Where Talent Meets Technology

At TACC, a whole-center approach is continually evolving to meet the accelerating demands of the 21st-century workforce and rapid pace of technological change.

Integrating  computational science  and artificial intelligence literacy into curriculum across K-20 workforce development efforts is attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines. This impact is evident in rising post-secondary enrollment and persistence in STEM career choices across the nation, highlighted by five program alumni now employed at TACC.

The U.S. National Science Foundation Leadership-Class Computing Facility Internship Program, launched in Fall 2024, is harnessing the power of supercomputing and AI to increase efficiency and effectiveness across high performance computing and other domains. For example, interns leveraged TACC systems and AI to advance scientific research using classification techniques to improve reporting, enabling natural language search for natural hazards studies, and applying transfer learning with transformer models for sophisticated text classification.

Immersive summer research experiences engage undergraduate students from across the nation in cutting-edge projects ranging from investigating fairness in machine learning and mortgage approval predictions to enhancing decision-making in robotics through improved exploration-exploitation in reinforcement learning. Students are also developing tools for urban air mobility planning, examining bias in resource allocation for houselessness prevention, and applying machine learning to forecast infant health outcomes, among other high-impact initiatives.

During the past decade, TACC summer camps have empowered K-12 students to connect coding with real-world impact through project-based learning and hands-on career activities. In one camp, students program miniature autonomous vehicles capable of recognizing human faces, stop signs, and primary colors. To achieve this, campers gain foundational skills in Python programming and the principles of autonomous systems.

Integrating computational science and artificial intelligence literacy into curriculum across K-20 workforce development efforts is attracting and retaining students in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines.

What remains constant is TACC’s relationship-centered approach, cultivating rich experiences where participants and colleagues feel valued, and the many lived experiences and pathways into computing are not only welcomed but celebrated. It is a space where talent and technology intersect. 

TACC’s growth is intentionally rooted in both historical and present-day challenges that threaten our nation’s economic prosperity, guided by proven theoretical frameworks, evidence-based practices, and rigorous evaluation data that shape and inform future decisions.