Transcript Diane Baxter`s presentation - BioQUEST Curriculum Consortium

Welcome to the San Diego
Supercomputer Center
Dr. Diane Baxter
Education Director
San Diego Supercomputer Center
Thanks to Fran Berman, Jeff Sale, and
Krishna Madhavan, for slides and inspiration
Diane Baxter
SDSC Education Mission
To create a diverse, innovative,
ethical, and thoughtful next
generation of cyberinfrastructure-
fluent scientists, engineers,
mathematicians, and research
professionals.
Diane Baxter
Computing – in the beginning . . .
Popular Mechanics, 1954
Electric Counting Machine, 1951
Diane Baxter
Today computing is about
more than computers
Cyberinfrastructure is
the term used to
include the hardware,
software, and
services that provide
an “end-to-end”
information
technology resource.
Diane Baxter
wireless
sensors
field
computer
computer
data
network
network
computer
data
data
storage
computer
viz
field
instrument
network
Cyberinfrastructure is a lifestyle
Communication
Entertainment
Shopping
Diane Baxter
Our students are IT “natives”
• Assume the web
• Assume anytime, anywhere,
instant communication
• Assume that everything is
available and (virtually) free
• Assume that one can adapt to
things in real time (RPG)
• Assume that none of the
resources must actually be
where you are (the Internet)
Diane Baxter
Faculty are both IT “immigrants” and
educational pioneers
• Most faculty took courses in which textbooks were expected
to provide course content.
• Teachers’ IT skills often lag behind their students’.
• Standardized tests that are supposed to measure student
preparation continue to focus more on content than on
learning process skills or technology use.
• But. . . students’ understanding of IT is highly variable;
teachers can not assume a commons starting point and thus
they must assume there will be IT skill gaps.
• The rate of change in science and technology course
content is faster than ever before, demanding that teachers
actively learn new content as they teach. (That means more
preparation time per course hour.)
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Science has also changed
Formerly, scientists’ primary tools were direct observation and measurement.
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Today : Science is a Team Sport
Data
Management
and Mining
Astronomy
Geosciences
Life
Sciences
GAMESS
Modeling and Simulation
Physics
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Scientists share ideas, data and
resources using vast grids . . .
SDSC
PRAGMA: Pacific Rim Grid
Middleware Consortium
Open Science Grid:
Physics-driven Grid
infrastructure
TeraGrid: National
Research Resource Grid
NEES: Earthquake
Engineering Grid
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BIRN: Biomedical
Informatics Grid
GEON: Geosciences
Grid
to do things they couldn’t do alone . . .
•
Geoscience researchers
can now use massive
amount of geological,
historical, and
environmental data to
simulate natural
disasters such as
earthquakes.
•
Focus: Understanding big
earthquakes and their
impacts.
•
Simulations combine
large-scale data
collections, highresolution models, and big
supercomputer runs
•
Major
Earthquakes on
the San
Andreas Fault,
1680-present
1906
M 7.8
1857
M 7.8
How dangerous is
the San Andreas
Fault?
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1680 •
M 7.7
Simulation results
provide new scientific
information enabling
better
•
Estimation of
seismic risk
•
Emergency preparation,
response and planning
•
Design of next
generation of
earthquake-resistant
structures
Results provide
immense societal
benefits which can
help in saving many
lives and billions in
economic losses
Sharing data across and among
disciplines creates new perspectives.
Life Sciences
Users
Portals, Domain
Specific APIs
provide access
to data
Middleware
federates data
across disciplinary
vocabularies
Disciplinary
Databases
Organisms
Anatomy
Organs
Physiology
Cells
Cell Biology
Organelles
Proteomics
Biopolymers
Genomics
Atoms
Medicinal Chemistry
Diane Baxter
What can SDSC Education
programs offer?
Professional development opportunities for faculty
(classes, workshops, tutorials)
Standards-based, “data-flavored” curricula
Project-based and hands-on learning opportunities
for high school through graduate students
Free, web-based resources for educators at all levels
Web-based resources and shared communication
space to support implementation and help build
communities of practice
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SDSC Education’s Approach
Highlight data’s power and intrigue
Feature computational approaches to real-world issues
Link pre-college curricula to standards and to research
data
Seek data and computational links for expanding fields
Scaffold all programs with web-based resources, rapid
response to questions, and recognition of student and
educator successes.
Involve educators in planning and use participant feedback
to adapt programs to changing needs and audiences
Partner with community colleges and minority-serving
institutions to ensure next-generation workforce diversity.
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Focus on critical learning skills . . .
• Understanding Data
• Teamwork
• Problem-solving techniques
• Using Community Technologies
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Understanding Data SDSC Discover Data Educators’ Portal
http://education.sdsc.edu/discoverdata/
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Teamwork
• Student Teams:
• Project-based Learning (EPICS, TIES)
• Share Data (e.g. environmental monitoring)
• Team internships with SDSC staff
• Educator Teams share:
• New Curricula and Educational Resources
• Assessment Approaches and Outcomes
• Success Stories and Lessons Learned
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Problem-Solving . . .
• Technology in education (StudentTech)
• Technology for communities (TIES, with
Jacobs School of Engineering)
• New technologies: HPC and grid computing
challenges (TeraGrid and SC Student
Contests)
• Computational challenges in research
(Student SAC Program, TeraGrid Science
Gateways, CI-HASS)
Diane Baxter
Community Building
• Pathways to Cyberinfrastructure – National
Supercomputing Education Program – SCXY
• TeraGrid Education, Outreach, and Training
• SDSC TeacherTECH
• http://education.sdsc.edu/teachertech
• HPC Summer Institutes
• CI team internships that build domain-based
graduate student communities (2007)
• Communication Technologies (CI-Channel)
• http://www.cichannel.org
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When are we successful?
• When students use CI to explore
and understand data as readily
as they drive their cars.
•
Use integrated and specialized CI tools
– without needing to build their own.
•
Expect to know how CI will work each
time – without surprises.
•
Seek and find instruction that’s easily
available and user-friendly
•
Know how to find someone to fix it
when it breaks
• Because it’s about where you’re
going, not how your car works
Diane Baxter
Thank You and Welcome to SDSC
www.education.sdsc.edu
Diane Baxter