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Gateway Focus Week 2024 - Empowering Research Teams

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Last Updated on Tuesday, 17 September 2024 14:21
Published on Sunday, 15 September 2024 07:27

Gateway Focus Week 2024: Empowering Research Teams through Sustainability Training

By: Claire Stirm

Focus Week was held from August 5-7, 2024, in Austin, TX, at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). This year's workshop brought together research teams in earthquake seismic simulations, collaborative data-driven science platforms, and a team focused on interoperable software ecosystems for their high-performance computing resources for underserved audiences.

Throughout the three-day intensive program, participants engaged in a series of hands-on activities to help them refine their project's value proposition, understand their audience, and navigate the competitive landscape. The workshop covered crucial topics such as:

  • Crafting clear value propositions

  • Identifying and understanding key audience segments

  • Mapping the competitive landscape

  • Exploring sustainable funding models

  • User experience testing

One of the workshop’s highlights was the audience segmentation exercise, where teams identified segments of their audiences to articulate and test assumptions about their knowledge of their key stakeholders. This key information helped teams identify vital information that would help further positive positioning for their market landscape and where they would need to plan interviews with audiences to further understand their challenges/needs.

The collaborative atmosphere fostered new connections and partnerships. During breaks and meals, participants and instructors engaged in animated discussions. Due to the smaller cohort, the attendees had a more shared experience that impacted their progress through the shortened workshop.

On the final workshop day, usability lead, Paul Parsons, led the user experience (UX) fundamentals session. This provided teams with practical tools for applying some usability concepts to their products. Participants had the opportunity to apply these concepts immediately, conducting mock user interviews and usability tests.

Reflecting on the workshop, participant Philip Maechling shared, "The Focus Week 2024 Workshop offered well-structured content and exercises that directly benefited our Quakeworx project. It also provided a great opportunity to connect with fellow gateway developers. By the end, we developed a candidate sustainability plan, which we look forward to refining with the methods we learned at the workshop.”

Another participant, Garrett Crumrine shared, "The Focus Week workshop and the science gateways team as a whole are amazing. Following Focus Week, we have been able to really hone the focus of our project further enabling us to effectively communicate the value we bring. More specifically, this has helped CAMSA and the HPC program at Texas A&M University-San Antonio in a recent funding proposal submitted to the University’s Advancement Committee. The proposal is still under review, but it seems to be going well. I cannot thank the team enough for letting me be a part of Focus Week.”

Attendees wrapped up the workshop by presenting their pitch decks as teams. Instructor Juliana Casavan reflected, “While the workshop was a shorter version than what we have run before, we saw the highest-quality value propositions in pitch presentations from past cohorts so far.”

The success of the 2024 Gateway Focus Week underscores the vital role of sustainability planning in the longevity and impact of cyberinfrastructure projects. As these teams return to their institutions, they carry the skills and motivation to drive their projects forward, ensuring their valuable work continues to serve and advance scientific research for years.

Don't miss out on the next Focus Week -