EAGER: Research and Education Networking in the Pacific Islands and Beyond: Exploring and Developing Approaches

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Research and Education (R&E) Networks are a foundational element of cyberinfrastructure for research and education. This exploratory project will engage the Pacific R&E community, scientists, service providers and other stakeholders to develop concepts and approaches for R&E networking in the Pacific Islands. While focusing on the Pacific, this work will study the O3b (www.o3bnetworks.com) satellite network, which will have broad applicability for R&E networking in other regions, particularly addressing locations in Africa and Latin America, as well as for ship-based research around the world. An intermediate report will focus on locations and technologies and be sufficient to support specific actions focused on connecting specific locations. A more complex roadmap for R&E Networking in the Pacific, which will require greater socialization, will be produced as a final report. This project will provide the first systemic study of the challenges and opportunities of R&E networking in the Pacific region. However, the greater intellectual merit of this project will lie in the advancement of some of the most compelling research activities in earth, atmospheric and environmental sciences. These include: work at the Coral Reef LTER and CREON programs at the Gump Station on Moorea; work on biodiversity and ecology, the terrestrial/marine Interface, and marine biology, climate change, and biogeochemical structure at Palmyra Atoll; support for 30 active NSF programs at the Charles Darwin Research Station in the Galapagos Archipelago; and AfricaArray's network of geophysical observatories across southern Africa. Broader impacts will result from the introduction of R&E networking as a key tool to engage Pacific Islanders, who are highly under-represented in STEM fields The networks being planned will support collaborative education, research and training that will help communities chart culturally appropriate paths to an environmentally and economically sustainable future that bridges modern science and technology with their own cultures, values, goals, challenges and opportunities.