United States Virgin Islands EPSCoR RII Program: Intercampus and Intra-campus Connectivity

提案编号：eps -1108076提案标题：美属维尔京群岛EPSCoR RII项目：校际和校园内连接机构：维尔京群岛大学（UVI）这个研究基础设施改善项目寻求在领土上建立？维尔京群岛大学（UVI）是一所历史悠久的黑人大学，它通过提供加速发现和学习所需的宽带连接，对网络基础设施进行投资。这种连接将允许UVI？通过使用第二代互联网和国家Lambda铁路（NLR），使美国的教职员工更充分地融入全国跨学科研究合作。通过提议的课程扩展、增强研究生研究经验和高性能计算机培训，UVI？美国学生在海洋科学、数学和计算机科学领域的研究生院和终身职业生涯中将处于更好的位置。提供从圣克罗伊岛潜艇登陆站到UVI的高带宽网络互连？在圣克罗伊校区，该项目将把UVI的研究人员、合作者和导师联系在一起，并与全国各地的其他人联系在一起。该项目旨在将圣克罗伊校区与AMPATH国际交换点连接起来，该交换点将提供对Internet2和National Lambda Rail （NLR）等网络的访问。增强的网络基础设施环境将支持UVI正在进行的海洋科学广泛领域的合作研究项目。具体来说，这些项目侧重于确定增强或减少珊瑚礁的因素。对环境压力的耐受性和对过渡到交替生态状态的抵抗力（生态恢复力）。这些项目还包括强有力的实地实验，利用复杂的环境分析技术和开发高分辨率海洋学模型，以增加对自然和人为干扰如何影响生态模式和过程的了解。了解这些复杂的关系对于管理它们至关重要，特别是考虑到在过去的三到五年中，美属维尔京群岛内的珊瑚由于气候引起的压力（即暖水漂白）和疾病而经历了30%至40%的死亡率。拟议的基础设施增强将确保研究和教育活动拥有所需的协作带宽支持，以便与关键的国家和国际合作者建立可靠的研究和工程网络连接。紫外线辐射会带来更广泛的影响？通过新光纤改善与AMPATH的连接，代表性不足的本科生将有机会获得更多的研究和教育机会，这将更好地为他们在研究生院的成功做好准备，并导致领土的改善。年代的劳动力。项目团队的目标是利用大学的VI-EPSCoR海洋科学计划。联合国海洋与环境研究卓越中心（Center of Excellence in Marine and Environmental Studies）称其为“综合加勒比沿海生态系统”，旨在开发科学和技术服务，支持当地决策者进行自然资源管理和空间规划。该项目将支持在本科和研究生阶段为学生提供科学、技术、工程和数学学科方面的培训，这些学生是代表性不足的少数民族和妇女。该项目的改进将确保继续为领土提供宽带接入和竞争性选择。在这些岛屿上进行的研究的数据和结果将更容易为远程合作者所获得，并将大大改善向利益攸关方的传播。

Proposal Number: EPS-1108076Proposal Title: United States Virgin Islands EPSCoR RII Program: Intercampus and Intra-campus ConnectivityInstitution: University of The Virgin Islands (UVI)This Research Infrastructure Improvement project seeks to build on the Territory?s investments in cyberinfrastructure by providing the broadband connectivity needed to accelerate discovery and learning at the University of The Virgin Islands (UVI), an Historically Black University. This connectivity will allow UVI?s faculty and staff to be more fully integrated into nationwide interdisciplinary research collaborations though access to Internet2 and the National Lambda Rail (NLR). Through proposed curricular expansions, enhanced graduate research experiences, and high-performance computing training, UVI?s students will be better positioned for graduate school and life-long careers in marine science, mathematics, and computer science.Intellectual Merit By providing a high-bandwidth network interconnection from the St. Croix submarine landing station to UVI?s St. Croix campus, this project will connect UVI researchers, collaborators, and mentors across the Territory to each other and to others across the nation. The project aims to connect the St. Croix campus to the AMPATH International Exchange Point which would provide access to networks such as Internet2 and National Lambda Rail (NLR). The enhanced cyber-infrastructure environment will support collaborative research projects underway at UVI in the broad area of marine science. Specifically, these projects focus on determination of factors that enhance or reduce a coral reef?s tolerance to environmental stress and resistance to transitions to alternate ecological states (ecological resilience). These projects also include robust field experiments, utilizing sophisticated environmental analysis techniques and developing high-resolution oceanographic models, to increase the understanding of how ecological patterns and processes are influenced by natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Understanding these complex relationships is of paramount importance to managing them, especially considering that over the last three to five years the corals within the USVI experienced 30% to 40% mortality due to climate-induced stress (i.e. warm-water bleaching) and disease. The proposed infrastructure enhancements will ensure that research and educational activities have the collaborative bandwidth support needed for a reliable research and engineering network connection to key national and international collaborators.Broader ImpactsThrough UVI?s improved connection to AMPATH via the new fiber, underrepresented undergraduate students will have access to enhanced research and educational opportunities, which will better prepare them for success in graduate school and result in improvements in the Territory?s workforce. The project team aims to leverage the VI-EPSCoR marine science program at the University?s Center of Excellence in Marine and Environmental Studies called the Integrated Caribbean Coastal Ecosystems to develop scientific and technical services to support local decision-makers in natural resources management and spatial planning. The project will support training in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines for students, who are underrepresented minorities and women, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The enhancements in this project will ensure continued broadband access and competitive options for the Territory. Data and results from studies conducted on the islands will be made far more accessible to distant collaborators and dissemination to stakeholders will be significantly improved.