NSF Initiative Builds Tenn.’s Research Muscle
Published Apr 08, 2008
Educational institutions such as MTSU benefit from EPSCoR research money.
In April 2006, Tennessee became the first state to begin to transition out of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). NSF created EPSCoR in 1978 to help states become more competitive in terms of federal research and development money.
“If you keep investing your money at just a few key institutions, it makes it more difficult to attract and keep good researchers, both faculty and students, at other institutions. Thus, it becomes even more difficult for universities in states traditionally receiving a low percentage of funding to compete for federal dollars,” explains Dr. Greg Sedrick of the University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI). Sedrick is head of the committee that is helping Tennessee transition out of the program.
NSF has a mandate to support research across the United States while avoiding a geographical concentration of research facilities. Under EPSCoR, NSF sets aside money that can only be allocated to states in the program, thereby broadening the geographical distribution of federal research money.
“It is a way of partitioning off a portion of research dollars allocated by NSF, to give states a helping hand – not a hand out,” Sedrick adds.
The program also has worked to spread research dollars across Tennessee.
“EPSCoR grants have been distributed over a wide variety of institutions,” says Dr. David Hercules of Vanderbilt University. Hercules is a member of the Tennessee EPSCoR Committee. “In addition to Vanderbilt and UT-Knoxville, money has also gone to Middle Tennessee State University, Tennessee Technological University, Fisk University, University of Memphis, Rhodes College and other institutions in the state.”
Another key issue addressed by NSF under EPSCoR is to encourage collaboration among researchers within targeted states. Funding priority is given to projects that increase the competitiveness of the state as a whole.
“Collaborations between private institutions such as Vanderbilt University and public institutions in both the University of Tennessee system and the Tennessee Board of Regents have become more common as a result of EPSCoR,” says Sedrick, who is working to ensure that Tennessee’s research institutions maintain their competitiveness through the three-year transition period.
Although Tennessee is moving out of the program, the state will still benefit from EPSCoR. Researchers will continue to participate in events designed to encourage cross-campus collaboration among researchers throughout the state. Tennessee researchers also will be eligible to collaborate with researchers in other states who are receiving funding under the EPSCoR program.
And Tennessee’s graduation from EPSCoR does not necessarily mean that the state will receive less federal funding for research. In fact, graduation from the program demonstrates the state’s research competitiveness.
“Tennessee’s ability to get money has improved and progressed steadily upward,” Hercules says, noting that the state has received $23 million in grants under the EPSCoR program. “The state receives enough federal funding that we no longer qualify to participate. Other states haven’t been able to bring themselves up to NSF standards.”
Story by Denise Mitchell
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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