Success in the knowledge age requires cyberinfrastructure—computing resources, applications for research and learning, data repositories and tools for data analysis and long-distance collaboration.

And cyberinfrastructure requires people; not just technology experts, but also students, educators, business people, government workers, scientists, artists, everybody. Give people access to world-class technology and the results will be exciting: new scientific discoveries, innovative educational practices, students collaborating across continents, small businesses selling in international markets.

Engaging People in Cyberinfrastructure (EPIC), a group that builds human capacity by creating awareness of the opportunities afforded through cyberinfrastructure, understands that technology is a tool, a means to a wide range of ends rather than an end in itself. EPIC members hail from colleges and universities across the U.S., including the Renaissance Computing Institute.

This May, an EPIC planning group, made up of representatives from the Minority Serving Institutions Network (MSI Network), met at RENCI’s Chapel Hill offices. Their aim was a frank discussion of the state of  science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and strategies for using the Access Grid, a multicast system that allows real-time collaboration among multiple groups and sharing of data, applications and scientific instruments. First and foremost, EPIC’s MSI planning group seeks to broaden the user base for high-end technologies such as the Access Grid (AG). Most represent institutions where high-end technologies are relatively new resources or where access is limited. Through EPIC, they hope to establish a diverse, energized community of cyberinfrastructure users that both use and develop new technologies and tools.

“Our aim is to look at collaborative technologies, especially the Access Grid (AG), and determine how we can generate broader participation,” said Stephenie McLean, RENCI’s director of education and outreach. “We also want ideas on creation of new content that can be used across disciplines and over great distances. Our MSIs are a great place to cultivate these new uses of technology.”

Far-reaching, wide-ranging ideas

Participants at the meeting presented a plethora of ideas for new and innovative uses of the Access Grid:

Carolyn Anderson (pictured left) of Winston Salem State University in Winston-Salem, NC, wants to use the AG to help students involved in the National Science Foundation’s Alliances for Broadening Participation in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM). STEM scholars, undergraduates from MSIs across the U.S., need to collaborate, but often can’t afford to travel. The chance to take part in virtual conferences and present research projects over the grid would enrich their educational experiences. It also would assist the overall goal of the STEM scholars program: to encourage students from underrepresented groups to pursue careers in science, technology and engineering.

Garrett Love of North Carolina Central University (pictured lower right) wants to get an Access Grid node up and running at the Durham-based school. NCCU is developing curricula for a degree program in computational science and the ability to use an AG node would enhance this new program.

Graig Gilham of Blackfeet Community College, a Tribal College in Browing, MT, plans to expose Blackfeet students “to all that the grid can offer.” He also hopes to work with students to develop a curriculum on Blackfeet culture and offer it to others via the Access Grid.

Alson Been (pictured right) of Bethune Cookman University in Daytona, FL, will encourage his university’s faculty to developed grid-based curricula and to offer it to any  educators with the ability to use the AG. He also sees the AG as a tool to help students learn to do formal presentations and to allow faculty to conduct collaborative research with other institutions.

Azeez Aileru, a neuroscience researcher at Winston Salem State, envisions using the AG to expose more students to the research that takes place in his lab. Not all students can take part in lab experiments on site, he noted, but via the AG and visualization and modeling tools, they can learn much about human anatomy, neurology, molecular biology and other fields.

Other institutions represented at the meeting were  Clark-Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA; North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro;  Florida A&M University, Tallahassee; and Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas. By summer, group  members will focus their ideas into a plan of action for the coming year.

EPIC also sponsors conferences, training sessions, and virtual institutes and develops and evaluates new technology tools. For more, see http://www.eotepic.org/.

The MSI Network works to increase access to, awareness and utilization of advanced computing and communication technologies within communities that have been traditionally underrepresented.

Related Posts :

1. Technology for the People
2. Stephenie McLean to Lead RENCI’s Education and Outreach Efforts