CaRCC at PEARC24: Headed to Providence? Here’s your guide to all things CaRCC!

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.

People Network Calls and Other Opportunities in July

It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by and PEARC24 is only weeks away in Providence, RI – we hope to see many of you there and will distribute separate communications listing CaRCC activities at PEARC. With the conference on the horizon, many People Network Tracks are canceling their calls for July. But please mark your calendars for the below events still planned, including our usual run-down of calls from our RCD ecosystem partners and collaborators that touch many, if not all, in our community.

For handy calendar entries, try the CaRCC People Network Calendar (GCal view, integrate). If you’re not on our mailing lists, please fill out our Join the People Network form to also join our Slack channel.

As we continue into summer, we’d also like to offer a warm and heartfelt thank-you and congratulations to both Claire Mizumoto (UCSD) and Anita Orendt (Univ Utah), who are retiring. Both have played significant roles throughout the history of CaRCC: Claire as an early co-coordinator for the Researcher Facing Track, RCD Nexus grant co-PI, long-time co-Chair for the Engagement operational group, Capabilities Model working group, and Staff/Student Workforce Development interest group; and Anita as co-Chair for the Staff/Student Workforce Development interest group, member of the Engagement operational group, and team-lead for the website group. Please join us in celebrating their efforts and accomplishments, and in wishing them the best as they move on to new adventures!

Monthly CaRCC Welcome

Thu, 7/11, 3.30-4p ET/ 2.30p CT/ 1.30p MT/ 11:30a PT
Come to learn more about CaRCC’s community-powered organization and opportunities, and feel free to bring along or pass the word to colleagues. These use the same Zoom coordinates as our People Network calls (see further below).

CaRCC People Network Calls

Emerging Centers Track (3^rd Wednesdays)
Generative AI in the Research Enterprise
Wed 7/17, 12p ET/ 11a CT/ 10a MT/ 9a PT/ 7a HT
Our journey into AI discussions continues as we talk about functions of Generative AI in research activities. Alex Feltus and Jason Woodward join us to talk about their work. Jason’s team has developed a Generative AI for Internal Documentation Search with Provenance. Alex is using Generative AI in his research work for developing papers as well as for interfacing with students. Join us to discuss the activities so far!

No Calls in July for the below Tracks:

CaRCC Capabilities Model Workshop at PEARC24

Attending the PEARC24 conference and would like to learn more about how to use the CaRCC Capabilities Model? We are offering a full-day workshop “Understanding the CaRCC Capabilities Model Assessment Tools and How Best to Use them at Your Institution” on Monday, July 22. Just select the workshop when you register for the PEARC24 conference; there’s no additional cost.

About the CaRCC Capabilities Model

The CaRCC Capabilities Model allows participating institutions to:

Assess their support for computationally- and data-intensive research.
Identify potential areas for improvement.
Understand how the broader community views Research Computing and Data support.

Contributing institutions help build the Community Dataset, and enrich the resulting picture we have of our community. You will get access to the benchmarking functionality on the new portal that compares your assessment to the community at-large, as well as segments of the community. As a contributor, you will also get access to more detailed reporting functionality on the new portal, to dig into the data and create custom visualizations.

About the workshop

The 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. Workshop participants will:

Gain an introduction to the CaRCC Capabilities Model and the associated assessment tools and community data exploration portal.
Explore and discuss the practical aspects of conducting an assessment for an institution.
Develop a clear understanding of the tools and gain experience working through the assessment questions.
Discuss and compare effective practices for leveraging assessment and benchmarking data in communications with campus leadership.
Build connections with peers at similar institutions and learn about the community resources available to support participating institutions.

Check back here for a detailed event agenda, coming soon!

2024 RCD Nexus Day

Registration is now closed for the third annual RCD Nexus Day, a one-day workshop and networking event for research computing and data (RCD) professionals on Sunday, July 21 from 8:30am to 6:30pm preceding the PEARC24 Conference in Providence, RI. RCD Nexus Day is an official PEARC co-located event, and there’s no additional cost to attend.

The event will be held at the main conference venue, the Rhode Island Convention Center, Fifth Floor Room 551A/B. See full schedule below.

Last year’s Nexus Day was full of energy. Join us and let’s make the 3rd year even better!

Travel support was provided to a limited number of applicants and the application for support is now closed.

RCD Nexus is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant OAC-2100003.

Keep reading to learn about the track topics and detailed event schedule.

Read the report: RCD Nexus Day 2023

A new report is now available detailing the accomplishments of RCD Nexus Day 2023. Funded by a Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence Pilot grant from the National Science Foundation, the workshop brought together 95 research computing and data (RCD) professionals from institutions across the U.S. The event took place on July 23, 2023, and was an official co-located event of the PEARC’23 conference in Portland, Oregon. Thirty-three attendees received travel support, which allowed them to attend both RCD Nexus Day and the full PEARC23 conference.

