NASA EPSCoR Program
The Kansas Space Grant Consortium (KSGC) and the Kansas NASA EPSCoR Program (KNEP) are playing a major role in a cultural revolution in the Kansas research enterprise. Before 1991, the research culture in Kansas was characterized by individual investigators isolated at a Regents university working with their graduate students. Typically, the researcher had little knowledge of the expertise of colleagues at other Kansas universities. This environment was fostered by the policy of state funding for Regents universities. The Kansas universities were funded by the state as a zero sum game with a fixed Regents budget. The situation was characterized by extreme competition between universities with little interaction and virtually no sharing of facilities. Often a Kansas researcher’s first thought was to try to form partnership with colleagues at universities from other states.
In 1993, the KSGC focused on the development of a network of individuals and organizations committed to the establishment of cooperative programs between Kansas universities, industry and government. The KSGC Executive Committee in their strategic plan established the goal of using space grant funds to help change the culture at the state universities by providing statewide, open competitions and opportunities. The Committee also encouraged and participated in activities that brought communities of individuals from the state universities, government and industry together.
Early in 1993, the KSGC Executive Committee was directed by NASA Headquarters to develop a Kansas NASA EPSCoR proposal. The Committee saw this as an opportunity to act on their belief that the best way for Kansas researchers to become nationally competitive was to recruit the best researchers drawn from all the universities. A key element in their plan was to create an environment characterized by an open competition using external evaluators. This would give potential participants confidence that this program was a change from business as usual. As early as 1993, due to the opportunity provided by the first NASA EPSCoR solicitation, the establishment of a state wide network of researchers from the science and engineering communities was created. Because of the state wide request for proposals, individual researchers with special interest and expertise were identified by the Executive Committee. Typically, individuals with similar interests who did not know each other were connected. This started the development of statewide multi-university research teams.
Although the 1993 proposal was not successful, the research teams created by the proposal process continued to collaborate using a combination of university and space grant funds. The Carbon Fiber Composite cluster continued their research funded by a special grant from NASA Headquarters.
In the period 1993-1996, Kansas researchers and the KSGC and KNEP Executive Committee continued to work at developing the research enterprise in Kansas. Significant effort was devoted to developing closer relations with the state government, identifying and mentoring of junior faculty members by senior faculty, strengthening the statewide management organization, and establishing contacts with NASA centers and programs. During this period, the Executive Committee arranged with the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) to provide state matching funds when a new opportunity surfaced.
By 1996, when NASA announced the second solicitation, a solid foundation of partnerships between university researchers, industry, and state government was established. Kansas was ready for the second NASA EPSCoR Program’s request for proposals. Upon receiving the NASA RFP, the KNEP Executive Committee developed a set of guidelines for the state competition. These guidelines included all the requirements specified by NASA plus the requirement that each research team include faculty members from at least two state universities and have senior faculty mentoring junior faculty members. The Executive Committee issued a state RFP and conducted question and answer sessions at the University of Kansas (KU), Kansas State University (KSU), and Wichita State University (WSU). The Committee also recruited an external review panel. Forty-three proposals were submitted to the Committee. The external panel reviewed these proposals during a two-day period in Kansas City. Using the recommendations of the external panel and the limited funds, six research clusters were selected to form the state’s proposal. Each of the research clusters selected addresses NASA Strategic Enterprises and spans several research cultures in physics, chemistry and biology plus aerospace, electrical, and mechanical engineering, and engineering technology.
The Kansas science and engineering research communities have made tremendous progress since 1991 and are excited by the opportunity provided by the NASA EPSCoR Program. Kansas still has a long journey to its goals of nationally competitive research clusters and a research enterprise that will attract the brightest researchers to the state.
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