STEM-Trek News

Watch for news about the conference from STEM-Trek guest blogger Bobby Hollingsworth.

Bobby’s research is in biochemistry, where he focuses on bioinformatics and computational protein structure-functional relationships. He often uses high performance computing for molecular dynamics simulations, and takes an interest in efficient resource use for his lab group’s simulations.

Bobby graduated from Virginia Tech in the spring with degrees in chemical engineering, biochemistry, and chemistry. He will pursue a Ph.D. in the biomedical sciences at Harvard University this fall.

Thanks for blogging for us, Bobby. We look forward to your posts!

Follow @PEARC_17 on Twitter; Use the conference hashtag in posts: #PEARC17; Share photos on Facebook; Search for @PEARChpc to find the official page.

Thank you Google, Micron Foundation, Science Gateways Community Institute, SDSC and XSEDE for supporting the PEARC17 Student …

Thanks, CERN & Cray!

Badisa Mosesane, an undergraduate scholar who studies computer science at the University of Botswana in Gaborone, recently joined other students from developing nations around the world in Geneva, Switzerland to participate in the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) Summer Student Program.

Each year, advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students from developing countries who study physics, computing and engineering are encouraged to apply—and it’s very competitive! In 2016, 137 students from 60 countries were represented and more than 1,000 have participated since the program began in 2003.

For eight weeks this summer, Badisa will attend lectures, and work side-by-side with student-peers and scientists from a range of disciplines on some of the world’s biggest experiments. The students will have the opportunity to foster a multinational, interdisciplinary professional network that will prove useful throughout their careers. Badisa is assigned to the Experimental Physics Neutrino group …

The Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing Conference Student Program is pleased to announce that 66 students will attend PEARC17 in New Orleans, July 9-13, 2017.

“Since this is PEARC’s maiden voyage, we’re especially pleased at the number and diversity of students who qualified to participate,” said Student Program Chair Alana Romanella (Virginia Tech). “It was our goal to attract candidates from a variety of research domains and demographics that are traditionally under-represented in computational and data science degree programs and careers. Adding diversity to the national advanced research computing workforce pipeline is also a priority for organizations that supported PEARC student travel, including STEM-Trek, XSEDE, Google, Micron Foundation, Science Gateway Community Institute, Echo Valley Meats, and the San Diego Supercomputer Center,” she added.

Among 46 students who will receive travel support to attend PEARC17, 32 percent are female, and 50 percent …

We are pleased to announce that a STEM-Trek donation from Micron Foundation will make it possible for more scholars to participate in the PEARC17 conference and student program. The Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing conference will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, July 9-13, 2017.

PEARC student-participants will have access to the general conference technical program, plus activities that are being developed specifically for them by experienced education and outreach specialists from national laboratories and research institutions. The student program begins with a cybersecurity presentation by New Orleans-based Federal Bureau of Investigation agents, and includes an intensive collaborative modeling and analysis challenge; a session on careers in modeling and large data analytics; a mentoring program; and a volunteer effort where they’ll learn how conferences are facilitated, from the inside-out!

“We’re delighted to support STEM-Trek and the PEARC17 Student Program,” said Dee Mooney, Micron Foundation Executive Director. “It’s a great …

Thanks to 2017 donation from Cray, STEM-Trek was able to support several orphan requests. We hope others will help build the Gap Fund; STEM-Trek is a 501.c.3 public charity and donations are tax-deductible.

What’s a gap grant?

Some students and professionals feel like they can’t take time off to attend technical conferences — even if their travel and/or wages are covered while they’re away — they’re simply spread too thin. Extra money would help bridge important financial gaps, and give them peace of mind.

Awards are confidential–we won’t publicize who or why the funds are needed. Each case, however, will help us shape the program for the future. Unique needs could become trends!

