The National Science Foundation (NSF) recently announced funding
for three science and engineering research groups that will build
regional partnerships in Nebraska-Kansas, Arkansas-Missouri, and
Louisiana-Mississippi. Each of these partnerships will receive Research
Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Track-2 awards of up to $6 million through NSF's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).
This program establishes regional partnerships with government, higher
education, and industry to improve state and regional research
infrastructure, and research and development capacity, as well as
academic competitiveness. Adult education providers, including community
colleges, the workforce community, ED’s federal partners, and others
may wish to explore these partnership activities for potential
application to their own work.
According
to the announcement, these awards will fund researchers from 20
universities over a three-year period to undertake nationally
significant scientific challenges. Each group will implement
region-specific activities “for developing a scientifically literate
workforce and broadening participation of underrepresented groups in
science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).” According to
Denise Barnes, head of EPSCoR, “These consortia will spur technological
innovations that drive economic growth and develop a diverse
STEM-enabled workforce."
Following are brief descriptions of the work that the three teams will be doing:
Nebraska-Kansas:
Areas of study for this consortium will be laser technology and atomic,
molecular, and optical research. Education, outreach, and workforce
development activities will involve partnerships with small colleges in
those states, summer workshops for high school physics teachers, and
several student programs.
Louisiana-Mississippi:
This group will focus on developing “new experimental and computational
tools” to develop polymers for “medicine and material science.” It will
work to strengthen regional economic competitiveness by building a
diverse STEM workforce.
Arkansas-Missouri:
This consortium “will promote STEM education and workforce development
through training activities for teachers, undergraduate and graduate
students, and faculty members.” Their research will focus on plant
science for “food security and agricultural sustainability.”
Please
visit NSF’s EPSCoR website for more detailed information on these
funding partnerships as well as state team and NSF program contact
information.
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