Oklahoma’s Science DMZ continues to grow with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF). OneNet and the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (OSRHE) received a fifth award to expand the OneOklahoma Friction Free Network (OFFN).
NSF has awarded OneNet and OSRHE a $1,014,757 Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) grant to connect four additional campuses to OFFN. Administered by the NSF’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, the CC* grant program invests in campus-level cyberinfrastructure improvements for science applications and research projects.
The newest grant, entitled Creating Opportunities for Research & Education Multiple Organization Regional OneOklahoma Friction Free Network (CORE-MORe-OFFN), is a two-year award. This award will connect Connors State College (CSC), Eastern Oklahoma State College (EOSC), Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO), and Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU). The project will bring the research and education network infrastructure, computing tools and scientific equipment OFFN enables to these rural campuses.
CORE-MORe-OFFN will increase connectivity to 10 Gbps to OneNet and the OFFN network for all four campuses. It will alsofund an optical fiber build from NEO’s main campus to its animal sciences building and a 10G service upgrade for OPSU.
Previous NSF CC* Awards
This award marks the seventh expansion of the OFFN network, originally established by an NSF grant in 2013. Previous NSF CC* awards have connected 26 college and university locations and advanced research computing capabilities across the state. These enhanced connections have already produced new collaboration opportunities for smaller institutions that had not had access to local computing resources.
“The OFFN connection enhances research collaborations and educational opportunities in a variety of critical degree programs for faculty and students throughout the state,” said Chancellor Allison D. Garrett.
Watch OneNet’s OFFN Highlight Video!
OFFN uses a Science DMZ network design to deliver high-speed data transfer capabilities. A Science DMZ engineers a portion of a campus network for science applications. According to ESnet, which developed the model, the configuration and security policies of a Science DMZ create an environment tailored to meet high-performance scientific computing needs, including high-volume data transfer, remote experiment control and data visualization.
As Oklahoma’s Science DMZ, OFFN is a 10 and 100 Gbps research network that provides higher education institutions with a specialized internet connection dedicated for research and education. In addition, it provides a pathway to connect to other resources, such as supercomputers, that empower for more sophisticated capabilities for students and faculty that are not geographically limited.
Campus Research and Education Initiatives
Newly connected campuses will leverage these tools for implementation of the research and education initiatives that comprised the proposal. These projects will facilitate knowledge of how to use the system as well as generate future project ideas. The grant supports STEM-related fields that meet workforce needs outlined in the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education’s Blueprint 2030 strategic plan.
Initial projects include:
Connors State College
- Data Collection and Cataloging for Science Curriculum
Eastern Oklahoma State College
- Multidisciplinary STEM Research Supporting Critical Thinking in Behavioral and Social Sciences
Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College
- “Hear to Observe” Program for NASA’s Planetary Science Division
- Climate Change Modeling: Using Climate Models as an Undergraduate Student Teaching Tool in Environmental Science
- NASA Technology Transfer Idea Competition
- Research Topics in Equine and Ranch Management
Oklahoma Panhandle State University
- Integrating Supercomputing into Rural Education: A Hands-On Learning Pathway for Hispanic Students
- Improving Access to Online Library Databases
OneNet makes CORE-MORe-OFFN possible by providing the network that connects the colleges and universities. OneNet also provides access to Internet2, a nationwide network for education and research. Internet2 is a 400Gbps network that supports big data movement and collaboration among educators across the nation. OneNet is the only organization in Oklahoma that provides access to Internet2.
Project Partners & Management
Internet2, along with several collaborating partners will provide support for the CORE-MORe-OFFN grant, including the University of Oklahoma, The Quilt, Great Plains Network, Engagement and Performance Operations Center (EPOC) and the Great Plains Regional Cyber Team.
The award will be managed by OneNet, the state system of higher education’s research and education network. Brian Burkhart, OneNet’s chief technology officer, will serve as principal investigator. Paul Wills, chair/instructor of psychology, sociology and child development for EOSC, will lead research and education application adoption, and Heath Hodges, chief information officer for the Oklahoma State University A&M system, will lead campus technology deployment. Bill Bradford of OneNet will manage network technology implementation and training, and April Goode of OneNet will provide planning, communications and coordination services for grant implementation.
