Advanced Networking and Cyberinfrastructure

Drawn from a recent ECAR research study, this article addresses the importance of five CI technologies to various academic areas in research and in teaching and learning at present and how survey respondents think the importance of these technologies might change in the near future.

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2008 study, Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship , by Mark C. Sheehan. The ECAR research study explores higher education’s involvement in five areas of research-related information technologies: high-performance computing resources, cyberinfrastructure applications and tools, data storage and management resources, advanced network infrastructure resources, and resources for collaboration within virtual communities. The report, which is based on results of a quantitative survey of 369 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities and consultation with cyberinfrastructure experts and 12 university executives and technical staff members, discusses who uses, who provides, and who funds cyberinfrastructure resources as well as how important each technology is and will be to research and teaching.

This research bulletin explores the advanced networking issues and investments that colleges and universities that aspire to support their faculty and students in leading edge research and education activities must face in the near future. It is drawn from the work of the Advanced Networking Services Work Group at the University of California, which was charged with evaluating the current state of UC’s networking infrastructure, identifying best practices in global networking activities, and making recommendations to position UC for competitive advantage. The author served as chair of the Work Group. 

Citation for this work: McCredie, Jack. “Advanced Network Services: Current Issues in Higher Education” (Research Bulletin, Issue 9). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

This 2008 ECAR research study explores higher education’s involvement in five areas of research-related information technologies: high-performance computing resources, cyberinfrastructure applications and tools, data storage and management resources, advanced network infrastructure resources, and resources for collaboration within virtual communities. The report, which is based on results of a quantitative survey of 369 U.S. and Canadian colleges and universities and consultation with cyberinfrastructure experts and 12 university executives and technical staff members, discusses who uses, who provides, and who funds cyberinfrastructure resources as well as how important each technology is and will be to research and teaching.

Citation for This Work: Sheehan, Mark C. Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship (Research Study, Volume 3). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

This research bulletin explores how to develop, deploy, and extend cyberinfrastructure assets within higher education—both within and across institutions. As research becomes increasingly computational, data-intensive, and interdisciplinary, innovative approaches for functional cyberinfrastructure models become ever more important. This bulletin describes a model that was developed at one institution and then deployed across institutions, with the goal of addressing issues as diverse as the need for simulation systems rather than wet labs, insufficient computational research support to help an institution compete for top-notch faculty, and astronomical spikes in power and cooling demands.

Citation for this work: Alvarez, Rosio. “Developing and Extending a Cyberinfrastructure Model” (Research Bulletin, Issue 5). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

This November 2007 survey is a critical component of the EDUCAUSE Center on Applied Research (ECAR) study of cyberinfrastructure in higher education. It seeks to understand the perspectives of information technology leaders and others currently working in universities and colleges. This study updates and expands our communities' understanding of how leading-edge information technology resources for research, scholarship, creative activity, and teaching and learning are utilized, provided, supported, and funded. This study is being conducted through the collaboration of many parties including the Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT), the European University Information Systems organization (EUNIS), the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR), and the EDUCAUSE Net@EDU Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CCI) working group.

How To Cite This Work: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research. "Cyberinfrastructure Resources and Practices: Survey Questionnaire" (Survey Instrument). Boulder, CO: ECAR, 2007, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

CyberBridges trains graduate students how to use cyberinfrastructure (CI) -- a combination of computing systems, applications, and virtual organizations. Supported by NSF, CyberBridges hinges on the hypothesis that technical training of graduate students will not only lead to more rapid scientific discovery but will also trigger greater CI adoption in academic departments. Students are trained in networking and grid computing and then integrate what they have learned into their research to develop innovative tools or approaches. Due to the success of the initial program, CyberBridges has gone "global," involving students in China, Hong Kong, and Brazil.

Cyberinfrastructure is not a new technology, per se, or merely a better, faster Internet. While cyberinfrastructure brings together high-performance computing, remote sensors, large data sets, middleware, and sophisticated applications (modeling, simulation, visualization), it also involves people as participants in the generation of knowledge, giving them the opportunity to share expertise, tools, and facilities. Cyberinfrastructure merges technology, data, and human resources into a seamless whole.

The "7 Things You Should Know About..." series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) provides concise information on emerging learning technologies. Each brief focuses on a single technology and describes what it is, where it is going, and why it matters to teaching and learning. Use these briefs for a no-jargon, quick overview of a topic and share them with time-pressed colleagues.

EDUCAUSE, as part of its Grand Challenges Program, is hosting several summits on topics of particular importance to higher education. These summits are designed to bring together a small number of thought leaders and experts to capture the best ideas and strategies for advancing the community. The 2007 EDUCAUSE Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Summit, held July 10–11 in Denver, was attended by about 50 higher education leaders with particular expertise and responsibility in the support of IT for research. A professional facilitator guided the group through a rich discussion of the highest-priority topics they identified.

Research methods, research subjects, the composition of research teams, and collaborative practices have all been affected in ways that are important to those who manage research and information technology (IT) on campuses. The boundaries of any single institution's research computing infrastructure have expanded to include regional, national, and international as well as campus-specific resources. Researchers continue to need speed, flexibility, and affordability when it comes to networking, and IT is still learning how to most effectively support the work of collaborations undertaken at a distance. This occasional paper focuses on the national research agenda, research trends, and IT from the researcher's perspective.