ACADEMIA

Project Addresses Global Infrastructure, Growth & Innovation

Internet2 plans to enhance research and collaboration over a three-year period between U.S. and Chinese researchers, scientists, educators and higher education leaders. The announcement was made last week at the Chinese-American Networking Symposium (CANS) in Seattle.

The project, “Framework Program for U.S.-China Collaboration in Scientific Research and Education,” will establish working groups to address global infrastructure needs and foster the continuing exchange of ideas to produce growth and innovation. Internet2 expects to work with its university members that have a history of productive interactions with Chinese students and faculty, and to position the universities as the central community coordination group from the United States.

“This effort will enhance Internet2’s global support of our university members and expand education and research collaboration between the U.S. and China,” said Internet2 President and CEO H. David Lambert. “We will work with universities and researchers to benefit multiple scientific disciplines and promote the global exchange of educational findings and methodology.”

The program will help build engagement among Internet2 and the China Education and Research Network, the China Science and Technology Network, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Internet2 will also support ongoing collaborations and remote deployments between U.S. universities and China, scientific interactions between the two countries, and prior findings by CANS. The project also will make use of the momentum resulting from the creation of a 10G link between the U.S. and China, which is a joint effort between Indiana University and Internet2.

“The broadened and expanded CANS activity fits nicely with the new US-China high-performance network connection,” said Jim Williams, director of international networking at the Indiana University Global Research Network Operations Center. “The CANS activity will concentrate on developing enhanced US-China science collaborations and the development and deployment of better network tool sets to improve the use and efficiency of the network connection. I look forward to working closely with Internet2 in the development of a new generation of US-science collaboration and a new generation of CANS.”

The Symposium promotes interoperability and seamless networking—and seamless collaboration in research and education. CANS was initiated in the summer of 1998 by the Chinese Association for Science and Technology, USA, and the University of Maryland, and co-sponsored by the China Education and Research Network and the China Science and Technology Network.