Northeast Cyberteam - Building an Environment for Sharing Best Practices and Solutions for Research Computing

Abstract

The Northeast Cyberteam Program is a collaborative effort across Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts that seeks to assist researchers at small and medium-sized institutions in the region with making use of cyberinfrastructure, while simultaneously building the next generation of research computing facilitators. Recognizing that research computing facilitators are frequently in short supply, the program also places intentional emphasis on capturing and disseminating best practices in an effort to enable opportunities to leverage and build on existing solutions whenever practical. The program combines direct assistance to computationally intensive research projects; experiential learning opportunities that pair experienced mentors with students interested in research computing facilitation; sharing of resources and knowledge across large and small institutions; and tools that enable efficient oversight and possible replication of these ideas in other regions. Each project involves a researcher seeking to better utilize cyberinfrastructure in research, a student facilitator, and a mentor with relevant domain expertise. These individuals may be at the same institution or at separate institutions. The student works with the researcher and the mentor to become a bridge between the infrastructure and the research domain. Through this model, students receive training and opportunities that otherwise would not be available, research projects get taken to a higher level, and the effectiveness of the mentor is multiplied. Providing tools to enable self-service learning is a key concept in our strategy to develop facilitators through experiential learning, recognizing that one of the most fundamental skills of successful facilitators is their ability to quickly learn enough about new domains and applications to be able draw parallels with their existing knowledge and help to solve the problem at hand. The Cyberteam Portal is used to access the self-service learning resources developed to provide just-in-time information delivery to participants as they embark on projects in unfamiliar domains, and also serves as a receptacle for best practices, tools, and techniques developed during a project. Tools include Ask.CI, an interactive site for questions and answers; a learning resources repository used to collect online training modules vetted by Cyberteam projects that provide starting points for subsequent projects or independent activities; and a Github repository. The Northeast Cyberteam was created with funding from the National Science Foundation, but has developed strategies for sustainable operations. Each project involves a researcher seeking to better utilize cyberinfrastructure in research, a student facilitator, and a mentor with relevant domain expertise. These individuals may be at the same institution or at separate institutions. The student works with the researcher and the mentor to become a bridge between the infrastructure and the research domain. Through this model, students receive training and opportunities that otherwise would not be available, research projects get taken to a higher level, and the effectiveness of the mentor is multiplied. Providing tools to enable self-service learning is a key concept in our strategy to develop facilitators through experiential learning, recognizing that one of the most fundamental skills of successful facilitators is their ability to quickly learn enough about new domains and applications to be able draw parallels with their existing knowledge and help to solve the problem at hand. The Cyberteam Portal is used to access the self-service learning resources developed to provide just-in-time information delivery to participants as they embark on projects in unfamiliar domains, and also serves as a receptacle for best practices, tools, and techniques developed during a project. Tools include Ask.CI, an interactive site for questions and answers; a learning resources repository used to collect online training modules vetted by Cyberteam projects that provide starting points for subsequent projects or independent activities; and a Github repository. The Northeast Cyberteam was created with funding from the National Science Foundation, but has developed strategies for sustainable operations. Providing tools to enable self-service learning is a key concept in our strategy to develop facilitators through experiential learning, recognizing that one of the most fundamental skills of successful facilitators is their ability to quickly learn enough about new domains and applications to be able draw parallels with their existing knowledge and help to solve the problem at hand. The Cyberteam Portal is used to access the self-service learning resources developed to provide just-in-time information delivery to participants as they embark on projects in unfamiliar domains, and also serves as a receptacle for best practices, tools, and techniques developed during a project. Tools include Ask.CI, an interactive site for questions and answers; a learning resources repository used to collect online training modules vetted by Cyberteam projects that provide starting points for subsequent projects or independent activities; and a Github repository. The Northeast Cyberteam was created with funding from the National Science Foundation, but has developed strategies for sustainable operations.