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Leaving UAB

If your life and career plans take you away from UAB, then this article is designed to help you. We hope to give you a better understanding of your responsibilities and what to expect for your account and data.

All research data produced as part of UAB research is, by policy, owned by UAB. Funding agencies (e.g. NIH) often have strict data retention and sharing regulations. Transferring UAB-owned and/or agency funded data requires the involvement of the Office of Research, specifically the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).

If you have questions, concerns, or any doubt after reading this page, we highly recommend contacting us.

Important

The contents of this article apply only to research data. For administrative data you will need to discuss with the approriate UAB Administrative units. You can contact askit@uab.edu for more information on what to do with administrative data.

What Happens to my Cheaha Account?

Your Cheaha account will be available and accessible for 30 days following your last day in a UAB-affiliated position. The purpose of this grace period is to give you time to execute and finalize data transfers.

The same grace period applies to all other Research Computing platform accounts.

If you anticipate needing more than 30 days to finalize transfers, contact us as soon as possible so we can make arrangements or work to improve data transfer efficiency.

What Happens to data in my Individual Storage Allocations?

Data in your individual storage allocations, on all storage platforms, will be retained for the full grace period. We recommend making a plan for your data. Download any personal, non-UAB-owned data you wish to keep. Transfer any UAB-owned data to an appropriate location.

What Should I Do With UAB-Owned Data?

If you are a student or staff, please make arrangements with your faculty supervisor to transfer any UAB-owned data to the appropriate shared storage. If you have multiple faculty supervisors, please do this for each of them.

If you are a faculty supervisor or Core director, what to do with the data depends on the specifics of your situation.

What If I Will Be Hired or Rehired in a New Role?

Your data will be available for the full grace period. If your hire date is later than the end of the grace period, please contact us to discuss.

What If I Plan To Have An Ongoing Collaboration?

If you plan to continue collaborating with other researchers and need to manage data or perform analyses on Cheaha, you will need to create a XIAS account. To create the account, you will need a UAB-affiliated sponsor. Once the account has been created, please contact us and we can assist with transferring data in your former individual storage allocation to your new allocation.

What Are My Responsibilities For Lab Shared Allocations?

If you are responsible for lab shared allocations on Research Computing storage platforms, you have certain responsibilities for the data within them. Transferring UAB-owned data requires the involvement of the Office of Research, specifically the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP).

For each dataset or project, which option is ideal depends on the state of the project.

  • Transfer responsibility of the data to a successor (retiring)?

    1. Make the appropriate arrangements with relevant administrative units (e.g., Office of Research and OSP).
    2. Globus may be used to efficiently and robustly transfer the data from one directory on Cheaha to another. Please contact us for more details.

  • Transfer the data to a new instutition (moving)?

    1. Contact the Office of Research to create a "Data Use Agreement" with your new institution. Read more on the OSP Site.
    2. Contact us and your new institution's Research Computing equivalent to determine how to transfer data efficiently.

  • Comply with funding agency data retention regulations (retiring)?

    • Find a UAB-affiliated successor to manage the data for you in your absence.
    • OR Find an archival service suitable for long term data retention.

  • Something else? Please contact us.

What Are My Responsibilities For Core Shared Allocations?

Cores should not assume responsibility for any of the research data they produce or acquire.

If the Core will continue operating, then it is assumed there will be a successor. Take whatever necessary administrative steps to transfer control and responsibility for Core operations. Things that may need to be transfered:

If the Core will cease operating, please contact us to make arrangements to ensure final disposition of all research data.