The Current State of Research Computing in Higher Education (202804682)

8/13/2019 The Current State of Research Computing in Higher Education (202804682)

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Research in Higher Education







US Leadership in Academic Research

35-40 of Top50 ResearchUniversities

More international students enroll

in U.S. research universities thantheir counterparts elsewhere

~60% of NobelPrize Winnerssince 1930s

Source: National Research Council. Research Universities and the Future of America: Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation's Prosperity and Security. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2012



Contributions to the US Economy

MIT4,000 MIT-related companies1.1 million people employed

Annual world-wide sales of $232 billionEquivalent to among the 40 largesteconomies in the world




Sensational Products

Basic research has a 25 year pay-off:It takes that long to realize (andsometimes recognize) the potential of a

break-through innovation .





What happened?



Government, businesses and highereducation partnership weakens

Unstable and declining federal funding foruniversity research

Cuts in state funding for higher educationBusiness and industry have largely dismantledthe large corporate research laboratories thatdrove American industrial leadership

Concerns about academia’s track record inmanagement, productivity, and cost efficiencyIncreases in R&D funding in other countries




Increases in R&D funding in other countries

34 11 3 2

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

USA UK and EU Other OECD Non-OECD

Source: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2013

Non-OECD includes Brazil, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, China, India, Iran, Lithuania, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand

Other OECD includes other European, Australia, Canada, Israel, Japan, Korea, Mexico, and New Zealand

US Ranking on the GlobalCompetiveness IndexWorld Economic Forum in 2013: #5

Location of top 50 universities





Operational challenges

Declining opportunities for new facultyUnderinvestment in campus infrastructure,particularly in cyberinfrastructure

Accumulating regulatory and reportingrequirementsResearch sponsors do not always pay the fullcosts of research

Increased competition for internationalstudents, researchers, and scholars




But our Grand Challenges remainMake solar energy economical Provide energy from fusion Develop carbosequestration methods Manage the nitrogen cycle Secure cyberspace

Engineer better medicines Advance health informatics Restore and improveurban infrastructure Reverse-engineer the brain Prevent nuclear terror Provide

access to clean water Enhance virtual reality Advance personalized learning

Engineer the tools of scientific discovery Develop more effective educatio programs Develop better health care programs Understand violence,suicide, abuse, neglect, addiction, and mental illness Mitigatefanaticism, extremism, and terrorism Protect confidentiality and privacy Fostesocietal resilience in the face of both natural and human- made disasters Fosterculture of creativity and innovation Address the long-termsustainability of civilization within Eart h’s ecosystems

Sources: Grand Challenges of Engineering, National Academy of Engineering, National Research Council, 2008.Social, Behavioral and Economic Research in the Federal Context, Report of the National Science and

Technology Council Subcommittee on Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, January 2009



Research Computing



Staffing



IT FTE by IT domain

8% 2%1%

2%2%

3% 3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%90%

100%

AA Priv Pub Priv Pub Priv Pub

BA MA DR

Other IT Domain

Information Systemsand ApplicationsIdentity Management

Information Security

Enterprise Infrastructureand ServicesCommunicationsInfrastructure ServicesData Center services

Research ComputingServicesEducational TechnologyServicesIT Support Services

Administration andManagement of ITCDS2013 M1Q24



How is your institution organized tosupport research?

CDS2013 M4Q1

47% 47% 46%

41% 41%

33%

24%

15%

9%

7%

27%31%

2011 2012 2013

departments independentlyprovide research IT services

minimal resources

planning an integrated setof research IT services

integrated set of researchIT services







Consulting and support servicesPrimarily central IT

36% 30%

0%

10%20%30%40%50%

60%70%80%90%

100%

Consulting/support for storage solutions anddata access, including

those mandated byfederal grants

Consulting/support for high-performance

computingconfiguration and

operation

Primarily central IT

Shared between central ITand other admin or academicunit(s)Primarily other admin or

academic unit(s)

Primarily system or districtoffice

Primarily outsourced togovernment agencies or other non-commercialPrimarily outsourced tocommercial service providers

Not applicable - service notprovided

CDS2013 M4Q2



Consulting and support servicesPrimarily shared

CDS2013 M4Q2

42%39%

35%

0%10%20%30%40%

50%60%70%80%90%

100%

Review and/or approval of other

technical aspects of research projects

Review and/or approval of

information securityplans for researchinvolving sensitive

data

Hosting or facilitatingevents to introducenew technologies to

and shareexperiences among

researchers


Shared between centralIT and other admin or academic unit(s)Primarily other admin or

academic unit(s)

Primarily system or district office

Primarily outsourced togovernment agencies or

other non-commercialPrimarily outsourced tocommercial serviceprovidersNot applicable - servicenot provided



Consulting and support servicesPrimarily other unit

CDS2013 M4Q2

56%

48%

34%

0%10%

20%30%40%50%

60%70%80%90%

100%

Assistance inpreparing

research grantapplications

Statisticalconsulting

Review and/or approval of NSF-

required datamanagement

plans as part of NSF proposals


Shared between central ITand other admin or academicunit(s)Primarily other admin or academic unit(s)

Primarily system or districtoffice

Primarily outsourced to

government agencies or other non-commercialPrimarily outsourced tocommercial service providers

Not applicable - service notprovided



Consulting and support servicesPrimarily not provided

CDS2013 M4Q2

43% 42% 36% 30%

0%

10%20%

30%

40%

50%60%

70%

80%

90%100%

Consulting/support for visualization

Consulting/support for access to federally

funded research

resources

Consulting/support for access to commercial

cloud computing

resources

Consulting/support for software developmentand software porting



Operational research services offered

40%

40%

52%

60%

64%

69%

70%

81%

82%

82%

88%

30%

30%

47%

54%

58%

65%

70%

79%

73%

83%

An integrated system of research-related services, sometimes knownas cyberinfrastructure or support for e- science

Institutional grid computing services

High-throughput computing services

High-performance computing services

High-performance external network provisioning

Access to specialized scientific apparatus (e.g., telescope, sensornetwork, etc.)

