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The common theme we hear from our community is "I'm not really in HPC". Our Chapter strives to extend diversity by including anyone who identifies themselves as a part of the HPC community, whether it be in a technical, communications, training or leadership position. To show the breadth of this community, we post short profiles on our community members to spotlight the wide range of pathways into HPC.
If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else to be profiled, please nominate them here!
Chloe Mackallah
Chloe Mackallah
Climate Data Scientist, Data Steward
Climate Data Scientist, Data Steward
What kind of things do you do in your job?
What kind of things do you do in your job?
Support research projects with technical & data governance advice, manage HPC resources, advocate for new processes and infrastructure projects, create and implement organisational strategy, design novel data structures in climate model data both in Aus and internationally, engineer and publish large climate datasets, advocate for and support the queer community
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
Not linear at all. I got a PhD in Astro, then had the opportunity to use my technical skills in a large climate modelling project at CSIRO, so had a whole new science domain to learn. I then moved into a leadership position where I've been spearheading organisation change in how we resource and grow HPC and technical capabilities.
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
I didn't even know who I was in high school!
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
Being on the cutting edge of qualitative scientific innovation, we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what our technical systems can handle with climate modelling and environmental science and developing novel solutions. Moreso, having a chance to bring diverse values and experiences into a historically homogeneous culture.
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
The historically homogeneous culture, which often does not share my values.
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
We need smarter solutions that prioritise cybersecurity, ethics (including the effects of HPC/HPD on people and the environment), efficiency, and accessibility (both techincally and organisationally) so that everyone can contribute to STEMM. This can only occur by breaking down the white-cis-hetero-male dominance on the field and allow as many voices as possibly to contribute to the ongoing development of the field.
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
The reputation and voice gained is so valuable. You cannot change culture until you have a seat at the table, and the WHPC+ are committed to having one.
Emily Barker
Emily Barker
Senior HPC Engineer
Senior HPC Engineer
What kind of things do you do in your job?
What kind of things do you do in your job?
Everything required to support the HPC at UWA. This includes software installs, researcher training and onboarding, service requests, and even dealing with the hardware.
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
I applied for this position on a whim and it's my first position in HPC. I am a chemist/physicist with my background being in microscopy. I did my PhD in this area, worked in industry and did a postdoc in this area and then worked at the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis at University of Western Australia before falling into this position.
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
Not at all. I didn't know HPC was a thing when I was at high school and I was not even really into tech or computers.
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
I get to work on different things every day. One day it's astronomy and then the next day it's DNA sequencing and oceanography. I get bored quickly so this keeps things interesting.
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
It has been difficult to find a tribe in HPC. There isn't a lot of diversity in my team and no one is the same gender, age range or background to me so it's hard to feel so isolated every day.
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
I think having diverse people in a team brings diverse experiences and ideas to the table which is the only way to be able to innovate and expand a concept.
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
WHPC+ Australasia is where I found that tribe that I am missing at work. Once a fortnight we jump on Zoom to catch up with what everyone is doing and this hour each week plus the messages on Slack make me feel a bit less lost.
Linda McIver
Linda McIver
Founder & Executive Director of a Data Science Education Charity
Founder & Executive Director of a Data Science Education Charity
What kind of things do you do in your job?
What kind of things do you do in your job?
The best bits are rummaging through interesting datasets, creating projects, public speaking, and writing blog posts and resources.
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
Hah! Far from it! I have done everything from busking to retail to Academic. I was a project officer for the Breasfeeding Association's Breastfeeding Friendly Workplace Accreditation programme, a freelance writer, and a communications person, as well as a secondary teacher. Everything I ever did has given me skills and ideas that help me do what I do now.
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
This job did not exist until I created it! But I always wanted to do something positive to make a difference in the world, and I was always heavily into STEM and Computing, so I think that has come together really nicely.
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
I love hearing about (and communicating) the amazing ways HPC is supporting research, from saving lives to exploring the stars, and everything in between. And hanging out with HPC people is great, because they are smart, interesting, and changing the world. They are my people!
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
For me it's finding funding, but that's more the charity education space than HPC. I suspect some HPC organisations might find it familiar though!
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
From an education perspective, I want everyone to find something they are good at, and really enjoy, and if we let the stereotypes about who is capable of working in computing persist, then a lot of folks who don't match that stereotype are never going to find out that this is something they love. From the point of view of HPC, we are missing fresh perspectives, new ideas. Research has shown very clearly that diverse teams come up with better solutions and more useful results.
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
The support and friendship I've found there!
Sara Ogston
Sara Ogston
Head of Integration and Product Development
Head of Integration and Product Development
What kind of things do you do in your job?
What kind of things do you do in your job?
Manage a team of software developers to help scope out, design, build and release tools and products to enable research. This means I'm taking ideas and turning them into proposals, building them out to more defined specs and working with my software developers to build them, and working with my operations team to maintain and improve existing products and services.
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
How did you get into HPC/your field? Was it a linear/predictable career path?
My background is in Neuroscience research. My career path was the complete opposite of linear or predictable but I have been able to amass a very unique spread of skills that are very uncommon to have. I have transitioned to different industries several times and have become very used to and open to the steep learning curve of new roles and fields of work. When I was younger it felt very haphazard but now I can see that I am using every single skill I amassed bouncing around and it has led me to have a much more holistic view of the tech world.
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
Did you imagine yourself in a job like this when you were at high school? Why/Why not, do you think?
Looking back to high school and my perception of working in tech I would never have imagined I would be in my current role.
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
What's the best thing about working in HPC?
I love how you can build custom technical solutions to help enable research. Gone are the days when all biomedical research (for example) is only done in a wet lab. We can now leverage computing resources to do more complex research and add levels of analysis we could only dream of 10/15 years ago.
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
What's the hardest thing about working in HPC?
Keeping up with the bleeding edge changes in technology is a full time job.
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
Why do you think diversity of people is important in the HPC field?
Diversity in tech is critical to the industry. End users are not cookie cutter images of each other so we need to have a wide range of life experiences, perspectives and knowledge building the tech we use every day.
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
What's your favourite thing about the WHPC+ community?
I have only just heard about the WHPC+ community but Im keen to know more about it and meet more people.
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