Neuroscientists are increasingly relying on parallel and distributed computing resources for analysis and visualization of their neuron simulations. This requires expert knowledge of programming and cyberinfrastructure configuration, which is beyond the repertoire of most neuroscience programs. This paper presents early experiences from development efforts of a next-generation science gateway for research and training purposes of novice/expert users. The development efforts were enabled by a one-credit graduate research training course titled ECE 8001 "Software and Cyber Automation in Neuroscience" at the University of Missouri for engendering multi-disciplinary collaborations between computational neuroscience and cyberinfrastructure students and faculty. Specifically, we discuss how the course organization has led to the exemplar outcomes involving design of a novel science gateway to support use cases with custom configurations with tools such as e.g., NEURON using both local campus resources and the Neuroscience Gateway resources. The ultimate goal of these efforts is to improve access to high-performance and distributed computing resources for a set of neuroscience research and education use cases.
