Use IT to build a competitive research advantage

NCSA Blue Waters Computation Facility

Use IT to build a competitive research advantage for all faculty, researchers, students, and graduates

Illinois is known for its strengths in IT; however, it will be critical to continue investing in new and improved IT capabilities across the full spectrum of the campus community for all faculty, students, graduates and outside collaborators to build and maintain excellence and establish IT as a true competitive advantage and area of distinction. To accomplish this goal, the following initiatives have been identified:

  • Complete and implement a data stewardship plan that at least meets the criteria set by NSF and provides researchers and services needed to publish archival datasets
  • Implement a suite of sensitive data services providing compliance with HIPAA, NSF, and other legal and federal agency requirements and an officer to oversee compliance
  • Produce a cyberinfrastructure plan that includes an isolated, secure research network designed for shipping massive datasets between collaborators
  • Provide researchers with access to petabyte-level storage and teraflop-level processing
  • Facilitate outside research collaborators access to IT resources
  • Create a research initiative in data-driven scholarship by coordinating silos of established leadership in individual areas of data analysis
  • Develop mechanisms to more strongly support undergraduate research and engagement experiences
  • Strengthen IT sustainability practices that will impact research information, research IT infrastructure and data management
  • Develop a technology portal for researchers
  • Develop methods to encourage faculty and researcher partnerships with IT professionals on innovative projects

Metrics

  • Number of outside research collaborators with access to Illinois’ IT resources
  • Amount of storage available to researchers
  • Percentage and number of research initiatives hosted on Illinois IT resources versus those of a collaborator’s campus or a third party
  • Amount of processing available to researchers
  • Sponsored research dollars allocated to big data research
  • Level of implementation of a research data service
  • Percentage of research data available in archival storage
  • Development of a data stewardship plan
  • Creation of a cyberinfrastructure plan