Partnerships for Competitiveness: Cyber-enabling Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

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AbstractProposal Number: EPS - 1006743Proposal Title: Partnerships for Competitiveness: Cyber-Enabling Primarily Undergraduate InstitutionsInstitution: South Dakota State UniversityProject Director: James A. RiceThis award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).The Research, Education and Economic Development (REED) network initiative provides South Dakota's portion of the Northern Tier networking project and connects SD's public, private and tribal campuses, the US Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Data Center, the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (SUSEL), and the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) to each other and the national research grid.This project proposes an upgrade to the cyberinfrastructure (CI) for four South Dakota institutions: Augustana College (AC), Sinte Gleska University (SGU), Oglala Lakota College (OLC), and Sisseton Wahpeton College (SWC). The upgrades would provide these institutions with access to cyberinfrastructure, educational and research enhancements on their respective campuses. These four institutions are predominantly undergraduate institutions and three (OLC, SGU, SWC) are tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). Augustana College is a small institution with a rich history of attracting and retaining first-generation college students. The investment in these institutions should have a pronounced impact on the research, education and culture of these institutions. Motivated by the very large distances between these South Dakota campuses, and even the large distances within an individual campus, this CI investment should enable state-wide course sharing, videoconferencing, and easier access to the research and educational resources of the state universities. It should also enhance collaborations, outreach capacity and provide greater access to people, knowledge and scientific research and education from across the globe. Intellectual Merit The South Dakota (SD) RII C2 investment should provide access to undergraduate research experiences to students who currently have limited access to independent research opportunities on their respective campuses. It is proposed that these students participate in original research, spanning a broad range of research areas in collaboration with major research institutions in South Dakota and throughout the world. The ability to communicate, collaborate and interact with scientists across the state, the nation and the world, will enable these faculty and students to explore subjects heretofore not possible. New learning activities and the modes of sharing these activities across the proposed digital connection should serve to establish novel concepts and best practices for building collaborative research and educational activities. Equally important are the new ideas these colleges bring to the research communities, such as discoveries arising from studies of the natural environment and their relationship to the culture of these primarily Native American communities.Broader Impact The four institutions primarily impacted in this project are representative of the rich diversity of the citizens of South Dakota. The ability to fully participate in SD's EPSCoR programs should broaden the institutional diversity of the South Dakota EPSCoR program. The Tribal College students come from a tribal heritage that represents a very small fraction of the students at major research institutions. To encourage these students to consider STEM careers, access to the larger scientific community is needed for collaborative research investigations and to realize confidence in their own talent and ability to contribute. From these experiences, a greater degree of confidence and the validation of their capabilities should be realized. The intent is to provide the opportunity for students to develop the capability, interest, and enthusiasm to invest their lives in a STEM career path.