Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Projects: Understanding the Impact of HPC Center Energy Usage on Low-income and Minority Populations
Where did you grow up?
Corvallis, Oregon
What’s your field of study and how did you get into that field?
My interest and drive to pursue physics started when my high school physics teacher taught us about the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. I was instantly skeptical that such a machine could exist and work in the way he described. It was that skepticism and desire to understand the physics and engineering involved in particle accelerators that launched me into STEM.
What fascinates you about HPC?
Just like particle accelerators, I almost didn’t believe that high performance computers could parallelize and complete massive simulations and calculations. The same curiosity that made me interested in particle accelerator physics has made me interested in learning more about HPC.
What’s your current title and what do you do?
Science Engagement Engineer – I work on ways to help scientists work together to solve common technical challenges, and on improving education of HPC fundamentals to help more scientists use our systems.
What energy justice topic is most important to you and why?
I am passionate about understanding how energy justice research is done using HPC systems, and how that research translates to action. Energy justice work is integral to slowing climate change, since climate change disproportionately affects minorities and developing countries.