July 19, 2018 — Women@NCSA, a professional organization to foster women in technology and leadership positions at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at Illinois, has been recognized as one of the first WHPC Affiliate organizations in the new Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) Pilot Programme. The WHPC program seeks to expand and maintain diversity and engagement throughout local HPC communities.

“We are thrilled to welcome Women@NCSA as a WHPC Affiliate under our new pilot program,” says Dr. Sharon Broude Geva, WHPC’s Director of Chapters and Director of Advanced Research Computing at the University of Michigan. “We anticipate that the new WHPC affiliates will provide amplification of the WHPC mission to diversify the International HPC community, encourage the gathering of statistics of where women are in the community, what roles they fill and also helping us to identify why women leave and what we can do about it.”

“The new WHPC Chapter and Affiliate Pilot Programme is a crucial step in improving retention of women in the HPC community,” said Dr. Toni Collis, Chair and co-founder of WHPC and Chief Business Development Officer at Appentra Solutions.

Through this newly-granted Affiliate status, Women@NCSA will be able to tap in to WHPC’s vast array of resources, networking opportunities and community, laying the foundation for a commitment to inclusion in high performance computing.

“The WHPC Affiliate Program is a new, pilot program, and by joining it at this early stage we hope to help shape what it grows into,” said Kalina Borkiewicz of the Women@NCSA Organizing Committee. “Women@NCSA is excited to become a part of the broader, worldwide movement for diversity in high performance computing. The goals of Women@NCSA align with those of WHPC so I foresee this being a fruitful affiliation.”

Women@NCSA hosts activities such as technical and professional panel discussion, professional development training, and networking. Women@NCSA events are open to the public. Sign up for email updates.

About NCSA

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provides supercomputing and advanced digital resources for the nation’s science enterprise. At NCSA, University of Illinois faculty, staff, students, and collaborators from around the globe use advanced digital resources to address research grand challenges for the benefit of science and society. NCSA has been advancing one third of the Fortune 50® for more than 30 years by bringing industry, researchers, and students together to solve grand challenges at rapid speed and scale.

About Women@NCSA

Women@NCSA provides professional development and networking opportunities for employees, affiliates, and students. Our objective is to create a more diverse and inclusive environment through outreach, talks and events. The monthly events will be structured to drive conversations around our experiences as women in the workplace, develop professional skills, and to create and strengthen professional relationships. Women@NCSA hopes to empower women and provide a network of support within NCSA and the community.

About WHPC and the Chapters and Affiliates Pilot Programme

Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) was created with the vision to encourage women to participate in the HPC community by providing fellowship, education, and support to women and the organizations that employ them. Through collaboration and networking, WHPC strives to bring together women in HPC and technical computing while encouraging women to engage in outreach activities and improve the visibility of inspirational role models.

WHPC has launched a pilot program for groups to become Affiliates or Chapters. The program will share the knowledge and expertise of WHPC as well as help to tailor activities and develop diversity and inclusion goals suitable to the needs of local HPC communities. During the pilot WHPC will work with the Chapters and Affiliates to support and promote the work of women in their organizations, develop crucial role models, and assist employers in the recruitment and retention of a diverse and inclusive HPC workforce.

WHPC is stewarded by EPCC at the University of Edinburgh. For more information visit www.womeninhpc.org.

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Source: NCSA