When Lori Kumler began work as an instructional technologist at Denison University in 2023, the higher education institution asked her to evaluate the need for onsite high performance computing (HPC) resources to accommodate the growing number of new faculty with research computing needs. Although some faculty members had already invested in their own HPC setups, Kumler decided to investigate how the university could take better advantage of the statewide resources and services offered by the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC).
Kumler attended OSC office hours and virtual consultations; she also invited a representative to visit a Denison data analytics class followed by a faculty open Q&A session. She discovered that while some faculty members were familiar with OSC and had accounts with the Center, others weren’t confident about how to start using the resources. To address the issue, Kumler, with the support of OSC staff, began to educate Denison faculty and students about the benefits of OSC through meeting one-on-one with faculty and conducting class presentations.
In spring 2024, OSC staff visited upper-level data analytics courses and held open office hours for faculty. Kumler worked directly with students to set up OSC accounts and communicated the value of using the Center’s capabilities, from its HPC power for compute to its storage and backup services.
Denison students were enthusiastic about using OSC resources, and faculty members took notice. Faculty began to request assistance with setting up courses that featured HPC lessons, and Kumler developed a quick start guide to resources. She integrated OSC information into the new faculty orientation, where half of the faculty members created accounts for research and teaching.
Other tactics to encourage OSC use included setting up an internal website that highlighted available academic computing resources, marketing services to data-oriented departments, holding workshops, and communicating news and information through electronic newsletters.
“We really framed it to show that it’s not difficult and it’s not complicated—it will make things easier for you and your students,” said Kumler, who presented her experience at the OSC Research Symposium in April 2025.
The partnership with OSC has been essential for supporting the rapid growth of Denison’s newer academic programs in data analytics, digital humanities, and computer science, as well as its new center for data science slated for a fall 2026 launch, Kumler said.
By spring 2025, Denison had recorded a 100% increase in faculty research projects using OSC, as well as 11 active classroom projects. A wide range of disciplines are relying on the HPC resources: data analytics, biology, chemistry, economics, and ancient Greek and Roman studies. Students are using OSC software such as Stata and programs that support parallel processing work.
“The efforts have been successful,” Kumler said, “and it’s been wonderful to see the uptake by faculty.”
Examples of faculty adoption include Assistant Professor Dora Venarucci, ancient Greek and Roman studies, who is working with Denison’s Information Technology Services to create a virtual reality Roman market experience, rebuilt from artifacts. Venarucci uses OSC resources to share large photo sets and photogrammetry data files with her students so they can create their own models of an ancient Roman market.
Assistant Professor Solomon Chak, biology, has used OSC resources extensively to assemble the genome of a particular eusocial genus of snapping shrimp. Denison students contributed to the research project during summer 2025.
In addition, the OSC partnership supports Denison’s strategic focus on student career exploration, especially in data and computing-related fields, Kumler said.
Kumler is now a member of OSC’s Campus Champions program, which is composed of research computing professionals at various Ohio higher education institutions. Campus Champions serve as local advocates of OSC resources and also receive their own project accounts with no-cost access to OSC services. Institutions can learn more about the program on the Campus Champions page and contact OSC to join.
Written by Andrea Gibson
The Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC) addresses the rising computational demands of academic and industrial research communities by providing a robust shared infrastructure and proven expertise in advanced modeling, simulation and analysis. OSC empowers scientists with the services essential to making extraordinary discoveries and innovations, partners with businesses and industry to leverage computational science as a competitive force in the global knowledge economy and leads efforts to equip the workforce with the key technology skills required for 21st century jobs.
