NSF Open Science Data Cloud (OSDC) PIRE Project

The Open Science Data Cloud (OSDC) is an open-source, cloud-based infrastructure that allows scientists to manage, analyze, integrate and share medium to large size scientific datasets.

The OSDC PIRE project aims to narrow the growing gap between the capability of modern scientific instruments to produce data and the ability of researchers to control and examine the data in a reliable and timely manner.

Cloud computing involves clusters (the "clouds") of distributed computers that provide potentially less expensive, more flexible, and more powerful on-demand resources and services over a network, usually the internet, while providing the scale and the reliability of a data center.

Through the Partnership for International Research & Education program (PIRE), the National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded a 5-year project devoted to the development of the Open Science Data Cloud.

Scientists at the University of Chicago (UC), Florida International University (FIU) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) have collaborated with six international research groups. The OSDC project is also partnered with the Open Cloud Consortium (OCC)--a member driven organization that develops reference implementations, benchmarks and standards for cloud computing.

Led by: Robert Grossman, PhD: Director of Informatics at IGSB, a Senior Fellow at the Computation Institute, and Professor of Medicine in the Section of Genetic Medicine at the University of Chicago.