Conference: NSF GRANTED: Improving the Research and Innovation Enterprise Across the Southwest Region

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Competing for federal funding resources remains challenging for underserved and under-resourced institutions. As collaborative opportunities become more common, the challenge is even greater to assure that all institutions of higher education can play a meaningful role in the research and innovation that drives both local and national economies. Full participation of two-year, rural, and primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs) in the research and innovation enterprise is needed to ensure that opportunity reaches and has an impact on all communities. This conference seeks to identify barriers and promote collaboration to overcome them. Outcomes of this conference will include:  (1) greater collective understanding of the challenges facing the entire research enterprise in the Southwest United States; (2) the formulation of next steps for individual and collective action to overcome barriers; (3) engagement of more under-resourced institutions, and researchers at those institutions, in authentic research endeavors; (4) growth in regional capacity to develop, propose, and implement research and innovation that meets the individual needs of the institution as well as those of the larger region; and (5) a regional research development (RD) and research administration (RA) career landscape with increased job satisfaction and retention. The long-term impacts of this work, in line with NSF's mission to promote the progress of science and advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare, will be increased academic and economic success as the research and innovation enterprise increases the capacity and effectiveness of its ability to address local and regional priorities.  This proposal supports a network of institutions meeting at a two-day conference at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. The target audience includes stakeholders from the Southwest region – New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Southern Colorado and Southern Utah. Participation is focused on two-year, primarily undergraduate, and minority serving and tribal institutions as well as representatives across the research enterprise, with a particular focus on staff who work in smaller research offices or as the sole research administration/development contact at their institution. The meeting contains a series of listening sessions and panel discussions that build from gaps and barriers towards collaborations and shared training and career pathways. Specific topics include: (1) understanding barriers to research and innovation capacity building from the perspective of Southwest institutions; (2) staffing the research enterprise; (3) building successful research and innovation collaborations; and (4) research and innovation in the Southwest including the innovation landscape and collaborating with New Mexico’s National Laboratories. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.