N.C. PSI STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT

Strategic Priority 1.1: Integrate technology and data management capabilities into all aspects of N.C. PSI

Strategic Priority 1.4: Develop the next generation of problem solvers in agriculture

Strategic Priority 2.2: Prioritize engagement with the North Carolina agriculture sector

Strategic Priority 2.3: Expand N.C. PSI partnerships and strengthen external collaborations

GOAL 2: LEAD THE DEVELOPMENT OF NEW SOLUTIONS AND INTEGRATION OF EXISTING SOLUTIONS FOR STORING, ANALYZING AND MAINTAINING LARGE-SCALE DATASETS AND DATA REPOSITORIES

Key Initiatives

• Establish working groups to identify key data or technology needs in agricultural research and develop solutions or recommendations to address these challenges

• Facilitate the creation and instantiation of open-source databases for organizing, storing, querying and sharing data within and across N.C. PSI projects

• Support faculty in understanding and defining how, when and where to move research data into an open data environment

• Facilitate the creation and sharing of source code, data management schema, and machine learning and deep learning model repositories for N.C. PSI projects

• Develop best-practice workflows and standards for integrating, validating, filtering, cleaning and transferring data, which will be shared across N.C. PSI projects

• Support the development and use of cloud and on-premises computing resources for N.C. PSI-affiliated students and faculty

• Work with industry partners to design sandbox and production data management and data analytics environments

• Work with industry partners to identify paths towards the development and deployment of scalable data management and analytics solutions

• Work with the NC State Office of Information Technology and the Office of Research and Innovation to provide support to N.C. PSI-affiliated projects through the grant life cycle for the ideation, implementation and maintenance of data management and compute infrastructures based on best practices and specific project and use-case needs

• Work with the NC State Office of Information Technology to identify long-term infrastructure solutions for large-scale data storage needs

• Work with NC State’s Office of Information Technology to identify and pursue grants to expand data science hardware and overall capacity

• Work with NC State’s Office of Information Technology and Office of Research and Innovation to identify and pursue grants that expand the technological infrastructure and human capacity needed to develop and deploy big data analytics for agricultural use-cases

• Advocate for and support expanded telecommunications infrastructure at research stations to facilitate transfer of onfarm data with N.C. PSI’s centralized data repository

N.C. PSI STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT

Strategic Priority 1.1: Integrate technology and data management capabilities into all aspects of N.C. PSI

Strategic Priority 3.2: Transform the future of agriculture through large-scale interdisciplinary pursuits

Strategic Priority 2.3: Expand N.C. PSI partnerships and strengthen external collaborations

Strategic Priority 3.1: Establish N.C. PSI as a model for interdisciplinary structure, governance, policy, staffing and sustainable funding

Strategic Priority 3.2: Develop sustainable funding model for N.C. PSI

GOAL 3: INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY OF DATA SCIENCE TOOLS AND TRAINING FOR PLANT SCIENTISTS AND AGRICULTURAL RESEARCHERS

Key Initiatives

• Develop repositories through which cleaned and anonymized data from N.C. PSI-affiliated programs can be used in design events, short courses, industry-led workshops, or data science and machine learning courses

• In collaboration with NC State Extension and other N.C. PSI platforms, develop data science training programs for Extension agents

• Collaborate with NC State Extension, university academies, and other N.C. PSI platforms to establish Extension agent beta testing programs that provide an iterative, on-farm feedback loop for the application of new digital products and tools

• Collaborate with industry partners and university academies to hold data science seminar series that bridge gaps between data analytics developers, agricultural researchers and stakeholders and address challenges and opportunities around data science in agriculture

• Collaborate with other N.C. PSI platforms to host a field day focused on data science and connecting advancements in data analytics and technology with Extension agents and other agricultural stakeholders

• Develop series of industry-driven tutorials or short courses to help PIs understand how to leverage industry software in their research and connect graduate students and researchers with new areas in data science

• Leverage other university academies and NC State Extension to engage students in experiential learning and discovery activities (e.g., on-farm review of originating data and training workshop program for graduate students)

N.C. PSI STRATEGIC PLAN ALIGNMENT

Strategic Priority 1.1: Integrate technology and data management capabilities into all aspects of N.C. PSI

Strategic Priority 1.4: Develop the next generation of problem solvers in agriculture

Strategic Priority 2.1: Elevate N.C. PSI’s presence across NC State, throughout North Carolina and around the world

Strategic Priority 2.2: Prioritize engagement with the North Carolina agriculture sector

Strategic Priority 2.3: Expand N.C. PSI partnerships and strengthen external collaborations