Expanding access to high performance computing at Wake Forest University through Open OnDemand

Wake Forest University, a private liberal arts institution located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has embraced Open OnDemand as a transformative tool for integrating high performance computing (HPC) into the academic experience—particularly for undergraduate students. With an enrollment of approximately 8,000 students and a strong emphasis on teaching and student engagement, Wake Forest has developed a model that makes advanced computing tools not only accessible but embedded within the classroom. 

“Wake Forest is a very undergraduate, classroom-focused school,” said Sean Anderson, Senior UNIX HPC SysAdmin in the Information Systems Department at Wake Forest University. “Research is a big component, but there’s definitely an emphasis on the student having an excellent experience in the classroom.” 

This focus has allowed Wake Forest to rapidly offer students new courses on emerging technologies.  

“We’re able to offer courses on artificial intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models and other topics that bigger schools are sometimes still trying to figure out,” Anderson explained. “We were able to pivot quickly and get faculty who are interested in those topics and want to explore a lot of those things.” 

Wake Forest’s HPC team consists of just three professionals who manage the university’s research computing infrastructure. Their responsibilities span everything from supporting faculty research to classroom integration, and their agility has been key to the success of Open OnDemand on campus.  

“We’re a small team, but we get around a lot,” Anderson said. “Because we’re well-integrated into the university, we’re often looped into interviews with new faculty hires who are doing computational research. That helps us stay ahead of what’s coming.” 

To support the growing interest in research computing, the HPC team uses Open OnDemand’s profile functionality to create custom portals for individual classes. These portals are tailored to each course and include a curated set of apps such as Jupyter, RStudio, MATLAB, and VS Code, along with embedded Google Drive widgets and direct links to syllabi and Canvas Learning Management System pages. 

“What I wanted to accomplish was to almost have our Open OnDemand presence in the classroom be kind of like a companion to the Learning Management System,” Anderson said. “Students could get an assignment and go straight into the portal to complete it.” 

The result is a seamless experience where students engage with HPC tools as naturally as they would with any classroom resource.  

“We really pride ourselves on that presentation,” Anderson added. “The professors and students really appreciate seeing a prettier interface that is tailored to them. When the student logs on, their class directory is already there, and everything is set up. It makes them want to use the tool.” 

In its first semester, six classes used the system, reaching approximately 70 to 80 students. 

With full control of their infrastructure, the team can deploy a new portal in under an hour, complete with custom URLs and embedded media. Faculty have already begun requesting repeat deployments, sometimes even late in the summer. 

“It has been surprisingly effective,” Anderson said. “So much so that the students really don't understand that it’s the same as the regular dashboard. They just use it on their class portal and then they’ll use the regular dashboard and won’t even know it’s the same thing.” 

This seamless integration means students are prepared to continue developing their skills.  

“It very much becomes an extension of the class,” Anderson said. “And then of course students who do go on to do research or other activities outside of that class are already equipped. It'll just be like second nature at that point.” 

Wake Forest’s implementation of Open OnDemand exemplifies how thoughtful customization and proactive engagement can turn HPC into a foundational part of the undergraduate experience. Open OnDemand’s ability to seamlessly integrate into academic settings empowers students, supports faculty, and fosters a culture of computational literacy across campus. 

Watch Anderson’s presentation about Wake Forest University’s implementation of Open OnDemand at the 2025 Global Open OnDemand (GOOD) conference. 

Written by Sophia Grigsby