PAW-ATM 2025: Parallel Applications Workshop, Alternatives To MPI+X

PAW-ATM 2025: Parallel Applications Workshop, Alternatives To MPI+X
Held in conjunction with SC25, St. Louis, MO
https://sourceryinstitute.github.io/PAW/

Summary
As supercomputers become more and more powerful, the number and diversity of applications that can be tackled with these machines grow. Unfortunately, the architectural complexity of these  supercomputers grows as well, with heterogeneous processors, multiple levels of memory hierarchy, and many ways to move data and synchronize between processors. The MPI+X programming model, use of which is considered by many to be standard practice, demands that a programmer be expert in both the application domain and the low-level details of the architecture(s) on which that application will be deployed, and the availability of such superhuman programmers is a critical bottleneck. Things become more complicated when evolution and change in the underlying architecture translates into significant re-engineering of the MPI+X code to maintain performance. Numerous alternatives to the MPI+X model exist, and by raising the level of abstraction on the application domain and/or the target architecture, they offer the ability for “mere mortal” programmers to take advantage of the supercomputing resources that are available to advance science and tackle urgent real-world problems.

However, compared to the MPI+X approach, these alternatives generally lack two things. First, they aren’t as well known as MPI+X and a domain scientist may simply not be aware of models that are a good fit to their domain. Second, they are less mature than MPI+X and likely have more functionality or performance “potholes” that need only be identified to be addressed. PAW-ATM is a forum for discussing HPC applications written in alternatives to MPI+X. Its goal is to bring together application experts and proponents of high-level languages to present concrete example uses of such alternatives, describing their benefits and challenges.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Novel application development using high-level parallel programming languages  and frameworks
• Examples that demonstrate performance, compiler optimization, error checking,  and reduced software complexity
• Applications from artificial intelligence, data analytics, bioinformatics, and  other novel areas
• Performance evaluation of applications developed using alternatives to MPI+X and comparisons to standard programming models
• Novel algorithms enabled by high-level parallel abstractions
• Experience with the use of new compilers and runtime environments
• Libraries using or supporting alternatives to MPI+X
• Benefits of hardware abstraction and data locality on algorithm implementation
• Papers that include description of applications that demonstrate the use of alternative programming models will be given higher priority.

Submissions
Submissions are solicited in two categories:

1. Full-length papers presenting novel research results: Full-length papers will be published in the workshop proceedings. Submitted papers must describe original work that has not appeared in, nor is under consideration for, another conference or journal. Papers shall be eight (8)  pages minimum and not exceed ten (10) pages including text, figures, and non-AD/AE appendices, but excluding bibliography and acknowledgments.
   PAW-ATM follows the reproducibility initiative of SC25. Submissions shall include an Artifact Description (AD) appendix, and may optionally include an Artifact Evaluation (AE) appendix.
   Authors should include a draft of the AD/AE appendices with the initial manuscript PDF submission. You will have the opportunity to revise the appendix before its final submission. See https://sourceryinstitute.github.io/PAW/ for further details.
2. User experience abstracts: Abstracts will be evaluated separately and will not be included in the published proceedings. Submissions in this track include a title and 1-4 pages abstract. The content may include any combination of novel and/or previously published work that is relevant to the workshop’s scope. Content that highlights the experiences of users of alternatives of MPI, and their    applications, will be prioritized within this submission category.
   Abstracts may optionally include AD/AE appendices, not included in the abstract page count, but such appendices will not be evaluated and no badges will be awarded.

Important Dates

• Manuscript Submissions deadline: July 24, 2025
• Artifact Description (AD) Stage 1 (mandatory) Submissions deadline: July 24, 2025
• Notification to authors: August 30, 2025
• Artifact Evaluation (AE) Stage 2 (optional) Submissions deadline: September 4, 2025
• AE and Reproducibility Badges review period: September 5–26, 2025
• Final AD/AE/Badges decisions and notification to authors: September 27, 2025
• Camera-ready papers due from authors: September 28, 2025
• Final program: September 29, 2025
•  Workshop at SC25: November 16|17|21, 2025:

Committee
Workshop Chair: Karla Vanessa Morris Wright – Sandia National Laboratories

Organizing committee

•  Engin Kayraklioglu – Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• Kenjiro Taura – University of Tokyo

Program committee co-chairs

• Daniele Lezzi – Barcelona Supercomputing Center
• Katherine Rasmussen – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory