MS-CC Annual Meeting and Hackathon

A community-centered convening of students, peers, practitioners, community-builders, advocates, and leaders from HBCUs and TCUs.

The Minority Serving – Cyberinfrastructure Consortium (MS-CC) hosted its first Annual Meeting on May 10-11, 2023, and its first Student Hackathon for students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) on May 9-10. These two events were possible thanks to support and funding from the NSF’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure under awards #2137123 and #2234326. 

The MS-CC Annual Meeting was a gathering of peers, practitioners, community-builders, advocates, and leaders from HBCUs and TCUs. The MS-CC, in partnership with Internet2 and with funding support from the National Science Foundation, is promoting advanced cyberinfrastructure (IT for research) capabilities for our community, with a focus on supporting you and your campus in improving learning environments and achieving research goals. 

Agenda – MS-CC Annual Meeting at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel (all times in ET)

Wednesday, May 10, 2023  

4-5 p.m. – Check-in

5-7 p.m. – Reception

Please join us for a welcome reception at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel. It’s a great opportunity to meet and have great conversations with members of your MS-CC Leadership Board; faculty, senior administrators, students, and leaders from HBCUs and TCUs; and colleagues from national and regional providers of cyberinfrastructure resources for campuses. Beverages and hors d’oeuvres will be served. Thank you to Cirrus Identity for supporting this reception. We look forward to welcoming you to Atlanta for the MS-CC Annual Meeting! 

Slides:

Inaugural MS-CC Annual Meeting

Thursday, May 11, 2023 

7:30-8:15 a.m. – Check-in and Breakfast

8:15-8:30 a.m. – Welcome Remarks by Urban Wiggins, Ph.D., Chair of the MS-CC Leadership Board, and Vice Provost for Decision Science and Visualization, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

8:30-9:00 a.m. – Keynote Address by Dr. Dietra Y. Trent, Executive Director, White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity Through Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)

9:00-10:30 a.m. – MS-CC Today: Doing Together What We Can’t Do Alone

The MS-CC was informally established in 2018 after a group of chief information officers from a variety of academic institutions got together to talk about cyberinfrastructure and what it meant for their research. Since those early days, our collective efforts to promote advanced cyberinfrastructure capabilities for our community of institutions have received growing recognition, support, and federal funding. Join us for this session as we discuss the priorities driving our activities and our vision for the future of the MS-CC.

Speakers: Al Anderson, Chief Information Officer, Salish Kootenai College. James (Joey) Brenn, Associate Vice President for Information Technology, Claflin University. Carl Robert (Bobby) Clark, Director, CCIT Procurement and Vendor Management, CCIT Internal Operations, Clemson University. Henry (Tom) Jackson, Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Services & Chief Information Officer, North Carolina A&T State University. Ana Hunsinger, Vice President of Community Engagement, Internet2 and PI, MS-CC NSF awards. Lauren Michael, Assistant Director, CI Facilitation, MS-CC.

10:30-10:45 a.m. – Break

10:45-12 p.m. – Lightning Talks: Bridging Community Efforts and Resources 

The Internet2 community is more than 2,000 organizations strong, and there are endless opportunities for collaboration. Join us for this networking session where we bring to you a great group of organizations that understand the specific challenges and requirements of research and education. 

Speakers: Dedra Chamberlin, Cirrus Identity. Jim Basney, Trusted CI. Chris Hibbs, C-Light. Natalie Palmer, SoX. Dana Brunson, RCD Nexus/CaRCC. Jesus Gomez, Google. Natalie Palmer, The Quilt. Nicole Virdone, CI Compass. Alan Chalker, ACCESS. Brian Bockelman, OSG/PATh. Mary Thomas, National Research Platform. Mark McCormack, EDUCAUSE. 

12-1 p.m. – Lunch

1:15-2:30 p.m. – Keynote Address – Reframing our Perspective: Centering HBCU and TCU Voices to Reimagine a Stronger R&E Community

The designations for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) have unique historical and cultural definitions. One area of shared commonality is that despite being systemically underserved and under-resourced, HBCUs and TCUs have continued to uplift their students, and by extension, their communities, and nurture leaders across academic disciplines. Join us to hear first-hand from HBCU and TCU leadership as they tell their own stories, in their own voice, and invite us to reimagine alongside them how to ensure their equal participation in both our national and global R&E communities. Read the official announcement. 

Speakers: Dr. Sandra Boham, President of Salish Kootenai College. Deshon Miguel, Director of Information Technology at Tohono O’odham Community College. Dr. Joseph Whittaker, Vice President for Research and Economic Development/Associate Provost at Jackson State University. Dr. Urban Wiggins, Vice Provost for Decision Science and Visualization, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Chair of the MS-CC Leadership Board.

Moderator: Ana Hunsinger, Vice President of Community Engagement at Internet2, and PI of MS-CC NSF Awards.

2:30-2:45 p.m. – Break

2:45-3:45 p.m. – Chief Information Officers and Faculty in Conversation

Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and faculty have many opportunities to collaborate on their campuses to advance research and other activities, but there are many instances where that collaboration opportunity is underutilized. Understanding faculty’s everyday experience with technology as it relates to both teaching and research provides the CIO with insight into opportunities for improvement and collaboration. We invited CIOs and faculty from campuses that were recently selected for phase one of the proof-of-concept grant program to share their perspective on how their engagement, with support from MS-CC CI Facilitation, is driving cyberinfrastructure engagement, strategic planning, and governance at their respective institutions. 

