Nebraska EPSCoR's FIRST Award program is designed to help early career faculty initiate their research programs and compete more effectively for NSF CAREER grants.

Approximately six FIRST Award grants will be awarded each year; the awards are limited to $20,000 each and require a one-for-one match. An assistant professor in a tenure-leading position in any of the colleges or universities in the state is eligible to submit a pre-proposal. The faculty member must be in his or her first four years of initial academic appointment at the time of submittal. Any project that potentially could be supported by a NSF competitive research grant is eligible.

Phase one of the application process involves the submission of a short pre-proposal that will be reviewed by a panel comprised of members of Nebraska's scientific community. Ten or fewer pre-proposals will be invited to advance to the final phase, the submission of a full, NSF CAREER-like proposal. Full proposals will be evaluated using NSF proposal review criteria by external experts in the field. The Nebraska EPSCoR Committee will select FIRST Award recipients.

Grantees are required to submit a CAREER Award proposal to NSF within their award period. A call for pre-proposals has been issued, and pre-proposals are due October 3, 5 pm. Please check our Requests for Proposals page for submission details and to submit a pre-proposal online.

2011 Awardees
Dr. Xia Hong, Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Dr. Tiffany Kodak, Munroe-Meyer Institute, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders; Dr. Siu-Kit Lau, School of Architectural Engineering and Construction, UNL; Dr. Yusong Li, Civil Engineering, UNL; Dr. Diego Riveros-Iregui, School of Natural Resources, UNL; Dr. Heather York, Biology, Doane College

2010 Awardees
Dr. Sanjukta Bhowmick, Computer Science, UNO; Dr. John Gates, Hydrogeology, UNL; Dr. Jinsong Huang, Mechanical Engineering, UNL; Dr. Shadi Othman, Biological Systems Engineering, UNL; Dr. Richard Wilson, Plant Pathology, UNL; Dr. Yaoqing (Lamar) Yang, Computer & Electronics Engineering, UNL; Dr. Chi Zhang, Biosciences, UNL

2009 Awardees
Dr. Ming Han, Electrical Engineering, UNL; Dr. Stephen Hartke, Mathematics, UNL; Dr. Christine Kelley, Mathematics, UNL; Dr. Rebecca Lai*, Chemistry, UNL; Dr. Senem Velipasalar, Electrical Engineering*, UNL; Dr. Bin Yu, Biological Science, UNL;

2008 Awardees
Dr. Chin Li Cheung, Chemistry, UNL; Dr. Wonyoung Choe, Chemistry, UNL; Dr. Shashank Dravid, Pharmacology, Creighton; Dr. Angela Pannier, Biological Systems Engineering, UNL; Dr. Bradley Parsons, Chemistry, Creighton; Dr. Bradley Shadwick, Physics and Astronomy, UNL

2007 Awardees
Dr. Kirill Belashchenko, Physics and Astronomy, UNL; Dr. Andrea Holmes*, Chemistry, Doane College; Dr. Chunsheng Liu, Computer & Electronics Engineering, UNL

2006 Awardees
Dr. Greg Bashford, Biological Systems Engineering, UNL; Dr. Myra Cohen*, Computer Science and Engineering, UNL; Dr. Eileen Hebets*, Biological Sciences, UNL; Dr. Lisong Xu, Computer Science and Engineering, UNL; Dr. Li Tan, Engineering Mechanics, UNL; Dr. Mark Wilson, Biochemistry, UNL; Dr. Lin Wu, Mechanical Engineering, UNL

2005 Awardees
Dr. Shireen Adenwalla, Physics and Astronomy, UNL; Dr. Myra Cohen, Computer Science and Engineering, UNL; Dr. Aaron Dominguez*, Physics and Astronomy, UNL: Dr. Jaekwon Lee, Biochemistry, UNL; Dr. Irakli Loladze, Mathematics, UNL; Dr. Robert Powers, Chemistry, UNL; Dr. Guangshun Wang, Eppley Institute, UNMC

2004 Awardees (formerly Type II awards)
Dr. Hai-Feng Guo, Computer Science, UNO; Dr. Jiangyu Li, Engineering Mechanics, UNL; Dr. Etsuko Moriyama, Biological Sciences, UNL; Dr. Julie M. Stone, Biochemistry, UNL

*NSF Career Award recipient