The Santa Cruz “Not So Slow Slugs” always field highly competitive teams. In the last two Winter Classic competitions, they finished a close second – missing by .6 of a point in 2024. This year they’re returning to right that wrong, and they’re bringing back some experienced players and very solid newbies. They’re not the typical computer science majors, some are applied math, computer engineering, computer architecture, and even a bioinformatics minor. Quite the mix.
I gotta say, this team seems loaded for bear. They have experience, are highly motivated, and are putting in the work. But…the early results aren’t matching up to expectations. Their LINPACK came in seventh place, but they improved by winning third on HPCG. They could have made up some ground on the exam, but finished fifth on it, which puts them in fifth overall. But they’re still within range of the leaders, the TTU Red Raiders and UNM Roadrunners.
Great interview, spans a wide range of topics from the typical stuff to cluster competition design philosophy, to building the next generation of Not So Slow Slug teams.