Conference: Research Computing for Smaller Institutions (RCSI) 2025

This award provides participant support for the Research Computing for Smaller Institutions (RCSI) conference 2025 at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. Smaller institutions confront challenges related to data management, increasing adoption of computational methods across many disciplines, and support for complex collaborative projects, and must do so with fewer human, financial, and infrastructure resources. The conference addresses research computing challenges unique to such institutions, providing actionable pathways, idea exchanges, and community building for attendees. This workshop grant will support travel costs for a cohort of participants to attend this second iteration of RCSI, following the successful conference in 2024 that welcomed about 90 participants. The grant provides full or partial travel support for approximately 19 attendees to attend the conference. The support makes possible the participation of those who otherwise would be unable to attend, an especially important consideration given the target audience of the event. Particular attention will be paid to directing support to those who normally might not attend a research computing conference. Relevant outputs, such as presentations, will be made publicly available. Broader impacts on research computing practice in support of learning, pedagogy, and research will be extensive, including improved models for supporting emerging research computing integration in pedagogical contexts, guiding additional investment in relevant hardware and software, facilitating skills development for students, faculty, and CI professionals, and laying foundations for subsequent grants and other funding requests. 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.