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NSF awards $20 Million to emerging research institutions

February 29, 2024
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By: SSTI Staff

Last week, the National Science Foundation announced it would provide $21.4 million to four projects at emerging research institutions (ERIs) to advance research administration infrastructure and support systems at non-R1 institutions.

The awards are from NSF’s Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) program, which, according to the NSF announcement, “aims to help R2, R3, undergraduate and community colleges become more competitive against more well-funded research institutions in national research funding opportunities.”

NSF can extend this funding to non-R-1 institutions because of the CHIPS and Science Act provision for a new designation for ERIs. This provision encouraged federal programs that targeted Minority Serving Institutions and Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) jurisdictions to begin including ERIs in program eligibility. (See this SSTI Digest article published in May 2023 for more on the new designation and a map of ERI locations.)

ERIs are higher education institutions that have established undergraduate or graduate programs but conduct less than $50 million in federal R&D. There are more than 2,600 ERIs in the U.S., according to a list published by the Department of Energy.

The recipients of the NSF funding are:

The Atlanta University Center, a collaboration between Spelman College, Morehouse College, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Clark Atlanta University, which will receive $14 million to create a hub for shared research administration and commercialization services.

The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, which will receive $2 million to create institutes that offer professional development services and help Hispanic Serving Institutions share research resources and expertise.

Pomona College and the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, which will receive $1.7 million to study the challenges faced by researchers at emerging and undergraduate institutions.

Iowa State University, which will receive $3.7 million to implement a research administration internship program open to students from six institutions in Iowa.

nsf, EPSCoR