Summary of May 2009 retreat on research cyberinfrastructure needs

Executive Summary
The Office of the Vice President for Information Technology (OVPIT) and University Information Technology
Services (UITS) convened a faculty retreat on May 7, 2009 to discuss strategies to fulfill recommendations
given in "Empowering People: Indiana University’s Strategic Plan for Information Technology 2009". Faculty
from such diverse areas as sciences, humanities, and arts were given the opportunity to comment on specific
Recommendations and Actions from the strategic plan. A key topic – and a key opportunity for IU – was to
determine where IU can match its research strengths with anticipated research topics important to the nation,
federal funding agencies, and the State’s economy. IU has vast computing power, and must develop the
knowledge and community for its researchers and scholars to be able to take advantage of these resources.

Major themes and areas of consensus included:

Community. Indiana University should create some sort of mechanisms to support development of and
interaction within the community of researchers who use advanced cyberinfrastructure at IU, such as some
sort of center.

Data-intensive computing. Indiana should continue and expand its focus on data-centric cyberinfrastructure,
particularly the following areas:

 Development and deployment of innovative hardware and software systems for data storage
 Development of software tools for management of metadata, provenance, data-centric workflows
 Development of tools for analysis and markup of digital video

Sustainability science. Indiana University should pursue opportunities to use advanced information technology
in support of its research and development in sustainability science, and should look to implement useful and
novel approaches to developing a more sustainable cyberinfrastructure. (Sustainability in our
cyberinfrastructure is used here in two distinct and important ways: developing cyberinfrastructure that
minimizes energy use and environmental impact; and developing cyberinfrastructure that sustains the
availability and utility of the data, information, knowledge, and creative works developed by Indiana
University).

Life sciences. Indiana University should continue its focus on information technology in the life sciences, and
particularly the development of novel information technology and informatics approaches useful in the life
sciences. Efforts in these areas should continue and be expanded, with particular focus on expansion of
information technology useful in translational research and health science service delivery.

Performing and fine arts. Indiana University should create a “black box” space outfitted with the most
advanced and current technology to support performances and displays of cyberinfrastructure-enhanced fine
and performing arts.

Humanities. Indiana University should pursue research and development related to the creation of general
tools that will be of value in humanities scholarship, building on IU’s many successes to create general tools –
emphasizing the areas of online humanities texts, music, and video.
Introduction
The Office of the Vice President for Information Technology (OVPIT) and University Information Technology
Services (UITS) convened a faculty retreat on May 7, 2009 to discuss strategies to fulfill recommendations
given in "Empowering People: Indiana University’s Strategic Plan for Information Technology 2009" [1].
Faculty participants were chosen from a diverse group of areas in the sciences, humanities, and fine and
performing arts, and were asked to comment on the following Recommendations and Actions from
“Empowering People”:

 Recommendation 1: Indiana University’s national and international leadership should be sustained

through continued maintenance and advancement of an IT infrastructure that is supported by sound
fiscal planning.
o Action 4: IU should continue to advance its local cyberinfrastructure, participation in national
cyberinfrastructure, and its efforts to win federal funding of cyberinfrastructure programs that
enhance IU’s research capabilities.
 Recommendation 15. While Indiana University should advance IT-enabled research across all
disciplines, it should also focus on a few highly promising opportunities for which it has a skills,
knowledge, and reputational advantage to push the frontiers of IT-enabled research and scholarship.
o Action 70: IU should purposefully select areas of great and timely promise for strategic
development of IT-enabled research, scholarship, and/or creative activity.

Particular questions asked in advance and discussed at the retreat were:

 In what areas of cyberinfrastructure, networking, and digital scholarship should UITS/OVPIT pursue
federal funding to aid IU research accomplishment and IU's stature as a research university?
 How can UITS/OVPIT best collaborate with IU faculty to promote successful pursuit of research
funding by faculty?
 What areas of infrastructure, service, and facility grants can OVPIT and UITS pursue that will best aid
advancement of IU’s research agenda?
 What are the best ways to simultaneously achieve a leadership position for IU in IT at the national level
and serve IU faculty via pursuit of federal grants?

Twenty-two faculty members wrote short descriptions of particular needs, interests, and areas of opportunity.
The faculty members who participated in the retreat or submitted comments in writing are listed in Appendix 1.
Written comments, lightly edited, are included in Appendix 2.

The day began with introductions by Vice President Brad Wheeler and Dean of Informatics Bobby Schnabel.
VP Wheeler discussed the logic behind “Empowering People” and its focus on human-centric IU as a plan that
succeeds IU’s highly successful 1998 strategic plan for information technology. Wheeler stressed that the key
topic for the day and a key opportunity for IU was to determine where IU can match its research strengths with
anticipated research topics of importance to the nation, federal funding agencies, and the State’s economy.

Dean Schnabel, who came to IU in 2007 as IU’s second Dean of Informatics, is both a national expert and a
person who has recent leadership experience at another research university. Dean Schnabel stated that IU is
uniquely positioned because of its combination of a strong, central IT organization, the School of Informatics,
a President who is a leader in computer science and information technology, and the support of the Lilly
Endowment, Inc., venture capitalists, and industrial investors in information technology.

As a way to inform discussion of research directions, Dean Schnabel listed several areas of research that are
getting significant attention at present in the commercial sector, including:
  Energy and computing – how to reduce energy consumption of it systems
 Mobile computing
 Web 2.0
 Social networking (and interfaces between various social networking systems)
 Health and life sciences

Within the computer science community nationally areas that are garnering considerable attention at present
include:

 Cloud/grid/multicore
 Large data (provenance)
 Health/life sciences

College of Arts and Sciences Dean Bennett Bertenthal started off the afternoon discussion with remarks on
themes related to cyberinfrastructure, particularly in the humanities and arts. Dean Bertenthal noted that we
have, as a community, moved from discussion of computer infrastructure to cyberinfrastructure, a change that
properly broadens the discussion to the networking, visualization, and other aspects of advanced
infrastructure required for advances in the sciences as well as humanities and arts. There is considerable
challenge for researchers and artists of all sorts in learning to use the tools, share the data, and share the
costs of cyberinfrastructure. Supercomputers were first used by social scientists to interpret census data. As
processors become ever faster, data storage capability becomes more important. A particular challenge for
the Social Sciences is that there is far too little technology expertise available regarding use of advanced
cyberinfrastructure for social sciences research. Software tools have also not kept pace with the combination
of hardware capabilities and researcher needs. In addition, there are significant problems with heterogeneity
of data; uniform data models, metadata, etc. are needed. Technology needs to be made more accessible.
Dean Bertenthal set out a grand challenge idea – we have vast computing power, but we don’t have the
knowledge or community for most of the scholars to be able to take advantage of these resources. Changing
that is indeed a grand challenge.

Major themes and areas of consensus

Community
There was considerable discussion about IU’s many strengths in the areas of high performance computing,
and the dispersion of these strengths across many schools and departments. In one regard, this is a
considerable strength – as are high performance computing, massive data storage systems, and other
aspects of IU’s research cyberinfrastructure. However, this situation means that there is no particular center of
gravity or place one can go to walk (physically or virtually) into the middle of the community of IU’s advanced
research IT leaders. A lively discussion led to clear consensus on the following point:

Indiana University should create some sort of mechanisms to support development of

and interaction within the community of researchers who use advanced
cyberinfrastructure at IU, such as some sort of center.

Related to the general need to build a knowledgeable and well trained research community, Dr. Hasan Akay
called attention to the following quote that emphasizes the need to develop a community of scholars (and
graduates) with expertise in computational science: “Inadequate education and training of the next generation
of computational scientists threatens global as well as U.S. growth of [simulation-based engineering and
science] . . . .” Nearly universally, the panel found concern that students use codes primarily as black boxes,
with only a very small fraction of students learning proper algorithm and software development, in particular
with an eye towards open-source or community code development.” [2]
Data-intensive computing
Discussion of data-intensive computing was consistent with the 2005 document “Final Report of the Indiana
University Cyberinfrastructure Research Taskforce.” [3] This very lively discussion led to clear consensus on
the following points:

Indiana should continue and expand its focus on data-centric cyberinfrastructure,

particularly the following areas:

 Development and deployment of innovative hardware and software systems for

data storage
 Development of software tools for management of metadata, provenance, data-
centric workflows
 Development of tools for analysis and markup of digital video

There was also clear consensus that Indiana University should strive to digitally store its vast wealth of as-yet
undigitized data, both for posterity and to facilitate re-use (and citation) of IU’s intellectual discoveries and
artistic creations.

Sustainability science
There was a healthy discussion of IU’s national and international position in the general area of
sustainability science. While this particular term is relatively new, the area itself is not. Indeed, Indiana
University created the nation’s first School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 1972. IU has strong
programs in atmospheric science, geology, relevant areas of biology (particularly ecology and
evolutionary biology), and anthropology, and as a result is well positioned to be a national leader in
sustainability science. At the same time, there are some areas of sustainability in computing that IU is
not well positioned to pursue – for example, our lack of an engineering school means that IU is not in a
position to pursue engineering research. This discussion led to consensus on the following
recommendation:

Indiana University should pursue opportunities to use advanced information technology

in support of its research and development in sustainability science, and should look to
implement useful and novel approaches to developing a more sustainable
cyberinfrastructure. (Sustainability in our cyberinfrastructure is used here in two distinct
and important ways: developing cyberinfrastructure that minimizes energy use and
environmental impact; and developing cyberinfrastructure that sustains the availability
and utility of the data, information, knowledge, and creative works developed by Indiana
University).

