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MOREnet Recognized for Exemplary Workplace Practices June 14, 2016

The Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet), a business entity of the University of Missouri System, was recently honored with a 2016 When Work Works Award for its use of effective workplace strategies to increase business and employee success.

This prestigious award, part of the national When Work Works project administered by the Families and Work Institute (FWI) and the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), recognizes employers of all sizes and types in Missouri and across the country.

“MOREnet’s workplace practices exemplify the strong leadership in place and the culture their team has created in order to be effective and productive,” said Michael Middleton, interim president of the UM System. ”This award exemplifies the great work done by MOREnet for the university and, in turn, its invaluable reach statewide.”

MOREnet’s Executive Director, John Gillispie brought the Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) concept forward in 2013 as a means of empowering all employees to achieve a more fulfilling work/life balance.

“John has led the organization into a pilot of this innovative work culture that has proven to be highly successful and which has aided in attracting skilled workers in our highly-competitive environment. During the ongoing pilot, turnover is down, productivity is up, staff morale is high and members are receiving the high quality service they have always expected from MOREnet,” said Gary Allen, chief information officer and vice president for information technology at the University of Missouri System.  “This success is proven by member satisfaction survey scores remaining high while survey markers of employee satisfaction and engagement have increased.”

The award is the result of a rigorous assessment. Worksites must first qualify by ranking in the top 20 percent of the country based on a nationally representative sample of employers. Two-thirds of the evaluation of applicants comes from an employee survey. Applicants are evaluated on six research-based ingredients of an effective workplace: opportunities for learning; a culture of trust; work/life fit; supervisor support for work success; autonomy; and satisfaction with earnings, benefits and opportunities for advancement — all factors associated with employee health, well-being and engagement.


About MOREnet

The Missouri Research and Education Network (MOREnet) is a member-driven consortium serving Missouri’s K-12 schools, colleges and universities, public libraries, state and local government, teaching hospitals and clinics and other affiliate organizations. MOREnet, which operates as a separate business unit within the University of Missouri System, was created in 1991 to deliver secure, reliable and robust Internet connectivity to its members. Today, MOREnet has evolved from an Internet service provider to an organization deploying and supporting the technology resources its members need to be successful. MOREnet provides technical support, videoconferencing support, technical training, hosted and managed cloud services, disaster recovery services and network security. MOREnet is committed to supporting and enabling its members’ missions through the use of technology to enhance opportunities for public access, learning and research.

Full story from the University of Missouri website: https://www.umsystem.edu/ums/news/news_releases/061316_news

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NSF Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) Program Update May 25, 2016

NSF has recently announced an update to NSF 15-534. Formerly called CC*DNI, the Campus Cyberinfrastructure (CC*) program (NSF 16-567) invests in coordinated campus-level cyberinfrastructure (CI) components of data, networking, and computing infrastructure, capabilities, and integrated services leading to higher levels of performance, reliability and predictability for science applications and distributed research projects. Learning and workforce development (LWD) in CI is explicitly addressed in the program. Science-driven requirements are the primary motivation for any proposed activity.

CC* awards will be supported in seven areas:

  1. Data Driven Multi-Campus/Multi-Institution Model Implementations awards will be supported at up to $3,000,000 total for up to 4 years.
  2. Cyber Team awards will be supported at up to $1,500,000 total for up to 3 years.
  3. Data Driven Networking Infrastructure for the Campus and Researcher awards will be supported at up to $500,000 total for up to 2 years.
  4. Network Design and Implementation for Small Institutions awards will be supported at up to $400,000 total for up to 2 years.
  5. Network Integration and Applied Innovation awards will be supported at up to $1,000,000 total for up to 2 years.
  6. Campus Computing awards will be supported at up to $500,000 for up to 3 years.
  7. Innovative Integrated Storage Resources awards will be supported at up to $200,000 for up to 2 years.

Total Anticipated Funding Amount: $16,000,000 – $18,000,000
Estimated Number of Awards: 21 to 33
Deadline for full proposals: August 23, 2016
Complete information: http://nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16567/nsf16567.htm

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MAX Partners with ConnectArlington to Expand Network, Promote Economic Development May 18, 2016

ConnectArlington, Arlington County’s government-owned fiber-optic network built with economic development in mind, today announced a strategic partnership that will bring additional advanced cyberinfrastructure resources to Northern Virginia’s research and education (R&E) community. Through this partnership, MAX will establish a terabit-capable point of presence (TeraPoP) in the heart of Arlington, Virginia, to stimulate economic growth and facilitate scientific discovery across the mid-Atlantic region.

The MAX network will extend to numerous federal agencies, research laboratories, and startup companies that call Arlington’s vibrant metropolitan community home. As a result, these organizations will be able to easily obtain MAX’s specialized cyberinfrastructure services, including access to Amazon Web Services (AWS) Direct Connect, a modern high-performance computing cluster, and on-net Trusted Internet Connection (TIC) transport services.

In addition, scientists and researchers will be able to gain extremely high-speed access to the larger national and global R&E network infrastructure, including multiple 100-Gbps connections to the Internet2 network and other high-performance wide area network infrastructures.

Through MAX and ConnectArlington’s combined effort, government laboratories and agencies will have convenient access to the cutting-edge technological resources necessary for conducting complex, data-driven research initiatives, which could ultimately lead to scientific breakthroughs.

“We are extremely pleased that ConnectArlington is partnering with MAX to make such a positive impact on the region’s digital future,” said Tripti Sinha, Executive Director of MAX and AVP/CTO of the University of Maryland’s Division of Information Technology. “Now more than ever, MAX is well-positioned to spur innovation and support businesses with our one-of-a-kind cyberinfrastructure services in a county that is very supportive of the R&E community. MAX is proud to join forces with such a strong technological ally.”

The agreement was formalized during Saturday’s Arlington County Board meeting, allowing MAX to establish the TeraPoP in a county facility, as well as gain access to ConnectArlington’s network.

“This exciting partnership with the University of Maryland will help us find new ways to use technology and data to better inform our decisions and transform the way we do business as a government,” Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey said. “These new capabilities also will help the County attract and retain those organizations that are engaged with MAX and those that want to be.”

With the launch of this TeraPoP, the MAX network footprint will have a total of 14 TeraPoPs spanning across Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

About Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX)

Mid-Atlantic Crossroads (MAX) is a multi-state regional network led by the University of Maryland. MAX operates an all-optical, Layer 1 core network that is the foundation for a high-performance infrastructure providing state-of-the-art 100-Gbps network technology and services. MAX participants include universities, federal research labs, and other research-focused organizations in the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas. MAX serves as a connector and traffic aggregator to the Internet2 national backbone and peers with other major networks. Its mission is to provide cutting-edge network connectivity for its participants, tailored and generic data-transport solutions, and advanced services to accommodate and optimize large data flows and to facilitate network and application research. For more information about MAX and MAX services, please visitwww.maxgigapop.net.

Media Contacts:

Karen Marcher, Administrative and Special Projects Coordinator, Advanced Cyberinfrastructure and Internet Global Services (ACIGS), Division of Information Technology, University of Maryland, 301.405.4428, kmarcher@umd.edu.

 Shannon Whalen McDaniel, Communications Manager, Department of Technology Services, Arlington County Government, 703.228.3685, swhalenmcdaniel@arlingtonva.us.

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