WHPC@SDSC Speaker Series Features SDSC Nancy Wilkins-Diehr

Published September 5, 2024

Nancy Wilkins-Diehr recently presented a talk at the Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) @ SDSC Professional Talk Series.  Credit: Jake Drake, SDSC Communications

By Dylan Cairns and Kimberly Mann Bruch, SDSC Communications

For 26 years, Nancy Wilkins-Diehr led programs at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) that enhanced the capabilities of a wide range of scientific disciplines to utilize high-performance computing and science gateways. Last month, Wilkins-Diehr spoke at SDSC for the Women in High Performance Computing (WHPC) @ SDSC Professional Talk Series, where she shared her perspective on women-identified professionals, faculty and students in the academic computing workforce.

As a trailblazer in SDSC's academic and research space, Wilkins-Diehr reflected on her experiences from a productive career in the HPC community.

“During my time at SDSC, I led projects such as the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI), XSEDE’s Extended Collaborative Support Services (ECSS) and the National Partnership for Advanced Computational Infrastructure (NPACI),” she said. “Each of these projects helped develop tools and services to support a multitude of scientific disciplines in harnessing SDSC’s high-performance computing to tackle the challenges many researchers face when it comes to HPC.”

Many students from the SDSC Research Experience for High School (REHS) Program attended the talk and a great deal of positive feedback was received. “It was our pleasure to kick-off the WHPC@SDSC Professional talks with Nancy,” said WHPC@SDSC Co-Founder Claire Stirm. “She has such an interesting professional career at SDSC and was able to highlight to the attendees – especially the students – how a professional career can take on many different roles, duties and learning moments that lead to a fulfilling journey.”