Conference: Tribal College and University Cyberinfrastructure Workshop

The Tribal College and University (TCU) Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Workshop provides an opportunity for the IT Directors, Chief Information Officers (CIOs), and other administrators, IT staff, or faculty at the TCUs, who are geographically isolated across the United States, to meet in-person, exchange best practices, interact with invited national cyberinfrastructure (CI) experts, and collaborate across TCU CI initiatives, academic areas, and/or geographical regions. The workshop is organized by the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) and led by a program committee consisting of AIHEC staff and TCU IT staff.

Cyberinfrastructure topic areas expected to be addressed through both presentations and in-depth panel discussions include CI Strategic Planning, AI Engagement, Cybersecurity and Data Sovereignty, Federated Identity, and Connectivity. Workshop panelists and presenters come from the TCUs, IT staff, and faculty but also include external subject matter experts and research and education community members.

The intellectual merit of the workshop includes the opportunity for TCU staff knowledge and skill development focused on new and existing cyberinfrastructure technologies in support of science and engineering applications relevant to the Tribal Colleges and the rural communities they serve. Given the important role the TCUs play in their communities, implementation of capacity-building relationships with TCUs will enable them to serve a similar function to their area K-12 schools and Tribal agencies, advancing them through the adoption of the shared CI tools and resources.

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.