Building a Beowulf: Leveraging Research and Department Needs for StudentEnrichment via Project Based Learning.

In the fall 2000 a need for an inexpensive cutting edge computation facility provided an opportunity to explore the use of department needs as a real world problem in a classroom setting. The results of the class would benefit the department's research goals, provide a practical student experience with a cutting edge real world problem, and an educational opportunity for the instructor. The successes and pitfalls of our two semester adventure of placing the students in real world scenario to design, buy, and build a Beowulf cluster from scratch is described. Teaching techniques such as project based learning as well as tips for Beowulf construction are detailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]