EPSCoR RII Track-2
"An EPSCoR Desktop to Teragrid Ecosystem"

"Modeling Advanced Materials and Systems Biology: Building Capabilities and Collaborations for Cyber-Enabled Discovery"

Workshop and External Review

September 20-22, 2010
Madren Conference Center, Clemson University

Who is organizing this conference? This conference is an activity of the South Carolina and Tennessee NSF EPSCoR jurisdictions who have jointly been awarded an EPSCoR Cyberinfrastructure RII for "A Desktop to TeraGrid Ecosystem" (NSF EPS-0919440 and EPS-0919436). The Structural Biology and Advanced Materials focus areas were selected by the Vice Presidents for Research at Clemson, USC and MUSC due to their strategic importance for South Carolina's research, education and economic development.

What is the purpose of this conference? The "Desktop to TeraGrid" award is providing the following new resources and capabilities for research faculty and students in South Carolina and Tennessee:

• 6 PhD level computational scientists to help utilize complex software and computational systems

• improved network connections to make the University of Tennessee-Knoxville "Kraken" and Clemson University "Palmetto" supercomputers accessible from remote locations

• special compute nodes on "Palmetto" and a special TeraGrid allocation on "Kraken" providing accounts (ie permission to access) for South Carolina university scientists

The purpose of this conference is to publicize that these people and resources are available, bring scientists (computationally oriented, or interested in computation potential) to discuss research interests and to stimulate collaboration. You will meet scientists who have taken on new problems or begun new areas of investigation by using cyberinfrastructure. Bring posters describing your work and discover ways that you might benefit from newly available resources and expertise. Discover internship opportunities at a national laboratory.

What will happen at this conference?

• Amazingly interesting speakers

  • Dr. Amy Apon, University of Arkansas, Director, Arkansas High Performance Computing Center and Professor, Computer Science and Computer Engineering - " Investment in High Performance Computing as a Predictor of Research Competitiveness in U.S. Academic Institutions”

  • Dr. Peter Cummings, Vanderbilt University, Professor of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering - “Computational Nanoscience and the Interplay Between Experiment and Theory”

  • Dr. Vernon Burton, Professor of Historyand Associate Director for Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, CU CyberInstitute, Clemson University- "Cyberinfrastructure for the Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences."

  • Dr. A. Barney Maccabe, Director, Computer Science and Math Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  • Dr. Rebecca Zuvich, Vanderbilt University - "Vanderbilt BioVue, the personalized DNA DataBank"

  • Dr. Jamal Musaev, Director & Principal Scientist, Cherry L. Emerson Center for Scientific Computation, Emory University- "Computation aided catalyst design for water and organic oxidation, C-H bond functionalization, nitrogen fixation and drug development"

  • Mr. Jim Bottum, Clemson University, Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer, Chair of the NSF Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure- “Shaping the Future with CI”

  • Dr. Bhanu Rekepalli, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, Computational Scientist, Joint Institute for Computational Sciences- “The Gigantic Problem of Genomic Data Growth, and its Solutions”

  • Dr. Jacek Jakowski, University of Tennessee-Knoxville, National Institute for Computational Sciences - “Computational Advanced Materials Workbench Tools”

  • and many more panelists and poster presenters....

• Poster session -- bring your students, start new collaborations
  Poster Instructions - There is no required poster template. The conference will provide an easel for your poster; please make sure your poster is no smaller than 22"x28" (standard poster board size) and no larger than 36"x48" (science display board size). The conference will not be providing backing material -- be sure to bring backing material for your poster so that it can stand on an easel.

• Pre-conference hands-on high performance computing training opportunity

Is this conference just for biology and materials scientists? Not at all -- we have recruited many speakers on the topics of Structural Biology and Advanced Materials --- however, we also have speakers on Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. If your research program could benefit from collaboration with a computational scientist, please bring a poster and participate in the conference.

Is this conference for people who are already "cyber-savvy" ? Not necessarily. If you have an interest in new approaches to discover in biology, nanomaterials, chemistry, or how modeling is used in scientific investigations; if you are interested in how history, social sciences, and art are making use of Cyberinfrastructure; if you are looking for people with similar interests who are interested in collaboration, this conference is for you.

Who is welcome to attend this conference? Anyone interested is welcome to attend. Students are especially welcome.

What does it cost? There is no fee to attend this workshop; however, advance registration is required.  Registration will close on Friday, September 17. After September 17, you will be added to a waiting list.

Hotel Rooms

To request a room at the center, please call (888) 654-9020 and tell them that you are with the "SC Cyberinfrastructure Conference."  You may also visit the center's website to submit a request form at https://www.clemson.edu/centers-institutes/madren/inn/request.html.

Travel

The closest airport to the Madren Center is the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport, which is approximately a 40 minute drive.  The Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the Charlotte Douglas International Airport are each about 2 hours away.

The Madren Conference Center is located at 230 Madren Center Drive, Clemson, SC 29634.  Driving instructions can be found on the Locations and Directions page on the conference center website.

Track-2 Leadership Team

The RII Track-2 Leadership team will need to be available on the afternoon of Wednesday, September 22 for a face-to-face leadership team meeting, presentations to advisory board members, and to hear the advisory board's feedback. 

Dr. Jill Gemmill will be calling on some of the leadership team to recruit panel speakers, representatives of participating institutions, and program areas, and to serve as panel moderators.