By Kimberly Mann Bruch
The University of Montana (UM) recently hosted a Research Acceleration Day, which was co-led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at UC San Diego. Specifically, West Hub Principal Investigator Christine Kirkpatrick worked with University of Wisconsin-Madison Research Computing Facilitator Rachel Lombardi and UM Research Computing Support Supervisor Michael Couso for a day-long hybrid workshop for more than 40 participants.
West Hub Principal Investigator Christine Kirkpatrick (left) recently participated in Research Acceleration Day at the University of Montana.
“We were thrilled to host this event, which provided a fantastic opportunity to showcase the resources available to the research and education community—resources that can significantly enhance Montana's research capabilities,” Couso said. “It was enlightening to explore these tools and see the potential they unlock for advancing our efforts. We are already looking forward to a follow-up session this fall, where we will further develop our training materials and review the progress made from implementing the discussed programs.
An introduction to basic Linux navigation and other hands-on skills, a primer on Open Science and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reproducible) principles, and an Open Science Pool (OSP) overview were included in the workshop. The latter talk included explanations of ways that participants can use these services for their work and how to apply for access.
“We enjoyed our time in Missoula and especially appreciated meeting so many researchers and graduate students ready to leverage UM’s Research Computing Division’s resources,” said Kirkpatrick, who is director of the SDSC Research Data Services Division. “Couso and his team did a great job hosting the workshop and we look forward to holding a follow-up event in the future.”
An additional topic discussed at the workshop included the Open Climate Science for Agriculture curriculum on reproducible scientific practices, which was led by UM Research Scientist Arthur Endsley. His presentation focused on the open-source, computational climate science curriculum that is being developed and will be made available in English, French and Arabic. While the NASA-funded curriculum will be taught in a workshop format in Algeria this summer, Endsley is hoping to offer the curriculum at UM in 2025.
“Our time at UM was productive as we were able to learn how the OSPool can support researchers across Montana campuses. It was also meaningful to work with Christine Kirkpatrick and Michael Couso to develop future collaborative initiatives between FAIR, Montana academic institutions, and the PATh project,” Lombardi said.
Partial support for the workshop was provided by the GO FAIR US program and the U.S. National Science Foundation West Big Data Innovation Hub.
The Research Acceleration Day hybrid workshop was held on April 18. Contact Michael Couso for details on future events.
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