Collaborative research: epiic: strengthening collaborative advancements leveraging equitable university partnerships

This $399,189 federal Project Grant award from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships (TIP) program (CFDA 47.084) supports a collaborative research project titled "EPIIC: Strengthening Collaborative Advancements Leveraging Equitable University Partnerships." The grant recipient is North Arkansas College, a two-year educational institution, which is leading this collaborative effort with three other diverse institutions: Winston-Salem State University, Middle Georgia State University, and St. Vincent College.

The key objectives of this 3-year project are to: 1) increase innovation capacity at each institution by growing external and internal partnerships, 2) establish a more inclusive research/innovation ecosystem, and 3) broaden the participation of a skilled, diverse STEM workforce. The project aims to build industry partnerships, improve alignment of curricula with industry needs, and enhance students' educational experiences. Additionally, the cohort institutions will collaborate to build administrative capacity for identifying, submitting, and managing funded projects. This grant will position the participating institutions to deepen engagement with industry partners and contribute to their regional innovation ecosystems.

Abstract

This is a collaborative project across the following four diverse institutions: winston-salem state university, north arkansas college, middle georgia state university, and ST. Vincent college. This collaborative aims to increase innovation capacity at each institution by growing external and internal partnerships, establishing a more inclusive research/innovation ecosystem, and broadening the participation of a skilled, diverse workforce as part of the research enterprise nationally. The super (strategic university practices to expand research) partnerships collaborative, made up of minority-serving institutions (msis), predominantly undergraduate institutions (puis), and two-year institutions, will provide a unique opportunity for cohort institutions in terms of best practices in external partnerships building and stem workforce development. Cohort institutions will work together to grow industry partnerships, improve alignment of program curricula with the need of industry partners, and enhance students? Educational experiences. The proposed capacity-building efforts will also provide significant innovation partnership opportunities among cohort members to allow future participation in an NSF engine and other funding opportunities. Through this epiic project, the super (strategic university practices to expand research) partnerships cohort will build partnerships with industry experts and government agencies to find out what skills and knowledge are needed for stem jobs in their fields. The cohort will use this information to modify and enhance educational experience for undergraduates with industry needs in mind, so students are prepared for jobs in stem fields. The cohort institutions will build partnerships with educational institutions in the region, including high schools and two-year colleges. The member institutions will also collaborate to build administrative capacity of the office of sponsored programs in terms of identifying, submitting, and managing funded projects. Through cross-cohort knowledge sharing about capacity-building strategies, the cohort will create synergistic learning symposiums and share workforce education opportunities. Each academic institution in this diverse cohort, which includes an hbcu, a small liberal arts college, a 2-year community college, and a primarily undergraduate state university, has developed an individualized plan to implement this process. The cohort institutions will exchange information and work together to enhance each institution's capacity for building external partnerships. This process will position each institution in the cohort to further deepen engagement with industry partners and enhance their contributions to their regional innovation ecosystems. 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.- subawards are not planned for this award.