NSF Center of Excellence
Empowering the Next Generation of Computational Scientists
The SGX3 Coding Institute 2026 is a premier workforce development initiative led by the Science Gateways Community Institute (SGX3), a National Science Foundation (NSF) Center of Excellence. This intensive four-week program equips a diverse cohort of undergraduate students with the critical skills required to navigate modern Science Gateways, High-Performance Computing (HPC), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystems — bridging the gap between theoretical computer science and applied research.
Program Dates
Participant Benefits
Compensation for your participation and time investment
Earn Google AI, Google Cloud, and Kaggle credentials recognized across the STEM job market
Hands-on sessions on Frontera — the world’s leading open-science supercomputer at TACC
Build local AI inference servers, NLP pipelines, and Knowledge Graph architectures from scratch
Compete in a national team hackathon to engineer autonomous Knowledge Graph generators
What You’ll Learn
Curriculum
HPC & Supercomputing
Launch Jupyter Notebooks on Frontera via the TACC Analysis Portal — mastering the differences between local systems, clusters, and multi-petaflop environments
Linux & Command Line
Develop secure access proficiencies and practice command-line navigation through interactive wargame exercises using OverTheWire Bandit
Git & Version Control
Master Git and GitHub for collaborative version control and software engineering best practices in research environments
APIs & Data Pipelines
Query live web APIs — including the Wikipedia API — and parse complex JSON data structures to feed computational models
Local AI & LLMs
Deploy and manage local AI inference servers using Ollama and LM Studio — understanding AI mechanics rather than relying on commercial black-box tools
NLP & Vector Embeddings
Use spaCy and sentence-transformers to convert raw text into high-dimensional embeddings and measure semantic similarity mathematically
Knowledge Graphs
Program physics-based Knowledge Graphs using NetworkX — transforming unstructured scientific text into structured, visual data networks
RAG & GraphRAG
Integrate Knowledge Graphs with Retrieval-Augmented Generation architectures to build AI agents that extract deterministic facts while mitigating hallucinations
Mastering HPC & Science Gateways
Students gain direct, hands-on experience with world-class HPC infrastructure at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). The curriculum demystifies supercomputing architecture, covers secure SSH access, Linux command-line proficiency, and collaborative development with Git — preparing participants for real enterprise and research environments.
Pioneering AI, NLP & Knowledge Graphs
A core priority of the 2026 program is “AI Readiness” — ensuring students understand the mathematical mechanics of AI. Participants use spaCy and sentence-transformers for tokenization and vectorization, build NetworkX Knowledge Graphs, and wire them into RAG and GraphRAG pipelines to create intelligent, hallucination-resistant AI agents.
Workforce Outcomes & Certifications
Certifications Earned
Throughout the program, students complete a rigorous suite of industry-recognized credentials that significantly enhance their competitiveness in the STEM job market:
Hackathon Experience
ADMI Hackathon · June 22–26
The institute culminates in the ADMI Hackathon, where collaborative teams synthesize their new NLP, API, and HPC proficiencies to engineer autonomous Knowledge Graph generators. By transforming unstructured scientific text into structured, visual data networks, participants prove their readiness to build and sustain the next generation of Science Gateways and AI-driven research tools.
- Synthesize NLP, API querying, and HPC skills under a real deadline
- Build autonomous Knowledge Graph generators as a team
- Transform unstructured scientific text into structured data networks
- Demonstrate readiness for careers in national scientific infrastructure
Who Should Apply?
- Undergraduate students in computer science, data science, or STEM fields
- Students seeking hands-on experience with HPC, AI, and scientific research infrastructure
- Aspiring software engineers and researchers interested in Science Gateways
- Those committed to democratizing access to advanced computing resources