Supporting Collaboration

NSF Includes InCommon Requirements for Cyberinfrastructure Grants

In announcing its grant process for its Campus Cyberinfrastructure program (CC*), the National Science Foundation has included new InCommon-related requirements that NSF CC* solicitations must include in their Campus Cyberinfrastructure Plans. The language in the solicitation is:

The plan should include the campus status and plans with respect to federated identity and specifically InCommon, including: if the campus is registered with InCommon as supporting the Research and Scholarship (R&S) Entity Category to streamline integration with research applications, and if the campus meets the InCommon Baseline Expectations for Trust in Federation

This blog post provides guidance for meeting these requirements.

Support the Research & Scholarship Category

Whether someone from your organization is submitting an NSF proposal or not, configuring your identity provider to support the R&S category is a good best practice. This international standard requires releasing a small bundle of attributes (mainly directory information) to the category of R&S services. When you do this, faculty and researchers can access any service - in the U.S. or globally - that is designated "Research & Scholarship" without intervention from IT.

Baseline Expectations for Trust in Federation

Rolling out in 2018, this community-driven program establishes short lists of expectations for all participants: Identity Providers, Service Providers, and the Federation Operator. One focus in on ensuring all metadata is complete and that certain elements are required. This will reduce variance among Federating partners and make things easier for virtual organizations and collaborations.