CC* Networking Infrastructure: Cyberinfrastructure and Network Architecture Upgrades to Empower Research at Shepherd University

This project funds Shepherd University to deploy a new network cyberinfrastructure dedicated to data-driven research. It will greatly improve access to national shared collaborative resources for science and engineering research and education. The network cyberinfrastructure will provision a connection to national research and educational networks. The network cyberinfrastructure also provisions a Science DMZ, which is a network component that enables high volume data transfers along with high security to support advanced data intensive research. The new cyberinfrastructure will become an integral component of a larger upgrade effort and is helping to define broader objectives for transforming the old low-throughput network architecture into a modern high-performance, resilient resource. The deployment positively impacts the local campus community and the state of West Virginia. This project adds 10 Gbps to the existing campus 1 Gbps bandwidth, deploys modern Layer 3 and Layer 2 network architecture, instruments three STEM buildings, provisions a last-mile connection to regional optical networks and provides full integration with the Internet2 national backbone. The new network cyberinfrastructure will increase the ability of Shepherd University to attract, hire, and retain faculty whose research is data intensive and will improve the attractiveness of the university to students in technology and the data dependent fields. This award by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure is jointly supported by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). 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.