A group of collaborators—previous and potential—heads to dinner.
Image credit: Jerry Perez, Texas Tech University |
The Second Southeastern Universities Research Association Cyberinfrastructure workshop, Grid Application Planning & Implementation, was held December 6–8 at the Texas Advanced Computing Center in Austin. The SURA workshop emphasized collaborative grid development and deployment, and was open to those wishing to learn how to apply grid technology to advance scientific and other applications. Participants included grid and application developers, users from various communities, grid technology implementers and industry partners.
The workshop raised awareness of the diverse set of projects and initiatives that are helping to mature grid technologies while encouraging collaboration across different areas of grid and application deployment. Presenters provided insight into grid-enabling specific applications, identified resources for building and operating a grid, and described several specific grid implementations, including the Open Science Grid, the Distributed Organization of Scientific and Academic Research, the University of Texas at Austin's UTGrid and the University of Michigan's MGRID. The workshop also included a preview of the Grid Technology Cookbook currently under development by SURA, the Open Science Grid and IT consultant Mary Trauner.
Moderator Art Vandenberg from Georgia State University starts off the discussion with the Ask-A-Grid-Expert panel.
Image credit: Jerry Perez, Texas Tech University |
Other highlights included the Ask-A-Grid-Expert panel and an update on the National Science Foundation's new Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI). The panel included industry and academic experts in a wide ranging, extended exchange with the audience on a variety of grid-related topics. Frank Scioli, detailed to the OCI from the NSF's Directorate of Social and Behavioral Sciences, provided a fresh viewpoint on the development and support of cyberinfrastructure, emphasizing the cultural and social aspects of grid building as critical elements for success. Industry sponsors for the workshop included Cisco Systems, IBM, Sun Microsystems and United Devices.
Visit the Workshop Web site to view copies of presentations.
SURA has developed the Cyberinfrastructure Workshop Series to disseminate best practices for effective grid deployment, align grid development with the needs of research applications, and enable e-Science participation at local, regional and national levels. The first Grid Application Planning and Implementation event was held in January 2005 at Georgia State University. Registration will be closing December 29th for a workshop focused on Life Sciences and the Grid, January 9–11, at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Learn more at the SURAgrid Web site.
—Mary Fran Yafchak, SURA
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