Kris Stewart CENIC/AAC representative for SDSU
The original proposal for vBNS is available on line from www.aldea.com/cenic/phase2/toc.html. And the San Diego State University Application Description (August 1997).
NSF requires information on the research and education activities for institutions a granted a "Connections Award" CalREN2-Phase2 to authorize use of the vBNS. In order to comply with this requirement, we provide short summaries of activities involving collaboration with other researchers on the vBNS. It is anticipated that the network will be online for Fall 1998 and a more precise description of activities will evolve soon.
SDSU's Geography Dept. has extensive activities.
SORTIE (Dr. Doug Deutschman, Biology) examines population dynamics using an individually based and spatially explicit model of the forest. This model will be hosted at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) with interaction interface implemented at San Diego State University to facilitate network accessible modeling. The model will be adapted to examine the chaparral ecosystem based on field data already collected. For more details on the forest-based model, see Scaling from Trees to Forests which was developed at the Cornell Theory Center (CTC). Both SDSC and CTC are currently on the vBNS.
The Education Center on Computational Science and Engineering (EC/CSE) works with faculty at San Diego State University and within the California State University System to facilitate the incorporation of NPACI (National Partnership for Advanced Computing Infrastructure) technologies and tools into the undergraduate curriculum. Projects using the Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) to display Geographical Information System (GIS) data sets will be shared. The San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) is the national respository for VRML and the Leading Edge Site for the NPACI. Another project explores the use of the Digital Libraries: Alexandria Digital Library (ADL) at UC Santa Barbara and E-lib at UC Berkeley in undergraduate courses within the Humanities and Sciences. Stewart is collaborating with Dr. Arcot Rajasekar, of SDSC Date Intensive Computing Environment group to provide a pedagogy-based interpretation of the use of the DL in the undergradaute classroom. Data from the DL requires roughly 10 Mbps connection to avoid any slowdown due to the network. Large images can be 20-30 MB, especially the satellite images that the ADL is mandated to maintain. Summer '98 will see extensive collaborations as the U. Michigan social science DL is replicated at SDSC. The Service Resources Broker will be the essential tool for designing the framework of effective classroom access. SDSC was an original node on the vBNS created in 1995. Both UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara are currently on the vBNS. Stewart is the Director of the EC/CSE.
The Environmental Modeling Laboratory (EML) (Dr. Alan Sweedler, Director), located in the physics department, makes extensive use of the Internet to assist in developing complex models related to the diffusion of pollutants in the atmosphere and surface and ground waters. The EML also utilizes very large data bases related to geographic information systems (GIS) analysis and the generation of two and three dimensional maps. It is common for researchers to have to transfer data bases of the order of 100 - 500 MB via the Internet. This is a time consuming process at current speeds and would be greatly enhanced via access to the vBNS network. We regularly transfer data sets of this magnitude from the USGS, EPA, DOE, NASA and NOAA. As we expand our research into the area of regional climate assessment modeling, we expect our data transfer needs and capabilities will also need to be greatly enhanced.