Science Gateways Community Institute presentation to the NASA Earth Science Data Systems program's science gateway working group

1. Award Number
ACI-1547611sciencegateways.org
PI Nancy Wilkins-Diehr
San Diego Supercomputer Center
wilkinsn@sdsc.edu
Science Gateways Community Institute

2. ARE YOU
Developing advanced web
interfaces to:
• Data collections
• Analysis capabilities
• Instruments
• Sensor data
• Citizen science projects
• Much more
2

3. We call these
science gateways /sī′ əns gāt′ wāz′/ 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.
Also known as: research platforms, virtual laboratories,
virtual research environments, advanced web portals, etc.

4. 4
SGCI is interested in helping WG
achieve its goals by working together
SGCI has also talked with NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division, Big Data and Analytics group

5. Science gateways
involvement since 2003
5
TeraGrid science gateways
program designed to
address a need
• Increasing use of the
web for science
• But lack of accessibility
to supercomputers
through these interfaces
• We saw an opportunity

6. Today the gateways
using XSEDE come
from many fields
6

7. But, gateways could be even more successful
• Developers typically
• work in isolation
• must bridge to variety of
resources
• need building blocks in order
to focus on higher-level
functionality
• struggle to secure sustainable
funding
Early
adopters
Publicity
Wider
adoption
Funding
ends
Scientists
disillusioned
New
project
prototype
We wanted to this destructive cycle

8. Gateways are changing the face of
science!
8
Contributor to
BRAIN Initiative

9. Gateways come from many fields
SGCI gateway catalog and a smaller subset using NSF
supercomputers (XSEDE)
9

10. Large-scale survey launched in 2014
Sent to 29k NSF PIs and academic CIOs and CTOs
• 5000 responses!
• 58 domain areas across 9
broader categories
• Who’s using gateways?
• For what?
• Who’s developing gateways?
• What do they need?

11. 57% played some role in gateway creation
and these gateways were used for a variety of purposes
n of application types=7,805,
by 2,756 creators (out of
2,819); mean=2.8 application
types per application creator

12. • Building a gateway takes many types of expertise
• But projects cannot always locate or afford to hire these specialists
• Finding the right people for short-term work is also difficult
• Need for a variety of team members, like a start-up company!
12
Why is it difficult to build a science
gateway?
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

13. What did we
learn?
13
Service % Interest
Evaluation, impact analysis, website
analytics
72%
Adapting technologies 67%
Web/visual/graphic design 67%
Choosing technologies 66%
Usability Services 66%
Developing open-source software 64%
Support for education 64%
Keeping your project running 62%
Legal perspectives 61%
Managing data 60%
Cybersecurity consultation 57%
Website construction 57%
Software engineering process
consultation
53%
Source code review and/or audit 51%
High band-width networks 45%
Scientific instruments or data streams 44%
Management aspects of a project 38%
• Access to specialized
services can help
• Many topics well-suited for
short-term consulting

14. NSF commits $15M to Science
Gateways Community Institute in 2016
14

15. Science Gateways Community Institute
Designed to help the community build gateways more effectively
Diverse expertise
on demand
Longer-term,
hands-on support
Student
opportunities &
educator resources
Sharing
experiences &
knowledge as a
community
Software & visibility
for gateways
A unique platform-independent approach to
gateway development.
We recommend what’s best for the client.

16. Incubator
Expertise for the gateway lifecycle
16
Need specialized expertise on a part-term basis?
Want to learn gateway-building, from start to finish?
Project Management
Sustainability Planning
• Nancy Maron, creator of the ITHAKA S+R
course on Sustaining Digital Resources
Business & Strategic Planning
• The Purdue Foundry, national award-
winning entrepreneurship program
Security
• Center for Trustworthy Scientific
Cyberinfrastructure
Community Engagement
Development Tools & Processes
Technology Planning, Open-Source Licensing
& Selection
• Indiana University Science Gateways Research
Center, initiators of Apache Airavata
Graphic & User-Interface Design
Usability
• Purdue University User Experience Programs
Creating Institutional Resources
• Notre Dame’s Center for Research Computing
• HUBzero® group at Purdue

17. • Full 5 days
• Knowledge
dissemination
• Interactivity
• Community formation
• Putting away the
normal daily routine
• Homework
• Customized
bootcamp Nov
2018
• 24 registered
from Hydroshare,
ESIP Labs and
EarthCube
17

