Research IT News

Jian Peng, NCSA Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Illinois and graduate student, Yang Liu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have discovered a major breakthrough in protein structure predictions using deep learning data processed by NCSA’s  Blue Waters supercomputer published in Cell Systems journal.

Jian Peng, NCSA Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Illinois and graduate student, Yang Liu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have discovered a major breakthrough in protein structure predictions using deep learning data processed by NCSA’s  Blue Waters supercomputer published in Cell Systems journal.

Read the full story.

The Illinois Data Bank is an institutional, self-deposit data repository designed to preserve and share data produced by Illinois researchers. Depositors are given a persistent URL (DOI) for their data and the dataset will be publicly findable through search engines. Research Data Service staff are available for deposit consultations and assistance at databank@library.illinois.edu.

Technology Services has a new story looking at the tiny differences in gut bacteria that may lead to large discoveries like curing autism. The Illinois Campus Cluster makes it possible for Professor Tandy Warnow and Ph.D. student Michael Nute to run complex computations to analyze billions of DNA sequences.

Check out What Makes Us Human on the Technology Services website.

Dr. Maria L. Chu, Assistant Professor in Agricultural and Biological Engineering, studies how a variety of factors alter how water moves in the watershed—affecting its quantity and quality.

Read the full story

Read the December 2017 Technology Services Research IT Newsletter.

The University Library is soliciting applications from faculty, academic professionals, and graduate students who need to purchase numeric, spatial, or textual data for their research. Through the Data Purchase Program, funds will be awarded for such data purchases, with a maximum award of $5,000. The application deadline for first consideration is May 28, 2018.

Visit https://www.library.illinois.edu/sc/purchase/ for more details, including a link to the online application.

The new, eagerly anticipated Research IT Portal is live! Visit researchit.illinois.edu to use the portal or the Tech Services website to learn more about it.

Date of Workshop: January 16, 2019

XSEDE along with the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center are pleased to announce a one day OpenMP workshop. This workshop is intended to give C and Fortran programmers a hands-on introduction to OpenMP programming. Attendees will leave with a working knowledge of how to write scalable codes using OpenMP. This event will be presented using the Wide Area Classroom(WAC) training platform.

Due to demand, this workshop will be telecast to several satellite sites, given below.

You  may attend at any of the following sites.

• Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
• Purdue University
• National Center for Supercomputing Applications (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
• University of Delaware
• University of Houston - Clear Lake
• The University of Utah
• University of Cincinnati
• University of Tennessee, Knoxville - National Institute for Computational Sciences
• University of Houston
• Pennsylvania State University
• Stanford University
• Arizona State University

Register by going to: https://portal.xsede.org/course-calendar

Please address any questions to Tom Maiden at tmaiden@psc.edu.

Read the December 2017 Technology Services Research IT Newsletter.

After scanning in depth about a quarter of the southern skies for six years and cataloguing hundreds of millions of distant galaxies, the Dark Energy Survey (DES) will finish taking data on January 9, 2019. The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois will continue refining and serving this data for use by scientists into 2021.

A tornado visualization done using Blue Waters at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois has won the XSEDE 2015 People's Choice Award.

Peer into the Guts of a Monster Tornado (by Gizmodo).

Read the May 2017 Research IT at Tech Services Newsletter. This will take you to the HTML version of the newsletter.

Research Data Services has recently made its annual report available.

“The Research Data Service (RDS) provides the Illinois research community with the expertise, tools, and infrastructure necessary to manage and steward research data.”

Jian Peng, NCSA Faculty Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at Illinois and graduate student, Yang Liu, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, have discovered a major breakthrough in protein structure predictions using deep learning data processed by NCSA’s  Blue Waters supercomputer published in Cell Systems journal.

Read the full story.

A collaboration between the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, Mayo Clinic, and the University of Michigan are introducing a new machine-learning-driven approach to latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) diagnostics. While leveraging a high throughput detection technology and powerful bioinformatics, this approach aims to reveal multi-marker signatures for LTBI diagnosis and risk stratification.

A COLLABORATIVE RETREAT

Friday, August 23, 2019 | 8:30–5 p.m.Levis Faculty Center (919 W. Illinois St., Urbana)

Registration Form

Co-sponsored by the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities and the Office of Undergraduate Research

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH) and the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) seek to bring together faculty and staff to consider how we engage the undergraduate research experience at Illinois and how we might create a set of new models to shape the future of undergraduate research in both core and emerging fields of study in the humanities. 

