Brief Biography
Rashid is the Research Professor of Big Data Systems and the Director for Research, Training and Consultancy at the High Performance Computing Centre, King AbdulAziz University, Saudi Arabia. He has gained qualifications and academic work experience from universities in the UK including Swansea, Cambridge, Birmingham and Oxford.
Rashid has over 20 years of research experience in computational modelling and simulation systems coupled with his expertise in high performance computing. His broad research aim is to develop multi-disciplinary science and technology to enable better quality of life and Smart Economy with a focus on real-time intelligence and dynamic system management. He has published over 100 research papers including 4 edited books. He has organised and chaired international conferences and workshops in his areas of expertise including EuropeComm 2009 and Nets4Cars 2010 - 2013. He has led and contributed to academia-industry collaborative projects funded by EPSRC, EU, UK regional funds, and Technology Strategy Board UK with value over £50 million. He is a founding member of the Future Cities and Community Resilience (FCCR) Network. He is a member of ACM, OSA, Senior Member IEEE and former Vice-Chairman of IET Wales SW Network.
Traditional tightly-coupled supercomputing paradigms are no more adequate to meet the requirements posed by a rising number of diverse application domains. The road to exascale computing has been hindered by several challenges including those related to expressibility, efficiency and sustainability of computing paradigms. New computing architectures, such as GPUs and many integrated core devices have challenged the traditional computing paradigms while offering new opportunities. Big data and cloud computing are increasingly emerging as alternative supercomputing platforms. The cities and rural environments we live in are increasingly becoming living labs enabling a higher quality of life and system efficiencies. Mobile computing is bringing people closer to each other and enabling ubiquitous access to resources.
The unprecedented technological developments of today offer an unimaginable potential for developing new computing paradigms, solving long-standing grand challenges, and making new explorations and discoveries. In this talk, I intend to discuss the future of supercomputing. In doing so, I will touch upon the various trends in supercomputing and its applications, as well as the relevant technologies, including exascale computing, big data, pervasive computing, Internet of Things, mobile and cloud computing. The challenges facing supercomputing will also be discussed. Moreover, I intend to discuss the ongoing international race in supercomputing and the prominent position that Saudi Arabia has gained in this race.