Greetings to members of the Campus Research Computing (CaRCC) Communities!
The PEARC21 Virtual Conference (July 19-22) is almost here. Be sure to attend the many great workshops, tutorials, presentations, and panels from persons in the community. And here are some of the CaRCC-related activities you won’t want to miss:
Town Hall
Panel: Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC) Town Hall
Wednesday July 21st, 9:20 AM – 10:50 AM PDT
Thomas Cheatham, University of Utah; Dana Brunson, Internet2; Ruth Marinshaw, Stanford University; Lauren Michael, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Claire Mizumoto, UC San Diego; Patrick Schmitz, Semper Cogito; Scott Yockel, Harvard University
RCD Capabilities Model
Workshop: Building a Strategic Plan for your Research Computing and Data Program
Monday July 19th, 8:00 am – 11:00 am (PT)
Dana Brunson, Internet2; Doug Jennewein, Arizona State University; Claire Mizumoto, UC San Diego; Patrick Schmitz, Semper Cogito; Scotty Strachan, University of Nevada, Reno
This workshop will gather Research Computing and Data (RCD) professionals to learn leading practices for developing effective strategic plans for their Research Computing and Data programs. Attendees will discuss the range of RCD strategic planning models across the community, and approaches to building a strong strategic planning practice.
Paper: Assessing the Landscape of Research Computing and Data Support
Tuesday July 20th 9:50 AM – 10:20 AM PDT
Patrick Schmitz, Semper Cogito
We describe the first Research Computing and Data Capabilities Model Community Dataset, aggregating the assessments of 41 Higher Education Institutions. This Community Dataset provides insight into the current state of support for RCD across the community and in a number of key sub-communities. The dataset shows stark differences between Public and Private institutions, between institutions with a larger and smaller share of national funding, etc.
BoF: Assessing and communicating cyberinfrastructure readiness at EPSCoR and under-resourced institutions
Tuesday July 20th, 11:15 AM – 12:15 PM PDT
Scotty Strachan, University of Nevada, Reno; Venice Bayrd, Montana State University; Patrick Schmitz, Semper Cogito; Dana Brunson, Internet2; Pips Veazey, University of Maine; Gwen Jacobs, University of Hawai’i
This BoF, which is part of a series of EPSCoR-focused engagement events for 2020-2022, brings together RCD Capabilities Model Working Group members and research technology support personnel from NSF-EPSCoR institutions to review ongoing challenges to assess and communicate institutional cyberinfrastructure (CI) readiness, discuss current model engagement efforts, provide feedback to the Model development process, and brainstorm potential cooperative CI efforts across the EPSCoR program.
RCD Professionalization
BoF: Quantifying the Research Computing and Data Professional Community for Attracting, Retaining, and Diversifying RCD Professionals
Wednesday, July 21 • 11:00am – 12:00pm
Christina Maimone (Northwestern University), Scott Yockel (Harvard University), Amy Neeser (UC Berkeley), Ashley Stauffer (Penn State University), Kimberly Grasch (University of Chicago), and Timothy Middelkoop (Internet2)
Participants in the National Science Foundation Virtual Workshop on the Research Innovation Workforce for Cyberinfrastructure identified recruiting and sustaining a diverse and inclusive workforce as a key challenge for the future of the RCD field, yet no systematic data is currently available on the current composition of the RCD workforce. A breakout group from this workshop joined the CaRCC RCD Professionalization Working Group, and set out to better understand quantitatively the state of RCD staffing across the United States by designing, testing, and implementing an RCD workforce survey tool and using that to conduct a national survey. During the Birds of Feather, the working group will provide an overview of the current state of this work and solicit feedback from the audience on a number of topics.
Emerging Centers (People Network)
Workshop: Refining Your Research Computing Pitch
Monday, July 19 • 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Jane Combs, University of Cincinnati; Richard Knepper, Cornell University (Emerging Centers track coordinators)
This PEARC workshop is for professionals (center leaders, facilitators, faculty champions, etc) of existing or emerging research computing organizations (even those “one-person shops”) to get feedback on and develop their communication materials. We hope through this workshop to provide a clearing-house of template materials that will make campus outreach easier for research computing professionals, which can be reviewed and improved by participants over time.