“OneNet continues to build on the success of the OFFN network to expand cyberinfrastructure resources to Oklahoma’s colleges and universities,” said Burkhart. “OFFN’s high-speed connections and data transfer capabilities make research computing possible for campuses previously without access to these capabilities. As Oklahoma’s research and education network, OneNet’s mission is to advance research, science, innovation and discovery through initiatives like OFFN.”
Read our latest OFFN update.
Read More...The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education (OSRHE) and OneNet a $1,014,757 Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) grant to connect four additional campuses to the OneOklahoma Friction Free Network (OFFN). This marks the fifth award to OSRHE and OneNet to expand the OFFN network.
Administered by NSF’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure, the CC* grant program invests in campus-level cyberinfrastructure improvements for science applications and research projects. Previous NSF awards have connected a total of 26 Oklahoma research and regional public and private college and university locations to OFFN.
Under the terms of this two-year grant cycle, Connors State College (CSC), Eastern Oklahoma State College (EOSC), Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College (NEO), and Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU) will be connected to the OFFN network.
“The OFFN connection enhances research collaborations and educational opportunities in a variety of critical degree programs for faculty and students throughout the state,” said Chancellor Allison D. Garrett.
OFFN is a 10 and 100 Gbps research network that provides higher education institutions with a specialized internet connection dedicated for research. This specialized connection is much faster than traditional internet highways, allowing researchers to transmit large amounts of data at higher speeds. It also provides a pathway to connect to other resources, such as supercomputers, that empower more sophisticated research capabilities for students and faculty that are not geographically limited.
This CC* project will support a wide range of scientific disciplines at the four newly connected sites, including biology, behavioral/social sciences, mathematics, aeronautical engineering, information technology, nursing and other STEM-related fields that meet workforce needs outlined in the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education’s Blueprint 2030 strategic plan. Once connected to the network, institutions will begin implementation of the projects, known as science drivers, that drove the need for the expanded capabilities.
The project will increase connectivity to 10 Gbps to OneNet and the OFFN network for all four campuses. The grant award also will fund an optical fiber build from NEO’s main campus to its animal sciences building and a 10G service upgrade for OPSU.
The award will be managed by OneNet, the state system of higher education’s comprehensive digital communications entity. Brian Burkhart, OneNet’s chief technology officer, will serve as principal investigator. Paul Wills, chair/instructor of psychology, sociology and child development for EOSC, will lead research and education application adoption, and Heath Hodges, chief information officer for the Oklahoma State University A&M system, will lead campus technology deployment. Bill Bradford of OneNet will manage network technology implementation and training, and April Goode of OneNet will provide planning, communications and coordination services for grant implementation.
“OneNet continues to build on the success of the OFFN network to expand cyberinfrastructure resources to Oklahoma’s colleges and universities,” said Burkhart. “OFFN’s high-speed connections and data transfer capabilities make research computing possible for campuses previously without access to these capabilities. As Oklahoma’s research and education network, OneNet’s mission is to advance research, science, innovation and discovery through initiatives like OFFN.”
Read More...Grant Scott edited this article based on:
Astronomers & Engineers Use a Grid of Computers at a National Scale to Study the Universe 300 Times Faster, https://public.nrao.edu/news/astronomers-study-the-universe-300-times-faster/
Compute nodes that were sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Campus Cyberinfrastructure program at campuses within the Great Plains Region have continually contributed to national research initiatives through NSF’s Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing (PATh).
“The NRAO manages some of the largest and most used radio telescopes in the world, including the NSF’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA). When these telescopes are observing the Universe, they collect vast amounts of data, for hours, months, even years at a time, depending on what they are studying.” – Article
Where does GPN fit in?
“Rather than sending one Mt. Petabytes to one supercomputing facility, the data was divided into pieces and distributed to smaller banks of computers with GPUs, distributed to university computing centers across the country both large and small.” In the GPN, these are servers on the campuses of University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, and Kansas State University (see map below).
The GP-ENGINE project is currently supporting 30-40 research projects each month, providing over 10,000 GPU hours per month for data processing workloads such as the NRAO.