NCI showcased all things supercomputers at the Science in ACTion exhibition in Canberra on the 10th and 11th of August, and this year's event was the biggest yet by far. Thousands of students and members from the local community visited the National Science Week event over two massive days.
This year, we were pleased to be able to present unique high-performance computing hardware, stunning volumetric visualisation software and lots, lots more. We gave away countless papercraft models of Raijin, the nation's fastest supercomputer, and many koalas. Most importantly, we had the opportunity to talk with students about the science being conducted at NCI, and asked them what they would like to do with all that computing power if they had the chance.
Of course, some were keen to see how video games could be improved with a large supercomputer (hint: not much at all), and budding entrepreneurs wanted to know whether they could mine cryptocurrencies. However, all students could also see the scientific value of supercomputing, and proposed that it could be used for such things as curing cancer, studying the universe and learn more about extinct and endangered animals.
It was encouraging to see so many students interested in STEM. We can't wait to carry on these conversations at next year's Science in ACTion.