In addition to a combined opening session and an evening networking session, the event included two concurrent workshops. Workshop 1 was related to using the RCD Capabilities Model assessment tools and was led by Patrick Schmitz of Semper Cogito Consulting, while Workshop 2 was on the topic of staff and student onboarding and led by Claire Mizumoto of University of California, San Diego. These workshops are described in detail in the full report.

CaRCC activities at PEARC23

It’s almost time for the PEARC23 conference and we’re looking forward to seeing many of you in Portland! Be sure to stop by the Internet2 table during open Exhibit hours, Monday, July 24 and Tuesday, July 25 8am-5pm to pick up a CaRCC sticker and other info. A big thank you to our partner, Internet2 for providing space for CaRCC at their table!

Remember that you, our engaged CaRCC members, are the most powerful communication and outreach tool we have as we strive to be diverse and inclusive. If you meet members of the community at PEARC who aren’t familiar with CaRCC, encourage them to learn more at the CaRCC Town Hall, stop by the table in the Exhibit Hall, or visit CaRCC.org to join the People Network.

CaRCC events at PEARC23 include:

Sunday, July 23

RCD Nexus Day — A full day of collaboration and connection for the RCD Community. This year’s topics include Using the Capabilities Model Assessment Tool and Onboarding RCD Staff and Students. (Pre-registration required.)

RCD Nexus is supported as an NSF-funded Cyberinfrastructure Centers of Excellence (CoE) pilot (award NSF-2100003).

Tuesday, July 24

CaRCC Town Hall, 10:30am-12pm, Room F151 — Come hear about current initiative and help shape future directions! Learn how to get involved and how we are connecting with the broader RCD ecosystem through the People Network.

Workforce Track: Understanding the Research Computing and Data Profession, 3:00-4:30pm, Room D135 — Talks include “Career Phases in Research Computing and Data” and Professionalization of Research Computing and Data: An Expanded Agenda” both by Tim Middelkoop. And Christina Maimone will present on “Compensation of Academic Research Computing and Data Professionals”.

RCD Nexus Day at PEARC23

Registration is now closed for the second annual RCD Nexus Day, a one-day workshop and networking event just for research computing and data (RCD) professionals on Sunday July 23, 8am-7pm preceding the PEARC23 Conference in Portland, OR. It’s an official PEARC co-located event, and there’s no additional cost to attend. Connect with your peers as we explore the topics that matter to you and your RCD career, including:

Student and staff workforce development topics and practices
Understanding the RCD Capabilities Model assessment tools, and how best to use them at your institution (details below)

The event will be held at the main conference venue, the Oregon Convention Center. Space is limited and last year the event reached capacity, so don’t wait to register!

Travel support is available for those at U.S. institutions who request it by June 28. Just indicate your need when you register and we’ll send further information.

See below for a detailed agenda and track descriptions.

CaRCC/RCD Nexus 2022 Retrospective

Greetings, research computing and data (RCD) professionals! As we usher in the New Year, CaRCC and RCD Nexus would like to take a moment to look back on and celebrate some of our community’s exciting accomplishments in 2022:

To formalize and ensure community input and evaluation, CaRCC formed a new Advisory Committee and held its first annual meeting in January, 2022. The group consists of 12 members selected for their leadership and expertise within the broader RCD and cyberinfrastructure landscape. The group is instrumental in long-term planning as CaRCC continues a period of rapid growth.

We ramped up the work of our RCD Nexus NSF Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence (CI CoE) pilot grant, and began to provide more resources than ever before to both the CaRCC and broader RCD community. The RCD Nexus website currently serves as the CaRCC Career and Resource Center.

In May, 2022, CaRCC activity leaders, advisory committee members, and peers from across the RCD community met in Denver and joined remotely for a Strategic Planning Meeting. The meeting included discussion around CaRCC’s role in defining a framework for an RCD-CI professional society.

CaRCC has helped to facilitate the RCD Community Builders Group, a collaborative effort among nine RCD-CI organizations working together to support the community at-large. The group has been meeting monthly since March 2022. Additionally, CaRCC has formalized a partnership and collaboration with the CASC organization and had two meetings and presentations during which the groups discussed opportunities for collaboration.

Career Arcs paper wins Phil Andrews award at PEARC22!

Career Arcs WG members presented our paper “Understanding Factors that Influence Research Computing and Data Careers” at the PEARC22 conference in Boston. The paper was awarded Best Full Paper, Workforce Development, Training, Diversity, and Education, as well as the Phil Andrews award, granted to a manuscript deemed to be the most impactful in practice of research computing. See also the University of Central Florida post and the CI Compass post.

The primary objective of this research was to identify factors that attract professionals into the field of research computing and data, factors that influence their career advancements or changes within the RCD field, and factors that cause them to leave and pursue other fields.

*Ranking of factors defining “Advancement”, sliced by RCD Career Stage.*

CaRCC Activities at PEARC21

Greetings to members of the Campus Research Computing (CaRCC) Communities!

The PEARC21 Virtual Conference (July 19-22) is almost here. Be sure to attend the many great workshops, tutorials, presentations, and panels from persons in the community. And here are some of the CaRCC-related activities you won’t want to miss:

Category: PEARC