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Minority Universities Information Network for Research and Education
The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is issued a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) to solicit proposals from U.S. minority universities to establish regional Network Resources and Training Sites (NRTS's) at minority universities to stimulate the use of the Internet via computer networks as an integral part of minority institutions' interdisciplinary research and education.
The intent of this solicitation is to strengthen the capacity of minority universities to provide excellence and state-of-the-art mathematics, science, engineering, and technology (MSET) training and support research infrastructure development, thereby increasing their opportunities to participate in and benefit from NASA programs. The Internet plays a significant role in how NASA, academia, private industry, and other government agencies collaborate to achieve scientific, technical and educational goals.
Recognizing that the in-house expertise required to develop and support a campus local area network with an interconnect to the Internet was not common among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) and Other Minority Universities (OMU's), NASA's Office of Equal Opportunity Programs created the Minority University-Space Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN) Program in 1991 to improve electronic information exchange, sharing of computational resources at HBCU and OMU participating in NASA-related research. Since its creation, the MU-SPIN Program, with support from the NASA Headquarters Offices of Mission to Planet Earth and Space Sciences and managed by GSFC, has provided network access and conducted national and regional workshops to achieve these goals. OMU's are defined as Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI's), Tribally Controlled Colleges and institutions with significant enrollment of underrepresented minority or disabled students.
To enhance HBCU and OMU efforts in achieving MU-SPIN Program goals, the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs planned to fund six regional NRTS's at HBCU's and OMU's under the Institutional Research Award (IRA) program. The purpose of these NRTS's is to bring the benefits of computer networking and Internet connectivity to a greater number of HBCU's, OMU's and predominantly minority attended elementary and secondary schools. These NRTS's will be required to provide the following services for institutions identified in the region: assessment of specific needs; design of computer networks for the institutions; network connectivity; a network user resource center; and supplemental network training for the MSET's faculty and student bodies of those institutions.
Proposals focused on the following: design and implementation plans for local, metropolitan and wide area networks (LAN's, MAN's and WAN's); network management and providing access to on-line resources to network training; and to research and education information servers for students and faculty of institutions in their region. Proposals that capitalize on new and existing collaborations and interactions with other academic institutions, predominantly minority-attended elementary and secondary schools, government agencies, and industrial partners are encouraged.
Participation in this call for proposals was open to all U.S. colleges and universities that have been determined by the Department of Education to meet the requirements for HBCU's or OMU's. To be eligible, the proposing institution must offer at least a B.S. degree in engineering, computer science or information and communication-related technology, must have at least 56 kilobits per second Internet connectivity and must have received no more than $2,000,000 in total NASA funding during Fiscal Year (FY) 1994.
Funds are available for up to six awards under this CAN; three to HBCU's and three to OMU's. The actual funding mechanism under this CAN is a Cooperative Agreement. Proposals for up to $500,000 per year for as many as five years will be considered. NASA's continued funding of cooperative agreements selected under this CAN is contingent on an annual evaluation of documented progress and on the availability of funds. Interim reviews will be conducted annually and a comprehensive review will be conducted after three years.
(signed)
Jerome Bennett
MU-SPIN Project Manager
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