The day will open with a keynote by Ellen McClure, professor of French and Francophone Studies and History, and Director of the Engaged Humanities Initiative at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Panels and discussions/breakout sessions will follow.

Early bird registration is now open. Registration is required and seats are limited.

Our hope is to share knowledge and information, to generate conversation and debate about what is desirable and possible, and ultimately to re-center the importance of the humanities in undergraduate education at Illinois. Participants can expect to hear details about competitive grant opportunities to develop ideas that they generate, with particular attention to those that engage digital methods, underrepresented and underserved students, or emphasize a public-facing dimension. These grants will be offered by the Office of Undergraduate Research and IPRH, up to $5,000.

For questions contact Antoinette Burton (aburton@illinois.edu) or Karen Rodriguez’G (rodrigzg@illinois.edu).

Launch date: May 15, 2019

Research Electronic Data Capture, or REDCap, is a secure web application for building and managing surveys and databases for research studies. Developed by Vanderbilt University in 2004, REDCap is currently used by over 805,000 users in 3,000 institutions throughout 127 countries.

A new material may be able to capture carbon dioxide and turn it into a commercially useful substance, according to a team at the University of Pittsburgh. Using the XSEDE resource Bridges at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, they simulated two "metal oxide framework" materials that simulated removal of carbon dioxide from exhaust gas. Better, the material also converted it into formic acid, which can be used to make products like methanol fuel. If the material works as well in the lab and factory as it does in the computer, it could fundamentally alter the economics of limiting human CO2 release and avoiding climate change.

Help us welcome the 2019 Illini 4000 team to campus during their annual bike ride across the country at the Alice Campbell Alumni Center on June 4 at 4:00 PM.This student-led non-profit organization is dedicated to documenting the American cancer experience through The Portraits Project, raising funds for cancer research and patient support services, and spreading awareness for the fight against cancer through cross-country bike rides.

GET DETAILS

Research engineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a high-throughput computational method using XSEDE-allocated resources to design new materials for next generation solar cells and LEDs. According to their calculations, these materials, called hybrid halide semiconductors, would be stable and exhibit excellent optoelectronic properties.

The VR@Illinois campus network, in partnership with the Virtual Reality Club at Illinois, presents:  Virtual Reality (VR) Demo Day on Friday, August 30, 2019, from 1pm to 5pm.

Faculty, students, and staff are invited to join us at multiple sites across campus on VR Demo Day to explore how these technologies are being used in higher education. Visit each participating site to demo over ten different types of VR and AR headsets and experience immersive programs simulating archaeological digs, 3D anatomical pregnancy simulation, 3D art and modeling, 360 Videos, Google Earth, games, and more. Come and learn about what VR and AR resources are available to you across campus.

For more information on VR Demo Day, visit us online at: https://go.illinois.edu/VRDemoDay

“Research has shown that evidence-based decision making has greater returns than gut instinct based,” said Business Administration Associate Professor Ramanath Subramanyam, who teaches data analytics courses in the Gies Business MBA program.

This event is a celebration of data science from across our campus. Events include sessions focusing on the application of data science in genomics and materials science, the hesitant data scientist, a session on data governance, and a session on community data science. This event is open to all, faculty, staff, students, and the public..

Research Data Access and Preservation Summit (RDAP) invites proposals for its upcoming summit at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL on May 15-17, 2019.

RDAP Summit is a 2-day single-track, affordable event for research data support practitioners, with optional workshops available on a third day for a small additional fee. The program includes panels, lightning talks, a poster session, discussions, and optional workshops. This year’s theme is Building Communities.

The planning committee encourages presenters to propose topics that address how different communities are impacted by our systems, technology, values, and practices; who our communities are by and for; and to look at data services through a critical lens.

Once again, RDAP and the Journal of eScience Librarianship (JeSLIB) will continue their partnership. RDAP presenters will have the opportunity to submit papers to a special issue of JeSLIB.

Deadline: 

November 16, 2018

Submit/more info:

http://rdapassociation.org/cfp/

Contact: 

Tisha Mentnech (tisha.mentnech@utah.edu) and Carolyn Bishoff (cbishoff@umn.edu), Conference Committee co-chairs

The Earth BioGenome Project (EBP), a global effort to sequence the genetic code, or genomes, of all 1.5 million known animal, plant, protozoan and fungal species on Earth, officially launched on November 1, 2018. The EBP will ultimately create a new foundation for biology to drive solutions for preserving biodiversity and sustaining human societies. 

