By Gail W. Pieper

Rinku Gupta, Principal Specialist, Research Software Engineer

As long as she can remember, Rinku Gupta has been fascinated by advanced computing. She earned a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from Mumbai University in India and then came to the United States where she received a master’s degree in computer information science at the Ohio State University. Her professional career got off to a fine start with a position first as a software programmer and analyst at Green Apple, Inc. and then as a product group development engineer at Dell, Inc., where she worked with the high-performance computing (HPC) team with a focus on evaluating new and emerging HPC technologies and building standard and custom large-scale supercomputing clusters.

In 2007 Rinku joined Argonne National Laboratory’s (ANL) Mathematics and Computer Science Division as a senior software developer She says working at ANL has been a transformative journey full of exciting cutting-edge scientific research focusing on the top supercomputers of the world, ranging from improving infrastructure for fault-tolerant systems, to working on supercomputing programming models, from improving sustainability in scientific projects to managing AI for Science projects. What has driven Rinku over the past 15 years is the freedom to collaborate with fellow innovators, both within the laboratory and across prestigious universities and research institutions, while still nurturing her independence to tackle projects that ignite her curiosity.

Combining research with leadership

One of Rinku’s first responsibilities at Argonne was as technical lead of the CIFTS (Coordinated Infrastructure for Fault-Tolerant Systems) project. The role meant that Rinku was the one looked to for day-to-day guidance on the progress and direction of the project. It was a kind of “baptism by fire,” and Rinku quickly proved her mettle, directing a group of eminent scientists from seven institutions nationwide. Moreover, she served as the primary software developer, designing and creating critical components creating the fault tolerance backplane that formed the core of the CIFTS software.

Advocating for science

Rinku’s work as a software engineer frequently led to cross-cutting research, whether improving techniques for power management on supercomputers or improving application performance through enhancing HPC software stacks or raising awareness of the importance of sustainable software and best practices in research. She enjoyed the work – and the accompanying promotions. But she began to feel that her title as a software engineer didn’t fully capture the breadth of her contributions. That was until she discovered the term “Research Software Engineer” (RSE), which perfectly encapsulated her work. Yes, she acknowledges, RSEs do write software code; but more than that, they support scientific research, working closely with the scientists from various domains to understand their complex, open-ended problems and design innovative solutions to address them.

Rinku has worked hard to promote recognition of RSEs. In the past five years she has presented tutorials, co-authored guides, and written articles designed to help colleagues and stakeholders alike understand this relatively new career path (the term was first used in 2010). She laughs when someone says she has become an ardent advocate and spokesperson for RSEs.

But she stops laughing to acknowledge that some scientists and managers still fail to grasp the value that RSEs bring to the table. They often overlook the fact that RSEs’ challenges and expertise are uniquely suited to the research environment and are more appropriate than traditional software developers for addressing the complex needs of scientific research. As Rinku emphatically states, “Good software is good science,” and domain scientists often “lack the expertise or software development background to create software that is accurate, accessible, and reproducible and meets the high standards of scientific research. This is where RSEs can make a critical difference.”

Rinku also serves as editor-in-chief of Better Scientific Software (BSSw), an international collaborative hub that has gained significant traction within the scientific computing community since 2017. With this effort, Rinku’s goal was to raise awareness among scientific computing professionals of the importance of adopting good software practices and to help developers of scientific software create better, sustainable software. Through BSSw, Rinku has played a vital role in promoting software sustainability, an area that has sadly not been a primary focus of scientific researchers, Rinku notes. However, she observes with optimism, this is changing, and BSSw is proud to be at the forefront of this shift.

The start of something big

Rinku finds her job as Principal Specialist, Research Software Engineer at Argonne fascinating and challenging: fascinating because she is using her technical and collaborative skills in new areas in the exascale era, and challenging because she is constantly seeking new ways to advance the increasingly important role of the RSE in the scientific software community.

As a steering committee member of the US-RSE Association since 2023, Rinku encourages individuals to explore the association’s services and the RSE career track, whether they are starting their software engineering journey or contemplating a mid-career change. Her advice is to ask questions, seek guidance from experienced professionals, or join the US-RSE community. Through her leadership and advocacy, Rinku has been driving culture change, empowering RSEs, and fostering a supportive ecosystem across national labs, the United States, and internationally, through various initiatives and leadership roles within the US-RSE. Rinku envisions a future where RSEs are recognized as essential and equal partners in the scientific research community.