STEM-Trek News

By Anna Little, US Air Force Academy Cadet

Boston was the perfect setting for the Practice & Experience in Advanced Research Computing (PEARC22) conference since it drew upon local industry and academia quite well. Riding the “T” was convenient; you could easily get from the Boston Park Plaza Hotel venue to various parts of the city in order to visit companies and campuses. I was grateful that even with all the opportunities the conference provided, I still had time to visit Kessel Run, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) campus to see the MIT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Accelerator. These experiences were especially valuable for an undergrad who is exploring grad options. Without the financial support I received to attend PEARC22, I doubt that I would have had this opportunity.

I was overwhelmed by the talent of students in my cohort. My undergraduate education had not exposed me to high …

Panel to encourage inclusivity – Women in STEM

Register your interest by July 1, 2022.

STEM-Trek officers and advisory board agree to promote STEM-Trek through their social networks by sharing news and ‘liking’ our FaceBook, LinkedIn and web site. Each of these tools will feed the STEM-Trek knowledge network – the glue that binds us all!

Participation requires very little time – we try to meet annually at the Supercomputing Conference (or virtual), and occasionally advice is needed (two or three emails each year).

Thank you to all who submitted SC21 blog posts. Here are our featured bloggers:

Marcus Bond (Southeast Missouri State University)

SC Reboot – Every bit as engaging!

Arianna Martin (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

Kinship and Community @SC21

Beyza Dagli (STEM-Trek)

Beyza’s SC21 Blog Days 1&2

Marcelina Nagales (Florida State University)

Marcelina’s SC21 Blog, Days 1&2

Computing and the Humanities with Vint Cerf

By:  Marcelina Nagales (Florida State University)

Google Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf provided a glimpse into the future by citing references from the past during his SC21 Keynote titled, “Computing and the Humanities.” 

While he’s clearly a technology advocate, Cerf thinks we would benefit as a society from requiring students to complete a “Drivers Ed,” or a computer literacy/critical skills course, that will help them safely navigate the internet. We should routinely question the source of information, and make informed decisions based on scientific evidence, vs. misinformation or disinformation, for example. 

He mentioned a book written in 1909 by E.M. Forster titled, “The Machine Stops.” Forster wrote about a civilization that sheltered in place, and communicated with …

Attending the first pandemic in-person SC was not without its concerns (and I say pandemic because this thing is not over). But with a vaccination requirement and a mask mandate, attendance safety protocols were stricter than at my workplace. I wondered how the conference would proceed in a hybrid format with substantially reduced in-person attendance compared to previous years. As a Missourian, there was frustration that we finally got SC in St. Louis, but in circumstances that made in-person attendance difficult for some.

St. Louis is only a two-hour drive for me, I have a stash of N95 masks and a year of experience navigating the pandemic in a classroom environment. Assistance from STEM-Trek removed whatever lingering doubts I might have …

By Emine Beyza Dagli

Crisp autumn weather set the stage for SC21 in St. Louis, Missouri. It was my first time visiting this area, and I enjoyed sightseeing when I wasn’t involved with the conference. Among iconic landmarks is the “Arch,” which is a magnificent feat of engineering. I traveled to the top of The Gateway to the West and can now understand how it got that name; the adventure offered a bird’s eye view of the city and miles beyond.

On the first day, I attended the Parallel Computing 101 tutorial led by Professors Quentin F. Stout and Christiane Jablonowski from the University of Michigan. Following introductions, they explained some of the basic terms and acronyms that many in the industry take …

By:  Marcelina Nagales (Florida State University)

What an eventful and information-packed week SC21 was! 

I lodged with five others in STEM-Trek’s “UbuntuHouse,” which was two adjoined 3BR/3BA condos. There were two full-service kitchens stocked with snacks and breakfast items. A few of us coffee-drinkers congregated in one kitchen each morning, and we often shared transportation to and from the convention center. It was a great way to meet others who were also attending SC that week – we had our own tiny community. While this year’s attendance was 3,200 on-site (UPDATE: SC21 had ~3,200 in-person attendees and ~3,300 remote attendees.  ~380 sessions), SC normally draws 10-15,000. I can imagine it would be easy to get lost in the crowd if your work …

Eight contestants competed for travel awards and more at the second annual STEM-Trek ScienceSlam.

Judges included six families and four experts – they cast their ballots by Monday, October 9. Ramsha Aasim (Georgia Tech) won first place by a landslide, and Badisa Mosesane (U-Botswana) was a clear second. Four were tied for third!

After a final “slam-o-rama” where the audience broke the tie on October 15, Miranda Chidemo (Zimbabwe Centre for HPC) placed third and Ismet Dagli (Colorado School of Mines) came in at fourth. Others who didn’t place won a travel grant and SC21 tech program registration waiver (including workshops and tutorials). The full playlist is available here.

SC is the International Conference for High-Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis.

ScienceSlam@SC20 “legacy” winners were offered registration waivers, and an additional five XSEDE Campus Champions from EPSCoR states – four from Missouri within driving …