IRNC Core Improvement: SXTransPORT Pacific Islands Research and Education Network

SX-TransPORT太平洋岛屿研究与教育网（PIREN）项目支持连接澳大利亚、新西兰、关岛和其他地区的主要研究与教育（R&amp；E）网络骨干。该项目以夏威夷为基地，使天文学、海洋学、珊瑚礁研究、高能物理、生物医学研究和数据科学取得重大进展。PIREN的主要合作伙伴是太平洋波分布式交换中心（Pacific Wave distributed exchange）和网络启动研究中心（network Startup Research Center， NSRC），前者确保所有PIREN连接的网络都能完全访问整个国内和全球的研发网络结构，后者支持校园网络的发展，并为太平洋岛民网络工程师提供培训和教育，而太平洋岛民网络工程师是STEM中一个代表性很低的群体。PIREN项目既利用了连接多个夏威夷岛屿的国际光纤系统，也利用了莫纳克亚和哈雷阿卡拉无与伦比的国际天文资源。PIREN项目还与关岛大学合作，建立并运营了关岛开放研究和教育交流（GOREX），这是太平洋地区战略性的新研发网络基础设施，将来自美国、亚洲和澳大利亚的多个海底电缆系统互连起来，为包括日本、香港、新加坡和东南亚在内的主要研究合作伙伴提供更具弹性和更低延迟的路径。PIREN也是美国在服务不足的太平洋岛屿推进研发网络的主要倡议，这些岛屿现在已经增加了在夏威夷和关岛等主要枢纽位置互连的光纤系统的接入，并且处于气候变化和海平面上升引起的可持续性挑战的最前沿。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The SX-TransPORT Pacific Islands Research and Education Network (PIREN) project supports the primary Research & Education (R&E) network backbone connecting Australia, New Zealand, Guam, and points beyond. Based in Hawaii, the project enables major advances in astronomy, oceanography, coral reef research, high energy physics, biomedical research, and data science. Primary PIREN partners are the Pacific Wave distributed exchange, which ensures that all PIREN-connect networks have full access to the entire domestic and global R&E network fabric, and the Network Startup Research Center (NSRC), which supports the development of campus networks as well as training and education for Pacific Islander network engineers, a highly underrepresented group in STEM.the PIREN project leverages both the international fiber optic systems that connect to multiple Hawaiian islands as well as the unparalleled international astronomy resources on Maunakea and Haleakala. The PIREN project also established and operates, in partnership with the University of Guam, the Guam Open Research and Education Exchange (GOREX), strategic new R&E network infrastructure in the Pacific that interconnects multiple submarine cable systems from the US, Asia and Australia to provide more resilient and lower latency paths among major research partners including Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Southeast Asia. PIREN is also the principal U.S. initiative to advance R&E networking among underserved Pacific Islands, which now have increased access to fiber-optic systems that interconnect in major hub locations such as Hawaii and Guam, and which are on the forefront of sustainability challenges arising from climate change and sea-level rise.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.