The Lariat Networking Project

Building connections in the rural West

Gwen JacobsMontana State University

APAN Cairns, AUJulya 6,2004

IDeANet:leveling the playing field for “have-not”

states• NIH/NCRR supported program to upgrade networking

capabilities in 23 “have-not” states in the US• Part of the NIH IDeA Program

– Includes BRIN, COBRE, INBRE– Similar to NSF EPSCoR program

• Build networks: personal and physical

• Lariat is the first piece: 6 institutions in rural states– University of Alaska, Fairbanks– University of Idaho– University of Hawaii– Montana State University– University of Nevada -Reno– University of Wyoming

Participants

• Montana State U. and University of Washington– Gwen Jacobs, Montana State University– Ron Johnson, Vice-Provost, Computing and

Communications and Vice-President, UW – Jacqueline Brown and Louis Fox, University of

Washington

• Pacific Northwest Gigapop, CENIC, Front Range Gigapop

• BRIN (INBRE)/COBRE faculty in all six states• BRIN Universities/Tribal colleges/ four year

schools

Goals of the Lariat Network

• Build two networks:– Upgrade internet connectivity in 6 rural states– Enhance and enable scientists and educators within

the BRIN/INBRE network

• Provide training and expertise • Provide access to research resources• Strengthen partnerships with other institutions• Support the goals of IDeA, BRIN, INBRE and

WWAMI

L A R I A T ’ S C H A L L A N G I N G G E O G R A P H Y &

E C O N O M Y

U. Idaho

U. Wyoming

PNWGP

U. NevadaReno

Montana State U

CENICFRGP

U. Hawaii

U. Alaska

Lariat will improve connectivity to research and education

networks

Improved connectivity will enable participation in national initiatives

E-science for the individual scientist

• Remote access to research resources– Microscopes, telescopes, synchrotons– Data repositories, databases, storage

• Group collaboration tools– Real time videoconferencing– Real time collaborative experiments

• Biomedical research– Genomics, proteomics, physiomics– Neuroscience, bioengineering, bioinformatics– Information science/resources– Public health/environmental epidemiology

Modeling structure function relationships in the nervous system

Development of modeling toolsWe have developed a software package (XModeL) for representing and evaluating complex hybrid models.

Key features:• Describe and store

models, data, and experiment protocols in portable XML

• GUI design, editing, and visualization tools

• Import/export data in many formats

• Numerical simulation using Matlab, Python, and Neuron. Easy modular expansion of numerical tools.

• Analysis, optimization, and parameter search tools.

• Distributed computation

Data from Graham Cummins

Access to remote resources

Predicting spatial distribution of synaptic inputs:simulations done remotely at NASA Ames

E-science collaborations

BIRN: An example of biomedical e-science

Research in extreme environments:

Regional public health issues

Unique to Montana

Information dissemination:lariat-west.org