A low-cost computer cluster for high-performance computing education

Skills in high-performance computing are increasingly desired by many employers, such as Google [1] and Intel [2]. However, traditional curricula often do not provide adequate preparation. This is often due to the high cost of HPC equipment needed to provide students with needed hand-on experience. In this paper we describe a HPC system that is small, low cost, and yet powerful enough to support educational activities in HPC.