UT’s National Institute for Computational Sciences (NICS) is dedicated to enhancing scientific research by increasing the availability of advanced computing resources and technologies. Cyberinfrastructure (CI) facilitators at the institute support researchers dealing with massive data sets and computationally intensive projects, such as analysis requiring machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI).
“That can be anything from optimizing code to exploring the use of a deep neural network or using machine learning techniques for data analysis,” said NICS Research Director Lonnie Crosby.
A few years ago, there were only 11 people available to provide these important services to UT, an R1 institution with thousands of researchers.
“As you can imagine, there’s a barrier with regard to engaging with researchers,” Crosby said. “How do they find you? How do you find them? And then, how do you learn the skills that you need to effectively meet researchers’ needs?”
Then, in 2022, NICS and a similar department at Arizona State University each received $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create the Cross-Institutional Research Engagement Network (CIREN), a CI facilitator recruitment and training program.
Through CIREN, UT staff members and non-tenure-track faculty can be paid to learn HPC skills. Campus researchers in need of expertise in high performance computing (HPC) expertise are matched with the facilitators for six-month projects—with CIREN paying up to half of the facilitators’ wages.
Almost halfway into the five-year grant, NICS has trained four new CI facilitators, including two NICS computer scientists, a laboratory manager at the Institute of Nuclear Security, and an assistant professor from the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biophysics.
These inaugural CIREN facilitators have contributed to six interdisciplinary research projects for primary investigators (PIs) in UT’s College of Nursing and the Departments of Chemistry, Physics and Astronomy, and Sociology at the College of Arts and Sciences. An additional four projects were awarded this September.
“One of the goals of the program is to lower the barriers to CI facilitation,” said Crosby. “CIREN is aiming to provide a pipeline to recruit and train facilitators outside of NICS’s boundaries and allow them to engage with researchers across campus.”
Creating HPC Experts
CIREN is open to experienced facilitators, as well as UT staff and non-tenure-track faculty, with interest in HPC, ML, or AI—even if they have no background in those tools.
The six-month training program for new facilitators combines online classes from a variety of organizations, including UT. Classes cover technical topics—like project management, using UT’s supercomputer (ISAAC), and the NSF’s Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support (ACCESS)—as well as soft skills like leadership and communication with people in different fields.
In addition, new facilitators are paired with more experienced mentors, with whom they meet regularly to discuss current projects and new training opportunities.
“I help guide my mentees in identifying courses that could improve their knowledge in the areas they want to learn, whether for their CIREN projects or for their own career goals,” Crosby said.
Forging Meaningful Research Connections
The CIREN leadership and facilitators evaluate research proposals on a rolling basis, with projects selected every six months. Crosby and the facilitators discuss the proposed projects, identifying the HPC areas that would be most advantageous to each, and then identify the right CIREN facilitator for the job—someone who already has the right skills or who has the interest and background to quickly learn them.
“It’s sort of a balancing act,” Crosby said. “We have a demand on the research side for certain skills, and we’re uncovering what that is every time we get requests, and then we’re trying to train our pool of facilitators to be responsive to those needs.”
All that matters is that a facilitator’s interests and skills align with a researcher’s needs. The right facilitator may not be from the same field—or even the same college—as their PI.
The facilitator and researcher then determine a goal that can be completed within six months and used in the researcher’s future work, such as the AI that analyzes multi-dimensional scanning microscope data or the AI/ML methodology that identifies and fixes misclassified entries in large data sets that UT facilitators developed this year.
CIREN will continue through the end of calendar year 2027, and Crosby encourages all interested campus members to take full advantage of the opportunities the program presents.
“There’s lots of additional opportunities for engagement in the program, as a facilitator, as a mentor, or as a researcher,” Crosby said. “It’s a great opportunity to receive funding to do CI training, to engage with research, or to include HPC, ML, or AI in your study.”
Contact
Izzie Gall (865-974-7203, egall4@utk.edu)