When preparing a new research funding proposal, it is important for funding agencies to know you have access to best-in-class resources to conduct and secure your research. Texas A&M University offers a highly connected, robust and secure technology infrastructure. We've prepared templated statements to help researchers to quickly and accurately complete funding proposals. The statements should be tailored to fit your research requirements and the funding agency to which you're applying.

Simply pull the information you need from the relevant statement list below, then tailor it as needed for use in your new research proposal.

To suggest additional templates, please contact Technology Services at tamu-it-coms@tamu.edu.

Texas A&M University operates a robust campus network that securely connects researchers to local, state, national, and international collaborators at the highest speeds modern networking technology allows. The campus network core is a fully redundant 40- and 100-Gigabit network mesh that connects with multiple, geographically diverse 100-Gigabit links to Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and state Research and Education peering networks, including the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN) and the SouthEast Texas GigaPOP (SETG). These peering networks allow direct access not only to Cloud resources (like Amazon, Microsoft Azure, and Google), but also to the Internet2 nationwide Research and Education (R&E) peering network. Internet2 operates a dedicated fiber-optic national network backbone that provides very high bandwidth, low-latency connectivity to most U.S. universities and research laboratories.

Texas A&M University operates several data center facilities to support researchers. The two main facilities are the West Campus Data Center (WCDC) and the Main Campus Data Center (MCDC). These facilities, in conjunction with campus networking, provide secured space, redundant power, high efficiency cooling, and access to high performance networking services. The WCDC is the flagship site and was purpose built to house servers and storage systems needing very high reliability, security, and cooling density. It features redundant 10MW power feeds, 5MW of standby generator power, 4 megawatts of uninterruptible power capacity, and can support up to 30 kilowatts of power delivery for individual equipment racks. Physical security features include a gated facility controlled around the clock by card access, biometrics and security guards as well as Very Early Warning Aspirating Smoke Detection (VESDA) and fire suppression systems. The MCDC facility offers redundant power and cooling capabilities and serves as a redundant, second-site for servers and storage systems that are installed in the WCDC.

The Aggie Innovation Platform (AIP) currently provides access to Aggie Cloud (on-premises, private cloud), Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. Each of these platforms is available to members of the Texas A&M Community and can be used to securely and reliably deploy nearly any compute or storage related service that is offered by the respective cloud providers. AIP provides an organized framework with useful and secure defaults that make it easy for those needing to use cloud services without a steep startup effort. Integration with identity services, billing and cost management tools, on-campus networking, monitoring, and a community-focused technical governance program consisting of fellow cloud practitioners significantly reduces the risk of adopting cloud technologies. In addition, automatic compliance with Texas A&M security controls, adherence with data classifications, and access to pre-defined Infrastructure as Code templates ensures that deployed systems start secure and remain secure.

Texas A&M University's IT infrastructure provides researchers with layers of security for research, educational, and operational needs. The layers of security begin with laptops, desktops, and physical servers that have best-practice security configurations, security and manageability software and systems embedded, as well as continuous monitoring and alerting for malicious behavior and viruses. Texas A&M's Technology Services also provides a range of secure file sharing and file repository options covering both internal communications as well as collaborations and sharing of data and files with external partners and researchers. The Texas A&M network is protected by several layers of best-in-class network security systems and devices as well as being monitored around the clock by seasoned security experts.

Technology Services provides a wide range of secure compute environments satisfying all federal and state security requirements. Secure compute environments are offered both on-prem, virtualized, as well as on all major cloud providers. Data loss prevention systems are also spread across the Texas A&M email system, the entirety of the network, and devices to protect from data and intellectual property loss. Proper identity management and secure access is a constant at Texas A&M providing researchers with secure and trusted paths for accessing data and systems. Security assessment, vulnerability management, and vendor management are also continuously and properly deployed, every day, across Texas A&M. For all research with customized infrastructure needs Technology Services provides consulting, resources, and environments suitable for any federal security requirement. A team of focused experts overseeing Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance ensure that all systems, networks, and personnel are continuously compliant by nationally recognized security and privacy controls thereby ensuring the entirety of Texas A&M's cyberinfrastructure remains a safe and secure place for research.

Texas A&M University (TAMU) implements physical and logical controls for internal services, and provides researchers access to security, identity, and compliance services to help them build solutions that comply with student data privacy requirements. Technology Services offers a comprehensive set of features and services that make encryption of data easier to manage and simpler to audit, including the Key Management Services. Researchers with student data privacy compliance requirements have a great deal of flexibility in how they can leverage university cyberinfrastructure to help them meet data encryption requirements. Technology Services continually monitors the evolving privacy regulatory and legislative landscape to identify changes and determine what tools our researchers might require to meet their compliance needs, depending on their applications. University infrastructure has been implemented to encompass flexible and secure computing environments. It is designed to provide a scalable, highly reliable infrastructure that enables researchers to deploy applications and data quickly and securely. This infrastructure is built and managed not only according to security best practices and standards, but also with the unique needs of both on-prem and cloud in mind. Technology Services uses redundant and layered controls, nearly continuous validation and testing, and a substantial amount of automation to ensure that the underlying infrastructure is monitored and protected 24/7.

At Texas A&M University (TAMU), Technology Services provides information technology systems and services that meet requirements established by the HIPAA Security Rule. TAMU researchers may use Technology Service's HIPAA-capable services for work involving data protected under HIPAA, including ePHI, as well as consulting services that assist researchers institute additional physical, administrative, and technical safeguards that complement those Technology Services already has in place. Technology Services provides researchers with HIPAA-required administrative, physical, and technical safeguards with regard to any person, process, application, service, or system used to collect, process, manage, analyze, or store HIPAA-regulated research data. Furthermore, the university employs granular training and resources ensuring the protection of the privacy and security of the HIPAA-regulated data that is collected, managed, processed, analyzed, or stored in conjunction with research.

The Texas Data Repository (TDR) is an open-access platform for the dissemination and archiving of university research data. The TDR provides long-term preservation of digital objects using an off-site backup and assigns a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) for citations. Hosted by the Texas Digital Library and managed by the Texas A&M University Libraries, the TDR provides a self-deposit model for researchers to comply with data sharing requirements to make data FAIR (Findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable). By default, data is shared with a CC0 public domain dedication. The TDR interface allows for data to be accompanied by appropriate documentation, metadata, and code to facilitate reuse and provide the potential for interoperability with similar data sets. The repository provides bit-level preservation and ensures ongoing access to research data, including associated metadata and documentation for a minimum period of ten years after it is deposited.

See template statement for research subjects on publishing and sharing subject data in the Texas Data Repository.

HPRC is an interdisciplinary research center within the Division of Research under the general direction of the Vice President for Research. Please visit https://hprc.tamu.edu for details about HPRC's resources.