Add Patatrack project proposal for GSoC 2025

_gsocprojects/2025/project_Patatrack.md

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+---
+project: Patatrack 
+layout: default
+logo: patatrack.png
+description: |
+    [Patatrack](https://patatrack.web.cern.ch/patatrack/index.html) project started in 2016 by a group of people with various area of expertise, such as software optimization, heterogeneous computing, track reconstruction and High Level Trigger (HLT) at the CMS experiment at CERN. The goal was to demonstrate that part of the HLT reconstruction could be efficienty offloaded on machines equipped with GPUs for parallel execution. Nowadays, Patatrack developments have been integrated into the CMS software for event reconstruction and the project focuses on the exploration of innovative software and hardware technologies to bring smart software closer to the detectors read-out at CERN experiments.
+---
+{% include gsoc_project.ext %}

_gsocproposals/2025/proposal_CLUEsteringAutotuning.md

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+---
+title: Development of an auto-tuning tool for the CLUEstering library
+layout: gsoc_proposal
+project: Patatrack 
+year: 2025
+organization: CERN
+---
+
+## Description
+[CLUE][clue] is a fast and fully parallelizable density-based clustering algorithm, optimized for high-
+occupancy scenarios, where the number of clusters is much larger than the average number of hits
+in a cluster ([Rovere et al. 2020][cluepaper]). The algorithm uses a grid spatial index for fast querying of
+neighbors and its timing scales linearly with the number of points within the range considered. It is
+currently used in the CMS and CLIC event reconstruction software for clustering calorimetric hits in
+two dimensions based on their energy. The CLUE algorithm has been generalized to an arbitrary
+number of dimensions and to a wider range of applications in [CLUEstering][cluestering], a general purpose
+clustering library, with the backend implemented in C++ and providing a Python interface for
+easier use. The backend can be executed on multiple backends (serial, TBB, GPUs, ecc) thanks
+to the [Alpaka][alpakapaper] performance portability library. One feature currently lacking from CLUEstering
+and that would be extremely useful for every user, is an autotuning of the parameters, that given
+the expected number of clusters computes the combination of input parameters that results in the best
+clustering.  
+For this task, one of the options to be explored is “The Optimizer”, a Python library developed by
+the Patatrack group of the CMS experiment which provides a collection of optimization algorithm,
+in particular MOPSO (Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization).
+
+## Expected results
+* Consider the best techniques and tools for the task
+* Develop an auto-tuning tool for the parameters of CLUEstering
+* Test it on a wide range of commonly used datasets
+* Benchmark and profile to identify the bottlenecks of the tool and optimize it
+
+## Evaluation Task
+Interested students please contact [email protected]
+
+## Technologies
+* C++, Python
+
+## Desirable skills
+* Experience with development in C++17/20
+* Experience with GPU computing
+* Experience with machine learning and optimization techniques
+* Experience with development of Python libraries
+
+## Additional information
+Difficulty level (low, medium, hard): medium
+Duration: 350 hours
+Mentor availability: June-October
+
+## Mentors
+  * **[Simone Balducci](mailto:[email protected]) (CERN UNIBO)**
+  * [Felice Pantaleo](mailto:[email protected]) (CERN)
+
+## Links
+  * [CLUE][clue]
+  * [CLUEstering][cluestering]
+  * [Alpaka][alpaka]
+
+[clue]: https://gitlab.cern.ch/kalos/clue
+[cluestering]: https://github.com/cms-patatrack/CLUEstering
+[cluepaper]: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fdata.2020.591315/full
+[alpakapaper]: https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.08477
+[alpaka]: https://github.com/alpaka-group/alpaka

gsoc/2025/mentors.md

@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ layout: plain
 **Note for contributors:** entries must be sorted in **last name** alphabetic order
 
 ## Full Mentor List (Name, Email, Org)
+* Simone Balducci [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CERN
 * Martin Barisits [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CERN
 * Lukas Breitwieser [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CERN
 * Andy Buckley [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) UofGlasgow
@@ -18,6 +19,7 @@ layout: plain
 * David Lange [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CompRes
 * Serguei Linev [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) GSI 
 * Peter McKeown [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CERN
+* Felice Pantaleo [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CERN
 * Giacomo Parolini [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CERN
 * Alexander Penev [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) CompRes/University of Plovdiv, BG
 * Mayank Sharma [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) UMich