Call for Participation

Please note that XSEDE EMPOWER ended with the conclusion of the XSEDE project on August 31, 2022. The following information is provided for archival purposes only.

HELP ENGAGE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE WORK OF XSEDE!

Recipient of the 2021 HPCwire Editors' Choice Award in Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Leadership, EMPOWER ( Expert Mentoring Producing Opportunities for Work, Education, and Research ) is an undergraduate student program whose goal is to expand the community of advanced research computing by recruiting and enabling a diverse group of students who have the skills – or are interested in acquiring the skills – to participate in the work of the E xtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment ( XSEDE ) project, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation ( NSF ).

We invite the whole community to recruit and mentor undergraduate students to engage in a variety of activities, such as computational and/or data analytics research and education in all fields of study, networking, system maintenance and support, visualization, and more. The program provides a stipend for students who work on projects for one semester, one quarter, one summer, or longer.

To participate, undergraduate students from any U.S. degree-granting institutions are matched with mentors who have projects that contribute to the work of XSEDE. Participation is strongly encouraged for mentors and students belonging to groups historically underrepresented in HPC. There are three tiers of participation for students depending on existing skill level: Learner, Apprentice, and Intern. Appropriate stipends will support each student.

WHICH STUDENTS ARE ELIGIBLE TO PARTICIPATE?

Students must be enrolled as an undergraduate at a U.S. degree granting institution through the duration of their participation, and the work must be performed in the U.S. Each participating student will receive a stipend. There are three levels of participation:

• Learners spend time acquiring the necessary skills to contribute to the work of XSEDE through tutorials, individual instruction, remote or in-person workshops, and self-learning. The expectation is that learners will have a high desire to participate, but have not yet had extensive experience. Learners will be given a stipend intended to recognize the extra effort needed to acquire the desired skills as an introduction to the field of high performance computing under the following guidelines:
  
  
  • $650 per quarter assuming a level of effort of 8 weeks, 8–10 hours per week, or
  
  
  • $1,000 per semester assuming a level of effort of 12 weeks, 8–10 hours per week, or
  
  
  • $3,000 per summer assuming 10 weeks at 30 hours per week.


• Apprentices improve and apply their skills, spending the vast majority of their time doing tasked but not necessarily completely independent work, with training in specific areas or skills as needed. Apprentices need not have previously spent time as a learner participant. Apprentice applicants who do not meet the full expectations may be asked to start as a learner. Apprentices will be given a stipend of:
  
  
  • $950 per quarter assuming a level of effort of 8 weeks, 8–10 hours per week, or
  
  
  • $1,400 per semester assuming a level of effort of 12 weeks, 8–10 hours per week, or
  
  
  • $4,500 per summer assuming 10 weeks at 30 hours per week.


• Interns demonstrate the ability to do more independent work, tasked and as part of a project or group effort. Interns will be given a stipend of:
  
  
  • $1,300 per quarter assuming a level of effort of 8 weeks, 8–10 hours per week, or
  
  
  • $1,900 per semester assuming a level of effort of 12 weeks, 8–10 hours per week, or
  
  
  • $6,000 per summer assuming 10 weeks at 30 hours per week.
  
  Interns need not have started as learners or apprentices, but the expectation is that learners would advance to apprentices and then to interns, so prior participation will be taken into account in the selection of interns.

During each application period, a mentor/supervisor may propose that a learner be promoted to apprentice, or an apprentice be promoted to intern, by submitting a new position for the student and the student submitting a new application. Students can be supported with stipends from the program for up to a year of participation (equivalent to two semesters plus one summer, three quarters plus one summer, four semesters, or six quarters), after which time the expectation is that the mentor/supervisor would take over the financial commitment to enable the student to continue and advance.

HOW TO APPLY

Mentors can apply by clicking the "New Position" button at the top of this page. Students can apply by clicking the "New Student Application" button at the top of this page.

Applications will typically be reviewed in early November, March, and July for projects starting the following spring, summer, and fall, respectively. Check the top of this page for the next deadline for submissions of both positions and student applications.

HOW TO PROMOTE THE PROGRAM

PDF flyers are available to promote the program to students and mentors:

• Student flyer
• Mentor flyer

You can also retweet and share on Facebook.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

For more information about XSEDE EMPOWER, please contact xsede-empower at shodor dot org.

For more information about XSEDE, please see https://www.xsede.org