New Executive Director for 30-year-old Supercomputing Challenge

February 5, 2020

Article by Celia Einhorn

Paige Prescott has been selected as executive director to lead the Supercomputing Challenge, a statewide non-profit which works with middle and high school students to solve real-world problems by developing skills in Communication, Collaboration, Research, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Creativity and Innovation.

The Supercomputing Challenge is proud to announce that Paige Prescott will take over the executive director position recently vacated by the retired David Kratzer, Los Alamos National Laboratory. Paige is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Computer Science Alliance. She is working to expand computer science and computational thinking education through building teacher capacity and working with schools to ensure computer science is equitably brought to all students.

The Computer Science Alliance leverages connections between schools, industry, and other educational institutions to create a strong computer science education ecosystem for our New Mexico students. Paige is also a Ph.D. student at the University of New Mexico Information & Learning Sciences Department, President of the New Mexico chapter of Computer Science Teachers Association, and has been an International Baccalaureate Biology teacher in Santa Fe and Thailand. Paige has volunteered for many years with the Supercomputing Challenge through the Santa Fe Institute GUTS (Growing Up Thinking Scientifically) project where she was the program manager. She was a 2019 New Mexico Tech Council “Women in Technology” Honoree for addressing gender equity issues in computer science education.

When interviewed Paige stated, “The Supercomputing Challenge has been instrumental in bringing computer science to our New Mexico students and schools. Over my years of involvement, I have seen students take on rigorous computational projects that come from their own interests, often working to solve issues in their communities. We have a strong connection with mentors from the research labs, higher education and the tech industry. The students that participate are prepared to be a part of this dynamic and growing part of our economy. It’s a privilege to be a part of such an important organization for our students around the state.” The Board of Directors and the Supercomputing Challenge welcome Paige and are looking forward to another successful 30 years. They thank David Kratzer for his tireless dedication to the students and teachers of the Challenge.

About the Supercomputing Challenge

The New Mexico Supercomputing Challenge teaches written and oral communication, collaboration with peers and professionals, critical thinking including research, and coding including computer modeling to middle- and high-school students throughout the state. Any New Mexico middle-school or high-school student, including home-schooled students are eligible to participate in the Supercomputing Challenge. Students follow their own interests to choose a topic to model.

Sponsors

The Supercomputing Challenge this year is mainly sponsored by: