Using MATLAB Online for Water Science Research and Education

Abstract:

Fluency in software tools, libraries, and programming languages are becoming essential skills for water scientists that can directly influence the effectiveness and efficiency of their professional work. Graduate students in water science must often learn these skills through “trial by fire”, as they conduct research. The Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Sciences, Inc. (CUAHSI) has made a significant investment to develop and host community cyberinfrastructure (CI) and software tools to support water science research, training, and education. MathWorks develops mathematical computing and system simulation software, MATLAB and Simulink. These tools and their 100 add-ons are used by 5000 universities worldwide, research institutes and across industries, for a range of applications from climate analysis to medical device development.

By integrating the MATLAB Online computational platform with domain-specific data repositories (i.e., HydroShare and the Hydrologic Information System), CUAHSI and MathWorks are enabling practical quantitative thinking and exploration in water science research and education. Using MATLAB Online, students and researchers can collect cloud-hosted hydrology data, develop executable notebook-style Live Scripts, and work with other MATLAB files in a web browser. MATLAB Online on cuahsi.org supports use cases ranging from the design of educational modules and workshops to hydrologic modeling applications and data analysis.

We will present our general approach for constructing and effectively presenting scientific material using this cyberinfrastructure, lessons learned through these efforts, and recommendations and collaboration opportunities for water science educators and researchers delivering cloud-based scientific education and research.