EDUCAUSE | High-Performance Computing and Articles, Papers, and Reports

Cyberinfrastructure and the Evolution of Higher Education

ckeller — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 09:01:00 -0500

This ECAR research bulletin discusses the role cyberinfrastructure will play as higher education evolves. Changes in the job markets, in higher education research and teaching, and in emerging academic disciplines are having a direct impact on, and will be directly impacted by, information technologies. As high-level national councils acknowledge, higher education has an enormous stake in these crucial and sweeping changes.

Citation for this work: Dede, Chris. “Cyberinfrastructure and the Evolution of Higher Education” (Research Bulletin, Issue 18). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Cyberinfrastructure: Changing a Cottage Industry

elilly — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:32:22 -0500

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.

Making Research and Education Cyberinfrastructure Real

elilly — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:25:51 -0500

Providing an evolving foundation for 21st-century research and education, cyberinfrastructure is both a focus for invention and an accelerator of innovation, linked through a trajectory that begins with design and evolves to broad-based use.

Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship Roadmap

elilly — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:36:51 -0500

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.

Citation for this work: Pirani, Judith A. and Mark C. Sheehan, “Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship Roadmap” (Roadmap). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2005, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar .

Recasting the Centralization-Decentralization Debate: Advancing the Innovation Support Cycle

gdobbin — Tue, 13 May 2008 08:33:06 -0500

This research bulletin explores the importance of focusing on innovation in decision-making about IT. Acknowledging the apparent dichotomy between the efficient use of resources in a centralized IT model and the effective application of IT resources toward innovative research and pedagogy, the bulletin presents a model for IT service delivery that can be used or adapted in colleges and universities.

Citation for this work: Frederick, Lawrence W. “Recasting the Centralization–Decentralization Debate: Advancing the Innovation Support Cycle” (Research Bulletin, Issue 10). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Advanced Networking Services: Current Issues in Higher Education

gdobbin — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:40:56 -0500

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.

Higher Education IT and Cyberinfrastructure: Integrating Technologies for Scholarship

elilly — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:24:44 -0500

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.

Advancing Global Sustainability Through Technology

ckeller — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:09:54 -0600

This Intel white paper focuses on the importance of of the eco-technology revolution in the wake of global warming and the growing importance of developing energy-efficent sustainable technologies.

Developing and Extending a Cyberinfrastructure Model

gdobbin — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:34:45 -0600

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.

Cyberscholarship: High Performance Computing Meets Digital Libraries

elilly — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 13:05:53 -0600

In April 2007, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the British Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) held an invitational workshop on data-driven science and data-driven scholarship, co-chaired by Ronald Larsen and William Arms, who jointly authored the final report. The report used the term cyberscholarship to describe new forms of research that become possible when high-performance computing meets digital libraries. | [1] Elsewhere in this issue of the Journal of Electronic Publishing, Ronald Larsen describes the workshop and its conclusions. In this article, William Arms gives a personal view of the motivation behind the workshop and the roles of libraries and publishing in achieving its goals.

IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice - Corporate Edition

ckeller — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:55:01 -0600

This ECAR research study was designed in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges to analyze the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise in medical schools and colleges. As the potential of biotechnology, proteomics, informatics, computational genomics, and other IT-intensive disciplines continue to offer breakthroughs in medicine, research in these fields requires greater and higher-level technology resources for infrastructure as well as IT support and services. The study is based on the results of a web-based survey sent to 125 medical schools and colleges in the United States, as well as qualitative interviews with leaders at 10 institutions. Respondents to the survey were predominantly chief information officers or other top administrators from 50 medical institutions, yielding a response rate of 39.7 percent. The findings contained in this report echo the results of the ECAR 2006 study, IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study, illustrating that the role and importance of IT in research is growing, while funding and budget decisions remain difficult. A non-profit edition is available here.

