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John Constable- one of many cloud studies -cropped from John Constable, Cloud Studies, 19th Century English painter

MSU Cloud Computing Fellowship

Program Summary

The program runs Fall semester through Winder/Spring semester.

Fall semester is dedicated to learning how the cloud works. In-person sessions are approximately bi-weekly (see schedule below). A session includes preparatory readings and activities to orient you to the topic, followed by an in-person meeting on Friday to review the materials, seminar, provide a venue for discussion, and hands-on activities

Winter/Spring semester is for building a project using cloud computing culminating in a symposium where you present what you've learned and built. Winter/spring sessions are bi-weekly for presentations by the fellows on their project status, discussion on success and challenges, presentations by cloud practitioners, and for general help.

The culmination of the fellowship is a project resulting in a write-up and presentation during the spring symposium, typically held late-April or early-May.

Textbook

We will occasionally link to the following book:

"Cloud Computing for Science and Engineering", Ian Foster and Dennis B. Gannon, September 2017

The book website does provide open access to individual chapters.

Meeting location

MSU STEM Teaching and Learning Facility
642 Red Cedar Rd
Michigan State University. East Lansing, MI 48824

  • Fall 2023: room 3201 STEM
    room 3201 is on the North West corner on the 3rd floor, across from the North elevator
  • Winter 2024: room 1201 STEM

We plan to hold all sessions in-person.

Fall 2023 Schedule

Each approximately 2-week session consists of - preparatory activities and materials (topics, links, tutorials) prior to meeting - an in-person session for review, activities, and discussion on the friday of week 1 - follow up for week 2

  1. Introduction

    • Requirements:
      • September 4-8 Complete items in the Welcome email sent by Dr. Parvizi
      • post to teams to say hello
    • Meeting September 8, 3pm STEM 3201:
      • introduction to the cloud fellowship
      • intro to Cloud/Computing and Azure

  2. How to Cloud

    • Meeting September 22, 3pm
      • Azure Organization
      • Creating and Using Virtual Machines

  3. Cloud Storage

    • Meeting October 6, 3pm

  4. Interfaces to build cloud resources

  5. Databases, Data Analytics Systems, and Big Data on the Cloud

  6. Data Servers & Serverless Cloud Computing]

  7. Azure AI Services

    • Meeting December 1, 3pm:
    • Discussion Q/A About Fellowship projects.
    • Demonstration of AI Services
    • Exercise Hands-on : creating a responder using Python API
    • Assignment: project proposal due January 8, 2024

Winter/Spring 2023 Schedule

The second half is dedicated for fellows to complete a cloud computing project based on research interests culminating in a presentation at a symposium in late April

Fellows will attend bi-weekly meetings where groups of fellows will present the goals and stats of their cloud computing projects for feedback and discussion.

All meetings are in the MSU STEM Building, room 1201, alternate Fridays 3pm to 4:30pm

Instructors are available by appointments, and typically during the alternate fridays to answer any questions you have about cloud, projects, or applying cloud computing technology to your research

  1. Turn in Project Proposal Monday, January 8th
  2. Post Written Project Proposal to MS Teams folder prior to 5:00 pm

  3. Additionally survey of fellows to determine symposium dates will be distributed

  4. Schedule meeting with Instructors to review proposals. This is on-going during January to ensure we have time to meet with all fellows one-on-one.

  5. Cloud Computing Seminar TBD January 12th

  6. Project Proposal Presentations
    Fellows will present their proposals to the fellowship, up to 6 per session, followed by questions and feedback from colleagues

  7. January 26, February 9th, February 23

  8. Project status presentations
    Fellows will present the status of their projects, describing challenges and successes, and receive questions, feedback, support and help from the fellowship ** March 8, March 22, April 5**

  9. Project Final Reports
    April 12 A writeup of the the results and lessons from applying cloud computing technology

  10. Symposium Preparation

  11. The data and time of the symposium will be determined January 24 Fellows must turn in Symposium Talk Title & Abstract 3d prior to symposium

MSU Cloud Computing Fellowship Symposium

Fellows will present the outcomes, successes, challenges and lessons learned at a symposium held on MSU campus late April, 2024. The date and time determined in January 2024 with input from the fellows. Fellows are strongly encourage to invite their advisors, mentors and colleagues.

Communications

Fellows are encouraged to contact us with questions or if they are ever stuck on an activity we've assigned. In addition to email, we are utilizing Microsoft Teams at MSU (Fellows receive a link in the welcome email). Please feel free to reach on out the MS Teams channel sent to participants at the beginning of the program. Mentioning one of us e.g. @billspat or @parvizm will help get our attention. Additionally you may email us at any time.

The goal of the fellowship is to foster discussion. We encourage you to add your successes or challenges to any discussion or question Teams.

If you need interactive, on-going help it may be better to schedule a help session with a fellowship coordinator; and we are happy to meet individually for additional support. This may be especially effective when fellows are developing their projects.

We also save time during our synchronous meetings for group discussions, so please bring any concerns, difficulties, or successes to our sessions!

If you are not a participant but have questions about the program, see the Contact page for how to get in touch with us.

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