High-performance network provisioning within the institution

Data management, storage and curation services

Management of research servers owned by academic units

Provision of data center facilities for academic units to operate theirservers

Videoconferencing services

Offered in 2011 Offering Service

Not assessed in 2011



Operational research services offered

40%

40%

52%

60%

64%

69%

70%

81%

82%

82%

88%

30%

30%

47%

54%

58%

65%

70%

79%

73%

83%

An integrated system of research-related services, sometimes knownas cyberinfrastructure or support for e- science

Institutional grid computing services

High-throughput computing services

High-performance computing services

High-performance external network provisioning

Access to specialized scientific apparatus (e.g., telescope, sensornetwork, etc.)

High-performance network provisioning within the institution

Data management, storage and curation services

Management of research servers owned by academic units

Provision of data center facilities for academic units to operate theirservers

Videoconferencing services

Offered in 2011 Offering Service

Not assessed in 2011



Most common management models

Central ITHigh-performance networkprovisioning within theinstitution (90%)High-performance externalnetwork provisioning (80%)

Provision of data centerfacilities for academic units tooperate their servers (67%)Videoconferencing services(64%)High-throughput computingservices (43%)High-performance computingservices (43%)Institutional grid computingservices (34%)

System Access tospecializedscientific apparatus(e.g., telescope,sensor network,etc.) (68%)Institutional gridcomputing services(34%)

SharedManagement ofresearch servers ownedby academic units (48%)

An integrated system ofresearch-relatedservices, sometimesknown ascyberinfrastructure orsupport for e- science(45%)Data management,storage and curation

services (44%)



Outsourcing is uncommon

Most commonly outsourced services are:High performance network provisioning (5.4%)High throughput computing services (5.1%)Institutional grid computing services (4.6%)

An integrated system of research-related services(4%)

Outsourcing is almost always to non-commercialservices providers



Research computing practices

8%

10%

10%

12%

11%

13%

8%

4%

8%

6%

8%

9%

21%

30%

25%

27%

27%

27%

10%

5%

8%

5%

7%

8%

16%

13%

10%

12%

16%

12%

3%

4%

4%

3%

1%

3%

12%

16%

10%

11%

12%

11%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Funding model

Data management

Central IT staffing

Collab/team-based science approach

Planning

Central IT support

Effective strategy or practice; works well for my institution and was scalable/replicable

Effective strategy or practice; works well for my institution but was not scalable/replicable

Some what effective strategy or practice; focus on improving

Some what effective strategy or practice; no focus on improving

Ineffective strategy or practice; focus on improving

Ineffective strategy or practice; no focus on improving

No strategy or practice; plans for developing

No strategy or practice; no plans for developing



Number of research services offeredrelated to CIO’s reporting relationship

0

5

10

15

20

CFO VP Administration Provost President

Who CIO Reports to

Averagenumber of

researchservicesoffered



Expenditures



Percent spent by IT domain

CDS2013 M1Q16,19,20

3%

17%

1%

2%

13%14%

6%

2%11%

16%

15%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20%

Other IT Domain

Information Systems and Applications

Identity Management


Enterprise Infrastructure and ServicesCommunications Infrastructure Services

Data Center services

Research Computing Services

Educational Technology ServicesIT Support Services

Administration and Management of IT

Outsourcing In house



Central IT operating expenditures

1%

0%

0%1% 1%

2%2%

0%

10%20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%90%

100%


BA MA DR

Other IT Domain

Information Systems and ApplicationsIdentity Management


Enterprise Infrastructureand ServicesCommunicationsInfrastructure ServicesData Center services

Research ComputingServicesEducational TechnologyServicesIT Support Services

Administration and

Management of ITCDS2013 M1Q16





Central IT capital vs. operating15% 18%

5%13% 11% 13% 9%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%90%

100%


BA MA DR

Capital ExpenditureOperating Expenditure

CDS2013 M1Q13



Administrative53%

Teaching andLearning

39%

Research4%

Other4%

CDS2013 M1Q17

IT expenditures by institutional mission



Percent of IT budget spent on research mission

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

CFO VP Administration Provost President

CIO doesn't sit on Cabinet CIO sits on Cabinet

Who CIO Reports to



Greater allocation of IT budget to researchassociated with more research services

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22Number of research services and technologies

% of ITBudget

Spend onResearchMission

Average allocation to research: 4%

Average number ofresearch services: 11



Relationship between research,administrative, and teaching spending

-10%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22

% on Research % on Teaching % on Administration

Number of Research Services and Technologies

% of ITBudget

Spend onResearchMission



A Maturity Model for Research Computing



ECAR Research Computing Maturity Index

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1125699/Res

earch-Computing-Maturity-Index





Maturity: Central IT involvement andservice quality

Research computing is prominent in Central IT strategic plans . Most of our Central IT staff are aware of the benefits of providingresearch computing services. Central IT has regular communication with researchers regarding theirresearch computing needs.

Central IT plays an integral part in providing research computingservices on campus. Central IT staff are frequently written into research grants to provideresearch computing services. Central IT regularly communicates with researchers across campusregarding the research computing services that are available. Central IT is proactive rather than reactive in responding to researchcomputing requests. The wait time for research computing consulting assistance is adequate. The wait time for other research computing requests is adequate.







If we knew what it waswe were doing, it wouldnot be called research,would it?

- Albert Einstein



Thank you!Susan Grajek, Ph.D.

Documents

The Current State of Research Computing in Higher Education (202804682)