SC25 WINS Call for Participation
Apply: http://www.women-in-networking.net/apply-to-wins/
Submission deadline: January 31, 2025
The Women in IT Networking at SC (WINS) program is seeking qualified candidates in their early- to mid-career to join the SCinet volunteer workforce for the Supercomputing 2025 Conference (SC25), to be held in St Louis, Missouri, November 16-21, 2025. WINS strives to have diverse representation of organizations and applicant backgrounds in the cohort each year. Selected candidates will receive full travel support and mentoring by well-known engineering experts in the research and education community before, during and after the conference.
** Early to mid-career women employed in the IT field are encouraged to apply.**
Each year, expert volunteers from academia, government, and industry come together to design, construct, and operate SCinet, a unique multi-terabit-per-second network built to support attendees’ revolutionary demonstrations that have become the hallmark of the SC conference. SCinet takes a year to plan, a month to build, a week to operate, and just one day to tear down.
Opportunities
SCinet provides an ideal “apprenticeship” opportunity for engineers and technologists looking for direct access to the most cutting-edge network hardware and software, while working side-by-side with the world’s leading network, software, and systems engineers and top network technology vendors.
More than 18 teams comprise SCinet, all focused on specific areas of expertise involved in setting up and operating a research network. Selected candidates will be matched with a mentor and team based on interest and background. Learning and training opportunities include (but are not limited to):
* Operating and maintaining traditional IT services for SCinet
* Installing fiber optic network connections
* Installing and configuring wireless access points
* Installing and configuring wired network devices for conference meeting rooms
* Managing internet routing protocols
* Configuring wide-area network connections to national telecom providers
* Supporting conference attendees, high performance computing, and high-performing network demonstrations
* Participating in cybersecurity activities focused on prevention, detection, and countermeasures to protect the resources of the conference.
* Marketing Communications in support of SCinet activities.
* Project management including liaising with multiple SCinet Teams
Professional Development with SCinet
The primary objective of the program is to provide the opportunity for early to mid-career women to participate in SCinet. In addition to matching the selected participants with the appropriate SCinet team, the program provides travel funds for attending staging, setup, and live support of the SC conference as a SCinet volunteer. Travel could include up to four weeks (or some portion of these four weeks) depending on the SCinet team needs. SC25 will take place in St Louis, Missouri. Participation in the program requires travel to St Louis for the following dates (not including travel days):
Important information for potential WINS applicants
- If you are interested in SCinet participation and have organizational funding and support, please contact SCinet for more information and available volunteer opportunities.
- Full-time students that wish to work as a student volunteer for the SC25 Conference, including with SCinet, should apply through the SC25 Student Volunteer program.
Before you apply, there are a few key things to understand
- The SC Committee, which includes SCinet, is fully composed of volunteers from around the globe that are talented and dedicated individuals. As a part of the SCinet team, you will be working to complete an incredible amount of coordinated work in a short timeframe and against real deadlines. Each team member is important – they’re expected to be present and contribute to the team, complete the assigned tasks, and communicate effectively with teammates. (Think of this as “on the job training” while delivering the world’s fastest temporary network.)
- As a SCinet team member, you will have the opportunity to learn from top experts in their field and have the ability to add them to your professional network. In turn, you will have the opportunity to provide input, demonstrate your expertise, and teach other professionals about your great ideas and solutions.
- Everyone’s level of professionalism, knowledge, skills, desire to learn, and willingness to help get the job done are critical to the team’s success.
- Each year, the SCinet Committee includes multi-year veterans of the program, first time volunteers, and everyone in between. Some people have worked on many different teams, while others stick with the same team for years – it’s up to each person if they’re invited back.
- The SCinet team works hard, helps each other, and has a lot of fun in the process! Most volunteers and prior WINS awardees have formed life-long friendships and professional contacts through their involvement with the SC Conference.
- If you are selected, the time commitment is real. Please make sure you, your family, friends, and your employer understand this. (Thus the required Letter of Support from your employer.)
Expected Travel Dates:
* SCinet Sprints: Spring 2025
* SCinet Staging: October 26 – 31, 2025
* SCinet Setup: November 9 – 16, 2025
* SCinet Live Operations/SC25 Conference and SCinet teardown: Nov 16-21, 2025
Participation may require work over weekends during Staging, Setup, and Show, and can be more than 8 hours per day.
Participants also receive a complimentary conference registration, which includes the world’s leading technical program on all facets of high performance computing and networking.
WINS Selection Criteria
Candidates will be reviewed by a panel of experts from the research and education community for current job relevance, stated support from the applicant’s employer, ability to attend the conference (WINS will provide the travel funding but the participant must be able to set aside time to travel and participate), areas of interest (see application form), desire to participate in SCinet.
Project Measurement
After completion of the conference, participants are asked to report on their experiences, including: which parts of the training were new or useful, which learning experiences were effective or valuable, and other targeted questions that will help drive the future of outreach efforts. This reflection will be shared with their home institution, the SC conference leadership, the WINS Management Team, and program contributors.
About WINS
The Women in IT Networking at SC (WINS) program was developed in 2015 as a means for addressing the prevalent gender gap that exists in Information Technology particularly in the fields of network engineering and high performance computing. WINS is a joint effort between the Department of Energy’s, Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), Indiana University, and University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), American Indian Higher Education Consortium. Funding is provided through direct funding from ESnet and support from other project contributors. Information on all contributors can be found here – https://women-in-networking.net/contributors/.
Past funding was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF grant numbers 164098, 144064, 2331094).
Access the 2025 WINS Application from the WINS website:
Submission deadline: January 31, 2025 at 11:59 PM AoE
Award notifications will be sent by early March 2025