The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), founded in 1973 by six tribally controlled colleges, has grown to represent 37 Tribal Colleges and Universities across the U.S., serving as a unified voice that provides advocacy, research, technical support, and program initiatives to bolster Indigenous higher education and promote tribal nations, cultures, and languages.
American Indian Higher Education Consortium CI Program
A Tribal College or University (TCU) would interact with the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Team primarily to advance and adopt campus cyberinfrastructure (CI), which encompasses the necessary social and technical information technology (IT) resources supporting academic research and education. Since 2017, the CI Team has worked to achieve this goal by leveraging National Science Foundation (NSF) funding. These interactions have proven effective, as every TCU has participated in at least two CI initiatives, averaging seven initiatives per college. By engaging with the CI Team, TCUs have made significant progress in enhancing their campus IT departments and capabilities, reducing barriers to utilizing CI-based resources, and expanding the adoption of cyberinfrastructure technologies, which provides a foundation for better alignment with academic and research departments.
TCUs also seek out the AIHEC CI Team to develop essential institutional capacity, strategy, and security measures, especially since they face challenges similar to other small colleges, along with unique mission-specific priorities related to maintaining Native languages and cultural traditions. The CI Team offers CI Strategic Planning, working with TCUs to develop IT organization and campus-wide CI plans that complement the TCU’s comprehensive strategic plan. This initiative includes conducting a comprehensive campus CI baseline assessment and providing a draft CI strategic plan for implementation. Furthermore, TCUs are encouraged to utilize the CI Team’s support for cybersecurity initiatives, including conducting assessments from trusted firms and receiving guidance on addressing recommendations. This also involves developing policies and procedures that promote more cyber-secure behaviors among campus end users. Beyond formal initiatives, TCUs interact with the team by participating in the TCU IT Directors/CIOs Community of Practice, which allows them to share best practices, work together to address common IT challenges, and receive support from the AIHEC CI team and colleagues in the national CI community.
A critical reason for interaction is the need to integrate advanced technology into academic curricula and research and to secure necessary external funding. The CI Team facilitates the use of CI resources to support science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) research and academic activities at the 37 TCUs nationwide. These CI-enabled STEM activities deliver education and workforce development, serving largely first-generation students in remote, rural areas. The CI Team focuses on specific, mission-tied science applications, providing working groups and dedicated support for areas such as drone and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), artificial intelligence (AI), geographic information systems (GIS), and Esports. To overcome challenges related to monetary resources, the CI Team offers CI Funding Support, helping TCUs with proposal development for federal, state, or other identified funding opportunities focused on CI resources. Finally, TCUs can apply to become a Cyber Team, a highly beneficial initiative that provides a $100,000 subaward over a two-year period for customized programs that may include CI site visits, hands-on proposal support, and CI facilitation for research in areas such as Native language preservation and Climate Science.
