Jean Christophe Desplat

JC studied for his degree at a href=http:www.shu.ac.uk rel=nofollow target=_blankSheffield Hallam University in the UK where he gained a BSc (hons) in Instrumentation and Measurements, and later received a PhD for his work on Monte Carlo simulations of amphiphilic systems in 1996. His first experience of parallel computing dates back to 1992 on T800 transputers, and later Transtech Paramid i860XP. He later joined the a href=http:www.epcc.ed.ac.uk rel=nofollow target=_blankEdinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (EPCC) at the University of Edinburgh in 1995 as an applications scientist for the EC-funded TRACS programme. JC worked nearly 10 years at EPCC, during which time he took part in a number of projects and activities ranging from user support, research, teaching at post-graduate level and research student supervision, software development, development and co-ordination of large European programmes. The highlights of these ten years include his involvement in a href=http:www.ph.ed.ac.ukcmatterstatmechandcompmat.html rel=nofollow target=_blankProf. Michael E. Cates research group for whom he co-developed the parallel generalised Lattice-Boltzmann code Ludwig (see list of Public - No restrictionations below), as well as negotiating and setting up EPCCs involvement in the a href=http:www.deisa.org rel=nofollow target=_blankDEISA and a href=http:www.hpc-europa.org rel=nofollow target=_blankHPC-Europa projects (chair of the Technical Executive Board and co-ordinator of the Transnational Access activity). JC joined the Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) in June 2005 as Technical Manager (and employee #5) and later become Associate Director (July 2007) and Director (May 2012). His expertise has proven crucial in establishing ICHEC as one of the leading technology centres in Europe, only within a few years of its creation. Thus ICHEC has now (2013) become: a leading centre in the effective use of many-core technologies (NVIDIA GPUs and Intel Xeon Phi) for business and academia. ICHEC was awarded the status of a href=http:www.ichec.ienews1278495234 rel=nofollow target=_blankNVIDIA CUDA Research Centre in 2010 (among the first seven in the world), the a href=http:www.ichec.ienews1352794448 rel=nofollow target=_blankHPCWire Readers Choice 2012 for the Most innovative use of HPC in the Financial Services, and the Intel Parallel Computing Centre (IPCC) a href=http:software.intel.comen-usarticlesintel-parallel-computing-center-at-ichec rel=nofollow target=_blankstatus by Intel in 2014 (among the first six in the world); a highly respected partner to industry and the semi-state sector, including such prestigious clients as Tullow Oil, MetEireann, Paddy Power, CarTrawler, and many others ICHEC currently leverages over 700k per annum from its industry engagement programme; a leading centre for Training amp; Education in Europe, e.g., currently leading the Pillar on Training, Education amp; Outreach for the a href=http:www.prace-ri.eu rel=nofollow target=_blankPartnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE ),and effectively the main architects of the PRACE Advanced Training Centres; a leading provider of High Performance Computing and Platform Technology services to Academia, with a recent government mandate to provide a national platform for Big Data Analytics (see Department for Jobs, Enterprise amp; Innovationsa href=http:www.djei.iePublic - No restrictionations2013APJ_Annex.pdf rel=nofollow target=_blank Action plan for jobs 2013 ). JC is one of the original authors of the e-INIS white paper describing a vision for the establishment of a National e-Infrastructure in Ireland, and a co-investigator of the 13M a href=http:www.hea.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankHigher Education Authority (HEA) PRTLI4-funded e-INIS project. He is also the Principal Investigator for a number of awards from a href=http:www.sfi.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankScience Foundation Ireland (SFI, 8.6M), the HEA (1.1M), the a href=http:www.djei.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankDept. of Jobs, Enterprise amp; Innovation , a href=http:www.education.ieen rel=nofollow target=_blankDept. of Education amp; Skills (4.2M), the a href=http:www.epa.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA, 322k) and the European Commission FP7 (2.8M). Over his career, JC had the opportunity to work on a number of HPC systems including T800 transputers, Transtech Paramid i860XP, Cray J90YMPT3D, Cray T3E-9001200, SGI Origin 20003800 (CSAR), Sun Enterprise 35006500 and Fire 680015k, IBM p690p575 cluster (HPCx), IBM BlueGene L and P, IBM cluster 1350 and Bull NS6320, SGI Altix ICE 8200EX (Stokes), Bull Novascale R422-E2 (Stoney) and SGI ICE X (Fionn). J-C holds the position of Honorary Professor of Computational Science at the a href=http:www.dias.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankDublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) since 2008, and of Adjunct Professor in the a href=http:www.nuigalway.iephysics rel=nofollow target=_blankSchool of Physics at NUI Galway since 2012. He was also a member of the a href=http:www.dho.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankDigital Humanities Observatory (DHO) Management Board (2008-2012) and of the a href=http:www.epa.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Change Coordination Committee (2008-2013). More recently, he joined the ICT Sub-Committee of the a href=http:www.medicalcouncil.ie rel=nofollow target=_blankMedical Council (2011-2013) and the UK a href=http:www.epsrc.ac.ukPagesdefault.aspx rel=nofollow target=_blankEPSRC Research Infrastructure Strategic Advisory Team (2011-).