A Role Model for Success

Angie’s IT background and journey in a male-dominated field make her a role model for women in tech, particularly in Colorado. We believe her story could inspire countless young women considering careers in the tech sector.

Angie Asmus

Manager of Network and Security Operations, Colorado State University

Angie on LinkedIN

Q: What single event most made you realize you wanted a career in HPC/computing?

Asmus: I was first introduced to HPC/computing while attending the SC Conference in 2016. At the time, I was a network engineer contributing to SCinet, where I played a role in constructing the high-performance network for the conference. This experience broadened my perspective on HPC and exposed me to the diverse career paths within both HPC and networking. Since then I have remained a part of the HPC community by attending the conference and participating in SCinet, working with some of the best engineers who support HPC networks.

Q: What do you consider your biggest contribution to the HPC/computing community?

Asmus: My most significant impact on the HPC/computing community lies in my dedication to fostering diversity and supporting related programs. In 2016, I became a WINS (Women in IT Networking at SC) awardee, marking the beginning of my ongoing involvement in this valuable initiative. WINS addresses the acknowledged diversity gap in HPC and networking, taking intentional steps to support a varied group of SCinet participants. As the SC24 SCinet Chair, I am actively advancing diversity efforts, particularly in advocating for a diverse representation of women in leadership positions.

Q: In the past 35 years, what is the most significant overlooked breakthrough that has impacted the field in your eyes?

Asmus: The strides made in the past 35 years have been remarkable, but one often overlooked breakthrough that has significantly impacted the field is the increasing recognition of the value of diversity. While technological advancements grab the headlines, the acknowledgment that diverse perspectives drive innovation is a game-changer. Embracing a variety of voices, backgrounds, and experiences has not only enriched the field socially but has also proven to be a catalyst for groundbreaking ideas and solutions. It’s a breakthrough that goes beyond algorithms and processors, shaping a more inclusive and dynamic future for computing.

Q: What would you like to see change about, within, or among the HPC/computing community?

Asmus: As we move forward, it’s crucial that we maintain our momentum and remain steadfast in our commitment to DEI initiatives. Additionally, we should not lose sight of the significance of mentoring students. This investment in the next generation is pivotal for the continued growth and strength of our community. By providing guidance and support to emerging talent, we not only contribute to their personal development but also fortify the collective knowledge and capabilities of our community. Together, we can ensure a more inclusive, diverse, and thriving environment for all.

Q: What would you like to see change about, within, or among the HPC/computing community?

Asmus: I currently hold the position of the manager of network and security operations at Colorado State University and am also serving as the Interim Director of Network & Telecommunications. My involvement with SCinet began at SC16, where I participated as a WINS awardee, contributing to the construction of the conference network. Since then, I’ve been an active participant in SCinet every year. The honor of being chosen as the SCinet Chair for SC24 is especially significant, as I am the first WINS awardee to assume this role where I will be leading a team of exceptional volunteer network engineers to create the fastest and most powerful volunteer network for SC24.

A Loyal SC Committee Member

Brian Smith is a loyal SCinet volunteer, participating in numerous teams throughout the years. His first SC conference was in Orlando in 1998 and he has been to many more over the years. He has served on the Planning Committee a few times, usually in the Tech Program area as a reviewer for the Papers and Posters programs. He has been active in SCinet for the past 5 years and currently co-leads the Contributor Relations Team and the Logistics Team.

Brian Smith

Director of Technology, Cornelis Networks

Brian on LinkedIN

Q: What single event most made you realize you wanted a career in HPC/computing?

Smith: My first job in college was at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Ames Laboratory at the Scalable Computing Lab (SCL). Despite being a very small DOE lab, the SCL had a lot of high-end HPC hardware, including two MasPars, two NCubes, an Intel Paragon, and several large SGI multiprocessor machines. We built multiple “Beowulf” clusters as well and provided compute resources to other groups on the Iowa State University campus. Getting to play with such high-end hardware at the time made me realize I needed to stay in HPC.

Q: What do you consider your biggest contribution to the HPC/computing community?

Smith: I was a team leader for the IBM BlueGene L, P, and Q communication stacks. I really feel the BlueGene program was one of the best things in HPC in a long time and I’m very proud of my work on the project. We had a very balanced machine (memory per CPU, network per CPU, etc.) and pushed the envelope on a number of fronts, including a scalable messaging stack that is still being used in products today.

Q: What would you like to see change about, within, or among the HPC/computing community?

Smith: More diversity. HPC has gotten more diverse in the last 25+ years, but it still has a long way to go. The WINS program is a great program but we can definitely do more as a community.

Brian Smith (left) with fellow SCinet volunteer Wes DeWitt.

Brian Smith (right) with Marcia Elliot.

Early Formative Experiences

Williams’ introduction to business started in her early years when she passed time after school and late into the evening at her family’s music store. Her family later started a small computer business, and Williams headed off to college to study business in 1990. By 1992, the family business was growing, and Williams’ mom needed help, so Amy returned home to offer a hand. “That was a pivotal moment for me, making the decision to leave school and trusting the experience itself could get me where I needed to go,” says Williams. “I did finish my bachelor’s degree, but that was my introduction to the high-tech world.”

