Leveraging HUBzero to Enable STEM Education for High School Students

By Jeanette M Sperhac

CCR -- University at Buffalo

Category

Seminars

Published on

Abstract

The Eric Pitman Annual Summer Workshop in Computational Science has been held at the Center for Computational Research (CCR) at the University at Buffalo, State University of New York, since 1999. The workshop introduces high school students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines through the application of computing to current STEM-related problems, and is offered to high school students who have completed at least their freshman year; no prior knowledge of computing is assumed. Past workshops explored computational chemistry, visualization, bioinformatics, and research in the life sciences. In addition to lectures and hands-on computational exercises, students tour working labs that perform genome sequencing, protein crystallography, and medical research. The two-week workshop culminates in a computational project involving a real scientific dataset, followed by student presentations.

In past workshops, students spent a substantial percentage of time learning the basics of a command line interface in order to prepare and submit jobs to CCR's computers. In 2013, we leveraged the HUBzero platform deployed at CCR (hpc2.org) to avoid the complexities of the Center's operating environment and instead allow greater focus on computational science. Students learned to perform calculations, write functions, and visualize datasets using the R statistical language. They then employed their new skills to explore a protein crystallization dataset and evaluate the performance of an automated classifier.

Students completed all coursework on hpc2.org, using the RStudio integrated development environment (IDE) within a tool container, and exploited RStudio's integration with GitHub to provide access to source files, examples, and datasets. WebDAV was used to export graphics created on hpc2.org onto local workstations. The students will retain access to the computing environment even after the workshop's conclusion.

Bio

Jeanette Sperhac is a Scientific Programmer at the University at Buffalo's Center for Computational Research (CCR). She holds an S.B. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago, an M.S. in Chemistry from the University of Colorado, and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University at Buffalo. Jeanette has worked as a software engineer and DBA in both academia and industry.

Jeanette supports a number of software engineering and web application projects at CCR, including hpc2.org, a HUBzero instance implemented for the partnership between Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Stony Brook University, Brookhaven National Laboratory, NYSERNet, and the University at Buffalo.

In 2013, she used RStudio running on the hpc2.org HUBzero instance to support CCR's annual Eric Pitman Workshop in Computational Science. She developed, taught, and supported the course, which took 12 high school students on a whirlwind tour of scientific computing, data analysis and visualization, and basic statistics, using the R language.

Cite this work

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

  • Jeanette M Sperhac (2013), "Leveraging HUBzero to Enable STEM Education for High School Students," https://help.hubzero.org/resources/1018.

    BibTex | EndNote

Submitter

Nikki Huang

Purdue University

Tags

Leveraging HUBzero to Enable STEM Education for High School Students
  • Leveraging HUBzero to Enable STEM Education for High School 1. Leveraging HUBzero to Enable S… 0
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  • Outline 2. Outline 43.71037704371038
    00:00/00:00
  • Eric Pitman Annual Summer 3. Eric Pitman Annual Summer 76.443109776443109
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  • Goals of the Workshop 4. Goals of the Workshop 114.81481481481482
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  • Participants 5. Participants 144.41107774441107
    00:00/00:00
  • Staff 6. Staff 170.43710377043712
    00:00/00:00
  • Coursework Problem solving using programming: 7. Coursework Problem solving usi… 190.82415749082418
    00:00/00:00
  • Guest Lectures 8. Guest Lectures 214.91491491491493
    00:00/00:00
  • Lab Tours Tours provide scientific context: 9. Lab Tours Tours provide scient… 243.20987654320987
    00:00/00:00
  • Final Project 10. Final Project 260.99432766099432
    00:00/00:00
  • How do we equip students to investigate a scientific problem? 11. How do we equip students to in… 278.91224557891223
    00:00/00:00
  • 2013: One Solution Curriculum 12. 2013: One Solution Curriculum 305.73907240573908
    00:00/00:00
  • 2013 Workshop Environment 13. 2013 Workshop Environment 342.2756089422756
    00:00/00:00
  • Workshop Project 40,000 protein crystallization trials: 14. Workshop Project 40,000 protei… 375.94260927594263
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  • Workshop Project 15. Workshop Project 405.33867200533871
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  • Why we chose HUBzero 16. Why we chose HUBzero 421.22122122122124
    00:00/00:00
  • Why we chose R 17. Why we chose R 461.59492826159493
    00:00/00:00
  • Why we chose RStudio RStudio 18. Why we chose RStudio RStudio 491.05772439105772
    00:00/00:00
  • RStudio Interface 19. RStudio Interface 519.45278611945275
    00:00/00:00
  • HUBzero instance hardware 20. HUBzero instance hardware 532.56589923256593
    00:00/00:00
  • HUBzero Instance Specifications 21. HUBzero Instance Specification… 547.61428094761425
    00:00/00:00
  • Student Workstation Specifications 22. Student Workstation Specificat… 560.66066066066071
    00:00/00:00
  • Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero 23. Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero 571.50483817150484
    00:00/00:00
  • Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero Tool 24. Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero… 590.9242575909243
    00:00/00:00
  • Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero Tool 25. Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero… 602.80280280280283
    00:00/00:00
  • Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero Tool 26. Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero… 611.44477811144475
    00:00/00:00
  • Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero Tool 27. Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero… 627.02702702702709
    00:00/00:00
  • Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero Tool 28. Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero… 635.90256923590255
    00:00/00:00
  • Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero Tool 29. Deploying RStudio as a HUBzero… 648.314981648315
    00:00/00:00
  • Teaching on the HUB 30. Teaching on the HUB 653.11978645311979
    00:00/00:00
  • Workshop webpage 31. Workshop webpage 655.38872205538871
    00:00/00:00
  • HUBzero Course Resource 32. HUBzero Course Resource 668.36836836836835
    00:00/00:00
  • Teaching on the HUB 33. Teaching on the HUB 679.84651317984651
    00:00/00:00
  • Distributing Source code and datasets 34. Distributing Source code and d… 684.0507173840507
    00:00/00:00
  • GitHub 35. GitHub 688.05472138805476
    00:00/00:00
  • RStudio data and sources: 36. RStudio data and sources: 692.85952619285956
    00:00/00:00
  • RStudio Project from GitHub 37. RStudio Project from GitHub 698.43176509843181
    00:00/00:00
  • Distributing source code and datasets Other options: 38. Distributing source code and d… 704.53787120453785
    00:00/00:00
  • Lessons Learned 39. Lessons Learned 713.546880213547
    00:00/00:00
  • Additional thoughts 40. Additional thoughts 730.76409743076408
    00:00/00:00
  • References and How-To Home page for 2013 CCR Workshop: 41. References and How-To Home pag… 737.83783783783781
    00:00/00:00
  • With Thanks Sage advice, guidance, and guest lectures: 42. With Thanks Sage advice, guida… 750.78411745078415
    00:00/00:00
  • Acknowledgement 43. Acknowledgement 764.2976309642977
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