CARC Awarded NSF Grant to Implement Regional Cyberinfrastructure

Posted on September 09, 2022 by Dani Cannella

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0.0.0.1 New cyberinfrastructure will supplement CARC’s existing HPC resources to bring services to regional universities.

0.0.0.1 New cyberinfrastructure will supplement CARC’s existing HPC resources to bring services to regional universities.

CARC was officially awarded a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) on August 30, 2022 for the proposal “Building Cyberinfrastructure to Forge a Regional Research Computing Alliance in Southern California” (Award #2232917), marking the third year in a row that the team has won an NSF award!

“The proposal development for this project was a successful collaboration with ISI (Information Sciences Institute) and was made possible due to the unflinching support from both the Los Nettos community and the CARC team.“ says BD Kim, ITS Associate Chief Research Information Officer and Director of CARC. “We are truly excited for the opportunity to partner with regional institutions in Southern California to foster a lasting regional research computing alliance. USC spearheading the project and becoming the leading institution for this effort is a reflection of our university’s capability and leadership.”

The funds will be used to build a new high-performance computing system, which will then be integrated into the current cyberinfrastructure at USC CARC. This allows CARC, in collaboration with ISI and the Los Nettos Consortium, to expand their research computing services to under-resourced universities in the Southern California region and to the Open Science Grid.

This project builds off of the previous collaborative effort to implement a Science DMZ network, made possible by the NSF award USC was granted on July 29, 2021. The Science DMZ connects smaller, under-resourced college campuses to larger regional and national research networks. The addition of new cyberinfrastructure will strengthen not only the resources available in the region, but the collaborative alliance in the Southern Californian research community.

Researchers in the local community will gain access to an advanced computing environment and user services, giving them hands-on experience in HPC practices that they will carry with them throughout their careers. The ability to share knowledge and expertise across regional campuses will promote educational engagement and scientific collaborations, thereby forming a computational research hub in Southern California.

Official award information and the project abstract can be found on the NSF website here.