Equipment: CC*Network-Campus: Carthage College Next-Gen Science Network

A diverse team of faculty researchers and networking experts at Carthage College are collaborating to develop and deploy an advanced wireless network for scientific research and teaching across the campus. The Next-Gen Science Network enhances network capacity and performance to support the growing STEM research, which has become increasingly technology-dependent and data-intensive. The new network enables unique scientific research in many subject areas, including astrophysics, genomics, molecular biology, engineering, and geospatial analysis. The upgraded infrastructure will also increase connectivity to the wider academic community. Other broader impacts include increased undergraduate research opportunities, improved collaboration with external institutions, hands-on training for students in modern network technologies, and the integration of more advanced computational tools into STEM curricula. In addition to supporting unique research outcomes, the project work prepares students for future careers in science and engineering, contributing to a STEM-literate society and a highly skilled workforce. The project upgrades the network to improve throughput to 2.5 Gb in academic buildings, simplifies authentication, and implements proactive monitoring and performance tuning. Research activities will operate within a logically configured virtual network segment, a configuration that allows scientific computing resources to access the network with low latency and minimal packet loss. This design can be continuously tuned to enable frequent, large file transfers, more cloud computing and connectivity to shared academic resources, and the ability to use AI-enabled tools, wearables, and other Internet of Things (IoT) measurement sensors needed for scientific research. 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.