Effective mid-January 2005, the University of Missouri will inaugurate a Center for e-Research. The primary mission of the CER will be to foster internet-based research across disciplines, both locally on campus and via national and international cooperations. It is crucial to emphasize that all schools, colleges, and intra-college units of the university, as well as all outside institutions, are welcome and invited to take part in CER activities, and that the director will make every effort to solicit their initial and continuing participation.

The philosophy behind the establishment of this facility is simple. Today internet-based research is proliferating throughout colleges and universities, just as web-based interactions have revolutionized every sector of our daily lives. A major difference, however, is that individual efforts in e-research have remained highly individual; they have tended to take root and flourish in relative isolation, thriving within their own narrow confines but seldom interacting with efforts by other researchers. To help network these “silos” more effectively, the CER proposes to help e-researchers communicate with one another through local seminars and consultations, webcasts for campus and national/international audiences, national and international agreements, an online journal-newsletter entitled E-Research, and a web page with an updatable data-base.