Establishment of global multinode teleconferencing environment infrastructure for research and education

Most HBCU institutions have had difficulties developing and sustaining independent programs in research. Thus, there is a paucity of underrepresented minority scientists who are pursuing successful research careers. Despite various initiatives, progress in realizing a significant increase in the number of underrepresented minority scientists who are competitive for significant national research grants has been slow. Major research centers and educational institutions are geographically dispersed organizations with well-organized programs for training scientists. These are organized units supported by the national funding agencies that conduct research; sponsor research training in the basic, clinical, and population sciences; provide information services; and develop and sustains educational and outreach programs that benefit surrounding communities. Yet, in general, the progress of these organizations in focusing on research issues of particular importance to minorities, in training underrepresented minority scientists, in reaching out to and partnering with different racial and ethnic minority populations in their communities, and in bringing the benefits of research to these populations has been slow and often disappointing. To bring the two entities together, this project was aimed at conducting a pilot study of and planning for a state-of-the-art teleconferencing network environment to fulfill research and educational involvement, integration, and interaction needs of the university community. This allows HBCU faculty to collaborate with other research and educational institutions in all fields more effectively.