Online Resources and Software

Duo is a Multifactor Authentication (MFA) app that uses multiple proofs of identity to ensure you are authorized to access the service or resource that you are requesting.

Multifactor Authentication (MFA)

CUIMC VPN provides a secure way to connect to the campus network and its resources, such as network drives, from off campus or unsecured wireless. VPN creates an encrypted "tunnel", so data traveling to and from the off-campus system cannot be intercepted or viewed by others. 

Virtual Private Network (VPN)

Qualtrics is a third-party online survey program used at many universities. CUIMC has an education and research site license, allowing faculty, staff, and students to use the Qualtrics Survey Platform for free. 

Qualtrics

Malwarebytes is a virus, malware, and spyware scanning program. CUIT has purchased Malwarebytes licenses as the central endpoint solution for affiliated Columbia University students, Columbia faculty and staff.  

Malwarebytes

Current faculty, staff, and students are eligible to use a range of Microsoft programs. In addition to the standard Office applications (Word, Excel, etc. the CUIMC site license includes SharePoint, Teams, OneDrive, and Power BI tools. 

Office 365

A video conferencing platform that offers full remote meeting functionality, breakout rooms, Canvas integration, and support for Android and iOS mobile. CUIMC Zoom accounts are HIPAA, PIPEDA, and PHIPA compliant and can be used for telehealth visits, research study visits, classes, lectures, meetings, and events. 

Zoom

A secure web application for building and managing online surveys and databases geared toward data capture for research studies and operations.

REDCap

ChatGPT Enterprise offers unrestricted access to the latest model of ChatGPT. The Enterprise platform includes the Advanced Data Analysis, GPT Builder tool, DALL·E image creation/edition, and integrated browsing with Bing features.

ChatGPT

Faculty, staff, and students with current CUIMC email accounts can use free cloud storage via Microsoft's OneDrive for Business. OneDrive for Business offers 1TB of storage space and can be increased as needed. OneDrive is HIPAA compliant and provides easy synchronization and access to OneDrive files across your computers and devices and sharing abilities with other CUIMC members. 

OneDrive 

CUIMC offers HIPAA-compliant, redundant storage space in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Additionally, the CUIMC cloud team offers assistance with cloud services and tools for building compute, archive, and analytics environments. 

Amazon AWS Storage: Departmental or Team 

• AWS Elastic File Store (EFS): Supports access controls, archival, long-term storage, PHI, sharable, and versioning. Unlimited storage 

• AWS FSX for Windows: Supports Windows file-sharing systems. Access controls, archival, long-term storage, PHI, sharable and versioning. Up to 64TBs per file system 

• AWS FSX NetApp ONTAPP: Supports Windows file-sharing systems. Access controls, archival, long-term storage, PHI, sharable and versioning. Unlimited storage 

• AWS FSX for Lustre: Provides fully managed shared storage with the scalability and performance of the Lustre file system 

• AWS FSX for OpenZFS: Provides fully managed shared file storage built on the OpenZFS file system. 

• AWS File Cache: Provides a high-speed cache on AWS to process file data. Serves as temporary, high-performance storage for data on-premises or on AWS. 

• AWS S3: For massive storage and archival needs. Supports access controls, archival, long-term storage, guest and public access, PHI, sharable, and versioning. Unlimited storage 

• AWS Storage Gateway: The caching gateway resides on-premise or in AWS. Access controls, archival, long-term storage, PHI, sharable and versioning. 512TBs per volume and virtually unlimited for file storage 

Google GCP Storage: Departmental or Team 

• GCP Cloud Storage: For massive storage and archival needs. Access controls, archival, long-term storage, guest and public access, PHI, sharable, and versioning. Unlimited storage. 

• GCP File Storage: File shares for basic, enterprise, and HPC use. Supports access controls, archival, long-term storage, PHI, sharable, and versioning. Up to 100TBs per volume 

• GCP Parallelstore: Parallel file service. Delivers up to 6.3x time performance compared to competitive Lustre offerings 

• Users must request Box space: Windows file-sharing service and network file shares. Access controls, archival, long-term storage, PHI, sharable and versioning. Unlimited storage. 

