Research Services

The Research Services department provides information technology to empower the Columbia University research community.

We work in close partnership with the Office of the Executive Vice President for Research (EVPR) and Columbia Libraries to supply the services, tools and support that Columbia researchers need, from undergraduates to world-class laboratory researchers.

Overleaf Pro is now FREE at Columbia

Overleaf banner reading: Overleaf, Get your Overleaf Professional upgrade from Columbia UniversityLaTeX authoring tool, tutorials, templates & resources at www.overleaf.com/edu/columbia

Overleaf is used for:

  • collaborative writing, editing, and publishing scientific documents and papers
  • producing documents that require highly-controlled typesetting (e.g. mathematics, computer science, engineering)
  • footnotes, cross-referencing and bibliography management,
  • complicated indexes, glossaries, and tables of contents

Set up or link your Overleaf account today! (Check out our Overleaf FAQ for transferring accounts)

Research Services at a Glance

More Research Tools & Services

SnapGene logo
SnapGene discount

SnapGene is the leading software for planning, visualizing, and documenting molecular biology procedures. CUIT manages a group subscription, allowing Columbia's faculty, researchers, and students (CU or CUIMC) to purchase the software at a discount (2024-25 was $135/license/year).

GraphPad Prism logo on purple background
GraphPad Prism discount

GraphPad Prism is a popular tool that facilitates scientific analysis and graphing. CUIT manages a group subscription, allowing Columbia's faculty, researchers, and students (CU or CUIMC) to purchase the software at a discount (2024-25 was $110/license/year).

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Foundations for Research Computing

Check out Foundations for Research Computing for workshops, bootcamps and more to help learn the core computational skills needed for modern research, including core languages and libraries, software development tools, best practices, and computational problem-solving.

Yes! Our Secure Data Enclave (SDE) service was created to facilitate collaborative analysis of sensitive datasets, and is approved for PII and PHI data.

Yes! CUIT offers several option for data transfer, depending on your needs. For example, Globus is a free service that you can use to share non-sensitive data quickly and reliably. Alternatively, LabArchives is another free option that is approved for PII, RHI and PHI data transfer. If your needs are more customized, check out CUIT's Box and Columbia Data Platform (CDP) services.

Yes! We have developed support documentation for each of our HPC clusters:

We also hold a three-part series of workshops every fall and spring semester to introduce new users to Linux, Linux shell scripts, and an overview of using HPC. Find recordings in the RCS video library and check the Research Computing Services' page for registration details.

...if you still have questions, email [email protected] to open a ticket with our team.

Yes! RCS offers a free tier of Columbia's shared HPC clusters to approved users with limited support (online documentation) and low-priority availability. 

Alternatively, RCS can facilitate providing you with a test allocation on ACCESS, an NSF-funded resource that PIs may apply for free access to. It's encouraged to get an account and test the environment before applying for space. Another resources is NAIRR, the National AI Research Resource, which RCS can also facilitate test allocations for.

Yes! Many classrooms leverage LabArchives' electronic notebooks to share and submit class work. Alternatively, you can have Codio integrated directly into your Canvas course, where you can deploy code assignments and receive your students' code for grading. Codio supports Java, Python, Nodejs, Lamp, Erlang, Ruby + rails, C++, and you can add your own packages and data.

Yes! CUIT is happy to meet and discuss how we can help. Our services range from placing an embedded CUIT employee in your department to smooth the technical path for your researchers to consulting on selecting or configuring cloud providers and more. Email us at [email protected] to discuss your needs.

Research Computing Services (RCS)

The RCS team is responsible for providing technology resources to support Columbia’s researchers, and the technology infrastructure to empower Columbia University’s research community to support our continued reputation as a leading driver of research, innovation, and the advancement of knowledge.

Research Administration and Compliance

The Research Administration and Compliance teams develop, maintain, and support the administrative applications that facilitate the administrative work involved in research compliance and grants management.

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Yes! We have two custom tools that provide near-real-time data:

Research Leadership Data Dashboard (RLDD): for central research administrators, deans, chairs, center/institute directors, and DAs

 

The Research Leadership Data Dashboard (RLDD) displays rich visualizations of the status and trends of proposals and awards, allowing Columbia's leaders to make informed decisions for their units. RLDD also is designed to support deeper analysis with downloadable, detailed reports that capture the underlying data. If you are a research leader at Columbia and would like to use RLDD, please follow our steps to request access.

MyGrants: for PIs and DAs

The MyGrants dashboard was developed to allow researchers to see all of their financial and award information in a central location, using Microsoft PowerBI. If you've visited MyGrants before, you can log in and follow the quick-start guide to learn more. If you're a PI, Scope-I, or DA and would like access to MyGrants, please email [email protected] to discuss an account.

  1. Log in to the RASCAL Training Center with your UNI.
  2. Select Course Listings to see all available courses.
  3. After you've selected a course. In the left-hand navigation panel, select Take Course to review the course material.
  4. When you're ready, return to the course overview page and select Take Test from left-hand navigation panel to complete the certification training.

Good luck! Visit our RASCAL FAQ page for other common questions, or submit a ticket to report an issue.

Something's not working, I need help!

Is there a Service Alert?

Before you panic, check CUIT Alerts to see if the service you need is undergoing scheduled maintenance or is facing an outage.

If you don't see the service listed, please submit a ticket and the Service Desk will route it to our engineers for investigatation.

Full Service List

Location

Studebaker Building, 5th Floor
615 West 131st Street
New York, NY 10027