1. Figure 1. Average width of the synchronization landscape as a function of the link-weighting parameter  for scale free (strongly heterogeneous) synchronization networks for various number of nodes N with fixed average degree. The smaller the width the more efficient the synchronization. The horizontal dashed line corresponds to the absolute theoretical lower bound on the average width of the synchronization landscape in the limit of N . Much of our critical information, transportation, and infrastructure systems form a complex network. Large fluctuations of the “load” in these networks are typically harmful for stability or scalability reasons (e.g., congestions in the Internet, “unbalance” in the load of distributed simulations, or cascading failures in the power-grid). We investigated optimization of synchronization in strongly heterogeneous (scale-free) distributed computing networks. The tunable coupling strength of the links between nodes i and j, C ij  (k i k j ) , can be thought of in terms of the frequency of local communications between the two nodes (k i is the degree of node i). We have demonstrated that there exists an allocation of link weights which optimizes global network performance subject to a fixed cost,  ij C ij =const. At this optimal network operational point (    -1):  the average width of the landscape is minimum  the communication load is balanced. Recently, we have shown that fluctuations in task-completion landscapes in distributed simulations are inherently related to the current-flow problem in resistor networks. Thus, our results on synchronization also provide ways to optimize transport and flow problems in weighted complex networks. Phys. Rev. E 75, 051121 (2007)Phys. Rev. E 75, 051121 (2007) Non-Equilibrium Surface Growth and the Scalability of Parallel Discrete-Event Simulations for Large Asynchronous Systems Gyorgy Korniss, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, DMR 0426488

2. Outreach activities: Questar III New Visions program Questar III New Visions program at Rensselaer: G. Korniss developed lectures for local high-school students to introduce them to basic concepts of simulations and modeling (Spring 2002-2007). In this program, spanning through the full year, high-school seniors (from around the Albany, NY region) can explore basic concepts in science (and other areas as well), e.g., through guest speakers, mentoring, and a senior project. M. Novotny at Mississippi State University (MSU) is co-teaching (with Mr. Ken Wester) a high-school junior-level class in trig-based physics for students at the state-wide public residential high-school, the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science (MSMS). Novotny’s lectures bring into the classroom forefront science advances. For example, during discussions of friction, leading-edge research on friction at the nanoscale, slip-stick models, and applications to both earthquake prediction and nano-indentation were discussed. Novotny has also performed research during the summer with a local high-school junior, Daniel Brown. Education and Training: undergraduate students (1): Phoenix Dai (Rensselaer); graduate students (3): Qiming Lu (Rensselaer); Jeremy Yancey, Poonam Verma (MSU); post-doc: Alice Kolakowska (MSU, now at Florida Inst. of Tech.); pre-college teachers (2): Tammie Borland (Questar III), Ken Wester (MSMS).Questar III Non-Equilibrium Surface Growth and the Scalability of Parallel Discrete-Event Simulations for Large Asynchronous Systems Gyorgy Korniss, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, DMR 0426488 Figure 2. Students are working with demonstrations in one of Mark Novotny’s outreach lecture at a local high school, “Big Computers for Science Large and Small” (May, 2007).