Nearly $3 Million NSF Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence Pilot Aims to Advance Research Capabilities and Support Systems for HBCUs and TCUs | September 2021

"Supported by a nearly $3 million Cyberinfrastructure Center of Excellence (CI CoE) Pilot program grant over two years from the National Science Foundation, the Minority Serving – Cyberinfrastructure Consortium (MS-CC) and Internet2 will provide researchers, professional staff, and students from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) with programs and services that address their cyberinfrastructure needs. While the initial focus of this grant is to advance cyberinfrastructure on campuses with definite needs through a partnership model, possibilities exist for additional opportunities to further expand the collaborations and support among other minority serving institutions (MSIs). The grant builds on earlier work by the MS-CC and Internet2, including three stakeholder mapping surveys administered to HBCUs, TCUs, Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and other MSIs. The survey results determined that limited workforce development opportunities and cyberinfrastructure capabilities are the two biggest barriers to achieving their cyberinfrastructure goals...."