Purdue University

A new group aimed at connecting women who work in high-performance computing for networking and mentorship will hold its first meeting on Thursday, Oct. 6 at noon in the Hall for Discovery Learning and Research, Room 228C. A free lunch will be provided to attendees.

Anyone with an interest in high-performance computing and supporting women in the field is welcome to join the group, whether they work on the technical support side or utilize high-performance computing resources in their research. Faculty and students who use Purdue’s community cluster research supercomputers are encouraged to attend.

Gladys Andino, an ITaP senior scientific applications analyst who, along with ITaP data scientist Boyu Zhang, is organizing the group with help from ITaP’s Preston Smith and Purdue faculty members Vetria Byrd and Michael Gribskov, was motivated to start the group after realizing there was nothing like it at Purdue and that there were a number of women working with high-performance computing resources who were interested in joining such a group.

Going forward, Andino plans for the group to meet monthly and be a place where women in high-performance computing can discuss challenges they face. She also plans to set up a formal mentoring program and provide funding for women at Purdue to attend external conferences, including the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

Andino hopes Purdue’s group can serve as a model for other institutions and inspire them to start similar groups. She will present information about ITaP’s efforts to engage women and minorities in high-performance computing, including the new Women in HPC group, at the SC16 supercomputing conference in Salt Lake City in November.

For more information about the Women in HPC group, contact Gladys Andino, gandino@purdue.edu or 49-40953.