WASHINGTON, DC (January 4, 2002) - The EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) Foundation and the University of South Dakota announced commencement of work on the Centers Development Initiative (CDI), a three-year, NSF-funded project aimed at increasing the participation and competitiveness of EPSCoR researchers in multi-investigator Centers and other large-scale programs operated by the National Science Foundation (NSF). CDI will strengthen the research competitiveness of universities in the EPSCoR states by helping to enhance proposals and build the partnerships necessary to excel in large-scale, collaborative science and technology projects.

CDI will pursue two consultation and assistance strategies. The first strategy--initiation--will work to encourage and enhance proposals being developed by EPSCoR institutions/states for submission to NSF Center and other large-scale program competitions. The second strategy--infusion--will work to connect research groups in EPSCoR institutions/states with existing NSF-funded Centers and other large-scale projects.

A wide range of large-scale research Center-like programs at NSF will be targets of CDI initiation and infusion assistance, including Science and Technology Centers, Engineering Research Centers, Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers, Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers and large-scale competitions, Physics Frontiers Centers, Information Technology Research Initiative large-scale competitions, Partnerships for Advanced Computational Infrastructure, Biocomplexity in the Environment large-scale competitions, Long-Term Ecological Research Centers, Plant Genome Research Program large-scale competitions, the Integrated Graduate Education Research and Traineeship Program, Centers for Learning and Teaching, Partnerships for Innovation, Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers, and other similar programs.

CDI will stimulate competitive, collaborative large-scale research in the EPSCoR states via a number of activities, including identification of promising efforts, consultation and assistance, outreach, partnership formation, project development, and dissemination.

"The EPSCoR states feel strongly about the potential of CDI," said Principal Investigator Royce Engstrom, Chairman of the EPSCoR Foundation and Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Education at the University of South Dakota. "There exist strong academic research teams in the EPSCoR states up to the challenge of playing an active role in NSF Centers, and CDI will enable more of these teams to play such a role."

While initiation strategies aimed at strengthening EPSCoR proposals to NSF Center-like programs have been used in the past, the infusion strategy is a novel component of CDI. The basic idea is to link teams in EPSCoR states that are not currently competitive enough to compete for stand-alone Center grants with existing NSF Centers in other EPSCoR or non-EPSCoR states. As a part of CDI, an Infusion Workshop is planned to explore policy issues and mechanisms for introducing and expanding the infusion strategy across a wide range of science and technology areas.

"Both the initiation and infusion strategies represent vital pieces of CDI," said Co-Principal Investigator Joseph Danek, Executive Director of the EPSCoR Foundation. "While EPSCoR programs at NSF and other federal agencies are increasing the competitiveness of individual researchers, new approaches are needed to move EPSCoR research groups into large-scale, interdisciplinary approaches to address today's science and technology challenges--CDI offers such new approaches."

Randall Haley, Project Manager of CDI, and Melvyn Ciment, Senior Science Advisor to CDI and consultant to the EPSCoR Foundation, will direct the implementation of CDI. A set of multi-disciplinary subject matter experts will serve as Senior Associates on the project.

About the EPSCoR Foundation
The EPSCoR Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization based in Washington, DC whose mission is to help EPSCoR states improve their research infrastructure and competitiveness. Its mission is realized by: (i) promoting the national importance of a strong science and technology base in all states; (ii) working to expand the EPSCoR programs in the federal agencies; (iii) increasing the participation of EPSCoR states, regions, and territories in federal science and technology programs; and (iv) assisting states to deliver promised outcomes under the federal-wide EPSCoR initiative.