It’s been a frantic start to the 2025 Winter Classic Invitational Student Cluster Competition, with a record number of teams and students, plus some new mentors, including a “Mystery Mentor.”

(Some background now, ignore this part if you know the deal with the Winter Classic. I’ll give you a signal to start reading again.)

The Winter Classic, now in it’s fifth year, is a student cluster competition that exclusively features HBCU’s and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). This competition has a unique architecture in that mentor organizations give students remote access to a cluster, train them on a real world HPC application, then let them do their damnedest to optimize the app senseless. Results are reported and disseminated, the kids take a week off, then they’re in the hands of the next mentor.

(Ok, start reading again.)

What’s New in 2025? Heaps of Training

We have 14 teams competing this year and more than 60 students. What’s great is that more schools have two teams, meaning that this thing is catching on with students. The biggest change in the off season is a big emphasis on training. Much time was spent on finding comprehensive Linux training. The Linux Foundation LFS101 turns out to be the perfect solution, with some curation to show the students what they need for the competition. Plus they have hands-on exercises, which is very important

Finding introductory HPC training was harder. There is a massive amount of material out there, which is great, but much of it is too tightly focused on a particular domain, system, or organization.

Many Google searches later, I found the “Summer Boot Camp” series, created by John Urbanic from the Pittsburg Supercomputing Center and sponsored by XSEDE. It’s comprehensive, with in-depth coverage of OpenMP, OpenACC, and MPI, along with hands-on exercises. I really like John’s style and how he doesn’t just discuss how things work but why we need them and where to use them.

With the Linux and HPC training, students who haven’t had any HPC exposure at all will have the tools to learn enough to put together a team and be prepared for the next Winter Classic.

So Who’s In?

For the lowdown, take a gander at the video below (highly recommended) where HPC legend Henry Newman and I unveil the 2025 teams, mentors, and sponsors.

Here’s the quick rundown on the teams:

We have a mix of returning and new mentors for 2025:

  • HPE is the first mentor up, providing the traditional kick off with HPL and HPCG
  • A new activity, the HPC Crash Course, forces student teams to watch the PSC training discussed above and then take a group exam on it. Fiendish.
  • Oak Ridge National Lab continues their streak of Winter Classic mentorship with what promises to be a ground breaking challenge.
  • Amazon Web Services (AWS) returns for the fourth year. Their challenges typically roil the leaderboard and provide plenty of drama.
  • Closing out the competition is a Mystery Mentor, which is, well, mysterious.

Without our sponsors, this competition wouldn’t be possible, we need to thank…

  • Platinum Sponsor HPE
  • Gold Sponsors Intel and Lenovo
  • Silver Sponsor AWS

Now you know the basics, the stage is set for another compelling and dramatic competition. Give us a follow on LinkedIn and X (why not, you don’t have anything better to do, right?) Next up we’ll be revealing the HPL and HPCG scores. Stay tuned….

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