CC* Regional Computing: Taylor Geospatial Institute Regional AI Learning System

The Taylor Geospatial Institute Regional AI Learning System (TGI RAILS) project provides a high-performance computing and data analysis system for use by the regional consortium of academic institutions that is centered around the St. Louis area and extends to states throughout the Midwest. The unifying focus of this consortium is the Taylor Geospatial Institute (TGI), a comprehensive and holistic geospatial research community of initially eight outstanding research institutions in the Midwest central region.

TGI comprises partnerships with industry, government agencies, and research and educational entities to advance multiple disciplines including AI, data analytics and geospatial science with the targeted goals of producing significant societal benefits in the areas of food systems, health and social equality, smart and resilient communities, workforce development, national security, and economic development.

TGI RAILS provides critical, shared computing infrastructure that is otherwise lacking for the research and educational work of the consortium, dramatically reducing time to insight for challenging research investigations and providing staff, researchers, and students experience with the latest AI and data analytics technologies. TGI RAILS experience supports researchers in obtaining allocations on national computing resources such as ACCESS systems.

TGI RAILS addresses significant computational resource gaps at key under-resourced institutions, particularly those serving minoritized or non-traditional students and investigators. It prepares students with data science, computer science, statistics, research, and scientific communication skills to design experiments and communicate their findings.

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.