Cyberinfrastructure Partnership: Outreach:

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) and San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) are international leaders in data management, grid computing and visualization, core functions of the National Science Foundation’s cyberinfrastructure (CI) in support of scientific research. Key to the mission of the Cyberinfrastructure Partnership (CIP) is outreach to build, expand, and sustain new communities of cyberinfrastructure users.

The CI Outreach Group (led by SDSC and NCSA) serves as a resource to meet the outreach needs of the varied scientific research and education communities within CI and to broadly disseminate resources in multiple formats and venues. Our goals are to develop and expand the user base for cyberinfrastructure technologies and resources to create a broad, diverse, and representative community of regular users of cyberinfrastructure. The CI Outreach Group is also a supportive partner to faculty seeking to leverage cyberinfrastructure in their research and education activities to involve new generations of students in the building, development, and use of cyberinfrastructure.

The CI Outreach team participates actively in the efforts of the CIP in coordination and of CIP training opportunities and the CI-Channel. These are then resources to leverage in outreach activities. These resources provide opportunities for users to access and participate in electronic learning communities through co-sponsored tutorials, workshops, and seminars. There are also opportunities for distributing CI updates, working group sessions, and training programs to wider audiences, including under-represented populations, geographically remote locations, minority-serving institutions, and people with disabilities.

Educational resources are developed and augmented by the CI Outreach team to meet the needs of elementary through college educators. Products and services include teaching materials, course and curriculum design and content, workshops, and online learning environments.