CUIMC Box is a cloud-based file sharing and collaboration service that is approved for use with all levels of data including ePHI, PII, and RHI. It is being offered for those who frequently need to work on large files with others outside of CUIMC.  

BOX

The CDP is a cloud-based solution for research data storage, discovery, analysis, collaboration, and archiving. It also offers tools to analyze data and share insights, customization of powerful computing environments for Machine Learning and AI research, allows the upload of numeric, text, structured, and unstructured data using files or APIs, and curating and tagging of rich metadata for easy discovery. 

Columbia Data Platform

Columbia's enterprise computing storage service.

 CUIT Data Storage (SAAS)

The Secure Data Enclave (SDE) provides Columbia researchers with a highly secure, remotely accessible, virtual Windows 10 or Red Hat Linux desktop environment to collaboratively analyze and store sensitive data (PII, RHI, and PHI). The SDE functions as a virtual, remote-friendly alternative to traditional "cold-room" computing environments, where a physical computer, disconnected from the internet, is used for sensitive data analysis. 

Secure Data Enclave — SDE | Columbia University Information Technology

A cloud-based file transfer service for large, non-sensitive data transfers within Columbia and to external collaborators. Globus is a web-based tool primarily used by researchers to securely transfer, share, and manage large volumes of data across different systems and institutions, providing a unified interface to access research data regardless of its location, all through a user-friendly web interface, essentially acting as a central hub for research data management. The CUIMC instance of Globus is HIPAA compliant. 

Globus

An Electronic Research Notebook service for researchers, instructors, and students. This service helps organize and store laboratory data, provides information sharing, and enables collaboration, all with automated backups and a comprehensive audit trail.

Electronic Lab Notebooks: LabArchives

SAS is a statistical analysis software program that can be licensed by CUIMC faculty, staff, and students. 

SAS

SPSS is a statistical analysis software program that can be licensed by CUIMC faculty, staff, and students.

SPSS

An open-architecture simulation platform ideal for engineering, design, and analytical work. The Altair suite includes software for physics and optimization, modeling and visualization, simulation-driven design, and cloud and HPC solutions. Altair HyperWorks is available to Columbia University students, faculty, and staff. 

Altair HyperWorks

BioRender is a web-based tool that allows individuals to create professional scientific figures for use in presentations, grant applications, and publications. Biorender has thousands of pre-made icons that are useful to scientists in over 30 life science fields. 

BioRender

A chemical and biological drawing suite containing advanced prediction tools and full Web integration. Features include proton NMR with peak splitting and highlighting, amino acid and DNA sequence tools, TLC plate drawing tool, Struct=Name, ISIS/Draw mode, and stoichiometric analysis.

ChemDraw

A crystallography program for creating dynamical visualizations with rotatable animations. CrystalMaker includes energy-modeling tools to design and relax new structures, predict their vibrational properties, and explore how they interface with other materials.

CrystalMaker

MATLAB is a programming and numeric computing platform for engineering and scientific applications like data analysis, signal and image processing, control systems, wireless communications, and robotics. MATLAB includes a programming language, interactive apps, highly specialized libraries, and tools for automatically generating embedded code. 

MATLAB

A multipage, multivendor, multi-technique, and multiplatform analytical chemistry software suite.

Mnova

NVivo is a software program used for qualitative and mixed-methods research. Specifically, it is used for the analysis of unstructured text, audio, video, and image data, including (but not limited to) interviews, focus groups, surveys, social media, and journal articles. 

NVivo

Schodinger: Molecular visualization software used to simulate and model the behavior of molecules at the atomic level. 

Schrodinger

PyMol: Molecular rendering software used to prepare publication-quality figures, share interactive results, and generate pre-rendered animations.

PyMol

Columbia offers discounted licences for scientific and analytical software, including:

GraphPad Prism: Graphing and statistical software for creating publication-quality graphs and analyzing scientific data.

Prism

SnapGene: Molecular biology software for planning, visualizing, and documenting DNA cloning and PCR.

SnapGene