Life sciences
There was quick consensus that life sciences are indeed one of IU’s top strengths, and the status of
the life sciences as one of IU’s overarching strategic goals is well deserved. A lengthy discussion led
to the following basic recommendation:

Indiana University should continue its focus on information technology in the life
sciences, and particularly the development of novel information technology and
informatics approaches useful in the life sciences. Efforts in these areas should
continue and be expanded, with particular focus on expansion of information
technology useful in translational research and health science service delivery.
Performing and fine arts.
Perhaps the most quotable phrase of the day came from Associate Professor Margaret Dolinsky, one of few
artists in the world whose primary medium of expression is virtual reality. Early on in the discussion of
cyberinfrastructure and the arts, Dr. Dolinsky remarked, “Technology will not realize its full potential until it is
fused with creativity.” Dr. Dolinsky’s written remarks in advance merit quotation at length: “Researchers today
who work in the arts and humanities and explore technologies have the same needs as scientists, i.e.,
programmers, high end equipment, lab space and student liaisons. Unfortunately artists have little or no
recourse to find funding in the United States. This is where forward thinking research institutions become
integral to creative research. IU has a history of recognizing this and can become a leader in this direction.
The sciences can play a pivotal role by sharing facilities, equipment and personnel as well as data and
research directions. One priority area could be supporting the arts and humanities with the tools to explore
creative research in a supportive environment that includes programmers, support staff, lab space,
configurable public space and make it possible to have time dedicated to research with travel support and
equipment funding.” After a wide-ranging discussion there was strong consensus on one particular
recommendation:

Indiana University should create a “black box” space outfitted with the most advanced
and current technology to support performances and displays of cyberinfrastructure-
enhanced fine and performing arts.

The capabilities that were desired throughout the discussion ranged from advanced lighting to advanced 3D
visualization to and telepresence.

Humanities
Discussion of cyberinfrastructure and the humanities emphasized IU’s many accomplishments in the
humanities. Perhaps best known is the Newton Chymistry project [4], which has substantially changed our
understanding of the overall research career of Isaac Newton. IU has led many other highly successful
humanities projects, including Variations [5], DIDO [6], CAMVA [7], EVIA [8], and the Indiana sheet music
project [9]. A long and productive discussion resulted in the following recommendation:

Indiana University should pursue research and development related to the creation of general
tools that will be of value in humanities scholarship, building on IU’s many successes to create
general tools – emphasizing the areas of online humanities texts, music, and video.

In closing discussions the group switched from themes to tactics, and IU’s current lack of success gaining
NSF funding for major Science and Technology Centers was discussed. IU is now a junior partner in a STC
led by Kansas University – a status we enjoy thanks to our expertise in developing and implementing
advanced cyberinfrastructure. IU should pursue STCs to support its research activities and in particular should
look for opportunities in research and development of cyberinfrastructure in areas of opportunity discussed in
this retreat.
References
[1] Indiana University. 2009. Empowering People: Indiana University¹s Strategic Plan for Information
Technology. http://ovpit.iu.edu/strategic2/

[2] John E. West. “Examining the International Computational Ecosystem – A Look at the International
Assessment of R&D in Simulation-Based Engineering and Science.” HPCwire. 07 May 2009.
http://www.hpcwire.com/features/Examining-the-International-Computational-Ecosystem-44565142.html

[3] Final Report of the Indiana University Cyberinfrastructure Research Taskforce.

https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/469

[4] Chymistry of Isaac Newton. http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/newton/

[5] Variations2. http://www.dml.indiana.edu/

[6] DIDO – Digital Images Delivered Online. http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/collections/dido/

[7] CAMVA – Central American and Mexican Video Archive. http://www.indiana.edu/~clacs/research/camva/

[8] EVIA – Ethnomusicological Video for Instruction and Analysis Digital Archive.
http://www.indiana.edu/~eviada/

[9] IN Harmony: Sheet Music from Indiana. http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/inharmony/welcome.do

Appendix 1. List of faculty members participating in retreat and/or submitting
written comments.
Name Department or School
Akay, Hasan Engineering
Allen, Colin History & Philosophy of Science
Barnett, Bill Research Technologies – UITS
Bertenthal, Bennett College of Arts & Sciences (Dean)
Börner, Katy Library & Information Science
Burke, Raymond Business
Casey, Michael Archives Of Traditional Music
Cate, Fred Law
Chen, Jake Informatics
Deal, W. Scott Engineering Technology & Music
Dolinsky, Margaret Fine Arts
Edenberg, Howard Molecular Biology
Evans, Tom P. Geography
Fox, Geoffrey Pervasive Technology Institute
Hass, Jeffrey E. Music
Jacquard, Nicole Fine Arts
Katz, Barry Biostatistics
Kim, Sun Informatics
Li, Lang Bioinformatics
Lin, Bill Engineering
Link, Matt Research Technologies – UITS
Linnemeier, Micah Library & Information Science
Liu, Yunlong Bioinformatics
Long, Scott Sociology
Marsh, Joss English
McCaulay, Scott Research Technologies – UITS
McDonald, Robert H. Libraries
Melluck, Kim Informatics
Miller, Mike Radiology
Pavlis, Gary Geological Sciences
Pilachowski, Catherine Astronomy
Plale, Beth Informatics, Computer Science
Rinkovsky, Joe Research Technologies – UITS
Schnabel, Bobby Informatics
Shakespeare, Robert Theatre
Stewart, Craig Pervasive Technology Institute
Stone, Ruth Folklore
Walsh, John Library & Information Science
Wheeler, Brad VP for Information Technology
Withnell, Robert Speech & Hearing
Yu, Chen Psychological & Brain Sciences
Zero, Domenic Dentistry
Zumbrun, Kevin Mathematics
Appendix 2. Disciplinary input regarding research IT support needs at IU
Prior to the retreat, faculty participants (including faculty who were invited to attend the retreat but could not
due to schedule conflicts) submitted written comments regarding needs related to specific disciplines. These
comments, lightly edited for form, are summarized below.

