Science Gateways What are they and why are they having such a tremendous impact on science? Nancy Wilkins- Diehr wilkinsn@sdsc.edu

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1 Science Gateways What are they and why are they having such a tremendous impact on science? Nancy Wilkins- Diehr wilkinsn@sdsc.edu

2 What is a science gateway? science gateway /sī əәns gāt wā / n. 1. an online community space for science and engineering research and education. 2. a Web-based resource for accessing data, software, computing services, and equipment specific to the needs of a science or engineering discipline.

3 Gateways: A natural result of the impact of the Internet on worldwide communication and information retrieval Less than 25 years since the release of Mosaic! Implica9ons for the conduct of science con9nue to evolve 1980 s, Early gateways, Na9onal Center for Biotechnology Informa9on BLAST server, search results sent by , s9ll a working portal today 1989 World Wide Web developed at CERN 1992 Mosaic web browser developed 1995 Interna9onal Protein Data Bank Enhanced by Computer Browser 2004 TeraGrid project director Rick Stevens recognized growth in scien9fic portal development and proposed the Science Gateway Program Today, science gateways are pervasive 29,000 person survey indicates wide use and wide par9cipa9on in development in the research community Explosion of digital data makes gateways a necessity Growing analysis needs in many, many scien9fic areas Sensors, telescopes, satellites, digital images, video, genome sequencers Exponen9al growth in compu9ng simula9ons As the Web grows more capable, it is increasingly important to science

4 vt100 in the 1980s and a login window on Gordon today

5 More users access supercomputers via gateways than from the command line in ,500 3,000 2,500 2,000 Ac9ve users NSF XSEDE users Gateway users 2,984 2,398 1,500 1, This is also true at NERSC Many other gateways taking off with hundreds of thousands of users (HUBzero, Galaxy, materialsproject.org, more)

6 Proliferation of Science Gateways These use XSEDE

7 Cyberinfrastructure for Phylogenetic Research (CIPRES) Most popular science gateway in XSEDE ~40% of all XSEDE users In use on 6 con9nents Cited in major journals (Cell, Nature, PNAS) Used at major research ins9tu9ons (Stanford, Harvard, Yale) Used by ~60 researchers for curriculum delivery Supports hundreds of publica9ons every year Used in 80% of EPSCoR states Used by a 15- year- old high school student who won the Massachusegs state science fair with no support from SDSC staff

8 Gateways changing the face of scholarship To me this is the essence of a research university, but now this is a global university. It is not just Purdue, or the people in my group, or the people that run nanohub, it's really more than 1,000 content contributors and 380 tool developers, most of whom are volunteers that have contributed to the hundreds of tools. Gerhard Klimeck A former student of mine published eight tools on nanohub, serving over 6,000 people with his tools. He then joined a university as a professor and introduced nanohub. Use of the gateway from that university skyrocketed; he used nanohub in exisdng classes, created new classes, and infused it in his research. Ul9mately, the professor s department head associates his two- year rise to tenure with the notoriety and innova9on he gained through nanohub.

9 But uncertain funding disrupts the effectiveness of gateways Typical 3-year research funding cycle New project Early prototype adopters Scien9sts disillusioned Publicity Funding ends Wider adop9on Gateways enable research, but are not research projects themselves

10 Science Gateways Institute 2012 NSF Software Institute conceptualization award 2015 NSF Software Institute implementation proposal ($15M) Are you building websites that serve your science discipline? Do you wish you could connect with and learn from others who are doing the same thing? We are building an institute to serve you and others like you with resources, services, experts, and ideas for creating and sustaining science gateways. Sign up to join the conversation: volunteer/ science gateway /sī əәns gāt wā / n. 1. an online community space for science and engineering research and education. 2. a Web-based resource for accessing data, software, computing services, and equipment specific to the needs of a science or engineering discipline.

11 Millions of dollars are spent on gateways, but developers face several challenges They o7en work in isola:on even though development can be quite similar across domain areas They bridge cyberinfrastructure locally, campus- wide, na9onally, and some9mes interna9onally They need founda:onal building blocks so they can focus on higher- level, grand- challenge func9onality They struggle to secure sustainable funding because gateways span the worlds of research and infrastructure The goal of the ins9tute would be to provide coordina9ng ac9vi9es across the Na9onal Science Founda9on, offering several services and resources to support the gateway development community: An incubator service offering consulta9on and documenta9on about business planning and solware development. An extended support team to build gateways and share their exper9se. A forum to connect members of the development community. A modular, layered framework that supports community contribu9ons and allows developers to choose components. Workforce development to help train the next genera9on for careers in this cross- disciplinary area. Sharing exper9se about technologies and strategies would allow developers to concentrate on the novel, challenging, and cumng- edge development needed by their specific user communi9es

12 29,000-person survey on gateways in responses from across domains

13 How important are gateways to your work? Somewhat or very important Specialized Resources Percent Data collections 75% Data analysis tools, including visualization and mining 72% Computational tools 72% Tools for rapidly publishing and/or finding articles and data specific to my domain 69% Educational tools 67% Platforms for fostering group or community collaboration 63% Simplified interfaces that eliminate the need to learn coding 62% Citizen science and other public engagement resources 47% Workflows that automate or capture tasks or processes 42% Scientific instruments, such as telescopes, microscopes, or sensors 39%

14 57% involved in application creation Collaboration tools 8% Frameworks or platforms 6% Data collections 15% Data analysis tools, including visualization and mining 16% Workflows 6% Computational tools 16% Citizen science resources 5% Educational tools 18% Interfaces to scientific instruments 4% Interfaces to sensor data 4% Other 2%

15 Gateway development projects require many different types of people % of developers 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 16% 33% 40% 35% 29% 27% 20% 17% 50% 44% 43% 30% 30% 17% 9% 68% 15% 11% Yes, we had this No, but wished we had this No, did not need 25% 49% 14% 15% 41% 32% 0% Usability Consultant Graphic Designer Community Liaison/Evangelist Project Manager Professional Student or Post- doc Software Developer Programmer Security Expert Quality Assurance and Testing Expert

16 What common services would be helpful? Proposed Service % Interest Evaluation, impact analysis, website analytics 72% Adapting technologies 67% Web/visual/graphic design 67% Choosing technologies 66% Usability Services 66% Visualization 65% Developing open-source software 64% Support for education 64% Community engagement mechanisms 62% Keeping your project running 62% Legal perspectives 61% Managing data 60% Computational resources 59% Mobile technology 59% Database structure, optimization, and query expertise 59% Data mining and analysis 58% Cybersecurity consultation 57% Website construction 57% Software engineering process consultation 53% Source code review and/or audit 51% High-bandwidth networks 45% Scientific instruments or data streams 44% Management aspects of a project 38%

17 Thank you Ques9ons?

Science Gateways in the US. Nancy Wilkins-Diehr wilkinsn@sdsc.edu

Science Gateways in the US. Nancy Wilkins-Diehr wilkinsn@sdsc.edu Science Gateways in the US Nancy Wilkins-Diehr wilkinsn@sdsc.edu NSF vision for cyberinfrastructure in the 21st century Software is critical to today s scientific advances Science is all about connections