Data-enabled Pathways to Equity in Cyberinfrastructure Utilization for Scientific Discovery

这项研究解决了在利用公共支持的先进计算资源进行研究和创新方面的突出挑战。先进的计算资源日益成为科学进步和国家竞争力的关键生产要素。然而，这种先进的计算资源的利用往往会给资源充足的机构带来优势，并扩大这些机构与少数或其他资源不足的机构之间的公平差距。该项目旨在提供数据支持的途径，以促进先进计算资源的公平利用。为了实现这一目标，研究团队实施了三个相互关联的任务：(a)从利益相关者的角度理解和定义公平；(b)研究和设计公平利用的途径；(c)开发和实施一个具有交互式数据平台的知识门户网站，以支持这些途径实现更公平的利用。这些途径释放了缺乏服务的机构和科学领域的研究人员的才能和见解，以促进科学发现和提高国家竞争力。本研究研究并提供数据支持的途径，以公平利用公共支持的网络基础设施进行科学发现。网络基础设施集成了硬件、软件、人员和系统，为研究人员提供地理上分散但操作上集成的先进计算服务。公平是一项核心的公共价值，但在利用有利于高能力研究机构和主要研究人员的网络基础设施时，也是一个问题。美国国家科学基金会的网络基础设施项目由于其规模、分配效应和对科学发现的影响而成为理解公平的经验焦点。该项目团队为2003年至2022年期间的25,798个项目，包括10,277名主要研究人员，1,044个组织和215个科学领域，组装了一个NSF网络基础设施利用数据库。本研究采用混合方法探索性顺序设计，通过收集、分析和整合以下数据：(a)将交互式数据平台与以利益相关者为中心的定性解释过程相结合；(b)通过考虑网络基础设施活动的层次和动态来分析社会技术网络系统。本研究推进了关于公共支持的先进计算网络基础设施公平性的知识和实践，实现更公平利用的途径，以及交互式数据和知识平台在实现这些途径中的作用。该项目由科学计划和促进竞争性研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。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。

This research addresses the salient challenge of equity in the utilization of publicly-supported advanced computing resources for research and innovation. Advanced computing resources have increasingly become a critical production factor for the advancement of science and national competitiveness. However, the utilization of such advanced computing resources tends to give advantages to well-resourced institutions and widen the equity gap between these institutions and minority or other under-resourced institutions. This project aims to provide data-enabled pathways to advance equity in the utilization of advanced computing resources. To achieve the goal, the research team implements three interconnected tasks: (a) understanding and defining equity from the stakeholders' perspectives, (b) studying and designing pathways to equity in utilization, and (c) developing and implementing a knowledge portal featuring an interactive data platform to support these pathways to more equitable utilization. These pathways unlock the talents and insights of the researchers in underserved institutions and fields of science for advancing scientific discovery and elevating national competitiveness. This research studies and provides data-enabled pathways to equity in publicly-supported cyberinfrastructure utilization for scientific discovery. Cyberinfrastructure integrates hardware, software, people, and systems to provide geographically dispersed but operationally integrated advanced computing services to researchers. Equity is a core public value but a concern for utilizing cyberinfrastructure that favors high-capacity research institutions and principal investigators. The NSF’s cyberinfrastructure programs serve as an empirical focal point for understanding equity due to their scale, distributional effects, and impacts on scientific discovery. This project team assembles a database of NSF cyberinfrastructure utilization for 25,798 projects, encompassing 10,277 principal investigators, 1,044 organizations, and 215 science fields from 2003 to 2022. This research adopts a mixed-methods exploratory sequential design by gathering, analyzing, and integrating data from (a) combining the interactive data platform with a stakeholder-focused qualitative interpretive process and (b) analyzing a socio-technical networked system by considering levels and dynamics of cyberinfrastructure activities. This research advances knowledge and practice about equity in publicly-supported advanced computing cyberinfrastructure, the pathways to achieve a more equitable utilization, and the role of an interactive data and knowledge platform to enable these pathways. This project is jointly funded by the Science of Science program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.