CC* Data Storage: High Volume Data Storage Infrastructure for Scientific Research and Education at Kennesaw State University Shared as Open Science Data Federation Data Origin

This project develops a high-capacity storage system with around 4.3PB overall usable storage as an Open Science Data Federation (OSDF) data origin to support scientific research and education activities on both campuses of Kennesaw State University (KSU). 30% of the storage is to be allocated for hosting datasets of external researchers and sharing KSU spawned datasets to empower national research projects.

The project enables a storage platform for KSU’s researchers and students to maintain and share their datasets thriving their collaborations without worrying about deleting files, transferring to alternate storage devices, or mailing hard drives while augmenting KSU’s research expertise into the national data ecosystem. This storage architecture cultivates twenty-four science, technology, engineering, and mathematics projects at KSU in a broad range of disciplines.

The project also supports new Ph.D. programs in Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Engineering in addition to the first Ph.D. program in USA on Analytics and Data Science along with 20 master’s degrees in areas including civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical sciences, computer science, and cybersecurity. To facilitate the storage system effectively, KSU’s Center for Research Computing organizes workshops for their faculty and students on utilizing national open science resources and findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR) principles.

This effort will enable Kennesaw State University to participate in national research and discoveries by connecting it to OSDF. This integration into an open science network will present national technical services as KSU develops research computing and data expertise while cyberinfrastructure professionals at KSU adapt the state-of-the-art storage technologies.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.