SIGHPC Education Community Spotlight: Ntsizi Mphenduli “Oscar”

Welcome to our new SIGHPC Education Community Spotlight series – a blog series celebrating the passionate individuals involved in our community and highlighting those that are committed to driving HPC education forward. Each edition offers an authentic glimpse into the values, perspectives, and personalities that shape our vibrant community. From unique career paths to heartfelt motivations, we’re shining a light on the people behind the work to foster connection, collaboration, and a shared sense of purpose.

Today, we are introducing Ntsizi Mphenduli – AKA Oscar – let’s get into it!


The Human behind the Science

What inspired you to become involved in computational science education?

My field of study, but most of all, the students in our computer science department.

What’s one small moment in your teaching engagements that has made you smile recently?

When I was describing the concept behind the development of clusters to one of my 2nd year students.

Summarise your teaching or research philosophy in one sentence?

Get your hands dirty, the answer will eventually come.

Which best describes you: Teacher, Educator, Trainer, Mentor, Coach, Facilitator, Guide, or something else?

Coach, I believe in trial and error approach.


More about your work and impact

What is your role and where are you based? 

Senior Lab Assistant, University of Fort Hare, South Africa.

What are you currently working on?

Looking at way on how best we can utilize HPC system in traditionally resource constrained environments.

Please share one project, initiative, or milestone that you’ve been involved in that you’d love others to know about?

Teaching local village elders computer skills in Dwesa, under the Siyakhula project, sponsored by Telkom Centre of Excellence.

How do you see your work contributing to the broader scientific computing or educational community?

For now I would say it’s just a minor contribution as I believe there’s still too much work to do, especially in rural areas.


Community and Collaboration

What advice do you have for anyone who is just starting in computational science education?

Patience is key for every student.

Who in the computational science education world inspires you, and why?

I might sound bias here, but definitely Bryan with a “Y”, the way he is so passionate about his role in the HPC Ecosystem is so commendable.

What’s a team-up or community project that really meant something to you?

HPC Ecosystems, I learnt a lot from that community about HPC.

Has there been something you’ve seen others doing in computational science education that has stuck with you?

Yes, one is the integration of real-world scientific problems into teaching and learning activities, such as collaborative team work and mentorship model.


The Lighter Stuff

If you could teleport anywhere in the world for one day, where would you go and whom would you bring with?

Old Trafford, especially in 2009 when Manchester United won UCL. Would take my Liverpool friend just to make fun of him!

Pick a meme or theme song to reflect your teaching style.

Kanye West – Stronger.

Coffee, tea, or cake?

Coffee all the way!

Any final thoughts, words of wisdom, or musings?

Try to find one thing in this life and make sure that you are specializing in it in the end!


The OpenHPC2.x Virtual Lab – a hands-on reflection.

written by Sayfullah Jumoorty

I recently had the opportunity to complete the OpenHPC 2.x Hands-On Lab (Virtual Lab 10), presented by the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC), and it was an invaluable experience.

The lab focused on deploying and managing a High Performance Computing (HPC) cluster using the OpenHPC software stack, including Warewulf, Slurm, and RockyLinux8. Over the course of the lab, I set up management nodes, configured compute nodes, and ran jobs in a virtual environment, all while troubleshooting and optimizing the cluster’s performance.

“One of the highlights of the lab was its practical, step-by-step approach, which made complex HPC concepts more accessible.”

As a student at the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), I’ve been actively involved in HPC through local competitions in South Africa and had the privilege of representing my team at the ISC 2023 Student Cluster Competition in Hamburg.

The hands-on experience from this OpenHPC lab directly complemented the skills I developed in those competitions, allowing me to deepen my understanding of real-world cluster deployment and system administration.

One of the highlights of the lab was its practical, step-by-step approach, which made complex HPC concepts more accessible. The opportunity to get hands-on with a virtual cluster environment was both challenging and rewarding.

For anyone interested in HPC, whether you’re an experienced system administrator or a newcomer like me, I highly recommend this lab as a learning experience.

I’m excited to stay connected with the HPC community and look forward to further contributing as I continue my journey in this field! -Sayfullah Jumoorty (sayfullah.jumoorty[at]live[dot]com)


The OpenHPC2.x Virtual Lab is designed to provide an offline locally-hosted learning environment to explore the deployment (and use of) a 3-node virtual cluster. To find out more about the OpenHPC 2.x Virtual Lab:

Teach the Teacher at SC22

written by Dhruva Chakravorty 

On November 12, 2022 at the Supercomputing 22 conference at Kay Bailey Hutchison Conference Center in Dallas, Texas, HPRC, in partnership with Edward J Evans, Associate Vice President for Enterprise IT Operations at Texas A&M University, conducted a teacher hands-on symposium. Sixteen teachers registered for the event. These teachers represented career and technical education, computer science, technology applications, health science, and business technology from middle schools and high schools in Texas. There were eleven attendees.

Continue reading “Teach the Teacher at SC22”

HPC Education & Training Materials Survey Highlights Interest in Sharing Materials More Widely

written by Kate Cahill

The utilization of computing technologies is rapidly expanding in many sectors, necessitating access to high-quality education and training materials to facilitate research computing. The demand for instructional materials, encompassing a wide range of topics related to the development and application of research computing technologies across disciplines, is crucial for both formal classroom settings, informal training, and self-paced learning.

One way to meet this need and keep up with the ever-evolving landscape of HPC educational and training material development is to improve how the community shares and finds materials.

Continue reading “HPC Education & Training Materials Survey Highlights Interest in Sharing Materials More Widely”

SC22 Mini-series: Early Career Program and its Past Participants

This blog entry was reposted from the RSE stories and combines two posts.

Marina Kraeva is a Senior Research Computing Systems Analyst at Iowa State University and this year’s Early Career Program Subcommittee Chair. In this episode, Marina tells us about the history of the Early Career Program (ECP) at Supercomputing, the overarching goals of ECP, and what potential participants can expect to learn this year!

She encourages all professionals in their early career to apply for the program this year, taking place in Dallas, TX, as part of Supercomputing 2022. To apply, go to the Early Career Program page and click “Application Details.”

Continue reading “SC22 Mini-series: Early Career Program and its Past Participants”