CC* Regional: Tribal Consortium Research Network

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Navajo Technical University (NTU) is one of the nation's leading tribal colleges and a leader in delivering academic and research programs for the region and for the Navajo Nation. Tribal colleges regularly work in cooperation and in collaborative organizations. In 2017, NTU facilitated the development of a tribal consortium to build cooperative support and technology services. The tribal consortium includes Navajo Technical University, Crownpoint, NM, Dine College, Tsaile, AZ, Tohono O'odham Community College (TOCC), Sells, AZ, and A:shwi College and Career Readiness Center (ACCRC), Zuni, NM. Although Native American students have access to cultural, language, vocational, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs, campus and student connectivity options are expensive and limited to cellular or broadband capacities below national standards. Students are not well connected to the internet and to the larger research and education community; there is a fundamental lack of internet connectivity with sufficient bandwidth to successfully participate in the ever-increasing opportunities of online courses and programs. This project improves campus network performance in support of education and research, by increasing external connectivity to each campus by connecting to NTU as a regional aggregator.The project addresses distance education challenges by implementing an advanced wireless testbed to deliver homework gap solutions for local students and faculty leverages a strong existing regional relationship with the Northern Arizona University, a leader in tribal programs and services. The project emphasizes meetings to map needs to requirements, followed by design and training workshops, which benefit the regional Native American communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.