25th NSF EPSCoR National Conference

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Non-technical Description The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) holds National Conferences that bring representatives from all EPSCoR jurisdictions together to discuss strategies to promote EPSCoR goals of building STEM research and education capacity to increase their national competitiveness. This biennial event is a forum for EPSCoR project directors and participants to discuss opportunities and challenges at the local, state, national, and international levels and how EPSCoR efforts can collectively contribute to the advancement of science and engineering research and education. This meeting also showcases results from projects funded by NSF EPSCoR. The 25th National EPSCoR Conference will be held in Missoula, Montana from November 5-8, 2017 and is expected to have about 300-400 attendees. This meeting is organized by Montana EPSCoR with a focus on defining the unique role of EPSCoR within the NSF and how the program's structure and approach advance the national research enterprise within and beyond the participating jurisdictions. Technical Description The theme for the 25th National EPSCoR Conference is "The Unique Role of NSF EPSCoR". The conference aims to tackle questions such as: What does the EPSCoR program do differently than other NSF Programs? How can EPSCoR improve in effectiveness and anticipation of new national needs? How can EPSCoR jurisdictions effectively capitalize on existing structures to further their research aims? The National Conference will showcase long-term, high-impact programs and explore the elements and strategies that make them successful over the long-term in their capacity for scientific and economic advancement. Conference activities and sessions will highlight the novelty of the EPSCoR model for setting research priorities and survey the broad range of approaches and results within the scope of this model. Activities will be organized to facilitate program assessment in order to identify elements that are outstanding as well as areas that hold room for improvement. This conference will help build a strong, collaborative EPSCoR community that contributes significantly and competes well on the national arena in alignment with NSF EPSCoR goals. The conference activities are aligned with the objectives and consist of plenary and break-out sessions. A student poster session will run through two days of the meeting and will highlight results from the research and education facilitated by NSF EPSCoR RII awards. The meeting will also feature a pre-conference workshop on approaches and opportunities for EPSCoR outreach and education programs targeting under-represented minority populations.