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Advanced networking innovations are not being fully leveraged by astronomers and high-energy physicists in the Americas. Astronomers and physicists have established a modus operandi that is tailored to foster domain excellence. Networking professionals are actively engaged in advancing network applications. These applications are not effectively expanding the horizons for some astronomers and physicists. The networking professionals lack a rich understanding of astronomy and physics research. Faculty members are thus unable to see the full scope of opportunities enabled by advanced networking.
To address these challenges we proposed a Pan American Studies Institute on Advanced Networking Technologies leveraged for Physics and Astronomy, which was favorably reviewed and funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering. The intellectual merit is that anew bridge between astronomy, physics and the advanced networking community will be created, fostering new discoveries. The PASI will not be a locus for fundamental research; rather it will incubate a new generation of scientists and engineers who are capable of fully integrating advanced networking into astronomy and physics research and education.
The broader impacts will be to increase the rate of discovery for faculty by augmenting their research with advanced networking, to foster inter-disciplinary research, to improve the effectiveness of minority graduate education, and to propagate this change widely.
The hypothesis is that evolving graduate student education, post-graduate training, and early professional experiences to include a foundation of understanding in research and education networking will bridge the divide between the networking community and astronomy and physics.
Preliminary results indicate that the hypothesis has great potential for broad impact. The AMPATH project has hosted working groups in Astronomy and Physics that have been actively exploring these issues in the Americas for two years. We feel that if graduate fellows collaboratively build their understanding of advanced networking and its benefits to astronomy and physics, the greater the opportunities will be for cross discipline communication. The institute will act as both an educational tool, and an incubator of ideas.
We are poised to succeed because of the expertise of the investigators, the commitment of the instructors, the clarity of the syllabus, and the positive preliminary results. The research scientists involved at Florida International University have substantial experience managing workshops of this scale. The faculty lecturers have demonstrated leadership in their respective fields, and will ensure the academic integrity of the science and pedagogy employed at the workshop. Genuine enthusiasm is spread across the faculty, students, and administrators, involved in participating in the PASI.
Julio Ibarra, PI, Florida International University, Miami, FL USA
Heidi Alvarez, Co-PI, Florida International University , Miami , FL USA
Paul Avery, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL USA
Sanjay Ranka, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL USA
James Kennedy, AURA (Gemini Observatory)
Donald A. Cox, Florida International University , Miami , FL USA
Anibal Gattone, RETINA, The National Research and Education Network of Argentina
Tereza Cristina M. B. Carvalho, University of São Paulo, Brazil
Sergio F. Novaes, Universidade Estadual Paulista , São Paulo, Brazil
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