Purdue University

The Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC) has had a busy start to the new year. From delivering top-notch HPC (high-performance computing) training events, giving presentations at different campuses and national meetings, and hosting demonstrations of our newest technologies, the staff at RCAC have made tremendous efforts in outreach and engagement. Two such engagements that the center is especially excited about were the student-focused InnovateHer and BoilerMake XII hackathons.

RCAC’s core mission is to provide access to leading-edge computational and data storage systems as well as expertise in a broad range of HPC activities. As part of that mission, the center strives to not only promote the effective use of HPC, but also help develop the HPC workforce of tomorrow. RCAC has a long history of engaging with students to stoke interest in HPC, teach crucial computing skills that will be needed after graduation, and provide real workplace opportunities so that they may grow as professionals in the field. With this in mind, the center jumped at the opportunity to sponsor two amazing, student-focused hackathons this year.

InnovateHer is a 36-hour hackathon at Purdue University created specifically for and by students of underrepresented identities in technology. Open to all college students, the InnovateHer hackathon focuses on creating solutions to women-oriented issues and empowering women and minorities in the tech industry. Purdue’s Women in High-Performance Computing (WHPC) chapter, an RCAC engagement initiative led by women staffers affiliated with the center, has sponsored the InnovateHer hackathon for two years running. During the event, RCAC staff members hosted a booth where students could come and ask questions regarding their particular hackathon projects, or to simply learn more about HPC. Taylor Graham, an Associate Solutions Hardware Engineer for RCAC, also participated in a panel discussion for the sponsor’s where she was able to discuss her job, work experiences, and successes in a field traditionally dominated by men.

“I am thrilled that we [RCAC] were able to sponsor InnovateHer for a second year in a row,” says Graham. “It is an amazing event that brings students from multiple disciplines together to work on often neglected areas in computing and technology. Supporting students to develop skills in computing and HPC is something that we as an organization strongly believe in, and the more involved we can be, the broader our impact. Personally, I had a blast at the hackathon, and can’t wait to be back at next year’s event.”

The second hackathon that RCAC sponsored was BoilerMake XII. BoilerMake is Purdue University’s premier hackathon, inviting undergraduate students from across the nation to join together for a weekend of computational and technological development. The scope of the project was open-ended. Students could create anything they wished, with one caveat—it must have been completely developed on-site during the hackathon. This year’s BoilerMake was the 12th iteration of the hackathon, and was RCAC’s first year as an official sponsor. RCAC provided on-site assistance for the students—nearly 400 in total—who competed, hosted a booth, offered a prize, and provided 2000 GPU hours on the Anvil supercomputer for participants to utilize during the event. Anvil is one of Purdue University’s most powerful supercomputers, and having access to a world class high-performance computing resource was an exciting experience for the undergraduates, who typically do not get to use such powerful systems.

“I love the creative energy of events like this,” says Geoffrey Lentner, a Lead Research Data Scientist for RCAC, and the main driver behind RCAC’s involvement in BoilerMake. Lentner had volunteered as an individual for the past three BoilerMake events and decided it was time to get the whole organization involved. “It's always a lot of fun. I'm glad we [RCAC] were able to sponsor the hackathon. Offering some of Anvil’s GPUs to the students was a great idea, and was really helpful with both fine-tuning models as well as hosting inferencing prototypes.”

Both hackathons were official Major League Hacking (MLH) events. MLH is a student hackathon league that supports over 300 weekend-long competitions each year. RCAC was thrilled with the outcome of both events, and looks forward to supporting more student-focused experiences and opportunities in the future.

For those interested in learning more about these events, please visit the respective InnovateHer and BoilerMake XII websites.

Anvil is a national resource supercomputer, providing researchers from diverse backgrounds with advanced computing capabilities. Built through a $10 million system acquisition grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), Anvil supports scientific discovery by providing resources through the NSF’s Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS), a program that serves tens of thousands of researchers across the United States.

Researchers may request access to Anvil via the ACCESS allocations process. More information about Anvil is available on Purdue’s Anvil website. Anyone with questions should contact anvil@purdue.edu. Anvil is funded under NSF award No. 2005632.

Written by: Jonathan Poole, poole43@purdue.edu