West Virginia EPSCoR response to reviewers’ question

Internet2 K20 Initiative and State Networks

The Internet2 K20 Initiative[1] is a well established program that offers educators within the Sponsored Education Group Participants (SEGP) system a rich repository of information describinghow I2 resources have significantly impacted the way K12 schools and higher education institutions connect and collaborate. West Virginia is one of only 10 state education networks (Fig. 1) not participating in the I2 SEGP program.[2] Without SEGP access, WV cannot benefit from the tremendous resources provided through participation in the K20 Initiative.

Lack of an anchor institution with sufficient I2 connectivity has been the primary obstacle for enabling SEGP services in the state. This proposal will assist Marshall University (MU) in establishing a 1Gb/s connection from their campus to I2 via MERIT/OARnet. Because this connectivity will position MU to offer SEGP sponsorship,the primary obstacle to SEGP participation will be removed.

The benefits of I2 SEGP access to the K12 and Higher Education STEM community in WVfor both faculty and studentsinclude the ability to participate in otherwise inaccessible opportunities for meaningful scientific collaboration, and the ability to bring the results of that collaboration directly into the classroom—without regard to geographic boundaries or the lack of local resources and equipment. These expanded opportunities will provide access to technologies and learning far beyond what is available to them locally.

The configuration outlined in the proposal provides for integration of the West Virginia Network for Educational Telecomputing (WVNET) and the WV MPLS network to the Marshall University SEGP Internet2 services, and this will enable statewide access to I2 from the MU network. SEGP service in WV will allow any member of the K12 and postsecondarysystemsconnected to WVNET to incorporate advanced technologies and transformative tools enabled through the I2 K20 initiative into existing STEM researchto enhance outreach, teaching and learning.

With SEGP services established at MU, the WV research community will advertise availability of the service and bring interested K12 schools, Community Colleges, Colleges and Universities, Libraries, and Museums to the table to review and discuss I2 SEGP best practices and model programs, as well as determine how those activities can be incorporated into their current education programs. This approach will not just engage the research, technology and clinical communities, but also the education, education research, arts and cultural communities,and allow them to explore the use of I2 technologies in new and possibly disruptive ways.

A first step for I2 usage by these constituents will be to establish and promote the use of advanced telepresence and collaboration facilities across the network. Distance learning programs will be significantly enhanced by this increased connectivity with the ability to use video-intensive curriculum. This will reach K12 and community colleges in WV’s remote southern coal counties in whichmore than half of underrepresented minorities in the state reside. SEGP services will also provide researchers at major research institutions with a method to truly collaborate with faculty and students atWVU, MU and the state’s PUIs.

WV STEMAcademy

The West Virginia STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math) Academy at MarshallUniversity is a multi-state collaborative effort that will identify outstanding students in grades 9-12 and encourage them to continue with post-secondary STEM education. Operating as a fully functioning high school on the MU-Huntington campus, students participating in Academy initiatives will be recruited directly from surrounding rural Appalachian counties in WV, KY and OH. Racial and ethnic minority students, as well as low SES and students from other underrepresented groups, will be particularly targeted for participation and introduced to research endeavors on the MU campus.

WV STEM Academy partners represent many organizations within the states of West Virginia, Ohio, and Kentucky. For example: in WV, Marshall University, the WV Department of Education, and multiple county-level government and education authorities; in KY, the Kentucky Regional Optical Network (KyRON), University of Kentucky, and the University of Louisville; in OH, Ohio Academic Resources Network (OARnet), Miami University (Ohio), OSU, and Ohio University. The diagram below displays key collaborators in the initiative.

The Academy will feature leading-edge STEM instruction that yields high-level student achievement as evidenced by research-based outcomes. Student experiences will be enriched through learning opportunities which amplify conceptual foundations, as well as involve problem and project-based learning approaches that integrate STEM disciplines. The Academy will enlist experimental laboratory, computational and other resources of the campus, as well as those enabled via I2 access, to advance inquiry and problem-based student learning. For example, as part of Academy curriculum related to nanoscience and nanotechnology research (WVNano), I2 and SEGP access will enable Academy students under the direction of research faculty to remotely access and control CI-enabled instrumentation such as the SEM/e-beam lithography unit at WVU (the only such unit in WV), the JEM-2100F TEM also at WVU, and the CI-enabled AFM at MU acquired with support from the recent RII-T2award to WV.

Current CI-enabled research and education

Investment in CI infrastructure through the RII Track II and other federal grants set the stage for the upcoming summer research experience program (PI Dr. Howard Richards), Computational Science Training at Marshall University for Undergraduates in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences[3]. Underrepresented STEM students are being encouraged to apply for this program which requires no special experience in computation. Research mentors for the program are faculty from chemistry, mathematics and physics and include a female and a black male who will be role models for those underrepresented students. In addition, a young faculty member in physics at WVU (Dr. Paul Cassack) is focusing on introducing and recruiting underrepresented groups to space science, a computationally intense field, with his recently awarded CAREER. An ongoing NSF ITEST grant (PI Sue Heatherly, WVU Co-PIs Drs. Maura McLaughlin and Duncan Lorimer), the Pulsar Search Collaboratory[4], is engaging rural West Virginia students and teachers in the search for pulsars. Using the power of grid computing, students are assisting astronomers in analyzing large data sets collected for the purpose of discovering new pulsars. Two high school students (Lucas Bolyard, Harrison Co. and Shay Bloxton, Nicholas Co.) have already discovered new pulsars from their homes – one an unusual rotating radio transient. SEGP access will allow these models of computational science learning and research to be accessible and expanded to K12, PUIs and community colleges across West Virginia and encourage engagement by this diverse group with CI-enhanced STEM programs.

The diversity goals of the proposal are to engage at least 5 STEM faculty and their students from PUIs in computational science and double the number of UREP undergraduates and graduate students exposed to research involving the CI enhancements proposed.A baseline assessment of current UREP student engagement will be completed by the External Evaluator in the first three months of the project.Through SEGP access and I2-enhanced outreach from WVU and MarshallUniversity as indicated above, K12, PUI and community college faculty and underrepresented students will be engaged in research and education enabled by this investment in CI.

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Endnotes

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