Astronomy
Pipeline processing and analysis of large format imaging data is necessary. The One Degree Imager at the
WIYN telescope, scheduled for first light in 2010, will produce 1 Gigapixel images over a full degree of sky
(the images will be the size of four full moons), with typically 0.6" or better resolution. Planned science
programs at IU include galaxy surveys aimed at understanding the star formation history of galaxies of
different morphological type (ellipticals, spirals, irregulars), the role of mergers in galaxy evolution, and the
identification of complete, volume-limited samples of galaxies; surveys of globular star clusters in external
galaxies as a probe of galaxy formation models; surveys of star cluster to identify faint cluster members and
the lower end of the main sequence; surveys of the stellar content of nearby dwarf galaxies dominated by dark
matter.

N-body simulations of dense stellar systems to follow their dynamical evolution; globular clusters, for example,
evolve dynamically on the time scale of Gigayears, eventually undergoing core collapse leading to the
formation of close binary systems, as well as the loss of low mass stars from the outer regions of the clusters.
N-body simulations involve following the motions and interactions of millions of particles over billions of years.

Physically realistic, hydrodynamical simulations of planet-forming disks around young stellar objects are key.
Codes include not only N-body interactions and gravitational instabilities, but radiative transfer, thermal
heating, turbulence, and grain formation. The goal is to understand the formation of planets and the early
evolution of planetary systems to compare to increasingly detailed astronomical data.

Business
One of IU's strengths is our research on understanding and modeling the factors that drive the financial
performance of firms and the behavior of consumers. This topic is particularly salient given the recent
problems with the global economy, job losses, and the impending bankruptcy of some of the U.S.'s largest
companies. The Kelley School's research in this area is often multidisciplinary and can involve sophisticated
computer applications and large databases. For example, our investigations of the factors affecting consumer
behavior include text mining of discourse in social networks, audio mining of mass media content, video
mining of shopper behavior patterns in retail settings, and data mining of web interactions, purchase
transactions, and customer loyalty data. These projects could benefit from the coordinated efforts of
researchers with economic, behavioral, statistical, and computer science interests and the strategic
investment in IT staff as we work with massive databases on customer behavior and develop more advanced
tools for data collection and analysis, mathematical modeling, simulation, and visualization.

Another significant opportunity is to use information technology to strengthen IU's international capability and
influence. As IU continues to build relationships with other academic and commercial institutions in the U.S.
and around the world, we will need more sophisticated tools for electronic collaboration, knowledge sharing
and co-creation. These include (1) telepresence capabilities (high-end videoconferencing with low latency,
HD video and spatial audio) that allow us to interact with people at remote locations as if they were physically
present and record and index these interactions for future use, and (2) the ability to build, share, manipulate
and navigate photorealistic 3D models, interactive simulations, and multimedia walkthroughs of past, present
and future environments. These tools will help us to bring important people, places and events to the IU
campus and extend our reach internationally. (This is mentioned in Actions 11, 12 and 36 of the 2009
Strategic Plan.)
Cognitive Science
Multimedia multi-streaming data mining, data visualization, and annotation. Driven by ubiquitousness of
multimedia data, this effort will support various video and audio data collected from multiple fields, from social
and behavioral science departments, to music and library departments.

Digital Humanities and Humanities Computing

In the area of digital humanities and humanities computing, IU has a long tradition of support for a small
number of high profile projects supported through the Libraries/UITS Digital Library Program (DLP) and more
recently the Institute for Digital Arts and Humanities (IDAH) in collaboration with the DLP and UITS's
Research Technologies division.

Digital Humanities / Humanities Computing covers a diverse range of humanities disciplines (literary studies,
classics, art and music history, history of science, ethnomusicology, and so on) and the full range of current
information technologies. Projects to date have been led by a small number of faculty who have had to
compete for a limited number of resources. As this field continues to grow and more faculty become aware of
the intellectual, scholarly, and practical (i.e., funding and promotional) benefits of combining information
technology with the study of the humanities, there will be increasing competition for the relatively limited pool
of human and technological resources in IDAH, the DLP, and other relevant units, like the Advanced
Visualization Lab. Simply put, to move the next level, IU needs more resources and expertise thrown at this
important emerging area. Digital Humanities work involves various combinations of:

 Text encoding and XML technologies

 Database technologies
 Imaging technologies
 Visualization and virtual environments
 Mapping and GIS
 Integration with online learning environments (e.g., Oncourse), Library systems, and social networking
environments (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.)
 Statistical analysis
 Reliable, scalable, and accessible digital repository services, especially a large suite of web services
implemented on top of something like FEDORA (<http://www.fedoracommons.org/>)
 Triple store services for RDF data.
 Expertise and consulting in the full range of Web and Web 2.0 development technologies (XHTML,
Advanced CSS, AJAX, etc.)

IU has excellent support distributed throughout the university in all or most of the areas, but there is simply not
enough to go around – not enough for the scholars currently doing excellent work (demonstrated, for instance,
by consistent success in receiving outside funding), not enough to sustain existing projects through lapses in
outside funding, and certainly not enough to support the needs of less technically-oriented humanities
scholars who wish to extend their traditional humanities research into the area of digital humanities.

