Research Computing Consultation Services
Northwestern Information Technology (IT) Research Computing consultants collaborate with research faculty, post docs, staff, and students to overcome technical obstacles, advance skills, and effectively use computational resources. Support is provided for all skill levels and for all areas of research within the University.
Key areas of support are described below. Please do not hesitate to contact us if your needs do not fall in the areas listed on this page.
Research Computing Resources
- Match computing, software, and data storage resources to your research needs, including local and cloud-based solutions
- Help you get started using the University computing clusters
- Show you how to turn interactive programs and scripts into batch jobs
- Advise on the development, porting, debugging, or optimization of HPC code and applications
- Assist in integrating computational components into a study to best address research questions
- Connect you with XSEDE resources
Visualization
- Create custom images, movies, or interactive visualizations for publication and exploratory analysis
- Design innovative visualizations of novel datasets
- Improve the clarity and impact of publication graphics, tables, and charts
- Explore alternative ways to visualize your data and results
Grant Writing Assistance
Research Computing Services supports preparation of research proposals by assisting with:
- Research Computing Services supports preparation of research proposals by the following methods:
- Determining technical specifications and budgeting for research grant proposals
- Preparing technical information on infrastructure and computing resources available to Northwestern researchers
- Designing and budgeting for computational elements, visualization, data management plans, cloud resources, and informatics protocols
- Providing letters of commitment or support upon request
- Writing computing components of grant applications
Data Workflow
- Provide guidance on appropriate research data storage, transfer tools, security practices, etc.
- Build research data workflows to enable efficient and secure data management.
- Support and troubleshoot instrument data collection.
Bioinformatics
- Help create bioinformatics pipelines for processing DNA-, RNA-, and/or Chip- sequencing data
- Provide post-processing statistical analysis
- Develop efficient data workflows, write scripts, install software, and provide training for use of either general or high-performance computing facilities
Data Science Support
- Plan and set up computing and data workflows for your projects
- Collect, transform, and merge both qualitative and quantitative data
- Explore new statistical and machine learning techniques for analyzing both numerical and text data
- Automate repetitive research tasks
- Create web applications to collect, view, or code data
- Design databases and other data management solutions
- Help you utilize local and cloud-based advanced computing resources
- Overcome other data challenges or technical obstacles to your research
Cloud Computing Services
- Collaborate with you to design and create scalable and secure cloud computing environments tailored to your research needs
- Provide training and consultation on cloud services, tools, and practices
- Provide access to cloud-based computational resources and software to run your analysis at scale
- Assist in architecting software and data pipelines for efficient cloud resource usage, including Docker containers, object storage, automation, and other best practices
- Create custom, cloud-based applications for collecting, storing, and analyzing research data
Training
Research Computing Services conducts workshops on high performance computing, statistical software, computer programming, computing tools for researchers, research replicability, data visualization, and data analysis. Workshops are offered for both the University community and specific departments or groups. Please request a consultation if you would like to organize a workshop.
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Cost
General research computing consulting services are offered to Northwestern researchers, faculty, students, and staff typically at no cost. Longer term consulting, as part of a specialized project or formal commitments in support of grant awards could be subject to a charge.
Request a Consultation
To request more information or a meeting with a Northwestern IT Research Computing Consultant, please email consultant@northwestern.edu and include the following information:
- Name
- Contact information
- Type of assistance
- Project timeframe
- Brief description of your research project
IT Support Needs
For technical assistance and general service or system support questions, contact the IT Support Center at 847-491-4357 (1-HELP) or submit your question or issue via e-mail to consultant@northwestern.edu.
Last Updated: 21 September 2018
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