Supporting Member Research
Helping you fulfill your research mission is our bottom line.
Internet2 supports member research through:
- Advocacy with funding agencies, influencing the shape of new solicitations on behalf of member research.
- Provision of formal Letters of Collaboration illustrating Internet2 support of and resources for member research.
- Review and preparation of white papers and reports to agencies and government representatives.
- Consultation and assistance with grant preparation, and strategic planning on potential paths for collaboration.
- Coordination of funded workshops, bringing the community together on key issues.
Internet2 provides flexible service to our members, informed strategic advice, and effective pre- and post-award project management. As a result of our many successful member funding collaborations:
- Internet2’s inventory of externally funded research collaborations has grown from 4 to over 40 awards since 2002, with over $120M in cumulative funding and a funding success rate of over 60%
- This growth has been accompanied by an increase in the number of collaborating members (now exceeding 60 organizations) and scope of funding agencies (including the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, Institute of Museum and Library Services, Department of Commerce-NTIA and Department of Commerce-NIST, Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, National Endowment for the Humanities, and Carnegie Foundation of New York)
- Internet2 is the subrecipient on many member awards that involve unique uses of the advanced networks, resources, and services (such as technical collaboration, network research, performance measurement, high-performance computing, data storage, security, federated identity management, middleware, and others) we offer our community.
As external support for sponsored research is highly competitive, Internet2 members can benefit from our neutral collaborative stance, while receiving assistance in identifying collaborators and technical expertise. While Internet2 members generally pursue sponsored research opportunities independently, they turn to Internet2 for advocacy, collaboration, and demonstration of support to illustrate the benefits offered by our organization. Our collaborations encompass a broad range of discipline areas, including high-energy physics, and other key areas of science and engineering; the health sciences; network research and performance measurement; middleware and security; library and archiving services; campus cyberinfrastructure planning and deployment; the internet of things (IoT); and the arts and humanities.
Letters of Collaboration
Internet2 often assists members with proposals being submitted by to funding agencies. In addition to providing technical consultation regarding network architecture and access to resources, we also offer formal Letters of Collaboration for solicitations that require or allow these. Because funding agencies are increasingly limiting such letters to those committing to direct collaboration or provision or resources (most agencies no longer accept Letters of Support), any requests for Letters of Collaboration must refer only to projects in which Internet2 will be a direct collaborator or a provider of dedicated resources, which can include network access. For National Science Foundation (NSF) proposals, Internet2 uses a modified version of NSF’s suggested Letter of Collaboration template.
To make a request for a Letter of Collaboration from Internet2, please complete our Letter of Collaboration Request form.
For requests that involve new infrastructure, project-specific engineering or consulting, please check with us well in advance of the deadline so we can discuss what is nominally available and what represents a special project.
To ensure a comprehensive review takes place, we encourage you to submit your request for letters at least one week before the solicitation deadline. We cannot guarantee letters for requests submitted on or after two business days before the solicitation deadline. If you have any questions regarding Letters of Collaboration, please contact grantadmin@internet2.edu.