From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Jan. 25, 1972:

The Office of Computing Activity of the National Science Foundation had awarded a grant of $613,700 to Kansas University. The grant, announced today by the offices of Sens. Bob Dole and James Pearson and Rep. Larry Winn, was for the “creation of a computer network permitting innovative research and education” in the area of chemical physics. According to the article, the project was based on the concept that “a multilevel or hierarchical network of computers provides a more economical, efficient and powerful approach to supporting experimentation in several laboratories simultaneously than can be obtained either through a single large computer or through several small minicomputers, each dedicated to a particular experiment.” Although the validity of this concept had been known for some time, it had not reached the stage of common practical implementation in academic environments. KU was said to be one of only a few institutions in the U.S. at the forefront of the new computing developments.