Overview
Goals
Nebraska EPSCoR intends to stimulate State and local leaders to undertake statewide systemic initiatives to:
- Strengthen academic science and engineering (S&E;) research to meet the challenge of increased national competitiveness
- Improve the quality of S&E; education to ensure continued production of highly trained, highly skilled S&E; professionals
- Create increased opportunities for university/industry interaction in S&E; research and training in areas critical to technology development and transfer
Nebraska EPSCoR continues to assist researchers in obtaining research grants from Federal agencies with EPSCoR or EPSCoR-like programs. From 1991 through November 2003 we have obtained more than $105 million in EPSCoR funding. A brief update on the status of current program funding from each of the agencies from which Nebraska EPSCoR has current support is provided below.
Participating Institutions
- Chadron State College
- Creighton University
- Little Priest Community College
- Nebraska Indian Community College
- Nebraska Wesleyan University
- University of Nebraska at Kearney
- University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL)
- University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)
- University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO)
- Wayne State College
Research Focus Areas
We are in our third year of funding from EPSCoR. This grant provides support for infrastructure development in four project areas in the new science of informatics, as well as support for several outreach and human resource development projects. The specific infrastructure areas include:
- Statewide bioinformatics network
- Computer science and biology collaboration to enhance bioinformatics research and education
- Computation informatics, especially those related to new wireless and secure distributed technologies, including development of supercomputer capabilities and Access Grid Nodes
- Informatics related to enterprise resource planning (ERP) to examine new technologies that interface with business needs
The projects involve UNL, UNO, UNMC, and Creighton University. This grant also supports a new student internship program in collaboration with the private sector. It also supports efforts to reach out to a broader base, including connections with smaller colleges and tribal colleges in the State, as well as continuing programs to increase participation in science by minorities and women and beginning competitive grants for new investigators.
We also participate in the EPSCoR or EPSCoR-like programs of the Department of Defense (DEPSCoR), Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and National Institutes of Health (NIH Institutional Development Award (IDeA)).
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