SciComp garage

Link for all garages on this page

https://aalto.zoom.us/j/61322268370, every workday at 13:00–14:00

  • Try to arrive between 13:00 - 13:15 if possible. Please don’t arrive early since we have other meetings then.

  • Want to reserve a session in advance? Contact us by chat or email and we can confirm when a good supporter will be there.

Planned disruptions

  • There will be limited staff around during the summer - most limited 6–13 July.

  • There are no staff during: (nothing listed yet)

  • Past years, there has been someone in Garage most days, but it isn’t guaranteed. Keep an eye here for further updates.

A “Garage” is a office hour to get practical advice and hands-on support and ask anything. Our garage is online, every (work)day, so you are never far from help. Consider us like the office of the person down the hall. We are a good first stop for questions, even if we recommend you to go somewhere else next. You don’t need a specific question.

Most common tasks include:

  • Solve specific problems

  • Discuss and solve vague problems/concerns

  • Get advice on what you should do next

  • Discuss and figure out what your problem really is

  • Brainstorm the best strategy are for your problems

  • Work with someone on your issues in real time

“SciComp”: Triton, research software, data, HPC, etc

This is the “main event” and we have many people around every day. See top of page for link.

SciComp/Triton covers:

  • Code and Software:

    • Issues with your code or software tools you use (e.g. debugging, setting up software, linking libraries)

    • Code parallelization

    • Code versioning, git, testing

  • Data Management:

    • Data management plans, data sharing

    • Handling of sensitive data and general legal and ethical (to some extent) questions about research data

    • Workflows for big datasets

    • Data versioning

  • Triton cluster:

    • Slurm job submissions

    • Cluster usage

    • Script setup

    • Module management / Library loading

  • General:

    • Basic methodological or statistical issues

  • For who?

    • All researchers and staff at Aalto.

    • Students doing research count as researchers (research assistants, thesis workers doing research, interns, summer workers, visitors, etc.).

    • It is also available regardless of university for ELLIS Institute Finland faculty and their research groups and AI-DOC doctoral students. If you aren’t from Aalto, please mention your affiliation with one of these so we can serve you best.

  • You can also chat with us at other times. See also Help

  • For clearly defined requests like software installation, use the Triton issue tracker. You can also make an issue then come to garage to follow up. You can always ask in garage first and we’ll advise on making an issue.

NBE/PHYS

PHYS, NBE, and ITS (Aalto IT Services) staff are part of the Garage sessions every Monday and Wednesday. This is an extension of the SciComp garage above, with extra info about department computers, data systems, etc.

See top of page for link.

CS-IT and CS EduTech

CS support is usually available every day of the week. See top of page for link.

CS-IT/CS EduTech covers

  • Any CS-IT services, including data and virtual machines.

  • We can usually advise on other IT services at Aalto.

  • Aplus course creation.

  • Aplus autograding and management.

  • Anything else in the Aplus ecosystem

  • jupyter.cs course creation, support, software installation.

  • For who?:

    • Any staff in the CS department, including research assistants, teaching assistants, visitors, etc.

    • Any teachers/TAs using the CS-maintained educational services: A+, jupyter.cs, Radar, Ossi, etc.

Special days

  • Tuesdays On 2026-05-12 we will have a COMSOL Multiphysics focus day: an expert from COMSOL (the company) plans to join.

Other garages

In person

In-person garages stopped in early 2020 for the obvious reason. The online garage above is more frequent and has more staff, so you are more likely to meet the very best person for your topic. From the online garage, we can arrange in-person follow-ups if it helps.

Past events

Scicomp Garage has existed since Spring 2017. It has been online since March 2020, and daily since summer 2020.