Programs

LA-SiGMA will form a highly focused statewide research consortium which capitalizes on intellectual talent, combines the pertinent elements developed under previous RII awards, and leverages the state-of-the-art Cyberinfrastructure (CI) that has recently become available to position Louisiana as a major hub of innovation in computational materials science. LA-SiGMA features comprehensive plans for diversity, education and workforce development, cyberinfrastructure, and external engagement.

Diversity

We propose to dramatically increase the number of underrepresented minorities (URM) and women in the Alliance at all levels through the following strategies with the goal of doubling each statistic in five years.

• Strategy 1:

  Establish a Diversity Advisory Council

  • We will create a Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) to advise the Alliance on strategies to achieve gender and racial parity and create an environment in which women and URM thrive and realize their full potential. We will also seek the assistance of the DAC members to identify and recruit faculty role models for women and URM at Alliance institutions, and solicit their advice on effective strategies for recruiting URM and women students.

• Strategy 2:

  Provide Financial Incentives for Pursuing Advanced Education

  • LA-SiGMA will supplement research assistantships at Alliance institutions with $3,750 to entering women and URM students on a competitive basis, and an additional $3,750 once the students complete their PhD qualifying exams. The recipients will be required to return to their undergraduate institutions to recruit students, thus sustaining the pipeline of students into the graduate programs. These financial incentives will be coupled to aggressive recruiting programs initiated under the guidance of local and national experts (see next item).

• Strategy 3:

  Development of Role Models

  • A great example of what one role model can accomplish is provided by Isiah Warner, Vice-Chancellor of Strategic Initiatives and chemistry professor at LSU, who provided the inspiration and leadership for the Chemistry Department to increase the number of URM chemistry PhD students at LSU from single digits at the time of his arrival in 1992, to an average of 30 by 2000. The American Chemical Society has recognized LSU's Chemistry Department for awarding the highest number of African-American PhDs. We will replicate this success across the State by supplementing departmental start-up packages with LA-SiGMA funds for recruiting new URM and female faculty members with research interests in materials science, and through mentoring current URM and female junior faculty. Professor Jenna Carpenter, Director of the Office of Women in Science and Engineering being established at LA Tech through an NSF ADVANCE grant, will guide the development of support and mentoring networks for women faculty and students.

• Strategy 4:

  Create/Expand Pipelines to Graduate School

  • To encourage URM and women to go beyond undergraduate studies, a 4+1 BS/MS program is being developed between Grambling and LA Tech (Physics/Applied Physics) and a 3+2 dual degree engineering program between Xavier and Tulane has been approved. This project involves three HBCUs—SU, Xavier, and Grambling—with high percentages of URM enrollments and, therefore, a rich talent pool available to us. Xavier ranks first nationally in awarding BS degrees in biology, chemistry, physics, and in the physical sciences to African American students. Jointly funded by NSF EPSCoR and the LA Board of Regents from 1995-2005, a unique Joint Faculty Appointments Program (JFAP) was established whereby faculty members were hired jointly between minority-serving and neighboring majority-white institutions, for example between Tulane/Xavier, LSU/Southern, and LA Tech/Grambling. Four of these JFAP appointees are part of LA SiGMA; they will mentor undergraduate students at the HBCUs and help ease their transition to a graduate program at the partner institution. The Louisiana Community and Technical College System enrolls almost 60,000 students, with African Americans accounting for 36% (Fall 2008 data from BoR). Articulation agreements are being developed to allow two-year college students to transition to four-year institutions and finish their degrees while retaining as many credit hours as possible.

Education and Workforce Development

LA-SiGMA will address all levels of the educational ladder, including two-year colleges, through a range of training and educational activities, contributing to a well-trained and diverse professional workforce that can support advanced materials research and industries as well as education.

• Strategy 1:

  For Middle and High School Students

  • Middle and high school students will be exposed to computational and experimental materials science projects through campus open house events held once per year at all participating institutions. High school students, nominated by their teachers, will be selected to participate in weeklong summer research workshops to be held in New Orleans (jointly by Tulane, UNO, and Xavier), Baton Rouge (jointly by LSU and SU), and Ruston (jointly by LA Tech and Grambling). These workshops will be held in parallel with the research experiences for teachers (RET) discussed in Strategy 2.

