Earlier this month, Swarthmore College joined the ranks of roughly 100 other institutions as part of the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC). Originally formed in the 1990s as a small group of the heads of national supercomputing centers, CASC expanded to include leadership of large academic computing centers and has recently undertaken efforts to broaden the reach further to attract a greater diversity of smaller institutions (e.g., non-R1s, HBCUs, HSIs, TCUs, etc.). Swarthmore is honored to be among the first such institution to join CASC.

Participation lends Swarthmore’s voice to CASC’s mission to be “dedicated to advocating for the use of the most advanced computing technology to accelerate scientific discovery for national competitiveness, global security, and economic success, as well as develop a diverse and well-prepared 21st century workforce.” In addition, CASC works closely with national funding agencies such as NSF and NIH, often writing position papers on emerging challenges and helping to align institutional research with national scientific priorities.

CASC officially meets twice per year and also has a presence at PEARC and SC, both of which offer exciting opportunities for students (e.g., student programs at PEARC and at SC). Swarthmore’s participation with CASC and other groups ensures that we have a proverbial “seat at the table” to contribute to several increasingly critical field of high-performance computing, including AI, quantum computing, machine learning, and more, all while bringing back important lessons learned and a diversity of perspectives to our campus to enhance relevant pedagogical and research goals.