ACADEMIA

Stephenie McLean, a professional with 15 years of experience in outreach, training and project management in advanced technology research environments, will join the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) in February as Director of Education and Outreach. McLean currently works as Education, Outreach and Training (EOT) project manager at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), where she is responsible for development and execution of all aspects of TACC’s EOT efforts. Before coming to TACC in April 2005, she spent four years at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications as Training and Outreach manager. She will begin her new role at RENCI on February 13. McLean’s experience includes developing curricula dissemination strategies for distributed audiences and pre-college students, and developing and cultivating opportunities for new research communities to use advanced computing technologies. She has created and supported pipelines for knowledge and technology transfer to the workforce, students and underserved audiences, and implemented strategies to increase the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in science, engineering and IT. She is a leader in the education and outreach activities of several national and international cyberinfrastructure initiatives, including the NSF TeraGrid, the Global Grid Forum, the Coalition to Diversify Computing and Engaging People in Cyberinfrastructure (EPIC). McLean also directs the Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) Network, a group of 60 institutions serving primarily African American, Hispanic and Native American students that works to bring technology-enabled economic opportunities and tools to MSI students and researchers. She has led the MSI program for the international SC conference series for the past six years. McLean also has worked as program manager of the Executive Leadership Foundation’s Technology Transfer Project and as director of the Center for Service-Learning and associate director of African American Studies at George Mason University. “I am tremendously excited that Stephenie is joining RENCI as a member of the management team,” said RENCI Director Dan Reed. “In a knowledge economy, the work we do at RENCI must be applicable to the North Carolina and national education community, to ordinary citizens, and to audiences that have yet to fully benefit from the information revolution. Stephenie knows how to reach out to those communities and build the relationships that will allow our projects and partnerships to have economic, research and educational impacts far beyond the boundaries of academia.” "RENCI is a wonderful opportunity,” said McLean. “I am looking forward to focusing on how the institute’s multidisciplinary projects and technology tools can evolve and impact everyday life when they are brought to a larger community.” RENCI...Catalyst for Innovation The Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) is a catalyst for innovation in science, engineering, the arts, humanities, and commerce. It fosters multidisciplinary collaborations by leveraging and applying leading edge compute, network, and data information technology resources and capabilities. RENCI is a joint institute of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, and North Carolina State University that combines the strengths of these three institutions with the social, business and research opportunities of the state of North Carolina. For more, see www.renci.org.