SCIENCE

The hubbub is coming in April, as HUBzero enthusiasts gather in Indianapolis. The HUBbub 2011 workshop will help participants get the most out of the software package, which is available for widespread use in an open source release. The two-day workshop for the HUBzero user community will take place April 5-6 at the IUPUI University Place Conference Center, 850 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, Ind.  For more information and to register, visit the HUBbub 2011 website. Space is limited.

HUBzero is a unique platform for creating powerful Web sites supporting research, education and collaboration in science, engineering and other fields. The HUBzero platform powers nanoHUB.org and 30 other sites already, supporting a wide spectrum of projects in science and engineering, health care research, social science and education. These hubs deliver hundreds of computational research tools and seminars to nearly a half million users annually.

HUBzero is sort of a Swiss Army Knife for deploying and accessing computational research codes, and visualizing and analyzing results, all through a Web browser interface. It makes posting tools about as easy as posting a YouTube video. Built-in social networking features akin to Facebook create communities of researchers and educators in almost any field or subject matter and facilitate communication and collaboration, distribution of research results, training and education.

“Like no other platform, HUBzero can host interactive simulation tools, so users aren't just reading about research, they can experience it,” says Michael McLennan, senior research scientist and hub technology architect at Purdue. “HUBzero allows users to work together as they interact with content.”

Originally developed at Purdue University, HUBzero is now supported by a consortium of universities including Purdue, Indiana, Clemson, and Wisconsin.  This workshop is hosted by the consortium and intended for people already using a hub who want to learn more, and for those curious about hubs or interested in employing the open source release of HUBzero to establish their own.

Sessions at the event will include:

• Case studies with working examples of how hubs are being used to support research projects and to satisfy NSF and other grant funder cyberinfrastructure requirements in the bargain.

• Hands-on training in creating and publishing computational research tools on a hub, along with connecting those tools to supercomputing clusters and other grid resources while largely avoiding the complexities of grid computing.

• Hub management tips and advice on setting up a hub using the open source release of HUBzero, plus advanced topics.

The registration fee includes all sessions and an evening reception April 4, continental breakfast and lunch April 5 and 6, and a banquet diner April 5.

HUBbub 2011 also is seeking abstracts for “Tech Talk” discussions where attendees will share information on how they use a hub to support a research project, on new features being created for the HUBzero platform, and on computational research tools built for a hub. Abstracts can be submitted until Feb. 28.

HUBbub 2010 attracted102 people from 33 institutions as far away as Korea, South Africa and Quebec, along with U.S. universities spread from New York to Oregon and Florida to Wisconsin.

HUBzero was originally developed to power Purdue-based nanoHUB.org, now an international resource for nanotechnology theory, simulation and education with 165,000 users. The underlying technology proved to be so attractive that Purdue tailored it for use in other fields.

Other hubs link researchers transforming laboratory discoveries into new medical treatments; working to revolutionize cancer treatment and care delivery; promoting assistive technologies innovation to better serve those with disabilities; improving pharmaceutical manufacturing; sharing environmental models; and engineering earthquake-resistant buildings, bridges and related structures.