Overview

The Great Plains – Scalable Tiered Object Repository (GP‑STOR) expands flexible storage resources across the Great Plains Network (GPN) to accelerate cross‑institutional computational and data‑intensive research and STEM education.

GP‑STOR enhances prior NSF investments and successful regional collaborations, building on:

• Great Plains CyberTeam (GP‑CT; NSF #1925681)
• Great Plains Augmented Regional Gateway to the Open Science Grid (GP‑ARGO; NSF #2018766))
• Great Plains Extended Network of GPUs for Interactive Experimenters (GP‑ENGINE; NSF #2322218))

What GP‑STOR provides

• 14 PB of redundant, distributed Ceph object storage
• 384 TB of high‑speed solid‑state storage optimized for streaming data into AI/ML algorithms and out of simulations and instruments
• Three‑site distribution for availability and resilience across the University of Missouri, University of Nebraska, and University of South Dakota
• Researcher‑friendly access: A web-based UI, mounts for the NRP and OSG.

Who it serves

Researchers and educators across the region and beyond, including communities in the National Research Platform (NRP), Open Science Grid (OSG), ACCESS programs, and more.

Why it matters

By advancing storage accessibility, performance, and resilience, GP‑STOR supports AI/ML workflows, simulation, instrument data pipelines, and classroom integration—bringing modern cyberinfrastructure capabilities to the Great Plains.

Intellectual Merit

GP‑STOR’s tiered storage design enables researchers using AI, machine learning, and simulation to advance research and teaching across science and engineering disciplines.

Key merits

• Enhanced accessibility for compute and data workflows, including:
  • Mounting for high‑throughput computing (HTC) jobs in the OSG and National Research Platform (NRP)
  • Web‑based UI via Nextcloud
• Three‑site configuration ensures data availability and redundancy
• Builds on proven success from GP‑ENGINE, GP‑CT, and GP‑ARGO to transform the intersection of HTC‑oriented campus CI with state and regional networks
• Addresses unique challenges of deploying advanced CI in rural regions where awareness and literacy of HTC resources are still emerging
• Advances CI in the Great Plains, a region whose sparse population and geographic size are ideal for developing advanced computing, data, and networking in under‑resourced EPSCoR states

Team qualifications

The investigators are well qualified based on institutional partnerships of campus cyberinfrastructure experts. Co‑PIs and collaborators have participated in GP‑CT, GP‑ARGO, and GP‑ENGINE, as well as Campus Champions, the Campus Research Computing Consortium (CaRCC), and NRP. The team engages S&E faculty across the Great Plains, including faculty from predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs).

Broader Impacts

GP‑STOR directly supports regional and national STEM strategies by:

1. Building campus research capacity and innovation infrastructure
2. Supporting industrial sectors critical for economic growth, including agriculture and advanced materials
3. Advancing HTC computing for research and education in rural America in ways that can be reproduced nationwide

Broadening participation

• Focus on under‑resourced institutions across the region, including PUIs and tribal colleges
• Uses established relationships to provide in‑person training and to connect researchers with regional peers

Dissemination and workforce development

• Virtual office hours, video walkthroughs, and online step‑by‑step guides
• Presentations and engagement at the GPN Annual Meeting
• Educational components and development of an engineering and facilitation workforce capable of designing and implementing an interstate modern research platform
• Student engagement in funded equipment and training activities