By Kimberly Mann Bruch
Boise State University's Office of Information Technology recently announced that Elizabeth Leake has joined the team as the director of Research Computing Services.
“I’m thrilled to be working alongside people whom I’ve known for years through professional cyberinfrastructure interest groups, and looking forward to learning more about the Boise State research community’s needs for the future,” Leake said. "We are also eager to work with the West Hub on establishing some projects together."
Leake is a high-performance computing consultant, correspondent and advocate with more than 15 years of experience. Leake holds a BFA in graphic design from the University of Illinois. In 2012, she founded STEM-Trek, a global, grassroots nonprofit organization that supports scholarly travel and workforce development opportunities for scholars from underserved and underrepresented regions.
As a program director, Leake has mentored hundreds of early-career professionals who are breaking cultural barriers in an effort to accelerate scientific and engineering discoveries. Her multinational programs have specific themes that resonate with global stakeholders, such as food security data science, blockchain for social good, and cybersecurity/risk mitigation. Her efforts drew recognition when STEM-Trek received the 2016 and 2017 HPCwire Editors’ Choice and 2020 Readers’ Choice Awards for Workforce Diversity and Inclusion Leadership.
As the director of Research Computing Services, Leake will provide strategic oversight for Boise State’s research computing team in supporting high-performance computing clusters and research cyberinfrastructure, and will lead faculty, staff, and students in using locally-hosted, federated, and cloud-enabled resources. She also will drive external research computing and data community engagement, as well as lead, mentor, and coordinate research computing efforts to teach and train basic research computing skills to researchers.
“Elizabeth brings a wealth of experience and skills not only to the Office of Information Technology and research computing but to the entire university. Her knowledge of the national research landscape will be a great asset to Boise State,” said Max Davis-Johnson, chief information officer and associate vice president.
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