[ISN] Purdue nurtures cyber infrastructure

[InfoSec News]

http://www.fcw.com/article90140-08-18-05-Web

By Michael Arnone
Aug. 18, 2005 

Purdue University has started a new cyber infrastructure program to 
link all of its computer resources and enhance research, university 
officials announced today.

The program -- the Cyber Center -- will beef up Purdue's networks and 
research computing, said Ahmed Elmagarmid, a professor of computer 
science and the center's director.

The center will also serve as an incubator for new technologies that 
will help the economy, Elmagarmid said.

The center "will take advantage of two important developments: the 
increasingly interdisciplinary nature of research and the use of 
information technology for the discovery process," said James Bottum, 
Purdue's vice president for IT, in a statement.

A key focus will be collaboration to improve sensor technology and 
wireless sensor networks, Elmagarmid said. Through the center, Purdue 
scientists intend to work on improved radio-frequency identification, 
sensor and wireless technologies that could be used for homeland 
security and other purposes, he said.

Purdue created the center on the recommendation of its cyber 
infrastructure advisory committee, formed two years ago to help the 
university determine how to improve its cyber infrastructure, 
Elmagarmid said.

One-quarter of a $10 million grant from the Lilly Endowment will pay 
for the center's first three years of operation, Elmagarmid said. The 
university aims to acquire $25 million in outside funding for the 
center over the next three years.

In related news, the National Science Foundation announced that it is 
creating an advisory committee to advise its Cyberinfrastructure 
Council.

The Advisory Committee for Cyberinfrastructure will advise the council 
on what the NSF is doing to create and maintain cyber infrastructure 
that fosters cutting-edge developments in science and engineering, the 
Federal Register reported Aug. 10.