Advancing Cyberinfrastructure for Research at an Emerging R1 Institution

Rowan University is on a strong trajectory toward becoming an R1 institution. Under the visionary leadership of its president, the institution has grown research income by an order of magnitude over a decade. As faculty seek access to the best computing resources, Rowan faces a challenge of supporting the diverse needs while developing a plan for optimal investment in the institutional infrastructure that enables successful research and training. This project developed and implemented a shared governance model for growth of the research computing infrastructure. Survey and focus group feedback were collected in order to identify gaps in the existing cyber infrastructure and supporting personnel. The goal was to help Rowan in its cyber-infrastructure strategy and implementation by understanding ongoing and emerging research and education environments and learning about the faculty and student needs in hardware, networking, and other adjacent services and technologies, such as integrated access to cloud and local resources, fast data transfer, and wireless access across multiple institutions. During the self-study, the community of practitioners, support staff, and leadership was formed. This community learned about outstanding research computing infrastructure assets and models which could be adopted. The project generated institutional knowledge that will be aligned to Rowan’s institutional goals and enable the true potential of its faculty and students.