Introduction:

The projects described in this section are indicative, but not exhaustive, of the types of activities that demand high bandwidth, low latency computer network access. Without such access, these projects would be extremely time consuming or infeasible. The projects described are not simply projects in the planning stages, but are ongoing and evolutionary projects that would be greatly enhanced by the availability of high speed connections between the collaborators at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) and their colleagues at other institutions and government laboratories. Immediate use of the high speed connections would occur as soon as the connection is established.

While each of the projects described involve applications being developed by various research teams and collaborations, there are some common themes in each of the projects that would permit many other constituencies to contribute to these projects both at MU and elsewhere. And, as with any evolving technology, there are many additional researchers and activities that would benefit from the early installation and deployment carried out by the early users of the technology. Among the themes in these projects is not only high speed network access, but also basic research into information organization, location and access, visualization techniques, collaborative research, educational delivery systems and techniques, and the development of the fundamental tools needed to facilitate the building of other applications. Thus, the described projects are only the beginning of the road that will eventually touch every member of the MU community as we move into the 21st century. It is imperative that we take this step and insure we will be positioned to remain among the forefront educational institutions in our ability to educate and train the citizens in the next century.

The projects described require the involvement of multi-disciplinary groups that cross traditional boundaries of departments and colleges. Most of the colleges on the MU campus are involved with these projects. As these projects evolve and other projects are initiated, the entire fabric of the institution will be touched by the abilities and capabilities that will result from the high speed connections existing on-campus as well as throughout the global networks. Likewise, there are many opportunities for joint collaboration to work on common problems faced by all of these projects, and the participants are poised to work independently or jointly when it is advantageous to do so. However, it is critical to these projects and to the mission of the institution that we have the ability to carry out these projects and can utilize the connection to the vBNS network to interact with and collaborate with our peers located throughout the nation.

The Projects:

• Missouri Intelligent Networked Information System
• MU/NASA Regional Validation Center
• Classroom of the 21st Century
• Collaborative Information Spreadsheet
• Interactive Shared Journal System
• Distributed Genome Database Browsing

Other I2 links:

• MU I2 Home Page
• MU I2 Applications Page
• MU I2 Engineering Page
• Our regional GigaPoP home page
• Internet 2 Project home page