• Strategy 2:

  For Grades 6-12 and Two-Year College Teachers

  • Grades 6-12 and two-year college teachers will be offered summer RET programs held annually in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Ruston, as in Strategy 1. The RET program will focus on discovery-based modules designed for classroom use. Additional workshops will address specific techniques for including content in discovery-based courses. In the first year, a pilot program at Baton Rouge Community College (BRCC) will develop computational materials science modules for use in BRCC's developing engineering program. In subsequent years, this program will be expanded to other disciplines and two-year colleges.

• Strategy 3:

  For Two-Year College Students

  • Multiple programs will serve two-year college students. Modeling the collaboration between Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Tulane and the Process Technology program at Nunez Community College, we will develop short courses to train two-year and technical college students to use sophisticated materials research instrumentation, such as NMR, XRD, SEM, and AFM. In the first year of the grant, LA Tech will offer a pilot course in materials characterization using X-ray diffraction to regional community college students. In the following years, course offerings will be expanded to other instrumental techniques. The Beowulf Boot Camp for high school students and teachers, conducted annually by Thomas Sterling (the father of the beowulf supercomputer architecture) at LSU, will be expanded to include the application of HPC methods to materials science and taught to BRCC students in a pilot program during the first year. In subsequent years, the two pilot programs will be expanded to the other participating institutions. Students who become interested in furthering their education as a result of these initiatives will be recruited into undergraduate programs in four-year institutions.

• Strategy 4:

  For Undergraduates at Four- and Two-Year Institutions

  • Undergraduates at four- and two-year institutions will participate in summer research experiences for undergraduates (REU) programs focused on computational and experimental materials science at all LA-SiGMA institutions. Students will be supervised by a computational researcher and co-advised by an experimentalist and attend weekly lectures with topics such as project planning, literature review, scientific writing, research presentation, and ethical conduct. Also, training in HPC and CyberTools will be scheduled regularly. Studies show that early involvement of undergraduate students in research increases their retention rates.

• Strategy 5:

  For Graduate Students

  • Graduate students will join a transformative educational experience in materials science. A core set of graduate level courses (three in the first year, six more in subsequent years) in computational science, multiscale modeling methods, advanced experimental techniques, and other topics will be developed and broadcast throughout the State using synchronous HD video. The letters of commitment demonstrate the dedication of each participating institution to this educational effort. These courses will be integrated into existing and new graduate curricula on each campus. LA-SiGMA will also cover the costs for graduate students to attend the "Supercomputing Education Program," which is part of Oklahoma's EPSCoR RII program.

• Strategy 6:

  For Postdocs and Graduate Students

  • Postdocs and graduate students will also participate in a unique program that trains postdocs in the use of best practice teaching methods based on Michigan State's Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) project. Undergraduates, graduate students, and postdocs will take part in national labs and industrial internships at Los Alamos, Sandia, and Pacific Northwest National Labs, and at Renewable Fuels, Carbon Capture Energy Technologies, and Radiance Technologies.

Cyberinfrastructure (CI)

Strategic fidelity and impact of this project are enhanced by Louisiana's investments over the past two decades in computational, experimental, and intellectual assets that make the jurisdiction well prepared to achieve these objectives. The components that make this plan most compelling and timely for Louisiana are the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI), the most comprehensive and robust CI among EPSCoR states; leveraging the current RII cybertools project; a confluence of internationally-known materials science researchers; and long-standing and successful experimental facilities for materials research.

• Strategy 1:

  Leverage LONI Facilities

  • LONI, envisioned by Ed Seidel (the first chief scientist of LONI, now NSF's Assistant Director for Mathematical and Physical Sciences), provides a world-class CI to Louisiana. The LONI Management Council (MC) reports to the BoR and consists of 15 representatives of public and private universities, two-year and technical colleges, Division of Administration (State CIO), and Louisiana Dept. of Economic Development. The MC and the Louisiana EPSCoR Committee work to ensure their activities are coordinated and integrated to advance the State's CI. The MC, which played a key role in securing ongoing funding from the State for CI improvements, supports major CI funding initiatives pursued by LONI member institutions. The MC allocates some of LONI's HPC resources to specific research projects. The MC commitment of at least 10% of LONI's resources, which is equivalent to 4.5M service units, is evidence of their strong support for the proposed project.

    LONI's 40-Gbps network connects the IT and materials science centers of excellence at Louisiana's research universities, providing the linkages that are essential for effective collaborative research in computational materials. LONI's 85 TFLOPS of HPC are distributed across the State to support broader ownership and utilization of these resources. The synchronous HD video facilities in most of Louisiana's major research centers will foster regular and seamless communications between the research teams. LONI's Phase 2 network deployment extended connectivity to almost all four-year institutions, as well as two-year and technical colleges, to enable broad outreach to and engagement of all of Louisiana's higher education community. Louisiana's CI plans also include targeted investments across the State in the hiring and training of researchers in computational sciences—researchers who understand the evolution of advanced computing tools and the science challenges that stretch the limits of existing analytical and experimental resources. These computational scientists have significantly improved LONI's hardware and software tools; these tools will be important in advancing the materials science challenges of this project

• Strategy 2:

  Build Upon the CCT and Cybertools RII

  • Another significant resource available to the Alliance is the CCT, LSU's Center for Computation & Technology, which played an integral role in the development of LONI's CI and is a major resource for the proposed project. CCT scientists will adapt many of the "CyberTools" developed through the current RII project to the needs of the Alliance. For example, Petashare, a statewide mountable rapid access file system with archival capabilities, will be used to share and archive scientific data using common data formats for Monte Carlo (Towhee), MD (LAMMPS, CHARMM, AMBER, GROMACS, NAMD, which have compatible file formats or converters), and for the archival of DFT output (VASP, Guassian03, NWChem, GAMES). Petashare allows researchers to produce data at one site and analyze it at another. CyberTools also provides a common visualization environment utilizing a common data format via the Petashare system.

    The Cybertools and Cyberinfrastructure (CICT) group will work with the CI Development (CyD) group at CCT, participating campus HPC divisions, and the LONI Management Council to meet the research requirements of the project. LA-SiGMA will play a major role in guiding the utilization and future evolution of the computational environment provided by LONI, and will also work with LONI and CyD to ensure that each site has compatible synchronous HD video access. High definition communication and collaboration equipment are essential for teaching; i.e., so students can clearly see the white board and interact effectively with participants at the remote site.

• Strategy 3:

  Migrate to National Leadership Class Computing

  • The CTCI team is also positioning Louisiana to leverage future CI development. The advent of hyperparallel, multicore, heterogeneous, and low power architectures presents both a tremendous opportunity for new scientific discovery and the challenge of training Louisiana researchers to effectively use these machines. To advance training in these areas, members of different scientific focus areas will share students with computer scientists specializing in HPC, including Ramanujam, Leangsuksun, and Sterling. To help train these students, we will purchase nodes of multicore, low power, and heterogeneous systems so the students can learn to program before such machines become available on the TeraGrid. These machines will also be used to teach courses offered statewide via synchronous HD video. The CTCI team will work with the computational teams to help more experienced researchers expand their programs beyond LONI to national-leadership class resources such as TeraGrid Kraken, and to utilize the next generation of computer architectures (BlueWaters).

• Strategy 4:

  Expand Impact of LA-SiGMA

  • To increase the impact of the computational formalisms, algorithms, and codes we develop, we will publish their details in journals such as Computer Physics Communications. We will release the associated software under a modified open source license in which each user is required to cite these publications. A modular software engineering approach will be used in development of the project software. Use of a component standard such as the Common Component Architecture (CCA) will be evaluated for appropriateness for the code developed in this project. The web interface will leverage existing grid-portal development frameworks and standards to ensure interoperability with other web services. All software will be managed and maintained using a version control system. Components will undergo unit testing for both correctness and performance, and a defect and feature tracking system will be used for managing error reporting and maintenance of all released software.

External Engagement

We have designed a multi-institutional external engagement program that will provide a well-prepared and competent workforce and educate and engage the public. Through the use of face-to-face meetings and CI tools such as synchronous HD video, our program will provide for efficient collection and dissemination of information between participants, the K-12 community, two-year colleges, and the general public.

