In the field of supercomputing, perhaps one of the most valuable people a researcher can meet is the person at the help desk. Tom Baring, Derek Bastille and Shawn Houston share responsibility to help users out of programming binds and ensuring that all users can log on to the proper machines. In addition, Houston maintains the internal and external web for the center by writing cgi scripts and porting documents. The best part about my job is that there are new problems to solve every day.
Problem solving is what the user services team does best.
Baring, Bastille and Houston are constantly testing their computing knowledge to help users make the most of ARSC's resources. In addition to consulting, Bastille is in charge of maintaining the user database and creating new accounts. In addition to staffing the help desk, Baring writes and edits the T3E Newsletter with colleague Guy Robinson. We got a big speed-up just in time for her important demonstration. Although user services staff are not experts in helicopter rescues, they're always happy to help.