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Historic Meeting in Veracruz to Launch New Era of International Research Collaboration in the Americas

Ampath

Julio Ibarra

06.01.2005

The kickoff meeting of a new collaborative project, the Western-Hemisphere Research and Education Networks – Links Interconnecting Latin America (WHREN-LILA), was held on April 30, 2005, in Veracruz, Mexico. Representatives of FIU (the NSF awardee), and CENIC (a collaborator on the award), as well as representatives of Brazil (RNP), the State of Sao Paulo (ANSP), Mexico (CUDI), Argentina (RETINA) and the regional Association of Latin American Research Networks (CLARA), launched the capability for network-mediated science and engineering research and collaborations between the United States and Latin America, on a par with those with Europe and Asia. This project creates high-speed networking connections between the U.S. and Latin America.

"These new network connections will support the advancement of science and engineering research and education in the western hemisphere", said Ibarra, Executive Director CIARA at FIU, further adding that with this initiative "scholarship in the Americas will improve through new opportunities for collaborative teaching, technology- augmented student mobility, and an infrastructure for inquiry-based learning."

Dolgonas, President of CENIC, commented on the value of this initiative for research "As the network ties together more instruments and research groups at higher speeds, the result will be an increase in the rate of gathering, processing and sharing data. This will produce an increase in the rate of discovery. This impact is so broad that it is impossible to measure. From biodiversity research, identifying specimens faster to collaborative biomedical engineering discovering drug treatments more quickly - the impacts are vast."

This project was made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), award #0441095 and an award from FAPESP #2003/13708-0 The NSF designates Hispanic Americans as a disadvantaged community. This award was made to two institutions that serve large Hispanic American communities in the U.S. FIU, located in Miami, serves the largest contingent of Hispanic students within the continental U.S. CENIC, located in Los Angeles, is located in one of the largest Hispanic populated cities in the nation These connections offer to both the US and Latin American science and education communities a new and unique benefit -- the opportunity to leverage cultural and language commonalities with collaborators in Latin America to advance their pursuit of research and education in the U.S. This will offer an advantage to not only the Hispanic populations throughout the U.S., but will cement collaborative relationships throughout the Western Hemisphere.

The LILA connections and its partnership with RedCLARA, the Regional Research Network, covering Latin America as a whole offer a high-speed international peering network throughout the Western Hemisphere. This allows the U.S. to contribute to and leverage Western Hemisphere network initiatives in a way that has previously been impossible. Our hemispheric vision creates a framework that establishes a foundation to support the needs of interregional science and education. While LILA serves to link inter- regional networks, specific domains that wish to provision dedicated or committed bandwidth have both the benefit of the LILA connections and the WHREN management organization.

As the incumbents for providing U.S. to Latin American research network connectivity, FIU and CENIC have demonstrated unmatched expertise in working with peer organizations from the U.S. and Latin America that serve the science, research and education communities in the western hemisphere. FIU and CENIC, along with peer organizations CLARA, the Cooperation of Latin American national research and education networks, the Academic Network of São Paulo (ANSP), the national research and education network of Brazil (RNP) and the national research and education network of Mexico (CUDI), form the collaboration that will interconnect the research and education networks of the western hemisphere. In particular, its connection to the RedCLARA Network already allows the US researchers to reach 7 countries in Latin America and a further 11 Latin American countries by the end of 2005.

About FIU
Florida International University is one of America's most dynamic institutions of higher learning. Since opening in 1972, FIU has achieved many milestones of excellence that have taken other universities more than a century to reach, including its classification as a Research I university. FIU has a nationally renowned faculty known for their outstanding teaching and cutting-edge research, and various students from the U.S. and over 130 foreign countries attend FIU each year. FIU operates the AMPATH International Exchange Point in Miami for peering of international R&E networks of the Americas. The AMPATH international exchange point is located at the NAP of the Americas in Miami. AMPATH is supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation. More information about AMPATH can be found at www.ampath.fiu.edu. The university offers more than 200 Baccalaureate, Master's and Doctoral degree programs in 16 colleges and schools. For more information on Florida International University, please visit www.fiu.edu.

About CENIC
The Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California is charged with designing, provisioning, and operating robust, high-capacity, next-generation Internet communications services through a cohesive infrastructure for its associates and affiliates. CENIC represents the common interests of its associates, who are drawn from California's higher education academic and research communities, and is highly accountable to the institutions it serves to fulfill the trust that has been placed with it. CENIC also provides services to California K-12 schools and, to facilitate the education and research mission of its associates, to non-California higher education institutions and industry research organizations with which CENIC associate researchers and educators are engaged. See www.cenic.org

About Academic Network of Sao Paulo (ANSP)
ANSP unites São Paulo's University networks with Scientific and Technological Research Centers in São Paulo, and is managed by the State of São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). The ANSP Network is another example of international collaboration and exploration. Through its connection to AMPATH, all of the institutions connected to ANSP will be involved in research with US universities and research centers, offering significant contributions and the potential to develop new applications and services. This connectivity with AMPATH and ANSP will allow researchers to enhance the quality of current data, inevitably increasing the quality of new scientific developments, www.ansp.br.

About CLARA
CLARA is the Cooperation of Latin American Research Networks, a Not-for-profit organization based in Uruguay whose goal is to provide regional high speed connectivity through all of Latin America and peer with other regional networks in the world. As such, using the LILA connections it will peer with CENIC, Internet2, the Federal Networks and also APAN through Pacific Wave. The network, RedCLARA, peers also directly with GEANT in Europe and other regional networks, www.redclara.net

About RNP
RNP, the National Education and Research Network of Brazil, is a not-for-profit company which promotes the innovative use of advanced networking, with the joint support of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education. Historically, RNP was responsible for the introduction and adoption of Internet technology in Brazil. Today, RNP operates a nationally deployed high-performance network used for collaboration and communication in research and education throughout the country, reaching all 26 states and the Federal District, and provides both commodity and advanced research Internet connectivity to more than 200 universities, research centers and technical schools. http://www.rnp.br

About CUDI
CUDI: Corporación Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet, A.C. is a non-profit corporation of Mexican Universities in charge of running Mexico's National Research and Education Network. It was formed in April, 1999 and has a membership of 98 higher education and research institutions. CUDI's members comprise approximately 2/3 of the Mexican Higher Education System. Members are committed to the development, use and support of advanced networks and wide band connectivity applications for education and research. The CUDI network has 8,000 kilometers of backbone deployed throughout Mexico. Main application areas are: Advanced network research and development; Distance education; Digital Libraries and Learning Object Repositories; Telemedicine and health; Life sciences; Astronomy; Earth Sciences; Co- laboratories; Visualization; Art; Grid computing; High-Energy Physics; Robotics. www.cudi.edu.mx

source: http://shelflife.ampath.net/mailman/private/ampath/2005-June/000008.html