Federal Grant Award Summary

The National Science Foundation's Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure awarded Georgia State University Research Foundation Inc. a $299,979 Project Grant (CFDA 47.070: Computer and Information Science and Engineering) effective July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2028. This CyberTraining pilot project develops freely accessible, high-quality interdisciplinary training materials and courses targeting undergraduate and graduate students at the intersection of computer science, data science, and heliophysics. The project directly addresses the critical gap in computational and data science workforce preparation for space weather research by delivering training content in scientific data management, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and high-performance computing for physical simulations.

The project outputs are designed for broad national distribution to students and early-career researchers regardless of institutional resources, with particular focus on preparing the next generation of researchers to address space weather forecasting and heliophysics challenges. These phenomena—including solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and geomagnetic storms—pose significant risks to critical national infrastructure including satellite operations, aviation, power grids, precision agriculture systems, emergency response networks, and national defense capabilities. By creating open-access cyberinfrastructure training materials, the project aims to expand workforce capacity and computational expertise essential for advancing space weather science and protecting vital societal systems.