Tutorial

The organizers of the 16th International Conference on Domain Decomposition Methods are very pleased to announce that there will be two pre-conference tutorials.

Introduction to Domain Decomposition Methods

On the morning of the opening day of the conference, there will be a three-hour tutorial on domain decomposition methods. The target audience is not experts, but newcomers. Participants new to the conference series may expect this half-day to help prepare them for the technical sessions. The tutorial provides an overview of domain decomposition algorithms, emphasizing key themes and introducing technical vocabulary. It also highlights results of some applications that have been important in motivating the development of domain decomposition algorithms and software. Within the limited time allotted, participants will get a sense both of what are the classical results and where is the current research frontier.

Introduction to PETSc

On the day preceding the conference, the developers of the Portable, Extensible Toolkit for Scientific Computing (PETSc) will give a six-hour tutorial on its use. PETSc was originally created in order to prototype domain decomposition methods on parallel computers, to provide a test-bed for algorithmic research. Over the years, it has evolved into a standard high-level applications programmer interface (API) for grid-based message-passing codes. (As a multi-featured linear and nonlinear algebra package, it is more than this, but its features are centered around partial differential equation-type applications discretized on grids using finite elements, finite differences, or finite volumes.) PETSc is freely available and is in active use by hundreds of groups around the world. This workshop is of the "bring-your-own-laptop" variety. Participants will actually build PETSc on their Unix/Linux or Windows laptops towards the beginning of the tutorial and perform a number of simple PETSc experiments (in serial) during the tutorial.

Both tutorials will be held at Columbia University (approximately four miles north of the main conference location at New York University, and easily accessible by metro) at 500 West 120th Street. A coffee, juice, yogurt, and bagel bar will be provided, as well as computer networking.

The cost of the domain decomposition tutorial adds $10 per person to the registration fee and the cost of the PETSc tutorial adds $15 per person (to cover the refreshments and administrative expenses).