Volume 5, Issue 2
April 13, 2009

The Western Hemisphere Research and Education Networks (WHREN)-Links Interconnecting Latin America (LILA) Report summarizes activities from participating networks. The WHREN-LILA Report is published under National Science Foundation (NSF) Award # 0441095 and Academic Network at São Paulo (ANSP) award Projeto Fapesp no. 04/14414-2.

April 2009 Issue:

• WHREN-LILA Activities
• FIU-CIARA Activities
• AtlanticWave Activities
• CENIC Activities
• Pacific Wave Activities
• CUDI Activities
• CLARA Activities
• REUNA Activities
• RNP Activities

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

WHREN-LILA Activities

The WHREN-LILA link was utilized to enable Brazil to participate in the 175 th American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting held February 12-16 at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. For the first time, the National Science Foundation (NSF) provided an advanced network service for its exhibition space at the conference, enabling multiple gigabit-performance applications to be demonstrated continuously.

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and Northwestern University were invited by the NSF to showcase its International Research Network Connections (IRNC) program in the city where StarLight, the world’s most advanced communications exchange facility, was established with funding from the NSF.

To support the demonstrations, a high-performance network was extended from StarLight, located on the Chicago campus of Northwestern University , to the Hyatt Regency Hotel, site of the conference. The StarLight communication services supported high- resolution video teleconferences with international collaborators as well as several high-performance application demonstrations.

The high-definition video teleconferences took place between the NSF booth and scientific institutions in Michigan , Russia , the Netherlands , Korea , the Czech Republic and Brazil . Attendees were able to watch the live presentations and question the scientists appearing on a 65-inch LCD display, as if meeting face to face.

Read full article at: http://www.ciara.fiu.edu/whren/events/aaas_2009.htm

For more information about WHREN-LILA, visit http://www.ciara.fiu.edu/whren

FIU-CIARA Activities

Global CyberBridges has embarked on its latest course to enhancing their understanding of High-Performance Networking and Grid Computing Augmented e-Science and Engineering Research and Education.  This course which is offered this Spring is titled, “Grid Enablement of Scientific Applications” with students from Florida International University, Computer Network Information Center (CNIC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) in Rio De Janeiro , Brazil, along with Universidade Catolica de Santos (UniSantos) in Sao Paulo, Brazil.  

The class is composed of 14 students from Miami , 7 from China and 2 from Brazil .  These students will grapple with one of the following four projects that cover topics such as, “A Collaborative Platform based on SAGE”, “Weather, Research & Forecasting (WRF) Performance Predication (Graphics Processing Unit, GPU/WRF)”, “Performance Evaluation of Large-Scale Scientific Applications on Grid Computing Environments with Parallel Real-time Immersive network Modeling environment (PRIME)” and “Grid-Computing Support for Financial Engineering”.   

Each of these projects has a student and faculty member working together in a mentoring relationship, along with a support team from either China or Brazil and sometimes both.  Each team specializes in either Earth Sciences, Finances, Computer Science Visualization and Computer Networks.  The project provides each student with a greater opportunity for cross-disciplinary communication.  Each student will publish and present their project’s results.  
  
For more information about Global CyberBridges please visit www.cyberbridges.net
For more information on FIU-CIARA, visit their website at http://ciara.fiu.edu/

AtlanticWave Activities

Oakridge National Laboratories (ORNL), Georgia Institute of Technology and the Imperial College of London in the UK are now utilizing AtlanticWave for video conferencing collaboration between researchers at all three locations. Researchers from Georgia Tech, Imperial College and ORNL have initiated new biofuel, biopower and biomaterial projects, under the auspices of a multi-institutional consortium - called the AtlantIC Alliance for BioPower, BioFuels and Biomaterials - to help solve some of the major research issues surrounding the creation of an integrated biorefinery. In general, a biorefinery integrates biomass conversion processes and equipment to produce fuels, power and chemicals from biomass. AtlanticWave exchange points SoX and MANLAN collaborated with GEANT and JANET to establish layer2 transport for this special project.

