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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 …

Posted at the request of the OWSD Committee:

Call Open for 2017 Elsevier Foundation Award Nominations for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World

Nominations for excellence in research in the field of engineering and innovation accepted through September 15, 2016

Call For Nominations OWSD 2017

Amsterdam, June 22, 2016 – Nominations opened today for the Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, a high-profile honor for scientific and career achievements by women from developing countries in five regions: Latin America and the Caribbean, the Arab region, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central and South Asia, and East and South-East Asia and the Pacific. The theme for 2017 will be engineering and innovation. Nominations will be accepted through September 15, 2016.

The awards are sponsored and organized by The Elsevier Foundation, the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and The World …

By Elizabeth Leake (STEM-Trek)

STEM-Trek collaborated with Oklahoma State University, the University of Oklahoma and the South African Center for High Performance Computing (HPC) to plan a workshop and networking activity for technology facilitators who support education and research computing in rural regions of the U.S. and sub-Saharan Africa. “HPC On Common Ground @ SC16” activities took place in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 11-19, 2016 during the annual supercomputing conference.

So why “rural,” and what does Borlaug have to have to do with supercomputing?

Norman Borlaug was one of the most important scientists of all time and the only person to have been credited …

By Melissa Romanus (Rutgers University)

There are certain experiences in life that have a profound impact on you. And, even if you don’t know it at the time, you are forever changed by them. Without a doubt, the most impactful experience of my graduate research career was the opportunity to participate in the SIAM-CSE15 Broader Engagement (BE) program.

When I applied, it was right after I had changed research groups, which left me feeling overwhelmed, discouraged and alone. At the time, I had no idea how effective the SIAM-CSE BE program would be in helping me conquer these feelings, and elevate my confidence for the future.

I was dreading the first night of …

By Elizabeth Leake, STEM-Trek (photography by CHPC and STEM-Trek) Also featured in HPCwire!

South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Program Director Kagiso Chikane recently welcomed 100 guests to the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) in Cape Town for the dedication of the fastest computer on the African continent.

“Lengau,” which means “Cheetah” in the African Setswana language, ranked 121 on the June Top 500 list of the world’s fastest supercomputers. However, none hold a candle to Lengau’s potential when it comes to solving the world’s grand challenges that are deeply rooted in Mother Africa.

Program Session Director Nico Meintjes, Chief Executive Officer of Eclipse Holdings opened his presentation with a quote by the late Nelson Mandela,

It always seems impossible until it’s done.”

Meintjes credited CHPC Director Happy Sithole’s vision and leadership. “He knew that to out-compute, is to out-compete. However, it’s …

Posting on behalf of our friends at the South African CHPC:

The Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has unveiled the fastest computer on the continent, a petaflops (PFLOPs) machine.

This is a super computer with processing speed capable of a thousand-trillion floating point operations per second. Floating point operations or flops are used in computing to calculate extremely long numbers.

With over 24 000 cores, the machine is the fastest computer on the African continent owing to its speed of roughly one petaflops (1000 teraflops) which is 15 times faster than the previous system named Tsessebe (Setswana for Antelope).

Tsessebe had a peak performance of 24.9 teraflops/second and became number 311 on the world’s top 500 supercomputers and was ranked number one in Africa.

Following the history of CHPC of naming its high performance computers after fastest animals in the …

By Elizabeth Leake, STEM-Trek / Photography by Lawrette McFarlane (As featured in HPCwire)

The South African Center for High Performance Computing’s (SA-CHPC) Ninth Annual National Meeting was held November 30 through December 4, 2015 at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) International Convention Center in Pretoria, SA. The award-winning venue was the perfect location to host what has become a popular industry, regional and educational showcase.

Exascale in the 2020’s

With the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) being built in the great Karoo region, implications for SA and the HPC industry have captured the attention of a broad range of stakeholders. SKA will be the world’s biggest radio telescope, and the most ambitious technology project ever funded. With an expected 50-year lifespan, SKA Phase One construction is scheduled to begin in 2018, and early science and data generation will follow by …

June 23, 2016 update from Tiffany Trader via HPCwire: South Africa Team Claims Third ISC Student Cluster Championship. They won!!!

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Previous feature By Elizabeth Leake, STEM-Trek

One hundred students attended the South African Center for High Performance Computing’s (SA-CHPC) Ninth Annual National Meeting, Nov. 30 – Dec. 4, 2015, at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) International Convention Center in Pretoria, SA. They were there to exhibit posters or to compete in the student cluster competition (SCC).

Since the SCC work space was centrally located in the CSIR venue, their activities were a focal point during breaks as conference-goers transitioned. They had a rare opportunity to rub elbows with experts from a variety of scientific disciplines who are shaping aspects of …

Apply before April 1

By Nages Sieslack, ISC Group

According to our website, “Participating as a student volunteer at ISC High Performance is a great opportunity to learn about the most important developments in the High Performance Computing (HPC) field. It is also a great way to make new contacts, particularly with your peers from other schools and countries, possible future employers, and HPC luminaries from around the world.”

All true. But what we didn’t also mention is how highly we value female undergraduate and graduate students’ involvement in the program. We appreciate their conscientiousness and, moreover, they always bring great energy with them.

We hope that after reading this blog, you, as an HPC beginner of the female persuasion, would consider volunteering at our event this year.

When we approached former volunteers for their perspective, three of them gladly shared their experience.

Helena Caminal from the Universitat Politècnica de …

The South African Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC) is looking for an HPC Engineer with five years of relevant experience, and a combination of soft and technical skills. The successful sysadmin-applicant will have a front-row seat as history unfolds in the region, an opportunity to make a big difference in the lives of many and a chance to work with an amazing team!

As you may have heard, HPC industry eyes are on South Africa as exascale’s likely birthplace. With the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) being built in the great Karoo region, implications for SA and the HPC industry have captured the attention of a broad range of stakeholders. SKA will be the world’s biggest radio telescope, and the most ambitious technology project ever funded (anywhere in the world)! With an expected 50-year lifespan, SKA construction is scheduled to begin in 2018, and early science and data …