Students@SC Program Innovates to Include Some Remote Participation
The Students@SC program is implementing innovative ideas for SC20 in light of the new challenges that COVID-19 is presenting.
“I’m very excited we’re able to offer remote participation for the Student Volunteers program, the Student Cluster Competition, and HPC Immersion. With the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions currently in place, we have realized that many students in our community won’t be able to participate in Atlanta. It is critically important to the SC Conference to continue to create educational, networking, and career opportunities for students unable to attend SC in person,” says Christine Harvey (MITRE Corporation), SC20 Students@SC Chair.
Student Volunteers
The SC20 committee is dedicated to providing the community with the best possible conference experience for all participants. To that end, while we are still planning for an in-person experience, SC20 will also provide remote participation opportunities for the conference in November 2020 for those who are unable to travel to Atlanta due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that we will have both a virtual and on-site Student Volunteers Program for SC20. Due to the uncertainty at this time with international travel, only students residing within North America as of November, 2020 are eligible for the on-site Student Volunteers Program. Anyone residing in North America that is concerned with traveling to the conference can also apply for the virtual Student Volunteers Program.
Check out the FAQ for more details on the Student Volunteers program! The deadline for applications is June 26.
Apply to be a student volunteer
Student Cluster Competition
The SC Conference is modifying the Student Cluster Competition to a Virtual Student Cluster Competition (VSCC) at SC20 in order to support remote participation. The computation for this year’s competition will be held completely in the cloud allowing student teams to participate remotely from their home institution, or in person at the conference. This implies that acceptance to and participation in the VSCC will not require on-site participation in Atlanta.
“The entire VSCC will be run on the Microsoft Azure cloud. We are still working on updating the rules to make sure we add new ones that apply to the cloud, and change the ones that don’t make sense when hardware is not on the floor. We will most likely have students manage their cloud dollars rather than their power budget. I don’t want to say too much today though, as we would like to keep some suspense,” shares Scott Michael, VSCC Co-Chair and Manager, Research Applications and Deep Learning, at Indiana University.
Dr. Harvey adds, “Participation in the Student Cluster Competition is an incredible commitment that requires months of planning, coordinating with vendors, and learning cluster management skills. We recognize that for many students and mentors planning travel to Atlanta in November can be overwhelming. Moving the entire SCC to the cloud will help us facilitate teams from around the world while still allowing those that can participate in Atlanta to do so on a level playing field.”
Accepted teams will therefore be given the option to travel to Atlanta and participate in person. This decision must be made by each team by September 1, 2020 to enable the SC Conference sufficient time to plan for accommodations. Depending on restrictions that will be in place in November, the VSCC may need to limit the number of teams allowed to participate and receive accommodations on-site.
The deadline for applications closes July 3.
HPC Immersion
The SC20 committee is dedicated to providing the community with the best possible conference experience for all participants. To that end, while SC20 is still planning for an in-person experience, it will also provide remote participation opportunities for the conference in November 2020 for those who are unable to travel to Atlanta due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This means that both a virtual and on-site HPC Immersion Program will be implemented. Due to actual international travel uncertainties, only students residing within North America as of November 2020 will be eligible for the on-site HPC Immersion Program. Anyone residing in North America that is concerned with traveling to the conference can also choose to apply for the virtual HPC Immersion Program.
Dr. Harvey shares, “HPC immersion is a brand new program at SC20 to really engage undergraduate students in the field. With the option for remote participation, we should be able to reach a wide range of students and introduce them to a future in HPC. ”
The deadline for applications is June 26.
Networking Opportunities
Students@SC is being very creative in organizing special team building and networking events that make SC such a unique experience for student volunteers.
Dr. Harvey discloses, “Social distancing has forced networking to virtual platforms, which can be limiting to many who are getting started in HPC and working on building their community. We plan to offer virtual networking events for students in our programs and general student attendees. While we’re still working on logistics, we’re looking forward to hosting our annual Mentor-Protégé Program and Speed Mentoring events at SC20.”
Onward and Upward
Dr. Harvey and the whole Students@SC committee are imagining a new era for Students@SC with the goal of retaining the SC philosophy of inclusivity, sharing, and opportunity.
—
Christine Baissac-Hayden
SC20 Students@SC Communications Liaison (Easy English 4 All)
Christine Baissac-Hayden created Easy English 4 All, which provides multilingual communication tools for clients from diverse backgrounds in the renewable energy, medical, defense, marine science, and film industries. Easy English 4 All provides English as a Second Language (ESL), French, Spanish and Japanese tutoring from certified native-speaking teachers and organizes international student exchanges with personalized objectives and goals.