Mentor-Protégé Program

Thanks to all who signed up to be SC15 Mentors -- the program is now full.

Organized as part of the Students@SC program, the Mentor-Protégé Program supports the growth of a vibrant HPC community by connecting the newcomers at the SC conference with experienced conference attendees. The mentors share their experiences from previous SC conferences and their expertise in high performance computing with the student protégés including those participating in Student Volunteers, HPC for Undergraduates, the Student Cluster Competition, the Doctoral Showcase and the ACM Student Research Competition.

For many of the students, SC will be their first conference and can be an overwhelming experience. A mentor can help them make the best use of their time and make personal connections with the HPC community.

At this time, registration for proteges and mentors is full. Thank you.

The suggested commitment for mentors and protégés is a pre-conference email or phone contact, attendance at the Nov. 16 the Mentor-Protégé Program Mixer and another meeting during SC15. See the links to the handouts for ideas for mentor and protégé interactions.

Making a difference

Thanks to the SC14 Mentor-Protégé Program, University of Delaware Ph.D. Student Maria Ruiz gained valuable experience by attending the 2015 Data Science at Scale Summer School at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). Following that program, she was able to continue working with her SC14 mentor Jim Ahrens, who leads the Data Science at Scale Team in the Applied Computer Science group at LANL.

Ruiz first met Ahrens at the Mentor-Protégé Program mixer held at the beginning of SC14. Ruiz said she was thrilled to have a mentor who is engaged with related research and understands it well enough to discuss advanced topics in the field. As her mentor, Ahrens was impressed by Ruiz’s enthusiasm and knowledge. He helped orient her to the conference and suggested names of people she should meet. Later that week, Ruiz attended some of Ahrens’ conference talks and followed up by sharing her resume, which led her to LANL this summer.

Because it’s difficult to find mentors in a specific field from outside of your university, Ruiz said, the SC Mentor-Protégé experience fostered new connections that will ultimately help her make a greater research impact and open up more opportunities in the future. From Ahrens’ perspective, the connection was a win-win because he found a capable student for his summer program whom he may not have met otherwise. He felt fortunate for having the opportunity to guide Ruiz’s conference experience and is excited that she is planning to contribute to and participate in SC15 this year..

Read the guide for SC15 Mentors.

Read the guide for SC15 Protégés.

Questions? Write to mentor-protege@info.supercomputing.org.