The Alabama Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, was recently awarded a Research Infrastructure Improvement Program grant of $9 million from the National Science Foundation, which will include funding for further developments to the Internet2 high-speed computer network.
The University of Alabama shares in the funding with other of the state’s higher education and K-12 institutions. The project also includes 13 industrial partners from Alabama and several other states, as well as partnerships with NASA and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
The Research Infrastructure Improvement grant will bring $9 million in NSF funds along with $5.9 million in non-federal matching funds to the state’s institutions for the establishment of three proposed “Centers of Excellence,” according to Dr. Robert Griffin, Alabama EPSCoR director and associate dean for research in UA’s College of Engineering. “These multi-campus centers will stimulate collective clusters of research and extend the scope of that research, both nationally and internationally,” he said.
One of these centers will be the Alabama Structural Biology Consortium, which will address health-care research issues through collaborative use of instrumentation and specialized expertise while fostering partnerships with biotech industries. Another center will be called Integrated Micro-Electromechanical Systems, a new facility that will expand existing technology in the state by improving micromachining and nano/microfabrication capabilities for fiber-optics and chip production. A Large-Scale Electromechanical Systems center is planned to expand existing capabilities for economic development in medium- and large-scale mechanical systems used by industry, while increasing the number of researchers and training practitioners and technicians.
The final goal of the grant is for EPSCoR to connect the centers and others involved in the program for joint research by expanding the Internet2 initiative, a rapid processing computer network, thereby eliminating geographical barriers and improving communication. Under previous NSF funding, Alabama’s EPSCoR program has been working on the Internet2 project for the last three years, and the initial focus of this effort was to physically construct the high-speed lines needed for the venture, according to Dr. David Cordes, computer science department head at UA and a leader in the state’s Internet2 development.
“The current EPSCoR project is now focusing on applications that can utilize this network,” said Cordes. One task is to provide desktop video-conferencing capabilities for the three Centers of Excellence. “In addition, we will be providing network access to other physical resources within the state, such as UA’s microphone laboratory, and also investigating new software environments that make using high-speed networks much simpler,” he said. “And finally, we will work with all campuses to ensure that the Internet2 infrastructure developed is sustainable after EPSCoR funding ends.”
Alabama EPSCoR is a consortium of academic, government and industrial organizations created in 1985 to support projects within the state of Alabama capable of developing and sustaining high-quality science and engineering research and education that can contribute to statewide national competitiveness.