Team America, take two: Meet Colorado's cluster kids

Hardened SC veterans need a dose of good luck

HPC blog The other US-based team in the 2012 ISC Student Cluster Challenge is the University of Colorado, whose members hail from Boulder. Colorado is by far the most experienced team in the ISC version of this competition, having sent teams to all six SC cluster competitions.

In fact, I recognised several of their current Hamburg team members (along with the coach) from previous SC events.

The Buffalos (profile here) have scored a few wins along the way, taking a LINPACK and Fan Favorite award in the past. But they’re also a team that seems "snakebit*" in some ways. They’ve faced a variety of problems over the years, ranging from power outages to hardware failures. But they’ve always pushed hard in the face of adversity and have never thrown in the towel. (I’m not sure there’s a towel to throw in ... I think you’d throw in a power cord if you want to give up at a Student Cluster Competition.)

Maybe this is the year that Colorado breaks through. According to the students, this has been their best start ever and they aren’t seeing any problems on the horizon. We’ll see what happens as the scores are tabulated, but maybe, just maybe, this is the year that Colorado crosses the finish line first.

To get a better look at Team Colorado, take a look at this short video feature. ®

*Dogged by misfortune