Lehigh Key Partner in PennREN Networking Initiative
The U.S. Department of Commerce announced in February that
Pennsylvania will receive $99.6 million, one of the largest
single-grant awards under the 2009 American Recovery and
Reinvestment Plan, to build the Pennsylvania Research and
Education Network (PennREN). The grant will be supplemented
with an additional $29 million in private investment.
The grant culminates the
efforts of Bruce Taggart, vice provost for Library and
Technology Services (LTS), and Roy Gruver, director of
technology management services with LTS. The two have
collaborated for the past year with top Pennsylvania
research universities, including Penn State, Carnegie Mellon
and the universities of Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh, as well
as the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, to
develop a broadband proposal using federal stimulus funds to
build a high-speed state-wide network for research and
education.
PennREN will dramatically
increase the capabilities for data-intense research and
collaboration among K-12 schools, colleges and universities,
healthcare providers, and economic development partners in
Pennsylvania, while connecting unserved and underserved
communities to high-speed Internet. This project will
connect 60 Pennsylvania institutions in 39 counties,
including universities, high schools, libraries and
healthcare facilities. Lehigh will be one of 13 core network
nodes strategically located throughout the state.
“This is fundamentally a
statewide, high-speed network for research and education,”
said Taggart. “For Lehigh, it’s going to give us high-speed
access to other top research universities in the state as
well as the capacity to connect virtually to top national
and international research networks.
“The development of this
network will be significant for faculty and students. It
will support innovation in teaching and research
collaborations for our students and faculty, and it could
lead to new technologies, healthcare delivery systems, basic
science discoveries and more.”
The Keystone Initiative for Network-Based Education and
Research (KINBER), a coalition of Pennsylvania colleges and
universities, research and healthcare organizations and
economic development entities, including Lehigh, submitted
the joint application for a $99-million grant to construct
and manage PennREN. KINBER’s founding members include
Lehigh, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education,
Penn State, Pitt, the University of Pittsburgh Medical
Center, the Mid-Atlantic Gigapop for Internet 2 (MAGPI) at
Penn, Carnegie Mellon, Bucknell University, Drexel
University, Three Rivers Optical Exchange (3ROX), the
Pennsylvania Commission for Community Colleges, the
Association for Independent Colleges and Universities of
Pennsylvania, the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of
Pennsylvania, and EINetworks, a collaboration of the
Allegheny Library Association and the Carnegie Library of
Pittsburgh.
Taggart said Lehigh’s
position as a core node in the new network will
significantly enhance its capabilities in data-intense
research, high-performance computing, video conferencing,
telemedicine, Internet2, collaboration with international
students and faculty, and real-time access to remote
resources. The project should be fully operational within
three years, he added.
“The PennREN project is a
very strategic stimulus package project and is what
President Obama’s broadband stimulus package was supposed to
do: create jobs, serve unserved and underserved communities
with limited Internet access, and promote sustainable
economic growth and development,” said Taggart. “PennREN is
not a ‘band-aid project.’ It will have a lasting impact on
generations of Pennsylvanians by providing a statewide
broadband technology infrastructure that allows Pennsylvania
to grow and prosper in the 21st century.”
This article is
excerpted from a Lehigh University news release posted on
Friday, February 19, 2010.
Article posted April,
2010
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