Cases & Voices

Reelected as the Chairman of SCALAC's Board of Directors for a second consecutive term, Philippe Olivier Alexandre Navaux is a born leader with a passion for science and technology, committed at the service of transforming society. His talent and discipline have made him a reference in the field of High-Performance Computing (HPC) in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Navaux was born in Brussels, Belgium, in 1948. When he was just two years old, he moved to Brazil with his family, thanks to a job opportunity for his father, that would help them to leave the instability of post-war Europe behind. The family settled in Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, where young Philippe unwittingly took his first steps toward becoming the leader he is today: a key voice in the field of HPC. "I was a curious child and did a bit of everything. My parents once gave me an electric train set and I built a model. I had six electric trains, and I managed them so they didn´t collide, which involved a certain amount of engineering. I think it was in my blood," he says with characteristic humor.

Years later, the choice of his university career seemed rather obvious. Navaux chose to study electronics at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), and, like the trains of his childhood, he had a very clear path to follow. He became a Brazilian citizen at the age of 25, obtained a master's degree in Physics (1973), also from UFRGS, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Grenoble Institute of Technology in France (1979). This was the moment when HPC became an inseparable part of his professional career. He joined UFRGS as a professor in 1971 and became a Full Professor at the Institute of Informatics in 1996. He was then Director of the Institute of Computer Science from 1998 to 2006 and Vice-Rector of Postgraduate Studies from 2000 to 2001.

Throughout his career, Navaux has made significant contributions to the fields of engineering and HPC, not only regionally but globally. He has published around 400 papers in prestigious journals and conferences. His research has been recognized, and he has participated in many collaborative projects with international organizations and companies such as Petrobras, Microsoft, Intel, and HP. Additionally, he has supervised around 100 master's and doctoral theses, representing a significant contribution to developing new talent in the field of computer science.

HPC in the Region

Navaux is now one of the leading figures in Computer Architecture and HPC in the region. With the authority that comes from his extensive knowledge and background, he emphasizes the great importance of HPC today, which goes far beyond the evident. "High-performance computing is at the core of the development of whole field of computing. Why is that? Because what you 'see,' such as the many applications of Artificial Intelligence, are just models and algorithms at work. But to run all that, you need processing power, which is where HPC comes in. The same goes for big data and cloud computing services, among others. HPC is the rail that keeps the train moving ", he says.

The rapid growth of the field in recent years (there are some chips with 1 trillion transistors) leaves the specialist with a dual reaction: surprise at the unimaginable advances in the area he saw emerge in the 1970s, and a desire to continue working so that Latin America and the Caribbean keeps evolving and doesn't fall behind. "A major challenge we face is the lack of resources. There's a lot of instability, even politically, and what research needs most is stability and planning, in addition to investment. Despite the difficulties, we are trying to move forward. The number of supercomputers is increasing, as noted in SCALAC's latest report, and our organization's work is helping to interconnect the main HPC centers in Latin America and organizing conferences, courses and training camps for human resources," he highlights.

Navaux believes the region's greatest contribution to the world of HPC lies precisely in the quality of its human resources. "The education of our students is excellent, as evidence by the fact that many of them are recruited by leading supercomputing centers around the world. The research we conduct is also of high quality, but it still hampered by a lack of computing resources," he says.

Vision for SCALAC

Navaux has a clear vision of the direction SCALAC should take during the 2024-2026 term to fill resource gaps and harness the region's impressive human capital: becoming a bridge builder. "Our last meeting forced us to think beyond immediate needs and plan strategically for the future, and I believe that building bridges is a very fitting phrase to describe what we aim to do with SCALAC in the coming years," he explains.

SCALAC, the Advanced Computing System for Latin America and the Caribbean is  a consortium of scientific and high-performance computing centers from several Latin American countries. The organization is an allied of RedCLARA. Recently, the organization met in Costa Rica to review the progress and challenges, and to plan future collaborations.

"If it is true that we have already connected the supercomputing centers in the region, we now want to use this interconnection to serve research groups in other countries that don't have as many machines or access to HPC resources. In other words, we want to take the technology to those who need it." For the SCALAC president, the success of regional initiatives and projects in areas such as climate change, biology, high-energy physics, machine learning, and, of course, Artificial Intelligence, is linked to the organization's success and its ability to coordinate efforts.

In this respect, Navaux sees great value in contributing to governments and facilitating joint efforts with other sectors. He notes that the recently released report on the state of robust HPC infrastructures in the region is a valuable resource for governments to identify where improvements are needed and implement necessary advancements. "The report is a snapshot of the moment, which should be constantly updated. However, it helps us have a panoramic view of the state of HPC in the region."

SCALAC will also seek to further strengthen its position as a reference for HPC in Latin America on a global level. Its vision is to establish agreements with international entities, such as EuroHPC, and to apply for funding for projects that benefit the region, in a model very similar to what RedCLARA has done with initiatives such as the BELLA programme. Navaux points out that the Latin American Cooperation of Advanced Networks is more than just an ally; it is a model to follow: "We see ourselves reflected and inspired by RedCLARA's institutionalization, innovation, and broad vision for Latin America and the Caribbean," he emphasized. Whether leading the organization's "train" or building bridges for the development of HPC in the region, SCALAC seems to be in good hands for the years to come.