Exploring Policies to Promote High-Performance Computing in Post-Pandemic Undergraduate Education in Wisconsin

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged higher education institutions across the world to maintain the quality of education and fulfill their mission. Notably, classes and research projects that involved high-performance computing (HPC) have been extremely successful in minimizing the impact of the pandemic. While HPC offers incomparable advantages in terms of preparedness for a public emergency, it is also becoming increasingly important in virtually every branch of social and natural sciences. This project focuses on the study of HPC in undergraduate education in Wisconsin. Our research methods include exploring global policies regarding HPC resources, surveying and interviewing UW students, faculty, and industry personnel. Survey and interview data are being analyzed, based on which policy recommendations will be produced. Our scholarly goal for this project is to develop new policies for the UW System that will instantiate a shared model of HPC resources across UW campuses, which will benefit undergraduate education, foster private-public partnership in HPC, and promote the data-driven economic growth in Wisconsin.