The WHPC community once again came together for a week of connection, support, and fun at Supercomputing 2025. There were a number of formal and informal events, from our workshop and BoF, to diversity day and networking reception.
Workshop Recap
The WHPC workshop at SC25 had an awesome turnout with many coming together to align with the workshop’s vision this year: building community through real-time networking, improving diversity and inclusion for all in the HPC workforce, and supporting early-career researchers from underrepresented groups. The international setting allowed the workshop to bring professionals from all over the world.
We began the workshop with a distinguished speaker, Verónica Vergara, currently the section head of the HPC Operations Section in the National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS). She shared her inspiring story of her path into the computational sciences, and what it looks like to be a woman in HPC today. She emphasized the importance of having community, as well as how important it is to have allies with you as you progress in your career. Being a latina, she described that her story was one of resilience and commitment to her community. We were so grateful to have had such an empowering story to frame the rest of the WHPC workshop.
We returned from a short coffee break and continued onto recognizing one our most dedicated volunteers and longstanding supporter of the workshop: Cristin Merritt. After recognizing her with the WHPC Distinguished Volunteering Recognition, Cristin shared briefly with the community how much the workshop has meant to her.
After the recognition was awarded, we moved to a general chapter discussion on the function and history of the WHPC workshop at HPC conferences. Opportunities to start your very own local chapter were also shared (learn more about WHPC Chapters and Affiliates).
The workshop also included a few community building opportunities. For the morning session, we engaged the crowd in a Troika consulting session. It was fun, interactive, and gave everyone a chance to contribute to the conversation in a meaningful way, whether they were just starting out or already established in their careers. After the session, we recessed for a lunch break and connected back for the afternoon section of the WHPC workshop.
Once reconvened, the afternoon section began with a buzz as our lighting talk speakers flashed us through their incredible work. Anywhere from quantum topics to different methods of computation on HPC systems, we heard many different lightning talks on enabling, supporting, and using HPC systems for science. We were grateful to hear not only their passion for HPC, but also get a chance to see the breadth of science that HPC entails through their work.
Following the lightning talks, we had a short break to allow room for the room to network with each other.
Returning from break, we had our WHPC Career Pathways Talk. These series of talks entailed three women in HPC who represented industry, academia, as well as the national laboratory ecosystem.
Giulia Guidi, an assistant professor of computer science at Cornell University, began the series by sharing her path through the world of HPC in academia, pointing to the fact that she almost didn’t pursue this path & became a medical doctor. She shared with the audience that HPC turned out to be a path that she took by accident, but one that she is glad she did take.
Following Giulia’s talk, we had Carina Kemp, international lead for research computing AWS, give a talk from her journey through research, academia, and industry. Her story exemplified what paving a path through HPC can look like while being a mom. That women can indeed have a career and a family while being successful.
Finally, we had Hai Ah Nam, from Los Alamos National Laboratory, who shared with us her story and path into HPC. She shared that to have a “seat at the table,” she needed to leave her technical research and enter a more managerial role in HPC. While she misses her technical research, she is grateful that she can be an active voice in leadership to help make the world of HPC more inclusive.
To conclude the workshop, we thanked all those who attended and called everyone to take action. Whether it is being more inclusive at work, making sure to have allies that support you, or to continue supporting early career professionals through mentorship, there are multiple ways we can support women in HPC and build a much more diverse, inclusive and HPC-enabled world for all.
Reflections
The power of these events are best summed up by some of the newest members of our community.
One of our WHPC Travel Fellows, Ayesha Shafiuddin, commented on how empowering coming to SC has been for her:
I’ve found a community in supercomputing that I did not realize existed. I felt heard, seen, and deeply supported in my journey as a woman in HPC. SC opened my eyes to the world beyond my work– showing me that there are endless opportunities for me to pursue with support systems for all walks of life.
Tina Oberoi, another of our Early Career Lightning speakers, shared:
This was my first time attending WHPC at SC, where I started with a chance to work on my presentation and communication skills for the session. But it turned out to be so much more. I was delighted to find a community of warm, kind, and such smart women who are discussing real issues. The platform not only provided me a place to raise my concerns but also a great mix of senior and early-career women from whom to seek support and answers on these issues. I met some wonderful people here this year—part of a true community where I felt I belonged —and I’m already looking forward to returning next year.