At the Heart of User Services

Virginia Trueheart and team strive for seamless access to HPC, training, and consultation

Meet Virigina Trueheart, TACC’s director of User Services, who leads a team of experts supporting researchers from different corners of science ranging from astronomy to biology to political science. 

Trueheart’s team ensures a seamless experience to the more than 7,000 researchers who use TACC’s resources. Their mission is to simplify access to HPC, training, and consultation. 

“Accessibility is core to our design,” Truehart said. “It doesn’t matter what your background is or how much experience you have with advanced computing. If you want to do science, our team is here to make it easier for you.”

Holding a BA in English and an MS in Information Studies, Trueheart was poised for a career in Liberal Arts. However, after several years of working in technology and retail customer support, a role at TACC as a support engineer presented itself, and she could not pass it up. 

"It doesn’t matter what your background is or how much experience you have with advanced computing. If you want to do science, our team is here to make it easier for you.”

Nine years into her tenure, the skills acquired from TACC combined with her background made Trueheart uniquely positioned to deliver services for TACC’s user base. These skills include the ability to take complex concepts and translate them for different audiences; a  deep knowledge of data systems and coding languages; and the technical acumen necessary to navigate computing with a strong service focus. 

“TACC takes great pride in our user support,” said Dan Stanzione, TACC executive director and associate vIce president for Research at UT Austin. “Supercomputers are wonderful tools, but in the end, they are useless without the people that make them work and help users get science done. Virginia epitomizes TACC’s ethos with a singular focus on what every new system, policy, and process means to the end user. She has done a fabulous job in not only taking on this role, but re-shaping the team for our fast changing technologies and services.” 

AI is playing a role as well. The team is using technology from ChatGPT4 and tailoring it to fit user needs. In the near future, the new “TACCbot” tool will help to streamline responses to commonly asked questions. 

However, it is TACC’s staff members that are making a huge difference as the center grows. “The people on my team are incredible,” Trueheart said. “I get to work with them every day, support amazing research, and contribute to making life better for all of us.”