Nebraska EPSCoR has developed several programs to assist faculty in research efforts.

First Award
Funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) infrastructure grant to Nebraska EPSCoR, the competitive First Award grant program provides assistance to early-career, tenure-track faculty. The grants are designed to help early career faculty initiate their research programs and compete more effectively for NSF CAREER grants. Any project that could be supported by a National Science Foundation competitive research grant is eligible.

First Awards are limited to $20,000 and require a one-to-one match. For more detailed information and a list of past recipients, please go here.

R&D Partnership Program
Nebraska EPSCoR's University-Industry R&D Partnership Program is a cost-share program intended to foster new partnerships or strengthen existing partnerships between faculty of Nebraska research universities and state industries. This program will subsidize a portion of the cost of an industry R&D project when a faculty member is contracted by the industry to participate in the project.

For more information on the types of projects funded, please go here. Check our Requests for Proposal page for details and deadlines if you have a project that may merit participation in this program.

Assistance with Accomplishing Broader Impacts
The activities required in Broader Impacts statements for funding agencies are becoming more sophisticated; the pressure to produce results from these activities is dramatically increasing. Through its Young Nebraska Scientist Initiative (YNSI), Nebraska EPSCoR has a well-established program of education and outreach for middle school and high school students. This existing infrastructure can form a basis for faculty to meet the Broader Impacts activity requirements in proposals to federal funding agencies.

Investigators may budget activities for Broader Impacts of their grant proposals to host summer science camps or host summer science researchers; Nebraska EPSCoR will provide guidance and letters of support. Nebraska EPSCoR can provide student recruitment assistance, using the YNSI website as a platform to find interested, qualified students. Nebraska EPSCoR can also provide details on previous YNSI summer science camps to aid in the development, coordination, and facilitation of future camps. For more details, please visit the YNS website.