Faculty, staff, and students affiliated with Mississippi’s public institutions of higher learning can access state-supported supercomputing systems, data storage, software environments, and training in computational methods at no charge through the Mississippi Center for Supercomputing Research.
Since 1987, MCSR has enabled universities and institutions across the state to conduct scientific, engineering, and scholarly work. The organization offers technical resources for getting started, software support, and guidance for running jobs, alongside educational outreach that includes regular training workshops designed to help researchers and students build skills in data analysis and scientific computing.
New users connecting to supercomputers in a UNIX environment are advised to review password policies and rules before downloading an SSH client to connect. MCSR provides descriptions of its supercomputers to help users determine which system is best suited for a specific job, noting that Maple is best for most purposes.
Users can log in to a chosen supercomputer and run an example job to learn basic UNIX and PBS mechanics, which is the system utilized to allocate and share resources. Individuals can also familiarize themselves with basic UNIX commands, examine how software is organized, and check documentation pages. If required software is not listed, users can install it in their home directory or contact MCSR for assistance.
MCSR offers technical workshops on Wednesdays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Zoom, with no registration required to attend. The fall schedule includes sessions on the UNIX command line, using large language models for researchers, effective AI-driven software development, utilizing MCSR supercomputers, intermediate high performance computing, R, programming in Python, and data science in Python.
Reminders are sent to the mcsr-workshops email list before each session, and recordings can be requested through the mcsr-videos email list. Questions regarding these offerings can be directed to Ben Pharr via email at bnp@olemiss.edu or by phone at (662) 915-3036, or users can consult the MCSR staff for additional help.
