Bob Killen

Bob Killen, Research Cloud Administrator at the University of Michigan, shares insights on deploying Kubernetes to enhance research capabilities. He discusses how Kubernetes is transforming user experiences in diverse research areas and supports tools like Jupyter notebooks. Bob addresses concerns about balancing ML/AI needs amid broader usage and explores the challenges of managing long-running AI workloads. The conversation highlights the ongoing evolution of Kubernetes to support various applications, including collaborative efforts to improve usability.

Bob Killen, affectionately known as 'Mr. Bobby Tables', is a cloud engineer specializing in containers and HPC. He dives into the essence of cloud-native practices and the transformative power of Kubernetes. Listeners learn about the distinct yet overlapping roles of research software engineering and cloud engineering, as well as the impact of MLOps. Bob shares insights on community collaboration while bringing humor into the mix. He also discusses challenges in adapting HPC to cloud-native technologies, emphasizing the need for user-friendly tools.