“Fundamentals of MRI for Brain Mapping” is a graduate course offered by the Kinesiology Department at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) for the first time in Spring 2022. The objective of the course is to provide Kinesiology graduate students from diverse backgrounds with the foundational knowledge necessary to use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the study of brain and behavior. Kinesiology, as a field of study, has—historically and by definition—required multidisciplinary knowledge spanning systems and levels of organization. Even beyond academia and into the clinical and industrial spaces, there is an increasing demand for graduates with the working knowledge offered by this course.

Furthermore, participating students are exposed to the use of cloud computing for brain imaging, in line with a trend that has seen a growth in the adoption of cloud computing in this field. The computing needs (Shared data, identical compute environment, and pre-determined time frame) of the course makes it ideal for set up in the cloud. Also, our pilot cloud-infrastructure setup process and cost, are evaluated to help UNCG make informed decision as we extend cloud infrastructure beyond campus enterprise to research and teaching. Cloud cyberinfrastructure is used, to facilitate access to a single set of data, that is processed, stored, and exchanged within a single application called XNAT. Through XNAT, students will experience, the security, identical compute environment for all the users and the ethical requirements that accompanies brain imaging in the cloud environment. NITRC-CE, a virtual computing platform pre-configured with many neuroimaging data analysis applications, is also used to introduce our students to the ready-to-use cloud cyberinfrastructure marketplace.

Financial Support:  CloudBank