Hobby to work with IET as cyberinfrastructure program architect

Russ Hobby, who has helped develop the Internet since its early days, has started working part-time with Information and Educational Technology on the UC Davis Cyber-Infrastructure Program. His primary role: cyberinfrastructure program architect.

He arrives at UC Davis through a cooperative agreement with UC Santa Barbara, and will work under the guidance of Morna Mellor, director of Data Center and Client Services for IET, announced IET Vice Provost Pete Siegel. Hobby started Feb. 1.

Cyberinfrastructure is the computing power, equipment, support and services required to support advanced research, teaching and learning, in disciplines ranging from medicine to the humanities. Identifying how much cyberinfrastructure the campus needs was the subject of a workshop last year.

Hobby, drawing on his experience in the technologies that created today's cyberinfrastructure, will help lead and direct programs in this area for IET. He will substantially assist the campus effort to improve high-performance computing and networking services, so that they meet current and future needs of campus researchers.

Hobby will work with people both on campus and off, Siegel said, and look at potential service options including distributed high-performance computing; shared centralized high-performance computing; centralized and distributed technical support; grid computing; and the standardizing of platforms, operating systems, storage and applications.

Hobby has worked at UC Davis before--in the 1990s, he directed the IT-Advanced Networked and Scientific Applications (ANSA) unit. Most recently he has been chief technical architect of the End-To-End Performance Initiative for Internet2.

"Please join me in welcoming him back to UC Davis," Siegel wrote. Hobby's email address is rdhobby@ucddavis.edu.