Women in IT Networking at SC

A WINning Program

The Women in IT Networking at SC (WINS) program seeks qualified female U.S. candidates in their early to mid-career to join the SCinet volunteer workforce for the SC Conference. WINS strives for 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.

Created each year for the SC Conference, SCinet brings to life a very high-capacity network that supports the revolutionary applications and experiments that are a hallmark of the SC conference. SCinet will link the convention center to research and commercial networks around the world.

The SC Conference Series is dedicated to supporting an inclusive environment. In 2015, SCinet partnered with a team of collaborators to create the SCinet Diversity Program¹, developed as a means of addressing the prevalent gender gap that exists in information technology (IT), particularly in the fields of network engineering and high performance computing. The success of that program led to a three-year award from the National Science Foundation (NSF)², direct funding from DOE-ESnet, and contributions from other project collaborators. WINS is a joint effort between the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet), the Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research (KINBER), the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), and SCinet.

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 and software engineers and top network technology vendors.

More than 15 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 in one of these areas 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 attendance of the SC conference as a SCinet volunteer. Travel could include up to three weeks (or some portion of these three weeks) depending on the SCinet team needs. SC21 participants will travel to St. Louis for the following dates (not including travel days):

October 21–29, 2021 – SCinet Staging
November 8–14, 2021 – SCinet Setup
November 15–19, 2021 – SCinet Live Operations, SC21 Conference, and SCinet Teardown

Project Measurement

After completion of the conference, participants will be asked to report on their experience 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 gender diversity outreach efforts. This reflection will be shared with their home institution, SCinet leadership, project PIs, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation.

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. In order to further broaden the diversity within the WINS program itself, preference this year will be given to applicants who are historically underrepresented in the Information Technology field, including Black or African-American, American Indian, Alaska Native, Hispanic, or Latinx.

Questions

If you have questions regarding WINS, please contact the WINS management team.

¹ = NSF 2015 grant #ACI-1440642
² = NSF 2016 grant #ACI-1640987