A 2006 ECAR study defined cyberinfrastructure as the coordinated aggregate of "hardware, software, communications, services, facilities, and personnel that enable researchers to conduct advanced computational, collaborative, and data-intensive research." While cyberinfrastructure was initially seen as support for scientific and engineering research, scholars in nearly every discipline increasingly require that same range of support as they come to understand the power of computation to enhance their studies. This nearly ubiquitous demand for cyberinfrastructure places an especially heavy burden on institutions not in the top tier of the research hierarchy. Small/medium research institutions often lack dedicated staff and departmental structures to support faculty research, so they might need to take a different approach to developing an adequate cyberinfrastructure. This article presents five key steps for building research cyberinfrastructure: (1) defining research needs; (2) setting priorities for research support; (3) developing support strategies; (4) developing a funding model; and (5) building partnerships to enhance research support. It also presents the viewpoints of four small-to-medium-sized research universities who have struggled with the issue of providing appropriate cyberinfrastructure support for their research enterprises. All four universities have strategic goals for raising the level of research activity and increasing extramural funding for research. (Contains 5 figures and 4 endnotes.)