9720159 NIEBAUM This award provides funding for computer network equipment and services to establish the Great Plains Network (GPN), a north- south communications corridor linking scientists in six central EPSCoR states. North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas have formed an alliance, with each participating state committing non-federal matching funds to help establish the GPN as a regional virtual community and provide researchers in those states with access to high-bandwidth networks and high performance computing capacity. This important research infrastructure will enhance research in a breadth of basic and applied areas but the initial focus of the GPN is on a central theme of Earth System Science. The network is expected to foster collaborations among researchers in the central plains states and lead to recognition of this virtual community as a center-of-excellence in spatial data analysis technologies applied to the biospheric sciences. The GNP will be governed by an Advisory Committee of nationally recognized experts who will provide guidance for the three functional teams - a Management Team, a Technical Team, and an Earth System Science Team. A conference of the members of the Earth System Science Team and other invitees is planned for 5-7 November 1997 at the EROS Data Center, a U.S. Geological Survey facility in South Dakota.