IPRH is now accepting applications for the New Horizons Summer Faculty Research Fellowship. This funding opportunity is designed to help faculty at the tenured Associate Professor level maximize the summer for research at a critical juncture in the arc of their professional careers. 

New Horizons funding has two components:

1) Summer Faculty Research Fellowship ($7500)

2) Undergraduate Research Assistantship in the Humanities ($2500)

We are currently accepting applications for work to be undertaken in summer 2019. Three fellows will be chosen by an ad hoc committee organized by the IPRH Director.

The deadline for applications is February 15, 2019 by 5:00 p.m. For more information please visit the IPRH website.

AGTECH INNOVATION SUMMIT

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

The University of Illinois is uniquely positioned where agriculture, engineering and technology intersect, and is on its way to becoming a hub of agricultural entrepreneurship and activity. Modern agriculture is being transformed by a confluence of advancing technologies. As a result, record-breaking investments in the sector are supporting new ventures. This year’s 2019 AgTech Summit will include panels and discussions about the landscape of AgTech Investment, the future of digital agriculture featuring collaborations between startups and large corporations and much more.

Check out the schedule of events and register today!

Tornados are more common in the U.S. than anywhere else in the world. But to really understand these intense wind funnels of destruction, you need lots and lots of data. That's what scientist Leigh Orf with the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies (CIMSS) at the University of Wisconsin–Madison is working on, with the help of one very important tool—a massive supercomputer.

Read more...

Dr. Felipe Menanteau, a Research Scientist at NCSA and Research Associate Professor of Astronomy, and the Dark Energy Survey team study the universe and use sky mapping exercises to try to understand where everything came from and if we are alone.

Read the full story

Text and data-miners rejoice! All of the 200,000+ Public Library of Science (PLOS) articles are open and available for research at https://www.plos.org/text-and-data-mining.

"Medicine has become more and more individualized since the days of leeches and humors, but in the last 15 years, an explosion of patient data in the form of genetic information and electronic health records (EHRs) has sharpened the doctor’s picture of the individual patient—and of treatments tailored to their precise needs."

"Making sense of complex biological data is the daily routine for the VI-Bio group at NCSA. Whether it be investigating the role of certain dietary interventions in the human microbiome, working to improve risk prediction in breast cancer, or even developing an app to connect cancer patients and caregivers, VI-Bio is constantly working to make data more accessible, culminating in visual analytic tools for studying genomic and related data.

What's not routine about this work, however, are the outcomes..."

Researchers around the world can now explore the first three years of data from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) processed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read the full story

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications is one of many host-sites for XSEDE's upcoming HPC Workshop, focused on MPI and parallel programming. If you are a researcher interested in adding high-performance computing to your research, this workshop offers a hands-on introduction. To register, sign up at https://www.xsede.org/web/xup/course-calendar/-/training-user/class/593/session/153

Registration is now open for the Linux Clusters Institute's (LCI) weeklong, hands-on Introductory and Intermediate workshops. These workshops will cover the fundamentals of setting up and administering a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster and will be led by some of the world's leading HPC experts.

The rapid evolution of information technologies to the point where most active citizens are able to access global information using personal devices is changing the city out of all recognition. This lecture will outline the ways in which such technologies are generating a new functioning of the city which we call ‘urban informatics’, and we will explore the implications of these developments for our understanding of the city and its design

Whether it be with Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) like those in our Blue Waters supercomputer, or Field-programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Kindratenko’s research has focused on pushing the limits of computational research, allowing high-performance computing architectures to be optimized to tackle unique and intensive challenges with great efficiency.

An international research team led by The Australian National University (ANU) has made a new type of silicon that better uses sunlight and promises to cut the cost of solar technology.

Applications are open currently for a fellowship that will offer the successful doctoral student the opportunity to undertake research over a period of three years at two of the most prestigious institutions in Europe: Sorbonne University in Paris and the University of Oxford. Applicants should have a background in one or more of the following four disciplines: digital humanities, history of science, mathematics, or computer science. They should demonstrate experience of historical study alongside evident ability in the field of digital humanities or data sciences.

If you haven't been to the Research IT Portal yet, click the atricle title above to view a 1-minute video that introduces key Portal features.

