Stack Science Contributes Innovative CI and Tech Expertise to Research and Teaching
Published February 10, 2025
The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC), part of UC San Diego’s School of Computing, Information and Data Sciences, has recently completed the merger of two of its established Centers of Excellence: Sherlock Regulated Data Management & Secure Cloud and Science Gateways & Research Software. These centers have been housed in two separate divisions within SDSC, and the merger brings new capabilities to the communities SDSC serves under a new division titled Stack Science.
“Such a merger is rare at SDSC, and with Stack Science, we break new ground,” said SDSC Director Frank Würthwein. “The new division is an example of how such changes can be instrumental in realizing organizational efficiencies and strategic goals. We strongly believe this merger opens up new avenues of opportunity to pursue.”
The new division’s name, “Stack Science,” conveys its technology expertise and science focus, suggesting a layered approach—infrastructure to software—to build “upward.” While the Sherlock Division traditionally was focused on infrastructure and cybersecurity, the Scientific Software Solutions (S3) Division was centered around software. By bringing the two divisions together, and the two centers of excellence within them, SDSC is empowered to enable the end-to-end cyberinfrastructure (CI) capabilities covering the “full stack.”
“It was a synergistic integration of two existing divisions to create an entity that positions us to make an impact to the forward-looking, strategic focus areas at SDSC,” said Stack Science Director Sandeep Chandra.
The impact Stack Science creates for SCIDS is a new center of excellence that can contribute through its innovative cyberinfrastructure and technical expertise to both the research and teaching mission, including experiential learning, of the school.
Within the SDSC pillar of SCIDS, the new division coalesces the center’s diverse expertise to deliver the Open Science Operating System—a unified, end-to-end research cyberinfrastructure designed to amplify impact, foster collaboration and ensure the sustainability of groundbreaking research. Additionally, Stack Science anchors SDSC’s strategic goal of making data and computationally intensive capabilities accessible to millions of researchers, educators and students across disciplines through science gateways, secure cloud enclaves, research software development and immersive visualizations.
“The S3 and Sherlock divisions were among the top 10 accomplishments by SDSC in the last decade. S3 was impactful for the access to advanced computational resources it provided to millions of researchers through sustained leadership in science gateways. Sherlock established a one-of-a-kind, nationally recognized center of excellence in regulatory data management,” noted Würthwein, adding that both divisions were aligned in their missions to serve the research and scientific community. “Both were independent and successful divisions. Both practiced a solution-focused, customer-centric and service-oriented approach to engagement.”
According to Chandra, the Stack Science products, services and capabilities map to several SDSC strategic themes.
“We have a significant role to play as SDSC explores opportunities within the context of SCIDS, the UC System, UC San Diego and UC San Diego Health, as well as the federal agency landscape,” Chandra said. “The integrated team under Stack Science creates a stronger outlook for prospects than our individual strengths. We bring together a comprehensive open science operating system designed to empower researchers and educators, and accelerate their impact through our service offerings.”
