STEM-Trek News

Initially published in HPCwire, By Elizabeth Leake, STEM-Trek

Most who work in the high performance computing (HPC) industry agree; people problems are far more complicated than technical challenges. Diversity, or the lack thereof, is the HPC industry’s current grand challenge, and how best to encourage the participation of women in HPC was the theme for several SC15 sessions, including birds-of-a-feather, panel discussion, vendor reception, and a workshop titled Women in HPC (WHPC): Changing the Face of the Future. The panel and workshop were organized by the 2015 HPCwire Workforce Diversity award winning team, WHPC, led by Toni Collis (University of Edinburgh).

While it’s well known that science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are less diverse than humanities, business, social science, and other research arenas, computational science & engineering (CS&E) are the least diverse of all. As the long tail of data-intensive research engages more domains, the …

By Elizabeth Leake (STEM-Trek) and Melyssa Fratkin (TACC)

In rural regions around the world, it’s not only distance that prevents people from accessing goods and services, markets, healthcare, and education. There is often a confluence of geographical, geopolitical and economic factors that further complicate service delivery.

Power isn’t perfect anywhere in Africa, but rural regions have unreliable, inadequate or no supply at all. Where there is a network—and the presence of dark fiber is becoming more common—it’s likely to serve a proprietary, commercial purpose. In rural, impoverished regions where there are few to police the infrastructure, copper thieves make it extremely difficult (and costly) for the telecommunications industry to maintain uninterrupted networks. Therefore, wireless and off-the-grid innovations are especially promising where there is an abundance of wind and solar energy.

These challenges concern the 19 Southern African Development Community (SADC) scholars who participated in a two-day high performance …

On Nov. 12-20, 2015, 19 Southern African Development Community (SADC) delegates will travel to Austin, Texas to attend a two-day workshop at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), and the SC15 International Conference for High Performance Computing (HPC), Networking, Storage, and Analysis. TACC Workshop Agenda.

The delegation represents six of the 15 sub-Saharan SADC member states that host HPC systems, including parts of TACC’s former Ranger supercomputer that was donated to the South African Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC). More than 20 racks of the large system were divided and installed in several SADC centers that interconnect via high-speed networks to form a shared cyberinfrastructure. The TACC-SC15 activity will improve delegates’ HPC management skills, introduce them to new methodologies and best practices, and expand everyone’s professional networks.

Sustainable Horizons Institute and SIAM-CSE15 By Elizabeth Leake (STEM-Trek)

It’s no secret that industries struggle to build and sustain a diverse science and technology (S&T) workforce, but entering and advancing within the pipeline are far from equal-opportunity endeavors. Despite industry efforts to support their success, women, minorities and people with disabilities continue to encounter deeply-ingrained social and institutional barriers to entry.

In 2013, Mary Ann Leung formed Sustainable Horizons Institute (SHI), a nonprofit organization designed to help students and early-career professionals overcome some of those barriers. Few are as experienced in this arena as Leung whose 20-year program development career includes five years leading the U.S. Department of Energy’s computational science and engineering doctoral fellowship program—one of the nation’s finest.

Leung drew from experience with the Supercomputing Conference Broader Engagement (SC-BE) program to develop a BE framework to engage people from demographic groups that are typically underrepresented in S&T …

Posted on behalf of Sustainable Horizons Institute!

Imagine yourself collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Computing Sciences staff as they develop solutions to pressing scientific and engineering problems while making use of some of the world’s fastest supercomputers! All the while, engaging your students in world-class research and creating pathways for their futures.

The program, developed under a partnership between Sustainable Horizons Institute and Berkeley Lab’s Computing Sciences, is designed for faculty from a variety of institutions including Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) and women’s and community colleges who are supporting students from under-represented or under-privileged backgrounds.

Faculty are welcome to apply, and recommend one or more students who can participate in a ten-week summer program. Additional details are included on this PDF; please share it with your colleagues: berkeley_labs_computing_sciences_sustainable_research_pathways_flyer (1)

Each summer, the Argonne Training Program on Extreme-Scale Computing (ATPESC) hosts an intensive, two-week training program on the key skills, approaches and tools needed to design, implement and execute computational science and engineering applications on current high-end computing systems and the leadership-class computing systems of the future.

The program, conceived and organized by ALCF Director of Science Paul Messina, covers programming methodologies that are effective across a variety of supercomputers and that are expected to be applicable to exascale systems.

The program provides junior researchers insight into the possibilities that these systems offer at the critical point in their training, when they can steer their nascent research efforts towards scalable high-performance computing.”

You’ll find their collection of 78 videos, photos, a full agenda, and presenters’ slides online.

Mark your calendar for next year’s program!

ATPESC 2016 will be held July 31 – August 12, 2016, and applications will be accepted in …

For starters…

Climate Change, Food Security, Fresh Water, Poverty, Disease, Energy, Human Capital Development, and World Peace!

At the 2014 Southern African Development Community High Performance Computing (SADC-HPC) Forum meeting, a whitepaper by Jackson Phiri (University of Zambia), et al, titled “Cyberinfrastructure: An urgent need for SADC leadership to address food security in sub-Saharan Africa” set the platform for a broader discussion about the impact of climate change and how it could affect their shared vision of prosperity and peace. Their conclusion…

HPC (with related analytics & decision support systems) is critically important for sustaining people, societies and essential ecosystem functions.

Food insecurity and access to fresh water have been historical drivers of conflict in developing nations, and are growing concerns for the peaceful and diplomatic region. The SADC population is expected to double in some places by 2050 and quadruple in others by 2100. More than one fourth are currently 

I hope you will join us in Pretoria. Register today!

By Elizabeth Leake, STEM-Trek

I was pleased to read the recent New York Times article titled “Travel Industry Responds to Rise in Solo Sojourners.” Twenty-four percent of people who travel abroad are alone. I’ve traveled often over the past 10 years, and it’s almost always solo because it’s usually work-related.

Traveling alone can present security challenges, but I’ve always felt safe; probably because I’m experienced and know what to watch out for. I have some tips for anyone who is reluctant to strike out on their own. Exercising common sense, and following these rules could prevent you from having a bad experience.

Physical Security

Before leaving home, put a hold on snail mail and newspapers, and set …