Scientists conducted the most detailed simulations of a black hole to date using a custom code and the GPUs on Blue Waters. A number of theoretical predictions regarding accretion disks have finally been validated.

Application deadline: August 14, 2019

The NEH Media Projects: Production Grants program supports the production and distribution of documentary film, television, radio, and podcast projects that engage general audiences with humanities ideas in creative and appealing ways. 

The College of Veterinary Medicine (Vet Med) recently installed a state-of-the-art Varian TrueBeam® linear accelerator, used by radiation oncologists in cancer treatment and research. It is a level of technology found in only a few of the veterinary schools in all of North America. 

What will 21st century humanities pedagogy look like? How might we strengthen and diversify the humanities and engage and inspire a new generation of learners? What is already being done, and what new models and structures might we create, to shape a future of undergraduate research that re-centers the importance of the humanities in undergraduate education at Illinois?

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities (IPRH) and the Illinois Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) invite faculty and staff to participate in this important conversation, which will begin with a keynote by Ellen McClure, professor of French and Francophone Studies and History, and Director of the new Engaged Humanities Initiative (EHI) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Please register for the conference by August 1.

Introduction to Text Mining Concepts and Sources: Monday, September 17, 2 – 3:30 p.m., Main Library, room 314

An Introduction to Prezi: Tuesday, September 18, 10 - 11 a.m., Main Library, room 314

Introduction to Data Management: Tuesday, September 18, 1 - 2 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Reading Data Visualizations: Tuesday, September 18, 4 - 5 p.m.,  Main Library, room 314

Advanced Research Strategies: Wednesday, September 19, 3 - 4 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Copyright for Educators: Thursday, September 20, 11 a.m. - noon, Main Library, room 314

Internet Privacy: Filter Bubbles and the Deep Web: Thursday, September 20, 2 - 3 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Exploratory Data Analysis Through Visualization: Thursday, September 20, 4 - 6 p.m.,  Main Library, room 314

Introduction to Data Management: Thursday, September 20, 6 - 7 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Managing Your Citations with Zotero: Friday, September 21, 1 - 2 p.m, Main Library, room 314

Learn more and register online. 

Check out this week's Savvy Researcher Workshops:

An Introduction to Prezi: Monday, October 15, noon – 1 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Latin American and Caribbean Research Workshop: Tuesday, October 16, 9:30 – 10:30 a.m., Main Library, room 314

Data Sharing: Tuesday, October 16, 1 – 2 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Share Your Video Online with Kaltura: Tuesday, October 16, 2 - 3 p.m., Main Library, room 314

How to make Wikipedia edits that stick: Tuesday, October 16, 3 - 4 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Create scholarly and promotional digital materials with CANVA: Wednesday, October 17, 11 a.m. - noon, Main Library, room 314

International Fieldwork 101: IRB and Beyond: Wednesday, October 17, 3 - 4 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Managing Your Citations with Zotero: Wednesday, October 17, 5 – 6 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Add Captions to Kaltura Video with Automatic Speech Recognition: Thursday, October 18, 2 - 3 p.m., Main Library, room 314

Starting the Job Search: Strategies for Success: Friday, October 19, 2 - 3 p.m., Main Library, room 314

The Fall 2018 IT Professionals Forum registration is now open! Please visit the website and register for this #TechnologyTransformers conference. This is a 2-day event on November 7-8, 2018.

Wednesday, November 7th follows our traditional format, held at the I Hotel and Conference Center located at 1900 S. 1st Street Champaign, IL 61820. Lunch and snacks will be provided.Thursday, November 8th is an optional day filled with workshops at the I Hotel and Conference Center. 

The deadline to register is 5 PM on Thursday, October 18th. 

For more information about the regular sessions or optional workshops please see the descriptions on the schedule page. Additional questions should be directed to the IT Professionals Forum Planning Committee at itpf-committee@illinois.edu.

The Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities presents this opportunity to apply for the position of Mellon Faculty Fellow. 

The IPRH-Mellon Faculty Fellow will serve as the director for the IPRH-Mellon Legal Humanities Research Group, beginning with his or her appointment in spring 2019, and concluding in the 2022–23 academic year. The Faculty Fellow will serve as the primary supervisor for the research group and will report directly to the PI (Antoinette Burton) on all activities pertaining to and funded by the grant.

Please note that this is an internal fellowship, open only to current University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tenured professors who possess a Ph.D. in a humanities discipline.