CC* Regional: Accelerating Research and Education at Small Colleges in Texas via an Advanced Networking Ecosystem Using a Virtual LEARN Science DMZ

The Lonestar Education And Research Network (LEARN), a consortium of 43 organizations throughout Texas, has expanded opportunities for students and faculty at smaller campuses to participate in research that relies on increasingly sophisticated network technology and the expertise to manage that technology. LEARN identified a set of smaller campuses that took part in the grant and provided these campuses with advanced network and performance monitoring technologies, the expertise to manage the technologies, training and assistance in increasing utilization of the technologies, and a community of similarly engaged scholars and administrators across Texas.

LEARN partnered with national organizations in the implementation of this project. Impacts included increased opportunities for students to learn about and gain experience in advanced aspects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) for which they might not otherwise have had an opportunity, for extension of the project to students and faculty at other campuses in Texas, and for the extension of the LEARN model to other regional networks and smaller campuses throughout the United States. This grant was suucessfully completed in September 2023.

Objectives

1. Establish a small college collaborative environment within the LEARN community
2. Improve network connectivity/services at each college campus for research and education
3. Establish a network performance monitoring infrastructure
4. Establish a means to facilitate the transfer of large data sets
5. Deliver technical training to personnel at each campus
6. Develop and implement an outreach program for informing/educating faculty, staff, and students at each college, and develop and disseminate project results

Participating Colleges

Collaborators