Thank you for attending CommEX25! View the session presentations as they become available.

• Terrill Thompson, Manager, IT Accessibility Team, University of Washington
• Vanessa Ayala, Digital Accessibility Center Manager, University of Texas at Austin
• Mary Albert, Senior Director Digital Accessibility, Princeton University
• Eudora Struble, Director of Technology Accessibility, Wake Forest University
• Simona Fallavollita, Senior Director of Product Management, Panopto

Date: Wednesday, April 16, 1 p.m. ET

With student enrollment on the decline, institutions are exploring innovative ways to enhance their offerings without incurring significant additional costs. Course-sharing has emerged as a promising solution, but it brings challenges in balancing the needs of students, faculty, administrators, and IT teams. Students seek convenience, faculty require resource accessibility, administrators focus on security and efficiency, and IT departments are interested in all of it and often play a key role in bringing these elements together.

The Interactive Distance Education Alliance (IDEA) and InCommon have collaborated to address these challenges. Together, they’ve engaged 20 institutions and over 30 stakeholders to develop a federated identity solution that simplifies access across learning management systems. This approach aims to remove login barriers and streamline the experience for students—enabling them to register for courses at other institutions without added accounts or IT hurdles.

Join us to learn about the progress of this initiative and explore how other institutions can leverage the InCommon Federation for single sign-on (SSO) solutions. This session will offer practical insights for IT professionals, administrators, and faculty into facilitating easier access for multi-institutional course-sharing, library resources, and more.

Speakers:

• Amanda J. Burris, Ph.D
• Morgan V. Jones, MBA, IDEA Executive Director
• Marc Wallman, Vice President for IT and CIO at North DSU
• Ann West, Associate Vice President, Trust & Identity, Internet2
• Kevin Morooney, Vice President for Trust and Identity and NET+ Services, Internet2
• Romy Bolton, Director, Project Management, Internet2

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Topics: Cloud, Campus IT
Cost: $250 for CICP subscribers; $350 for Internet2 members; $450 for non-members
Instructor: To be announced
Time: The instructor will determine the meeting time when the course starts
Format: Online

This cohort-based training is designed to build and reinforce foundational cloud computing knowledge, preparing participants for their AWS Solutions Architect – Associate certification. 

By the end of this course, participants will be able to design scalable, secure, and cost-effective architectures on AWS, select appropriate AWS services to design and deploy applications, and identify and implement cost-control strategies.

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Topics: Cloud, Security, Campus IT
Cost: $250 for CICP subscribers; $350 for Internet2 members; $450 for non-members
Instructor: James Smith, University of Notre Dame
Time: Class time determined by instructor
Format: Online

Utilizing the cloud can be overwhelming from a security perspective. This six-week self-paced learning program will provide guidance on securing an institutional Amazon Web Services (AWS) environment and some insight into key decision points when deciding to utilize AWS. 

Participants can expect to commit roughly 5-7 hours per week during the course and will be expected to attend and participate in cohort activities, including weekly virtual video check-in sessions.

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Date: Wednesday, March 19, 2025

Many institutions operate in a hybrid state, juggling on-premises identity systems with cloud-based IAM solutions. As the shift toward cloud infrastructure and SaaS services accelerates, institutions making these transitions must weigh greater scalability, flexibility, and integration options with challenges like licensing costs, integration complexity with legacy systems, and vendor dependence. With no one-size-fits-all approach, each institution must navigate its own path forward.

Join IAM practitioners from Southern Methodist University (SMU) and the University of Virginia (UVA) as they share how their institutions are navigating the evolving IAM landscape. SMU recently transitioned its primary identity provider from on-premises (Shibboleth) to the cloud (Entra ID) while maintaining a hybrid environment—offering insights into their motivations, lessons learned, and strategies for process, stakeholder communication, and user education. UVA will discuss its approach to fully leveraging Entra ID while unifying two separate SSO solutions, sharing key considerations behind their decisions and how they are managing change. Both institutions will provide valuable takeaways on navigating these shifts and preparing for the future.

Speakers:

• Tommy Doan, Identity Management Lead, Southern Methodist University
• Kellen Murphy, Identity Architecture & Solutions Engineer, University of Virginia

Moderator:

• Grady Bailey, Senior IAM Architect, Internet2

Participants dove into GenAI in higher education and learned how the NET+ GWE agreement simplifies the adoption of Google Gemini.

They also:

• Explored how AI transforms educational settings by boosting student creativity, increasing faculty efficiency, and driving research innovation through tools like Google Gemini.
• Discovered how peer universities are leveraging Google Gemini to foster institutional growth and productivity through cutting-edge applications in teaching, research, and administration.

This one-day training explored eduroam topics, including RADIUS troubleshooting, identifying and correcting eduroam-specific issues, eduroam best practices, and more.This one-day training explored eduroam topics, including RADIUS troubleshooting, identifying and correcting eduroam-specific issues, eduroam best practices, and more.

Partiipants dove into the world of Shibboleth Service and Identity Providers. They got hands-on training and gained expertise in deploying, configuring, and managing Shibboleth software. Participants explored containers, DevOps strategies, and modernized their operations while receiving personalized guidance from experienced trainers.

