Welcome to the Science Cloud Community of Practice (CoP) topic archive. Below is a summary of the topics we have discussed in past sessions.

If you would like to request the detailed meeting notes or presentation slides from any of these meetings, or if you would like to request a topic for a future session, please let us know! Send all requests to support@sciencecloud.nasa.gov.

October 2026: Maximizing Your Cloud Budget

• Presenter: Dan'l Pierce (Science Cloud FinOps Lead)
• Overview: A practical walkthrough on maximizing cloud budgets using AWS Cost Explorer and the Cost Optimization Hub. This session guided users on how to analyze their current expenditures and uncover tangible cost savings within their AWS environments.

September 2026: Introduction to the Research Platform (RP)

• Presenters: Science Cloud Team
• Overview: An introduction to the new Science Cloud Research Platform, a multi-tenant Jupyter Hub environment that evolves NASA's legacy Open Science Studio (OSS) to offer enhanced capabilities and streamlined access.
• Key Highlights:
  • Live demonstrations of the RP’s newest features
  • Guidance on getting started and onboarding your team
  • Overview of the new cost model and how it benefits project budgets
  • Exploring how AI code assist and improved feature development can enhance research
  • Community Q&A to help shape future enhancements

May 2026: Spec-Driven Development

• Presenter: Ramon Ramirez-Linan (Science Cloud Research and Innovation Lead)
• Overview: An exploration of Spec-Driven Development, a modern approach where developers guide AI tools using clear instructions rather than writing manual code. Ramon discussed toolkits designed to create structured workflows for AI-assisted feature development, ensuring the generation of predictable and high-quality workflows.

March 2026: GitHub Copilot Showcase & Kickoff

• Presenters: Science Cloud Team & Pilot Users
• Overview: The launch event for GitHub Copilot's availability for NASA science on the Science Cloud.
• Key Highlights:
  • Live demos from pilot users showcasing how Copilot accelerates and simplifies real-world workflows
  • Comprehensive onboarding guidance from the Science Cloud team
  • Review of subscription costs and financial operations (FinOps) protocols
  • Authentication, authorization, security, and data limitations

February 2026: Science & Technology Authorization Realm (STAR) Overview

• Presenters: Science Cloud Team
• Overview: An in-depth look at STAR, the shared identity management platform for the Science Cloud.
• Key Highlights:
  • The Challenge: Addressing password fatigue, external collaborator management, and security complexity in NASA research environments.
  • The Solution: Centralized SSO using industry-standard protocols (OpenID Connect, SAML).
  • User Scope: Available for NASA staff, contractors, external researchers, and international partners.
  • Target Timeline: Alpha phase completion, Beta targeting Q2 2026, Production targeting Q3 2026.
  • Use Cases: Research repositories, collaboration platforms, and analysis environments.
  • Involvement: Opportunities for evaluation, integration partnerships, and feedback.

December 2025: Model Context Protocol (MCP)

• Presenter: Ramon Ramirez-Linan (Science Cloud Research and Innovation Lead)
• Overview: An introduction to MCP, an open standard that enables AI applications to connect to and share data with external tools and systems. Ramon covered key use cases, build processes, testing and deployment options, and new initiatives related to MCP implementation.

September 2025: Science Cloud Transition FAQs

• Presenter: Aaron Skolnik (Science Cloud)
• Overview: A dedicated session to address frequently asked questions as teams transition to the new Science Cloud infrastructure. Key topics included single sign-on (SSO), permission management, and common challenges encountered during the migration process.

August 2025: WebApp Hosting Guidelines

• Presenters: Jay Ellis (Science Cloud), Dylan Palmieri (Alaska Satellite Facility), and Peter Shumate (JHU Applied Physics Laboratory)
• Overview: A deep dive into the WebApp hosting guidelines for the Science Cloud, including permitted websites and applications, prerequisites for hosting, and configuration guidelines.
• Key Highlights: Special guest demonstrations by ASF and JHU APL showing their successful WebApp deployments.

July 2025: Science Cloud Financial Operations

• Presenter: Dan'l Pierce (Science Cloud)
• Overview: A comprehensive look at Science Cloud Financial Operations (FinOps). Dan'l explained the financial monitoring and controlling tools currently available, as well as those in development (including new reports, dashboards, and advanced analytics extending AWS analysis). The session also covered changes to FinOps policy and data availability when migrating from the SMCE to the Science Cloud.

June 2025: Migration Successes & The New Research Platform

• Presenters: Garrison Vaughan & Ramon Ramirez-Linan
• Overview: A dual-topic session where Garrison Vaughan reviewed the success of recent project migrations into the Science Cloud, followed by a preview presentation by Ramon Ramirez-Linan on the upcoming Science Cloud Research Platform.

May 2025: SMCE AWS Account Migrations

• Presenter: Garrison Vaughan (Science Cloud Technical Lead)
• Overview: A discussion detailing the migration of SMCE AWS accounts to the Science Cloud. Garrison provided a thorough overview of the migration process, the expected timeline, and the potential impacts to current SMCE users.

April 2025: SCIP & Science Cloud Transition

• Presenter: Dan Duffy (Project Lead)
• Overview: A foundational presentation on SCIP and the upcoming Science Cloud infrastructure, offering insights into the project timeline, overall mission impact, and transition strategies for teams.