An Overview of the Minority Universities-Space Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN) Resources and Training Sites (NRTS) and a Selection of Their Earth System Science Activities Meeting
- Gloria Brown-Simmons (gbrown@mica.jpl.nasa.gov), Mission to Planet Earth Program Office, Goddard Space Flight Center
The Internet plays a significant role in how NASA, academia, private industry, and other governmental agencies collaborate to achieve scientific, technical, and educational goals. Recognizing that the in-house expertise required to develop and support a campus local area network with an interconnect to the Internet was not common among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Other Minority Universities (OMUs), NASA's Office of Equal Opportunity Programs created the Minority University-Space Interdisciplinary Network (MU-SPIN) Program in 1991 to improve electronic information exchange, and sharing of computational resources at HBCUs and OMUs participating in NASA-related research.
Since its creation, the MU-SPIN Program, with support from the NASA Headquarters Offices of Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) and Space Sciences and managed by Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), has provided network access and conducted national and regional workshops to achieve these goals. OMUs are defined as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs), Tribally-Controlled Colleges, and institutions with significant enrollment of underrepresented minority or disabled students.
The Institutional Research Awards (IRA) program provides a quality learning and research environment for underrepresented minorities. Minority institutions and researchers can enhance their research capabilities in NASA-related fields, providing the additional benefit of increasing their ability to enter the mainstream competitive research arena. During 1995, the NASA IRA solicitation provided opportunity for seven minority institutions to serve as Network Resources and Training Sites (NRTS):
| Network Resources and Training Sites | Principal Investigator |
|---|---|
| City University of New York | Dr. Shermaine Austin |
| Elizabeth City State University | Dr. Linda Hayden |
| Morgan State University | Dr. William Lupton |
| Prairie View A&M University | Dr. John R. Williams |
| South Carolina State University | Dr. Donald K. Walter |
| Tennessee State University | Dr. Willard A. Smith |
| University of Texas at El Paso | Dr. Michael A. Kolitsky |
The NRTS will be responsible for establishing and maintaining internet connectivity as an integral part of at least five other minority institutions and at least one predominantly minority-attended elementary or secondary school research and education activity.
Users of the City University of New York (CUNY) NRTS participated in the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), Institute on Climate and Planets. At the recent 1996 summer conference, students and faculty gave presentations on such topics as: "Climate, Crops and Cash: Applications of Climate Forecasts to Farm Management;" "Causes of Sea Surface Temperature Variability in the Tropical Atlantic;" "The Effect of Global Warming on Precipitation in the United States;" and "Validating Soil Moisture in the GISS GCM: How Well Can We Predict Droughts and Floods?" A complete catalog of abstracts is available from Carolyn Harris, NASA/GISS.
In 1995, Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) acquired 639 acres of land in the Great Dismal Swamp from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare. The primary purpose of the property is to provide access to a pristine wetlands environment, and to promote public awareness of the crucial role played by wetlands in the coastal plain biome. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education, Title III Program, funded the construction of a half-mile-long boardwalk and observation tower. The U.S. Navy has licensed ECSU to construct 900 feet of the boardwalk over Navy wetlands in order to reach the University property. The boardwalk is accessed through the Navy Security Group Activity, northwest, located in northern Currituck County, NC. Contact Dr. Maurice Powers at ECSU for further information.
Central State University (CSU), Wilberforce, OH, is a partner of the Morgan State University (MSU) NRTS. Through this partnership, all participating NRTS faculty/staff and students can access advanced visualization hardware and software to conduct data analysis activities. During the last two years, faculty and students have spent summer internships at NASA/GSFC to further their knowledge of GSFC research. CSU established a Center for Scientific Visualization (CSV) in 1992 in which the primary research is the development of tools to analyze Earth systems data. Diane Love, Director of the CSV and the Water Resources Management Program at CSU, can be contacted for further information.
Timely technological transfer of Earth system programs and data to the NASA NRTS will help to enable widespread public use of MTPE data and further the process of systematic change in the area of Earth system science in educational institutions. The basic objective of the MTPE Strategic Enterprise Plan is to foster the development of an informed and environmentally aware public, which can be, in part, achieved through this process.
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