Cyberinfrastructure for Research Data Management Workshop

Rachana Ananthakrishnan
Executive Director, Globus, University of Chicago

Rachana Ananthakrishnan is Executive Director & Head of Products at the University of Chicago, and has a Joint Staff Appointment at Argonne National Laboratory.  In her role at the university, she leads the Globus (www.globus.org) department, which delivers a research data management platform to national and international research institutions. She currently serves on the Internet2 InCommon Steering Committee, Earth System Grid Federation Executive Committee and Scientific Advisory Board for National Microbiome Data Collaborative

Her work is focussed on cyberinfrastructure for enabling research across a variety of domains, and she has lead security and data management for several NSF, DOE, and NIH funded initiatives. Rachana was member of the Globus Toolkit engineering team and customer engagement teams, leading the efforts in web services and security technologies. Rachana received her MS in Computer Science at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Matthew Cahn
Systems Administrator for Biology and Lecturer in Molecular Biology, Princeton University

Matthew Cahn reports to the Research Computing Department of the Office of Information Technology, in support of the Department of Molecular Biology. He has both programming and Linux systems administration responsibilities. He maintains the department’s Linux high-performance computing systems, creates web/database applications in support of faculty research, and creates automation software for processing cryoEM data.  Additionally, he trains users in the use of Princeton’s high-performance computing clusters, and teaches Python language programming to Molecular Biology graduate students as well as other members of the Princeton University community.

Prior to his time at Princeton, Matthew worked for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in support of the Protein Crystallography group.  There he worked on a team that automated the protein crystallization process, and he built Bristol-Myers’ database application for verifying, storing, and retrieving x-ray protein structures.

Wind Cowles
Director of Data, Research & Teaching, Princeton University Library, Princeton University

With over 20 years of experience in research and leadership in higher education, Dr. Wind Cowles is the Director of Data, Research, and Teaching at Princeton University Library, where she leads the development and implementation of strategic initiatives involving research and teaching services, including in research data and digital scholarship. She leads a division of librarians and other information professionals who provide services, training, and technological infrastructure to advance research and scholarship, providing strategic direction and oversight of three Library branches covering the sciences, social sciences, and engineering. 

Before joining Princeton University, Wind worked at the National Institutes of Health, where she oversaw the review of grant applications related to language, communication, and Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to NIH, Wind was an Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Florida and Director of the Language and Cognition Lab. She received her PhD in Cognitive Science and Linguistics from UC San Diego.

Forough Ghahramani
Assistant Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Sponsored Programs, Edge

As chief advocate for research and discovery, Forough serves as an advisor and counsel to senior higher education leaders to help translate vision for supporting research collaborations and innovation into actionable strategy leveraging regional and national advanced technology resources. Forough was previously at Rutgers University providing executive management for the Rutgers Discovery Informatics Institute (RDI2). Forough’s experience in higher education also includes previously serving as associate dean and department chair. Prior to joining academia, she held senior level engineering and management positions at Hewlett Packard (HP) and consulted to Fortune 500 companies in high performance computing environments. Forough’s research interest areas include: fostering diversity and inclusion in the university innovation ecosystem, and broadening the reach through models for federated data sharing infrastructure for advancing discovery. Forough is Co-PI on numerous NSF projects, and her research has resulted in publications. Forough has a doctorate in Higher Education Management from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA in Marketing from DePaul University, MS in Computer Science from Villanova University, and BS in Mathematics with a minor in Biology from Pennsylvania State University. 

Curt Hillegas
Associate CIO, Research Computing, Princeton University Office of Information Technology and Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering

Curt Hillegas is Associate CIO, Research Computing (previously Director of Research Computing) at Princeton University managing Princeton Research Computing, a collaboration between the Office of Information Technology and the Princeton Institute for Computational Science and Engineering. He has helped to build a centrally managed research computing infrastructure that includes 10 PFLOPS of computational systems and 20 PB of shared storage as well as staffing for system administration, programming, visualization support, and Research Software Engineering. He has been active in EDUCAUSE Research Computing and Data community group and through the annual conference program committee and Top 10 IT Issues. Dr. Hillegas’s past work at Princeton University includes managing the enterprise Unix group, architecting enterprise server and storage solutions, designing and managing central email infrastructure, and general Unix system administration. Dr. Hillegas received his B.S. in Chemistry from Lehigh University and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Chemistry from Princeton University.