Instructors:

• Paul Riddle, Senior Middleware Architect | University of Maryland – Baltimore County
• Paul Caskey, IAM Architect | Internet2

Participants learned more about the NET+ GWE program and saw what is changing with the Google Workspace Licensing models — and why. 

Date: Feb. 25, 2025

We included Gemini for Google Workspace for Education offers for both new and existing customers for the first time in 2025. Participants discovered the latest discounts, purchasing requirements, and streamlined processes, and learned about the new Gemini offering.

Date: February 19, 2025
Time: 1 p.m. ET

What critical trends will shape IAM in 2025? InCommon Catalysts come together to share their predictions and insights on four critical areas of focus set to reshape identity management for R&E: AI-powered IAM operations, CACTI’s (Community Architecture Committee for Trust and Identity) work around OpenID Federation, the power of proxies, and essential lessons learned from higher education C-suite leaders. These experts will explore what these trends mean for your institution and their importance in the coming year.

Join leaders from Provision IAM, Instrumental ID, OmniBond, Unicon, Cirrus Identity, and Evolveum as they share insights on these critical developments and their implications for research and education institutions. Whether you’re evaluating AI capabilities, preparing for evolving federation standards, bringing new technologies into an existing environment with proxies, or seeking to better align IAM with institutional priorities, this discussion will provide valuable insights for your 2025 planning.

Speakers:

• Stephen Fox, Sr. Software Engineer, Provision IAM
• Zac Adams, Sr. IAM Architect – DevOps/SRE, Instrumental Identity
• Drew Capener, Software Engineer, Omnibond
• Paul Spaude, Sr. Software Engineer, Unicon
• Mark Rank, Director of Product & Compliance, Cirrus Identity
• Simona Simkova, Business Development Representative, Evolveum

Moderator:

• James Cramton, Trust and Identity Industry Relationship Manager, Internet2

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• Stacy Cahill, CISO at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County
• Vito Rocco, CISO at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
• Craig Woolley, CIO at Louisiana State University

Topics: Networking, Cloud
Cost: Free
Instructor: Scott Taylor, Internet2 Network Services
Time: 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET
Format: Online

This in-depth exploration of cloud networking fundamentals equipped participants with the skills to design, manage, and secure cloud-based networks. Participants learned cloud computing skills that are essential for optimizing performance and ensuring connectivity in cloud environments.

Topics: Research IT, Software Development, AI
Cost: Free
Instructors: Tim Manik and Ananya Ravipati, Internet2 NET+
Time: 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. ET
Format: Online

Designed for researchers and technologists, this hands-on workshop empowers attendees to streamline coding, automate tasks, and enhance collaborative workflows using GitHub Copilot. Accelerate your research productivity with AI-driven assistance.

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The NET+ AWS program is opening its quarterly Town Hall meeting to the entire community beginning with the Jan. 15 webinar at 11 a.m. PT and 2 p.m. ET. This presentation is for those responsible for enterprise IT, security and compliance, research IT, research computing and data professionals, researchers, and those who support researchers using, collecting, analyzing, and sharing genomic and biomedical research data.

The growth of genomic and biomedical research has led to an exponential increase in the amount of genomic data being generated. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has updated its requirement for responsible management of controlled access human genomic and phenotypic data to align with the NIST SP 800-171 security standard, a comprehensive framework for securing Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI).

The update takes effect on Jan 25, 2025, and institutions that don’t comply with these requirements could face significant consequences. In this presentation you will learn about how AWS can help institutions build a compliant environment to meet these requirements through its Secure Research Environment, and the resources and support AWS provides for institutions along their compliance journey.

Time: 1:00 p.m. EST
Speakers:

• Ann West, Associate Vice President, Trust & Identity, Internet2
• Kevin Morooney, Vice President for Trust and Identity and NET+ Services, Internet2
• Steve Zoppi, Associate Vice President for Trust and Identity and NET+ Services, Internet2

In March 2024, InCommon launched its ambitious Futures2 Strategy, aiming to become the trusted authority for Identity and Access Management (IAM) in Research and Education. This webinar reflects on the first year of progress, highlighting key initiatives such as the development of audience-specific resources to support teaching and learning, federal agencies compliance, and shared IAM architectures. Join us to explore lessons learned, successes achieved, and areas for continued focus as InCommon advances its 2028 vision of advancing secure, interoperable digital collaboration and resource sharing for Research and Higher Education.

Watch the Recording | Download the Slides

Efficient identity management is a cornerstone in fortifying the integrity of any organizational infrastructure. This webinar explores the strategic utilization of Oracle Identity and Access Management by the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Massachusetts (UMass), unveiling their sophisticated approaches to overseeing extensive arrays of identities.

By leveraging Oracle’s solution, learn how CUNY and UMass achieve heightened visibility and exert precise control across their technology landscape, both on-premises and in multi-cloud environments. Managing over a million identities, CUNY and UMass exemplify how tailored identity solutions bolster security, streamline access, and ensure compliance with organizational and regulatory standards, effectively navigating the complexities of contemporary identity access and governance.

Speakers

• Sandeep Banerjie, Oracle, Vice President, Product Development, Oracle Cloud & IAM
• Mark Manis, CUNY, Director of Identity and Access Management
• Brian Moss, UMass, Principal Application Specialist, Identity & Access Management (IAM)