Inside WINS: Learning, Growing, and Finding a Place in SCinet

Alaa Hamadeh

CENIC | Routing

For Alaa, WINS has meant growing technically while also finding her footing in a new professional environment. As an Operations Network Engineer at CENIC, she came into the program with networking experience, but SCinet has given her opportunities to work at a different scale, from building the network in the GNS lab to preparing an MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching) training for her team.

Along the way, she has learned something about herself, too.

“I learned to trust my abilities, adapt to a new professional environment, and become more confident,” she said.

For Alaa, stepping outside her comfort zone has become part of the experience and part of her growth.

I learned to trust my abilities, adapt to a new professional environment, and become more confident.

Jamie Price

University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus | DevOps

Jamie has spent years working in network engineering and Wi-Fi, but WINS quickly dropped her into unfamiliar territory that included Django, GitLab workflows, collaborative software development, and AI-assisted coding.

Instead of walking away thinking, “This isn’t my area,” she came away with a different realization.

“It gave me a confidence boost I didn’t know I needed,” Jaime said. “It proved to me that I can be flexible, jump into something completely unfamiliar, and still figure it out.”

That may be one of the best descriptions of what learning inside SCinet can look like: you may not always know exactly where you will fit when you arrive, but you will find a calling.

It proved to me that I can be flexible, jump into something completely unfamiliar, and still figure it out.

Shereen Ismail

Merit Network | NetSec

Shereen came to WINS from a research background in cybersecurity and network measurement. Working with NetSec has given her the opportunity to experience the operational side of large-scale research networking and learn more about firewall deployment, monitoring, and the infrastructure behind SCinet.

One of her biggest takeaways, though, is not purely technical.

“Technical expertise is important, but successful projects also depend on effective teamwork and knowledge sharing,” she explained.

Shereen also has been surprised by just how much planning and coordination happens months before the conference begins.

Technical expertise is important, but successful projects also depend on effective teamwork and knowledge sharing.

Stephanie Hanson

MOREnet | Automation

Stephanie’s path into technology and to SCinet has not been traditional. She started with a degree in Art Education before eventually building a career in IT. Even after building years of experience as a system administrator, she spent several more hesitating before she applied to WINS because she was not sure she knew “enough.”

Her experience with WINS and SCinet has helped change that perspective.

“The knowledge and perspective I have is worth sharing,” Stephanie said. “I can learn what I don’t know. I can teach people.”

When asked what lessons she has learned about herself, her answer was simple: “How to believe that I can push myself and be successful,” she added.

I can learn what I don’t know. I can teach people.

Esen Gokpinar-Shelton

Indiana University | INDIS and Communications

Esen came to WINS from a different corner of the cyberinfrastructure ecosystem. Her work at Indiana University spans research cyberinfrastructure, program leadership, UI/UX and systems design, and community building. Through WINS, she wanted to better understand the advanced networking layer connecting much of that ecosystem.

Working across both INDIS and Communications has put her in conversations with network researchers and engineers while also giving her the opportunity to tell the stories of the people behind SCinet.

One of the biggest challenges, she says, has been intentionally positioning herself in a technical space where she may not be the deepest expert in the room. Still, that experience has reinforced something she believes about working across complex technical environments.

“You don’t necessarily need to be the deepest expert in every domain, but you need to understand enough to recognize dependencies, bring the right expertise together, and see how individual decisions affect the larger system,” Esen noted.

For Esen, WINS has been an opportunity to get more comfortable crossing those boundaries to better understand how the different pieces of cyberinfrastructure, as well as the people behind them, fit together.

You need to understand enough to recognize dependencies, bring the right expertise together, and see how individual decisions affect the larger system.

This was where the answers started sounding remarkably similar: the people. Jamie talked about how willing people are to help one another: “Everyone genuinely wants each other to succeed.” Meanwhile, Stephanie’s answer was even more succinct: “Meeting people. My team is everything.” For Shereen, the opportunity to connect with experienced professionals from different institutions and learn directly from them has been the most valuable part of her WINS experience so far. Similarly, Alaa pointed to working alongside talented engineers and learning from their knowledge and experiences. For Esen, conversations across both of her teams have offered two sides of the same story, which spans learning about the technologies, research, and ideas behind advanced cyberinfrastructure while also seeing how the expertise provided by the community behind that infrastructure are developed and sustained.

Different teams, varied institutions, and very distinct paths into SCinet, yet they all share an appreciation for the people willing to teach, collaborate, answer questions, and make room for others to contribute.

There is still so much ahead.

Alaa is looking forward to network staging and expanding her work with the Routing Team, while Jamie is excited to experience a major conference from behind the scenes for the first time. Shereen wants to see the full deployment of SCinet and put what she has learned into practice. Stephanie is still looking for what she calls the exact “piece of the puzzle” she will put into place, and Esen is eager to see months of meetings, planning, research, and conversations turn into a functioning network to better understand both the technical and human architecture that makes it all possible.

Their goals may be different, but one message comes through clearly from these midpoint conversations: You do not have to walk into SCinet knowing everything. Bring what you know. Be curious. Be willing to learn from the people around you and find where you can contribute. There is still plenty of the WINS 2026 journey ahead, and SCinet will be following along as this year’s participants make their way to SC26.