Gregory S. Cole
Greg serves as Principal Investigator of the NSF program establishing GLORIAD, as well as the program’s predecessor, NaukaNet – with total NSF funding of $9.5M (from 1998 - 2009). NaukaNet established the primary high performance Internet network between the US and Russian S&E communities in 1999 and led to an effective consortium of collaborating US and Russian science, education and networking organizations. In December 2001, the project realized its goal of routing S&E traffic from across the whole of both US and Russia. The number of users (hosts) of the network exceeds 3 million today and traffic to Russia exceeds 4 terabytes monthly (and China 6 terabytes). The NaukaNet network program has provided the network infrastructure, the organizational support, the experience with advanced applications, and the relationships on which the new GLORIAD program has been built. This work was extended, via GLORIAD, to China in 2004 where it connects science institutions and facilities across the whole of China - and then to Korea, Canada and Netherlands in 2005 and joining with the NORDUnet network, connecting the 5 Nordic countries in 2006.With Co-PI Natasha Bulashova, Greg has designed and implemented a traffic monitoring and utilization database and software system (http://www.gloriad.org/madasd/) that provides information on uses of the network.
Greg has also co-directed (with Natasha Bulashova) the US-Russian Civic Networking Program (funded by the Ford Foundation and the Eurasia Foundation) and directed several other US-Russia network infrastructure and community development programs funded by such organizations as NATO, US Department of State, Eurasia Foundation, Sun Microsystems and others. The US-Russia project that he and Natasha Bulashova started more than 13 years ago is known as Friends & Partners..
Greg received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee Knoxville where he had the good fortune of working with Dr. Michael Thomason on his research in the area of pattern recognition. His first international trip was with Dr. Thomason in 1986 to work with Erik Granum and Jens Gregor in Aalborg, Denmark and to present his research at a conference on pattern recognition there. (it was while working with Dr. Thomason and his Danish colleagues that Greg discovered the Internet)
After graduating in 1988, he was most fortunate to have the chance to work with Homer Fisher and Bill Snyder – directing the University of Tennessee’s Office of Research Services until 1995 when he directed the new Center for International Networking Initiatives (in which the US-Russia programs were housed). In 1998, he received the NSF grant establishing the first US-Russia high performance network “MIRnet”. He moved the project to Washington, DC (as part of the University of Illinois National Center for Supercomputing Applications) in 2001 and moved it back to UT and ORNL in the fall of 2004. NCSA provided a great home for the development of his US-Russian programs but he is nevertheless very glad to be home in East Tennessee!
Greg enjoys travel, hiking, camping, gardening, loves listening to the music of the Celtic Woman group, is an avid reader and especially enjoys history and the writings of George MacDonald -- a 19th century Scottish poet, preacher, and novelist and C.S. Lewis who have had (and continue to have) a profound influence on his life and spiritual journey.
Contact information:
Office Telephone: +1 (865) 241-3702
Email: gcole "AT" gloriad.org
URL: http:// www.gloriad.org
