The National Science Foundation (NSF) is offering a federal grant opportunity titled "EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement: EPSCoR Research Incubators for STEM Excellence." This initiative aims to enhance research infrastructure and competitiveness in eligible jurisdictions by fostering partnerships among academic institutions, government entities, and non-profits to support hypothesis-driven or problem-driven research in STEM fields. The program encourages multi-institutional collaborations that build a jurisdiction-wide network of expertise, focusing on capacity-building, workforce development, and societal impacts. The estimated total funding for this program is $31.5 million, with a minimum award amount of $8 million. Proposals are due by August 12, 2025, and interested applicants can reach out to NSF grants.gov support at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov for assistance.

The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) supports the mission of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) by promoting nationwide scientific progress. Through this program, NSF fosters partnerships among academic institutions, government entities, industry, and non-profits. These collaborations aim to drive long-term improvements in research infrastructure, enhance R&amp;D capacity, and boost the research competitiveness of eligible EPSCoR jurisdictions, including states, territories, and commonwealths. A jurisdiction&#8217;s research ecosystem is the interconnected network of institutions, organizations, researchers, trainees, community stakeholders, and resources that contribute to the process of research and innovation that advances fundamental knowledge, generates use-inspired products, and ultimately cultivates beneficial societal impacts for a jurisdiction. E-RISE supports hypothesis-driven or problem-driven research and fosters the development of research teams and products in a scientific topical area that aligns with a jurisdiction&#8217;s research ecosystem and priorities, as detailed in the jurisdiction&#8217;s Science and Technology (S&amp;T) Plan or drawn from other jurisdiction plans, reports, or publications prepared by appropriate authorities or bodies.E-RISE invitesinnovativeproposalswithin the chosen research area thatwillleadto development and implementation of sustainable broad networks of individuals, institutions, and organizations, and that will transform the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research capacity and competitiveness in a jurisdiction. E-RISE is particularly interested in proposals that justify exploring emerging or interdisciplinary research areas with high potential impact. E-RISE projects must have a clearly articulated research goal that will lead to new knowledge by addressing a clear hypothesis or problem. The E-RISE projectshould promote (i) areas of research capacity-building within a chosen research topic; (ii) development of a skilled workforce that is relevant to the research topic, as well as the project and its outcomes; (iii) a culture of collaboration and engagement across different types of academic institutions and organizations, as well as non-academic sectors (e.g., industry and government); (iv) integration of the research with societal impacts; and (v) a clear sustainability plan to preserve the resulting research incubator&apos;s team and products beyond E-RISE funding.

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NSF grants.gov support&lt;br/&gt;grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov

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