Humans of SCinet: Q&A with SC20 Wireless Team Volunteer Shannon Champion
Shannon Champion, director of networking at PIER Group, is a volunteer on this year’s SCinet wireless team. Due to the virtual nature of SC20, we will not be building the cutting-edge SCinet infrastructure that our attendees have to come to expect as part of their SC experience. This feature aims to spotlight the dedicated volunteers and generous contributors whose tireless efforts and enthusiasm have helped shape the SC experience over the last 30 years.
- Years as a SCinet Volunteer: 2
- SCinet Team(s) with which you’ve participated: Switch/Route support for the Faucet network at SC19, and wireless team volunteer at SC20.
- If you could be a superhero, what power would you possess? Immortality. It would be great to see where we go and what we can achieve.
How would you explain SCinet and what you do as a SCinet volunteer to a family member or friend?
SCinet is a group of leading-edge architects, engineers, and researchers that help facilitate the advancement of research. As a volunteer representing PIER Group, I work closely with the SCinet team to implement and support a best-in-class network allowing critical and leading-edge research to be accomplished, helping advancement of research across the country.
What was your path to start volunteering with SCinet? What keeps you coming back as a SCinet volunteer each year?
In my role with PIER Group, I focus on current and future networking technologies and aligning those technologies with each of our research and education clients. My day job includes in-depth collaboration with all of our network manufacturers, in-depth collaboration with our customers architects and engineers, and final approval of all customer design and implementation recommendations.
I’ve had the pleasure of working with the research and education community for more than two decades. I get to work closely with network architects and engineers across higher education and high performance computing. Many of my peers from the community have volunteered with SCinet over the years, and have always encouraged us to participate as well. I personally appreciate the opportunity to work and collaborate with a talented group of networking colleagues from academia, government, and industry.
Tell us about your SCinet team this year and what you are responsible for.
I am part of the team that is responsible for the wireless network for the SC conference. In a typical year, the wireless network connectivity is set up for conference workshops and tutorials, conference committee rooms, exhibit floor, the hallways, and other public spaces. For SC20, we had committed to providing all the necessary wireless hardware and licensing to support SCinet, as well as deploy an engineering team to assist with installing and supporting the network during the conference.
In addition to volunteering with SCinet, what do you do for fun?
I enjoy traveling and sailing when I have time.
Learn more about SCinet.
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Sara Aly, SC20 Communications, SCinet Liaison
Sara Aly is a communications manager at Internet2. This is her third year volunteering with the SCinet communications team.