Session Abstract

To be as effective and competitive as possible, researchers today (particularly those engaged In “big-data” driven domains) need to understand more than just the technologies for advanced storage and computing. The entire “stack” of tools must be understood and optimized to each researcher’s work – data structures, metadata, data transfer, analytic tools, storage, compute, workflow engines, and more. Increasingly, there is a key role for “facilitators” or “domain experts” in helping researchers optimize this stack. This session will describe effective practices for having and supporting facilitators on campus, sharing expertise across disciplines and engaging non-traditional research communities in advanced computational techniques.

Jim Bottum will moderate a panel of researchers, academic administrators, research center directors, research facilitators and major resource providers including Miron Livny, Professor of Computer Science, University of Wisconsin, Lauren Michael Lead Facilitator, ACI REF Project, ResearchComputing Facilitator, University of Wisconsin, Paul Wilson, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, University of Wisconsin as well as Ed Siedel, Director, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Elias Eldayrie, VP and CIO, University of Florida, and Patricia Carbajales Dale, Director, Center for Geospatial Science, Clemson University.

The panel will discuss why facilitation is important; illustrative success stories and examples around use of analytic tools, compute, data transfer, workflow tools, etc.; effective-practice models for implementing on a campus; challenges of implementation; applicability and engagement across scholarly disciplines.

In preparation for this panel, pre-reading material is being offered courtesy of ECAR/EDUCAUSE and is only for Executive Track attendees. To access this material, please refer to the “Final Details” email sent to Executive Track registrants on May 12. If you cannot locate this email, please contact David Gift.