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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Res. Metr. Anal.
Sec. Research Policy and Strategic Management
Volume 9 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frma.2024.1462329

Economic Value of HPC Experience for New STEM Professionals: What the Market Wants and Needs

Provisionally accepted
Winona Snapp-Childs Winona Snapp-Childs 1*Claudia Costa Claudia Costa 1*Daniel Olds Daniel Olds 2*Addison Snell Addison Snell 2*Julie Wernert Julie Wernert 1*Craig Stewart Craig Stewart 1*
  • 1 Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, United States
  • 2 Intersect 360, Denver, Colorado, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate particular aspects of the STEM job market in the US. In particular, we ask: could the possession of high performance computing (HPC) skills enhance the chances of a person getting a job and/or increase starting salaries for people receiving an undergraduate or graduate degree and entering the technical workforce (rather than academia)? We also estimate the value to the US economy of practical experience offered to US students through training about HPC and the opportunity to use HPC systems funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and accessible nationally. Methods: Interviews and surveys of employers of graduates in STEM fields were used to gauge demand for STEM graduates with practical HPC experience and the salary increase that can be associated with the possession of such skills. We used data from the XSEDE project to determine how many undergraduate and graduate students it enabled to acquire practical proficiency with HPC. Results: People with such skills who had completed an undergraduate or graduate degree received an initial median hiring salary of approximately 7% to 15% more than those with the same degrees who did not possess such skills. XSEDE added approximately $10 million or more per year to the US economy through the practical educational opportunities it offered. Discussion: Practical hands-on experience provided by the US federal government, as well as many universities and colleges in the US, holds value for students as they enter the workforce. Conclusion: Practical training in HPC during the course of undergraduate and graduate programs has the potential to produce positive individual labor market outcomes (i.e., salary boosts, signing bonuses) as well as to help address the shortage of STEM workers in the private sector of the US.

    Keywords: stem, STEM careers, High performance computing, HPC, cyberinfrastructure, XSEDE, Experiential learning, ROI Frontiers

    Received: 09 Jul 2024; Accepted: 04 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Snapp-Childs, Costa, Olds, Snell, Wernert and Stewart. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Winona Snapp-Childs, Indiana University, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, United States
    Claudia Costa, Indiana University, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, United States
    Daniel Olds, Intersect 360, Denver, Colorado, United States
    Addison Snell, Intersect 360, Denver, Colorado, United States
    Julie Wernert, Indiana University, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, United States
    Craig Stewart, Indiana University, Bloomington, 47405, Indiana, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.