About Us
What is HUBzero?
HUBzero® is an open source software platform for building powerful Web sites that support scientific discovery, learning, and collaboration. Some refer to such web sites as “collaboratories” supporting “team science.” We call them “hubs” because each site becomes a focal point for its user community.
Originally created by researchers at Purdue University in conjunction with the NSF-sponsored Network for Computational Nanotechnology to support nanoHUB.org, the HUBzero platform now supports dozens of hubs across a variety of disciplines, including cancer research, pharmaceuticals, biofuels, microelectromechanical systems, climate modeling, water quality, volcanology, and more.
Just Another Web Site? Why Not Use a WordPress Blog?
HUBzero includes a powerful content management system built to support scientific activities. Sure, users on a hub can write blog entries and participate in discussion groups, but they can do so much more. They can work together in projects, publish datasets and computational tools with Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), and make these publications available for others to use—not as dusty downloads, but as live, interactive digital resources. Simulation/modeling tools published on a hub can be accessed with the click of a button. They run on cloud computing resources, campus clusters, and other national high-performance computing (HPC) facilities and serve up compelling visualizations.
What is the HUBzero Foundation?
The HUBzero Foundation is a community organization that was formed to disseminate the HUBzero software, to promote widespread adoption, and to coordinate software contributions coming from the community.
Looking for the inside track? Join us. Become a recognized participant. Keep up to date with the very latest HUBzero software. Help us shape the roadmap for future development.
How do I get started?
- See how hubs work. Visit an existing hub: nanoHUB.org, nees.org, pharmaHUB.org, or many others.
- Download a Virtual Machine image of a hub and launch it with the free VMware Player. You’ll have a brand new hub to play with—completely empty, but ready for customization and use.
- Create your own hub. Users will expect your hub to be up and running 24x7. To meet that challenge, you’ll need to find a permanent home in your data center, or engage a hosting service to run your hub.
- Engage the community and generate content. The more interesting content you have on your hub, the more users will flock to your site.
How do I cite HUBzero?
There are a few select publications that describe HUBzero and some of the largest hub projects.
HUBzero was developed by the Hub Technology Group at Purdue University, with support from the National Science Foundation (through grants EEC-0228390, EEC-0634750, OCI-0438246, OCI-0721680, OCI 0944665, CBET 0941302, IIS-1017837), the Network for Computational Nanotechnology, and Purdue University. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or other supporting institutions.