Penn State University Research Council presentation
In our last all-staff meeting one activity I foreshadowed was an upcoming presentation to our University Research Council that Vijay Agarwala and many others developed. Vijay did 95% of the talking, I just did some set up and some closing. The presentation is laid out in three sections - who we are, what we've been doing, and the results and early analysis of a recently done survey of current customers of ITS research computing and research cyberinfrastructure (or cyberinfrastructure or cyberinfrastructure or cyberinfrastructure or cyberinfrastructure - you get the point) services. The early returns have been pretty good from the members of URC. As I said in the all-staff meeting, this is a general overview but also tailored specifically for that audience. If something doesn't make sense, feel free to post a question here or ask Vijay or me directly.
Technorati Tags: cyberinfrastructure, psuits, puppy
This presentation is an excellent overview of how ITS is directly helping faculty research. I had no idea the breadth and depth of the fields of study.
However, I am curious about the reaction from ALC as to the need for increasing data center space and allocating an additional $2-3M for compute capabilities. Is there any hope that they see the need, and are willing to share in the resources necessary to meet these needs?
Recall that it is URC that has seen this, as opposed to ALC. URC isn't a body to discuss or decide upon funding of initiatives, but they are one to influence, that's for sure. Those numbers and the need for data center space did not surprise anyone, and the challenge is now to have the conversations to get all that must invest in the future to actually do so. It's my hope that in this strategic planning year, we might be able to get enough people on the same page to make a difference. But the data center space issue is much longer term - and we've just begun that process.