Phase III: Improvement of the Academic Research Infrastructure

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The Kansas Science and Technology Advanced Research Program (K*STAR) enhances research competitiveness at the University of Kansas, Kansas State University and Wichita State University. K*STAR programs: link faculty members of these universities in cooperative research projects; provide shared major equipment resources; fund junior faculty early on to increase their competitiveness for federal grants; and stimulates formation of research partnerships among the university, state and private sectors. Included are: a New Faculty Hires component to plug gaps in the institutions' research staffing; Acquisition/Upgrading of Multi-user Instrumentation to allow all researchers increase the scope of research that can be conducted; and First Award grants to help early-career faculty become more competitive for extramural research funding. Special Initiative Grants are one-time, opportunistic investments that include: (a) assistance to foster nationally competitive, high-performance computing and networking capabilities; (b) partnerships between EPSCoR researchers and the private sector to effect technology transfer; (c) innovative programs in graduate education and human resource development that expand student career options and facilitate the entry of members of underrepresented groups into high-demand S&T fields; and (d) short-term visits to establish cooperative research links to industrial and/or national laboratories. Planning Grants, meanwhile, allow faculty to develop innovative research proposals focused in areas designated as state and institutional R&D priorities.