Breaking Barriers in High-Performance Computing: Open OnDemand as a Catalyst for Research Innovation
MCLD 2018 | Thu 06 Aug 2 p.m.–2:45 p.m.
Presented by
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Dr. Tannistha Nandi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tannistha-nandi/
Dr. Tannistha Nandi is a member of the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) team at the University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD in Genomics and Bioinformatics and brings extensive experience in research and data science from her work at the Genome Institute of Singapore and the University of Calgary.
Dr. Nandi is dedicated to enabling researchers to achieve their scientific goals by bridging advanced computing with data-intensive research. She collaborates closely with the research community to provide high-performance computing (HPC) consultations, support complex software environments, and advance research data management practices. Her work focuses on understanding research needs and translating them into effective, data-driven, and high-throughput computational solutions, empowering innovation across disciplines.
Dr. Tannistha Nandi
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tannistha-nandi/
Dr. Tannistha Nandi is a member of the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) team at the University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD in Genomics and Bioinformatics and brings extensive experience in research and data science from her work at the Genome Institute of Singapore and the University of Calgary. Dr. Nandi is dedicated to enabling researchers to achieve their scientific goals by bridging advanced computing with data-intensive research. She collaborates closely with the research community to provide high-performance computing (HPC) consultations, support complex software environments, and advance research data management practices. Her work focuses on understanding research needs and translating them into effective, data-driven, and high-throughput computational solutions, empowering innovation across disciplines.
Abstract
Open OnDemand (OOD) represents a paradigm shift in high-performance computing (HPC) accessibility, transforming how researchers, scientists, clinicians, and students leverage computational resources for big data projects. For years, the command-line interface has been a significant barrier to entry, preventing many domain experts from fully utilizing HPC capabilities. Open OnDemand eliminates this obstacle by providing an intuitive web-based portal that democratizes access to powerful computing infrastructure without requiring extensive technical expertise.
At the University of British Columbia, the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) team has embraced this open-source platform, deploying it across our HPC clusters to serve the diverse research community. Our implementation extends beyond basic access, we have curated an extensive application ecosystem spanning general-purpose tools like RStudio, Jupyter notebooks, and cluster desktops, alongside specialized domain-specific software for genomics, bioinformatics, and computational chemistry. This comprehensive suite enables researchers to focus on their science rather than wrestling with technical complexity.
The graphical user interface has unlocked particularly transformative capabilities in scientific visualization, allowing researchers to interactively explore complex datasets and generate insights that were previously difficult or impossible to achieve through command-line workflows alone. This visual paradigm shift has accelerated discovery across multiple disciplines.
Beyond local implementation, UBC ARC actively contributes to the global OOD open-source community through the Appverse repository, sharing our custom applications and configurations. This bidirectional engagement consuming and contributing exemplifies the collaborative spirit of open-source development and ensures sustainable innovation in research computing infrastructure.
This talk will showcase specific applications we have deployed, demonstrate real-world research impacts at UBC, and discuss our philosophy of giving back to the open-source ecosystem that enables our mission to empower researchers and advance scientific discovery.
Open OnDemand (OOD) represents a paradigm shift in high-performance computing (HPC) accessibility, transforming how researchers, scientists, clinicians, and students leverage computational resources for big data projects. For years, the command-line interface has been a significant barrier to entry, preventing many domain experts from fully utilizing HPC capabilities. Open OnDemand eliminates this obstacle by providing an intuitive web-based portal that democratizes access to powerful computing infrastructure without requiring extensive technical expertise. At the University of British Columbia, the Advanced Research Computing (ARC) team has embraced this open-source platform, deploying it across our HPC clusters to serve the diverse research community. Our implementation extends beyond basic access, we have curated an extensive application ecosystem spanning general-purpose tools like RStudio, Jupyter notebooks, and cluster desktops, alongside specialized domain-specific software for genomics, bioinformatics, and computational chemistry. This comprehensive suite enables researchers to focus on their science rather than wrestling with technical complexity. The graphical user interface has unlocked particularly transformative capabilities in scientific visualization, allowing researchers to interactively explore complex datasets and generate insights that were previously difficult or impossible to achieve through command-line workflows alone. This visual paradigm shift has accelerated discovery across multiple disciplines. Beyond local implementation, UBC ARC actively contributes to the global OOD open-source community through the Appverse repository, sharing our custom applications and configurations. This bidirectional engagement consuming and contributing exemplifies the collaborative spirit of open-source development and ensures sustainable innovation in research computing infrastructure. This talk will showcase specific applications we have deployed, demonstrate real-world research impacts at UBC, and discuss our philosophy of giving back to the open-source ecosystem that enables our mission to empower researchers and advance scientific discovery.