SC EPSCoR/IDeA

NSF EPSCoR

2009 Research Infrastructure Improvement Award - "The South Carolina Project for Organ Biofabrication"

The 2009 South Carolina Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) program proposed to build a statewide alliance in the field of tissue biofabrication.  The alliance includes the 10 of the state's institutions of higher education: Claflin University, Clemson University, Denmark Technical College, Furman University, Greenville Technical College, the Medical University of South Carolina, South Carolina State University, the University of South Carolina, the University of South Carolina Beaufort, and Voorhees College. 

The award will:

 1) expand a current MUSC bioprinting program into a statewide, shared Advanced Tissue Biofabrication
     Center;
2) recruit 22 new faculty across the institutions that will bring expertise not currently available in South
    Carolina;
3) create a global e-community to facilitate the development of sophisticated databases in vascular
    technology;
4) establish national and international academic/industrial collaborations and the integration of statewide
    initiatives for workforce development, education, and communication to the general public; and
5) integrate the alliance's biofabrication research with K-12 education to build South Carolina's future high-
    tech workforce.

Educational innovations include development of e-textbooks and new curricula.  New graduate degree programs and postdoctoral and graduate research training are planned across the state.  Training opportunities for South Carolina's reporters and journalism students will enable in-depth reporting of scientific achievements and will enhance science literacy statewide.

This NSF award will connect regional, national, and international cyber-networks and support collaborative e-communities for education and science, technology, engineering and mathematics.  Other activities will bridge South Carolina's minority serving programs and integrate with the science, education, communication and sustainability plans of the project.

http://www.scepscoridea.org/EPSCoR/2009NSFRII.html

NSF/EPSCoR Co-Funding

Co-Funding is not a program to which proposals can be submitted.  Instead, it is a funding mechanism that operates internally within the National Science Foundation and does not involve any action on the part of the proposer.  The EPSCoR Co-funding mechanism focuses on those "Fund-if-Possible" proposals, which the NSF merit review process finds to lie at or near the cutoff for funding by the programs to which they were submitted.  NSF/EPSCoR funds meritorious proposals that would otherwise not be supported due to availability of funds or other overriding program priorities.

For more information on NSF EPSCoR co-funding, please see the NSF/EPSCoR Co-Funding website.