Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Kathryn Mohror has been selected as general chair of the 2027 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis, more commonly known as SC27. Mohror is director of the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) as well as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff.

“Chairing this conference is not only an honor but also an opportunity to give back to the SC community that has been such a big part of my career,” states Mohror. “I’ve been attending SC and volunteering for more than 20 years. I keep returning because this is where people share the latest, most impactful ideas in HPC and because the community is so collaborative and welcoming.”

Held annually in November, the SC conference hosted more than 17,000 exhibitors, researchers, and practitioners last year. The week-long event is jointly sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery and the IEEE Computer Society, and is the world’s largest conference for the high-performance computing (HPC) field. As general chair, Mohror will determine the conference’s vision and lead its operations, working with about 1,000 volunteers and a cadre of contractors.

For Mohror, leadership is service, and chairing SC comes with responsibilities beyond the logistics of organizing a large-scale conference. “HPC innovations are only possible because of the people who design them, build them, and find new ways to use them,” she says. “SC is the place where many of these innovations are born—when people meet and start talking. I want everyone at SC to find opportunities to meet new people, build our community, and get talking to drive those new innovations.”

At a time when artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are rapidly influencing the HPC landscape, SC continues to be the premier venue for showcasing research from all corners of the field—laboratories, academia, and industry. “SC is like no other HPC conference. People come from all over the world because SC is where everything in HPC happens,” notes Mohror. “I love to see the convergence of traditional HPC, cloud computing, quantum computing, and AI communities at SC. HPC is stronger because we’re leveraging ideas across fields and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.”

Although SC27 plans are still in progress, Mohror says attendees can expect a robust and dynamic technical program along with new community-focused initiatives and plenty of opportunities to connect with others. The theme and host city will be unveiled in a special session near the end of SC26 this November in Chicago.

Mohror’s appointment is another example of LLNL’s ongoing visibility at SC—from research papers and posters to the Top500 list of benchmarked supercomputers, and from speakers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) exhibitor booth to dozens of staff volunteering on committees.

LLNL leaders have held the SC general chair role before, most recently acting principal associate director for Computing Lori Diachin in 2025 and Livermore Computing chief technology officer Bronis de Supinski in 2021.

“The SC27 general chair is a highly demanding and visible role. Kathryn has long been a trusted leader at LLNL and in the broader HPC community, and she is very well equipped to lead another successful meeting,” says Diachin.hin.

“From her start at LLNL as a postdoctoral researcher, Kathryn has consistently exceeded expectations, and I have no doubt she will do so as SC27 general chair,” adds de Supinski, who will serve as SC27 vice chair. “I expect that not only will SC27 set an all-time attendance record, but it will establish new traditions that enhance the supercomputing community, as I know she envisions.”

Mohror joined LLNL in 2010. Her research focuses on HPC portability, input/output performance, and in-system storage solutions through projects such as the Scalable Checkpoint/Restart library and the UnifyFS file system, both R&D 100 Award winners. She has led major HPC standards and software initiatives, including roles on the PMIx Steering Committee, MPI Forum, and DOE’s Exascale Computing Project. A 2019 DOE Early Career Award recipient, Mohror holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Portland State University.

—Holly Auten