Attendees of the EPIC meeting gathered at the RENCI headquarters in Chapel Hill. Image Courtesy Josh Coyle, Renaissance Computing Institute

And cyberinfrastructure requires people; not just technology experts, but also students, educators, businesspeople, government workers, scientists, artists, everybody. Give people access to world-class technology and the results will be exciting: new scientific discoveries, innovative educational practices, students collaborating across continents, small businesses selling in international markets.

Engaging People in Cyberinfrastructure, a group that builds human capacity by creating awareness of the opportunities afforded through cyberinfrastructure, understands that technology is a tool, a means to a wide range of ends rather than an end in itself. EPIC members hail from colleges and universities across the United States.

This May, an EPIC planning group composed of representatives from the Minority Serving Institutions Network met at Renaissance Computing Institute headquarters in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Their aim was a frank discussion of the state of science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, and strategies for using the Access Grid, a multicast system that allows real-time collaboration among multiple groups and sharing of data, applications and scientific instruments. EPIC's Minority Serving Institutions, or MSI, planning group seeks to broaden the user base for high-end technologies such as the Access Grid. Most members represent institutions where high-end technologies are relatively new resources or where access is limited. Through EPIC, they hope to establish a diverse, energized community of cyberinfrastructure users that both use and develop new technologies and tools.

"Our aim is to look at collaborative technologies, especially the Access Grid, and determine how we can generate broader participation," said Stephenie McLean, RENCI's director of education and outreach. "We also want ideas on creation of new content that can be used across disciplines and over great distances. Our MSIs are a great place to cultivate these new uses of technology."

Participants at the meeting presented a plethora of ideas for new and innovative uses of the Access Grid. Carolyn Anderson of Winston Salem State University wants to use the AG to help students involved in the National Science Foundation's Alliances for Broadening Participation in Science Technology Engineering and Math take part in virtual conferences and present research projects over the grid. Garrett Love of North Carolina Central University wants to get an AG node up and running at the Durham-based school to enhance a new degree program in computational science. Graig Gilham of Blackfeet Community College, a tribal college in Montana, plans to expose Blackfeet students "to all that the grid can offer." He also hopes to work with students to develop a curriculum on Blackfeet culture and offer it to others via the AG. Alson Been of Bethune Cookman University in Florida will encourage his university's faculty to developed grid-based curricula and to offer it to all educators through the AG. Azeez Aileru, a neuroscience researcher at Winston Salem State, envisions using the AG to expose more students to the research that takes place in his lab. By this summer, group members will focus their ideas into a plan of action for the coming year.

Other institutions represented at the meeting were Clark-Atlanta University, Atlanta, GA; North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro; Florida A&M University, Tallahassee; and Prairie View A&M University, Prairie View, Texas.

EPIC also sponsors conferences, training sessions and virtual institutes and develops and evaluates new technology tools. For more, see www.eotepic.org. Also visit the MSI Network and RENCI Web sites.