CESG Seminar: Dr. Neena Iman

Friday, November 10, 2023
10:20 a.m. – 11:10 a.m. (CST)
ETB 1020

Dr. Neena Iman
Director of the O’Donnell Data Science and Research Computing Institute (DSRCI)
Southern Methodist University (SMU)

Title: “Future of Data Science: HPC+AI+Beyond-Moore“

Abstract

The computing ecosystem is at an inflection point with many disruptive technologies merging together. With the debut of exascale supercomputers recently, the architecture of the next generation of HPC platforms is being discussed in the scientific community. The definition of HPC has changed. HPC is no longer just about floating-point operations, but also about the ability to ingest and process huge amounts of data. The traditional HPC applications/workloads are benefiting from the incorporation of AI and machine learning. Additionally, with the plateauing of Moore’s law, there is tremendous momentum in Beyond-Moore technologies, particularly in quantum. This talk will discuss the future of data science in this rapidly changing technology landscape.

Biography
Dr. Neena Iman is the inaugural Director of the O’Donnell Data Science and Research Computing Institute (DSRCI) at Southern Methodist University (SMU), a position key to the university’s commitment to data-focused education and next-gen computational research. The DSRCI also serves as the gateway to SMU’s HPC environment. Before joining SMU,

Neena Imam served as the Director of Strategic Researcher Engagement at NVIDIA corporation, the industry-leader in GPU computing and AI/ML research. In this role, Neena worked with academic researchers to enable GPU-accelerated and AI/ML applications development. Before NVIDIA, Neena served as a distinguished scientist and the Director of Research Collaboration in the Computin

g and Computational Sciences Directorate at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). At ORNL, Neena performed research in HPC, as well as next-generation microelectronics and Post Moore computing. Neena is the author/co-author of many scientific articles, served as an invited speaker and panelist at many conferences, and is active in professional organizations to promote research and education in HPC and AI.

Neena holds a Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, with Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in the same field from Case Western Reserve University and California Institute of Technology, respectively. Neena also served as the Science and Technology Fellow for Senator Lamar Alexander in Washington D.C. (2010-2012). Neena is a senior member of IEEE, served as an IEEE officer for multiple years, and is the founding Chair of ACM SIGHPC ASCAN (Accelerated Scalable Computing and ANalytics) chapter.