Amy williams

Owner and CEO, PIER Group

pier group

Back at home, Williams’ business education began in earnest where she quickly learned most aspects of the family computer business. “I started in purchasing and helped with shipping and receiving, then got involved in finance, and even spent time in the sales side of the business building relationships with customers and manufacturers,” Williams explains. Over time, she built a division of the family company that focused strictly on higher education and larger research institutions, which led her to HPC. Eventually, Williams, her husband and a small team decided to buy out the research and education division from her family and operate entirely on their own as the Partners In Education & Research (PIER) Group.

Following Heart & Soul

Williams says she was particularly interested in the education and research space for a few reasons. “One reason research is so near and dear to me is that our daughter was diagnosed with leukemia when she was eight. At that time, we went to St. Jude Children’s Hospital and learned about how hospitals were sharing data and how important it was to finding cures,” notes Williams. “My small team also recognized the unique nature of the education and research space in terms of the need for close working relationships with stakeholders, ranging from students to staff to faculty in any institution. Our team loved building those relationships and the computing environments that are helping solve interesting and important scientific challenges.” Today, PIER Group supports research and education facilities across the country. As an extension of its commitment to research organizations, PIER Group has contributed volunteers and hardware that facilitated the SCinet wireless network for three years running.

“Our team loved building those relationships and the computing environments that are helping solve interesting and important scientific challenges.”

Leading by Example

Notably, Williams’ early experiences in the family business had a profound impact on who she is today and how she leads. “While I didn’t have a career path in mind when I was younger, I learned about the value of working hard from a very young age and treating everyone as equals and as part of the team. I think if you interviewed our team, they would say I lead by example. And while I have the title of CEO today and own the business, I really do try to make sure everyone has a voice, and we all recognize one another as peers. It doesn’t matter if someone is in the back office or an engineer, helping each other and keeping our clients happy is what matters most and it’s important to me that everyone feels like they’re not just part of a team, but really part of a family. We’ve intentionally tried to stay lean and nimble so we don’t lose that.”

Matthew Magill, principal consultant, and Becky Schneider, vice president of programs and office management at PIER Group, both offered testament about Williams’ empowering and energizing leadership style. “PIER Group is a relatively small company, and Amy’s outward focus on employees and customers really does make it feel like a family. It’s a great change of pace compared to bigger corporate environments I’ve worked in and makes the challenges and problem solving in bigger projects more fun and rewarding,” explains Magill. Schneider echoed Magill’s sentiments, stating that William’s generosity and warmth are inspiring: “Amy really does want to see employees succeed, so she pushes us and challenges us and also never misses the opportunity to celebrate our wins and progress.”

Amy enjoys the outdoors and staying active in her free time.

Amy working with the PIER Group team picking up trash during one of their community outreach programs.

Working Beyond Barriers

Williams says she got to where she is today through a combination of hard work, serendipity, and curiosity. “It just kind of happened organically,” she says. But she also recognizes that the technology field still can be intimidating for women. Williams explains: “Last week, we were in Las Vegas for a big conference, and after a meeting in one of the conference rooms, we took a picture. It wasn’t until I left the room and looked at the picture that I thought about the fact that I had been the only woman in a room full of 16 men. I don’t know why that doesn’t give me pause or make me nervous, but I can see why it might make other women uncomfortable. There are areas in tech like engineering where you typically just don’t see as many women as men in many organizations.” 

To improve the balance in engineering, Williams thinks it’s important to continue encouraging young girls to pursue STEM programs. “I didn’t think about that as much in the past, but with a grandchild on the way, it’s something that’s got my attention,” says Williams. 

PIER Group itself is a certified Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) and home to a diverse team. When asked if she has any advice for women looking to get into the HPC industry, Williams encourages women to focus on their interests and not perceived limitations. “My advice is to go into any endeavor or opportunity focused on working hard and doing the right thing. I didn’t intend to be a CEO, but I always cared about my relationships. I think the combination of my hard work and focus on relationships helped me get where I am today. So, don’t overthink it when starting out. Just find an organization you like, work hard, be yourself and know that success isn’t going to come without hard work.”

“My advice is to go into any endeavor or opportunity focused on working hard and doing the right thing.”

SC Becomes Family Tradition

While his service at the SC Conference has been expansive, Hayden has the enthusiasm of a first-timer and is more than happy to share why everybody should take the chance, get to know the community, and find their place among the multitude of disciplines and research that stems from HPC and grows through participation in the SC Conference. For Hayden, it seems everyone should have a chance to proclaim: “I AM HPC!”

Kevin Hayden

Senior Network Engineer, Argonne National Laboratory

Kevin on Linkedin

Q: What single event most made you realize you wanted a career in HPC/computing?

Hayden: Attending my first SC Conference in Seattle (SC05).

