The Role of Regional Organizations in Improving Access to the National Computational Infrastructure

Kansas State University, Manhattan KS

Investigators

Abstract

Agencies like the National Science Foundation have made significant investments in the national computational infrastructure by creating campus and national computation centers throughout the United States. The financial investments are not limited to computer hardware and extend to investments in networks, software, and support personnel to assist campus-level researchers to effectively use these resources to answer challenging scientific questions. A diverse set of organizations has emerged to support access to the national computational infrastructure. Many of the organizations specialize whereas others provide a range of services. Some of these organizations are self-sustaining while others rely on continued agency support. Organizations that provide similar services are likely to communicate with one another more regularly. The Improving Access Workshop, supported by this award, will bring together for the first time representatives from campus, state, regional, and other organizations with a vested interest in furthering access to and supporting computational resources by campus researchers. Participants will develop a set of recommendations to assist the community to expand researcher engagement to under-represented communities, to engage in timely and relevant education and outreach efforts to computational researchers over the long term, to coordinate efforts across the diverse set of organizations described above, and to leverage resources across campus, state, and regional boundaries. The goal of the workshop is to develop a coherent set of recommendations to the National Science Foundation and to the community, at large, which provide answers to a set of strategic questions. A Conference Organizing Committee composed of experts in campus, regional, and national infrastructure has been formed. To accelerate the process of developing a useful set of recommendations, white papers will be solicited in advance of the conference that are relevant to the strategic questions. Based on a review of papers submitted, invitations to participate in the conference will be extended to up to 60 organizations. The one and a half day conference will be held in Kansas City, MO, and facilitated by members of the organizing committee. A final report will be issued in late 2015. The proposed meeting promises to coordinate efforts that lead to significant improvements in meeting the needs of academic researchers. The meeting will bring the needs of the computational research community to the forefront of organizations that are uniquely positioned to assist in meeting those needs. In situations where a small or medium-sized campus does not have the resources to assist a small number of researchers with advanced computational needs, the next level up - the state or other regional organization - will be in an excellent position to reach out to those researchers. In the long-term, the output from this conference promises to re-focus the efforts of regional organizations and align them with the capacities of the national infrastructure and the needs of campus researchers.