Leadership

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Biographies

Jim Wilgenbusch, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Dr. James (Jim) Wilgenbusch Chairs the Coalition for Academic Scientific Computation (CASC) and directs Research Computing at the University of Minnesota. As CASC Chair, Jim works with CASC leaders, members and partners to advocate for the use of the most advanced computing technology to accelerate scientific discovery for national competitiveness, global security, and economic success, as well as develop a diverse and well-prepared 21st century workforce. For more information about CASC visit http://casc.org. As director of Research Computing at the University of Minnesota, Jim is responsible for the strategic direction and leadership of the three major computational research areas: the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI), U-Spatial, and the International Institute of Biosensing. In this role he leads University-wide initiatives, partners with collegiate senior administrators and works with faculty and administrators to shape research computing at the University of Minnesota, ensures the excellence of existing activities, and facilitates the implementation of new programs. Jim is also actively engaged with other organizations such as the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CARCC) and the National Science Foundation’s Big Data Regional Innovation Hubs to advance and promotion the development of research cyberinfrastructure at regional and national levels. Jim maintains research activities in the study and implementation of models, methods and software used in phylogenetic inference and is PI on grants developing cyberinfrastructure for biological research and research and engineering in general. For more information about Jim see: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9464-1578.

Rich Knepper, Cornell University

Richard (Rich) Knepper is the Director of the Cornell Center for Advanced Computing, leading the planning and operations of the center, with a focus on meeting the evolving needs of Cornell researchers and the broader scientific community. Rich joined CAC in 2017 as Deputy Director, coming from Indiana University, where he previously led the Campus Bridging and Research Infrastructure team. Rich earned his PhD in Informatics at the Indiana Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. Rich’s research interests include the establishment and governance of cyberinfrastructure organizations, high performance and cloud computing, application containerization, and ethnography of virtual organizations.

Barr von Oehsen, Rutgers University

James Barr von Oehsen is the director of the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, previously, he was the Associate Vice President of the Office of Advanced Research Computing (OARC). Dr. von Oehsen is responsible for providing strategic leadership in advancing Rutgers University’s research and scholarly achievements through next generation computing, networking, and data science infrastructure. Prior to joining Rutgers, he was employed by Clemson University Computing and Information Technology (CCIT) as the Executive Director of the Cyberinfrastructure Technology Integration (CITI) group. Dr. von Oehsen has extensive experience working with diverse campus research communities throughout the nation as well as within the US industry sector. His interests are in high performance computing, high throughput computing, data science, cybersecurity, smart cities, internet of things, mathematical modeling, parallel programming, campus level distributed cloud environments, and hardware architecture.

David L. Hart, National Center for Atmospheric Research

David (Dave) Hart is director of the Research Support Division in NCAR’s Computational and Information Systems Laboratory. The division provides a range of IT infrastructure and support services for CISL’s HPC and data service environments. Dave manages the allocations processes for CISL’s HPC resources and also has responsibility for and coordinates a range of other cross-divisional activities within CISL, including reporting and communications. He is also the director of XSEDE’s Resource Allocations Service as well as the NCAR site lead for XSEDE. His professional and research interests include metrics for measuring the performance and impact of cyberinfrastructure systems and activities. Before joining CISL in 2010, Dave worked for 15 years at the San Diego Supercomputer Center in a variety of leadership positions.

Wayne Figurelle, Penn State University

Wayne Figurelle has over 30 years’ experience in computational and data systems to meet the needs of clients, researchers, and sponsors. As the Assistant Director in the Institute for Computational and Data Science (ICDS), Wayne spans both the research community and advanced cyberinfrastructure community to develop programs that allow research to flourish, systems to advance that research, and an organizational foundation to support both. As part of the ICDS leadership team, Wayne defines goals for strategic direction; oversees ICDS operations to ensure that organizational performance and strategic objectives are met; influences university leaders to advance ICDS strategic goals; leads ICDS staff and determine tasking, and creates and maintains standards and policies. Wayne defines systems requirements for high performance, scalability, and sustainability and engages stakeholders at all levels of the university on the performance of ICDS.

Kathryn Kelley, CASC Executive Director

Kathryn joined CASC as Executive Director in 2022. In this role, Ms. Kelley works closely with the CASC Executive Committee and membership to help guide the organization in pursuing its vision of a robust, sustainable ecosystem supporting academic research computing and data services, enabled by a vibrant, diverse community of professionals. She has more than 20 years of experience in program leadership and strategic communications at industry-oriented higher education, economic development, and statewide technology organizations.

Kathryn has served as executive director of the Ohio Manufacturing Institute, developing policies and programs that positively impact manufacturers’ digital integration and advanced workforce development. Previously, she served as senior director of public relations, outreach, marketing and communications at the Ohio Technology Consortium, which includes Ohio Supercomputer Center and OARnet.

Carolyn Casler, CASC Operations Manager

Carolyn Casler joined CASC in 2023 as Operations Manager. Carolyn holds a Masters in Education from Saginaw Valley State University and has several years experience in education, from teaching early elementary to writing online courses for Saint Leo University. Carolyn’s leadership skills include program management, creation and presentation of professional development, and organization of large scale conferences and events for educators.