Shaping the FutureWorkforce: Challenges and Lessons Learned in HPC Education from National Labs and Computing Centers

Volume 17, Issue 1 (March 2026), pp. 19–27

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@article{jocse-17-1-3,
  author={Patrick Diehl and Ying Wai Li and Christoph Junghans and John K. Holmen and Elijah MacCarthy and Suzanne Parete-Koon and Yun (Helen) He and Rebecca Hartman-Baker and Charles Lively and Kevin Gott and Lipi Gupta and Kristina Streu and Yasaman Ghadar and Paige Kinsley and Jane Herriman and Erik W. Draeger and Victor Eijkhout and Susan Mehringer},
  title={Shaping the FutureWorkforce: Challenges and Lessons Learned in HPC Education from National Labs and Computing Centers},
  journal={The Journal of Computational Science Education},
  year=2026,
  month=mar,
  volume=17,
  issue=1,
  pages={19--27},
  doi={https://doi.org/10.22369/issn.2153-4136/17/1/3}
}

Workforce training at national laboratories and computing centers is essential and typically falls into two categories: foundational training for newcomers and advanced training for experienced users. Foundational topics—such as version control, build systems, and basic HPC usage—are largely transferable across institutions, while cluster-specific training varies due to differences in hardware, job schedulers, and local workflows. Training on emerging technologies is split between hardware-specific content and broadly applicable programming paradigms. To reduce redundancy and increase impact, national labs, computing centers, and vendors are collaborating through initiatives like the HPC Training Working Group to share best practices, co-develop materials, and broaden outreach. These coordinated efforts aim to make HPC training more accessible, scalable, and consistent across the community.