Updates | Introduction | More on the Workshop | Getting Involved | Related Posts
Updates
Writing up Workshop Outcomes and Visioneering the Future — Contribute your expertise!
A successful in-person EPSCoR CI Workshop was held on Sunday, November 13, 2022, in Portland, Maine, in colocation with the adjacent EPSCoR National Meeting. The WG is now writing up outcomes from the Spring and Fall workshops in reports to NSF and the community. We invite the EPSCoR community to contribute to the process, and to help shape future EPSCoR CI community engagements as we envision our next steps. Join our Working Group calls to contribute!
Working Group calls now scheduled weekly on Thursdays, 2 pm PT
The EPSCoR CI WG has calls every second Thursday at 2 PM (Pacific time – this is our new time from March 12, 2023 and going forward). Contact our co-chairs for coordinates!
Introduction
NSF EPSCoR jurisdictions have historically underinvested in the cyberinfrastructure (CI, a.k.a. RCD for Research Computing and Data) resources and services required to drive data- and compute-intensive science forward. This has created an uneven distribution and availability of academic CI across the nation. However, the degree of disparity in CI distribution and availability is unclear because baseline data characterizing available CI across EPSCoR jurisdictions and institutions has heretofore been lacking.
The goals of this CaRCC Working Group have been to host a workshop series to reduce the knowledge gap surrounding CI capabilities, and address a recent “Call to Action” to increase CI access across EPSCoR (Moore, 2019). To generate the baseline assessment data needed to support these goals, we partnered closely with our colleagues in the RCD CM WG, and encouraged interested participants to complete the RCD Capabilities Model assessment. The assessment formed the core aspect of participation in the workshop series, as baseline data and resulting reports were used as a springboard for workshop discussions. Additional training and workshop activities were intended to inspire ideas around improving CI access, planning, and partnerships. We have produced an initial EPSCoR CI data analysis report (Schmitz, et al., 2022; see below under “More information…”), and held both a March 2022 preliminary workshop (virtual) and a November 2022 Workshop (in-person). Our next steps as a Working Group are writing up results from the workshops, and planning next steps for increasing EPSCoR CI community engagement. Please join us and contribute your perspective as we move on to defining our next phase!
For those interested in completing the RCD Capabilities Model assessment tool, please see our peer working group webpages which introduce the model, the assessment tool, and associated consulting/community resources. If you would like to get a copy of the assessment tool and dive in, start by filling out this Access Request Form, and check out the Introduction and Guide to Use.
More information on the EPSCoR CI Workshop
See our latest report on the 2020/2021 combined community RCD CM baseline data, with a focus on EPSCoR community capabilities and priorities:
Schmitz, Patrick, Bayrd, Venice, Strachan, Scotty, & Jacobs, Gwen. (2022). A Baseline of EPSCoR Research CI Capabilities. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6395204
See our 1-Page handout that summarizes our workshop goals and key info.
PEARC EPSCoR CI Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) Resources now available:
- EPSCoR CI WG PEARC21 BoF (read the session proposal, or view the recording): Assessing and communicating CI readiness at EPSCoR and under-resourced institutions: Using the 2020 Research Computing & Data Capabilities Model for CI awareness and planning is now available.
- EPSCoR CI WG PEARC20 BoF (read the session proposal): Preparing EPSCoR institutions for Research Computing and Data Capabilities Model engagement: Discussion on the RCD Capabilities Model for EPSCoR states, other emerging CI centers.
2021 RCD CM Community Dataset report: This report describes the second Research Computing and Data Capabilities Model Community Dataset, aggregating the assessments of 51 Higher Education Institutions, including 15 EPSCoR institutions. Read more about the Community Dataset.
2020 RCD CM Community Dataset report: This report describes the first Research Computing and Data Capabilities Model Community Dataset, aggregating the assessments of 41 Higher Education Institutions, including 10 EPSCoR institutions. Read more about the Community Dataset.
Funding: This work is supported in part by NSF (OIA) Award 2033483, Award 2033519, and Award 2033514, Collaborative Research: “Building Research Cyberinfrastructure in EPSCoR Jurisdictions: Assessment, Planning and Partnerships.” Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Getting Involved
For more information and/or to get involved:
The Working Group has calls every Thursday at 2 PM (Pacific time – this is our new time from March 12, 2023 and going forward). If you want to learn more about this working group and the associated collaboration among EPSCoR-eligible institutions (and others facing similar challenges), please contact the co-Chairs Gwen Jacobs (University of Hawaii) and Venice Bayrd (Montana State) with your interests and questions.