Speakers: Dr. Deborah Dent, Chief Information Officer, and Dr. Almesha Campbell, Assistant Vice President for Research and Economic Development with Jackson State University; Al  Anderson, Chief Information Officer, and Lee Slater, Information Technology/Computer Science Instructor with Salish Kootenai College; James (Joey) Brenn, Associate Vice President for Information Technology, and Dr. Nicholas Panasik, Associate Professor of Biology/Chemistry with Claflin University.

3:45-4:05 p.m. – MS-CC Hackathon Highlights: Student Recognition

The MS-CC is hosting its first Student Hackathon for students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) on May 9-10. Meet the students who participated in the hackathon and join us as they are awarded prizes and receive their certificates of completion. Thank you to Omnibond Systems for donating computing resources and trainers’ time in support of the MS-CC Student Hackathon.

Speakers: Teni Agbesanwa, Program Coordinator, MS-CC. Boyd Wilson, President and CEO, Omnibond. 

4:05-4:45 p.m. – Closing Keynote Address by Manish Parashar, Head of the National Science Foundation’s Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure

4:45-5:00 p.m. – Concluding Remarks by Urban Wiggins, Ph.D., Chair of the MS-CC Leadership Board, and Vice Provost for Decision Science and Visualization, University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Slides:

Lightning Talks: Bridging Community Efforts and Resources

MS-CC Student Hackathon

The MS-CC Hackathon is an opportunity for students who are currently enrolled at an HBCU or TCU to come together, learn new skills, and collaboratively apply those new skills to a particular problem in a defined amount of time. Learn more about the student hackathon teams and see their projects! 

Students worked with two instructors from the Texas Advanced Computing Center — Charlie Dey, Director of Training and Professional Development, and Je’aime Powel, Senior Systems Administrator — to learn about and apply the SIR Model to different problems. Students just needed a laptop and an interest in learning a new skill set. Experience in coding and programming language is not required. 

May 9, 2023 | 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. ET

• Working Lunch
• Team Creation and Introductions
• Coding Training 

May 10, 2023 | 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET

• Breakfast
• Machine Learning
• Hackathon Starts
• Working Lunch 
• Team Presentations 

Thank you to Omnibond Systems for donating computing resources and trainers’ time in support of the MS-CC Student Hackathon.

Hotel, Travel Support, and Registration

The MS-CC Annual Meeting and the MS-CC Student Hackathon will take place at the Westin Peachtree Plaza hotel located at 210 Peachtree St NW, Atlanta, GA 30303. The two events are free to attend but registration is required.

Registration for the MS-CC Annual Meeting was free and required. Due to capacity restrictions, we limited registrations to MS-CC participants from HBCUs, TCUs, and those who were involved with the MS-CC Annual Meeting program. 

We were also able to cover airfare, ground transportation, and lodging in Atlanta for participants from HBCUs and TCUs. The deadline to submit a travel support form was April 19, 2023. 

Registration for the hackathon was limited to 20 students and details on how to register were provided to students who filled out the MS-CC Hackathon Travel Support Request form (now closed; the deadline to apply was March 31). Students who participated in the hackathon were also invited to attend the MS-CC Annual Meeting, and additional travel support could be requested for attending the annual meeting. 

Health & Safety Protocols

The MS-CC is following the health and safety protocols that Internet2 requires at its events. Proof of vaccination will not be required to attend the MS-CC Annual Meeting and the MS-CC Student Hackathon. 

Be aware that, while Internet2 will make every effort to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission on site, it is possible that you may encounter people that carry the virus through your travels. The health and safety of meeting attendees are very important to us, and we believe the most effective way to ensure the safety of all attendees is to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 

Internet2 will comply with the state of the local state guidelines for masking and social distancing. Regardless of vaccination status, masks, and social distancing are strongly recommended although not required. Masks will be available at the registration desk if you wish to wear one.

Once onsite, if you become feverish or develop a cough, please stay in your room and notify meetingregistration@internet2.edu to report your illness and seek medical attention.

Local COVID Guidance:

• Atlanta COVID Guidance
• Free COVID Testing Sites

Events Code of Conduct

The MS-CC is following the events code of conduct that Internet2 requires at its events. Internet2 and the community are committed to promoting a positive environment at our events and conferences for our members and the research and education community. Our community values fair and equitable treatment of all individuals and expects our attendees to interact professionally and respectfully towards one another. Discrimination or harassment of any type, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, or religion, is not consistent with our values and will not be tolerated. Unacceptable behavior includes offensive comments; deliberate intimidation, stalking, or unwanted attention; inappropriate physical contact; harassing, derogatory, or demeaning conduct; or other behavior that demonstrates a lack of professionalism or respect for another individual.

Participants are expected to follow these rules at all Internet2-hosted events. Participants violating these rules may be asked to leave an event without warning or a refund, at the discretion of Internet2. In some instances, such behavior may be reported to local or federal law enforcement officers. If you believe that you or someone else has been subject to these behaviors, please contact the Internet2 Ethics Hotline immediately at (877) 842-6829 or send a message via the web at www.reportlineweb.com/internet2.

Did You Know? Our Events Are Co-located With Internet2 Community Exchange

The MS-CC Annual Meeting and Student Hackathon events were co-located with the 2023 Internet2 Community Exchange conference, which took place May 8-11, in Atlanta. 

The Community Exchange featured multiple days of collaboration, workshops, tutorials, and inspiring keynotes. MS-CC participants from HBCUs and TCUs who were interested in attending the Internet2 Community Exchange could indicate their interest in the travel support form to receive complimentary registration. 

As part of the Community Exchange program, MS-CC leadership participated in a panel presentation on Bridging the Digital Divide at Community Exchange on the morning of Wednesday, May 10.