{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T13:23:20Z","timestamp":1777296200954,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,21]],"date-time":"2025-08-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1755734400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Res. Metr. Anal."],"abstract":"<jats:p>High-performance computing (HPC) is widely used in higher education for modeling, simulation, and AI applications. A critical piece of infrastructure with which to secure funding, attract and retain faculty, and teach students, supercomputers come with high capital and operating costs that must be considered against other competing priorities. This study applies the concepts of the production function model from economics with two thrusts: (1) to evaluate if previous research on building a model for quantifying the value of investment in research computing is generalizable to a wider set of universities, and (2) to define a model with which to capacity plan HPC investment, based on institutional production\u2014inverting the production function. We show that the production function model does appear to generalize, showing positive institutional returns from the investment in computing resources and staff. We do, however, find that the relative relationships between model inputs and outputs vary across institutions, which can often be attributed to understandable institution-specific factors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frma.2025.1449996","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,21]],"date-time":"2025-08-21T05:27:30Z","timestamp":1755754050000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Application of the cyberinfrastructure production function model to R1 institutions"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"10","author":[{"given":"Preston M.","family":"Smith","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Rosen Center for Advanced Computing, Purdue University","place":["West Lafayette, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jill","family":"Gemmill","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Computing and Data, Clemson Computing & Information Technology, Clemson University","place":["Clemson, SC, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"David Y.","family":"Hancock","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Technologies Division, Office of the Vice President for Information Technology, Indiana University","place":["Bloomington, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Brian W.","family":"O'Shea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Cyber-Enabled Research, Michigan State University","place":["East Lansing, MI, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Computational Mathematics, Science, and Engineering, Michigan State University","place":["East Lansing, MI, United States"]},{"name":"Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University","place":["East Lansing, MI, United States"]},{"name":"Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, Michigan State University","place":["East Lansing, MI, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Winona","family":"Snapp-Childs","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Technologies Division, Office of the Vice President for Information Technology, Indiana University","place":["Bloomington, IN, United States"]},{"name":"Pervasive Technology Institute, Indiana University","place":["Bloomington, IN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"James","family":"Wilgenbusch","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Research Computing, Research & Innovation Office, University of Minnesota","place":["St. Paul, MN, United States"]}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,21]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","unstructured":"High performance computing instrumentation and research productivity in U.S. universities\n          \n          87\n          98\n          \n            \n              Apon\n              A.\n            \n            \n              Ahalt\n              S.\n            \n            \n              Dantuluri\n              V.\n            \n            \n              Gurdgiev\n              C.\n            \n            \n              Limayem\n              M.\n            \n            \n              Ngo\n              L.\n            \n            \n              Stealey\n              M.\n            \n          \n          J. Inform. Technol. Impact\n          10\n          2010"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"283","DOI":"10.1007\/s00181-014-0833-7","article-title":"Assessing the effect of high performance computing capabilities on academic research output","volume":"48","author":"Apon","year":"2015","journal-title":"Empir. Econ"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"617","DOI":"10.1007\/s42979-024-02961-8","article-title":"Towards developing an open-infrastructure for assessing the progress, success, and impacts of cyberinfrastructure projects","volume":"5","author":"Arora","year":"2024","journal-title":"SN Comp. Sci"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.2416247","article-title":"Leading cyberinfrastructure enterprise: value propositions, stakeholders, and measurement","author":"Berente","year":"2014","journal-title":"SSRN Elect. J"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1145\/3437359.3465589","article-title":"\u201cResults from a second longitudinal survey of academic research computing and data center usage: expenditures, utilization