Internet2: Closing the Access Gap for Research Cyberinfrastructure
A Q&A with Dana Brunson
Internet2 has supported collaborative research since its founding in 1996 – first through its national network, then by its work in federated identity and access management with InCommon, and more recently via its cloud solutions. And when Dana Brunson joined Internet2 as executive director for research engagement in 2019, she built a strong team to lead research enablement in the Internet2 community. Here, we ask Brunson for her perspectives on the changing research computing and data requirements in higher education, and how Internet2’s Research Engagement Team is helping the community close the access gap for institutions of all types and sizes.
Mary Grush: What is the mission of Internet2’s Research Engagement Team? What are the biggest changes you’ve seen during your years of leading the team?
Dana Brunson: Our mission is to ensure that researchers and educators — regardless of their discipline or type of institution — have access to the research computing and data tools, services, and resources they need. And that includes whatever might be already on campus, or what is available regionally and nationally as either federally funded or private-sector resources.
The Internet2 Research Engagement Team provides consulting and training for campuses to learn about research cyberinfrastructure and develop strategic plans, and we offer support to bring institutions all the way to realizing execution of those plans.
We also facilitate a professional community for research cyberinfrastructure through CaRCC, the Campus Research Computing Consortium, to develop shared tools and best practices — as well as drawing on other community connections to bring people together. And we advocate for research computing and data (RCD) professionals, to be seen as both research partners and as part of what makes a university a competitive entity, no matter how trying the budget times are.
Our central focus is closing the gap between the well-resourced R1 institutions and those that have faced greater limitations in accessing research cyberinfrastructure: the teaching-focused undergraduate institutions, minority-serving institutions, and every type of campus in between.