form this new department. PMCS will focus on delivering renovation projects in a faster, better, more cost-effective and client-friendly manner.

The restructuring is the result of Physical Plant's Renovation Project Delivery Enhancement Program — a strategic continuous improvement initiative.

Out of Africa

Olivier Chouaffe, a graduate student at UT Austin, presents a paper titled ‘On the Genealogy of Modern State-Sponsored Terrorism and Genocide: Reflecting on Jean-Marie Teno's Le Malentendu Colonial’ at the sixth annual Africa Conference 2006.

Photo by Christina Murrey.

This year's conference, March 24-26 at the Texas Union, focused on ‘Movements, Migrations and Displacements in Africa,’ featuring both national and international students, professors and experts on the subject. Sponsors of the event were the Center for African and African-American Studies, the Department of History, the Office of Graduate Studies, the College of Liberal Arts, State University of New York Professor Barbara Harlow and Southern Methodist University’s Dedman College.

Partnership seeks to achieve an entrepreneurial edge

Photo by Marsha Miller.

Andrzej Rabczenko (left), minister-counselor at the Polish Embassy in Washington, D.C., speaks with Krzysztof J. Kurzydowski, vice minister of the Polish Ministry of Education and Science, during a break in meeting held on April 11 on campus. University and Polish officials discussed setting up an entrepreneurial education program in several cities in Poland through the IC2 Institute. Also participating in the meeting were Michal Sewerynski, Poland's minister of education and science, and officials from the university's Office of the Vice President for Research, IC2, the Austin Technology Incubator and the Office of Technology Commercialization. Sewerynski said his country looks forward to working with an institution such as the university to help develop an entrepreneurial culture.

Making a Splash

Photo by Christina Murrey.

Splash Bash on March 31 marked the official grand opening of the Gregory Gym Aquatic Complex. In addition to the heated 12-lane lap pool, the heated 5,600-square-foot leisure pool and the heated 2,200-square-foot event pool, the Gregory Gym Aquatic Complex has a performance stage, a poolside cafe, piped-in music and wireless Internet service. The palm-lined $15.3 million swimming complex opened for use by members in November. In the spring of 1993, UT Austin students approved a referendum to renovate Gregory Gymnasium and build an outdoor aquatic complex. When escalating costs prevented the renovation of the 75-year-old Natatorium and the addition of the outdoor pools, students approved another referendum in 1999 to complete the Gregory Gym renovation project. Construction began in May of 2004.