It had been quite a while since I checked in on the Matadors and a lot had happened. We started the conversation by discussing the HPC Crash Course, which they thought was very helpful. We also went over their results to date and hit on some topics like profiling (this came up a lot during these interviews) and some alternate ways to approach some of the challenges.
After a slow start, which landed them in seventh, the team has steadily improved. After the PSC Quantum Espresso Challenge, the team is in third place, which is damned good for a group of undergrads with no HPC experience.
As you’ll see in the interview, they’re all interested in HPC/AI careers now, which, again is the point of this whole production. One of the kids said he wanted to do ‘research’, and, when pressed, said he wanted to work for NASA – which is very cool. But this led to me accusing of him of wanting to be a NASA researcher just to impress people in bars. Fun interview and a great team…