Citation for this work: Nelson, Mark R. IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice (Research Study, Vol. 1). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice Roadmap

ckeller — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 16:27:19 -0600

This ECAR roadmap synthesizes the important issues and recommended actions drawn from the 2008 study, IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice, by Mark R. Nelson. This ECAR research study was designed in collaboration with the Association of American Medical Colleges to analyze the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise in medical schools and colleges. As the potential of biotechnology, proteomics, informatics, computational genomics, and other IT-intensive disciplines continue to offer breakthroughs in medicine, research in these fields requires greater and higher-level technology resources for infrastructure as well as IT support and services. The study is based on the results of a January 2007 web-based survey sent to 125 medical schools and colleges in the United States, as well as qualitative interviews with leaders at 10 institutions.

Citation for this work: Albrecht, Bob, and Judith A. Pirani. "IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice Roadmap" (Roadmap). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2005, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice

ckeller — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 11:11:35 -0600

Citation for this work: Nelson, Mark R. IT Engagement in Research: A View of Medical School Practice (Research Study, Vol. 1). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2008, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Final Report of the Indiana University Cyberinfrastructure Research Taskforce

ckeller — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:10:20 -0600

This report to the Indiana University Vice President for Research & Information Technology conveys 10 specific recommendations. It recognizes both current progress in cyberinfrastructure development while also proposing new directions for cyberinfrastructure needs and opportunities.

Final Report: A Workshop on Effective Approaches to Campus Research Computing Cyberinfrastructure

ckeller — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 15:05:58 -0600

Cyberinfrastructure has become a key enabler for scholarly research. Faculty and researchers are becoming increasingly reliant on a mix of high-performance computing and communications (HPCC) hardware, software, networking, virtual organizations, and key research computing support professionals. To help develop a greater understanding of the key campus challenges in cyberinfrastructure, NSF sponsored a workshop developed by Penn State, with assistance from Internet2, in April, 2006. This workshop brought together a combination of CIOs and high level campus technical representatives – CTOs and others with similarly broad responsibilities – to share approaches and common problems, and to strategize about ways in which they would be able to improve their respective institutions’ support for the demands of current and future research computing. Attended by almost 70 people, representing 40+ US research universities, NSF and Internet2, the workshop was well received and feedback to date indicates that it was highly valuable to the participants on several levels.

CyberBridges—An Authentic Learning Case Study

ckeller — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:53:12 -0500

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.

Teaching Digital Responsibility

drupal — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 09:48:13 -0500

This research bulletin provides an overview of the rationale for the Computing Skills Workshop program at Carnegie Mellon University, which has been in place as a required program for all students since 1985. It explores how the program is structured, how it has evolved over time, and the methodology behind preparing students to be successful teachers in a peer-to-peer format. It is intended to assist higher education executives plan and execute a similar program by identifying key issues and providing resources.

Making Research Cyberinfrastructure a Strategic Choice

drupal — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 10:17:09 -0600

Growing demands for research computing capabilities call for partnerships to build a centralized research cyberinfrastructure.

Improving IT Governance in Higher Education

drupal — Tue, 29 Aug 2006 09:23:30 -0500

This research bulletin examines the ways many research universities govern their IT activities, explores some inherent problems in these processes, identifies several good practices, and suggests changes that may improve the current state of the art. It draws on research conducted by MIT and ECAR on IT alignment and governance; information submitted to the EDUCAUSE Core Data Service survey; the results of an extensive review of IT governance at the University of California, Berkeley; a one-day governance workshop hosted by the Common Solutions Group; the work of a project team participating in the IT Leaders Project; and the observations and results of several external review committees on which the author has served.

IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study - Key Findings

drupal — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:50:47 -0500

This ECAR Key Findings explores the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise. To collect, analyze, and distribute information across an expanding range academic disciplines and geographic locations, research efforts rely heavily on IT infrastructure, people, and a broad range of IT services. Ever-larger data sets are being collected and shared, simulations and visualization are becoming routine tools, and the co-evolution of science and computing increasingly requires scientists to have solid grounding in information management.

IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study Roadmap

drupal — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 09:42:15 -0500

This ECAR Roadmap explores the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise. To collect, analyze, and distribute information across an expanding range academic disciplines and geographic locations, research efforts rely heavily on IT infrastructure, people, and a broad range of IT services. Ever-larger data sets are being collected and shared, simulations and visualization are becoming routine tools, and the co-evolution of science and computing increasingly requires scientists to have solid grounding in information management.

IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study

drupal — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 16:58:17 -0500

This ECAR study explores the practices and perspectives of IT organizations that support the academic research enterprise. To collect, analyze, and distribute information across an expanding range academic disciplines and geographic locations, research efforts rely heavily on IT infrastructure, people, and a broad range of IT services. Ever-larger data sets are being collected and shared, simulations and visualization are becoming routine tools, and the co-evolution of science and computing increasingly requires scientists to have solid grounding in information management. This study reports the results of a variety of research initiatives: a literature review, quantitative and qualitative data from 328 higher education institutions (315 U.S. and 13 Canadian institutions), and five in-depth cases studies. In addition, ECAR published What Do Researchers Need? Higher Education IT from the Researcher's Perspective, to supplement this study.

What Do Researchers Need? Higher Education IT from the Researcher’s Perspective

drupal — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 09:28:53 -0500

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.

A Collaborative IT Support Model for Research at Georgetown University

drupal — Fri, 14 Jul 2006 11:09:28 -0500

This case study depicts the formation, characteristics, and organizational success factors of Georgetown University's Advanced Research Computing (ARC) division. In collaboration with university researchers, ARC provides a range of services from computational support to multi-layered, multi-institutional support for research. A companion to ECAR's 2006 research study, IT Engagement in Research: A Baseline Study, this case study describes how Georgetown created a unique, collaborative, shared-cost IT division specifically for university researchers that now provides a secure environment for computational equipment and increases Georgetown's grant and fundraising competitiveness.

Supporting Research Computing Through Collaboration at Princeton University

drupal — Tue, 23 May 2006 13:44:16 -0500

As a complement to ECAR's core study about IT Engagement in Research, this case study examines Princeton University's institutional research computational facility, which is developed and funded collaborative by its Office of Information Technology, university organizations, and individual faculty members. It explores the critical elements involved in creating a collaborative environment for research computation as well as the organizational structures that foster synergy between computational research and information technology infrastructure.

Re-centering the Research Computing Enterprise

drupal — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 12:12:29 -0500

Research computing must remain centralized in order to best serve higher education institutions and the future advancement of research.

Cyberinfrastructure and the Future of Collaborative Work

drupal — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 13:52:35 -0500

Online sharing of data, computing power, and expensive equipment is transforming research and blazing the trail for widespread advances in cooperative efforts in all human endeavors.

Calit2: A Case Study in a Next-Generation Research Environment

drupal — Wed, 08 Feb 2006 09:55:08 -0600

In higher education, team-based, collaborative research activities, call for new modalities and methods of investigation. Calit2 is responding to this challenge by creating a next-generation research environment that includes a range of technical and nontechnical systems to foster large-scale, multidisciplinary collaborations in innovative ways. This case study explores the breadth and depth of this extensive initiative, including how Calit2 is experimenting with multiple technological methodologies to support locally based, distributed, and virtual research collaborations.

IT and the Changing Face of Research in Higher Education

drupal — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 09:35:41 -0600

This research bulletin provides policymakers with an introduction to the evolving national cyberinfrastructure, discusses the role that new networking and enabling technologies play in integrating institutional research capabilities, and describes the impact these technologies may have on today's higher education research and on campus IT planning.

7 Things You Should Know About Grid Computing

drupal — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 13:36:54 -0600

Grid computing uses middleware to coordinate disparate IT resources across a network, allowing them to function as a virtual whole. The goal of a computing grid, like that of the electrical grid, is to provide users with access to the resources they need, when they need them. Grids address two distinct but related needs: providing remote access to IT assets, and aggregating processing power.

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

In addition to the "7 Things You Should Know About…" briefs, you may find other ELI resources useful in addressing teaching, learning, and technology issues at your institution. To learn more, please visit the ELI Resources page.

New Partnerships: Engaging Undergraduates in Research through Technology

drupal — Tue, 03 Jan 2006 10:15:37 -0600

This bulletin discusses how technology can serve as a catalyst for integrating faculty research into the undergraduate learning environment. It describes The Ohio State University's highly successful Research on Research: Student-Faculty ePartnerships program and includes recommendations for replicating the program on other campuses. The findings in this bulletin are based on project participants' postevaluation survey responses and testimonials collected over a two-year period.

