CURRENT POSITION Director, Research Facilitation Service, North Carolina State University, Raleigh DEGREE BA, MA, North Carolina State University; MSIS, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2013 FAST FACT Ivey enjoyed tutoring student-athletes at both NC State and the University of Mississippi. Several of them now play professionally and a few have even gone on to the Super Bowl. FOLLOW linkedin.com/in/susanivey Photo by Charles Samuels

Research Facilitator

For researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU), computing and data resources are plentiful. However, finding and employing the right tools for a particular project can be challenging, whether for a researcher still in the planning or discovery phases of a project or an administrator. Susan Ivey’s mission as director of the new Research Facilitation Service (RFS): Cut through that confusion.

RFS is the burgeoning resource at NCSU connecting the best cyberinfrastructure and data resources for disparate users’ needs. The RFS team partners with multiple service providers across campus to make these resources more easily accessible. 

Ivey led a joint endeavor of University Libraries, NC State’s Office of Information Technology, and the Office of Research and Innovation to create a single pathway for researching computing and data services. The RFS team consults with researchers and other IT staff to analyze computational, data, and networking resource requirements; makes recommendations; and proposes design solutions. The feedback they gather helps advocate for necessary resources to meet new and evolving needs. Ivey specifically highlights the importance of the encouragement and guidance from NCSU Libraries’ Associate Director for Digital and Organizational Strategy, Jill Sexton. 

“I’m particularly proud of the work we’ve done at NC State to envision, design, implement, and grow the RFS,” Ivey says. “We’ve already seen the impact RFS has had…. Partnering with university and departmental service providers, we help researchers navigate and assess a broad range of solutions as the technological infrastructure required to conduct efficient and secure research becomes increasingly complex.”