All Things AI – April 2026

Welcome to All Things AI, your quick-hit listing of opportunities, upcoming events, and training related to the NAIRR Pilot and other AI initiatives. See the complete list of NAIRR Pilot Events and Training and subscribe now to the NAIRR Pilot Newsletter.

Events and Conferences

• 2026 Internet2 Community Exchange (CommEX26) April 13–16 in Chicago, IL. Internet2 celebrates its 30th anniversary at this year’s Community Exchange, bringing together IT leaders, CIOs, network directors, security professionals, cloud architects, and research computing and data professionals from across R&E. Opening keynote by Adam Kronk (Notre Dame) on “The DELTA Strategy: Navigating the Next Decade of Digital Transformation and AI”  Explore the program and register.
• 6th Chameleon User Meeting April 15–16 in Boulder, CO (NCAR Mesa Lab). This year’s meeting focuses on computer science research and education in AI and machine learning. Includes keynote speakers, user lightning talks, live tutorials, and mini-symposia. Travel support of up to $1,500 is available for presenting authors of the top 10 selected abstracts.
• FABRIC KNIT12 | From Coast to Coast and Beyond: Science Across Research Networks April 14–17 in Honolulu, HI. Covers machine learning, edge computing, cloud computing, and distributed computing across research networks.
• GlobusWorld 2026 April 21–22 in Chicago, IL and Raleigh, NC. Sessions on machine learning, cloud computing, data sharing, data management, and distributed computing.
• Democratizing AI Training and Access Statewide Workshop April 17 at Henderson Community College in Henderson, KY. Part of the NSF-funded NAIRR Pilot Expansion Project series, these workshops cover LLMs, machine learning, multimodal models, and AI-powered data science. Open to Kentucky higher education researchers and innovators.

Training and Webinars

• Bridges-2 Webinar: Quantum Machine Learning Workflows — What HPC Enables and What Quantum Hardware Delivers Friday, April 3, 1–2 PM ET.
• Building a Validated Digital Twin for Fusion Tuesday, April 7, 11 AM–12 PM ET. Describes an AI-enabled digital twin of the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, a collaboration between NVIDIA, General Atomics, and research partners including SDSC, Argonne, and NERSC. The project uses GPU-accelerated AI surrogate models to reduce plasma simulation times from weeks to seconds.
• COMPLECS: Linux Shell Scripting Thursday, April 9, 2–3:30 PM ET. Covers shell scripting fundamentals for HPC environments.
• Introduction to Scientific Machine Learning Friday, April 10, 11 AM–1 PM ET (Delta).
• Fine Tuning Large Language Models (LLMs) with Domain Specific Datasets Tuesday, April 14, 2–3 PM ET. Topics include LLM fine-tuning, NLP, deep learning, benchmarking, and bioinformatics applications.
• CLASS Secure Research Environments — Real World Implementations and Lessons Learned Monday, April 21, 1–2 PM ET (free, virtual). Part of the Internet2 CLASS program series, this webinar features IT leaders from multiple institutions sharing operational experiences with cloud-based secure research enclaves for sensitive data and compliance.
• Getting Started with HPC (COMPLECS) April 21–22, 11 AM–5 PM ET. A two-day virtual workshop covering parallelization, file transfer, HPC tools, and scripting. Registration is limited to 40 participants or closes Friday, April 3, whichever comes first.
• OSPool User Training: PyTorch on the OSPool Tuesday, April 21, 2:30–4 PM ET.
• COMPLECS: Data Storage and File Systems Thursday, April 30, 2–3:30 PM ET. Introduces common data storage and file systems on HPC systems, including architectures, I/O patterns, and key Linux tools for managing storage.

Recurring Office Hours

• Sage Office Hours – Tuesdays April 7, 14, 21, 28, 12–1 PM ET; Thursdays April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 4–5 PM ET. Join informative sessions via Zoom to learn more about Sage and enhance your skills. Sessions cover portal navigation, resource allocation requests, AI Edge applications, and provide assistance with any challenges.
• Pegasus Workflows Office Hours – Every Friday, 2–3 PM ET. Virtual sessions about workflows or guidance on simplifying and streamlining HPC workflows. Join weekly office hours for questions about tools and expert help, with walkthrough tutorials and community discussions available. First Friday of the month (April 3) features a walkthrough of the Pegasus tutorials.
• Open OnDemand Tips & Tricks – Thursday, April 2, 1–2 PM ET. Monthly community-hosted call to learn practical tips for using this powerful, web-based platform. Happening the first Thursday of every month at 1 PM ET, these sessions are ideal for both new and experienced users looking to streamline workflows and enhance research productivity.
• Open OnDemand Office Hours – Tuesday, April 14, 11:15 AM–12:45 PM ET. Second Tuesday of each month. Open OnDemand provides innovative web-based access to research computing resources. Hosted on Zoom by the development team.
• ACCESS and NAIRR Pilot Office Hours – April 14, 3–4 PM ET and April 22, 12–1 PM ET. Office Hours are hosted by SCIPE Cyberinfrastructure Professionals (CIPs) and ACCESS Cyberinfrastructure Integration (ACI) resource providers. Sessions provide opportunities for engaging the national CI ecosystem and getting questions answered about available resources.
• Anvil Support Hour – Thursdays April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, 2–3 PM ET. Support for Anvil users with questions about AI, data, and NAIRR Pilot resources.
• Jetstream2 Office Hours – Tuesdays April 7, 14, 21, 28, 2–3 PM ET. Support for Jetstream2 cloud computing users.

Application Deadline

SDSC HPC and Data Science Summer Institute — Last day to apply is Friday, April 24, 2026. A week-long workshop at UC San Diego focusing on introductory-to-intermediate topics in HPC, data science, and AI, with hands-on tutorials on the Expanse supercomputer.

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through  Early-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) NSF award #2436057. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.