Integrating Cloud and Container Technologies into University Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) Curriculum | Agenda

June 7 - Monday, Day 1 (All times shown are in MDT)

09:00 am   Welcome - Jamie Wolf (DTC)

09:40 am   Overview of DTC cloud/container capabilities - Mike Kavulich, Jr.  (DTC) 

10:10 am   Case Overview - Michelle Harrold (DTC)

10:30 am   Break

11:00 am   Logging on to AWS - Kate Fossell (DTC)

11:30 am   Hands-on practice with DTC cloud/container capabilities - Michelle Harrold (DTC)

12:00 pm   Lunch

01:00 pm    Continued: Hands-on practice with DTC cloud/container capabilities

02:00 pm   Breakout #1

• What are your you first/initial impressions of the tutorial?
• From what you have seen so far, do you envision this material being useful for teaching students about an end-to-end NWP system? If not, what are the limiting factors? What are the most complicating factors?
• Do you have lab classes with accessible computers (desktops, laptops) where hands-on learning activities could be conducted?
• Do you envision using the end-to-end containerized system on the cloud or on a local desktop/laptop/cluster? Or both?
• If you are executing these tools on a local machine, is it Windows, Linux, or Mac?
• If you were to use the cloud computing approach (not a local desktop/laptop) would there be interest in a system that removes the container aspect and simply launches an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) instance?
• Are their certain components that could be more/less helpful in your curriculum?

02:40 pm   Outbrief for Breakout #1

03:00 pm   End of day

June 8 - Tuesday, Day 2

09:00 am   Current curriculum approaches - Tom Guinn (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)

09:20 am   Current curriculum approaches - John Mejia (Desert Research Institute)

09:40 am   Q&A on current curriculum approaches

09:50 am   Testimonial #1 - Sam Ng (Metropolitan State University-Denver)

10:10 am  Testimonial #2 - John Allen (Central Michigan University)

10:30 am   Q&A on testimonials

10:40 am   Break

11:10 am   Breakout #2

• Given your experience to this point with these tools, what are the steps needed to begin integrating this type of material into your classroom?
• What would be the biggest hurdles/deterrents to using this in your class? (e.g. docker syntax/knowledge, cloud access/cost, etc)
• Is this something you think could be integrated into your current course curriculum? Or would you need to design a new course to cover this type of material?
• If you don't currently teach NWP, does this material provide you a decent stepping stone for setting up a curriculum?
• At what level of instruction could this content be integrated into course curriculum? (undergrad mixed level, undergraduate senior level, graduate intro level, etc)
• Would you recommend any prerequisites prior to covering this material in a course, especially with regard to experience in Unix?
• Would you find recorded instructional videos helpful?
• Would you like to partner with NCAR for guest lectures during the semester?    

11:50 am   Outbrief for Breakout #2

12:20 pm   Lunch

01:20 pm   Demonstration of customization options - Michelle Harrold (DTC)

02:00 pm  Hands-on practice: Customization of Case #1, Run new case

03:00 pm  End of day

June 9 - Wednesday, Day 3

09:00 am   Introduction to AWS Academy/Educate - Mike Bryant and John Bjerke (AWS)

10:00 am   Breakout #3

• Did you find the tutorial comprehensive in nature? If not, what was missing?
• Would incorporating this into your classroom require financial resources (beyond what is needed if cloud computing is used)? 
• Would you look to go beyond the three provided cases?
• What type of customization would you be interested in for your classroom experience?Can you envision unique ways to go beyond the simple end-to-end exercises?
• Would customizing to a domain over your area increase interest?
• Would you be interested in collaborating with other universities during the semester (perhaps creating a multi-institution ensemble?)
• What is the most appealing aspect of this type of system (e.g. containers to run on cloud or laptop or other, running on cloud, no build issues, etc)
• Any other feedback?

11:00 am   Break

11:30 am   Outbrief for Breakout #3

12:10 pm   Discussion: Next steps

12:40 pm   Lunch

01:40 pm   Help Desk / Open Forum: Hands on practice; Specific questions

03:00 pm   End of Day