CC* Networking Infrastructure: Jackson State University (JSU)-Research Network

Jackson State University, Jackson MS

Investigators

Abstract

This project provides Jackson State University (JSU) researchers with a campus cyber infrastructure (CI) capability allowing expansion of big data and other network intensive collaborative research that depend on high-speed network access to local, regional, cloud and national compute and storage resources. The project increases research network capacity to 100G, re-architects the campus research network, and strategic relocation of equipment to utilize a Science DMZ (Demilitarized zone - i.e., free from firewalls and other friction devices). The research network includes centrally pooled High-Performance/Throughput Computing (HPC/HTC) resources designed to meet immediate and future research needs. An increased focus on domain scientist talent is possible due to management and monitoring of the CI assets by a centralized, well-trained enterprise information technology team. This project enhances the end-to-end network services for researchers and is an important catalyst for the growing campus-wide interdisciplinary data science program. Application-specific network and computational needs for big data analytics, visualization, nanotoxicity, complex network analysis, science drivers and education are addressed. Faculty, students, and the IT staff on campus and across campuses are engaged to leverage the new environment for their research, education, and operational needs. The project is disseminated through outreach workshop activities with Historical Black Colleges and Universities and other universities or the community college systems within the state of Mississippi who may be planning similar campus network upgrades. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.