KBRIN Inital Announcement

U of L President John Shumaker and University of Kentucky President Lee Todd, speaking at an Aug. 28 news conference, pledged to set a shared agenda for collaboration between the state's two research institutions. They also outlined ways the powerful national research network known as Internet II will support the effort.

Gov. Paul Patton led the news conference, which took place at the Council on Postsecondary Education in Frankfort. Trustees from the two universities attended.

"U of L and UK have a very good track record of relatively quiet collaboration," Shumaker said, noting that faculty at the two institutions are already involved in more than 120 cooperative projects. "In the spirit of expanding Kentucky's educational and research capacity, we plan to formalize our relationships to move the state's higher education reform initiative forward even more quickly.

Shumaker said the universities would establish a shared agenda emphasizing economic and workforce development, shared advocacy for research and expanded collaboration in many disciplines.

Todd added that both schools will benefit by working together when they seek federal support for programs. Together, he said, "we will be able to fight the war outside the boundaries (of the state) rather than inside the boundaries."

The announcement of formal collaboration was what the legislature envisioned when it passed House Bill 1 in 1997 to reform Kentucky higher education, Patton said.

"As we move forward and continue to fund our colleges and universities, we are going to see more and more results of research and technology benefiting Kentuckians," the governor said, citing increasing college enrollment and the Research Challenge Trust Fund, often called "Bucks for Brains," as priorities.

"The challenges we face in Kentucky are too great and the needs of our fellow Kentuckians are too important to settle for anything less than a fully cooperative spirit," Patton said.

Shumaker said the presidents will ask the two university boards to endorse the shared agenda and "become advocates for it in policy and action."

"We want our faculties to be confident that when they initiate joint ventures, they'll have the full support of the administrations and boards," he added.

The two presidents also announced that they had agreed to serve as adjunct faculty on each other's campuses. Shumaker will teach Greek at UK and Todd will teach entrepreneurship at U of L, with the approval of each school's faculty.

During the news conference, the presidents and governor also discussed Internet II, a high-speed research and education network that links 185 of the nation's top research universities, including U of L and UK, with industry and government partners. The increased bandwidth and speed of the network over the current version of the Internet will allow participants to exchange large amounts of data quickly, leading to greater sharing of resources and increased collaboration.

One project that demonstrates the potential of Internet II is the Kentucky Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network (KBRIN). This network will enhance collaborative biomedical research between the two institutions, according to project director Nigel Cooper of U of L's School of Medicine and principal investigator Chuck Staben of UK's biological sciences department, who spoke during the news conference.

Cooper said Internet II will facilitate the exchange of highly complex data from molecular genetic, genomic and bioinformatic research by U of L and UK faculty. Students and faculty from many of the state's regional public and private universities also will have access to research resources through KBRIN via Internet II.