CC*DNI Networking Infrastructure: Texas Woman's University Science Research Network

Texas Woman'S University, Denton TX

Investigators

Abstract

Texas Woman's University (TWU) is committed to establishing a dedicated science research network (SRN) for faculty and student researchers, with access to worldwide resources to enrich scientific discovery. In conjunction with TWU's intensive focus on funded, research-active faculty in the sciences, health sciences and technical areas, the SRN is essential to meeting the data-intensive requirements for a growing number of disciplines. Key academic programs include, but are not limited to, physical therapy, nursing telehealth, informatics, computer science, biology, chemistry and nutrition. TWU's plan is to construct and support a 10 Gbps SRN for researchers to effectively use and share large data sets. The SRN plan has 10 Gbps connectivity to TWU's regional area network, "Lonestar Education and Research Network", providing TWU researchers access to Internet2. Such capability is necessary for many faculty and students needing significantly more bandwidth. For example, TWU's recent development of an informatics program touches multiple disciplines, particularly in health informatics where study questions include hospital reaction time, improved patient care, viral preparedness, and health care outcome modeling. Additionally, this project provides enhanced research and educational opportunities to a diverse TWU student body, consisting of 87% women, 19% African American and greater than 25% Latino - TWU is designated as a Hispanic-serving institution. Thus, this project unquestionably furthers TWU's efforts to engage women and minorities in important research opportunities across critical STEM and health care fields. Recognition of underrepresentation of women and minorities in technical arenas is longstanding.