A $650,000 grant awarded to Appalachian State University will provide research opportunities for undergraduate computer science students. The two-year grant is part of a $2.3 million project, funded by the Office of the President of the University of North Carolina, to develop advanced research and education applications in high performance computing, information systems and computational and computer science. UNC Asheville, UNC Chapel Hill and UNC Wilmington also received funds. ASU will use its portion of the grant to establish an eight-school consortium with Western Carolina University, UNC Greensboro, N.C. A&T, UNC Pembroke, Elon University, High Point University and Lenoir-Rhyne College. The computer science faculty will focus on teaching undergraduates to use a computer grid to solve large computational problems. The faculty also will develop and offer courses through the N.C. Research and Education Network, an internal data and video network between the universities. They also will develop a senior research seminar to be shared through the network and offer a summer workshop for faculty at nonconsortium schools. For details, visit the Web site www.appstate.edu.