TREN: Tennessee's Research and Education Network

Vision Statement

The Tennessee Research and Education Network (TREN) is an initiative to establish a statewide 100G research backbone. Despite Tennessee’s 83 institutions of higher education, including six research universities and a national lab, the state lacks a dedicated research and education network.

Funded by the National Science Foundation and led by four under-resourced public universities—Tennessee Technological University, Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee State University, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga—this project is developing a comprehensive strategy and regional cyberinfrastructure plan.

TREN will connect these universities with each other and with larger research organizations, enhance research capacity, foster collaboration, and support education, healthcare, government, and non-profits in their networking needs.