Appendix I – Year One Priorities

Appendix I – Year One Priorities and Financial and Human Resources

Highest priority needs of the research community for 2013-14:

A: Establish a campus research data management service with data curation services including dataset management, publishing and support for archival storage in a preservation repository. This will not only enable our campus to comply with new federal guidelines, but also position us as a leader in managing and publishing completed datasets that can be made available essentially forever, so our researchers can publish reproducible big data results.

B: Closely related to Priority A (above) – and with some potentially overlapping infrastructure needs — create networked campus working data storage resources, (e.g. a network drive) that would provide researchers access to up to a petabyte of working storage for big data projects, some portion of which would be backed up and some portion of which would have enhanced security (e.g. HIPAA compliance). This addresses a service needed by many campus researchers and encourages all of campus to engage in data scholarship.

C: Create an isolated research network (CARNE) that is designed for moving large datasets between collaborators and between high performance machines that is not limited by the campus firewall, and could support enhanced security (e.g. HIPAA) compliant transfers.

D: Provide permanent sustainable support for the HPC cluster, to provide researchers across campus with scalable teraflop-level power for processing large datasets.

Highest priority needs of the teaching and learning community for 2013-14:

E: Given the campus commitment to address $70M of deferred maintenance in classroom spaces, there is an urgent need for improved coordination between the faculty visionaries who are actively redefining how teaching will be conducted in the future on campus and those service units that are responsible for designing, renovating, and equipping those classrooms. Without updated standards for physical learning spaces and the supporting IT infrastructure in the classroom, we run the risk of building the classrooms of yesterday with our deferred maintenance program. Factors that must be addressed include the future of “flipped” delivery of course content for residential students; the need for flexible learning spaces; and the degree to which large, traditional lecture-style rooms are needed. The goal should be to use IT to convert classrooms into studios where learning spaces can be reconfigured to accommodate different teaching styles, and material can be more effectively digitized and delivered both locally and remotely, during and after course times.

F. Expand work in the area of student data analytics, using more systematic collection and analysis of student data to more quickly lead to positive learning outcomes and student success. This would be made possible by the big data facilities described above.

G: Adopt a more formal (but agile) research approach to ongoing experiments involving using IT tools and techniques to define and change the “Illinois educational experience.” Design future research in this area with an eye to directly applying lessons learned to improve how we use IT to support teaching and learning going forward.

Highest priority needs of the outreach community for 2013-14:

H: Improving access to University IT-based resources for community partners who currently lack UIN’s. This includes resources like Wiki spaces, collaborative learning environments, etc.

Highest priority general IT infrastructural needs for 2013-14 (with benefit for all parts of the academic enterprise):

I: Ensure the timely completion of the enterprise-level (UA) Identity and Access Management project. This project of re-engineering our identity and access management systems touches nearly all campus-level IT services and will benefit all users. It will improve the ability of external researchers to collaborate with colleagues around the world, reduce the number of logins and passwords that all users must use, enable off campus community partners to access appropriate campus IT resources in a safe and secure manner, and facilitate more granular control and access to specific IT resources.

J: Accelerate the work of the campus data-center consolidation project and the campus end- point management project, and link them both to the campus backup service and the campus virtual machine service. The strategic importance of all of these projects is that they offer the ability to provide needed services in more efficient and effective ways at all levels of campus, resulting in the potential for re-purposing valuable human IT Pro resources in the Colleges/Units to address otherwise unmet IT needs.

K: Upgrade the campus wireless network and mobile access capabilities to better serve students and visitors who use a rapidly escalating number of mobile devices on campus. Will support greater use of mobile in formal teaching and outreach activities and will prepare campus to lead in the coming “internet of things” where large datasets are generated from a networked plethora of sensors.

Unless otherwise noted, all budget/resource figures in the table below refer to recurring funds that include any necessary staff, infrastructure, materiel, licensing, etc.

Name Timing Responsibility Resources
Research Data Management Service 2014-2016 OVCR, Library, CITES, IT Gov – Research Separate proposal (Beth Sandore) — OVCR @ $800k recurring when fully rolled out
Networked data storage 2014-2015 IT Gov Research, OVCR, NCSA, CITES While additional resources may eventually be required, it is too early to know precisely what those are. Best to first build out the RDMS service in Priority A (above) and then assess gaps & needs.
CARNE 2014 IT Gov Research, CITES, NCSA, IT Council, OVCR Will require additional 1-time expense of $305K for 2nd 100 Gbps path to Chicago for redundancy & performance; recurring operating costs already in CITES and NCSA budgets.
Permanent Support for HPC Cluster – the campus cluster becomes the standard way of providing HPC to researchers – including in startup packages NCSA, CITES, Council of Deans, IT Council, OVCR Operating expenses already in NCSA budget. Project will need $900K (for infrastructure) per each new cluster instance roughly every 18 months (1/3 campus cost and 2/3 unit cost based on nodes purchased).
Classroom Renovation 2014-2016 F&S, IT Gov – Teach & Learning, CITES (ATS & Networking), IT Council Resources currently in F&S, CITES budgets
Student data analytics 2014-2016 AITS, IT Gov – Teaching & Learning, new group under Chuck Tucker, CITES, IT Council, Faculty Senate Requires faculty engagement to determine which data to track for improved student success. Should begin by reviewing what other leading institutions are doing in this area.
Establish a research approach to IT & teaching/learning 2014-2016 IT Gov Teaching & Learning, new group under Chuck Tucker, CITES ATS, Requires faculty involvement to guide this process.
Improved access for community partners 2014-2016 IT Gov Ext & Outreach, U of I Extension, CITES, AITS Resources already in IAM project (with AITS)
IAM project 2014-2016 AITS, CITES, IT Council, All Campus & College level IT Units Resources already in IAM project (with AITS)
Data Center, Endpoint Management, Backup, and Virtual Machine Projects 2014-2016 IT Council, All campus & College level IT Units Resources for DCC and Endpoint Mgmt already in DCC and CITES budgets; backup and VM projects will require additional $400K recurring
Upgrade wireless network 2014-2016 Council of Deans, IT Gov (all committees), CITES Networking Will require additional $2.17M recurring (would need discussion with and approval from COD). This level would fund needed infrastructure and 1 FTE in CITES Network Group