RT Impact: The nation
The National Center for Genome Analysis Support
The National Center for Genome Analysis Support (NCGAS) provides resources for the U.S. biological research community to analyze, understand, and use the vast amount of genomic information now available. A collaborative project between Indiana University and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, a joint computational research center with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, NCGAS focuses on transcriptome- and genome-level assembly, phylogenetics, metagenomics, transcriptomics, and community genomics. NCGAS provides consulting services for NSF-funded researchers, education and outreach programs on genome assembly and analysis, and maintains software on IU supercomputers as well as nationally accessible high performance clusters.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant 1759906. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
HYBRID APPROACH TO ONLINE INSTRUCTION
As the COVID-19 pandemic halted in-person attendance, NCGAS took their R workshop online to serve hundreds of scientists around the world. Using a hybrid approach with pre-recorded video lectures, real-time chat and discussion boards, Jetstream, and step-by-step online instruction in Expand/Canvas, the workshop continued, and attendance grew more than 1,000 percent.
“My favorite part was the video lectures. I have attempted to learn R before on my own using manuals and online courses, but actually ‘sitting’ in a lecture with a real person teaching gave me a few ‘aha’ moments that I had never had before.” – Workshop attendee survey comment
BREAKING NEW GROUND IN GENOMIC DATA MINING
A collaboration between NCGAS and IU’s Center of Excellence for Women & Technology (CEW&T) supported research from a new cohort of talented bioinformation scientists, enabling genomic data mining through the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program.
“There is a lot of data, with multiple layers of research. The NCGAS team was really good at breaking down information about using the software and learning how to use the different programs.” – Christine Campbell, REU program participant from the IU Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering
“Working with CEW&T has been a wonderful partnership for NCGAS and for the REU students. The collaboration enables the students professional training through CEW&T and domain skills and experience through NCGAS. We’ve had several students continue working with us as interns or in other REU programs. And, bonus, one just landed her first industry job!” – Sheri Sanders, manager and primary investigator, NCGAS