BLOOMINGTON, Ind.— The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Research Technologies at Indiana University an additional $1.3 million to fund operations for the Jetstream cloud system through 2020. Jetstream is the first production cloud system funded by the NSF for the national science and engineering research communities. Since 2014, IU has received a total of $13.7 million to lead the Jetstream project.
Jetstream is a user-friendly cloud environment created to give researchers and students access to computing and data analysis resources on demand—from their tablets, laptops or desktop computers. It is particularly useful for small colleges and universities, including historically black colleges and universities, minority-serving institutions, tribal colleges, and higher education institutions in states designated by the NSF as eligible for funding via the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR.
We are now entering the era of big data neuroscience, and the core of Brain-Life runs on Jetstream.
Franco Pestilli, professor, IU Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
“This extension in operations represents a major win for the national science and engineering communities,” said David Y. Hancock, director of advanced computing systems in Research Technologies and Jetstream principal investigator. “Jetstream has supported many long-term projects, and now researchers can focus on their science rather than have to worry about how or where to find the resources that they need.”
Jetstream is a collaborative project and includes partners from Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Arizona, the University of Chicago, the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Texas, San Antonio.
This extension in operations represents a major win for the national science and engineering communities.
David Y. Hancock, director of advanced computing systems, UITS Research Technologies; Jetstream principal investigator
More than 2,500 researchers across the nation have used the system including many students. For Franco Pestilli, a professor in Indiana University’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Jetstream is crucial to his Brain-Life project. In his lab, with its tagline “faster brain science discovery through better technology,” Pestilli employs cloud computing to help psychologists and neuroscientists understand the human brain and behavior. Research projects include work on Alzheimer’s disease, machine learning to advance brain science, and the mechanisms that support human vision.
“We are now entering the era of big data neuroscience, and the core of Brain-Life runs on Jetstream,” Pestilli said.
About Research Technologies
UITS Research Technologies provides the robust, reliable supercomputing and storage systems; advanced media and interactive visualization technologies; widely used scientific, analytical, and bioinformatics applications; and proven professional training, consultation, and support services that embody the core of Indiana University’s advanced scholarly and artistic cyberinfrastructure. In doing so, Research Technologies helps to enhance productivity and discovery in research computing, and amplify the talents of local and national researchers. Research Technologies is a Pervasive Technology Institute center.
