Collaborative Research: Sustainability: A Community-Centered Approach for Supporting and Sustaining Parsl

现代研究计算需要在不同的研究计算基础设施之间协调复杂的计算工作流。为了满足这一需求，Parsl，一个开源软件包，使科学家和工程师能够并行化Python程序，并在小型到超大型的本地和远程资源（例如，笔记本电脑，集群，云和超级计算机）上可扩展且高效地运行它们，同时还可以根据需要移动数据。通过使研究人员能够在熟悉且高效的Python编程语言和环境中工作，Parsl有效地民主化了对NSF日益广泛和强大的网络基础设施资源的访问，同时也允许他们轻松地扩展和分发他们的工作，以充分利用当今尖端的网络基础设施。Parsl是研究人员用来解决世界上一些最重大挑战的关键工具：从了解宇宙的起源到探索巨大的分子搜索空间，再到确定可行的治疗方法。该项目为这一重要工具的可持续性奠定了基础，使新的长期科学进步得以实现，从而造福社会。一些教育项目的参与使不同的学生群体接触到并行和分布式计算这一日益重要的领域。该项目正在将Parsl转变为一个社区管理和社区支持的开源项目，未来的收入将由一个选举产生的Parsl协调委员会指导下的非营利组织管理。该项目通过以下方式交付了一个可持续的Parsl社区：a)有针对性的技术活动，减少了成本和贡献障碍，降低了未来的维护成本；b)通过外展、参与和教育计划建立Parsl社区，增加潜在的未来贡献者；c)建立途径和激励机制，将用户转化为贡献者，将贡献者转化为领导者，培养下一代社区。该项目采用一种数据驱动的方法，通过度量整个项目的工作和资金来揭示工作在哪里花费，如何得到支持，以及如何平衡这些因素。从这个项目中吸取的经验教训正在转化为类似项目的蓝图。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Modern research computing requires orchestration of complex computational workflows across diverse research computing infrastructure. To meet this requirement, Parsl, an open source software package, enables scientists and engineers to parallelize Python programs and run them scalably and efficiently on small to very large local and remote resources (e.g., laptops, clusters, clouds, and supercomputers), while also moving data as needed. Parsl effectively democratizes access to NSF's increasingly broad and powerful cyberinfrastructure resources by enabling researchers to work in the familiar and productive Python programming language and environment while also allowing them to easily scale and distribute their work to fully use today's cutting-edge cyberinfrastructure. Parsl is a key tool used by researchers to tackle some of the world's most significant challenges: from understanding the beginning of the universe to exploring an enormous molecular search space to identify viable therapeutics. This project is laying the foundation for the sustainability of this crucial tool, enabling new long-term science advances and thereby benefiting society. Participation in several education programs is exposing a diverse group of students to the increasingly important area of parallel and distributed computing. This project is transitioning Parsl to a community-governed and community-supported open source project, with future income to be managed by a nonprofit organization under the direction of an elected Parsl Coordination Committee. The project is delivering a sustainable Parsl community by a) targeted technical activities that reduce costs and barriers for contribution, reducing future maintenance costs; b) building the Parsl community via outreach, engagement, and education programs, increasing potential future contributors; and c) establishing pathways and incentives to convert users to contributors and contributors to leaders, growing the next generation of the community. The project takes a data-driven approach by measuring effort and funding across the project to reveal insights about where effort is spent, how it is supported, and how these factors can be balanced. The lessons learned in this project are being converted to a blueprint for similar projects.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.