- Science gateways are online portals that provide access to advanced computing resources, data, software and tools to support research and education. They have become increasingly important due to the growing complexity of research problems, hardware/software and required skills. - A 2014 survey found that scientists commonly use gateways to access data, analysis tools, computational tools and more. Gateways are also used to foster collaboration and simplify access without coding. - The proposed Science Gateways Community Institute would provide long-term support for gateway development and foster international collaboration and information sharing in the gateway community.

1. Science Gateways
Community Institute
Nancy Wilkins-Diehr
San Diego Supercomputer Center
wilkinsn@sdsc.edu

2. What is a science gateway?
• We use gateways (or web portals, apps)
throughout our daily lives
• Scientists use them too
• If designed well, they can be really enabling
science gateway /sī′ əns gāt′ wā′/ n.
1. an online community space for science and engineering research and
education.
2. a Web-based resource for accessing data, software, computing services,
and equipment specific to the needs of a science or engineering discipline.

3. • Increased complexity of
– today’s esea ch uestio s
– hardware and software
– skills required
• Greater need for openness
and reproducibility
– Science increasingly driving
policy questions
• Opportunity to integrate
research with teaching
– Better workforce
preparation
Why are gateways important?
We need interfaces
that provide
broad access to
advanced resources
and
allow all to tackle
today’s challenging
science questions.

4. Specialized Resources Percent
Data collections 75%
Data analysis tools, including visualization and mining 72%
Computational tools 72%
Tools for rapidly publishing and/or finding articles and data
specific to my domain
69%
Educational tools 67%
Platforms for fostering group or community collaboration 63%
Simplified interfaces that eliminate the need to learn coding 62%
Citizen science and other public engagement resources 47%
Workflows that automate or capture tasks or processes 42%
Scientific instruments, such as telescopes, microscopes, or sensors 39%
2014 survey of 5000 indicates how these are
being used by NSF PIs, CIOs, CTOs
n=4,004, or 88% of 4,538 researcher/educators. Percentage indicates
these esou ces a e so e hat o e y i po ta t to thei o k.

5. Gateways as cost-effective infrastructure
Used to address today’s research challenges

6. Gateways increasingly used to access supercomputers
Surpassed direct logins in in 2013
Gateways
Login
Source: David Hart, NCAR

7. Today, we see a proliferation of gateways
These are some that use XSEDE supercomputers

8. 57% of survey respondents also create
gateways
n of application types=7,805,
by 2,756 creators (out of 2,819);
mean=2.8 application types per
application creator

9. 34% 36%
20%
17%
31%
26%
42%
16%
30%
18%
45% 44%
14% 15%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
Usability
Consultant
Graphic
Designer
Community
Liaison/
Evangelist
Project
Manager
Professional
Software
Developer
Security
Expert
Quality
Assurance
and Testing
Expert
Wished we had this
Yes, we had this
But “it takes a village” to be successful
n=2,756 respondents or 98% of application creators

10. Gateways subject of recent NSF award
5 years + 5 more possible

11. • Diverse expertise on
demand
• Longer term support
engagements
• Software and visibility for
gateways
• Information exchange in a
community environment
• Student opportunities
and more stable
career paths
We’ve proposed the Science Gateways
Community Institute
Est. Aug, 2016

12. • US workshops
– Gateways 2016 at SDSC, Nov,
2016
– Gateway Computing
Environments workshops
since 2005
• European workshops
– International Workshop on
Science Gateways since 2009
• Australian workshops
– IWSG-A since 2015
• Joint special issue journals
combine submissions from
all of the above
International collaborations to promote
research and exchange information

13. • Provide leadership on
future directions for
science gateways
• Facilitate awareness
and international,
regional and national
developments in
science gateways
• Identify and share best
practice in the field
• Science Gateways Community
Institute (USA)
• NeCTAR (Australia)
• NESI (New Zealand)
• Sci-GaIA (Africa)
• Academia Sinica Grid Computing
Center (Taiwan)
• Software Sustainability
Institute (UK)
• VRE4E1C (Europe)
• IWSG (Europe)
• CANARIE (Canada)
• Research Data Canada (Canada)
• IEEE Technical Area on Science
Gateways (International)
International Coalition on Science Gateways
Just forming
http://www.icsciencegateways.org/

14. Early SGCI customers
Name Institution Project
Michael Norman San Diego Supercomputer Center Renaissance Simulations Laboratory
Mark Perri Sonoma State University Chem Compute
Michael Cianfrocco UCSD COSMIC^2: Cryo-EM Open Source Multiplatform
Infrastructure for Cloud Computing
Greg Newman CitSci.org CitSci.org
Ann E. Stapleton UNC Wilmington CyVerse VALIDATE
Hamish Holewa Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual
Laboratory, Griffith University, Australia
Biodiversity and Climate Change Virtual Laboratory
Doug Jennewein University of South Dakota USD Science Gateway
Jack Smith Marshall University Aquavit
Bev Corwin OWASP Foundation OWASP Learning Gateway
M. Drew LaMar College of William and Mary QUBES (Quantitative Undergraduate Biology Education
and Synthesis)
Alain Domissy UCSD Yeo Lab Single Cell Transcriptomics
Sobhy Atalla Fayoum University,Egypt Establish a national center for computational science to
contribute considerably to the solution of scientific,
engineering and planning problems.
Lisa T. Eyler, Ph.D. University of California, San Diego ENIGMA Bipolar Disorder Brain Age Project

15. Thank you
• Questions? Opportunities to collaborate?
– I am happy to talk after the event
• Learn more
– www.sciencegateways.org, @sciencegateways
– Nancy Wilkins-Diehr, wilkinsn@sdsc.edu