Projects
CI Compass
Innovative and robust Cyberinfrastructure (CI) is critical to the science missions of the NSF Major Facilities (MFs), which are at the forefront of science and engineering innovations, enabling pathbreaking discoveries across a broad spectrum of scientific areas. The MFs serve scientists, researchers and the public at large by capturing, curating, and serving data from a variety of scientific instruments (from telescopes to sensors). The amount of data collected and disseminated by the MFs is continuously growing in complexity and size and new software solutions are being developed at an increasing pace. MFs do not always have all the expertise, human resources, or budget to take advantage of the new capabilities or to solve every technological issue themselves. The proposed NSF Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence, CI Compass, brings together experts from multiple disciplines, with a common passion for scientific CI, into a problem-solving team that curates the best of what the community knows; shares expertise and experiences; connects communities in response to emerging challenges; and builds on and innovates within the emerging technology landscape. By supporting MFs to enhance and evolve the underlying CI, the proposed CI Compass will amplify the largest of NSF's science investments, and have a transformative, broad societal impact on a multitude of MF science and engineering areas and the community of scientists, engineers, and educators MFs serve. CI Compass will also impact the broader NSF CI ecosystem through dissemination of CI Compass outcomes, which can be adapted and adopted by other large-scale CI projects and thus empower them to more efficiently serve their user communities.
This project is supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer Information Science under Grant #2127548. (Co-PI; $9,000,000.00; 2021-2026)
Learn more here: ci-compass.org
Community Data Curation Competency: Curriculum Development for
Master’s Education
In this planning project, we will enhance the training of library and information science (LIS) professionals by creating a community data curation curriculum program that builds LIS expertise and contributes to community well-being. The project team will evaluate, update, and disseminate the Community Data Curation Pilot Curriculum to train future LIS professionals through strategic partnerships with community organizations, data curation educators, and data curation practitioners. This work will extend the current understanding of data curation competencies to the context of community data; engage strategic stakeholders (educators, practitioners, and community organizations) in the process of curriculum design to reflect their specific needs; and design a data curation pilot curriculum to fill the current gap in data curation education to include community data curation competencies.
This project is supported by the Institute for Museum and Library Services (LB21) under Grant # RE-252380-OLS-22. (PI; $128,402.00; 2022-2024)
Learn more here: https://www.imls.gov/grants/awarded/re-252380-ols-22
CI CoE: Pilot Study for a Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence
NSF's major multi-user research facilities (large facilities) are sophisticated research instruments and platforms - such as large telescopes, interferometers and distributed sensor arrays - that serve diverse scientific disciplines from astronomy and physics to geoscience and biological science. Large facilities are increasingly dependent on advanced cyberinfrastructure (CI) - computing, data and software systems, networking, and associated human capital - to enable broad delivery and analysis of facility-generated data. As a result of these cyberinfrastructure tools, scientists and the public gain new insights into fundamental questions about the structure and history of the universe, the world we live in today, and how our plants and animals may change in the coming decades. The goal of this pilot project is to develop a model for a Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence (CI CoE) that facilitates community building and sharing and applies knowledge of best practices and innovative solutions for facility CI.
This project was supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering and the Division of Emerging Frontiers in the Directorate for Biological Sciences under Grant #1842042 (Senior Personnel; $3,884,346.00, 2018-2021).
Learn more here: https://cicoe-pilot.org/
Examining Perceived Ease of Use and Usefulness of Adaptive Technologies and the Quality Matters Rubric for Online Courses
Educational tools such as Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric standards have been created to mitigate the technological challenges for students taking online courses and to improve the overall quality of online courses, as well as the effectiveness of student learning. However, online education is still undergoing transitions as these new teaching tools and techniques are increasingly utilized throughout online courses, and students are learning to interact with these new techniques. The purpose of this study is to test the usefulness of Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric standards from the theoretical perspective of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). TAM provides a useful set of factors to consider, notably perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease-of-use (PEOU). This project will implement Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric standards into an existing online course, Foundations of Data Studies (S201) which is a required course for all students in the undergraduate Applied Data and Information Science Program and is taught every semester. Effectiveness of Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubrics Standards will be measured through TAM-based surveys and focus groups, and summative and formative assessments will measure students learning to evaluate any changes in student learning when implementing Adaptive Technologies and Quality Matters Rubric Standards. The outcome of this project will provide feedback not only to other courses in the Applied Data and Information Science program but also to the greater community of online and distance educators and STEM educators.
This project was supported by the STEM Education Innovation & Research Institute, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. (PI; $29,741.20, 2019-2021)
Learn more here: https://seiri.iupui.edu/fundingopportunities/ssg/
Towards Quality: A Project to Systematically Develop Quality Matters Skills and Capacities for an Online Department
This project aims to develop Quality Matters competencies and peer-training artifacts to help design and evaluate online courses. The purpose of this request for funding is twofold: first, the team needs support to develop the three foundational, online courses; and, two, the team will use this opportunity to develop competencies in the use of Quality Matters to develop and evaluate online courses.
This project was supported by the Center for Teaching and Learning, Curriculum Enhancement Grant, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. (Co-PI; $30,036, 2018-2019)
Learn more here: https://ctl.iupui.edu/Programs2/CEG/2018/kyle-jones