NSF CyberTeam-CAREERS Project

The CAREERS (Cyberteam to Advance Research and Education in Eastern Regional Schools) CyberTeam Program is a 3-year initiative funded by the NSF to build a regional pool of Research Computing Facilitators (RCF) to support researchers at small and midsized institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. RCFs are experts at figuring out how to match the right compute resources to the task at hand, something that can stymie researchers who are, for example, sifting through billions of records to find a specific pattern of genes that correlates with a particular form of cancer; or examining massive quantities of sensor data to understand movements of the sea floor; or modeling complex molecular structures. When computing needs exceed the capacity of the researcher’s desktop, the RCF’s role is to help make use of local, regional, and national high-performance computing resources to meet the researcher’s needs.

The program is looking both for new projects and for undergraduate or graduate students who have some research computing experience and are interested in learning about research computing facilitation through an experiential training program where participants join the project team of a scientist working on a computationally intensive project for a 3-6 month engagement. If matched to a project, the student facilitator will be assigned an experienced mentor, and together they will provide research computing assistance to the scientist to help to move the project forward. Typically, a time commitment of ~10 hours per week is required and a stipend ranging from $4,500- $7,000 is available to students. As part of the program, student RCFs will become part of a community of facilitators that has up-to-the-minute visibility into research computing projects and programs taking place in the region. In addition to project work, student-facilitators will also have the opportunity to work on a live help desk with a mentor, honing their consultative skills while getting exposure to a broad range of research computing topics.

Currently available projects can be viewed at the Careers CyberTeam Portal, but the number of projects and their scientific diversity is expected to grow. The location of each researcher is noted, but co-location is not required in most cases. We encourage qualified women and minorities to participate, as increasing diversity in the RCF community is also a program goal. To apply to participate in any of the projects listed on the Portal, or to be considered for future projects, join the mailing list; or to volunteer as a mentor, please create a profile on the portal by clicking on “Join the Team”, OR send an email expressing your interest along with a brief bio to Dr. Gaurav Khanna, Director of Research Computing at URI.

Email us at itrcs-group@uri.edu with questions, comments, suggestions — anything!

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