Overview

Program Highlights

Nevada has just completed the first year of a $9 million infrastructure-building award from EPSCoR. Following on the very successful Research Infrastructure for Nevada's Growth-Targeting Research with Uniqueness and Excellence (RING-TRUE) program, RING-TRUE II is moving forward with building collaborations and research programs, and hiring excellent faculty. The elements of the RING TRUE II program are:

Nanostructured Materials and Devices (NMD)

The NMD focal area of the Nevada EPSCoR RING-TRUE II program consists of initiatives in materials science (e.g., chemically specific sensors, catalytic materials), materials engineering (e.g., magneto-rheological materials, nanoparticle synthesis), and optical imaging in support of these and other materials studies. Initial materials-science efforts are focused on studying conducting polymer-metal composites for novel sensing, fuel-cell, and catalytic applications, and the feasibility of using fluorous biphasic systems as a modern method for catalyst isolation and recycling. Materials-engineering efforts are focused on developing new equipment and facilities to characterize smart materials containing nano- and micro-sized particles and to synthesize nanoparticles for various applications. New infrastructure includes a magneto-rheometry facility and a nanoparticle-synthesis laboratory including chemical-vapor deposition and combustion synthesis. Creation of an optical-imaging facility has involved complete renovation of an 800-square foot laboratory and installation of a laser-scanning confocal microscope and an atomic-force microscope, which can also be operated as a magnetic-force or electric-force microscope. Development of a thin-film metal-deposition system for use with a new near-field optical-scanning microscope is also underway.

Advanced Computing for Environmental Science (ACES)

The main mission of ACES is to elevate environmental science research and education in Nevada to a new level of excellence by aligning it with NSF's strategic direction of increasing the application of information technology advances across science and engineering. In turn, the program will provide an application-driven environment to stimulate new information technology research of common interest to ACES computer scientists, environmental scientists, and private partners.

The ACES strategy is threefold:

• Create the Nevada Environmental Computing Grid (NECG)-a statewide, distributed computational and communication infrastructure-by acquiring new equipment, making several strategic hires, and integrating existing resources
• Establish a unifying management approach and transparent access and use policies, with dedicated application-level support for researchers
• Stimulate personal interaction through a seminar series, graduate-level courses, tutorials, and workshops all accompanied by online reports for the widest possible dissemination

Integrated Approaches to Abiotic Stress (IAAS)

The IAAS group has made tremendous progress over the course of the first 6 months of the award, including:

• Completion of the first advisory board meeting and response to the first report
• Enhancement of facilities in proteomics and mass spectrometry at University of Nevada, Reno (UNR); development of a stress-genomics facility at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV); and completion of microarray technology at the Desert Research Institute (DRI)
• First round of graduate student and undergraduate student graduate research programs have been completed with three graduate students and five undergraduates receiving fellowships
• Two faculty were hired last year who will participate in IAAS activities and were significantly supported by startup support promised from the EPSCoR grant, including one Hispanic member of UNLV's Biology Department
• Searches are currently underway for two plant biologists at UNR specifically targeted at the IAAS program and two microbiologists at DRI that are targeted to this program; four hires are ongoing at UNLV, of which linkages to IAAS are being considered a critical criteria, i.e., the program has played a major role in influencing the strategic hiring of all three research campuses. All three campuses have obligated almost all of their first-year funds (and have already committed out second-year funds to new faculty support)
• Annual meeting for this year was scheduled for May 2003

Increasing Diversity in Science in Nevada (IDIN)

The IDIN program has made tremendous strides in building statewide partnerships to forge a Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement program to get high school students of underrepresented groups interested in preparation to pursue a college degree in science and engineering.

Other Activities

We have already implemented several successes:

• Undergraduate scholars program
• Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR) Phase 0 program in partnership with the Nevada Commission on Economic Development and the Nevada Small Business Development Center, as well as other SBIR outreach activities
• Supported the development of more than a dozen patent inventions including patent applications
• Supported the development of several research proposals with a technical editor and have made outreach connections to the business community, which led to support from the Nevada Technology Council and recognition in the business press