New START Recommendations Posted, Town Hall Scheduled
Dear Colleagues,
I am reaching out with updates from the Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START) on the following topics, with details included below:
I am reaching out with updates from the Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START) on the following topics, with details included below:
- Four new recommendations for review
- Town Hall scheduled for Tuesday, May 13
START Recommendations
I am writing to share new recommendations from the Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START). The first recommendation is from START’s Increasing Our Research Excellence Committee, co-chaired by Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor of Research, and Rick Grosberg, distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Evolution and Ecology.
The latest recommendation builds on two previous recommendations related to High Performance Computing (HPC), work that is done at UC Davis by the HPC Core Facility, also known as HPC@UCD. While the committee’s first two HPC-related recommendations focused on research computing and staffing issues, the third recommendation is more comprehensive and includes long-term staffing, equipment, and operations.
The HPC@UCD is a specialized facility designed for computational research. It provides advanced computing power to support complex simulations, modeling, and data analysis. On university campuses, HPC facilities, which primarily serve faculty, graduate students, and post-docs, require significantly higher power densities than a traditional data center, particularly for graphics processing unit-intensive workloads used in AI, physics, and bioinformatics research.
HPC@UCD is staffed by nine individuals who support nearly 1,800 researchers in more than 20 departments across several colleges at UC Davis. The campus’s current HPC environment consists of more than 50,000 CPU cores, 239 GPUs, and 25 petabytes of data storage. For reference, one petabyte is the equivalent of 1,000 terabytes, or more than 1 million gigabytes.
The recommendation is:
I am writing to share new recommendations from the Sustaining Teaching and Research Task Force (START). The first recommendation is from START’s Increasing Our Research Excellence Committee, co-chaired by Simon Atkinson, vice chancellor of Research, and Rick Grosberg, distinguished professor emeritus in the Department of Evolution and Ecology.
The latest recommendation builds on two previous recommendations related to High Performance Computing (HPC), work that is done at UC Davis by the HPC Core Facility, also known as HPC@UCD. While the committee’s first two HPC-related recommendations focused on research computing and staffing issues, the third recommendation is more comprehensive and includes long-term staffing, equipment, and operations.
The HPC@UCD is a specialized facility designed for computational research. It provides advanced computing power to support complex simulations, modeling, and data analysis. On university campuses, HPC facilities, which primarily serve faculty, graduate students, and post-docs, require significantly higher power densities than a traditional data center, particularly for graphics processing unit-intensive workloads used in AI, physics, and bioinformatics research.
HPC@UCD is staffed by nine individuals who support nearly 1,800 researchers in more than 20 departments across several colleges at UC Davis. The campus’s current HPC environment consists of more than 50,000 CPU cores, 239 GPUs, and 25 petabytes of data storage. For reference, one petabyte is the equivalent of 1,000 terabytes, or more than 1 million gigabytes.
The recommendation is:
Three additional recommendations are from START’s Optimizing Our Facilities Committee, co-chaired by Kim Turner, executive director of Integrated Planning and Design, and Jared Shaw, a professor in the Department of Chemistry. The recommendations are:
The recommendations from this committee focus on maximizing and improving space, a finite resource.
Every recommendation will go through the review process outlined on the START website and will be sent to the Academic Senate for a Request for Consultation if appropriate. You are invited to share your feedback on each recommendation by using the form on the START website or by emailing starttaskforce@ucdavis.edu. The deadline to submit feedback on these recommendations is Friday, May 23, 2025.
Next Town Hall: Tuesday, May 13
START’s Optimizing Our Facilities Committee will hold its second town hall from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 13, to discuss its three new recommendations. Please register using the link sent to you by email.
The event will be hosted by Professor Emeritus Michael Brown, immediate systemwide past provost and vice president of Academic Affairs for the University of California, and includes a presentation by committee co-chairs Kim Turner, executive director of integrated planning and design, and Jared Shaw, a professor in the Department of Chemistry.
You are invited to submit questions for town halls through the feedback form on the START website or by emailing starttaskforce@ucdavis.edu. Questions also can be submitted during the town hall.
Thank you for your engagement and participation and we will see you at the town hall on May 13.
All the best,
Mary
Mary Croughan
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor
Every recommendation will go through the review process outlined on the START website and will be sent to the Academic Senate for a Request for Consultation if appropriate. You are invited to share your feedback on each recommendation by using the form on the START website or by emailing starttaskforce@ucdavis.edu. The deadline to submit feedback on these recommendations is Friday, May 23, 2025.
Next Town Hall: Tuesday, May 13
START’s Optimizing Our Facilities Committee will hold its second town hall from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, May 13, to discuss its three new recommendations. Please register using the link sent to you by email.
The event will be hosted by Professor Emeritus Michael Brown, immediate systemwide past provost and vice president of Academic Affairs for the University of California, and includes a presentation by committee co-chairs Kim Turner, executive director of integrated planning and design, and Jared Shaw, a professor in the Department of Chemistry.
You are invited to submit questions for town halls through the feedback form on the START website or by emailing starttaskforce@ucdavis.edu. Questions also can be submitted during the town hall.
Thank you for your engagement and participation and we will see you at the town hall on May 13.
All the best,
Mary
Mary Croughan
Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor