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About MSD-LIVE

MSD-LIVE, the MultiSector Dynamics – Living Intuitive Value-adding Environment, is a flexible and scalable data and code management system combined with an advanced computing platform that enables MSD researchers to document and archive their data, run their models and analysis tools, and share their data, software, and multi-model workflows within a robust Community of Practice. Launched originally in August of 2022, MSD-LIVE is facilitating a new open, collaborative, resource-rich, technology-facilitated, community-driven way of doing MSD research. MSD-LIVE accelerates progress, facilitates and incentivizes collaboration, and enhances the scientific impact and visibility of the MSD community. The platform is built around four core principles:

Principles

  • Living

    There should be continuous interaction with the platform throughout the data and code lifecycle rather than only storage of the final product.

  • Intuitive

    Using the platform should not require a steep learning curve.

  • Value-adding

    There should be tools built into the platform that enhance the ability of the MSD community to do their work.

  • Environment

    The platform should include a computational component that delivers an integrated data-work environment as opposed to a stand-alone data repository.

As in many other communities, MSD researchers struggle with data and code management — from finding storage to making it easy for others to find, share, and re-use data and code. However, the extraordinary diversity of MSD research, encapsulated in the "multi-" descriptor that applies to basically every aspect of what we do, exacerbates these challenges and demands a state-of-the-science solution. We used the first phase of the MSD-LIVE project to develop a cloud-based core data repository that can be used to store, share, and document MSD data. Using the capabilities now available on Version 3 of the platform, MSD projects are able to do the following:

  1. Quickly and easily find datasets produced by other users and projects.
  2. Permanently archive small (<250 MB), medium (250 MB–50 GB), and large (50 GB–20 TB) final-form datasets and generate data Digital Object Identifiers to meet journal requirements for data sharing.
  3. Use an intuitive web-based user interface to document and share versioned datasets and associate data with the code used to produce it.
  4. Train new team members on MSD projects to effectively manage data and code and capture the institutional knowledge of members that leave a project.
  5. Create and manage teams that cross institutions to quickly and easily grant access to data and code without having to obtain multiple sets of institutional credentials.
  6. Share working datasets across multiple institutions collaborating on a project in real time.
  7. Run light-weight analysis and data processing codes (e.g., subsetting, regridding, visualization) on any publicly available dataset stored in MSD-LIVE.

Longer-range plans for the platform focus on leveraging the power of the cloud to deliver an advanced computing environment that will grant MSD projects the following capabilities:

  1. Create, execute, document, and publish multi-model workflows where component models run on computational resources at different institutions.
  2. Virtually assemble data lakes and execute ML/AI algorithms on large pools of data that may be physically located in different places.
  3. Easily deploy models to run on new computational resources and make it easy for users to bring their code to the data when transferring data is infeasible.

Funding

MSD-LIVE is being developed with support from the MultiSector Dynamics program area within the Earth and Environmental Systems Modeling program of the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. Scoping and brainstorming for MSD-LIVE was also supported by the Data Management program.

Team

MSD-LIVE is being developed by a team led by scientists at the DOE's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The team is composed of MSD researchers, data scientists, and software engineers.

  • Casey Burleyson
    Casey Burleyson Principal Investigator — PNNL
  • Carina Lansing
    Carina Lansing Lead Software Architect — PNNL
  • Zoë Guillen
    Zoë Guillen Data Repository Lead — PNNL
  • Jon Weers
    Jon Weers Senior Cloud Advisor — NLR
  • Chandrika_Sivaramakrishnan
    Chandrika Sivaramakrishnan Software Engineer — PNNL
  • Bekah Mars
    Bekah Mars Software Engineer — PNNL

Stakeholder Group

MSD-LIVE is supported by an active and valuable stakeholder group made up of project representatives from across the MSD community. The stakeholder group reviews progress and provides continuous input that can help guide development. They also act as liaisons between MSD-LIVE and their respective projects.