Program Structure and Timeline

Formal Instruction

The CIberCATSS program involves three weeks of formal instruction followed by four weeks of project-based work.  The three weeks of formal instruction will include a core curriculum of:

  1. Introduction to Data
  2. Python Programming
  3. Numerical and Statistical Methods
  4. Introduction to HPC systems
  5. Introduction to Machine Learning (elective)
  6. C++ for Scientific Codes (elective)

The three weeks of formal instruction consist of in-person lecture and closely supervised lab work. Teaching Assistants (TA) will be constantly available to answer questions and point you in the right direction.  The aim is for students to learn and learn quickly, not to spin their wheels.

Project-Based Work

This is followed by four weeks of project-based work where you will work with a mentor on a computational research project.  This project will be up to you and your mentor to decide.  In addition, cyberinfrastructure advisors (CIAs) will be available to answer and solve problems regarding computation or cyberinfrastructure.

To make this more concrete, suppose a graduate student named Miriam is working with her project mentor, on writing software to generate initial conditions for a simulation code. (Please note that the project mentor can be a master or Ph.D. thesis advisor.)  During the first three weeks, Miriam will be trained in the basics of computation.  The project mentor then works with Miriam so that she understands her task.  Over the next four weeks, Miriam meets with the project mentor regularly to ask questions and go over problems.  Miriam also works with a CIA to work out issues with compiling her code or best practices in development.  By the end of the school, Miriam has produced an useful piece of software that will prove invaluable in her or her project mentor’s research going forward.

Stipends

Student participants will receive $3,500 over seven week.  Teaching Assistants/Cyberinfrastructure Advisors will receive $3,000 for the same time frame.

 

Timeline

  1. Contact the CIberCATSS team to let us know that you are interested.
  2. Find a mentor or have us suggest a mentor.
  3. Determine an appropriate short project that involve cyberinfrastructure with the mentor.
  4. Apply for the program.  Application dues Feb 15.
  5. You will be informed if you have been accepted into the program around the first or second week of March.
  6. We expect to start the summer school around the first week of June and it will run for seven weeks.