Manhattan College Systems Administrator Receives First Charlie Bender Scholarship

Manhattan College systems administrator Wyatt Madej ’21, ’24 (MBA), has been awarded the first Charlie Bender Scholarship from the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC). The scholarship is valued at $2,100 and is designed to support the professional development of research computing and data (RCD) professionals. CASC is an educational nonprofit organization that focuses on advanced computing technology in the 21st century. 

In May, Madej attended the Linux Clusters Institute (LCI) workshop at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, for Linux system administrators new to high performance computing (HPC). The scholarship committee recognized Madej’s passion for learning and attaining increased responsibilities in research computing and data administration at the College. 

“Based on his initiative and the management-level skills Wyatt has demonstrated early on in his career, the committee of LCI and CASC members quickly decided that he was the ideal candidate for the first scholarship,” said Richard Knepper, CASC vice chair and director of the Cornell University Center for Advanced Computing. 

Madej is a system administrator and engineer at Manhattan College, where he manages and maintains academic computing systems, including overseeing a computer lab standard operating environment (SOE) of approximately 1,200 devices, and leading cyberinfrastructure projects. He has also led projects in advanced networking and cyberinfrastructure, HPC, and grant writing. The scholarship also provided Madej with the opportunity to network with other RCD professionals from across the United States.

“The scholarship helped to further my education in supporting research computing systems and advanced cyberinfrastructure,” said Madej.  “At LCI, I learned about the architecture,  the support, and administration of high performance and research computing systems which benefits my work here at Manhattan College in the construction and support of high-performance computing systems and high-performance storage systems.”

Madej said that the scholarship will “help support, drive and advance current research being done by the incredible faculty and student researchers” at Manhattan College. 

“The scholarship provided the opportunity to learn from some of the brightest minds in high-performance and research computing, and to network with people across the United States to learn from and share the great research and cyberinfrastructure going on here at Manhattan College,” said Madej.