For more information about the AtlantIC Alliance for BioPower, BioFuels and Biomaterials, please visit http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/reshor/rh-ss06/ragauskas.html

For more information about AtlanticWave, visit http://www.atlanticwave.net

CENIC Activities

CENIC held its annual conference at the Long Beach Hilton in California March 9-11, 2009 . Presentations are posted on the conference website at http://cenic09.cenic.org/program/index.html.

CENIC is also actively investigating extensions of Pacific Wave facilties into the Portland Convention Center show floor for Supercomputing 2009. For more details see http://www.cenic.org/sc09.html

For more information about CENIC, visit http://www.cenic.org

Pacific Wave Activities

John Silvester ( University of Southern California ) and Jacqueline Brown ( University of Washington ) attended APAN27 held March 2 - 6 2009 in Kaohshiung , Taiwan .

Celeste Anderson ( University of Southern California ) co-moderated a panel called "Extreme Networking" at the recent CENIC Annual Conference held March 9-11, 2009 in Long Beach , California . During that session, Alan Whinery (University of Hawaii) gave a presentation entitled "Connecting the World's Tallest Mountain: The Evolution of Networking on Mauna Kea" which mentioned the role the Translight/Pacific Wave project has had in getting high-speed connections to the Big Island and to Mauna Kea in particular.

For more information, see the Pacific Wave website at www.pacificwave.net

CUDI Activities

Carlos Cassasus, CEO, CUDI joined other NREN leaders for the Regional Networks panel at the CENIC annual conference. He gave a presentation about the developments in research and education infrastructure for Latin America . He introduced attendees to the different networks and ongoing projects in Latin America and Mexico . The Powerpoint presentation is available at: http://tinyurl.com/cudipresentation

For more information about the meeting, and other CUDI activities, visit http://www.cudi.edu.mx/

CLARA Activities

Within the framework of the @LIS 2 programme, the European Commission (EC) signed an €18-million contract on 30.11.2008 with the not-for-profit international organisation CLARA for the ALICE2 project. ALICE2 will consolidate and extend the RedCLARA network in Latin America , thus improving connectivity between Latin American and European Researchers. The e-infrastructure for collaborative research and education will provide a first class platform to support Latin American development and the project will work towards disseminating the potential of its use for applications that impact the Region, thus helping to reach the goals agreed by Governments in the UN MDG Plan.

The ALICE project (América Latina Interconectada Con Europa – Latin America Interconnected with Europe), which ran from June 2003 to March 2008 and was co-funded by the European Commission’s @LIS programme, established CLARA, the Latin American research networking association, and built a research and education network infrastructure in Latin America –the RedCLARA network. Built on this success, the EC has approved funding for the ALICE2 project, which will run until August 2012 with the goal of reaching and connecting more Latin American countries and broadening the possibilities for collaborative research and regional development.

Basile T. Papadopoulos, Head of Unit EuropeAid/B/2, commented the reason for supporting ALICE2: “The success of the ALICE Project which was able to create a Latin American Research and Education Network (RedCLARA) linking together 12 Latin American Countries among themselves and to the pan-European Network GÈANT2 has been one of the major achievements of the EU-LAC Cooperation in Information Society. The construction of the physical telecommunications network has been implemented successfully but, more importantly perhaps, the Latin Americans stakeholders of this ambitious endeavour have been able to create an independent working organisation which manages and operates the network and promotes collaboration between the LA countries, each with its national organisation of networks for research. These achievements and the dynamism of this relatively young organisation, has convinced us to support the ALICE2 Project, aiming at expanding the network and its benefits to all the countries in the region and, to promote collaborative research intra LA and with EU, contributing thus to the consolidation of RedCLARA's self sustainability”.

"ALICE2 will permit CLARA to create a state-of-the-art RedCLARA network by deploying an Optical Network Infrastructure that will provide first class support to networked research and education, thus facilitating the creation across Latin America of virtual research laboratories and educational facilities. The project will also target researchers, educators, and technicians, by empowering them through training and community-building so that they can jointly create solutions to some of the more pressing regional problems while improving collaboration with Europe and the rest of the world”, explains Florencio Utreras, Executive Director of CLARA.

