EPSCoR/IDeA Foundation

EIF Chair requests an increased appropriation for the NSF and NASA EPSCoR programs

Posted on May 16th, 2008 at 12:12pm

Requesting $133.2M and $20.0M for the NSF EPSCoR and NASA EPSCoR programs, respectively, EIF Chairman Paul Hill applauded the contributions the EPSCoR/IDeA states have made to the national research enterprise and made a compelling case for increasing support for the EPSCoR/IDeA states and integrating them more fully into the overall [NSF and NASA] agenda. Hill, who also serves as the Vice Chancellor of Science and Research, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission, testified before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee, House Committee on Appropriations, on April 2, 2008. Click here to read the testimony.

“EPSCoR/IDeA states educate thousands of scientists and engineers each year and have a wealth of secondary school talent that has often scored quite well on standardized math tests. Additionally, EPSCoR/IDeA states have many Truman and Goldwater Scholars, have growing research capabilities, are among the major energy-producing states, and are in the forefront of ocean and coastal research, fossil energy research, and many other areas…. Ensuring [that] the talents and expertise of all states are fully utilized to address our nation’s research and innovation needs,” is essential to our securing our nation’s security, quality of life, and economic prosperity, he said.

Hill noted that the 25 states and two jurisdictions that make up EPSCoR represent 20 percent of the U.S. population, 25 percent of the research and doctoral universities, and 18 percent of the nation’s scientists and engineers. “Every state, their students and their citizens have important contributions to make to the nation’s competitiveness…we believe in the value and power of EPSCoR - both as a catalyst for improvement within [the] respective states and as a contributor to America’s increased competitiveness in the global economy. An innovation strategy that ignores half the states and a fourth of the doctoral granting institutions in our country is certain fail.”

Hill applauded the support of the Subcommittee, saying that it has been “very supportive of the EPSCoR program,” over the years, and that increased funding would help the states “play a more prominent role in the national research enterprise. It would help these 27 jurisdictions expand their research competitiveness, further develop the young talent they have and contribute more directly to meeting the scientific and technological challenges facing our nation.”