About Us

What is Research IT Services?

Our team offers free Research Computing and Data (RCD) support and services to faculty, research staff, postdoctoral scholars, graduate, and undergraduate students throughout all academic departments, schools, and divisions. A non-exhaustive list of our services includes direct engagement and resource recommendations to faculty, assistance in integrating new technologies in the lab, development of demos or proof-of-concepts for researchers, and consulting to provide solutions toward advanced cyberinfrastructure and cloud service needs.

Our Team

	Kira Dunn Sr. Research Facilitator Email: kcdunn@ucsd.edu Kira joins the Research IT team with 14 years of cyber risk and security experience, and a decade of technical writing prior. As a new Carpentries instructor and Research Facilitator, she focuses on helping researchers remove the technological barriers to their research by identifying and understanding the IT solutions that best meet their needs.
	Ian Kaufman Principal Systems Integration Engineer Email: ikaufman@ucsd.edu Ian has almost 30 years of IT experience, supporting both infrastructure and researchers, tying things together to help researchers do what they need to do to achieve results. He has experience working in Cybersecurity, High Performance Computing, and designing highly available systems to ensure resources remain accessible. He has worked in Chemistry and Biochemistry here at UC San Diego, as well as spending 6 years in NERSC at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, returning to UC San Diego and working in the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering. After 17 years there, Ian has joined the Research IT Services team, returning to doing what he has enjoyed most throughout his IT career - working with researchers to help get things done.
	Stefan Kessler Systems Integration Engineer Email: stkessler@ucsd.edu
	Hua Uy Systems Integration Engineer Email: huy@ucsd.edu With extensive knowledge in both science and IT, Hua is committed to providing the UCSD research community IT expertise to help enhance their research goals. Hua has 25+ years experience in Higher Ed IT. With a Biology degree from UCSD, he worked as a Staff Research Associate in Neuroscience investigating neurodegenerative diseases and spinal cord injury. He later transitioned back to IT in the early 2000's as a SysAdmin, supporting instructional computing within various departments at UCSD. Hua further built his IT skillset in Cybersecurity while at San Diego SuperComputer Center providing support for research compliance. After 10 years in the research compliance space, Hua is now one of the newest members of Research IT serving as a Systems Integration Engineer.
	Wilson Cheung Systems Administrator Email: wcheung@ucsd.edu Wilson provides support for onboarding researchers for the Cloud and the Research Cluster. He is also a Systems Administrator in the Department of Mathematics and participates in campus-wide projects and initiatives to assist researchers in their endeavors.
	Niyas Attasseri Research Cyberinfrastructure Outreach Technician Email: nattasseri@ucsd.edu Niyas is a graduate student pursuing a master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering, specializing in Robotics. He is actively involved in cybersecurity documentation for CMMC compliance and manages website modifications for Research-IT.
	Cyd Burrows-Schilling Director Email: cburrows@ucsd.edu Cyd is a seasoned research computing and data (RCD) professional having dedicated 9 years to the field at UC San Diego and with more than 22 years experience in higher education. She now focuses on supporting a team of talented technical systems integration engineers and research facilitators who together support researchers on our campus, assisting them with technical solutions and integrations to move their research forward from the ideation phase through to project completion and publication. She participates in a variety of national-level organizations and committees including CaRCC, EDUCAUSE, and Campus Champions, and currently serves as Co-PI on 2 National Science Foundation (NSF) awards. Cyd holds a BA in Anthropology from the University of San Diego, and a MS in Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST) from the University of Southern California.