Several challenges impact CyberInfrastructure (CI) workforce development that go beyond significant increases in data generation and the need for interdisciplinary research. There continues to be a general CI systems awareness problem which limits the number of students entering college to learn about CI systems or moving into computational fields later. The project establishes a "coding center in a box," adoptable by other institutions, to support their own CI Users and enable the establishment of centers capable of providing student-led peer consultation and instruction to undergraduate students interested in programming, computational and data-driven science, and advanced CI tools for use in teaching and research. The project leverages Doane University's Center for Computing in the Liberal Arts (CCLA), an entity modeled after collegiate writing centers. Doane's CCLA targets CI Users, as well as students and faculty unfamiliar with or unaware of CI tools and technologies, with the goal of increasing technology adoption, specifically CI tools, in computational and data-driven research projects. Students and faculty can come for peer review and training on how to incorporate coding and other advanced CI tools into their own research and projects. A workshop on advanced CI techniques (high-performance and high-throughput computing on large datasets), targeted at undergraduate students and faculty, enables institutions to quickly bring their community up to speed on these techniques. Classroom modules, across a variety of disciplines, allow advanced CI techniques to be easily incorporated into existing classes, broadening the reach of CI knowledge. The Doane University pilot project thus serves the national interest, as stated by NSF's mission - to promote the progress of science and to serve the national health, prosperity, and welfare.
This pilot project has the following specific objectives: (1) Build a campus culture for computing using a comprehensive marketing strategy; (2) Recruit, train, and manage a cohort of undergraduate students to serve as Peer Consultants and develop training materials for preparing Peer Consultants; (3) Create a comprehensive package of materials related to the implementation of a Coding Center; (4) Develop and implement a workshop in advanced CI techniques targeted at undergraduate students and faculty; (5) Develop five classroom modules that feature advanced CI techniques; and (6) compile and maintain a curated repository of large, open data sets available in the cloud that undergraduate students and faculty can access and study. The project tests whether a coding center model, in addition to CI course modules and a CI workshop focused on parallel computation using large data sets, can increase the adoption of CI techniques in underserved CI User communities, namely, undergraduate students majoring in natural science, computer science, mathematics, and engineering, and teaching faculty in those fields. The project also determines if these interventions increase computing self-efficacy and dispositions towards pursuing a career involving computation for undergraduate CI Users. The CCIMS project offers several avenues by which other institutions can support CI Users and advance computational and data-driven science and the use of advanced CI tools in education and research. The CCIMS project increases the number of undergraduate students engaged with CI, initially at Doane University, and later at outside institutions. The CCIMS project results in increased research productivity and competitiveness of students and faculty, and enhanced collaboration with other academic partners.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
