Data Science / Computer Engineering Summer Internship

The U.S. Army Research Laboratory Army Research Directorate, DoD Supercomputing Resource Center conducts research critical to the Army's assured land power dominance into the deep future. They work with emerging computational platforms and architectures, advanced algorithms, data-intensive analysis workflows, and immersive visualization tools, among other areas. Their facilities include high performance computers, emerging processors, development platforms, and a mixed-reality visualization lab. Project: Seeking two student interns to investigate the development of a distributed processing and analysis pipeline for a user to efficiently analyze test data. This stems from the need for users to explore large amounts of heterogenous data, leveraging HPC resources to provide an enduring capability for data exploration, analytics, and reporting. What will I be doing? Under the guidance of a mentor, you begin with an exploratory introduction of the problem set at hand. It will consist of meetings with domain scientists to understand both the test data and the current workflow on the HPC resources. You will get a survey of the current software stack, workflows, and analytic models. You will also learn the basics of HPC usage. From this knowledge, a plan will be devised on how to extend the capabilities and integrate pieces of the pipeline into one collection of data science services. Intern #1 Will prototype various configurations for scaling up the analytical workflows on the HPC systems. The intern will study components such as the Spark processing engine configuration, orchestration and allocation implementations for running services on HPC nodes vs PSF, and the existing analytical model implementations. The intern will brainstorm a few deployment setups for running the data processing and analytics in a scalable matter, and implement one. Intern #2 Will enhance the capabilities of the tool stack by generalizing models and exploring larger feature sets from the data at hand. This includes conducting data exploration, developing explainable machine learning models, and containerizing services. Once each intern has prototyped their solutions, they will collaborate together to integrate and run the one interns’ latest model training implementation using the other interns’ new tools deployment. The final step is to evaluate both model performance and runtime performance, and suggest recommendations for future directions with model design and tools deployment. The HPC resources utilized will include Chessie, Jean, and ATC’s DHPI Prometheus, with a focus on containerizing services and exploring PSF. The project would have significant considerations with regards to big data analytics, building on prior ARL research and HIP efforts to analyze and visualize data at scale. The interns will become familiar with the data domain, determine a set of appropriate data elements and analytic techniques, implement those techniques, and evaluate the approaches for effectiveness and performance. Why should I apply? This fellowship provides the opportunity to independently utilize your skills and engage with experts in innovative ideas to move the proposed research forward. Where will I be located? APG, Maryland What is the anticipated start date? June 2023 - Exact start dates will be determined at the time of selection and in coordination with the selected candidate. What is the appointment length? This appointment is a summer research appointment. Appointments may be extended depending on funding availability, project assignment, program rules, and availability of the participant. What are the benefits? You will receive a stipend to be determined by the sponsor. Stipends are typically based on a participant’s academic standing, discipline, experience, and research facility location. Other benefits may include the following: • Health Insurance Supplement (Participants are eligible to purchase health insurance through ORISE) • Relocation Allowance • Training and Travel Allowance About ORISE This program, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) through its contract with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to manage the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), was established through an interagency agreement between DOE and DoD. Participants do not enter into an employee/employer relationship with ORISE, ORAU, DoD or any other office or agency. Instead, you will be affiliated with ORISE for the administration of the appointment through the ORISE appointment letter and Terms of Appointment. Proof of health insurance is required for participation in this program. Health insurance can be obtained through ORISE. For more information, visit the ORISE Research Participation Program at the U.S. Department of Defense.