CC* Team: CAREERS: Cyberteam to Advance Research and Education in Eastern Regional Schools

鉴于数据和网络基础设施(CI)在科学发现和教学中的关键作用，必须赋予所有中小型机构充分利用它们的能力。获得有形基础设施当然是必要的，但研究人员还需要获得“研究计算促进者”(RCFs)，他们拥有帮助他们有效利用传播与信息资源所需的技术知识和人际交往技能。这给规模较小的机构带来了挑战，因为RCFs供不应求，很难招聘和留住。此外，各机构往往只能负担得起一两个，这使得支持不同的科学学科具有挑战性。该项目正在开发一种可持续的分布式方法，以应对东部六个州的这些挑战，东部地区网络是该项目的七个主要机构、美国东部的其他机构和该地区的地区网络提供商之间的一个新生的、但正在加强的合作。该项目战略有两个主要部分：(1)通过吸引较小机构的学生参加近70个以项目为基础的指导式体验式学习机会，扩大区域区域合作基金的人才渠道；(2)开发一个区域区域合作基金人才库，提供跨越机构和地理边界的传播与信息促进。该项目的成功直接加强了较小机构的科学研究。区域区域合作框架池使研究人员能够获得适当的专门知识，而不会产生建立机构区域合作框架团队的费用和延误。体验式培训方法使相对较大的、不同的学生群体接触RCF专业，提供机会鼓励受训人员，特别是在代表性不足的群体中，追求RCF职业。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Given the pivotal role of data and cyberinfrastructure (CI) in scientific discovery and teaching, it is essential that all small and mid-sized institutions be empowered to fully exploit them. Access to physical infrastructure is certainly required, but researchers also need access to “Research Computing Facilitators” (RCFs) possessing the mix of technical knowledge and interpersonal skills required to help them use CI resources effectively. This poses challenges for smaller institutions, since RCFs are in short supply and are difficult to recruit and retain. Moreover, institutions can often afford only one or two, making it challenging to support diverse scientific disciplines. This project is developing a sustainable distributed approach to address these challenges in six Eastern states, facilitated by the Eastern Regional Network, a nascent, but growing collaboration among this project’s seven anchor institutions, other institutions in the Eastern US, and the area’s regional network providers. The project strategy has two principal legs: (1) expanding the RCF talent pipeline by engaging students at smaller institutions in nearly 70 project-based mentored experiential learning opportunities; and (2) developing a regional RCF pool providing CI facilitation across institutional and geographic boundaries. Success of this project directly enhances scientific research at smaller institutions. The regional RCF pool enables researchers to access appropriate expertise without the costs and delays of building an institutional RCF team. The experiential training approach exposes a relatively large, diverse group of students to the RCF profession, yielding opportunities to encourage trainees, especially in underrepresented groups, to pursue RCF careers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.