Sioux Center, Iowa — A northwest Iowa institute of higher learning has been given a grant of over $360,000 for computer infrastructure.
Dordt College (which will become Dordt University in 2019) was awarded a $362,589 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for a project titled “Campus Cyberinfrastructure Network Design and Implementation for Small Institutions: Rural Campus Connectivity for Research and Teaching on the Prairie.”
The grant will allow Dordt to:
· Create a high-speed computer network for the science departments on campus
· Connect to “Internet 2,” a consortium that provides high-speed connectivity between academic and research institutions around the country
· Extend the network to Dordt’s Agricultural Stewardship Center (ASC)
Kari Sandouka, assistant professor of computer science says that in today’s world, data is created and captured at astounding rates that your everyday desktop machine cannot handle. Sandouka says this grant provides resources to obtain better processing abilities for scientific research.
Assistant professor of chemistry and planetary sciences at Dordt, Dr. Channon Visscher says that the proposed upgrades will give Dordt a level of connectivity that is more typical of larger or urban institutions and will enhance ongoing STEM teaching and research by the training and the equipping of students, teachers, and researchers in the use of data-intensive science methods.
Brian Van Donselaar, director of computer services, Dr. Nathan Tintle, professor of statistics, and Dr. Nick Breems, professor of computer science also helped with writing the grant proposal and will assist in directing the project.
Van Donselaar says he’s very excited to move to the implementation phase of the project and he says he can’t wait to see the outcomes.
The award began July 1, 2018 and will end June 30, 2020.
