The CAREERS Cyberteam Program is a 3-year initiative funded by the National Science Foundation (Award No. 2018873) to build a regional pool of Research Computing Facilitators to support researchers at small and mid-sized institutions in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island, leveraging the work of the Northeast Cyberteam and national programs including XSEDE, Campus Champions, CaRCC and others.
What do Research Computing Facilitators do?
Research Computing Facilitators (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 on the sea floor. The RCF’s job is to help make use of local, regional, and national high performance computing resources when computing needs exceed the capacity of the scientist’s desktop.
RCFs can often be found in the research computing groups at large universities and corporations, but are scarce at smaller institutions. Recognizing that promising research can be stopped in its tracks without high performance computing when the need arises, the CAREERS Cyberteam Program was created to fill the gap. Over the next three years, the program will support 72 compute-intensive projects with RCFs-in-training ("students"), each paired with a mentor, to facilitate research computing needs for a 3 month period. RCF students 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.
As part of the program, RCF students 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. Stipends ranging from $4500-$7000 are available for students participating in the program.
Who can participate in CAREERS?
Any student, undergraduate or graduate, can apply to be a Student RCF on a project.
We are seeking projects researchers and educators from small to mid-sized institutions in one of our six states. Each research group is eligible to have one project funded by the CAREERS program. If an additional source of funding or compensation can be arranged, CAREERS is willing to logistically support additional projects (find students and mentors, monitor project status, etc).
We are always seeking mentors who can guide a student RCF and able to volunteer time during the 3-6 month span of the project.