Associate director keeps research data accessible

Jim Rupprecht | Associate Director of Server & Cloud Infrastructure | Information Technology 

When people outside of academia think of research, they often picture science labs filled with test tubes and Bunsen burners. What they might not immediately think of is where critical data from studies and experiments across all fields goes once collected.

That’s where Jim Rupprecht comes in. 

Rupprecht is associate director of server & cloud infrastructure in KU’s Information Technology department. He’s worked at the university for more than 30 years, most of that time in IT. 

“Jim is a positive, productive team member. He does an excellent job of communicating priorities and listening to multiple needs to support strong data security at KU,” said Kathleen Lynne Lane, Associate Vice Chancellor for Research and the Roy A. Roberts Distinguished Professor of special education.

Rupprecht’s many responsibilities include maintaining ResFS, a Microsoft file system currently used to store large datasets at KU. Researchers across STEM disciplines, social sciences and humanities need tools like ResFS to store and process data from their research. The software currently supports about 345 unique research projects.

Maintaining services like ResFS is no easy task. In May, access to the server needed to be temporarily suspended for planned maintenance. Rupprecht and others were involved in both the technical details of the upgrades and communicating the outage to researchers across campus. Rupprecht and his team worked with researchers who rely on automated or scheduled activities to arrange to copy data to an appropriate secure location outside of ResFS. 

“He is approachable and committed to supporting researchers’ various IT needs,” Lane said. 

Later this summer, ResFS will be replaced by another vendor. Moving to a new service comes with its own challenges, but faculty and staff who have worked with Rupprecht are confident in his ability to lead a smooth transition. 

“Jim has done a great job leading and communicating past server disruptions,” Julie Popiel, executive assistant in the Office of Research said, “so I know we’re in good hands as we switch to a new provider.”