Welcome
The Research Data Lab is a multi-platform system designed to empower researchers with the necessary tools and resources to work with big data.
Our system is comprised of the following platforms, each with their own strengths:
Rivanna HPC
UVA's High Performance Computing system.
Azure Synapse
Easy-access database storage for large data.
Databricks
Highly customizable and powerful computing.
The Data Lab provides these benefits to users completing data-driven research:
Flexibility
The Data Lab is a collection of powerful research and analytics platforms, each with particular strengths and use-cases, allowing us to cater to any kind of project requirements.
Big Data Analysis
With the power of parallel processing and distributed architecture, the Data Lab has capacity to analyze large databases (GBs to TBs) in seconds.
Familiar Software with AI Efficiency
No need to learn proprietary tools or software. Extract, explore, and analyze data using familiar programming languages like Python, SQL, and R with an integrated AI assistant to help you write and optimize code.
Fully Managed Databases
Make queries or join data right away. The Lab provides datasets hosted on Microsoft Azure from various sources available for immediate access. Most databases are engineered to be consistently formatted and regularly updated when new data is released.
Bring Your Own Data
In addition to fully managed databases, researchers may transfer their personal datasets to the Azure Cloud for a faster analysis. Once transferred, they have an option to share their datasets with their colleagues.
Data Governance and Security
Stringent protocols and safeguards are in place to ensure data privacy, compliance, and security.
Data Dictionaries
View the data dictionaries for our various fully-managed databases on SharePoint. (Requires Darden login)
DictionariesTestimonials
Curious about the impact of the Darden Research Data Lab? View our testimonials on SharePoint. (Requires Darden login)
Testimonials