People Network Calls in February 2022 

Mark your calendars for these upcoming People Network Calls. For handy calendar entries, please try the CaRCC Events Calendar. We’d also like to highlight other calls from our RCD Ecosystem partners and collaborators, as these events touch many, if not all, in our community.

And heads-up for those wishing to contribute or get more involved: Emerging Centers has a call out for Steering Committee members!

If you’re not on our mailing lists, please fill out our Join the People Network form and join our Slack channels.

CaRCC People Network Calls:

Data-Facing Track (first Tuesdays)
Science Gateways and Their Role in Today’s and Future Research Computing Ecosystem, presented by Sandra Gesing, University of Illinois Chicago
Tuesday, February 1, 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11a MT/ 10a PT

Research computing is in an exciting era and has never as fast evolved as in the last 20 years. We can nowadays answer research questions that we could not even ask two decades ago. This has led to discoveries such as the analyses of DNA from Next-Generation Sequencing technologies. The increased complexity of software, data, hardware and lab instruments demands for more openness and sharing of data and methods. Researchers and educators are not necessarily IT specialists though. Thus, a further trend in research computing is the shift from system-centric design to user-centric design and interdisciplinary teams – complex solutions are offered in self-explanatory user interfaces, so-called science gateways or virtual research environments. I will present solutions and projects supporting users to be able to focus on their research questions without the need to become acquainted with the nitty-gritty details of the complex research computing infrastructure. Key aspects of the presented projects are usability and interoperability of computational methods, reproducibility of research results as well as sustainability of research software.

Researcher-Facing Track (second Thursdays)
Sensitive Data in Research Computing – HIPAA support at the University of Utah
Thursday, February 10, 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11a MT/ 10a PT

The ever-evolving federal regulations on sensitive research data has put research facilitation in the unique position of having to provide cutting edge innovation while meeting compliance requirements from funding agencies. Setting up an enclave or secured space for computation, research surveys and databases is forcing all of us to rethink our campus cyberinfrastructure. This month in the Research-Facing call we will hear from one institution that has a HIPPA protected environment on premise. Please join us for a discussion on planning, policies, security controls, services and architecture used to support research with sensitive data.

Emerging Centers Track (third Wednesdays)
Find Funding for Your Initiatives, community sharing
Wednesday, Feb 16, 2022 12p ET/ 11a CT/ 10a MT/ 9a PT/ 7a HT

The Emerging Centers community will brainstorm various funding opportunities and document their experiences, lessons learned and best practices for securing the funding.  Funding opportunity categories to be discussed include, but are not limited to:
– agency funding, industry partnerships, exterior funding
– fees development or other direct charge to researchers
– F&A recovery or getting centralized money from education/technology fees, etc.

Systems-Facing Track (third Thursdays)
Post CentOS 8 Erra: Community Discussion
Thursday, February 17th, 1p ET/12p CT/11a MT/10a PT

In this month’s System Facing meeting, we are looking to engage with the community at large regarding where we are all at now that CentOS 8 has reached its announced EOL. Please come prepared to help us discuss how the changes in the CentOS project to CentOS Stream affected your organization’s efforts this last year and plans moving forward.

Additional community opportunities (in no particular order):

Feb 10 at 12p ET/ 11a CT/ 10a MT/ 9a PT (2nd Thursdays): US Research Software Engineers monthly community call. See https://us-rse.org/calendar/ for more information.

Feb 24 at 1p ET/ 12p CT/ 11a MT/ 10a PT (4th Thursdays of even months): EDUCAUSE Research Computing and Data Community Group will have its monthly community call. See the Events tab within EDUCAUSE Connect for more information. 

CaRCC Calls and Zoom:

Members of the People Network email list receive the above information and reminders, including Zoom room details.

CaRCC and the People Network:

Interested members of the People Network need not subscribe to a particular track to participate in calls. Additional details for track members, including notes documents and any pre-call activities, will be distributed ahead of the call via the email lists and other communication channels within each track.

The CaRCC (Campus Research Computing Consortium) People Network, aims “to foster, build and grow an inclusive community (termed the ‘People Network’) for campus CI, research computing and data professionals.” If you have received this email NOT via CaRCC’s People Network, and you would like to join, please fill in our mailing list request form and join us on Slack!