On May 20, Vice President Gore announced that Dartmouth College was one of the 35 research institutions across the United States scheduled to receive a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to allow it to connect to the very high speed Backbone Network Service (vBNS). This will bring the total number of research institutions connected to vBNS to 64.

The new grants, which total $12.3 million, move the nation one step closer to a newer, high speed version of the Internet, according tot he NSF. The high performance connections to the vBNS will play a critical role in achieving a major goal of the Clinton administration "Next Generation Internet" initiative by linking approximately 100 leading university and their research partners. The network will facilitate the joint development of software applications and communications technologies for the Internet of the future.

Other research institutions in New England that will be receiving NSF grants are: Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Yale University.