The Goddard Collaborative is a group of regional institutions (colleges, museums, K-12 schools and non-profit educational institutions) that are working together and within their communities to build a technology infrastructure to share knowledge and resources. The group began to coalesce in 2002 when WPI invited regional colleges to join Internet2 and connect through WPI's Goddard GigaPoP, located in Worcester, Mass.

To date, Holy Cross and Assumption have received NSF grants and are connected. In addition, the American Antiquarian Society and Merrimack Education Center (MEC) have been successfully sponsored for Internet2 participation and are in the process of connecting.

In March 2004, Internet2 approved the sponsorship of the Higgins Armory Museum and the Museum of Science. We are very proud of the fact that the Museum of Science was recognized by Internet2 as the 100th sponsored participant.

Participation has grown steadily each month since our first meeting. Members anticipate several benefits, such as connecting to Internet2, expanding community outreach, collaboration opportunities (shared network infrastructure), sharing unique resources and instructional technology support, leveraging purchasing opportunities, and leveraging resources through partnership. New participants are welcome. Participants meet monthly, exploring benefits and costs.

The first Governance Committee meeting was held on 11/13/02 and the Goddard Collaborative was incorporated as a 503c in 2003.

One of the major initiatives of the Collaborative is to assist its members in increasing their internet bandwidth while reducing their costs. By deploying a regional peering network and connecting to other peering educational and research networks in New England as well as working with some very supportive vendors, we believe that we can present a successful financial incentive for prospective members to join us. Our second major initiative is to assist our members in using that increased bandwidth effectively. We are actively working on a number of collaborative grant programs. We believe that by combining our efforts and using our individual strengths, our members will be more successful in competing for grant dollars.

Goddard Collaborative meetings are held the third Thursday of the month, 2:00 - 4:00 p.m. Meeting locations rotate, generally around the Worcester, Framingham, and Needham areas. Most affiliated institutions are located in either Rhode Island, Connecticut, or Massachusetts.

If you are interested, please register for an upcoming meeting.

Download a handout about the Collaborative (PDF)