Collaborative Research: An EPSCoR Desktop to Teragrid Ecosystem

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EPS-0919440, South Carolina Research Authority, James R. Bottum, linked to EPS-0919436 (University of Tennessee Knoxville)Collaborative Research: An EPSCoR Desktop to Teragrid EcoSystemThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). The partnership between South Carolina (SC) and Tennessee (TN) is based on existing and planned collaborations in advanced materials and systems biology research, and in knowledge domains where computational science is driving new approaches and insights. The project?s goal is to build cyberinfrastructure (CI) linked community specific knowledge environments that embody the desktop to TeraGrid ecosystem. In this ecosystem, the campus-based cyberinfrastructure at regional research institutions is an essential bridge for connecting faculty investigators to national resources such as the TeraGrid. The proposal aims to develop models that successfully bridge the current gap between desktop and TeraGrid.Intellectual Merit. The researchers will create a model desktop to TeraGrid ecosystem anchored by a campus-based CI layer that eventually designated a ?Track 3? regional research resource bridging campus investigators to TeraGrid. The need for such a model has been identified by the EDUCAUSE Campus Cyberinfrastructure Working Group and the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computing (unpublished report from workshop, July 2008). The researchers define and demonstrate how campuses can successfully leverage the TeraGrid program by enabling the systems biology and advanced materials applications. It is expected to achieve progress in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) diversity through partnerships with undergraduate and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The researchers plan to advance a TeraGrid Track 2 site?s experience with, and understanding of, the national middleware program while building mechanisms to access regional and TeraGrid resources seamlessly through a Science Gateway.Broader ImpactsSolving technical and communication challenges is essential to scaling use of the TeraGrid. This effort will significantly contribute to increasing the TeraGrid?s active user base above its current 1,000 user plateau. The SC/TN consortium includes partner undergraduate universities (College of Charleston, the Citadel) and HBCUs (Claflin University and South Carolina State University) engagement and training outreach opportunities for the region, and an innovative dissemination plan. This proposal leverages $100 M in combined federal, state and private funding in cyberinfrastructure.The proposed objectives focus on domain-specific collaborations with adequate computational support personnel, and a regional organization and communication plan, to achieve research-faculty led discovery outcomes.