Ursa Major (Strategic Realignment)

Ursa Major: The Future of Cloud at UCR

Ursa Major is a strategic partnership between the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). This initiative is currently undergoing a strategic realignment (Project Polaris) to ensure that UCR’s cloud footprint is optimized for high-impact research, data security, and long-term financial sustainability.

The goal of Ursa Major is to provide researchers with a “Fine Dining” experience—offering curated, high-performance resources where they are needed most, while ensuring that standard computational tasks are aligned with the most cost-effective campus infrastructure.

Ursa Major Specialized Resources

Through Ursa Major, UCR researchers can leverage cloud-native capabilities that complement our on-premise infrastructure:

Vertex AI & Machine Learning: Utilize Google’s flagship AI platform for model training, Generative AI (LLMs), and vector-based research applications.
Secure Research Enclaves: Access specialized virtual workstations designed for P4/Restricted data compliance (e.g., HIPAA, NIST 800-171) in a high-security cloud environment.
Petabyte-Scale Analytics: Leverage BigQuery for massive dataset analysis and high-throughput data warehousing.
Strategic Archive Tier: Utilize cost-effective, long-term cloud storage for grant compliance and large-scale data retention.

Ursa Major Resource Allocation Framework (Proposed)

UCR utilizes a tiered framework to ensure equitable and strategic access to cloud resources. This framework is designed to support the unique funding cycles of academic research while maintaining institutional governance.

Allocation Tiers

Explore Tier: Provides a baseline level of resources for researchers new to the cloud or conducting small-scale exploratory experiments. This tier is intended to facilitate testing and code development before moving to larger-scale production environments.
Advanced Tier (Strategic Allocation): Designed for high-impact projects with specialized technical requirements (e.g., GenAI, large-scale BigQuery, or Regulated Data). Access to this tier is granted through a proposal review process to ensure the cloud is the most appropriate and sustainable destination for the workload.
Researcher-Focused Subscription Tier: This tier allows PIs to leverage their own grant funding to provision dedicated GCP environments. This model is designed to support high-scale workloads (e.g., massive GPU clusters, AI training) while utilizing UCR’s negotiated enterprise-grade security and support.

Requesting an Allocation

Submit your Ursa Major interest or allocation request here:

Ursa Major Intake & Interest Form

All requests are reviewed in alignment with campus resource availability and strategic research priorities. Once a request is reviewed, the Research Computing team will work with you to architect a sustainable plan for your lab.

Monitoring & Optimization

To ensure efficient use of campus resources, the Research Computing team provides continuous monitoring and optimization for all Ursa Major projects. Researchers can access usage insights through the following standard dashboards: