Ten faculty, graduate students and IT professionals from ADMI institutions participated in the Virtual School of Computational Science and Engineering Science Cloud Summer School July 29 –  August 3, 2012 held at Indiana University.  The participants represented 7 minority serving institutions and one majority institution.  All participants were underrepresented minorities and US citizens.  ADMI Inc. provided transportation, stipends and housing for the participants using funds from their CReSIS grant. 

The Science Cloud Summer School targeted education and training and the fostered of a community around a topic that has increasing interest and relevance: the use of cloud computing technologies in science - including infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service. Because cloud computing systems and technologies provide a considerable departure from traditional models and evolve at a rapid pace, this event  provided a basis for participants to immerse in a focused, intensive curriculum to learn fundamentals and experiment with these technologies in practice.

Report from Ms. Patrina Bly
On July 29, 2012, representatives of ADMI, departed for the Cloud Summer School 2012 on the campus of Indiana University at Bloomington, in Bloomington, Indiana.  ADMI sponsored participants included: Patrina Bly, Jamika Baltrop, and Kuchumbi Hayden of Elizabeth City State University, Darius Ferguson and Troy Williams of Norfolk State University, Elvira Caldwell of Winston Salem State University, Justus Nyagwenchan of Auburn University, Gebetensae Tzadu of University of District of Columbia, and Je’aime Powell of NOVA Southeastern University.

The Cloud Summer School 2012 took place in conjunction with the Virtual School of Computational Science and Engineering’s (VSCSE) 2012 Summer School.  It targeted education and the training of graduate students, and the fostering of community around a topic that of increasing relevance and interest: the use of cloud computing technologies in science - including infrastructure-as-a-service and platform-as-a-service.

Scheduled events spanned the dates of July 30 – August 3, and covered a wide span of curriculum that covered both technology and the use of clouds.  At Cloud Summer School events took place through out the week.  On day one, Dr. Geoffrey Fox of Indiana University gave a brief introduction of the overall purpose of Cloud Summer School, and what participants could expect.  He concluded with the introduction week’s main presenters, the Indiana University VSCSE graduate students.  Throughout the week and massive amounts of information was presented to the audience. Topics covering virtual high performance computing clusters, Infrastructure Cloud computing for Science, and Multi-cloud Environments were all touched on the first day.  A hands-on lab session, the included using infrastructure clouds, was also included the schedule of day one. 

The week continued with sessions and other hands-on lab experiences.  Major topics covered included running MapReduce, cloud storage, scientific applications, OpenStack, managing workflows, applications of the cloud, and use of Futuregrid. Concluding events for Cloud Summer School 2012 included a Wrap-Up session, which allowed participants to clear up any uncertainties, and presenters to answer any questions posed during the final session.