This page summarizes the activities that have defined, currently define, and will characterize the work of the INAF USC-C group. These are divided into the following main macro-groups:
Training
· schools
· scholarships
· refresher courses
events
· INAF National Meetings
· USC-C General Assembly
Hardware
CPU/GPU computing resources and long-term data preservation.
Gruppi tematici
Supporto a gruppi di aggregazione spontanea per la discussione di temi.
General Scope of Activities
As a reference for future planning, service utilization, and institutional collaboration, please note that INAF USC-C:
IS intended for
Attempting to create synergies between the various major projects,with coordination of work on specific “transversal” aspects,as well as, on recurring problems, through the reuse of expertise already gained elsewhere.
Providing IT bases,through courses/schools/events, so that the individual or small group of researchers can deal with their own problems in almost complete autonomy.
Organize Meetings and refresher courses for the personnel assigned to these roles, e.g. Information Systems Coordination Group (GCSI).
IS NOT INTENDED FOR
Coordinate the work within large projects,whose structure, hardware and organization will remain at the complete discretion/availability of the projects themselves.
Enter into the micro-management of the computing activities of the individual or small groups of researchers, based on one or a few computing and/or storage servers and on specific in-house developed software..
Deal with the administrative calculation and/or related to personnel databases,which remains under the jurisdiction of the General Director.
operational framework
Training
Training is a transversal activity supporting all four implementation sectors. It is based on the following initiatives:
Scholarships for existing Masters at other Organizations and Institutions, , and for Doctorates at Universities (to be confirmed)
Lectures, for students, contractors and personnel, structured on individual specific topics: eg. porting of codes to HPC, methodologies for Machine Learning, exploitation of GPUs, use of containerization, continuous integration etc…
Certified refresher courses for structured staff (on institutional funds for training)
eventi usc-c
We plan to organize:
Recurring National Meetings for INAF (and external) members on individual specific issues. Objectives: knowledge of reciprocal activities, development of new opportunities for synergy, team-up.
Indicatively at least 2 meetings of this type per year with a duration of 2-3 days each.
USC-C General Assembly,(semi-)annual event with a duration of one week, taking up the fruitful example of the ICT meetings, interrupted in the pandemic phase.
Support for events
In addition to the events directly organized by USC-C, since June 1, 2023 an online form is available to request support (economic or practical) from USC-C in organizing events that have to do with USC activities.
The above link is a “channel with multiple deadlines during the year” with evaluation, and possible approval, of the proposals within 30 days of each deadline.
It is possible to apply in parallel to the general channel of the Scientific Direction for the support of events, but obviously double funding will not normally be possible.
hardware
Acquisition of ≈1.5 PetaFlop/s (with a combination CPU and GPU) and ≈11 PBy (combined between fast disks for computing and disks for long-term preservation) Tier-3 computing system, to be installed inside of one of the CINECA areas at the Bologna Technopole..
The Technopole already hosts the European weather centre ECMWF, the Leonardo super-computer and will host the United Nations University on Climate Change.
Use of a Tier-2 sizing system integrated into a Tier-1 sizing system and becoming the kernel of the Italian node of the SKA Regional Center..
Investment: €7 million from CN-PNRR for INAF and CNR needs.
Expected capacity for INAF: Approximately $4$ PetaFlop/s and $\approx 2$ PBy of high-speed storage.
THEMATIC GROUPS
The USC-C acts as a facilitator for all self-organized groups formed by individuals interested in specific topics within the community, without taking a direct role in their management.
On the page linked via the button below, you can find all the thematic groups established to date, as well as the procedures for the potential creation of new discussion groups.