E-Research: An Imperative for Strengthening Institutional Partnerships

drupal — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 14:42:35 -0500

A transformation is clearly occurring in research practice, a transformation that will have a profound impact on the roles of information professionals within higher education.

Next Generation Education Software: Why We Need It and a Research Agenda to Get It

drupal — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 12:27:14 -0500

Andries van Dam describes software such as MathPad and ChemPad that foster deeper understanding of difficult topics. He advocates next-generational educational software based on integrated models that vary in complexity depending upon the learner.

A New Model for Supporting Research at Purdue University

drupal — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:12:19 -0500

This case study investigates the genesis, nature, and outcomes of Purdue University's notable transformation in how research activities interact with institutional information technology. Of particular interest is how the relationship between research and IT is reflected in organization, infrastructure, and services.

Digital Humanities at the Crossroads: The University of Virginia

drupal — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:07:16 -0500

This case study explores how the University of Virginia has managed to integrate the expertise of scholars, librarians, and technologists to achieve leadership in the digital humanities. It highlights qualities not usually associated with academic historians and linguists: entrepreneurship, risk, collaboration, and organizational agility.

IBM Opens Research to Academia

drupal — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 11:01:28 -0500

IBM is extending an academic outreach program to give universities access to some of its cutting-edge research free of charge.

Higher Education Alert: The Information Railroad Is Coming

drupal — Fri, 27 May 2005 09:50:44 -0500

Willam. A. Wulf points out that although the exponential pace of technological change cannot go on forever, the slowdown is not on the horizon and is not going to spare us from rethinking the university. Although we can predict the improvement of technology with precision, predicting the societal impact of that improvement is difficult. He explores the implications of technology for higher education by looking at several aspects of universities and noting how they have been or might be changed.

The Valley of the Shadow: Scholarship in the Digital World

drupal — Fri, 20 May 2005 17:02:01 -0500

The University of Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology was created to match motivated humanists with broad-minded computer scientists to create new tools for understanding the record of human experience. The Valley of the Shadow Civil War project has employed digitization to create a digital archive of reference material.

Bioinformatics: New Technology Models for Research, Education, and Service

drupal — Tue, 13 Apr 2004 09:25:27 -0500

Bioinformatics applies principles of information sciences and technologies to complex life sciences data. Life sciences research and education are increasingly dependent on bioinformatics and advanced information technologies in order to support their experimental approaches. This research bulletin provides an overview of the opportunities, challenges, and strategies for information technology organizations to optimally facilitate bioinformatics research and broader life sciences development efforts in higher education.

China Grid Project Goes Live

drupal — Tue, 14 Oct 2003 15:50:16 -0500

Chinese education officials this week will launch a grid-computing project they say might one day cover 200,000 students at 100 universities around the country. The China Education and Research Grid, managed by the Chinese Ministry of Education, will initially include 12 universities and will be capable of 6 trillion FLOPS (floating point operations per second) by 2005. The power of the grid is expected to increase to 15 trillion FLOPS. Al Bunshaft, vice president of sales and development for grid computing for IBM, which is building the new Chinese grid computer, said it will be used for a University of Hong Kong Web-based language instruction application, video software developed by Peking University, and a suite of bioinformatics applications. The Chinese grid will not be as large as some, such as the U.S. National Science Foundation's TeraGrid, but Bunshaft said it could become the largest grid for remote learning.

A Partnership Approach to Funding High-End Research Computing

drupal — Sun, 23 Nov 1997 01:00:00 -0600

Providing facilities and support for excellent computational research is costly. Most college and university computing centers don't have budgets to meet these exceptional needs, yet simulation and computation play a critical role in research for many disciplines. The problem is providing high-end facilities to significantly extend the reach of one segment of a university's computing community without creating inequities in overall funding for instructional, general academic, and administrative computing. This paper presents a model for building centralized research computing facilities that emphasizes partnerships and leveraged funding. Key elements include good communication with end-user groups, correct timing, and solid partnerships with research support units in the university, external funding agencies, and vendors.