Louisiana EPSCoR Cooperative Agreement

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9720652 Draayer The objectives of Louisiana EPSCoR are to become: (1) more competitive in gaining national research and development (R&D) support, (2) more actively engaged in science and technology (S&T) transfer activities with business and industry, and (3) more effective in educating larger numbers of S&E students, especially minorities, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. The cornerstone of the State's plan is the Louisiana Education Quality Support Fund. Combining Support Fund money with EPSCoR support, the Louisiana Board of Regents (BoR) co-sponsors statewide programs with federal agencies that focus on stimulating systemic and sustainable S&T improvements, facilitating collaboration and sharing of resources, and on improving student teaching and opportunities. Targeted are R&D areas that help develop and strengthen the economy of both the State and Nation. A major objective will be expansion and strengthening of an innovative program that received a 10-year BoR commitment: the Joint Faculty Appointments Program (JFAP). The JFAP establishments nationally competitive S&E research teams between the state's Historically Black (HB) and Majority White (MW) Colleges and Universities (CUs). Six additional JFAP/Research Excellence (RE) teams and two annual JFAP/Science Education (SE) awards for educational enhancement activities will be initiated. In addition, to bring researchers from different campuses together to focus on issues of common S&E interest, a "Planning Grants for Major Initiatives" program will award annually two $60K grants to build constituencies and prepare NSF major initiative proposals. Another form of collaboration - researchers and industry - is scheduled for significant expansion, with plans to assess and alleviate barriers to the state's commercialization process, review university commercialization policies and develop a statewide commercialization plan and higher education S&E commercialization curriculum. Collaborativ e efforts will be strengthened by placing existing or planned statewide communication avenues at the disposal of faculty and students. These include: (1) an Audio/ Video Research Network, soon to be at 13 sites; (2) an ATM Internet Backbone; (3) a Faculty Expertise Database, ultimately to include a listing of Louisiana's major research facilities and instruments; and (4) an Electronic Research Administration project to automate grant and contract administration activities.