BOULDER, CO; April 5, 2022 – Elizabeth Leake, Director of Research Computing at Boise State University and founder of the global nonprofit STEM-Trek, has been selected as a keynote speaker for the Rocky Mountain Advanced Computing Consortium’s (RMACC) 12th annual High Performance Computing Symposium.
The August 2-4 Symposium will once again be held at the Wolf Law Center on the campus of the University of Colorado Boulder, returning the multi-track event to its longtime “in-person” format and location of pre-pandemic years. Registration will be opened by May.
Since 2008, Leake has served as a research facilitator, high-performance computing (HPC) external relations specialist, and storyteller. In 2012, she founded STEM-Trek as a global, grassroots nonprofit that supports scholarly travel, mentoring and workshops for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics scholars from regions and demographics that are underrepresented in HPC academics and careers. Leake’s Keynote will focus on STEM-Trek’s founding, novel business model, and how it bridges gaps to serve HPC-curious scholars everywhere.
Leake has mentored hundreds of early-career professionals who are breaking cultural barriers. Her programs are built around themes that resonate with stakeholders, such as food security science, blockchain for social good, and cybersecurity. Her work drew recognition when STEM-Trek received the 2016 and 2017 HPCwire Editors’ Choice and 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards for Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Leadership.
The keynote continues the RMACC‘s tradition of offering “cutting edge” topics to one of the nation’s leading HPC events. The annual Symposium brings together faculty, researchers, industry leaders and students, with two Keynote talks, presentations from industry and educational leaders, and a wide array of panel discussions and tutorials.
Several sessions also are designed for students and newcomers to HPC, providing the opportunity to learn about HPC careers, according to Becky Yeager, the RMACC’s executive director and coordinator for the Symposium.
