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15 January 2024 | Story André Damons | Photo Supplied
CHPC students read more
The top finishing UFS team, Team 5, consisting of Nhlonipho Shezi, Kgoboketso Mphahlele, Albert van Eck (mentor), Itumeleng Khaka, and Bophelo Pharasi came third during the national round of the National Integrated Cyber Infrastructure Systems (NICIS) CHPC’s Student Cluster Competition.

Two students from the University of the Free State (UFS) who took part in the National Integrated Cyber Infrastructure Systems (NICIS) CHPC Student Cluster Competition were selected as part of the National Team to compete at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) Student Cluster Competition next year.

Itumeleng Khaka and Nhlonipho Shezi, both currently studying towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Business Management, were part of one of the university’s teams (Team 5) that took third place during the national round of the competition.

Bophelo Pharasi (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Business Management) and Kgoboketso Mphahlele (Bachelor of Computer Information Systems) were the other team members, and Albert van Eck, Head of the eResearch and High-Performance Computing Unit, was their mentor. The UFS entered three teams for the competition. 

Another student, Limpho Senatla (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology), was awarded the prize for the female student with the most potential during this competition. Some of the prizes awarded to her include an opportunity to work under the mentorship of sponsors such as Tsolo.io, Diplomics, Intel, and the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).

The other two teams that also participated were Team OptiCompute (mentor: Hendrik van Heerden), consisting of Senatla, Siphesihle Mvelase (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Business Management), Ziphezinhle Malinga (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Business Management), Ennosse Mkhutyukelwa (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Chemistry); and Team KKRT (mentor: Zirke le Roux), consisting of Kananelo Nyakallo Mofokeng (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Physics), Boitumelo Ramasike (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Business Management), Kamohelo Kolanchu (Bachelor of Science in Information Technology majoring in Computer Science and Mathematics), and Thabang Maokeng (Bachelor of Computer Information Systems).

Highly stressful and demanding

“Since 2017, the UFS has competed in the CHPC Student Cluster Competition, with various successful outcomes. This year was no exception, with Team 5 winning third place at the national round. All teams endured a highly stressful and demanding round where external factors such as load shedding, late and incomplete hardware deliveries, extreme heat, and sleep deprivation played a role,” says Van Eck.

According to its website, the Centre for High-Performance Computing (CHPC), a division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), annually hosts a Human Capital Development (HCD) programme for undergraduate students currently enrolled in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields at South African universities. They undergo training that will take them from zero knowledge of HPC to being able to build mini clusters through various rounds.

The competition is held annually and consists of three rounds: a selection, national, and international round. A team composed of four undergraduate (second-year) students can enter the competition.

This year, twenty teams from eight universities participated in the selection round. Each year, this round is hosted at a different university in the country, with the UFS Bloemfontein Campus playing host this year from 10 to 15 July. During the first round, students were exposed to various technologies and concepts used in HPC and scientific computing. Students were then evaluated according to their technical skills acquired during the selection round, and had to design, present, and defend a cluster design with its network topology.

The national round, for which all three UFS teams qualified, was held at the Kruger National Park from 3 to 8 December.

Travel internationally

According to Van Eck, the students were given a limited budget to procure a small cluster for this round. Students then had to assemble the cluster and start configuring it during this round. After installing and configuring their clusters, students had to install and optimise scientific software. Installing and optimising scientific software is quite challenging. One must consider various technologies such as hardware components, networking, operating systems, compilers, intercommunication between processes, and the functionality of the software.

The winning team in the national round is combined with two members of either the second or third-place winners and two reserves selected from those teams. This team will travel to Austin, Texas, early next year to visit the Texas Advanced Computing Centre (TACC). Students will also undergo more training at Dell Labs in the USA.

The team will compete at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) Student Cluster Competition (SCC) against teams from across America, Europe, and Asia. This competition is held in Germany and sees the best international students competing in the final round. The South African teams have won this round on several occasions.

“The competition takes all students out of their comfort zones. The technologies and methodologies they are exposed to are state-of-the-art in theoretical and computational sciences. In the first round, students are trained by industry professionals on concepts they would otherwise never be exposed to. They come into contact with multiple disciplines within IT, engineering, and some scientific fields. The learning curve during this competition is immense, but students who rise to the challenge reap the benefits in the long run. With prizes such as laptops, prize money, and mentorship from the industry, multiple opportunities can be utilised,” says Van Eck.

Exposure to various technologies

Van Eck says even members from teams that do not make it into the top positions can benefit from exposure to various technologies and networking with other delegates. Leveraging knowledge attained during the competition also enhances one's ability to apply knowledge to other parts of one's career.

“To become an HPC specialist, one must master various field-specific domains, and each of these domains can become a career in itself should a student identify a specific field of more interest to them. This type of exposure is usually only experienced once one enters the workforce. It may be difficult and costly to enter a specific domain by that time. Earlier exposure during a competition like this can assist a student in identifying which fields of science, engineering, or IT they would like to focus on and perhaps later specialise in.”

News Archive

Africa's Black Rhino conservation strategy must change
2017-07-10

 Description: Black Rhino Tags: conservation strategy, black rhino, Nature Scientific Reports, National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, extinction, decline in genetic diversity, Prof Antoinette Kotze, Research and Scientific Services, Dr Desire Dalton 

The black rhino is on the brink of extinction. The study that was 
published in the Nature Scientific Reports reveals that the
species has lost an astonishing 69% of its genetic variation. 
Photo: iStock

The conservation strategy of the black rhino in Africa needs to change in order to protect the species from extinction, a group of international researchers has found. The study that was published in the Nature Scientific Reports reveals that the species has lost an astonishing 69% of its genetic variation. 

South African researchers took part 
The researchers, which included local researchers from the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG), have highlighted the fact that this means the black rhino is on the brink of extinction. "We have found that there is a decline in genetic diversity, with 44 of 64 genetic lineages no longer existing," said Prof Antoinette Kotze, the Manager of Research and Scientific Services at the Zoo in Pretoria. She is also affiliate Professor in the Department of Genetics at the University of the Free State and has been involved in rhino research in South Africa since the early 2000s.  

DNA from museums and the wild 
The study compared DNA from specimens in museums around the world, which originated in the different regions of Africa, to the DNA of live wild animals. The DNA was extracted from the skin of museum specimen and from tissue and faecal samples from animals in the wild. The research used the mitochondrial genome.

"The rhino poaching ‘pandemic’
needs to be defeated, because
it puts further strain on the genetic
diversity of the black rhino.”


Ability to adapt 
Dr Desire Dalton, one of the collaborators in the paper and a senior researcher at the NZG, said the loss of genetic diversity may compromise the rhinos’ ability to adapt to climate change. The study further underlined that two distinct populations now exists on either side of the Zambezi River. Dr Dalton said these definite populations need to be managed separately in order to conserve their genetic diversity. The study found that although the data suggests that the future is bleak for the black rhinoceros, the researchers did identify populations of priority for conservation, which might offer a better chance of preventing the species from total extinction. However, it stressed that the rhino poaching ‘pandemic’ needs to be defeated, because it puts further strain on the genetic diversity of the black rhino. 

Extinct in many African countries 
The research report further said that black rhino had been hunted and poached to extinction in many parts of Africa, such as Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Sudan, and Ethiopia. These rhino are now only found in five African countries. They are Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Namibia, and South Africa, where the majority of the animals can be found. 

 

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