Testimonials
Since its beginnings as the CI CoE Pilot, CI Compass' experts have engaged successfully with NSF Major Facilities to find cyberinfrastructure solutions.
Read below what some of our former engagements have to say about working with us.
"The Network for Advanced NMR (NAN), an NSF mid-scale RI-2 project, has been working with various CI Compass Working Groups since March 2022. Since that time, we have availed ourselves of the rich sources of information provided around such topics as identity, security, F.A.I.R., data lifecycle and others. Whether directly involved and evaluating our approaches, or simply listening in to keep abreast of areas we may soon encounter, contact with the working groups’ members and exposure to operating NSF Major Facilities has saved us considerable time and effort. It has become an excellent way for us to gauge the expectations of NSF around cyberinfrastructure, and to contribute our own questions and ideas to help clarify and enhance the experience for all of us. This is truly a collaborative endeavor, and we look forward to continuing with it well into the future."
– Chris Bontempi, Director of IT, NAN, and Jeff Hoch, Director of NAN. Testimonial given: February 2023
"[In regards to the RCRV On-Board Cyberinfrastructure plan review provided by CI Compass to OSU RCRV in advance of the 2022 Cyberinfrastructure for NSF Major Facilities Workshop]: "One of the primary concerns identified by the review was that the planned 1GbE switch ports in the ship’s computer lab should be supplemented with 10 GbE and higher to support deployment of visiting equipment with high-speed network interfaces. Thanks to the CI Compass team for identifying this as something to address now before delivery of the vessel. In the engagement, we planned for future upgrades, and to have sufficient fiber between the network core and the computer lab to support the upgrade. Coincidentally, I had a chance to visit the RV Sikuliaq (Research Vessel) while it was in Newport recently (our network architecture was modeled after RV Sikuliaq). While aboard, Ethan Roth, RV Sikuliaq’s Marine and Technical Services Manager, explained that they recently upgraded their edge switching throughout the vessel and incorporated switches with 2.5 & 5 GbE multi-gigabit equipment in lab spaces. A nice piece of corroborating evidence demonstrated on RV Sikuliaq! The CI Compass review, together with Ethan’s report from the field, will be a critical part of the justification I provide to support the specification update and procurement."
– Chris Romsos, Datapresence Systems Engineer with Regional Class Research Vessel (RCRV), College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences (CEOAS), Oregon State University. Testimonial given: April 2022
“We appreciate CI Compass' input on the streaming database technology for the LIGO project. CI Compass' insights on performance evaluation solutions helped us make the decision on the technology that best fits our needs.”
– Jameson Rollins, LIGO Caltech, Testimonial given: November 2022
"I was invited to join the NSF CI Compass Cloud Infrastructure Working Group, which advises the NSF Major Facilities on Cloud Use Cases and Considerations. Cloud computing will play a major role in scientific computing in the coming decade, yet understanding the technical and financial implications of this disruptive technology remains a complex endeavor. This Group has proven immensely valuable in bringing together experts in cloud computing from various disciplines to share expertise and foster collaborations. The NSF Major Facilities will benefit greatly from the Group’s collective advice as they consider the use of platforms."
– Bruce Berriman, Caltech, IPAC NASA Exoplanet Science Institute (NExScI), Keck Observatory Archive (KOA), Testimonial given: November 2022
"Overall, the CI CoE was very proactive in enabling and advancing constructive conversations during the development of the NCAR-NEON cyberinfrastructure technical plan and in providing feedback that improved the quality of the plan. The CI CoE facilitated weekly telecons among NCAR, NEON, and the CI CoE to discuss the proposed project and to provide guidance. Discussions during the telecom were mostly high level, helping to identify needs and priorities for the cyberinfrastructure collaborations, but also identifying gaps in the technical plan as well as providing overviews of various alternative implementation strategies. The discussions were always constructive, collaborative, and respectful of all participants. The CI CoE also undertook written feedback on the technical plan at several stages of development. Again, the comments were constructive and improved the quality of the final document. The CI CoE’s engagement was critical to preparing the final technical plan, in part because of the CI CoE’s familiarity with NEON’s data cyberinfrastructure, but also as external computer science experts familiar with the computational needs of the modeling (NCAR) and the data (NEON) and serving to bridge the two different areas of expertise."
– Gordon Bonan, National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Engagement concluded: October 2021
"The CI CoE had four types of profound influence on NEON developers. First, as we transitioned from construction to operations, our developers benefited from greater awareness of the wider NSF CI community practices. Second, deep engagement with CI CoE experts produced three major technologies insertions into NEON CI, remarkably within 6 months. Third, open dialog and prototyping with CI CoE experts affirmed our workflow-based sensor message handling strategy and built our confidence to invest in this novel method. NEON's CI and Data Sciences team mission includes advancing methods and ecological science; interaction with CI CoE nudged our efforts ahead significantly through community workgroup involvement, presentations and publications."
– Tom Gulbransen, NEON, Engagement concluded December 2021
"CI CoE has been a valuable resource for the Ocean Observatories Initiative CI function. Their topics are relevant to our needs and have provided beneficial input to help us reach our goals. I look forward to working with them in the future to continue to meet the unique challenges facing research computing."
– Jeff Glatstein, OOI, Engagement concluded: August 2020
"During the 2020 U.S. Academic Research Fleet Identity Management (IdM) Engagement with CI CoE Pilot, I participated from a customer perspective looking for help solving a complex and custom Identity Management problem on behalf of the fleet. The CI CoE Pilot was able to provide access to subject matters expertise for consulting and testing. During the engagement we were able to successfully assess the problem scope, draft a recommended solution, and proof of concept test several components of that solution. Following the engagement we have been able to leverage the recommended solution and newly established relationships from the engagement to write a proposal that would implement a Federated Identity Management solution for the U.S. Academic Research Fleet. Our engagement with CI CoE Pilot has been instrumental in accelerating efforts to realize this much needed service."
– John Haverlack, College of Fisheries and Ocean Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, U.S. Academic Research Fleet, Engagement concluded August 2020
This project is supported by the National Science Foundation Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer Information Science under Grant #2127548.