Building the next generation of high performance computing researchers in engineering and science: the NCSA/ARL MSRC PET summer internship program

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) is lead academic institution for the Army Research Laboratory Major Shared Resource Center Programming Environment and Training Program (ARL MSRC PET). This program is part of the Department of Defense (DoD) high performance computing modernization program. ARL MSRC PET has a scientific advancement, outreach and training mission. With US-wide faculty and ARL engineers and scientists, the ARL MSRC PET training team offered its summer intern program in high performance computing (HPC) in 1998, 1999, and will again in 2000. It encourages young Americans to consider computer science and engineering careers in DoD and elsewhere. A program focus is outreach to under-represented minorities and women. Mentors and program administrators play a crucial role. The paper discusses the development of this innovative government-university collaborative education program and lessons learned for those wishing to establish similar programs to introduce young Americans to real-life HPC research and applications.