Why are there not more women working in high performance computing (HPC)? That is basically the central question this blog is all about and perhaps you have already asked yourself this question once or twice, just like we did. We are Ruth, Anna, Claire and Cristina and are some of the board members of JuWinHPC, responsible for this blog.
By Karina Pešatová
The Super(computing)heroes Birds of a Feather (BoF) session at SC24 was a celebration of inclusivity, resilience, and the transformative potential of high-performance computing (HPC). The session highlighted the diverse career paths in HPC, the role of allies in fostering inclusivity, and the immense societal impact of HPC research and innovation. This inspiring event featured panellists from around the world, each bringing unique perspectives on their HPC journeys, their superpowers, and how the community can evolve to become even more welcoming and impactful. The session was uniquely interactive, with the audience actively shaping the discussion by voting on questions, submitting their own inquiries, and sharing personal experiences and insights that enriched the dialogue and highlighted the collaborative spirit of the HPC community.
By Carolin Penke
For International Women’s Day 2024, we organized an event revolving around issues concerning women and other marginalized groups in the rapidly developing AI landscape. This included a talk and an open discussion. The interest was huge and you can read up on it in our blog post.
In fact, the interest was so enormous, that we were invited at multiple occasions to present this important topic and create spaces for an open exchange and discussions. This included (a) a World Café at the Helmholtz AI conference 2024 HAICON24 and (b) a talk at the public-facing event series “Wissenschaft Online” of Forschungszentrum Jülich. A recording of this event can be found here.
Earlier this year we had teamed up with other Women in HPC members to organize a Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) session named “Super(computing)heroes” for ISC24. It was fun and insightful, and panelists and participants really enjoyed it – so we’re doing it again at SC24!
End of May an email from the WHPC team reached our chapter, asking if any of us would be interested to give a talk about “Women in HPC: Breaking Barriers and Shaping the Future” at the Supercomputing Day 2024, which is a side event of the large “Nexus2050” tech event in Luxembourg. How could we say no to such an opportunity?
By Karina Pešatová
This blog post summarises the insightful panel discussion that took place during the Birds of a Feather (BoF) session „Super(computing)heroes“ at ISC24 on 14 May 2024. The session featured a panel of distinguished women in high-performance computing (HPC) who shared their experiences, challenges, and visions for the future of HPC. The motivation of this panel session was to inspire and empower, in particular, young women in HPC by providing role models, challenging stereotypes, and celebrating successes. By joining this session, participants could engage with accomplished women in HPC, fostering an inclusive and supportive environment. Below are the main points and aspects of HPC that were discussed. The session attendees had the choice of questions, steering the discussion to the topics of their highest interest.
Our esteemed colleague Brian has been in the HPC field for quite a while now. In case you’re reading this, Brian, I’m not calling you old! Only experienced 😉 He’s seen many things (in his own words), and lately, he felt particularly annoyed by a picture taken at the International Supercomputing Conference 2022 of our JSC delegation.
On the occasion of the International Women’s Day 2024, our network JuWinHPC organised some events with the friendly support of the FZJ’s Equal Opportunities Bureau (BfC) and the Equal Opportunities Officer. The first big bang was a thought-provoking, engaging presentation by our colleague Carolin Penke titled “What could possibly go wrong – Dangers of recent AI advancements from a diversity perspective”. Afterwards, we discussed the “Gender Dimension in AI” with about 30 participants in the room, while the entire session was also followed by another about ten colleagues online.
Our blog has been quiet lately, perhaps quieter than we would like. But behind the scenes we were busy bees, making general plans for the year to come and organizing activities for the next weeks and months. Now it’s finally time to open the curtain a tiny bit and give you a glimpse of what we have in the pipeline.
It seems customary to write an end-of-year post in the blogging realm, so here we go…
The HPC community is very diverse – as are the jobs in the field – and there are many paths into HPC. In this mini-series we will share our personal journeys into HPC. We will describe our roles and explain how we got to our current positions.
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