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He is also the man behind the development of HPC projects in the United States. During his visit to Thailand, Asina Pornwasin from The Nation had a chance to talk to him on his plans to help Thailand shore up its computing technology to grasp new opportunities in the global market.

Q: You passed out as an agriculture engineer from Khon Kaen University, but are now an HPC specialist.  How did this shift happen?

A: High-performance computing is my passion. I got involved in HPC 20 years ago, when I was studying for my master's degree in Computer Science at Kent State University. It was the fist time I shifted my focus from agriculture engineering to HPC. My thesis was also on the computer language, specifically about a type of resource management called 'heterogeneous parallel distributed computing'. We know this today as grid-computing technology, but the term 'grid computing' came into being just 10 years ago. That is when I first developed interest in grid and high-performance computing, thanks to my adviser who inspired me to study the technology that was expected to change the world of computing by helping applications function faster.

  Q: What was your next step after completing your master's and doctoral degrees in Philosophy and Computer Science?

  A: After graduation, I worked on HPC in a private company, AT&T Technology and Lucent Technology in its network system business unit. I handled project management as a technical lead for seven years before returning to the university in 2002, where I have been until now.

At Louisiana Tech University, I'm now working as the assistant professor of Computer Science and as a director of the Extreme Computing Research Group, which gives me the opportunity to conduct widespread HPC-related research and to participate in HPC other research conducted by the US Department of Energy's National Laboratory and the US National Science Foundation.

  Q: Based on your 20 years of expertise in high-performance computing, could you elaborate on the importance of this technology and how the Thai software industry can benefit from it?

   A: High-performance computing will become mainstream in the near future. It is the next generation of computing technology. We can say that the dual-core processor was introduced to bring HPC to the masses. Therefore, Thailand should get ready to embrace this technology and take the maximum advantage of it. Thai software developers need to change their sequential-programming mindset to one that uses parallel programming.

Application developers need to employ new ways of thinking and programming. Thailand can move forward faster toward become a software-outsourcing hub if it develops HPC human resources. High performance computing is an enabling technology that supports other technologies and industries, such as the automobiles, garments, food, and agricultural industry. It an add value to the economy of a country.

  Q: With your work based in the US, how would you be able to support Thailand's adoption of high-performance computing technology?

  A: I can leverage my role as the president of the Association of Thai Professionals in America and Canada (ATPAC) and the leader of the ICT group under the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA)'s Reverse Brain Drain Project (RBD) to pool HPC resources in Canada and America and develop collaborations with the HPC community in Thailand, especially through the Thai National Grid Centre (TNGC).

Since 1991, ATPAC has carried out more than a 100 collaborative projects and activities with organisations in Thailand.          

I am creating a database of Thai ICT people in the US in order to create a forum for the Thai software industry. I have been working with TNGC and the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa) for the last three years to promote and to build awareness of high-performance computing in Thailand.

 I connect HPC researchers and specialists with Thai researchers and software developers so that they can share their expertise. Besides which, Professor Thomas Sterling from Louisiana State University, the father of HPC, and I are working on the development of HPC e-learning courses for universities in Thailand. This project gets funding support from the Commission on Higher Education.