Following are examples of meritorious need that a gap grant could help with. Again, if you have a unique situation, please tell us about it:

Child and eldercare: According to the National Association of Child Care …

May 19, 2017 update: Thanks to the International Supercomputing Conference, STEM-Trek, Cray, Inc. and others, Umesh Upadhyaya will attend ISC in June (his visa was granted on May 31)!

Original story by Nages Sieslack (ISC) published by HPCwire on April 20, 2017

Umesh Upadhyaya works as an IT Associate at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) in Nepal, which supports the country’s one and only HPC facility. He is directly involved in an initiative that focuses on climate change and atmosphere modeling, an area that has particular relevance to the country’s dependence on its agricultural production and hydroelectric power.

Part of what Umesh wants to accomplish at ICIMOD is acquiring the necessary technical skills so that he can assist research scientists in setting up and supporting HPC resources at the Nepal facility. Unfortunately, at this point the government doesn’t have the funds to …

STEM-Trek Nonprofit is pleased to announce that Google, Inc. is a STEM-Trek Platinum supporter of the PEARC17 Student Program. The donation will increase the number of students who can participate in the Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing conference which will be held in New Orleans, Louisiana-U.S., July 9-13, 2017.

Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin had a vision for their new search engine in 1995: “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.” Their early objective explains Google’s current affinity with STEM-Trek, a global, grassroots public charity that supports travel and workforce development for “HPC-curious” scholars from underrepresented groups and under-served regions.

Google doesn’t just accept difference; we celebrate it, support it and thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, products and community,” said Vint Cerf, Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist. “PEARC17 presents a rare opportunity to expose …

Have you heard about PEARC17? Please join us in New Orleans July 9-13, 2017

PEARC is an exciting new summer conference series that continues in the tradition of the annual XSEDE conference. This year’s theme is “Sustainability, Success and Impact.” Dave Hart (NCAR) is the general conference chair, and Alana Romanella (Virginia Tech/STEM-Trek Adviser) is leading the student program. STEM-Trek is fundraising to support the student program, and I’m serving as its diversity chair.

From the conference site:

“PEARC17 welcomes all who care about the challenges in using and operating advanced research computing. Organizations supporting this new conference include the Advancing Research Computing on Campuses: Best Practices Workshop (ARCC), XSEDE, the Science Gateways Community Institute, the Campus Research Computing (CaRC) Consortium, the ACI-REF consortium, the Blue Waters project, ESnet, Open Science Grid, Compute Canada, the EGI Foundation, the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC), and Internet2. Learn more …

STEM-Trek Nonprofit was recognized in the annual HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards, presented at the 2016 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC16), in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The list of winners were revealed at the HPCwire booth at the event, and on the HPCwire website, located at www.HPCwire.com.   STEM-Trek was recognized with the following honor: Editors’ Choice: Workforce Diversity Leadership Award.

The coveted annual HPCwire Readers’ and Editors’ Choice Awards are determined through a nomination and voting process with the global HPCwire community, as well as selections from the HPCwire editors. The awards are an annual feature of the publication and constitute prestigious recognition from the HPC community. These awards are revealed each year to kick off the annual supercomputing conference, which showcases high performance computing, networking, storage, and data analysis.

“From thought leaders to end users, the HPCwire readership reaches and engages …

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What’s a gap fund?

STEM-Trek’s gap fund will supplement general travel awards from nonprofits, like STEM-Trek, government agencies, or technical conferences that sponsor high performance computing (HPC), data science and software development training programs. Supplement awards bridge financial gaps that might otherwise cause economic hardship when employees or students take time away from their daily obligations to attend a conference, workshop or other professional development opportunity.

Who qualifies?

Applications are welcome at any time from HPC-curious scholars (ages 21-99) who feel like they can’t afford to take time off to train, and are therefore reluctant to apply for travel grants.

It’s easy to apply! Six weeks or more before the activity, applicants should submit a letter of interest to info@stem-trek.org that describes the need, a budget, letter of recommendation from a non-family associate who is familiar with the applicant’s financial situation and training goals, and …