IDAH, in particular, with strong support from the DLP and UITS, has done a wonderful job of increasing the
profile of digital humanities on campus, they are likely to become increasingly stressed and strained as they
try to support existing research while at the same time cultivating new research projects. Resources exist at
IU, but there could still be better coordination of effort and more dedication of human resources to supporting
digital humanities. Except for a few rare cases, humanities scholars need more technological hand-holding to
get up and running with digital projects than their counterparts in the sciences, who typically come to the table
with more technology training and expertise. Hopefully this will be addressed in future generations of
humanities scholars as humanities disciplines begin to recognize the need to incorporate technological
competencies into their curricula.

IU has all or most of the building blocks for excellent digital humanities infrastructure, but units could improve
coordination to develop a coherent and more easily identifiable suite of services for the computing humanist at
IU.

Arts and humanities

A priority area in supporting the arts and humanities is providing researchers with the tools to explore creative
research in a supportive environment. One example is data storage: being able to store large digital files and
share them with collaborators, both inside and outside of IU. Another is the need to have high-resolution
displays with high-end graphics machines that can do the work required. Equipment is currently borrowed for
short periods of time, which is not conducive to the type of exhibitions required in certain fields. As a result,
work is localized and it is difficult to share the actual experience so oftentimes it is relegated to publications
and lectures. There is a need for equipment, space and support staff for both development and
display/exhibition.

The big problem for all graphics researchers is that they can create images but it is near impossible to show
them properly. IU should have high-resolution displays with standardized color calibration from researchers’
offices to the classroom, presentation spaces, etc. It is important for the arts, drama, presentations etc. to be
able to go out from the office/ studios and have consistency.

In regards to the areas within the Arts (fine arts and performing) as well as certain areas of the Humanities
and Social Sciences, concerns go beyond software, storage, and analysis to creating tangible
objects/artifacts. In order to make objects/artifacts, overall support and infrastructure that are significantly
lacking at IU are in:

 Acquiring and maintaining up to date CAM & PR&M equipment - that can be used throughout the
campus
 A designated space to house sensitive as well as large-scale equipment ultimately giving access to the
entire university
 Technicians versed in:
o Several machining software applications
o Practical knowledge of a variety of materials, e.g., plastics, resins, wood, metal, fabrics, foam,
paper
o Practical knowledge in pre & post-production with a variety of materials
 Working space for post-production

Theatre and Drama

One researcher requires a sophisticated scientific tool to enable an important exploration of the interior of
Hagia Sophia in Turkey. Alas, there is no funding stream to acquire a portable handheld spherical
spectrophotometer (~$15,000 with software) to accurately capture the energy of the original gold ceiling
mosaics and other surfaces, some stored in museums and archives. This researcher is left with having to
devise makeshift methods, requiring many hours to determine potential accuracy.

One of IU’s Theatre and Drama Design and Technology faculty is keenly interested in continuing his research
in exploring sustainable materials and “greener” methods in the practice of implementing scenic designs for
the stage. There is no funding stream to provide this work with the ~ $25,000 of industrial manufacturing and
testing equipment. His work could provide the industry with tools to reduce their carbon footprint.
Staging areas and support to explore a variety of “performance” based works, facilitating the collaborative
visions of artists from several disciplines (Music, Theatre, Dance, Fine Arts, New Media, etc), with a flexible IT
infrastructure, would explode the creation of new works on this campus.

Geography
Sustainability science involves data integration challenges (often performed in a GIS framework) as well as
computationally intensive modeling over sometimes large spatial extents (e.g. local to regional to global). As
a side note, "Sustainability Science" is used here as an umbrella term to include human-environment (HE)
interactions. “HE interactions” is preferable to "Human impact on Earth" as contemporary research in this
area emphasizes the importance of feedback between social and physical domains.

Given that the study of environmental change necessarily involves multi-temporal data, there is a need to
store and manage large datasets as well as tools to facilitate reformatting of data. Metadata content
management and data search challenges (spatial and non-spatial) are additional components to this topic
worthy of attention.

Complex analytical models (e.g. climate change, urban growth) often produce highly valuable results, but not
always in a medium that is the most effective for communication. Data visualization is a useful thematic area
that could involve social scientists, natural scientists, policy analysts, cognitive science and informatics/CS to
produce tools that more effectively engage stakeholders and policy makers and help transform data to
information/knowledge.

Geology
IU Bloomington Specific focus areas:

A variety of imaging technologies benefit from high performance computing and facilities like the data
capacitor and MDSS. We are using data from the USArray, which is just now at the point of yielding some of
the key science results.

A general program in earthquake research is intimately linked to computing technology. We use data from
USArray and Plate Boundary Observatory components of Earthscope.

The big problem in Geology (and possibly the same in many other areas) is not hardware but software. Most
progress is limited more by lack of people to develop applications to do calculations related to new ideas.

UITS has finally come around over the past decade and recognized that computing is data access and
storage as much as it is compute cycles. There remain serious issues in data handling that will need to be
advanced in the next several years.

