The School of Information Studies (iSchool) seeks faculty researchers in science, technology,
engineering and mathematics (STEM) to participate in focus groups whose input will help
shape the curriculum to educate cyberinfrastructure facilitators (CI facilitators). The first
meetings of the focus groups are slated for February and March.
The CI facilitator is a new kind of information professional who possesses the skills to
discover the information needs of scientific researchers and adapt available technology to
satisfy those needs. This new professional forges links among people, information and tools
in order to manage, organize, mine and process the immense amounts of scientific data that
are continuously generated in the research process. The new breed of information
professionals is responsible for integrating the communication, collaboration and data
management facilities that different scientific communities need to solve large-scale
challenges in their respective fields.
Focus group participants can help define the skill set of these future CI facilitators by
providing valuable feedback about the information needs within their research labs.
Associate Dean Jeff Stanton and his team will analyze the needs of these focus group
participants, and their needs will be combined with existing research on cyberinfrastructure
skills to aid in the design of a new curriculum. This new educational program will be based
on existing courses, modified courses and new courses, along with a range of educational
experiences, including internships, technical trainings and special lectures.
Focus group participants will also have the chance to connect with the first cohort of students
selected to begin the CI facilitator program in the iSchool and to recruit them as summer
interns at no cost to their labs. These students are skilled in managing large data sets and
have undergraduate degrees in the sciences. Money from a National Science Foundation
(NSF) grant will fund their internships.
The focus groups are part of a two-year project, "CI-Facilitators: Information Architects
across the STEM Disciplines," funded by the NSF. The research on the CI facilitator grant is
headed by Stanton, Dean Elizabeth D. Liddy and professors Derrick L. Cogburn, Paul
Gandel, R. David Lankes and Megan Oakleaf.
If you are interested in attending these focus groups or in having a trained information
professional work on your research, contact Jeffrey Stanton at citeam@syr.edu or 443-2879.
