Breaking Barriers and Building Networks: A Hardware Engineer’s Experience with SCINET Fiber at SC25
Wednesday, June 24, 2026 3:45 PM to 5:15 PM · 1 hr. 30 min. (Europe/Berlin)
Foyer D-G - 2nd Floor
Women in HPC Poster
Development of HPC SkillsDiversity and InclusionNetworking and Interconnects
Information
Poster is on display and will be presented at the poster pitch session.
The SCINET Fiber Team at SC25 offered an invaluable opportunity to contribute to one of the world's fastest and most sophisticated temporary research networks. Leveraging my existing Level 1 experience in the IEEE networking stack from my work at Purdue's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing Center, I was promoted to DNOC (Distribution Network Operations Center) Captain, becoming the only female DNOC Captain on the Fiber Team. In the role, I collaborated across technical groups to deploy, verify, and maintain the optical fiber infrastructure that supported thousands of attendees, exhibitors, and HPC researchers throughout the conference.
My responsibilities included installing miles of fiber for more than fourteen exhibitor booths, routing floor fiber across the convention center, and constructing protective thresholds for the floor-run fiber using only masonite and gaffer's tape to meet safety and reliability requirements. Within the DNOC, I performed cabling work, documented routing paths, and participated in hands-on fiber diagnostics and splicing demonstrations. Daily Tasks also included conducting light-level tests, validating link integrity, and assisting with help desk tickets to ensure exhibitors continued to have uninterrupted connectivity during peak conference activity.
As a DNOC Captain, I also held leadership and mentoring responsibilities. I supported volunteers, including students with varying levels of experience by guiding them through proper installation techniques, safety practices, and fiber handling procedures. This mentoring role strengthened team efficiency while fostering a more inclusive pipeline of future HPC and network engineers.
My experience at SC25 directly translates back to Purdue's data center operations, where the skills gained have already improved my ability to diagnose connectivity issues rapidly, optimize cable management during cluster deployments, and refine troubleshooting workflows. Serving on the Fiber Team not only advanced my technical capabilities but also enhanced the visibility of women in HPC hardware engineering, reinforcing the importance of diverse leadership within large-scale computing environments.
The SCINET Fiber Team at SC25 offered an invaluable opportunity to contribute to one of the world's fastest and most sophisticated temporary research networks. Leveraging my existing Level 1 experience in the IEEE networking stack from my work at Purdue's Rosen Center for Advanced Computing Center, I was promoted to DNOC (Distribution Network Operations Center) Captain, becoming the only female DNOC Captain on the Fiber Team. In the role, I collaborated across technical groups to deploy, verify, and maintain the optical fiber infrastructure that supported thousands of attendees, exhibitors, and HPC researchers throughout the conference.
My responsibilities included installing miles of fiber for more than fourteen exhibitor booths, routing floor fiber across the convention center, and constructing protective thresholds for the floor-run fiber using only masonite and gaffer's tape to meet safety and reliability requirements. Within the DNOC, I performed cabling work, documented routing paths, and participated in hands-on fiber diagnostics and splicing demonstrations. Daily Tasks also included conducting light-level tests, validating link integrity, and assisting with help desk tickets to ensure exhibitors continued to have uninterrupted connectivity during peak conference activity.
As a DNOC Captain, I also held leadership and mentoring responsibilities. I supported volunteers, including students with varying levels of experience by guiding them through proper installation techniques, safety practices, and fiber handling procedures. This mentoring role strengthened team efficiency while fostering a more inclusive pipeline of future HPC and network engineers.
My experience at SC25 directly translates back to Purdue's data center operations, where the skills gained have already improved my ability to diagnose connectivity issues rapidly, optimize cable management during cluster deployments, and refine troubleshooting workflows. Serving on the Fiber Team not only advanced my technical capabilities but also enhanced the visibility of women in HPC hardware engineering, reinforcing the importance of diverse leadership within large-scale computing environments.
Format
on-demandon-site