Large-scale sensor networks like those in Earthscope are producing staggering amounts of data that people
are struggling to handle. More similar facilities are in the pipeline such as the ocean observatories or the
Deep Underground Scientific and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL). Investment in facilities to processes these
data must be maximized. There are similar issues with increasing massive quantities of imagery from satellite-
based systems and planetary probes such as the recent Mars probes.

Wave propagation simulations for earthquake hazard appraisal has been a major consumer of cycles in
current generation high performance systems supported by the NSF. The key players have been people at
the Southern California Earthquake center. That effort is ongoing and will likely continue for at least the next
decade as they have promising results for this practical problem.
Climate modelers push the frontiers of computing technology constantly, as do those working in numerical
modeling meteorology.

Informatics
Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
Sustainability and the environment is an emerging challenge to our society and planet. Human impact on the
environment is complex, with economic and legal implications. The data needed to understand issues are
diverse, voluminous, and drawn from many sectors and over extended periods of time. IU has substantial
outreach and campus action through the Office of Sustainability but research activity is less well organized
given the momentum that could exist based on the expertise, interest, and passion on the Bloomington
campus. The Center for Research in Environmental Sciences is an interdisciplinary group of geologists,
biologists, and environmental scientists. Rich research activity exists beyond in the School of Informatics,
CiPEC, the Workshop on Political Theory and Analysis, in the School of Law, and likely elsewhere. A
focused initiative around a common research agenda could bring these groups together into a powerful
university response to this important problem.

As Michael Casey and Scott Long point out, preservation of scholarly data is growing increasingly important in
the face of rapid technology advances in storage mediums and a growing deluge of scientific and scholarly
data. The National Science Foundation is funding several multi-million dollar projects in digital preservation
through its Sustainable Digital Preservation and Access Network Partners (DataNet) program. It has chosen
to organize large repositories by groupings of science/humanities domains. Another approach would be for
each university to preserve its own record. With these national efforts underway that may provide solutions
for parts of our scholarly record, can the university develop and promote a smaller archive that is sustainable
and serves the needs of communities not served by the larger archives?

Handling sequence data from the next generation sequencing technologies will be a good research topic for
Informatics, Biology, Medical Sciences, and UITS.

Equipment, services, and studies critical to these fields include:

 A large cloud computing environment where big computational jobs can be run in a short period.
 A web server infrastructure that can host web service with big computing need in a parallel computing
environment.
 A large storage infrastructure that local servers (those in Informatics) can connect directly to.
 A machine with a large main memory space (>= 128GB)
 Molecular modeling
 Multi-scale modeling (molecular -> cellular -> tissue -> clinical endpoints)
 Computational system biology at molecular and cellular levels
 Biology: Data Analysis driven by new instruments and large scale processed data such as genome
sequences, phylogenetic trees
 Physics: QCD Simulations
 Physics: GlueX and ATLAS data analysis
 Complex Systems: population simulations
 Polar Science: Matlab based data analysis

Informatics & Computer Science

Develop in-house little cost/no cost “cloud computing” research and services that mimic the level of service
provided by Amazon. Amazon is impressive in their flexibility of storing and retrieving large data based on
dynamic user configurations with growing needs. Providing persistent images to run user programs is also a
huge plus for potential scholarly sharing of the precise scientific experimentation environments without the
compromise of source code.

Expanding web services to include web 2.0 based web development environment so IU researchers and
students can easily build the next level of informatics applications. Currently, the web-based IT support
remains at a platform of raw web server (plus TomCat, mySQL connectivity level). With the world moving to
web 2.0, IU could consider investing in building infrastructure that support several scalable (open source or
commercial) advanced content management systems with plug-in support for semantic web data repositories
and advanced visualizations.

Working with domain experts to gain a complete archived warehouse of electronic medical records (like what
the Jacobs School of Music has done for music). This warehouse would be a rich resource of biomedical
informatics research, e.g., research for data mining, information privacy, security, HCI.

Library & Information Science

A number of interdisciplinary areas that are strong at IU include:

 Network science, see http://nwb.slis.indiana.edu

 Epidemic processes, see http://epic.slis.indiana.edu/
 Science of science studies, see http://sci.slis.indiana.edu/
 Sustainability science

Researchers from the above four sciences need better means to share data, algorithms, and expertise in a
fashion similar to Flickr or YouTube.

Plus, researchers from many sciences are increasingly interested in making sense of and communicating
complex data and processes via aesthetically pleasing and insightful visualizations.

The libraries see a few areas in particular as areas for growth and for expansion of services within the
framework of the Empowering People document. Examining these larger areas uncovers several components
that should be extended in order to provide services for the larger IU community. Most of these fit under the
long-term planning section and would involve a variety of collaborative partnership both with UITS, Research
Computing and Enterprise Applications. Components include:

 Identification of topics that may be broad themes for research programs for years to come
 Data curation and preservation services that leverage UITS investments in storage and library
expertise in archival data management.
 Shared strategies digitizing and making available all IU library collections.
 Collaborative frameworks for shared data preservation federations that work across institutional
boundaries like the HathiTrust that engage our peer partners within the CIC and national and
international partners that have like-minded goals.
 Shared physical spaces within the libraries that leverage a spectrum of services for our planned
research commons that would include facilities for visualization, data stewardship, frameworks for
shared computational services utilizing such tools as HUBzero and SEASR.
 Shared strategies for datamining and access to digitized library content housed within the HathiTrust.
 Shared strategies for managing new media including digital audio and video that scale for the IU
system and that complement publishing services being driven by our IU ScholarWorks programs.
 Concrete strategies for developing sustainable software tools and platforms that are driven from r&d to
production level implementation for advancing access to the widest possible array of online content.
  Shared strategies for leveraging institutional access to digital content at the widest level by using
shared identity management strategies that can accommodate granular access to material that exists
within the confines of current copyright restrictions.

