All Associates may have access to the CSDA UNIX cluster to carry out the work defined in approved grants, proposal development, and for other research projects. An Associate may also request that students and staff be provided with access to our UNIX cluster for those who meet the priorities described below. All requests for access to our system should be made by an Associate to Hui-shien Tsao at the e-mail address of apchelp@albany.edu. If the request is for a project that is not approved for core access by NICHD, a brief description of the reason for the access (see priorities below) should be included.The first priority for the system is to help CSDA Associates carry out the work defined in grants that have been approved for core access by NICHD. This work will receive the highest priority, and level of support. Students and staff associated with approved projects may have access to our UNIX cluster for this work.
The second priority is to help CSDA Associates with work related to proposal development for a grant that would be associated with CSDA and which would seek approval for core access. (Continuing a good record of funded research will be THE most important factor when we seek renewal of our Center Grant.) Students working directly on proposal-preparation with an Associate may have access to our UNIX cluster.
The third priority is to help Associates conduct research that is unrelated to a grant or proposal preparation, but which is related to the research-mission of CSDA. (The impressive productivity of our Associates is one of the factors that lead to our success in getting the R24 grant.) Associates may request access for students who are working with them on such projects, even if the work is not funded, and not expected to result in a research proposal.
The fourth priority is to help Associates direct students as they prepare theses, dissertations, and papers for publication that are related to the research-mission of CSDA. (We want to continue to attract good students to the research areas under the umbrella of CSDA. Providing benefits to students that work in the research areas of CSDA will help attract them. Turning out well-trained students will have long-term benefits for CSDA, and The University at Albany.) Associates may request access for students whose dissertations or theses they are directing, and for whom they are helping with papers for publication. It will be the responsibility of Associates to help students granted access in these priorities with questions related to the analysis, data preparation, and UNIX use.
CSDA is committed to providing high quality support to its Associates. At certain time the demand for CSDA service may require that requests for help be prioritized, and a waiting queue be created. When that happens, the access priorities described above will be used in the order listed.
Unfortunately, we can not make our system available for classroom use, or for teaching. ITS supports classroom use by authorizing special accounts with sufficient disk space to store data for classes.
We will periodically review the list of staff and students who have access, and ask Associates to confirm that they are still working with them. It is important that Associates ask students to delete their files and directories before leaving The University at Albany. Staff will be happy to help with this. Please see the document "Services Offered by the Computing/Statistical Core of The Center for Social and Demographic Analysis (CSDA)" for information about Computing/Statistical Core staff and how to reach them. Also see computing core.
Work published that used the CSDA UNIX cluster and stems from grants that were approved for core access by NICHD should include the following acknowledgment:
"The Center for Social and Demographic Analysis of the University at Albany provided technical and administrative support for this research through a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R24-HD044943)."
E-mail your questions to: apchelp@albany.edu