CC* Data Storage: Tiger Den: sustainable campus-wide data system to support CI-enabled research and education

The Tiger Den project at Louisiana State University will benefit collaborators in the EPSCoR state of Louisiana and support a research storage solution available to all LSU researchers. The core science drivers for Tiger Den include the biological sciences, hydrological and ocean modeling, astrophysics, material science, climate change study, and biomedical engineering. Tiger Den is coupled with a series of activities on the LSU campus and other Louisiana institutions to focus on building research data community, raise awareness about the importance of the research data life cycle, and teach research data management skills. The target audience includes university administrators, undergraduate students, and researchers. Activities help promote and bring about a culture change on campus surrounding research data stewardship and sharing. One third of the capacity is to the Louisiana Optical Network Initiative (LONI) and its members, many of which are under-resourced and minority-serving institutions. Tiger Den is a Qumulo-based 1.5 PB (usable) data storage system resource, running NFS and CIFS. The project supports numerous independent systems and compartments within the campus. Data lifecycle training to research groups is offered by the ITS and Library staff. Lessons learned from the Tiger Den deployment provide storage resource models for LSU and other LONI member campuses. Various education, outreach, and training programs are significantly enhanced, generating significant positive impact on workforce development among K-12 and undergraduate students. This award by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.