Macalester, Carleton, and St. Olaf will create a process for faculty to access cloud-based High Performance Computing (HPC). We will explore how to serve Midwestern small liberal arts colleges with HPC options. This plan has three paths:
1. Collaboration: Create a collaborative model by taking advantage of existing HPC resources beneficial to current and potential faculty. We will create a five year plan to pilot and sustain a collaborative research model including staffing, queue management, and faculty training and support models.
2. Access: Broaden the research use of HPC through education about existing resources such and how to apply for them. Outreach to researchers outside of the STEM community will expand how data and high performance computing can be used in Liberal Arts research and education. This will be accomplished through workshops, speakers with successful Digital Humanities and Liberal Arts projects, and technical liaisons on staff.
3. Community: Similar to the collaborative work of Swarthmore, Haverford, and Bryn Mawr, we hope to organize a community of Midwestern small liberal arts colleges to explore and support HPCefforts. We would hold regular meetings to navigate challenges and create a community of faculty, IT and Academic Technology specialists instrumental in supporting HPC needs and projects.