USD Is Co-Recipient of Nearly $1 Million Campus Cyberinfrastructure Grant
"This award will enhance the ability to provide STEM-based training to the local communities and institutional partners," said Heather Forney, SDBOR system vice president of finance and administration. "Greater access to advanced high-performance computing and high-capacity data storage resources will lead to bolder cyberinfrastructure initiatives."
The nearly $1 million grant updates USD’s dedicated science network, which is like an “express lane” for large-scale data transfers between campus researchers and their collaborators in the SDBOR, said Ryan Johnson, director of research computing at USD. The grant will also position USD to benefit immediately from future upgrades to South Dakota’s Research, Education and Economic Development (REED) Network.
“Modern science is a team sport, and fundamental advances are increasingly accomplished through multidisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations,” said Johnson. “This grant will enable greater movement of data between universities, allowing researchers throughout the SDBOR system to take advantage of advanced computing and data resources located throughout South Dakota.”
Using South Dakota's REED Network for campus interconnectivity ensures safe and performant data movement for research and distance learning applications. This initiative also addresses institutional data transmission capacity gaps, augmenting network throughput to ensure a consistent experience and access to advanced cyberinfrastructure within the state and to larger national resources.
Johnson is a co-principal investigator on the project alongside Kevin Brandt from South Dakota State University and Alyssa Kiesow and Debbi Bumpous from Northern State University. The project is led by the grant’s principal investigator Paul Kern.
“This award will stimulate collaborative research in South Dakota,” said Kern. “Campus-level cooperation and cyberinfrastructure improvement will enhance research projects and STEM education in our state.”