18. Extended Developer Support
• Help building new gateways
• Or portions of new gateways
• Dedicated support
• 25% time for 1-12 months
• Using all kinds of technologies
• Get the expertise you want only when you need it
• We have also helped clients with recruiting and onboarding new staff
• Request services at https://sciencegateways.org/request-
services
New community discussion forum: https://sciencegateways.org/community/forum

19. 19
Collaboration
QUBES
Drew LaMar, William& Mary
Ecology Plus
Teresa Mourad, Ecological Society of America
Data Distribution
Coastal Emergency Risk Assessment
Carola Kaiser, LSU and Jason Fleming, SCS
CitSci.org
Greg Newman, Colorado State University
ENIGMA
Lisa Eyler, University of California, San Diego
Ocean Observatories Initiative
Ivan Rodero, Rutgers University
Aquavit
Jack Smith, Marshall University
Software as a Service
COSMIC2
Michael Cianfrocco, University of Michigan
LSU Systems Biology
Michal Brylinski, Louisiana State University
SimCCS
Kevin Ellet, Indiana Geological and Water Survey
ChemCompute
Mark Perri, Sonoma State University
nSides
Rami Vanguri, Columbia University
Interactive Parallelization Tool
Ritu Arora, University of Texas
Cyberinfrastructure
Galaxy CloudLaunch
Enis Afgan, Johns Hopkins University
More at https://sciencegateways.org/about/success-stories
Early gateway-building clients

20. Extended Developer Support by the
numbers
20 projects distributed over 18 different
institutions
Funding: 11 NSF, 3 NIH, 1 DOE, 1
USDA, 4 university-funded
11 out of 20 projects used an SGCI
constituent framework
20

21. • Want to find software
solutions?
• Have software to share?
21
Scientific Software Collaborative
Leveraging & promoting existing investments in
gateway technologies
Extend Your Audience
• List your gateway or components
• Offer your technology
• Support gateways as SGCI
Affiliate
Consensus
http://catalog.sciencegateways.org
End-to-End Solutions
• Browse existing gateways
• Identify their technologies
• Use for your research or
teaching
• Identify platforms or components
and use what you need
• Assemble & test in our “sandbox”

22. 22
How do I find a
gateway I can
use in my
classroom to
help teach my
students?
I have a really
great gateway,
how can I share
it with the wider
community?
WOW! This
gateway looks
great how can
I contact the
team and find
out more
about how
they built it?
I want to play
with these
gateway tools,
how do I get
started?
My team consists of
Django developers,
how can I find
gateways that are
built using tools
my team is already
familiar with?
Consensus
International listings, not limit to who can be included.

23. Community Engagement & Exchange
Connecting the community through interaction
and professional development
• Events
• Annual conference
• Webinar series
• Resources
• Community news and events posted
through newsletter, website, and social media
• Website, including blog, job postings,
research, learning materials, best practices,
etc.
• Case studies and other success stories
• Community Building
• Campus-based gateway groups support
• Social media presence
• Partner and affiliates program
23Subscribe to the newsletter: https://sciencegateways.org/community/newsletter

24. Flagship
conference
and journal
publication
• Annual Gateways conference (since 2005)
• Interact with other developers
• Tutorials, presentations, posters, reception,
open space discussions
• Help organize!
• Publish in special journal issue, joint with
international developers
• Gateways 2019
• September 23-25, San Diego
• Co-located with eScience 2019
• Student fellowships, internships, travel support
• International Workshop on Science Gateways
held annually in Europe

25. Workforce Development
Nurturing the next generation of
science gateways users and developers
• Internships for gateway developers
• Great partnering opportunity, we place students with others, some clients co-fund
• Travel funding for students
• Working with faculty on gateways for use in the classroom
• Developing gateway skills pipelines and career tracks
25
Young Professionals Network
• SPOTLIGHT featuring young professionals
• Young Professional of the Year Award includes
honorarium
• Networking opportunities through virtual seminars
• Support for professional editing for your technical
publications
• Volunteer to be a mentor
Summer Programs & Internships
• Graduate & undergraduate students
• Domain-focused & gateway-development
topics
• Work on real gateway projects
• Stipend and housing/transportation support

26. We’d like to work together
This work is supported National Science Foundation grant ACI-1547611.
• Request services
• Short term consulting, longer term gateway building
• Find or list gateways or gateway building software
• catalog.sciencegateways.org
• Gateways 2019
• Sept 23-25, San Diego
• Held at the Catamaran in conjunction with international eScience conference
• Request a Letter of Commitment to leverage existing SGCI offerings in
proposal
• Become involved as a partner or affiliate
• Engaging with SGCI clients
• Train students via the internship program
www.sciencegateways.org