Cloud computing is a new network application model,Now it is a hot issue,Which is distributed processing, parallel processing and grid computing, The concept of computer science on the Internet to achieve. This paper first describes what is cloud computing and the definition of cloud computing, and then analysis the characteristics of cloud computing, and the current situation and prospects of development. Introduces cloud computing research in universities and cloud computing applications in scientific research in the teaching role, How to make better use of cloud computing to improve the level of teaching and research in universities, Final analyzes the security issues in cloud computing applications, and summed up the problems to be solved.