National Computing Resources for WMU Researchers: An Awareness Session

Building Bigger Science: National Research Computing, AI Resources, and the Future of Discovery

October 15, 2026 @ 1-2 p.m. 
1260 Chemistry Building

Join Dr. Pierrette Renée Dagg, Merit Network’s Director of Research for an overview of today's national research computing ecosystem and how faculty and researchers can access powerful computing, storage, AI, and data resources without having to build or maintain their own infrastructure. Topics include:

• High-Performance Computing (HPC) opportunities
• AI and GPU-enabled research environments
• National Science Foundation computing resources (ACCESS and the NAIRR pilot)
• Open Science Grid (OSG) and the Open Science Data Federation (OSDF)
• National Research Platform (NRP)
• Cybersecurity datasets from Merit's National Distributed Network Telescope
• Faculty and student research opportunities
• Workforce development and teaching applications
• Building collaborative research workflows across institutions

Attendees will learn how these resources can directly support or complement local research computing efforts while creating new opportunities for scholarship, grant activity, and interdisciplinary collaboration.  

Research Computing Networking & Meet-and-Mingle

October 15, 2026 @ 2-3 p.m. 
Chemistry Building 1st Floor Hallway

Stick around after the presentation for an informal hour with Dr. Dagg and your WMU colleagues. Bring your questions about the resources she covers, talk through how they might fit your own work, and connect with others across campus who are thinking about HPC, AI, and data-intensive research. No agenda, just conversation. Faculty, researchers, IT staff, and academic leaders are all welcome.

Why Attend?

Research is leaning harder on computing, AI, and large datasets every year, and many of the tools that make that work possible already exist at the national level, often at no cost. These sessions are a chance to find out what's available, how it fits alongside WMU's HPC Hub, and how to get started. They're also a chance for us to hear what you need, so we know where interest is and what's worth pursuing.