patterns, and approaches to return on investment,\u201d","volume-title":"Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing, PEARC '21","author":"Broude Geva","year":"2021"},{"key":"B6","first-page":"139","article-title":"A theory of production","volume":"18","author":"Cobb","year":"1928","journal-title":"Am. Econ. Rev"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"26","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techfore.2016.02.018","article-title":"The rate of return to investment in r&d: The case of research infrastructures","volume":"112","author":"Del Bo","year":"2016","journal-title":"Technol. Forecast. Social Change"},{"key":"B8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v017.i01","article-title":"Relative importance for linear regression in R: the package relaimpo","volume":"17","author":"Gr\u00f6mping","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Statist. Softw"},{"key":"B9","volume-title":"Optimize your IT Staffing Levels in 3 Steps","author":"Lozado","year":"2023"},{"key":"B10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2120","DOI":"10.1109\/SC.Companion.2012.355","article-title":"\u201cThe costs of HPC-based science in the exascale era,\u201d","volume-title":"Proceedings - 2012 SC Companion: High Performance Computing, Networking Storage and Analysis, SCC 2012","author":"Ludwig","year":"2012"},{"key":"B11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"145","DOI":"10.1145\/3569951.3593599","article-title":"\u201cCompensation of academic research computing and data professionals,\u201d","volume-title":"Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing 2023: Computing for the Common Good, PEARC '23","author":"Maimone","year":"2023"},{"key":"B12","unstructured":"Newby\n              G.\n            \n            \n              Apon\n              A.\n            \n            \n              Berente\n              N.\n            \n            \n              Eigenmann\n              R.\n            \n            \n              Fratkin\n              S.\n            \n            \n              Lifka\n              D.\n            \n            \n              Stewart\n              C.\n            \n          \n          New Orleans, LA\n          IEEE\n          Return on Investment from Academic Supercomputing: SC14 Panel\n          \n          2014"},{"key":"B13","volume-title":"Reference Framework for Assessing the Scientific and Socio-Economic Impact of Research Infrastructures","year":"2019"},{"key":"B14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"8822","DOI":"10.11591\/ijere.v13i1.26632","article-title":"Return on investment from educational research grant funding: deliverables and measurement","volume":"2252","author":"Rahman","year":"2024","journal-title":"Int. J. Eval. Res. Educ"},{"key":"B15","volume-title":"The Value Proposition of Campus High-Performance Computing Facilities to Institutional Productivity - A Production Function Model","author":"Smith","year":"2022"},{"key":"B16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"551","DOI":"10.1007\/s42979-024-02888-0","article-title":"The value proposition of campus high performance computing facilities to institutional productivity: a production function model","volume":"5","author":"Smith","year":"2024","journal-title":"SN Comp. Sci"},{"key":"B17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"558","DOI":"10.1007\/s42979-024-02889-z","article-title":"Evaluating return on investment for cyberinfrastructure using the international integrated reporting < ir> framework","volume":"5","author":"Snapp-Childs","year":"2024","journal-title":"SN Comp. Sci"},{"key":"B18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.1145\/3491418.3535131","article-title":"\u201cReturn on investment in research cyberinfrastructure: State of the art,\u201d","volume-title":"Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing, PEARC '22","author":"Stewart","year":"2022"},{"key":"B19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1145\/3332186.3332228","article-title":"\u201cAssessment of financial returns on investments in cyberinfrastructure facilities,\u201d","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Practice and Experience in Advanced Research Computing on Rise of the Machines (learning) - PEARC '19","author":"Stewart","year":"2019"},{"key":"B20","volume-title":"Return on Investment for Three Cyberinfrastructure Facilities: a Local Campus Supercomputer; the NSF-Funded Jetstream Cloud System; and XSEDE (the eXtreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment)","author":"Stewart","year":"2018"}],"updated-by":[{"DOI":"10.3389\/frma.2026.1843420","type":"correction","label":"Correction","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1777248000000}}],"container-title":["Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics"],"original-title":[],"link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frma.2025.1449996\/full","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,27]],"date-time":"2026-04-27T12:27:07Z","timestamp":1777292827000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.frontiersin.org\/articles\/10.3389\/frma.2025.1449996\/full"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,21]]},"references-count":20,"alternative-id":["10.3389\/frma.2025.1449996"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/frma.2025.1449996","relation":{},"ISSN":["2504-0537"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2504-0537","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,8,21]]},"article-number":"1449996"}}