The next stop on our Bear on Tour series is the ISC23 (International Supercomputing)
conference, held in May, hosted in the bear-utiful city of Hamburg, Germany. Jenny Wong, a Senior
Research Software Engineer from BEAR Services, presented her work on space weather
forecasting (in conjunction with UoB’s SERENE group) as part of the Women in HPC track of the
main program.
“It was such a fantastic opportunity and an honour to represent Women in HPC, where I could
help improve the visibility of women by showcasing my HPC work”, says Jenny. “The WHPC
committee were very organised and proactive, pairing me up with my mentor, Marta (Barcelona
Supercomputing Centre), who helped me immensely with preparing my presentation and
introducing me to her group – which went a long way to alleviating any anxiety of going to such a
large, international conference for the first time.”
“I am pleased that the Women in HPC events are given a proper platform in the main program.
We took over the Exhibitor Forum, where I presented on the exhibition floor to a large and
supportive crowd. We also held a poster networking reception, where I presented my poster and
met people from all sections of the HPC community, including the Chief Technologist of HPC at
Google!”
“Best of all, I got to meet peers and allies in the Women in HPC network who shared common
experiences and goals with me. I found the energy of these people awe-inspiring and re-
invigorating, and I think this gave me a renewed sense of belonging in the HPC space. I am
extremely grateful to BEAR for fostering EDIA (Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access) by
supporting my trip.”
Thanks to Jenny for telling us about her ISC experience and representing BEAR so well!
Look out for our next researcher soon!