PNNL

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) partnered to host AWS GameDay events that took place at PNNL Richland and Seattle locations recently. AWS GameDay is a gamified learning event that challenges participants to use AWS solutions to solve real-world technical problems in a team-based setting. 

The GameDay structure is a flexible format, allowing participants to freely explore and engage as groups or individuals. Staff at PNNL with experience in data science, cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other domains gathered to tackle a diverse range of technical challenges, using AI/ML, data consolidation, data stream processing, and more. Challenges included predesigned system failures, security breaches, and lost information that the team needed to uncover.

“The AWS GameDay workshop is a great way for our staff to interact and work as a team to solve unique AI and Cloud-based challenges. These challenges directly correlate with sponsors' tailored and robust requests, and providing a space for creativity and collaboration helps us upscale and rescale our capabilities to make sure sponsor needs are met,” said Amelia Hough-Ross, information technology engineer with the Center for Cloud Computing.

Participants were able to work in groups while also taking on individual tasks to meet the overall goal of solving the technical challenges presented. With a gamified twist to learning, this AWS GameDay event fostered healthy competition to push staff to think outside the box.

“PNNL’s unique partnership with AWS provides PNNL staff members free access to this type of gamified training and collaboration,” said Hough-Ross.

AI and cloud computing is at the forefront of PNNL’s research focus areas to further science and security capabilities. Events and workshops like these provide opportunities for exploration of new avenues within AI and cloud environments—giving staff a more cohesive approach to solving sponsor challenges and continuing to position PNNL as a leader in the cloud computing space.

“Continued investment in Cloud computing workforce development is a key part of our mission, and events like this remain an annual focus in helping our staff develop their skills in collaborative and creative ways,” said Director of the Center for Cloud Computing Scott Godwin.

Feedback from the participants at the Seattle and Richland GameDay events was very positive and revealed that staff appreciated the ability to work with colleagues of various experience levels, the opportunity to dive into new tools, and the chance to tackle realistic scenarios.

With the overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants, PNNL plans to continue providing more events like this to create engaging and interactive learning opportunities that push the boundaries of cloud computing.

For more information on this and future events please contact Cloud@pnnl.gov.