A Library Sponsorship Program to Support Independent Student Research on High Performance Computers

Background: The [Institution name] Libraries' research support services include consultations and research-related instruction in data analysis and data management for a variety of data types (e.g., biomedical, molecular,spatial, and text data). These data support librarians have technical expertise that allows them to instruct on methods and tools requiring the use of the university’s high performance computer (i.e., supercomputer). In 2019, in response to an increase in student requests for access to higher capacity computing resources, the Libraries partnered with campus Research Computing to provide high performance computer (HPC) access to students. Through this library-based program, students can perform independent research using the HPC resources and receive individualized technical and research support from the data librarians. This presentation describes the services provided.

Description: The [Institution name] houses the 3rd most powerful supercomputer among public universities in the U.S. University researchers can access these large scale computing activities through a fee-based service. This leaves students (undergraduate and graduate) who want to perform data analyses or have research experiences limited to working with researchers who have funding to pay for access to the HPC. The Library HPC Use Sponsorship Program, a collaboration between the library and campus Research Computing, was created so students could access HPC resources, regardless of their funding status (or that of their research advisers). Research Computing granted access to 200 computer cores for the Library to manage for student use. The HPC Use Sponsorship Program team is composed of librarians with expertise in bioinformatics, data management, geographic information systems, informatics, natural language processing, and reproducibility. Team members assess applications and determine the domain expertise required for the project. Students that are accepted into the program are paired with the librarian that can best support the project’s research needs and they work together through the life of the project. The librarians provide the students with both technical support to work on HPC and domain specific support.

Conclusion: Participation in the HPC Use Sponsorship Program has steadily increased over the last two years. However, the impact of the program is most noticeable in the projects and products that students have achieved, including capstone and thesis projects. This Program demonstrates how libraries can broaden access to research and can serve as a model for other institutions, particularly those looking to support students in data intensive research.