CC* CIRA: Shared Arkansas Research Plan for Community Cyber Infrastructure (SHARP CCI)

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).

SHARP CCI creates a statewide research cyber infrastructure (RCI) Plan for Arkansas that is focused on the eight degree granting institutions performing science and engineering research. Participating institutions include: Arkansas State University (ASU); Southern Arkansas University (SAU); University of Arkansas (UA) Fayetteville (UAF); UA Division of Agriculture (UADA); UA Little Rock (UALR); UA Medical Sciences (UAMS); UA Pine Bluff (UAPB); and University of Central Arkansas (UCA).

Each school has a growing demand for federated access to high-speed resources, managed services and technical training; however, a coordinated plan for providing these capabilities does not currently exist. Most schools in Arkansas lack the connectivity, budget and staffing to fully utilize these statewide resources, and each school is unique in technical capability and expertise.

SHARP CCI assembles the senior administrators and research leaders at each school to document the environments, capabilities, technology needs and resource gaps and create an equitable RCI Plan to inform decision makers in the state. This plan will also provide a necessary resource for each school to apply for additional NSF support through solicitations that expand school infrastructure and training capabilities.

A statewide RCI Plan is requisite for organizing and expanding research collaborations and it fosters an economy-of-scale for building compliant facilities and systems and establishing a managed service environment for schools with limited resources. SHARP CCI includes establishing a comprehensive data science training program, Arkansas Cyber Team (ACT), to provide engineers, educators, researchers and students access to technical expertise in a broad range of scientific domains.

The project team includes Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network, Great Plains Network, Open Science Grid and NSF’s Engagement and Performance Operations Center to provide engineering and training expertise, managed service experience and help in implementing a statewide RCI Plan for Arkansas.

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.