IU has a major strength in "Networks and Complex Systems" – see recent Research and Creative Activity
issue, several relevant Centers at IUB, and the talk series on this topic (http://vw.slis.indiana.edu/netscitalks
with more than 100 speakers over the last four years, many from IU).

There is also major expertise in "Science of Science" studies, i.e., the study of science by scientific means.
Colleagues at SLIS including Lokman Meho (Bibliometrics), Ying Ding (Semantic Web), Blaise Cronin
(Citation analysis, informetrics, scholarly communication, and strategic intelligence), and also Johan Bollen
(new hire in SI, http://www.mesur.org/MESUR.html) do major work on this topic.

In this research, TBs of (streaming) data are federated, analyzed, modeled, visualized in order to improve
information and expertise access, management, and utilization. See also the Mapping Science exhibit at
http://scimaps.org or http://www.pnas.org/content/101/suppl.1 (with Rich Shiffrin). The ultimate goal is to serve
"daily science forecasts" - very similar to today’s weather forecasts but filled with breaking news and
information on what is collectively known, what new fields are emerging, who/what is driving which R&D, how
it all interconnects, etc.

Mathematics
Computing needs of the Mathematics department are modest, but growing.

The main computational activities are currently in the areas of: geometry/topology, mainly symbolic
computations using MAPLE and MATHEMATICA (Livingston, Edmonds, Weber, Solomon, for example), but
also computation of minimal surfaces using PDE solvers both from MATLAB package and handwritten C+
code (Weber, mainly); Fluid dynamics/climatology, sophisticated PDE solvers modeling air/ocean interaction
and ocean currents (Institute for Scientific Computation, Temam and Wang); dynamical systems/inertial
manifolds and turbulence theory, PDE solvers and high-dimensional ODE solvers, path-following bifurcation
analyses (Jolly); Eigenvalue/stability analysis of shock waves and other solutions of gas and fluid dynamics,
high-dimensional ODE (Zumbrun). Temam and Zumbrun have expressed intention starting in the Fall 2009 to
move to parallelized code to aid in large-scale computations.

Faculty requests
The main requests from informal faculty poll are at the level of infrastructure/ logistics: specifically, more
availability/licensing and server support of MATHEMATICA, MAPLE, MATLAB, and convenient access to
large-scale (e.g. parallel) computing facilities. Faculty applaud the excellent infrastructure and support already
in place, in particular the excellent connectivity and frequent update of faculty desktop machines. One more
serious user wondered whether it might be possible to supply more powerful machines on individual basis
where there is research need.

Requests of logistical nature were better information on how to access software on Libra and Quarry
(mentioned as a very nice thing), and information on what software/hardware is and is not available in Tech
rooms, and how to have desired software installed if not available.

As part of the push toward internationalization of the University, the more support of video connectivity the
better. (This may be essentially obsolete with the advent of Skype, but perhaps even an improved connective
environment, readily available, would help.)
Sustainability
Mathematics has a top climatology group in Temam, Wang, and visitors/postdocs at the Institute for Scientific
Computing, which is a strength that could fit well with the suggested push in sustainability/global modeling
directions.

There is also significant strength at theoretical level in materials science (superconductivity, in particular) with
Rubinstein (now adjunct) and Sternberg, so the department is well-positioned to lead in the related area of
energy science (e.g., photovoltaic and fuel cell design), with just a single, quite feasible hire. One excellent
candidate, Keith Promislow of Michigan State, has a proven track record of interface with industry, with multi-
million dollar grants with Ballard Power (fuel cell technology) in B.C., Canada, and continuing projects with
G.M. and other Detroit-based manufacturers, and at the same time is a very strong mathematical analyst. He
also has strong ties to IU. (He is an alumnus.) There are several others of this quality that the Mathematics
department could attract, and would immediately put IU on the map in this area. The issue is how to put
together a position/situation that would attract such a candidate. Perhaps some sort of “energy chair'' could be
supported by industry donor or grant.

Of course such a plan would be much more successful as part of a larger push by IU/UITS in the areas of
energy science/sustainability. This is an important use of resources from a societal/global point of view,
independent of academic positioning.

Life science/complex systems

Certainly these are two areas where IU appears well-poised to lead, through faculty strength, interdisciplinary
connections, and computing infrastructure. In any case, the university is already on these paths and should
stay the course.

Mathematics is benefiting indirectly from this push, with increased activity in immediately surrounding areas,
and can also serve as an important technical resource. Current work and collaborations lead toward analysis
of large, complicated (but not “complex'' under the definition given in the panel, as they have a small set of
governing rules) diff. equations, and toward bifurcation in natural systems. So, there could conceivably be
further interactions in the future.