Ken Miller
Science Engagement Engineer, ESnet (DOE Office of Science – Energy Sciences Network), Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) 

Ken Miller joined the Science Engagement team at ESnet in 2020. He also assists the Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) team with Roadside Assistance, technical workshops/training and science deep dive workshops. Previously, Ken was the lead designer of Penn State’s CC* Science DMZ grant. He developed a holistic view of research workflow through researcher engagement and using sFlow streaming telemetry of network packet samples and interface counters, as well as host-sFlow from physical systems, virtual, GPUs, containers, and applications. This data was used to develop a Research Data Security and Networking service that scaled and expanded the Science DMZ to multiple colleges and campuses across the commonwealth. Ken also developed a financial model which sustains the maintenance and continuous improvement of the Science DMZ beyond the original NSF investment.

Doug Southworth
Engineering Scientist, Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC), Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC), University of Texas at Austin

Doug Southworth is an Engineering Scientist assisting th Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) at  Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). joined International Networks in 2018. Prior to joining the International Networks team, Southworth worked in network design and implementation until accepting a position in 2008 with Baugo Community Schools, where he served as the lead network/systems administrator until 2015. He was then promoted to Director of Facilities where he oversaw operation of both computer and automated building systems. From 2017 to 2018 he worked as the Senior Systems Administrator for the Indiana Southern District of the US Courts. 

James Stankiewicz
Principal Network Architect, Edge

Jim Stankiewicz leads the technical management team with a future-forward approach that embraces a long-term vision of an integrated K-20 portal for the NJ educational community. With responsibility for the Edge network infrastructure, Jim guides his team through complex engineering project activities that drive customer performance, utilization, problem resolution and the overall effectiveness of the Edge network. Jim’s 35+-years of experience in communications and network development are key drivers for Edge’s commitment to adaptive and defined technology solutions. 

Chris Tengi
Senior Architect, Network Services Office of Information Technology, Princeton University

https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjtengi/

Vas Vasiliadis
Chief Customer Officer, Globus, University of Chicago

Vas is Chief Customer Officer for Globus, innovative software-as-a-service for research data management, developed and operated by the University of Chicago. His responsibilities include sales, marketing, customer support, training, and generally working with current and prospective users to grow adoption of the service and make it sustainable. Vas is also a lecturer in the Masters Program in Computer Science, where he teaches courses on Cloud Computing and Product Management.

Vas has over 30 years of experience in operational and consulting roles, spanning strategy, marketing and technology. An experienced software product marketing professional with a passion for shaping emerging technologies to bring innovative products to market, Vas has nurtured early stage companies into successful businesses, and consulted to companies on a wide range of strategic issues.

Jason Zurawski
Science Engagement Engineer, ESnet (DOE Office of Science – Energy Sciences Network), Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) 

Jason Zurawski is a Science Engagement Engineer at the Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) in the Scientific Networking Division of the Computing Sciences Directorate of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. ESnet is the high performance networking facility of the US Department of Energy Office of Science. ESnet”s mission is to enable those aspects of the DOE Office of Science research mission that depend on high performance networking for success.  Jason’s primary responsibilities include working with members of the research community to identify the role of networking in scientific workflows, evaluate current requirements, and suggest improvements for future innovations.

Jason has worked in computing and networking since 2004, and has a B.S. in Computer Science & Engineering from The Pennsylvania State University earned in 2002, and an M.S. in Computer and Information Science from The University of Delaware earned in 2007. He has previously worked for the University of Delaware and Internet2. Jason resides and works in Bloomington, IN, and may be reached via email at zurawski@es.net.