diff --git a/init-instance.sh b/init-instance.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8dc35f7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/init-instance.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+#
+# setup-student.sh
+#
+# Usage:
+#   curl -sL URL_TO_THIS_SCRIPT | bash -s -- GITHUB_USERNAME
+#
+# This script must be run as the 'rocky' user (with passwordless sudo).
+# It takes one argument: the GitHub username of the student.
+# It will:
+#   1. Retrieve the student's public SSH keys from GitHub and install them
+#      so they can SSH in as 'rocky'.
+#   2. Install cowsay, screen, and tmux.
+#   3. Update /etc/motd to welcome the student via cowsay and point them
+#      at the tutorial repo.
+
+set -euo pipefail
+
+if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then
+  echo "Error: Missing GitHub username."
+  echo "Usage: $0 GITHUB_USERNAME"
+  exit 1
+fi
+
+GH_USER="$1"
+SSH_DIR="/home/rocky/.ssh"
+AUTHORIZED_KEYS="$SSH_DIR/authorized_keys"
+MOTD_FILE="/etc/motd"
+TUTORIAL_URL="https://github.com/OpenCHAMI/tutorial-2025"
+
+echo "→ Installing SSH keys for GitHub user '$GH_USER'..."
+
+# Create .ssh directory if needed
+sudo mkdir -p "$SSH_DIR"
+sudo chmod 700 "$SSH_DIR"
+
+# Fetch and install public keys
+KEYS=$(curl -fsSL "https://github.com/${GH_USER}.keys")
+if [ ! -z "${KEYS}" ]; then
+  echo "${KEYS}" | sudo tee "$AUTHORIZED_KEYS" >/dev/null
+  echo "   ✓ Retrieved keys from https://github.com/${GH_USER}.keys"
+else
+  echo "   ✗ Could not find keys for user '$GH_USER'; please check the username and that authorization SSH keys are present."
+  exit 2
+fi
+
+sudo chmod 600 "$AUTHORIZED_KEYS"
+sudo chown -R rocky:rocky "$SSH_DIR"
+
+echo "→ Installing packages: cowsay, screen, tmux..."
+sudo dnf install -y cowsay screen tmux
+
+echo "→ Updating MOTD in $MOTD_FILE..."
+
+# Generate motd with cowsay greeting and tutorial link
+sudo tee "$MOTD_FILE" >/dev/null <<EOF
+$(/usr/bin/cowsay "Welcome, ${GH_USER}!")
+To get started, see the tutorial at:
+${TUTORIAL_URL}
+EOF
+
+echo "✔ Setup complete. Student '$GH_USER' can now SSH in and will be greeted on login."
diff --git a/setup-ec2-instances.py b/setup-ec2-instances.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..9a48f11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/setup-ec2-instances.py
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+
+## This script uses a CSV file with the following columns
+## to automate provisioning student EC2 instances with AWS
+## by running a script. This script is meant is not meant to
+## be ran by the user (e.g. students). It also requires an SSH
+## keyfile (which is assumed to be shared between instances)
+## to log into the instances and run the SSH commands.
+#
+# CSV columns:
+#
+# 1. EC2 instance public IP address (public_ip_address)
+# 2. GitHub username (github_username)
+#
+# Usage:
+#
+# ./setup-instances.py <path_to_csv> <path_to_keyfile> --script-url <script_url>
+#
+# Example:
+#
+# ./setup-instances.py ./users.csv ./openchami.pem https://gist.githubusercontent.com/alexlovelltroy/96bfc8bb6f59c0845617a0dc659871de/raw
+from fabric import Connection
+from argparse import ArgumentParser
+from csv import DictReader
+
+DEFAULT_SCRIPT_URL = "https://gist.githubusercontent.com/davidallendj/bb57c25adefb3e9921ccc3502e9ca13b/raw/2165263c07edc59c007b015c8d21f245f403c09d/setup-student.sh"
+
+def read_user_data(csv_path: str, ignore_header: bool) -> list:
+    data = []
+    with open(csv_path, 'r') as file:
+        if ignore_header:
+            next(file)
+        reader = DictReader(file)
+        for row in reader:
+            data.append(row)
+    return data
+
+
+def ssh_setup_instance(
+    remote_host: str,
+    username: str,
+    keyfile_path: str,
+    script_url: str = DEFAULT_SCRIPT_URL
+) -> None:
+    # download the script on the remote host instance
+    conn = Connection(
+        host=f"rocky@{remote_host}",
+        connect_kwargs={"key_filename": keyfile_path}
+    )
+    result = conn.run(f"curl -fssL {script_url} -o ./setup-student.sh && chmod 755 ./setup-student.sh && ./setup-student.sh {username}", hide=True)
+    print("{0.stdout}\n".format(result))
+
+
+def main() -> None:
+    # setup command-line arguments
+    parser = ArgumentParser(
+        prog='setup-instance',
+        description='Automates setting up an EC2 instance for the OpenCHAMI tutorial.',
+        epilog='./setup-instances.py <path_to_csv> <path_to_keyfile> <setup_script_url>'
+    )
+    parser.add_argument('csv-file', help="Path to CSV containing user information.", default="")
+    parser.add_argument('keyfile', help="Path to key file used to log into AWS EC2 instance. This is assumed to be shared between instances.")
+    parser.add_argument('--script-url', dest="script-url", help="URL pointing to setup script to initialize EC2 instance.", default=DEFAULT_SCRIPT_URL)
+    parser.add_argument('--ignore-header', dest="ignore-header", type=bool, help="Ignores the first line in CSV file.", default=False)
+    args = vars(parser.parse_args())
+
+
+    # read contents from CSV file and load into dict
+    data: list = read_user_data(args["csv-file"], args["ignore-header"])
+    if len(data) == 0:
+        print("no data found in CSV file")
+        exit()
+
+    # run SSH commands to setup instance
+    for row in data:
+        print(f"{row}")
+        ip_addr: str = row["public_ip_address"]
+        username: str = row["github_username"]
+        if not ip_addr or not username:
+            continue
+        ssh_setup_instance(ip_addr, username, args["keyfile"], args["script-url"])
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    main()