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EPSCoR - Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research

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Please visit our new NSF webpage.

http://www.nevada.edu/epscor/programs-nsf.html

Archived Material

National Science Foundation

Brief History of Program:

NSF, the federal agency that first developed EPSCoR programs, sponsored the first EPSCoR program in Nevada. Since 1985, NSHE institutions have received more than $41 million in federal funds from NSF EPSCoR, together with non-federal matching funds. These awards have supported program research in bioinformatics, chemistry, chemical physics, laser physics, insect and plant molecular biology, quaternary science, bridge engineering, plants and global climate change, and women in science and engineering. Many of the participants have gone on to write successful nationally competitive proposals with NSF and other agencies.

Current Research Areas:

CIP Group
Cognitive Information Processing is built around computing systems that perceive, reason, and act. Such systems have been applied in human-computer and human-robot perception and interaction (surveillance, handling hazardous wastes, smart buildings, decision support, security), in scientific modeling (sequencing, drug design, seismic inversion, x-ray spectroscopy), and in engineering design (aircraft engines, space qualified trusses, smart materials, spacecraft antennae). This website aims to bring together work funded by the CIP focal area in one virtual location. http://www.cse.unr.edu/~cip/

SENSORS Group
A unique aspect of the SENSORS research program is a "vertically integrated" approach focused on scientific and technological issues of sensor development, system integration, and deployment, using actual performance (e.g., sensitivity, specificity, robustness, and failure modes) to feed back directly to scientists and engineers in the program. The formation of new collaborations, bringing together a number of interdisciplinary teams, is the foundation for the program. Key research components of the SENSORS program include:

SEPHAS Group
The vision of the SEPHAS research area (http://hydro.nevada.edu/sephas) is to stimulate collaboration among student and faculty researchers to better understand the response of various hydrological and biological processes at different distance scales in arid soils. Relevant research areas include:

(1) influence of soil structure on desert environmental processes
(2) flow and solute transport in arid soils
(3) energy and mass partitioning in arid-soil ecosystems and the role of biogeochemical cycling
(4) development of new computational and theoretical methods to understand various physical processes
(5) discrepancies among laboratory and field measured and numerically simulated variables at different scales
(6) the creation of a facility to test and benchmark sensors.

Undergraduate Research
The Undergraduate Research component of the current NSF EPSCoR award provides lab and field research experiences, through summer scholarship programs and Annual fellowship opportunities, to full-time NSHE undergraduate students. These programs fund eligible students either majoring in mathematics, science, or engineering, or majoring in education and specializing in teaching K-12 in the fields of mathematics, science, or technology. Research is conducted under the guidance of NSHE faculty mentors. The hands-on experience gained through these programs has proven to supplement classroom learning and serve as gateways to new and exciting opportunities for all participants.

NSF Student Program

• MESA/PASS - http://www.nevada.edu/IDIN/