Research Computing

IQSS, along with its affiliate the Harvard-MIT Data Center, provides research computing capabilities for Harvard's social science community. The infrastructure and tools we offer enable you to complete your research with great speed and efficiency.  And since we are responsible for maintaining the relevant hardware and software, you are freed from all technical obligations that otherwise might slow you down.

Our Research Computing Environment (RCE) offers a centralized place in which to store your data and run your analysis.  It also supplies a persistent desktop environment that is accessible from any computer with an internet connection.  The RCE session comes with access to standard software applications to facilitate your research.

We also provide cluster computing capabilities which can process larger models in less time than your personal computer.  Using the cluster is simple.  We created tools that enable you to access the cluster's power without having to know the implementation details.

We provide additional support across all stages of your research process. Please see Data Collection, Management & Analysis for details.

Research Computing Environment

Research Computing Environment

IQSS, in conjunction with our affiliate the Harvard-MIT Data Center, provides the user-friendly Research Computing Environment (RCE), a completely portable desktop environment that provides large-scale data storage, transparent distributed computing, and cutting-edge statistical software.

The RCE environment is graphical and might seem very familiar to users of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is equipped with standard applications (web browsers, email readers, office tools, and more) as well as a full suite of statistical software.  Using any computer with an internet connection you can access the desktop environment via a secure remote access protocol.  The desktop you see on your screen is virtual and it remains exactly as it is, even after you disconnect.  You can connect to the RCE from your office, start an analysis run, disconnect and then reconnect to your same session from another computer as if you never left.

The statistical tools built into the RCE automatically take advantage of our distributed computing cluster, supporting much larger analyses than possible on desktop systems. And, for advanced distributed computing needs, we offer job and resource management software, which enables you to use resources on many machines simultaneously to increase overall computing power for larger statistical analysis.

Every RCE account includes access to our file server complete with access controls to enable you to collaborate with other researchers.  Files are backed up regularly and can be downloaded via secure file transfer when necessary.  Your RCE account also comes with access to our various cluster computing resources. 

For more information, see Research Computing Environment.

Computing Clusters

Computing Clusters

For researchers who need more computing power than is available in a personal computer, we provide computing clusers through our affiliate the Harvard-MIT Data Center. These powerful computing resources allow multiple users to submit their jobs simultaneously without overloading the system. 

For longer analyses that are CPU-intensive but can be run in parallel, we have a batch system comprising hundreds of CPUs. For memory-intensive and interactive computation, we offer separate Computing on Demand (COD) nodes. Together these powerful computing resources relieve you of the burden of managing multiple machines and all the worry that comes with that responsibility.

For more information see HMDC's Cluster Computing pages.

Statistical Computing Support

Statistical Computing Support

Our consultants in statistical computing support services are available to help you with questions about using statistical software or analyzing your data.