CDSA Monthly Update: November 2024

Welcome to your first e-update of CDSA activities!  We plan to email everyone on our mailer lists when we have news about Compute and Data Services Alliance (CDSA) initiatives, services, tools, and enhancements.  We hope you find them informative! 

What’s new?  

• The first CDSA service, the Protected Network for Research (PNR) has launched! The PNR provides a secure enclave and regulatory assistance for researchers working with protected and sensitive research data (outside of clinical research). If you’re interested in learning more, attend one of the PNR information sessions or check out the website.  

• The team is developing the Duke Data Attic.  This will be a low-cost storage system for non-sensitive research data. The Data Attic will provide un-curated, flexible place to store and share infrequently used data or data that may be reused.  The team held several focus groups in early fall and is now in the pilot stage. If you are interested in being a pilot user, contact rescomputing@duke.edu.  

• We’ve hired some much-needed staff!  Some are supporting the above-mentioned tools. We’ve hired within the IT Security Office to handle security reviews associated with non-clinical human subjects research; this should speed up review times. The Duke University Libraries have added another Sr. Data Management Consultant to assist with data workflow designs, data management planning, and data sharing. The Libraries have also hired a Senior Applications Developer to help support the Duke Research Data Repository and other applications. And finally, they’ve added a Data Visualization Analyst to provide instruction and outreach.  

Stay tuned for more information as the CDSA works to streamline processes, enhance technologies, and add personnel to better support your research needs.