Nebraska to lead cybersecurity for $24.5 million national AI research network

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln will lead cybersecurity for a national project designed to connect the data and computing behind AI-driven science. Its Holland Computing Center will also help run the distributed services, giving Nebraska responsibility for both protecting shared research resources and keeping them moving across institutional boundaries.

The assignment is part of the Fabric for AI-Driven Science, a five-year, $24.5 million project led by the Morgridge Institute for Research in Madison, Wisconsin. The University of Wisconsin–Madison and other institutions are partners. The National Science Foundation selected the project through its Integrated Data Systems and Services program, within a broader $83 million investment in data infrastructure for AI-driven science.

The planned network would link data repositories, AI services and computing resources for researchers and educators nationwide. It is also intended to connect with national research infrastructure, including the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource. The stated goal is to let scientists spend less time managing the systems beneath their work and more time drawing insights from data.

Sharing data without losing trust

Nebraska’s security role covers designing and maintaining the practices that protect the network and its users. The university describes the task as enabling data sharing across institutional boundaries without compromising trust. The intended reach includes institutions large and small in all 50 states, making security a shared-service responsibility rather than protection for a single campus system.

Its operations assignment is separate but closely connected: the Holland Computing Center will help run and monitor the distributed services. That means working across the institutions, repositories and computing sites the project links, with reliable data movement as the objective. Nebraska will contribute to those daily operations, not lead the overall project.

“It opens doors for our researchers and students to take part.”

Derek Weitzel, principal investigator for Nebraska’s component of the project

Building on systems already in service

The project builds on more than two decades of distributed-computing work by the Open Science Grid Consortium and the Center for High Throughput Computing. Its foundations include Pelican, the Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing and High Throughput Condor. These existing platforms provide the starting point for the effort to bring data, AI and computing services together.

Holland Computing Center brings experience operating national research systems shared by multiple institutions. Its work includes the Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing, the National Research Platform and the Institute for Research and Innovation in Software for High Energy Physics. The university points to common challenges across those efforts: coordinating independent sites, protecting shared resources and keeping distributed services running reliably.

The Partnership to Advance Throughput Computing offers a concrete example of that operational work. Its shared services use monitoring, accounting and identity management to help keep the system secure. Holland also operates infrastructure for the high-energy physics institute, whose software and data systems support preparations for the high-luminosity Large Hadron Collider era.

Connecting researchers to the fabric

Holland already provides high-performance computing, storage and research-computing expertise across the University of Nebraska system and to national collaborations. Its staff can help scientists and educators at Nebraska and beyond connect data and workflows to the project’s shared services. Researchers interested in using the planned infrastructure can contact Holland Computing Center at hcc-support@unl.edu.