MESSAGE from the DIRECTOR
Published December 2025
Dear SDSC Collaborators, Partners and All Friends:
As we close out 2025 and reflect on SDSC’s 40th year, I’m struck by both how much the technology around us has changed, and how consistently our role has remained the same at its core — enabling scientific discovery nationwide. The innovation across the SDSC community this year has been remarkable, as our team navigated advances in AI to expand access, increase national research capacity, and scale the infrastructure and services that translate scientific work into real-world impact.
You can read about recent highlights in the newsletter below. Much of this work happens behind the scenes, but it is essential to a thriving national research ecosystem. This includes SDSC’s newly-attained CMMC certification, which strengthens the secure foundations required to support trusted research computing and collaboration with government and industry partners. You’ll also learn about a newly funded NSF project improving understanding of the security and reliability of research traffic. Our focus on supporting a robust national ecosystem also extended to workforce development for an AI-ready future, including partnering on the Congressional App Challenge and hands-on experiences such as the Student Cluster Competition at SC25, where our team was awarded the #1 U.S. team for the fifth year in a row.
SC25 also brought recognition of several of our contributions throughout the year, including multiple HPCwire Awards and the SCInet Spirit of Innovation Award, which reflected SDSC’s impact across scientific discovery and real-world application.
These examples represent only a snapshot of the work carried out across SDSC this year. As we head into 2026, I’m excited by what lies ahead and grateful to be doing this work together. Wishing you a happy and restorative holiday season.
Warm wishes,
Frank Würthwein
SDSC Director