It’s going to be an exciting and busy week at the PEARC24 conference in Providence, Rhode Island July 21-25. Plan your schedule now and don’t miss these CaRCC-related activities.
SUNDAY, JULY 21
RCD Nexus Day
8am-6:30pm Room 551 A&B
Organizers: Venice Bayrd, Justin Booth, Dana Brunson, Thomas Cheatham, Patrick Clemins Bob Freeman, Clark Gaylord, Brian Haymore, Betsy Hillery, Susan Ivey, Deb McCaffrey, Daphne McCanse, Timothy Middelkoop, Lauren Michael, Claire Mizumoto, Patrick Schmitz, Jason Simms, Scott Yockel
This PEARC24 co-located event will bring together professionals from across the Research Computing and Data (RCD) community for a full day of collaboration and connection. Tracks include What We’re Facing as RCD Professionals and Working with Secure Data. With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), RCD Nexus Day is an open, inclusive event that warmly welcomes all members of the RCD community. Pre-registration is required.
MONDAY, JULY 22
Understanding the CaRCC Capabilities Model Assessment Tools and How Best to Use them at Your Institution
8am-5pm Ballroom E
Organizers: Dana Brunson, Thomas Cheatham, John Hicks, Lauren Michael, Patrick Schmitz
This workshop will provide an introduction to the CaRCC Capabilities Model and how institutions approach using the Capabilities Model assessment tools to improve their strategic planning and make the case for increased campus support to advance computationally- and data-intensive research and education.
TUESDAY, JULY 23
Coffee with CaRCC
10:30-11:30am Exhibit Hall A
Whether you’re already involved with CaRCC or you want to learn more, join us for this informal meet up. Current CaRCC members will be on hand to chat with newcomers about the organization, while existing members can connect with their CaRCC friends and colleagues. We’ll also have special treats (hint: donuts!) not available at the other break stations.
CaRCC People Network – Emerging Centers Track BoF
1:30-2:30pm Junior Ballroom
Organizers: Jane Combs, Richard Knepper, Patrick Clemens
The Emerging Centers track brings together members of research computing departments/aspiring centers that are just getting started at their institutions, research computing groups at smaller institutions, and folks who are new to the research computing community. Monthly ‘non-conference’ calls include topics such as funding models, engaging with faculty and investigators, working with campus leadership, and developing research computing/data services (compute, storage, networks, training, applications and people) on campuses. An important goal is to identify artifacts and useful outputs which can be shared across the community. At this birds of a feather session, we will continue to create a community of people who are passionate about providing access to and support for research computation and data tools and services.
CaRCC Town Hall
3:00-4:30pm Ballroom A
Organizers: CaRCC Group Chairs and People Network Track Coordinators
We will provide brief updates on CaRCC activities before opening the floor to our CaRCC community. We look forward to expanding the perennial discussion with the broader community about how CaRCC can best meet your needs and support you as RCD professionals now and in the future.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24
Kickstarting Research Support at Under-Resourced Institutions, A Starter Guide to Advance Your Self-Assessment of Research Computing and Data Capabilities
11:40-11:55am Junior Ballroom
Authors: John Hicks, Dana Brunson, Sarvani Chadalapaka, Forough Ghahramani, Lauren Michael, Caroline Carver Weilhamer
Institutions that are smaller and/or under-resourced, traditionally teaching-focused, with emerging Research Computing and Data (RCD) programs often struggle to support computational and data-intense research and instructional activities. Following several rounds of community input on the topic above, a committee on “focused tools” for the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC) Capabilities Model (CAPSM) has developed an introductory guide. The guide, intended in particular for smaller and/or under-resourced institutions and emerging RCD programs, helps begin engagement to evaluate and build research support for their campuses. The guide is just the starting point, but offers suggestions on how to start a dialog about where an institution is on their research support journey.
Onboarding Research Computing and Data Professionals
11:55am-12:10pm Junior Ballroom
Authors: Gladys Andino, Scott L. Delinger, Jacob Fosso Tande, Timothy Middelkoop, Claire Mizumoto, David P. Reddy, and Michael D. Weiner.
Research and researchers have become more dependent upon the support of Research Computing and Data (RCD) Professionals throughout the entire research lifecycle as technologies, infrastructure, and services grow in technical complexity with increased activities that include areas such as computationally intensive data, AI and machine learning, and compliance data. The particularities of RCD professions are distinctly different from those of enterprise IT support personnel, emphasizing the explicit need for specific introduction and training. This paper provides a framework for onboarding RCD Professionals and provides a high level overview of the philosophy to provide context and motivation for onboarding activities. Although many of the details may be of relevance to other positions, such as enterprise information technology, this paper is specific to the RCD profession.
Membership and Participation in Our RCD Communities: What Is It and How Are We Doing?
3:30-3:45pm Room 557
Authors: Robert Freeman, Jr., Kirk M Anne, Gabriel King Smith, Wei Yin, Gil Speyer, Chris Reidy
The Research Computing and Data (RCD) community has coalesced over the past ten years to encompass hundreds of organizations that support both researchers and research support staff alike. While many of these organizations may rely on external funding, definitions of membership vary considerably, and their goals may include broadening participation, increasing diversity and inclusion, and performing outreach to encourage those besides “the usual suspects” to get involved. In addition, silent or absent audience members –ones who are minimally or not at all engaged– are easily overlooked. This preliminary work addresses a need for tools to help an organization know its membership, to characterize the depth of participation and engagement, and to identify and measure any untapped potential as part of its mission to maximize the capabilities of its community.