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What is EPSCoR? The
National EPSCoR Program The
Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) was initiated by
the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1979 as a unique infrastructure-building effort to encourage local action to develop long term improvements in a
state’s science and engineering (S&E) enterprise.
It was created in response to Congressional
concerns about geographical concentration of Federal funding of academic
research and development (R&D). Currently twenty-five states, Puerto
Rico, and the Virgin Islands have been identified as
EPSCoR states. Through these federal-state partnerships,
EPSCoR focuses on science,
engineering and technology capabilities that promote national competitiveness.
These partnerships help to balance the distribution of federal research
dollars and use state or local control in the delivery of program goals. The success of NSF EPSCoR in
the 1980s led Congress to expand the NSF program in the 1990s and early 2000s and create EPSCoR-related
programs in the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DoD),
Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). All agencies have research
competitiveness as a cornerstone upon which the states are to develop strategies
leading to future national prominence. Each EPSCoR state designs and executes its own strategic
plans by melding exemplary research, education and economic development
initiatives into a statewide approach. EPSCoR
is a catalyst of change that is widely reviewed as a model federal-state
partnership. For more information
on National EPSCoR click on: DoD,
DOE
EPA,
NASA,
NIH,
NSF,
USDA. |
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