Collaborative Research: Cyberinfrastructure Development for the Western Consortium of Idaho, Nevada, and New Mexico

EPS-0919123：内华达州高等教育系统，Gayle L. Dana，与EPS-0918635（新墨西哥大学）和EPS-0919514（爱达荷大学）合作研究：爱达荷州、内华达州和新墨西哥州西部联盟的网络基础设施发展爱达荷州、内华达州和新墨西哥州获得了NSF EPSCoR轨道1研究基础设施改进（RII）奖，该奖项共享全球挑战的共同主题。项目团队正在共同研究气候变化及其对水资源、生态系统和环境的影响。随后，这三个州组成了一个财团，寻求网络基础设施（CI）的改进，以利用他们的资源，使NSF RII在这三个州的投资的累积影响可能超过部分的总和。设立第二轨道奖的动机是认识到科学挑战的复杂性和规模及其对科学、教育和经济发展的后续影响。NV-ID-NM联盟提出了三个高优先级目标：1)增加连接和带宽；2)增强数据和模型的互操作性；3)利用CI将研究与教育相结合。由于气候和区域水文之间的紧密耦合，以及对供水、干扰机制（如火灾、干旱）、区域经济和生活质量的相关影响，气候变化的影响在美国西部尤为明显。提出的CI发展将使研究人员能够更有效地共享标准化和可互操作的数据和模型，并更容易地开发区域耦合的大气-陆地表面-水文-社会经济模型。联盟机构和国家将与世界各地200多所其他互联网2大学、政府研究实验室、公司和其他研究机构建立联系，以促进数据密集型研究、协作、分布式实验、基于网格的数据分析、使用高性能网络和社交网络的实验。此外，拟议的投资旨在支持有效参与专注于全球气候变化的国家和国际虚拟组织，如国家生态观测网和水文科学促进大学联盟。更广泛的影响提议的CI投资财团寻求实现广泛的影响，并通过利用现有的资源和基础设施在机构，管辖范围内增加价值。和地区。将从拟议增加的连通性中受益的机构包括农村机构以及为西班牙裔和美洲原住民学生和教职员工提供服务的机构。将通过数据档案提供对联盟内开发的数据和模型的开放访问，并且模型互操作性框架将确保科学产品可以广泛传播并随时为全世界的科学家、工程师和学生使用。该项目还寻求为STEM教育和推广提供可用的高质量环境数据、信息和模型。该财团?美国的教育项目旨在通过以下方式产生深远的影响：(1)为研究生、博士后和教职员工培养新的CI技能和气候建模专业知识；(2)将网络学习和气候变化科学整合到初高中科学教育中，特别是针对农村学校和西班牙裔和美洲原住民学生的学校；(3)制定行业CI日计划，以提高企业和行业的CI意识。该联盟致力于改善少数民族和地理弱势群体使用网络基础设施的机会，并增加伙伴国家未来劳动力的多样性。

EPS-0919123: Nevada System of Higher Education, Gayle L. Dana, Linked to EPS-0918635 (University of New Mexico) and EPS-0919514 (University of Idaho)Collaborative Research: Cyberinfrastructure Development for the Western Consortium of Idaho, Nevada, and New MexicoIdaho, Nevada, and New Mexico have NSF EPSCoR Track-1 Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) awards that share a common theme of global challenge. Collectively, the project teams are studying climate change and its effects on water resources, ecosystems, and the environment. Subsequently, the three states formed a consortium to pursue cyberinfrastructure (CI) improvements that would leverage their resources so that the cumulative impact of NSF RII investments in the three states could exceed the sum of the parts. The impetus for this Track-2 award was the recognition of the complexity and scale of the scientific challenge and subsequent ramifications for science, education, and economic development.The NV-ID-NM consortium proposed three high priority objectives: 1) to increase connectivity and bandwidth; 2) to enhance data and model interoperability; and 3) to utilize CI to integrate research with education.Intellectual MeritClimate change impacts are especially pronounced in the Western United States due to the tight coupling between climate and regional hydrology, and the associated ramifications for the water supply, disturbance regimes (e.g., fire, drought), regional economy, and the quality of life. The proposed CI developments will enable researchers to more effectively share standardized and interoperable data and models, and to more easily develop regionally coupled atmosphere-land surface-hydrology-socioeconomic models. Consortium institutions and states will be linked to more than 200 other Internet2 universities, government research laboratories, companies, and other research facilities throughout the world to facilitate data-intensive research, collaboration, distributed experiments, grid-based data analysis, experimentation using high performance networking, and social networking. In addition, the proposed investments aim to support effective participation in national and international virtual organizations focused on global climate change, such as the National Ecological Observatory Network, and the Consortium of Universities for the Advancement of Hydrologic Science, Inc.Broader ImpactsThe proposed CI investments in the consortium seek to achieve broad impact and add value by leveraging existing resources and infrastructure within the institutions, jurisdictions, and regions. The institutions that will benefit from the proposed increased connectivity include rural institutions and those serving Hispanic and Native American students and faculty members. Open access to the data and models developed within the consortium will be made available through the data archive, and the model interoperability framework will ensure that scientific products can be broadly disseminated and readily used by scientists, engineers, and students throughout the world. The project also seeks to make usable high-quality environmental data, information, and models available for STEM education and outreach. The consortium?s education programs are designed to have far-reaching impact by: (1) developing new CI skills and climate modeling expertise for graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and faculty; (2) integrating cyberlearning and climate change science into middle and high school science education, especially targeting rural schools and schools that reach Hispanic and Native American students; and (3) developing an Industry CI Days Program that promotes CI awareness in business and industry.The consortium is committed to improving access to cyberinfrastructure for minority populations and geographically disadvantaged populations, and to increasing diversity in the future workforce of the partnering states.