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Managing Research Activities in SLAC IEPM Group

Prepared by Les Cottrell, SLAC for the NIIT, March 21, 2005

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SLAC• National Lab operated by Stanford University

funded by US Department of Energy• Roughly 1400 staff, + contractors & outside

users => 3000, ~ 2000 on site at a given time• Fundamental research in:

– Experimental particle physics– Theoretical physics– Accelerator research– Synchrotron Light research

• Has faculty to pursue above research and awards degrees, 3 Nobel prizewinners

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SLAC Computing• Note: no fundamental research in computing,

no faculty• Computing/networking is to provide support

for the Lab– Networking, Microsoft Windows support, Unix/Linux

support, storage/file systems, databases, operations, help desk/user support, phones

– Approximately 100 people

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Network Monitoring• Part of SLAC computing / network group

– Monitoring for LAN needed to manage the network• As WAN increased in importance added WAN

monitoring for SLAC needs• Worldwide BaBar collaboration based at SLAC

dramatically increased the need to know performance to many sites worldwide– Developed PingER project to make measurements,

gather, archive, analyze and present

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IEPM Group• DoE separately funds proposal to develop and

extend PingER• Hire PhD/physicist created IEPM group (two

people: myself and the new hire)• Research best ways to make measurements,

best way to analyze, gather data, build and distribute toolkit

• Hire Stanford students as RAs– SLAC pays a stipend plus tuition fees– Work at SLAC not directly part of MS/PhD (no credits)– For MS students the work is usually advanced

technology/research often related to coursework

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Team• Three permanent people ≡ one full-time-

equivalent– Junior programmer– Senior programmer– PI (me)– Students (usually 1-2 RAs)– One open post for 2 year person (PhD research)

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Caveat• Our job is not to supervise PhDs doing

research– We do not award degrees– More like industry internship

• Rather it is to develop tools and pursue projects of value to SLAC and our funding agencies

• Projects are chosen primarily since something needs doing (with deadlines etc.) rather than a more open ended interesting research topic.

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Student selection• Stanford RAs (doing MS in CS, EE):

– List Job/project description– List skills needed– Spread word around– Two people interview students (60-90mins) with a

prepared list of questions related to the skills & job requirements etc., all students are asked same set

• Choose most appropriate: intelligence, enthusiasm, self motivated, organized, communication skills, relevant technical skills, trustworthy …

• NIIT students, rely on/trust NIIT– Some/best spend 6 months at SLAC (after

graduate) – for further growth etc.

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Student “management”• Time conflicts between student’s research work and

course work, make planning difficult– Internships & full-time summer students easier since full time

for a few months, but then continuity may be problem– Stanford RA’s are 50% time at SLAC for typically a ¾ year.

• Much easier if students physically present– Locate students close to supervisor (e.g. share office)– Have clear understanding of attendance (posted on door)– Frequent interactions, especially during first quarters

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Student management• NIIT students require from the start:

– Clear understanding of topic, especially at start, may take frequent interactions (f2f?)

– For inexperienced students: written specifications of goals, timelines, deliverables

– Will change as research evolves • If we could specify it all then it would not be research

– Meeting times can be hard to set (time zones, work days, travel …)

– Some students expect ongoing specific instructions, may not be realistic, need to become more independent, made aware of Google, email groups/archives, literature searches etc.

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NIIT Student management• Co-supervision (from SLAC) at a distance

– Under graduate projects are short (few months)– Require more structure (definition, timelines,

deliverables) than longer-term, more experienced researchers (e.g. PhDs), project has to be finished in short time

– Assistance with local close day-to-day supervision – Less frequent “meetings” with SLAC senior

supervisor (e.g. 2 weeks), plus emails– NIIT senior student (at SLAC or NIIT) also assist

with supervision (may interfere with own research, may assist in training)

• Still understanding, looking for optimal solutions

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Collaboration Management• Web site – goals, publicity, access to reports,

status/logs• Email lists and archives• Messenger type use growing (but time zones)• Fortnightly/monthly phone or video meetings

– Draft agenda 2 days in advance– Phone with powerpoint slides works well

• Tried VRVS video but voice quality poor, requires more scheduling, assumes good network connectivity, should not be a heroic effort

• Accounts at each other’s sites (can conflict with security concerns)– Need to help debug, definitively check things, shared

experience

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Collaboration management• Face to face meetings (hallway discussions,

– Often coordinated with other meetings– Typically few times/year– Absolutely critical, need careful planning

• Good/reliable connectivity is essential,– On going for collaboration– ALSO: especially during visits, at institute AND

hotel, in meetings (wireless) …• Still have job at home institution, keep up with email, keep

on top of tasks/projects, proposals, people …• Especially important for extended (> few days) visits

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Summary• Communication essential• Management is for me this is still evolving• Still recognizing:

– Where there are problems– Possible approaches– Where & when different approaches work (scaling) – How to recognize that there are problems

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Funding• Faustian bargain of funding• Hire to perform promised work and provide

deliverables• If/when funding runs out have to lay-off

– LBL just terminated their network research team (3 or 4 people)

• So spend a lot of time writing proposals– 10-20% success– Mainly to DoE, but also DARPA, NSF– Usually joint collaboration with others:

• CNRI, Caltech, BNL, NIIT