Computer Science professor receives NSF grant for iPlant project
The BioExtract Server (bioextract.org) is a Web-based, workflow-enabling system that offers researchers a flexible environment for analyzing genomic data. Researchers with access to the BioExtract Server can share their data extracts, analytic tools and workflows with collaborators while the iPlant Collaborative, www.iplantcollaborative.org, was designed to solve grand challenges in plant science.
Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the three-year grant will assist the project as it attempts to integrate the BioExtract Server’s functionality with the iPlant Collaborative Cyberinfrastructure as well as to make data, analytic tools, and workflows accessible, interoperable, easy to use, and applicable to research and education.
According to Lushbough, experts believe that the economic competitiveness in a knowledge-based global society is not based on who has the fastest computer but rather who has a platform of integrated common interface. “Such a common interface can bring valuable research data together and allow scientists to respond more quickly to the always-changing dynamics of science,” she explained. “A grant such as this will contribute to better collaboration and, more importantly, improved data because of its ease of use.”
A photo of Lushbough is available at www.usd.edu/press/news/images/releases/Carol_Lushbough.jpg. For more information about the iPlant Collaborative, go to www.iplantcollaborative.org. Additional information about the Department of Computer Science at USD is available at www.usd.edu/csci.