S2I2: Impl: The Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI) for the Democratization and Acceleration of Science

S2I2：Impl：科学民主化和加速科学网关社区研究所 (SGCI)

• 批准号: 1547611
• 负责人: Michael Zentner
• 金额: $ 1499.9万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Cooperative Agreement
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-08-01 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1547611&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: S2I2; Impl; Science; Gateways; Community

Science gateways are user-friendly web portals that make advanced computing, data, networking and scientific instrumentation accessible and easily usable by scientists at all levels, including students, thereby revolutionizing how research and education is done in science. For example, scientists are conducting biomedical studies through Galaxy, a science gateway for data intensive biomedical research, as well as engaging citizens in investigating lion density using Snapshot Serengeti, a science gateway for citizen science. By being easily accessible via the Web, science gateways expand and democratize access to supercomputers, telescopes, sensor networks, unique data collections, collaborative spaces that enable the multidisciplinary collaborations needed to solve complex problems, and analysis capabilities. Thus, science gateways expand and broadening participation in science - an important goal of the National Science Foundation (NSF). By increasing participation, science gateways increase the NSF's return on investment in advanced technologies and facilities. The Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI) will speed the development and application of robust, cost-effective, sustainable gateways to address the needs of scientists and engineers across the sciences. The work of the institute will increase the number as well as the effectiveness and usability of gateways to science and engineering. This will result in broader gateway use and more widespread conduct of science ranging from professionals to citizen scientists, thus, directly amplifying the impact of the SGCI. Further, and very importantly, the Institute's community engagement and exchange activities will, over time, increase the audience for its services, and its partnerships with minority professional organizations will ensure involvement in training and workforce development from underrepresented groups.Science gateways are user-friendly web portals that make advanced computing, data, networking and scientific instrumentation accessible and easily usable by scientists at all levels, including students, thereby revolutionizing how research and education is done in science. Gateways enable scientists to test their assumptions more quickly, providing them more time for deeper thinking about the types of problems that have yet to be solved. In this way, gateways become "research amplifiers". They also enable synthetic science - by using modelling and simulation tools powered by high-performance computing - across ecosystems, geographic distances, methodologies, and disciplines. However, and despite the presence of gateways for many years, development of these environments is often done with ad-hoc processes, limiting success, resource efficiency, and long-term impact. Developers of gateways are often unaware that others have solved similar challenges before, and do not know where to turn for advice or expertise. Thus, projects waste money and time re-implementing the more basic functions rather than building the value-added features for their unique audience. Many gateway efforts fail. Some fail early by not understanding how to build communities of users; others fail later by not developing plans for sustainability. The Science Gateways Community Institute (SGCI) has been designed to address the above limitations while providing career paths for gateway developers and for students. The five-component design of the SGCI is the result of several years of studies, including many focus groups and a 5,000-person survey of the research community. Its Incubator component will provide shared expertise in business and sustainability planning, cybersecurity, user interface design, and software engineering practices. The Extended Developer Support component will provide expert developers for up to one year to projects that request assistance as well as demonstrating the potential to achieve impacts on their research communities. The Scientific Software Collaborative component will offer a component-based, open-source, extensible framework for gateway design, integration, and services, including gateway hosting and capabilities for external developers to integrate their own software into Institute offerings. The Community Engagement and Exchange component will provide a forum for communication and shared experiences among gateway developers, within NSF, across federal agencies, and internationally. Finally, with its training programs the Workforce Development component will increase the pipeline of gateway developers, with special emphasis on recruiting underrepresented minorities, and by helping universities form gateway support groups. In short, the work of the institute will increase the number, ease of use, and effective application of gateways to science and engineering, resulting in broader gateway use and more widespread conduct of science ranging from professionals to citizen scientists. The Institute's community engagement and exchange activities over time will increase the audience for its services, and its partnerships with minority professional organizations will ensure involvement in training and workforce development from underrepresented groups.

科学网关是用户友好的门户网站，使包括学生在内的各级科学家都可以访问和轻松使用先进的计算、数据、网络和科学仪器，从而彻底改变科学研究和教育的方式。例如，科学家们正在通过 Galaxy（数据密集型生物医学研究的科学网关）进行生物医学研究，并利用 Snapshot Serengeti（公民科学的科学网关）让公民参与调查狮子密度。通过通过网络轻松访问，科学网关扩展了对超级计算机、望远镜、传感器网络、独特数据收集、支持解决复杂问题所需的多学科协作的协作空间和分析能力的访问并使之民主化。因此，科学门户扩大并拓宽了对科学的参与——这是美国国家科学基金会（NSF）的一个重要目标。通过增加参与，科学门户增加了 NSF 在先进技术和设施上的投资回报。科学网关社区研究所 (SGCI) 将加快强大、经济高效、可持续网关的开发和应用，以满足各科学领域科学家和工程师的需求。该研究所的工作将增加科学与工程门户的数量、有效性和可用性。这将导致更广泛的网关使用以及从专业人士到公民科学家的更广泛的科学行为，从而直接放大 SGCI 的影响。此外，非常重要的是，随着时间的推移，研究所的社区参与和交流活动将增加其服务的受众，其与少数族裔专业组织的伙伴关系将确保代表性不足的群体参与培训和劳动力发展。科学门户是用户友好的门户网站使包括学生在内的各级科学家都能轻松访问和使用先进的计算、数据、网络和科学仪器，从而彻底改变科学研究和教育的方式。网关使科学家能够更快地测试他们的假设，为他们提供更多时间来更深入地思考尚未解决的问题类型。这样，网关就成为“研究放大器”。它们还通过使用高性能计算支持的建模和模拟工具，跨生态系统、地理距离、方法论和学科，实现综合科学。然而，尽管网关已存在多年，但这些环境的开发通常是通过临时流程完成的，从而限制了成功、资源效率和长期影响。网关开发人员通常不知道其他人以前已经解决过类似的挑战，也不知道到哪里寻求建议或专业知识。因此，项目浪费了金钱和时间来重新实现更基本的功能，而不是为其独特的受众构建增值功能。许多网关努力都失败了。有些人因为不了解如何建立用户社区而早期失败；其他人后来因没有制定可持续发展计划而失败。科学网关社区研究所 (SGCI) 旨在解决上述限制，同时为网关开发人员和学生提供职业道路。 SGCI 的五部分设计是多年研究的结果，包括许多焦点小组和对研究界 5,000 人的调查。其孵化器组件将提供业务和可持续发展规划、网络安全、用户界面设计和软件工程实践方面的共享专业知识。扩展开发人员支持组件将为请求援助的项目提供长达一年的专家开发人员支持，并展示对其研究社区产生影响的潜力。科学软件协作组件将为网关设计、集成和服务提供基于组件的、开源的、可扩展的框架，包括网关托管和外部开发人员将自己的软件集成到研究所产品中的功能。社区参与和交流部分将为 NSF 内部、联邦机构之间以及国际上的网关开发人员提供一个交流和分享经验的论坛。最后，通过其培训计划，劳动力发展部分将增加网关开发人员的渠道，特别强调招募代表性不足的少数群体，并帮助大学组建网关支持小组。简而言之，该研究所的工作将增加科学和工程网关的数量、易用性和有效应用，从而导致更广泛的网关使用和从专业人士到公民科学家的更广泛的科学行为。随着时间的推移，该研究所的社区参与和交流活动将增加其服务的受众，其与少数族裔专业组织的伙伴关系将确保代表性不足的群体参与培训和劳动力发展。