Data science/handling
Again this seems an area in which IU is well positioned both technologically (UITS) and in faculty
infrastructure (Informatics).

Music and Arts Technology

Preservation of music research data involves more than bit-level preservation. It also includes preservation
services such as data integrity checks, linking of metadata to files, audit trails, etc. that are found in what is
known as a preservation repository or a trusted digital repository. Such a repository for research data is only
partly developed here. Preservation of research data for us also involves the conversion of analog recordings
to digital objects. This is a huge problem on the Bloomington campus, which holds well over 300,000
degrading audio and video recordings plus film. There are no plan for these materials at present.

Development of communications/interactive software that address needs of the performing arts communities
is necessary. Current multi-disciplinary arts and humanities networked efforts require a customized synthesis
of existing applications for networked transmission of high fidelity audio and video streaming, synchronization,
virtual machine control, motion/data capture, and integration with existing media and live players. Further
research is needed to develop a networked environment capable of the following criteria:
  Utilizing current formats (such as HD SDI audio/video) with minimal compression and latency (less
than 30ms) for up to ten remote locations simultaneously.
 A single platform for video and audio control interacting with and displaying imagery.
 Communications menu for real-time control and direction of players and technicians with ability to
install plug-ins and other customized features.
 Affordable, manageable and dual platform interface tailored to artists.
 Ability to function well in a broad range of bandwidth configurations, from research-grade Internet2 to
Commodity Internet (DSL).
 Developing media-rich arts spaces. Multiple facilities are needed to meet a range of functions from
"laboratory/studio" spaces for creation and rehearsal, to flexible venues suitable for high-end public
presentation of performances, exhibitions and installations. While the construction of a good black box
performance venue requires a major financial initiative, upgrading selected studios and spaces across
the campus system could be a very positive action in the right direction.

Some examples of successful facilities include:

 The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute:
http://empac.rpi.edu/
 The Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theater (REDCAT):
http://www.redcat.org/

Individual digital artist/researcher needs are minimal compared to most scientific areas, however the
institutional need for a flexible, shared performance space for digital audio, video, dance technology (such as
video tracking and sensor networks) and mixed-media works produced needs to be a priority. Performance
space should include highly networked, current state-of-the art systems for pervasive sound diffusion arrays,
video distribution networks and projection, reconfigurable seating and performance area. Without such an
outlet for public performance, no amount of creative activity in the digital arts can reach the ultimate goal of
realization in an appropriate venue at the institution where it was created. The resources to fund both the
technology and bricks and mortar for such a facility is beyond the ability of individual units in the creative
digital arts areas. Some existing models include:

 Sonic Arts Research Centre (SARC), Belfast, Ireland:

http://www.sarc.qub.ac.uk/main.php?page=building&bID=1
http://www.sarc.qub.ac.uk/main.php?page=soniclab
 NOVARS Research Centre for Electroacoustic Composition and Sound-Art, Manchester, UK:
http://www.novars.manchester.ac.uk/facilities/index.html
 Duderstadt Center Video and Performance Studio, U. Michigan:
http://www.dc.umich.edu/index.html

School of Engineering and Technology, IUPUI

Grand challenge applications in the IUPUI School of Engineering and Technology include:

 Computational Energy Science and Engineering

o Computational battery and fuel cell dynamics
o Advanced coal research
o Solar energy
o Wind energy
 Multiscale materials modeling
o Simulations from atomic and molecular levels to continuum levels
  Computational Neurosciences and Mechanics
 Computational Cardiovascular Mechanics
o Complete simulation of human cardiovascular system
 Cyber Security
 Computational processing of smart electric grids
 Pattern recognition and signal processing
o Biometrics, especially biometrics application to large population.
o medical image processing, especially real-time medical image processing for surgery needs
o Hyperspectral image processing, for real-time target detection and recognition
o 3D image processing
 Real time simulators with 3D graphics
 Music Technology: Customized synthesis of applications for networked transmission of high fidelity
audio and video streaming, synchronization, virtual machine control, motion/data capture, and
integration with existing media and live players – Scott Deal’s research via Internet2
 Wireless systems and sensors for vehicular safety – vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and a vehicle to
infrastructure (V2I) laboratories

Next generation computing needs and ideas include:

 Access to easy-to-use high performance scientific computing tools, including application portals and
grid gateways for parallel computing, grid computing, and advanced visualizations
 A collaborative environment for university-wide graduate level interdisciplinary computational science
and engineering degree programs or minors. Joint development of online and for credit core courses
(three or four) related to computational mathematics, simulations methods, software engineering,
parallel and grid computing offered online for interdisciplinary applications. See e.g.,
o http://www.cse.illinois.edu/index.html,
o http://www.coe.berkeley.edu/departments/engineering-science/computational-engineering-
science.html
o https://engineering.purdue.edu/ProEd/credit/CompEng

Sociology
A potential priority area was conceived from a recent mailing/brochure from UITS called “Protecting Red-Hot
DATA,” which dealt entirely with administrative data. The same effort and resources should be devoted to
protecting and preserving research data.