News Archives: December, 2022

DOE EPSCoR announces its interest in receiving new and renewal applications from applicants within eligible jurisdictions for Implementation Grants. DOE follows the NSF’s eligibility criteria for EPSCoR. Grants awarded under this program are intended to improve research capability through the support of a group of scientists and engineers, including undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows, working on a common scientific theme in one or more EPSCoR jurisdictions.

NSF has appointed Charles "Chuck" Barber to serve as chief diversity and inclusion officer, a newly created role included in the CHIPS and Science Act. In this role, Barber will serve as NSF's senior advisor responsible for providing vision, strategic leadership and management for ongoing agency programs and new initiatives related to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, or DEIA, in the NSF workplace and the STEM enterprise.

Three projects have been selected for funding under a DOE Bioenergy Technologies Office (BETO) interagency agreement with the Minority Serving Institution STEM R&D Consortium (MSRDC). DOE has leveraged the partnership to reduce barriers to entry for Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and increase research partnerships.

To address the overdose crisis in the United States, the NIH has established a research network that will test harm reduction strategies in different community settings to inform efforts to help save lives. The harm reduction research network’s efforts build on existing harm reduction research, and represent the largest pool of funding from NIH to date to study harm reduction strategies to address overdose deaths.

In his last year as Chairman of the EPSCoR/IDeA Coalition Board of Directors, Dr. Bill Gern, who at the time was also the Vice President for Research at the University of Wyoming, introduced the idea of presenting an award to an extraordinary individual in the EPSCoR/IDeA community in the name of the “father of EPSCoR,” Dr. Joe Danek. Bill Gern saw Joe Danek as a “revolutionary,” someone who recognized research disparity across the United States and was committed to building a program that would improve the research infrastructure in states which received low amounts of federal research funding. In 2015, the EIF/C Boards approved “the Danek Award” to recognize individuals who develop the best ideas to resolve research disparity. In the words of Dr. Gern, the Danek award would be presented before the EPSCoR/IDeA community to an awardee who “has established a long-term commitment to the ideals and goals which EPSCoR represents befitting for awarding of the prize.”

In his last year as Chairman of the EPSCoR/IDeA Coalition Board of Directors, Dr. Bill Gern, who at the time was also the Vice President for Research at the University of Wyoming, introduced the idea of presenting an award to an extraordinary individual in the EPSCoR/IDeA community in the name of the “father of EPSCoR,” Dr. Joe Danek. Bill Gern saw Joe Danek as a “revolutionary,” someone who recognized research disparity across the United States and was committed to building a program that would improve the research infrastructure in states which received low amounts of federal research funding. In 2015, the EIF/C Boards approved “the Danek Award” to recognize individuals who develop the best ideas to resolve research disparity. In the words of Dr. Gern, the Danek award would be presented before the EPSCoR/IDeA community to an awardee who “has established a long-term commitment to the ideals and goals which EPSCoR represents befitting for awarding of the prize.”

104 schools are receiving six-year grants as part of Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Inclusive Excellence 3 (IE3) initiative. IE3 challenges US colleges and universities to substantially and sustainably build capacity for student belonging, especially for those who have been historically excluded from the sciences.

NSF launched the NSF Days series on Nov 21, at Mississippi State University. NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan joined US Sen. Roger Wicker and MSU President Mark E. Keenum to kick off the event and highlight the day’s agenda.