D. Stephanie Dascola, Medical School Office of Research

Stephanie is a communications manager at the Medical School Office of Research. Contact her at sdascola@umich.edu.

MRequest (FootPrints) to retire in December 2021

MRequest (FootPrints) is a web-based service that allows central tracking and management of customer support and other issues. It is slated to retire on December 17, 2021.  More than 20 U-M schools, colleges, and major administrative units use the service. While primarily used by campus IT departments, campus units have discovered other uses for MRequest (FootPrints) as well. For… Read More »

Microsoft Azure cloud computing credits awarded, credits still available

The Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS) and Information and Technology Services (ITS) recently partnered with Microsoft Azure to offer cloud computing credits to U-M faculty members for both research and teaching projects.   Congratulations to the following faculty members who received awards for their projects.  Emily Mower Provost, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science, College of… Read More »

Bring the power of the HPC clusters to your laptop

Open OnDemand (OOD) is a tool that brings to researchers and students the power of Great Lakes, the university’s flagship open-science, high-performance, computing cluster.  Open OnDemand is a way for researchers and students to use a web interface to access the Advanced Research Computing – Technology Services (ARC-TS) Great Lakes and Lighthouse High-Performance Computing (HPC) resources. Because users… Read More »

Laptop loaner program brings Computing Sites to students

The pandemic has created new and unique challenges for students. To support a culture of caring and to create safe computing options, ITS developed a new laptop loaner program called “Sites @ Home.”  The program provides the best that ITS has to offer: Campus Computing Sites with access to specialized software, a Windows PC, and computers with higher… Read More »

Beta tool helps researchers manage IT services

Since August 2019, Advanced Research Computing – Technology Services (ARC-TS), a division of ITS, has been developing a tool that would give researchers and their delegates the ability to directly manage the IT research services they consume from ARC-TS, such as user access and usage stats.  The ARC-TS Resource Management Portal (RMP) beta tool is now available for… Read More »

Expanded access to LinkedIn Learning at U-M

LinkedIn Learning is a leading online learning platform that helps anyone learn business, software, technology, and creative skills to achieve personal and professional goals.  Information and Technology Services (ITS) and Organizational Learning (OL) have partnered to provide increased access to LinkedIn Learning for students, staff (including temporary workers), and faculty.  “This is an incredibly valuable and strategic tool… Read More »

Tips for building engaging virtual conferences

As more and more events go to a virtual platform, “virtual event fatigue” is also on the rise. Many groups have been either canceling or finding creative ways to deal with the burnout. One alternative conference getting a lot of attention right now Deserted Island DevOps. It’s using the popular video game called Animal Crossing to engage participants.… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Kara Thomas—Active listening advocate

MiWorkspace desktop support specialist associate, Kara Thomas, provides IT support at the Fleming Building to some of the highest-ranking officials at the university. She does it with aplomb and an eye toward mental health well-being. She is active with the ITS and Fleming Building DEI teams, and interested in overall health and general well being.  Tell us about… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Caitlin Dickinson—Mapping maven

Caitlin Dickinson, mapping expert LSA Technology Services, finds joy in learning and discovery, and in using tools to create maps that solve problems. In this MITN interview, she offers tips, tools, and best practices for researchers and fellow map enthusiasts.  Tell us about your role as a Geographic Information System (GIS) consultant at LSA.  I assist LSA faculty,… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Nathan Magyar—UX designer extraordinaire

Michigan IT News recently talked with Nathan Magyar who works as a user experience designer at the Center for Academic Innovation (AI). Magyar takes the AI mission to heart: to design the future of learning through research, innovation, experimentation, and iteration. Tell us about your role. As a user experience (UX) designer for the Center for Academic Innovation,… Read More »

Enriching Scholarship 2020 announced, call for proposals

The Enriching Scholarship conference brings together U-M faculty, staff, and students to share best practices and explore new opportunities that enhance teaching, learning, and research. This year’s Enriching Scholarship conference is May 4–7, 2020, on the Ann Arbor campus. There will be more than 100 workshops and seminars presented by faculty, grad students, postdocs, instructional designers, and academic… Read More »

Network file transfer speed reaches 100Gbps

One hundred gigabits per second (Gbps) is the new standard for network speeds when transferring files from the Great Lakes high-performance computing cluster to the Turbo Research Storage service.  Why is this significant?  Usually network speeds for file transfers are 1Gbps. That’s perfectly fine for most people’s needs. But reaching speeds of 100Gbps represents a new, higher level… Read More »

ARC-TS extends free pilot periods for Great Lakes, Armis2

Advanced Research Computing — Technology Services (ARC-TS) provides advanced, high-performance computing resources to U-M researchers. They recently announced the extension of the free pilot periods for two of its most recently added services: the Great Lakes cluster and the HIPAA-aligned Armis2 cluster. The free pilot for both services has been extended to January 5, 2020. Billing begins on… Read More »

ARC-TS’s Bob Killen receives CNCF award

On November 19, 2019, the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) named several award winners, including ARC-TS research cloud programmer senior, Bob Killen.  Killen was one of six to earn the “Chop Wood Carry Water” award, given to CNCF community members who help behind the scenes, dedicate their time to open source projects, host and build community meetups, and… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Andrew Staley—DEI warrior

Andrew Staley was recently interviewed about his work on the Platform Services team with Health Information Technology and Services (HITS). He also opened up about what it’s like working at Michigan Medicine while dealing with ADHD, ASD, OCD, and a wheelchair.  What is your role at HITS? I’m a web server administrator on the HITS Platform Services team.… Read More »

Armis2 high-performance computing cluster now available

The Armis2 service is the go-to cluster for sensitive data, and is available to all U-M researchers.  Key features of Armis2  HIPAA-aligned 24 standard nodes using the Intel Haswell-processor, each with 24 cores. More capacity will be added soon Slurm provides the resource manager and scheduler  The scratch storage system will provide high-performance temporary storage for compute jobs.… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Mike Douglas—Customer experience leader

Mike Douglas has a new role as a customer experience team manager for LSA Technology Services. He was recently interviewed about his work by Teri Horton, senior instructional consultant at LSA. Michigan IT News also caught up with Mike to learn more about his approach to customer service. Empowerment, empathy, and active listening are key ingredients to his… Read More »

New optional process for designating extended ethnicity in Wolverine Access

Students, faculty, and staff can now designate their extended ethnicity in Wolverine Access using the new “Extended Ethnicity” tab within the Campus Personal Information section. This information will not be published or displayed publicly, but may be used for statistical reporting, approved research, and for Student Life; Human Resource; or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programming. Some current students… Read More »

Profiles in IT: Emily Ravenwood—Teaching tools expert

Emily Ravenwood has come back to her literal and intellectual hometown of Ann Arbor. She recently granted an interview to Teri Horton, senior instructional consultant, about her work with LSA Technology Services as the manager of the Learning and Teaching Consultants team. Michigan IT News also caught up with Ravenwood to learn even more about learning tech tools. … Read More »