2024 Recap

I recently tried out coauthor.studio to help recap my 2024 year for LinkedIn. While the AI had some interesting interpretations (apparently it thought I was an aviator!), it helped me reflect on what’s been an incredible year of growth and learning. Give the coauthor tool a try if you want a nice graphic to post on your profile or blog!

2024 has been transformative for my work in high-performance computing (HPC). I’ve been diving deep into containerization, making our systems more flexible and powerful. The highlight of this year was my appointment to Technical Fellow in June - a dream role that’s letting me focus more on HPC research and development. Achieving Fellow was a longtime goal of mine, and I’m incredibly grateful for everyone who supported my professional journey along the way.

To complement my technical growth, I completed the IEEE Rutgers Mini-MBA program. It’s given me a whole new perspective on making business decisions for our HPC systems. Quick tip: if you’re interested in this program, see if your employer will sponsor you - it’s absolutely worth it! Some of the topics covered include Product Strategy, Financials, Negotiation, and Project Management.

I was fortunate to attend several inspiring conferences this year:

The ECO National Gathering 2024 focused on “metanoia” (Koine Greek word for repentance) and challenged us to think differently about church transformation. It really got me thinking about my own role in shaping positive change in my congregation, especially as we prepare for the next generation. I was very encouraged by the sessions I attended and the people I met with. One of the highlights was the Northeast Coast dinner, as we got to share stories about what is happening in our churches in our (somewhat) local region.

SIAM PP24 was all about the fascinating world of supercomputing applications and their mathematical foundations. I loved learning about custom codes being developed for energy and climate studies, with great presentations from national labs about the Exascale Project, Flux HPC scheduling, and benchmarking. There were more academic and national labs personnel there than industry (as I expected), but still a valuable conference, and I came away with pages of notes!

At the ASA Annual Meeting 2024 in Washington, DC, I reconnected with fellow Christian scientists and engineers - many I hadn’t seen since before COVID! The Cosmos Club event was fantastic, and it was exciting to see how discussions have evolved from debates about evolution to exploring the ethical implications of AI and machine learning. I am encouraged to see more “Digital Technology” topics there.

The IEEE WIE Forum East 2024 was packed with practical personal development insights. The theme “Own Your Power Skills” really resonated with me, covering everything from time management to applying agile principles in both professional and personal life. As the CT Section Secretary since January 2000, it was great to support our local Section there!

Finally, Supercomputing 24 was, as always, the highlight of my professional conference calendar. AI and machine learning continued to be hot topics, but I found the sessions on HPC system procurement and containerworkloads particularly valuable. It was wonderful catching up with colleagues I’ve known throughout my years in this field.