Department of Informatics UNDIP Presents International Guest Lecturer: develop HPC (High Performance Computing) skills to open Global opportunities
Posted on: 2025-06-12 14:31:13
Department of Informatics, Faculty of Science and Mathematics (FSM), Diponegoro University once again held an international guest lecture as part of the Visiting Professor program. The theme of the event was “Developing High Performance Computing (HPC) Skills to Open Doors for Opportunity”, which was strategically chosen to respond to the increasing importance of High Performance Computing (HPC) in today's technology ecosystem. HPC has become a key infrastructure for critical innovations such as artificial intelligence (AI), climate modeling, genomic data processing, and large-scale scientific simulations. This trend is reflected in the awarding of the ACM Prize in Computing for two consecutive years to researchers in the field of HPC, namely Torsten Hoefler (2024) for his contribution to computing systems for AI and Amanda Randles (2023) for innovating HPC methods for health applications.
As the main speaker of this guest lecture, Worawan Diaz Carballo (Marungsith), Ph.D. from Thammasat University, Thailand. With a background in research in the field of HPC, distributed systems, and the application of AI in the agricultural sector, Dr. Worawan shared deep insights on the urgency of mastering HPC skills. This activity was held online through Zoom on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at 13.00–16.00 WIB. This event was attended not only by students and lecturers from Diponegoro University, but also international partners and colleagues including researchers and academics from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Batangas State University (Philippines), Department of Science and Technology – Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI, Philippines), Kyoto University (Japan), and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM).
In the opening session, Dr. Worawan introduced what HPC is and explained also that HPC skills cover more than just technical programming. He emphasized the importance of an architectural and spatial mindset, the ability to design large-scale systems in a holistic and collaborative manner. As an analogy, he associated it with the game Minecraft. The game teaches the principles of designing complex modular systems. According to him, such an approach is very relevant because today's supercomputers have reached exaflop computing capacity, even surpassing the capabilities of the human brain in the processing of certain data.
Dr. Worawan also highlighted a number of real applications of HPC technology. He reviewed examples such as the simulation of the 3D structure of the COVID-19 virus by NVIDIA supercomputers, as well as the large European Union Destination Earth project aimed at building a digital twin planet Earth to support disaster mitigation and climate change policies. In the context of technological geopolitics, he emphasized the importance of digital sovereignty. He cited the European Processor Initiative (EPI) and Japan's success in building Fugaku supercomputers independently using local technology, including 64FX processors and TOFU interconnects.
In the context of Education, Dr. Worawan encourages students to start exploring HPC technology early on. He invites students to participate in international scientific competitions, which often provide direct access to global supercomputers at no cost. He also shared his personal experience attending six HPC international schools in the last five years, as well as assisting Thai students to win awards at the Asia Pacific event. He emphasized that HPC skills are cross-disciplinary and highly relevant in various sectors, such as computer science, physics, health, to environmental sustainability. Closing the session, Dr. Worawan conveyed his reflection that HPC and AI are now an important infrastructure that is inseparable from modern human life, like electricity. However, he also warned that technological advances bring new challenges, such as privacy issues, ethical use of AI, and policy gaps that have not been able to keep up with the pace of innovation. Therefore, mastering this technology is no longer just a choice, but the main need to shape the future.
The event was hosted by Prajanto Wahyu Adi, M.Kom., lecturer of the Department of Informatics FSM UNDIP, and took place interactively with high enthusiasm from the participants. These guest lectures not only enrich students ' theoretical understanding, but also open up new horizons regarding global research and career development prospects. The Visiting Professor Program is one of the supporting activities in an effort to build international networks, increase graduate competitiveness, and realize a world-class education ecosystem according to the vision of World Class University (WCU).
