Project Guide

Cyberteam Project Procedures

In the interest of scalability, unless otherwise specified, it is expected that a member of the SC from the project’s state’s anchor institution will carry out the following procedure.

Project Solicitation and Submission

Project leaders should create an account on the portal and fill out the project submission form with the help of their state’s anchor SC member. Once the project has been submitted and seems viable (at the SC member's discretion), the SC member can check the "Received" box to reveal the additional project information fields.

Publishing a Project

Once the project is "Received", additional project information fields will be revealed. Relevant information should be provided with assistance from the SC member. Special attention should be paid to Student Research Computing Facilitator Profile (if a student needs to be recruited), Project Images, Tags, and at least 3 Milestones. 

Once the project submission is complete, all projects need to present to the SC for approval. Please review the following list of questions and ensure each task is completed accordingly.

  • Are all the necessary and/or relevant fields filled out?
  • Is the project well thought out and described in sufficient detail?
  • Is the project truly an RCF “engagement” rather than just code work?
  • Do the milestones and timeline for the project look reasonable?
  • Confirm how the project is being funded. (Funding allocations are based on the location of the project, not the student.)

Please send the project link to the rest of the steering committee a couple days prior to the next meeting so everyone has time to review.

Projects per Institution

In the interest of extending the reach of grant funds as far as possible, it is recommended that grant funds should be used to support no more than two projects per institution. However, both Northeast and CARERS programs highly encourage seeking alternative funding sources at any participating institution. This can be in the form of an institution-funded or externally funded internships or credit. Projects funded by these alternate means will be managed as part of the program, with student and mentor recruitment, program management provided in the same manner as grant-funded projects.

Projects per Student

It is highly recommended to encourage students to seek a second Cyberteam engagement after their first engagement has been completed successfully. The second project should be in a different domain of science than the initial project to model the experience of professional facilitators.

Recruiting Students

Once a project is approved, students will be paired with mentors. Even if the project leader has a student in mind, some of these steps need to be followed.

  • If the project lacks a student, the project will be listed as “Recruiting” and one of the PM’s will contact you if a student expresses interest.
  • Once the project has a potential student, interview that student and make sure they are a good fit for the project. Then connect them with the project leader for their approval.
    • Ask the student about any visa status (such as F-1) so you can start this process and leave plenty of time for relevant hurdles.
  • Regardless of the student, inform the PMs which student has been chosen for the project before sending out the engagement letter.
  • Confirm with the student and the PMs how the student will be compensated for their involvement.
  • Once everything is confirmed, send out the engagement letter to the student.
  • Once you have received the signed engagement letter, you can proceed with the first payment (process for which may vary)

Scheduling and Check-ins

  • Establish a schedule for checking in with project teams once they are underway (both for the SC member and the mentor/student)

Launch Presentation

Once the project is underway, the student will need to give a launch presentation. The first payment is tied to this presentation (unless other arrangements have been made and approved by the PMs). Monthly meetings are on the second Wednesday of each month.

  • The student should use the template provided as a guide for content that needs to be included.
  • You need to confirm with the student that will be giving a presentation and add it to the agenda by the Friday before the meeting.
  • The associated SC member (or a sufficiently experienced mentor in certain circumstances) needs to approve the final presentation by Tuesday before the meeting.
  • If these check-ins do not occur, we can’t let the student present at the meeting.
  • When the launch presentation is complete, upload it to the portal (PDF) and fill in the “Launch Presentation Date”.

Project Updates

As the project progress, the associated SC member should keep tabs on the project status through communication with the project leader, mentor, and student. 

  • As milestones are completed, the associated SC member should fill out the appropriate fields in the project in the portal.
  • If the milestone completed is tied to payment, make sure that happens!
  • To edit projects: https://careers-ct.cyberinfrastructure.org/project-submissions
  • If a student has an in-progress project, they are expected to attend the monthly meeting.
    • Students should let the PMs know if they cannot attend the meeting and make up for attendance by watching the recording of the missed meeting.
    • There will be time during the monthly meetings for students with projects to give an "elevator pitch" for their project, a brief update on work from the last month, and ask questions and for help from the larger group.

Wrap Presentation

When the student has completed the project, they will give a wrap presentation.

  • The student should use the template provided.
  • You need to confirm with the student that will be giving a presentation and notify the PMs by the Friday before the meeting.
  • The associated SC member (or a sufficiently experienced mentor in certain circumstances) needs to approve the final presentation by Tuesday before the meeting.
  • If these check-ins do not occur, we can’t let the student present at the meeting.
  • When the launch presentation is complete, upload it to the portal and fill in the “Wrap Presentation Date”.
  • Change project status to "Finishing Up"

Finishing a Project

  • Students should provide some materials back to the Cyberteam, as appropriate for their project.
    • Share “nuggets of information” through Ask.ci
    • Contribute Knowledge Base Resources (home of training materials that students found useful to them in their projects)
  • For CAREERS: Fork the student's github repository to https://github.com/CAREERS-Cyberteam
    • Initially set the repository as private, but get a date or timeframe from the project leader when we can set the repository as public (which is a requirement of our NSF grant).
  • Conduct exit interviews
    • Separate interviews will be conducted with the student and with the researcher
      • What went well? Could anything have gone better?
      • For student: After your experience with this project, are you interested in pursuing a career as an RCF?
    • The final payment is tied to the completion of the student exit interview
  • The researcher needs to fill out final report -- this absolutely essential to us writing our report to NSF. Often it is easiest to send the questions to the researcher separately, in an email or Google Doc and then enter their responses into the Portal. They only need to fill out the questions that feel applicable to their project. You may augment the report with your own insights and knowledge of the project.
  • Once all of these materials have been collected and entered into the portal, change status of project to "Complete".