Grand Challenge: Assessing strategic cloud-computing opportunities

A critical part of supporting research at the University of Colorado Boulder is ensuring our campus offers the computing capacity and capabilities needed to deliver world-class results. To this end, Terri Fiez, vice chancellor for Research & Innovation, has selected a team housed within the Grand Challenge initiative to execute a definition study exploring how research computing on the cloud might benefit CU Boulder and its partners in the future. 

As part of this effort, the Office of Information Technology (OIT) and the Research & Innovation Office (RIO) developed and distributed a survey in December 2016 to learn more about how users leverage various computing service offerings to help identify opportunities for improvement.

More than 625 faculty, instructors and researchers responded to the survey, which covered a wide range of topics related to computer usage and resources—a tremendous response that conveys a high degree of interest in the topic. Additionally, 125 individuals expressed interest in contributing more detailed input through follow-up discussions.

Detailed analysis of the survey results is already underway. Follow-up discussions began in late January and will continue through mid-February. These discussions will add depth and detail to data gathered through the survey, providing critical inputs into the summary report, which will be produced and shared in March.

If you did not respond to the survey or ask to be included in the process going forward but would still like to participate in one of the focus groups, it isn’t too late to be a part of this work. Please email Julie.kazimer@colorado.edu for more information.