Q: What do you consider your biggest contribution to the HPC/computing community?

Hayden: Being a member of the SC Steering Committee and SC Steering Diversity and Inclusivity sub-committee.

Q: In the past 35 years, what is the most significant overlooked breakthrough that has impacted the field in your eyes?

Hayden: Clean, inexpensive nuclear power.

Q: What would you like to see change about, within, or among the HPC/computing community?

Hayden: The community is getting older, and we need young people to be excited about the future of HPC and engineering as a whole. The United States has become a little soft, and other countries are catching us quickly due to their desire to make an impact on the world.

Q: Can you share any “words of wisdom” for those new to HPC or curious about the SC Conference and how they may fit in?

Hayden: I began my journey in HPC (support) at SC05 when I was asked to help set up the conference as a fiber optic cable installer as a member of SCinet. Since I was a fiber technician who didn’t directly work with the HPC community, I only supported the data pathway to the computers. I really had no idea what the conference was or what it was even about. Turned out, it was such a great experience! Not only did I help install, troubleshoot, and repair this incredibly fast network for the conference, I also had the opportunity to learn all the amazing things the HPC community did with their supercomputers, and I met the wonderfully captivating group of people that made up the SC Conference. I was so excited to learn more and couldn’t wait to go back again the next year and the next and the next. 

As my career progressed at work, so did my positions within SC. I worked my way through SCinet as the fiber team lead for several years, edge network lead for two years, then onto the management team. Eventually, I became SC20 SCinet Chair, where I was responsible for leading 100-plus SCinet volunteers through the challenges of the first virtual conference. While I am still a member of the SCinet team as the Physical Security Chair and still helping with the fiber team, I am also the SC Exhibits Deputy Chair and a member of the SC Steering Committee, where we set and approve conference policies, budgets, future sites, and work closely with the two sponsoring societies, IEEE-CS [Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Computer Society] and the ACM [Association for Computing Machinery].

I was so fortunate to be asked to participate way back in 2005. I know I am lucky to work with such an amazingly talented, passionate group of volunteers from all around the world. SC is a family, and, as such, I have my family involved as well. My father-in-law has been a member of the SCinet wireless/edge team since 2018; my son, a wireless and fiber team member since 2021; my brother-in-law, a member of the SC21 SCinet logistics team; and my wife is now the SC23 Communications Chair after joining SC in 2016.

If you have the opportunity to volunteer at SC, I say, DO IT! And, have a great time meeting extraordinary people, expanding your horizons, working long (fun) days, and having a wonderful time. Who knows where it will take you?

My name is Kevin Hayden, and I am an HPC supporter… I AM HPC!

From One Leader to Future Leaders

To get a real take about what it means to be a lead student volunteer we spoke with Anja Gerbes, a scientist with the Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing (ZIH) in Dresden, Germany. Gerbes has been an active part of SC since 2016, starting as a student volunteer. She moved to the SCinet team as a student volunteer for SC17 and has continued to expand her conference expertise. Gerbes served as the SC22 SCinet lead student volunteer and will return to SC23 as a Tutorial Vice Chair.

Anja Gerbes

Center for Information Services and High Performance Computing (ZIH)

Q: What is your history with the Lead Student Volunteer project? 

Gerbes: SC22 was my second year as a lead student volunteer and my first year as a SCinet lead, which was such a great experience. I was well integrated into the SCinet team, where I was volunteering and beyond. All SCinet members welcomed me very warmly. Working for SCinet is an honorable task. You work hands on with managers, engineers, university members and industry partners. Although I was only a student, the SCinet family treated me as an equal. We were all the same and had the same goal: making SC and SCinet a success!

Q: What did you gain from this experience?

Gerbes: Since my first SCinet in 2017, where Bernd Mohr from Jülich was the SC General Chair, I felt the fabulous atmosphere where all of us, coming from all around the world, worked as a team. I loved this teamwork, and that’s why I applied each upcoming year to be a SCinet student volunteer again. 

Q: What is the value in getting involved with SCinet for students?

Gerbes: You have the great opportunity to work with industry partners, managers, and engineers from amazing universities. If you are searching for a position after your university degree, being involved with SCinet will open up a new world for you. You can be offered a job by managers because they see valuable skills in you that they want to boost – to become better. Participating makes it very easy to get in touch with your favorite industry partner or university – places where you would like to work or do your Ph.D. Adding your SC experience levels up your CV significantly.

Q: What kinds of skills are required for the person volunteering for the Lead Student Volunteer program? 

Gerbes: If you have passion in your soul and love what you do in HPC, you are definitely a good fit for SC. Being able to work as part of a team is a very important skill. Volunteering helps you see the whole picture, and makes you happy to be part of this amazing community!

Q: What would you say to someone who is considering volunteering for the Lead Student Volunteer program?

Gerbes: Wonderful decision! Go for it! You will have the opportunity to work with volunteers from all around the world. It will broaden your horizon in so many ways. Be open-minded and look beyond your horizon!

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