Read full article at: http://tinyurl.com/alice2article

For more information about ALICE2, please visit http://alice2.redclara.net/
For more information about CLARA, visit http://www.redclara.net

REUNA Activities

Developed as part of the EC-cofunded GridTalk project, the GridGuide was developed to demonstrate the global reach and variety of grid computing, in terms of the countries and organisations involved, and the scientists and engineers who work to make it happen. REUNA, Red Universitaria Nacional (National University Network - Chile), was invited to participate in this effort and ever since February, when GridGuide came to life, has its own space in the guide and the honor to be the first Latin American institution to be exposing its grid experience in such a relevant space.

Under the title of Science, in the GridGuide, REUNA is divulging information about six initiatives in grids and e-science in which has been involved since year 2004: UCRAV (a scientific instruments grid), the actions carried out to foster the establishment of a National e-Science Programme, the study for a Chilean Virtual Observatory, and its participation in some international projects (EELA, EELA2 and RINGrid).

And as GridGuide also aims to show “the human face of grid computing,” REUNA had also the chance to publish the profile of three members of its staff, plus its own history (that started in year 1992 and some tourist information for those who are thinking in visiting Chile.

At the date there are 26 guides available in the GridGuide (20 of Europe , 2 of North America , 3 of Asia and 1 of South America – REUNA) and it will continue improving. And while the guide of worldwide grids is improving, REUNA is also trying to help to improve the Chilean scientific, academic and technological communities skills in the use and comprehension of grid technologies, that’s why from January 21 st to 23 rd it carried out a grid tutorial in collaboration with OSG - Open Science Grid. This activity –that was held in the facilities of the CMM (Mathematical Modeling Centre) of the University of Chile- was considered as a very fruitful experience that helped to gain new knowledge that will serve to generate the technological basis that is required to the future implementation of a National Grid Infrastructure.

To visit the REUNA guide in GridGuide, please go to: http://www.gridguide.org/gridguide_content.php?id_ge=18

For more information about GridGuide, please visit: http://www.gridguide.org/
For more information about OSG, please visit: http://www.opensciencegrid.org/
For more information about REUNA, please visit: http://www.reuna.cl/

RNP Activities

On March 25, institutions belonging to the Telemedicine University Network (Ruth) opened their core network: Getúlio Vargas University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), University Hospital Professor Miguel Riet Correa Junior, Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG) Hospital School, Federal University of Pelotas (Ufpel) and Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). The opening links institutions in the South and North of Brazil, showing the extent of the Ruth Project, which currently consists of 47 centers distributed throughout the country.

The ceremony was performed in each institution and physically, through videoconferencing, with the participation of others. Promoting the integration of health professionals in the area and improving the infrastructure to facilitate this exchange of information are the main objectives of the University Network of Telemedicine, which is coordinated by the National Network of Education and Research (RNP), also responsible for organizing Brazilian academic Internet. With Ruth, the institutions belonging to the network have the opportunity to intensify its activities in three main areas: service, research and teaching.

Over time, the trend is that new partnerships point to a further intensification of activities, both contributing to the empowerment of students and health professionals, but also to the strengthening of research in this area and spread and intensification of care at a distance.

Another example of integration between the health professionals are promoted by Ruth sigs (Special Interest Groups, or Special Interest Groups) in which the health professionals of the institutions belonging to the network up an agenda of videoconferences to discuss specific topics. Currently there are already more than 20 sigs working in areas such as nursing, dentistry, Trauma and Orthopedics, Dermatology and Clinical Toxicology, among others. All nuclei that Ruth inaugurated today are part of at least one of these groups.

Read full article at: http://www.rnp.br/noticias/2009/not-090326a.html

For more information on RNP, visit their website at http://www.rnp.br/en/index.php

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

The WHREN-LILA newsletter is intended to provide useful, up-to-date information about WHREN-LILA through short articles with web links and email addresses. Newsletters will be posted on the WHREN-LILA website (www.ciara.fiu.edu/whren). If you have colleagues who would like to subscribe to this monthly newsletter, send them to: http://www.ampath.net/mailman/listinfo/whren-today.

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