Advisory Committee on Research Computing (ACRC)

The Advisory Committee on Research Computing (ACRC) advises ITS on strategic issues related to the support of the Case research community's IT-related needs. The current chair of ACRC is Professor Chris Mihos of the Department of Astronomy.

Governance Charter

Charge :

The Advisory Committee on Research Computing (ACRC) will advise the Vice President for Information Technology Services and Chief Information Officer of the university on the best strategies for providing information technology resources to support research activities at Case. The ACRC will serve as a conduit for the two-way dissemination of information related to research computing between the university and the schools and research centers of the university and will serve to otherwise enhance communications among the research leaders of the schools. The ACRC will keep abreast of technological, philosophical, and operational advances that impact research computing and advise the VPITS & CIO on how the university should prepare to support research computing at Case in the future. The ACRC will take on other responsibilities requested by the VPITS & CIO or the Provost.

Membership :

The ACRC shall be composed of fifteen (15) members. One member will be the senior ITS staff member in the area of Research Computing. Other members will be selected from a pool of faculty, staff, and student nominees to be solicited from:

• • The chair of the Faculty Senate Committee on Research
• • The chair of the Faculty Senate Committee on Information Resources
• • The chairs of the research committees of the School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Nursing, the School of Law, the School of Applied Social Sciences, and the School of Management
• • The Deans of the School of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, the School of Engineering, the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Nursing, the School of Law, the School of Applied Social Sciences, the School of Management, the School of Graduate Studies, and the Office of Undergraduate Studies.
• • The Provost
• • The chair of the university's Research Council.

At least one of the members will be a student. In addition, ex-officio members may be named from the Office of Research and Technology Transfer (by its Vice President), the Kelvin Smith Library (by the University Librarian), and the Division of Information Technology Services (by its Vice President).

Term of Appointment :

Appointments will be made for two-year terms ending on June 30. The terms of approximately half of the membership will end each year.

ACRC Operational Plan :

The ACRC will function as a committee of the whole and forward written recommendations to the VPITS & CIO when a majority of the membership deems it appropriate. The chairperson will convene monthly meetings. The chairperson will be selected from among the membership by the VPITS & CIO.

Potential Overlap with other Committees:

There are at least three committees at Case that have charges that overlap with the charge to this committee. Two are committees of Faculty Senate (the Committee on Information Resources and the Committee on Research) and one is a committee of the Undergraduate Faculty (the Committee on Academic Computing and Information Resources). The existence of ACRC is justified in that ACRC is specifically focused on the area of research computing while the other committees have broader purviews, and in that the membership of ACRC is not limited to faculty.