UB’s Dori Sajdak Recognized in SC26 Women’s History Month Celebration

Launched in 2023 as part of the International Supercomputing Conference series, the SC Women’s History Month Profiles project highlights the diverse paths women take into HPC and the many ways they contribute to advancing research, technology, and community engagement across the field. The 2026 theme, “HPC Unites,” emphasizes collaboration across disciplines, institutions, and generations, underscoring the idea that progress in supercomputing begins with people.  

Dori's story will be featured on March 25, with new honoree profiles released daily throughout the month on SC26’s LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook channels. The full list of Women’s History Month honorees is available on the SC26 website, offering readers the opportunity to explore the breadth of contributions women are making across the global HPC ecosystem.

A Career Dedicated to Research Computing Support

Dori Sajdak has been a member of the CCR team since 2002 and a University at Buffalo staff member since 1998, bringing decades of experience in research computing support to the university community. As Assistant Director of User Services, she manages the CCR help desk team and oversees many of the center’s user‑facing services, ensuring that faculty, students, and researchers have reliable access to advanced computing resources.

Her areas of responsibility include user support for CCR & Empire AI, account and allocation management, documentation and training development, system administration, and oversight of the Open OnDemand platform.  As the community manager for ColdFront, a widely used open source resource and allocation management system developed at CCR, she works with research computing centers around the world to deploy the tool. Through CCR’s web, email, and social media channels, Dori amplifies the center’s services and connects researchers with the tools they need to succeed.

Dori is also a University at Buffalo alumna, holding a Bachelor of Arts degree in Geography with a specialization certificate in GIS and Cartography from UB, further underscoring her long‑standing connection to the institution she serves today.

Elevating Women’s Voices in HPC

The SC26 Women’s History Month initiative was created to amplify the voices of women across all career stages in high‑performance computing, from systems administrators and engineers to researchers, educators, and program leaders. Since its inception, the project has featured more than 200 women whose collective work continues to expand what is possible in HPC and related fields.

By spotlighting individual stories like Dori's, SC26 aims not only to celebrate professional achievements but also to inspire the next generation of talent to see a place for themselves in supercomputing and advanced research computing. Organizers emphasize that meaningful progress in HPC depends on inclusive participation and the recognition of contributions that often happen behind the scenes, including user support, infrastructure management, and community building.

Dori's inclusion in the SC26 Women’s History Month 2026 cohort highlights both her individual impact and the essential role that user services and research support professionals play in enabling scientific discovery at scale. Her recognition also reflects the University at Buffalo’s broader commitment to excellence, collaboration, and leadership in high‑performance computing.

For more information and to view the complete list of honorees, visit the SC26 Women’s History Month page.