CC* Regional: A Purpose-built SoCal Science DMZ for Catalyzing Scientific Research Collaborations

University Of Southern California, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

The Los Nettos Regional Network is a long-standing regional research and education (R&E) network with a history of supporting science and engineering research for its more than 30 members and associates in the greater Los Angeles area. This project builds a friction-free regional Science DMZ network across multiple Southern California college campuses, catalyzing collaborative research capabilities at the institutions. The project establishes the network infrastructure and software necessary to facilitate high speed transfers of large-scale research data for regional and national scientific collaborations. The campuses included in the network are Loyola Marymount University, Occidental College, and The Claremont Colleges consortium, which consists of Claremont Graduate University, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Keck Graduate Institute, Pitzer College, Pomona College, and Scripps College. This purpose-built science network is specially customized for each institution’s unique needs and follows the well-known Science DMZ guidelines established by ESnet. The new network interconnects with state, national, and international networks, such as CENIC’s California Research and Education Network (CalREN), Internet2, and Pacific Wave. Many projects in various science domains benefit from the significant network capacity increase that this project supports. Coordinated activities at the regional level, including technical training for administrators and researchers at each campus, ensure uniform standards are maintained. This scalable R&E network can be expanded in the future for researchers and students at other smaller regional institutions (e.g., Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, ArtCenter College of Design) as their need for collaboration widens. 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.