On September 17, 2025, High Performance Computing at UTD hosted the Comet Computing Conference (CCC), a celebration of scientific discovery and the vital role High Performance Computing plays in powering it. This conference brought together researchers from various disciplines from nine departments and four schools (NSM, ECS, BBS and EPPS) to share findings of their research.

The conference program included 11 scientific posters, 10 lightning talks, and 11 short talks and attracted 70 participants. Participants had the opportunity to network with other researchers and members of the HPC team. The presentations offered an opportunity to see researchers from other disciplines use same computing techniques with for different problems, or different techniques for similar problems. These resulted in several interdisciplinary questions and discussions.

Presentations topics included machine learning for ocean-bottom seismology, galaxy reionization simulations, capturing radioactive pollutants from water, and quantum mechanical studies of transition states. Medical applications featured topology-infused transformers for medical imaging, brain imaging data preprocessing for cerebellar disease, and modeling augmented pulmonary nodule data. Engineering presentations addressed TPMS-based heat exchangers and riblets’ effects on wind farm performance. Molecular science work included designing artificial transmembrane transporters, identifying protein inhibitors, and GPU-accelerated simulations of BRCA1 complexes. Data science contributions covered temporal graph classification, Bayesian inference, and cybercrime deterrence analysis. Additional topics included neurogenetic underpinnings of cannabis use disorder and workflow management for quantum chemistry simulations.

The conference will be conducted again in subsequent semesters. Please visit the HPC@UTD website for upcoming information, services, and HPC support.