Cloud Computing Working Group generates interest among faculty, students, staff

December 7, 2015

The D-Lab’s Cloud Computing Working Group, announced in a July news article on this site, has generated strong interest and participation among faculty, students, and IT support staff from many campus research domains. Participants are at a wide range of stages of incorporating cloud computing into research workflows. The working group has met bi-weekly since the start of the Fall 2015 term, is ongoing, and is open to people of all skill levels.

The Cloud Computing Working Group is coordinated by Jack Burris and Chris Kennedy of D-Lab, and Aaron Culich of Research IT. Participants in Working Group sessions have included faculty, students, and staff representing ESPM, Nuclear Engineering, the School of Education, the School of Public Health, the School of Information, the Institute of Transportation Studies, BIDS, the Statistics Research Facility (SCF), The Library, Research IT, and many other campus domains and departments. Amazon Solutions Architects have attended selected working group meetings to offer help and advice on issues encountered by campus users of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Following an initial AWS train-the-trainer session in late July, topics covered in Fall 2015 meetings to-date have included:

  • Working Group kick-off (September 3rd)
  • AWS EC2 Basics, Part 1 (September 17th)
  • AWS EC2 Basics, Part 2 (October 1st)
  • Berkeley Common Environment (BCE) on AWS (October 15th)
  • Applying for an AWS Research Grant (October 29)
  • Data Mobility using Globus between Savio and AWS S3 (November 23rd)

A final meeting for Fall 2015 is scheduled this week: Spark for Data Analysis in the Cloud, at D-Lab on Thursday, December 10, 4-6 pm.

The working group will continue in Spring 2016. Campus participants are cordially invited to participate in particular sessions of interest, or as regular attendees. Please sign up for the working group if you’re interested in attending and/or in receiving bi-weekly update e-mails; or visit the D-Lab’s Cloud Computing Working Group page for more information.

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