I/UCRC: Cloud and Autonomic Computing I/UCRC site at Texas Tech University (CAC@TTU)

Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX

Investigators

Abstract

Texas Tech University (TTU) is proposing to be added as a site to the existing I/UCRC for Cloud and Autonomic Computing (CAC). TTU site will focus on cloud standards and standards-based software development innovation. It will extend and enhance the activities of the CAC in areas related to cloud computing best practices and standards research, including standards-based software, development and use of software stacks and reference implementations, and industry applications in real-world settings. TTU site will be working with the largest and most active of the computing-oriented Standards Development Organizations and vendors. The research effort will meet the industry need to organize, classify, develop reference implementations and contribute to the standards-based software in advanced distributed computing. Development of appropriate industry- and community-based consensus standards and application of these methods are required to exploit the capacity for transformative change provided by the new techniques for cloud and other advanced distributed computing. Without coordination on interface standards, algorithms and techniques, many potential advantages of these methods may be compromised due to a chaotic multiplicity of approaches, protocols and application programmer interfaces. The TTU site will leverage contacts with three outreach-oriented organizations with which the PIs are involved: (1) the TTU STEM Education & Outreach project for which the university has been nationally recognized; (2) by extensions of the existing High Performance Computing Center (HPCC) involvement in the SURAgrid regional grid and cloud computing educational dissemination project (including ongoing collaborations with the SURAgrid Virtual Organization and Cloud Computing Options Working Group); and (3) the High Performance Computing Across Texas (HiPCAT) organization, which concentrates on broadening access to grid and cloud computing in the physical sciences. The TTU HPCC and the PIs have extensive involvement with each of these programs. The site will develop an annual targeted workshop to integrate hands-on learning experiences for historically under-represented population groups into the projects that will be carried out during the performance period of this proposal, as well as activities to engage with the needs of selected non-profit organizations in areas in which they could benefit from the use of cloud computing. Texas Tech University has a number of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) educational outreach programs that overlap in the area of recruiting new students and in the mentoring of STEM students from underrepresented groups. The PIs will leverage these programs to strengthen their recruitment efforts.