Who are we?

The Goddard Collaborative is an incorporated 503c organization whose members are 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 was started in 2002 when WPI invited regional colleges to explore submitting an NSF High-Performance Network Grant proposal to join Internet2 and connect through WPI's Goddard GigaPoP, located in Worcester, MA. While those institutions did not submit a grant proposal, the goal of connecting to the Goddard GigaPoP remains. Several colleagues are collaborating on another NSF grant proposal.

Participation has grown steadily each month since our first meeting. The organization was incorporated in 2003. People benefited from a variety of shared information and the group purpose expanded to the following items:

Facilitate Collaboration Opportunities

Shared Network Infrastructure
Internet 2 Connectivity
Distance Learning

Expand Community Outreach

Colleges and Universities
Museums
K-12
Municipalities
Libraries
Other Organizations

Encourage Administrative Cooperation

Disaster Recovery
Storage
Archiving

Encourage Academic Cooperation

Shared unique resources
Instructional Technology Support

Leverage Purchasing Opportunities

Commodity Internet
Telecommunications

Leverage Resources thru Partnership with other organizations e.g. NERCOMP

Research
Services
Shared Network Infrastructure
Purchasing Opportunities

Minutes, a survey of common systems and products, grant proposals and other information are posted on a BlackBoard site, hosted by Olin College and available to all participants.

Download a handout about the Collaborative (PDF)