Your Campus Champion journey is about participating in the community,
exploring high-performance computing (HPC), connecting with others,
sharing what you learn, and growing into a leader.
Click on each one below:
Note: resource links will take you to an external site or open in a new browser tab.
Learn what the program is and get oriented.
What is a Campus Champion? A Campus Champion is a member of your institution's IT, research computing, or library staff who acts as a local point of contact for high-performance computing resources, helping researchers and students on campus discover and access national HPC systems.
What does a Campus Champion do? Campus Champions raise awareness of HPC resources on campus, help researchers request allocations, connect people to training and support, and represent their institution within the broader Campus Champions community.
Be an active member of the Campus Champions community.
• Attend Campus Champion meetings.
• Stay connected to program communications.
• Respond to relevant Campus Champion email threads.
• Participate in discussions and activities.
• Ask questions when you need help.
• Share useful information and opportunities with other Champions.
Build enough HPC awareness to understand the field, recognize opportunities, and know where to go for deeper technical learning.
What is HPC? High-performance computing (HPC) uses clusters of powerful, tightly connected computers to solve problems that are too large or too complex for a single machine, running calculations in parallel across many processors at once.
What is a supercomputer? A supercomputer is a large-scale computing system built from many interconnected processors working together to solve problems far beyond the capacity of a single computer.
Why does HPC matter to research? HPC lets researchers run simulations, process massive datasets, and test models at a scale that would be impossible on a personal computer, often turning projects that would take years into ones that take days.
What kinds of research use HPC? HPC supports research across nearly every discipline, including climate modeling, genomics, materials science, engineering, and social science simulations.
ACCESS-CI (Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support) is a program funded by the National Science Foundation that helps researchers and educators use advanced computing systems at no cost. Unlike NAIRR, which is AI-specific, ACCESS-CI provides general-purpose access to the nation's high-performance computing infrastructure across many disciplines.
The National AI Research Resource (NAIRR) Pilot focuses specifically on AI research, connecting U.S. researchers and educators to AI-focused resources such as GPU compute, datasets, and models. It is coordinated by the National Science Foundation along with other federal agencies and private-sector partners.
Campus Champion allocations: Campus Champions can request allocations, grants of computing time and storage on national HPC resources, on behalf of researchers at their institution who need access but do not yet have their own allocation.
These resources are provided as places to learn more; the Campus Champion roadmap does not attempt to reproduce the technical training offered by other HPC organizations.
Programming and parallel computing: Parallel programming techniques like MPI and OpenMP let your code split work across many processors at once. This is essential for running efficiently on HPC systems.
Advanced HPC topics: Once you're comfortable with the basics, advanced topics include GPU computing, large-scale machine learning, and performance optimization. Check with your local HPC center for specialized training.
Discover the people, organizations, events, and opportunities that make up the broader HPC community.
Meet other Campus Champions: Check the welcome email you received when you joined the program. It includes an invite to the Champions community space.
Connect with HPC professionals: Look for the community invite in your onboarding email to connect directly with HPC professionals and support staff. CCMNet (Cyberinfrastructure Community-wide Mentorship Network) is an NSF-funded platform that pairs cyberinfrastructure professionals through peer mentorship.
How to Engage: Visit CCMNet and click "Join CCMNet" (use the same account you have on the Campus Champions website, such as your ACCESS login, preferred, or a specific login you use for the CC website). To post a mentorship, select whether you are looking to be paired with a mentor or a mentee. Begin the "Engagement Title" field with the phrase [CC-AI]. Add appropriate tags, including "campus-champions." Complete the remaining fields in as much detail as possible.
Bring HPC awareness back to your campus and help other people discover opportunities in advanced computing.
Share an HPC resource: Found a useful HPC tool, tutorial, or article? Share it with the Champions community through your usual communication channels.
Share a research example: Highlight a research project that used HPC and share it with the Champions community.
Talk about HPC with students and colleagues: Use what you've learned to introduce HPC concepts informally to students and colleagues on your campus. Even a short conversation can spark interest.
Tell your Campus Champion story: Share your experience as a Champion with the broader community.
Introduce HPC to a class or student group: Offer to give a short talk or demo introducing HPC to a class, club, or student group on your campus.
Host or support an informational activity: Organize or help run an event, such as a workshop, info session, or lab tour, to raise HPC awareness on campus.
Connect researchers with computing resources: Help researchers on your campus identify and request the right HPC allocations for their work.
Share opportunities with your campus community: Pass along HPC-related opportunities, such as training, allocations, and events, to researchers and students on your campus.
Use your experience to contribute to the Campus Champions community and help others engage with HPC.
The Campus Champions program is supported in part by NSF Award #2505400, "EAGER: Empowering the AI Research Community through Facilitation, Access, and Collaboration," led by PI Forough Ghahramali through NJEDge.Net (December 2024 through November 2026). The award strengthens the Campus Champions program by supporting conference participation, mentorship, and contributions to the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR).
Meetings and communications: Check your program communications for the schedule of Champion meetings and how to join.
Campus outreach resources: See the Campus Outreach guidance in Stage 5 above for ways to get involved on your campus.
Frequently asked questions: Common questions about the Champion program and HPC resources are covered here. Reach out to the Champions community if you don't see an answer.