Experience and Learning from an NSM Nodal Center for Training in HPC and AI

Training is crucial to develop the required human resource in HPC and AI. A well-trained community fuels the growth of the country, and of the scientific community in general. The government of India envisioned training of tens of thousand of learners to fulfill the future needs of the country in these domains. It was part of a nation-wide large project called the National Supercomputing Mission. Accordingly, four Nodal Centers were established in different parts of the country, whose mandate was to impart quality training in HPC and AI to the interested people. The nodal centres received funding and support from the ministry and the implementation agencies. This report narrates the experience by one of the nodal centers at IIT Madras, highlights lessons learned from this experience. We also suggest avenues for future training programmes. In particular, we discuss various certificate courses, themed workshops, industry workshops, internships, along with the various HPC resources created along the way. We also brief about the feedback we have received from selected participants. We hope that various efforts in these and similar directions would benefit from this learning.