Educating the Educator: HBCU/MSI Faculty Training Workshop in CSE and HPC at North Carolina A&T State University

Abstract

Computational science and engineering (CSE) and high performance computing (HPC) have now become an integral part of several engineering and science disciplines. Still, the number of students from under-represented universities and minority institutions, who are involved in and exposed to these fields, is very minimal. Several high-performance computing programs, as well as other programs funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of the Army, etc., have traditionally focused on summer training in HPC for minority students. In spite of the demand, the number of minorities and the prospective graduates in these fields are significantly less. An early introduction of these technology areas to faculty advisors, teachers and educators will facilitate the transformational change needed. This way, the students would also get the momentum and continuation after the completion of the summer programs, with local faculty expertise and interest that is currently lacking in CSE and HPC at several of the M nority Serving Institutions/Historically Black Colleges and Universities (MSI/HBCU). Thus, it is imperative that faculty members at these institutions be exposed to and trained in CSE, HPC, and the core technologies that enable computational modeling and simulation. We have followed a complementary approach of educating and training faculty members at HBCU/MSI for the past four years. An annual workshop is sponsored by the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) through the Joint Educational Opportunities for Minorities (JEOM) program. This workshop has evolved over the last four years, and follow-on activities, including mini-workshops on selected core CSE- and HPC-enabling topic areas of interest, were conducted for the first time at two HBCU/MSI institutions (Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico and Xavier University of Louisiana) in April 2010. The development, experiences, lessons learned and outcomes of the NCAT annual educational and training workshops over the past four years, and the initial offering of the mini-workshops for faculty members of HBCU/MSI are briefly discussed. The workshop not only educates and trains the faculty members from HBCU/MSI, but acts as a catalyst to propagate their knowledge to their students, thus serving a larger minority population. Our experiences indicate that the outcomes and successes from such university faculty member-based activities require a long-term follow-up, and tracking to identify the impact and the transformational changes.