Research Computing and the Center for High Performance Computing (CHPC)
University Information Technology, University of Utah

CHPC Vision:

• To enable and facilitate researchers with their growing and diversifying research computing and data* needs, broadly defined, in a sustainable manner.
•  To enhance our standing as a trusted partner, innovator, leader, and advisor in providing research information technology (IT) resources and services throughout the University and also within the broader research IT ecosystem including IT professionals and research computing peers and users in the state, region and nation.

CHPC Mission:

• Innovate, design, engineer, deploy, and operate cost-effective, functional, high performance, and compliant research computing and data resources for the university communities we support.
• Continue to innovate, optimize, secure, and embrace the heterogeneous and rapidly changing IT
  landscape.
• Seek out opportunities for workforce development and continuous learning for student employees and staff.
• Provide a robust set of service offerings to support researchers including user support, facilitation, training, documentation, and collaboration.

CHPC Strategic Goals:

• Provide sufficient research computing and data resources that researchers need to enable and transform their research, scholarship, and education.
• Advance the state-of-the-art in supporting research computing, data and networking beyond the desktop, including high performance computing, accelerators (GPUs and FPGAs), big data analytics, cloud and virtualization technologies and, where necessary, supporting specialized instruments or capabilities.
• Enable facilitated, compliant, high performance, reliable, and non-disruptive data storage and data movement as needed.
• Implement a sustainable funding model that acknowledges continuous growth in demand for research IT resources and provides staff with time and sufficient resources to foster workforce development with student employees, to continuously learn and innovate, and to explore new technologies and solutions.
• Collaborate with our users, user advisory council, and peers to evolve and innovate service offerings by identifying and filling gaps and expanding into new areas.

CHPC Values: 

(1) Collaborative, cooperative, and communicative, (2) transparent and accountable, (3) capable, creative and innovative, (4) cost effective, (5) reliable, timely, and responsive, and (6) mutually respectful and inclusive.

* Research computing and data involves people, scholarship, and resources supporting the needs of researchers and research leveraging compute, data, networking, and software, broadly defined, including the professionals who execute and support these efforts. Whereas entities supporting research computing and data historically emerged from operating and supporting high performance computing, the needs, capabilities and technologies have sufficiently broadened the scope of research information technology to include virtualization, support for the cloud, containers, middleware, workflows, data management, data movement, compliance and security, user training, support of instruction using advanced research computing and data, on-boarding into new technologies, and deep engagement (“facilitation”) to help guide researchers.