Welcome to the BEAR Newsletter, bringing you the latest news from the BEAR team (Birmingham Environment for Academic Research), as well as other relevant computing and data-related news from both within the University of Birmingham and outside.
It has been great to meet lots of new PhD students and staff at various events including the Employee Benefits Fayre this month, as well as those attending our training workshops. We welcome those of you joining our mailing list and hope you will spread the word about BEAR services in your schools, departments and institutes! We also hope to see you at our upcoming event on sustainable computing (see below).
Bear is getting to the end of their #BearonTour series and it was time to meet with the Chair of our Research Computing Management Committee, Professor Andrew Morris, based in the School of Metallurgy and Materials. You can find out how Andrew makes use of various computational resources to enable his research in the BEAR On Tour blog post.
Read below to find out more BEAR news, including our move to the internet:
- December maintenance
- BEAR on the move!
- Digital Research Conversation on Sustainable Computing
- New Research Applications Specialist Grade 7 role
- Case study on using BlueBEAR to calculate reflectivity
- In-person and virtual BEAR drop-in sessions
December maintenance
During the University IT Major Maintenance Window, between 9am on Tuesday 12th and 5pm on Wednesday 13th December, Advanced Research Computing will be undertaking upgrade works on BEAR services. During this time, access to all BEAR services will be unavailable, but we will aim to return live services as soon as we can on the 13th. Reminders will be sent nearer the time and there will be updates on the IT Services Status page: https://status.bham.ac.uk/
BEAR on the move!
Keen eyed users of the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) web pages may have noticed that we are in the process of relocating our intranet content to its new home on the university internet. To find out more about the move, see our blog post.
Digital Research Conversation on Sustainable Computing
Our 9th Digital Research Conversation will be held on Wednesday 13th December, 12:00 – 2:00PM at Westmere House (lunch will be provided). Join us for exciting talks and discussion around Sustainable Computing! Book your place here
Call for speakers – If you are interested in delivering a talk, please contact Kirsty.
New Research Applications Specialist Grade 7 role
We continue the expansion of Advanced Research Computing with a new role available for a Research Applications Specialist (Grade 7), based in the Research Software Group. Working alongside colleagues in similar roles, you will be responsible for building, maintaining, and providing core support for the rich and diverse range of advanced applications on our Linux high-performance computing systems. See our blog post for more details on the position and how to apply (closing date Monday 6th November).
Case study on using BlueBEAR to calculate reflectivity
In this month’s featured case study, Elijah Uche (PhD student from Electrical Engineering) explains how he has used our supercomputer, BlueBEAR, to enable his research into remote monitoring of pipeline infrastructure using RADAR sensors. Elijah used parallel processing on BlueBEAR to cut down the time taken to perform complex simulations with CFT software.
In-person and virtual BEAR drop-in sessions
We are currently holding both in-person and virtual drop-in sessions. In-person drop-ins are held once a month in a variety of campus locations, with additional virtual drop-in sessions via Zoom for those not on campus or who require specialist help, so that we can find a relevant member of the team.
Further details, including how to join the virtual sessions are available on our drop-in webpage. Upcoming dates are also listed below:
- At the Thesis Submission Event, Westmere House, Ground Floor – Wednesday 1st November, 10:00-14:00
- Via Zoom – Monday 6th November, 13:30 – 14:30
- Via Zoom – Tuesday 14th November, 09:30 – 10:30
- Via Zoom – Friday 24th November, 14:30 – 15:30
- Via Zoom – Thursday 30th November, 09:30 – 10:30
Missed last month’s newsletter?
Find September’s newsletter here. Sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your inbox by joining our bear-updates mailing list here (UoB login required).