Well, after a whirlwind week, I am on the train back to RI. The Quilt put together a wonderful program starting out with our Board meeting and the CEO Roundtable. Right away we were talking about strategies and priorities, and it was immediately evident that AI and Quantum were on everyone’s mind. No surprise there. As a board member, I must relate that we are so fortunate to have the Quilt in the capable hands of Jen Leasure as was evident once again with our financial discussions and workgroups’ progress. The CEO Roundtable had some guest experts in for a discussion on AI data center builds and the technical and financial intricacies of infrastructure development as well as the controversies currently dominating the news. I remain steadfast in my belief in that new data center builds are not a simplistic ban or “open for business” answer. AI will require new data centers, and they will be bult but not every location is appropriate but NIMBY without true understanding can be just as irresponsible. Responsible governance of any locality should endeavor to understand the issue deeply and develop proper requirements for agreement by both sides. This is not trivial and governments are going to need experts who truly understand the issues and are acting on behalf of the public good, something that the R&E community has inherent in our mission. As Chris Misra from UMass pointed out in a recent LinkedIn post, the Mass Green High-Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC) is a shining example of how to do it right. https://www.wbur.org/news/2026/09/11/holyoke-massachusetts-ai-data-center-ban-green-center I found this to be a very valuable discussion to kick off our week.
During the week we had discussions on AI, federal policy, grant initiatives, Quantum developments, Cybersecurity, research enablement and the best part, hallway and social time to learn and share what we are all doing in this time of immense technological change. We had deep dives on some current work many of us are doing to respond to grant opportunities looking to support AI infrastructures for research in and workforce development. Notably, these grants, while led by R1 institutions, strongly support “broadening the reach” throughout the community, something the RENs are very good at. What is clear to me in these discussions is that the role of the REN continues to increase in value to our members and our states at large, especially in times of such daunting change. RENs across the country are being relied on to help states chart their technology futures and the role of the network is not to be ignored.
We had a number of vendor partners there to discuss their trajectories. Of note were some great discussions with our friends at Quantum Foundry about how Quantum is developing from chips to compute to network and the immediate issues of Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) imperatives. Its hard enough to decipher realistic impact and timelines in AI but Quantum is another level. More than ever we need people who can cross the expansive divide between the technology and grounded operational strategy. This, followed by a wonderful presentation by Ohio State and OARNET (Ohio REN) detailing their progress in building and testing a true Quantum network. Truly impressive how far they have come, and OSU was effusive about the value OARNET has brought to this project.
It seemed like each one of our sessions could have been a conference unto itself. There are always follow ups to come and new inspirations to absorb and this week was no different.
I would be remiss to not give a huge OSHEAN shout out to Amy Phillipson, Executive Director, Pacific Northwest Gigapop, for taking home the Dave Reese Service Award. Amy joins the list of Quilt Service Award legends who embody the spirit of Dave Reese in selflessly giving to the community at large over her career.
On a personal note, my wife traveled to Philly with me and had a wonderful time visiting the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, several museums and the Mosaic Gardens. She had a great time and was able to join me at our social event on Wednesday where we celebrated the 15th year of service to the Quilt for an OSHEAN favorite, Jennifer Griffin! My wife and I are capping our week off with a relaxing train ride while celebrating our 43rd year of wedded bliss!