As Manager of Research Computing Services (RCS), my role involves developing and advancing new central research computing services at Columbia. This position works closely with faculty and research and information technology staff across the university, as well as senior administrators in the Office of Research Initiatives and the Libraries/Information Services. Activities include implementing professionally-managed, shared high performance computing systems, participating in data center "greening" projects, and defining strategies for biomedical and social science research computing with Columbia scientists, economists, and population-related researchers.
Taught during Fall 2010: Green IT: Paradox and practice
Fall 2010 course description:The growth in the use of computing and information technology (IT) in society demands more resources and energy, yet also allows us to understand and solve environmental problems. Curiously, ten of the top twenty Newsweek 2009 rankings of the greenest big companies in America are related to computing and IT. This course discusses the institutional environmental policies behind these rankings, and other metrics and measurements that link the growth of IT with environmental impacts and sustainability. The course concentrates on the topic of data centers: Google, Amazon, and Walmart are all representative of businesses that depend heavily on large data centers. Other businesses and institutions, including universities and research facilities, are also increasingly dependent on data centers, and the course describes current projects for green data centers and the metrics involved in those projects.
My research interests include: scientific information systems; digital data curation; and geoinformatics.
Scientific information systems involve the design of database, web and compute server applications to support the needs of researchers and workers in the sciences.
Digital data curation includes strategies for organizing and actively managing or curating diverse data collections over the long-term.
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