Los Alamos Supercomputing Challenge faces funding cuts, threatening its future

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – What started as a recruiting program for Los Alamos National Laboratory has become a staple in computer education throughout the state. However, the Supercomputing Challenge now faces a big adversary as its funding could be running out.

Technology is developing at a breakneck speed and computer science is leading the revolution. Can you believe that it was just over ten years ago that Apple released the iPad? Windows 10 hadn’t even hit the market. With the accelerated growth of social media, mixed with machine learning and artificial intelligence ensuring the next generation is up to speed on that technology is paramount.

Karen Glennon has devoted the past 24 years of her life to cultivating young tech minds through the Supercomputing Challenge. The program runs the full academic year, encouraging middle and high school students to solve real-world problems through computer technologies.

For 34 years, the challenge has brought on 1,200 students from across the state. The 2023-2024 challenge had more than 150 participants with an increasing number of those students being girls. “It was one of my eighth-grade recruits from Jackson, and then she continued to come back to Jackson to do the challenge to her high school time and her team,” said Karen Glennon, program manager with Supercomputing Challenge.

That student Kyreen White is now enrolled at UNM. That could soon be changing.

Members of the Supercomputing Challenge went before legislators in August to share why the challenge is so important. For years, the state helped fund the program through the Labs and New Mexico Tech. However, that funding could disappear in 2025 and if it does, the Supercomputing Challenge could power down for good.

Not only does the Supercomputing Challenge train the next generation of technologists, but it also trains teachers. It gives them state-of-the-art instruction throughout a two-week summer institute, teaming them up with the experts in the Labs before the challenge kicks off.

While the financial goals of certain stakeholders may have changed, the mission behind the Supercomputing Challenge has not. They are still focused on training and recruitment with the ultimate goal of keeping the brilliant minds of the future working in New Mexico, something that inspired the program’s founder, former LANL director Sig Hecker.

While institutions like LANL, Sandia, and other research facilities will reap the rewards of well-trained employees down the road, educators like Gennon are seeing a return on their investment in real-time. State Rep. Christine Chandler has sponsored a bill to keep the challenge’s funding in place through 2025. With it, they will be able to continue the training for students and teachers as well as retain the program’s executive director position.

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