HPC Student Cohort Announcement

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We welcome applications to the HPC Student Cohort (HPCSC). HPCSC cohort will be administered as travel awards to attend Supercomputing (SC) in 2025 and IPDPS in 2026. By providing funding to multiple conferences, HPCSC aims to help students engage regularly with the HPC community, and enable frequent and continued interactions among members of the cohort, leading to more effective networking. HPCSC will be formed of students spanning from diverse backgrounds and include undergraduates, Masters, early stage and late stage doctoral students.
Members of the cohort should commit to attending both the conferences and are expected to attend events organized by the HPCSC committee, such as career panels, and Q & A sessions between members of the cohort. Further, members of the cohort will be assigned to groups, with the goal of maximizing diversity in each group. Each group will work together to
  1. Submit a pre-conference self-reflection document on what they expect to gain from the conference, including networking within the cohort
  2. Submit a post conference report on their shared experience at the conference, including what they learned at the conference and from the members of the cohort, and plans for continued interactions with members of the cohort.
This google form should be used to apply for the HPCSC sponsored travel award to attend SC25 and IPDPS26. SC25 will be held in St. Louis, MO, USA from November 16 – November 21, 2025.
IPDPS 2026 will be held in New Orleans, USA from May 25 – May 29, 2026.
The cohort encourages participation of students from underrepresented groups, especially those who are first time conference attendees and are interested in a career in HPC.
  • For undergraduates, masters and early stage Ph.D. students, there is no strict requirement of activities at SC 25 other than the cohort activities.
  • For 3rd year and above Ph.D. students, preferences will be given to those applicants who anticipate participating at some activity in SC25 or IPDPS26 (e.g. presenting in main conference, workshop, poster, BoF, doctoral showcase, etc.).

Benefits to students participating in the cohort

Being in the cohort will provide undergraduate and early career students access to networking with senior students beyond their research circles or universities and help them gain valuable career advice. This is particularly beneficial for students from smaller schools or underrepresented or minority communities who  may not have easy access to such advice. The cohort also allows students to form relationships with community members, understand how to be part of the community, and take on appropriate roles.

Being in the cohort will train senior Ph.D. students, enabling them to engage in community outreach activities. While a Ph.D. trains students in research, knowing how to effectively engage in outreach is also critical for their career development specifically and for the good of the research community more generally. Further, it will expose the students to research and education communities beyond their own and provide opportunities for recruiting postdocs or graduate students when they start their research groups. Our goal is to develop meaningful interactions built through the cohort that will translate into longer-term  collaborations that may not have been otherwise possible.

Application Process (Link to the Google form):

  1. A two-page document listing future career goals, how you think being in the cohort can help you, and how you can help other members of the cohort
  2. CV
  3. Letter from advisor. The letter from the advisor should clearly state that the student will attend both conferences as well as any additional funding sources that the student might get/apply to besides HPCSC.
  4. Any available funding sources.

Application deadline: October 3, 2025 (AOE)
Award notification: October 7, 2025 (AOE)

Award Amount: $2500 for both conferences combined for students from institutions outside USA, $1200 for both conferences combined for students from USA-based institutions
Expected Number of Awards: 12 (3 awards per group. Groups – (i) undergraduate, (ii) masters and early Ph.D., (iii) Late Ph.D.)

For questions/queries, send an email to hpcstudentcohort@gmail.com.

We cannot advise on Visa-related queries and timelines; if needed, we can provide a Visa letter stating the award amount received by a candidate.
Award restrictions: 
  1. Applicant must be currently registered as graduate or undergraduate students at institutions of higher education.
  2. Applicant should be a registered student at least till May 2026, that is, when IPDPS 2026 takes place.