The HackHPC Model: Fostering Workforce Development in High-Performance Computing Through Hackathons

Developing a workforce with applied skills in the high-performance computing (HPC) field has highlighted a gap in personnel experiences needed for capabilities towards scientific purposes. The exposure provided in current academic programs, especially on an entry level is insufficient. To increase student participation HackHPC, a collaboration between the Science Gateways Community Institute, Omnibond Systems, the Texas Advanced Computing Center, and the University of Tartu was formed to address that gap through the application of events known as hackthons. Hackathons are time-bounded events during which participants form teams to work on a project that is of interest to them. Hosting a hackathon that has the desired long term outcomes involves a number of crucial decisions related
to preparing, running and following up on an event. In this paper, we report on the development and refinement of the ”HackHPC Model” which includes methodologies, participants, procedures, and refined implementation of practices used to plan and host hackathon events to foster workforce development in HPC.