• Strategy 1:

  Leverage Multiple Avenues to Engage the General Public.

  • The Alliance will communicate scientific advances and discoveries to the general public by (1) providing guests to Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) and other television programs; (2) public lectures delivered by Alliance members in computational thinking, parallel computing, and computational materials science; (3) leveraging NSF's other investments, such as education kiosks at the Exploratorium of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational Observatory (LIGO) located in Livingston Parish; and (4) lectures on the promises and challenges of multiscale materials modeling offered to local and regional industry, facilitated by an Industrial Liaison Team (ILT).

• Strategy 2:

  Create a Web Portal for Distribution of Project Deliverables

  • The Alliance will create a web portal to provide (1) archived videos of public lectures, (2) seminars delivered by invited seminar speakers, (3) course material developed by Alliance members, and (4) classroom lectures for the new courses developed for statewide delivery.

• Strategy 3:

  Create a Repository and Version Control System for Code Development and Distribution

  • The computational tools created by the Alliance will be archived using an integrated SVN, wiki, and Bugzilla (or other bug tracking software) system in addition to annual code releases with accompanying documentation. The Common Component Architecture (CCA) will also be used to ensure interoperability of code modules.

• Strategy 4:

  Leverage Cyberinfrastructure to facilitate Communication

  • The jurisdiction has invested in IOCOM distributed collaboration systems at all participating campuses, consisting of integrated video conferencing systems that are compatible with the existing Access Grid network. The proposed budget includes funds for HD Polycom stations to supplement existing infrastructure to facilitate extensive communication both within the Alliance as well as international partners.

• Strategy 5:

  Use Newsletter/Brochures/Highlights to Publicize Alliance Activities

  • The LA EPSCoR monthly newsletter highlights the role played by LA EPSCoR in promoting the development of the State's science and technology resources through partnerships involving its universities, industry, and government. The newsletter is distributed by mail to 400 individuals, including State legislators, and electronically to more than 720 email addresses, which includes federal funding agencies.

• Strategy 6:

  Create Formal Mechanisms for Engagement with NSF

  • An annual meeting with representative program officers from NSF and other federal funding agencies will provide a forum for faculty from all participating institutions to learn about institution-appropriate funding opportunities. Michael Khonsari, the State EPSCoR Project Director, will coordinate communication with the NSF EPSCoR office. Synchronous HD video conferencing is available at the EPSCoR office to interact with NSF.

• Strategy 7:

  Establish New National and International Collaborations

  • The Alliance will leverage partnerships with national labs to promote national collaborations to benefit students and faculty. We will also leverage our extensive collaborations with international partners (Moreno's PIRE program between LSU and seven partners throughout Germany and Switzerland, the collaboration between the Italian National Nanotechnology Labs and LA Tech "Progetto Bilaterale Italia-USA," etc.) to provide educational experiences for our students and faculty. The code distribution (Strategy 3) will also help develop new partnerships across the world.

• Strategy 8:

  Create Mechanisms for Internal Communications

  • The Alliance will host biannual all-hands "face-to-face" meetings to share information and data. These meetings will provide a mechanism for interaction with the Diversity Advisory Committee (DAC), Industrial Liaison Team (ILT), and External Review Board (ERB) as well.







• Collapse All

• Expand All

LA-SiGMA Site Menu:

Home | About LA-SiGMA | Objectives | The Project | Release Packages | Interest groups | People | Management | News & Events | Courses | Software | Data Management | RET | REU | REHSS | Mentoring | Documents | Acknowledgements | Employment | Staying Connected |

LI Site Menu:

Home | LI/LA-SiGMA Courses | LI/LA-SiGMA Seminar Series | LI/LA-SiGMA Workshops | About LONI |

"Louisiana has made great investments in IT through its Vision 2020 initiative and through the creation of LONI. Now that we have the resources in place, we need to develop research projects and find the staff who can use the advanced technology in Louisiana to further academics and create more opportunities for business and industry so we can fully capitalize on these investments."
-- Former CCT Director Ed Seidel