Overview
Cybershuttle is a platform that makes research easier for biophysicists. It aims at providing scientists improved team management, better simulation visualizations, and seamless integration with supercomputers.
Duration
3 months
Team members
2 UX Designers, 3 Developers, Project Lead
Key responsibilities
UX Research & Design
Problem
Biophysicists face a plethora of problems in their research work such as team management, supercomputer resource allocation, and ineffective integration of software and hardware.
Solution
Empathizing with the woes of biophysicists and understanding their workflow, we built an interface called ‘Cybershuttle’ to enhance team management, resource allocation and to bridge the interconnectivity between software and hardware.
Problem to Solution
The journey from learning the lingo of biophysicists to crafting prototypes was quite analogous to conducting experiments, where I tried out different things to meet the requirements of the scientists.
User Research
I interviewed biophysicists from the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign (UIUC) to understand their craft and hurdles that they are experiencing while they work hard to cure cancer!
Unraveling the complexities of research
“I want to be able to manage my team, view and review their research work, and help them in their work whenever necessary.”
“The management of multiple simulation projects is not efficient. I have to manually keep track of my simulations. In addition, I have to jump between different softwares and supercomputer.”
“Running a simulation has a lot of challenges - you have to select the appropriate software and which supercomputer to use.”
How might we?
Improve the workflow of biophysicists, to alleviate their management, collaboration and functional concerns?
IDEATION
Sketching
I created some sketches to know what kind of design elements will go together and work well to solve the problem statement.
Scientists can manage their groups and projects under them through this interface.
By accessing groups, scientists get an overview of the members involved, and can remove or add them.
Scientists can check and monitor all their simulations, project wise
Scientists can view all the details with respect to each simulation in their Job Monitor.
Scientists can check the resource allocation of supercomputers through this interface.
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
Site Map
A need for simplifying the user experience led me to create a simplified site map for easy navigation.
HIGH FIDELITY PROTOTYPES
Key Features
Manage Project
Cybershuttle
Overview
Manage Projects
Simulate & Analyze
Profile
All Projects
Recent
Shared with me
Archived
New Project
Search projects
Delete
Project name
Status
Project manager
Team members
Created
Last modified
Action
Project One
In Progress
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Two
Failed
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Three
Completed
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Four
Completed
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Six
In Progress
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Seven
In Progress
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Seven
Failed
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Eight
Completed
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Nine
In Progress
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Project Ten
In Progress
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
SM
2+
May 10, 2023
Jun 22, 2023
Manage Projects
An overview of all projects, project managers and the status of the projects.
Profile Page
This page shows an overview of a user’s HPC allocation, their files and projects, and the groups they are involved in.
Profile
My Projects
My Groups
10 experiments
Project A
View
8
SM
KD
Group A
View
Project A
View
8 experiments
12
SM
KD
Group B
View
Project A
View
2 experiments
Project A
View
6 experiments
Success
Project A
View
9 experiments
Project Name
Group Name
#Experiments
No. of members
Action
Status
Action
Manage
Manage
Jane Doe
Department of Biochemistry, UIUC
Edit Profile
janedoe@gmail.com
Groups
2
Collaborators
15
In progress
In progress
Success
Failed
My HPC Allocation
Storage Used
Used 2TB / 4TB
10
Add storage
Compute Units
Used 1600 / 3500
Running Jobs
Groups & Collaborators
My Files
Manage
File_name_001.txt
328 kB
File_name_001.txt
328 kB
Cybershuttle
Overview
Manage Projects
Simulate & Analyze
Profile
Group Management
SM
KD
Group A
Created February 2023
Edit Group Profile
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Project-Name_001
1 Owner | 1 Manager | 9 Members
20 Experiments | 78 Jobs
About
Details
Group Files
Manage
File_name_001.txt
328 kB
File_name_001.txt
328 kB
My Profile / Group Management
Members
John Doe
Owner
Biochemistry
Jane Doe
Manager
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Sara Kim
Member
Biochemistry
Name
Role
Assigned Work
Search
Modify
Cybershuttle
Overview
Manage Projects
Simulate & Analyze
Profile
Group Management
Accessing a particular group will give details of the group members, and gives a control to the managers to modify the members of the group.
Select HPC Resource
This interface allows the selection and customization of HPCs (i.e. supercomputers) available according to available storage.
Select HPC Resource
Cybershuttle
Overview
Manage Projects
Simulate & Analyze
Profile
With the help of a few steps, get started on configuring and creating simulations.
HPC Resource
Select the appropriate HPC Resource for your simulation.
Customize your HPC Resource
Tailor your selected HPC Resource by tuning a few settings.
HPC Resource
HPC Resource #15
HPC Resource #12
HPC Resource #10
HPC Resource #5
HPC Resource #7
Running Jobs
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
TIme Remaining
2h 13m
40m
5h 10m
10m
25m
Available Storage
3TB / 6TB
3TB / 6TB
2TB / 6TB
4TB / 6TB
5TB / 6TB
Available Compute Units
1200/5000
1200/5000
900/5000
1500/5000
2100/5000
HPC Setting #1
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Select an option
HPC Setting #2
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1 hour
Save draft
Send to HPC
HPC Accounts
Cybershuttle
Overview
Manage Projects
Simulate & Analyze
Profile
Account Allocation
Manage
Register new allocation
Username
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
Kate Dawner
KD
Kate Dawner
Project Name
Project A
Project A
Project A
Project A
Project A
Project A
Running Jobs
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
IPCXXXXXXXXX
Storage Used
3TB / 6TB
3TB / 6TB
2TB / 6TB
4TB / 6TB
5TB / 6TB
6TB / 6TB
Compute Units
1200/5000
1200/5000
900/5000
1500/5000
2100/5000
5000/5000
Action
Total HPC Resources Usage
Project A
Project B
Project C
Project C
Availability
45
Accounts
3000
TB Storage
8000
Compute Units
HPC Accounts
The ‘HPC Accounts’ page provides managers to get an overview of the resource usage and management of supercomputers.
WRAPPING UP
Reflections
01.
Grasping and understanding scientific domain knowledge was a bit challenging at first, and there were a lot of grey areas in this process.
02.
The requirements of this project detailed a vast amount of information to be shown in the user interface, which made it important to craft a seamless user experience.
03.
Creating an easy to use navigation system by designing a site map was effective in establishing the flow of the Cybershuttle platform.
Cybershuttle
Finding out the struggles biophysicists face in their workflow, and accelerating their research work.
Skip to Final Designs
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