NSF Awards $23million to UH for EPSCoR

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The University of Hawaii has been awarded two grants for a grand total of $23 million from the National Science Foundation [NSF].  The new grants are destined to help stimulate the research enterprise in Hawaii and create for educational opportunities for local students.  The awards came at the hands of the NSF Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research [EPSCoR].

We are grateful to have been very successful in securing these grants,” said UH President M.R.C. Greenwood. “Significant resources have been dedicated to broadening the diversity of the state’s science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce. The overriding goal is to expand Hawaiʻi’s competitiveness in new areas of science and technology research and education and drive innovation at a time when our state desperately needs to broaden its economic foundation.”

“The receipt of such funding from the National Science Foundation helps support our efforts in the development of a much-needed Science and Technology Plan for the state,” said James Gaines, vice president for research. “In addition, investments of this nature ensure a better future for Hawai‘i by advancing opportunities to actively engage our students in scientific research while contributing on a larger scale to the efforts of the scientific community to improve global learning.”
The first grant is a 5-year, $20 million Research Infrastructure Improvement [RII] cooperative agreement with UH.  This is the third such grant that UH has received through the program.  Institutions participating in the RII program are the University of Hawaii at Manoa, the University of Hawaii at Hilo, Kapiolani Community College and Chaminade University.  The specific research interests receiving funds through the grant will focus on understanding the effects of invasive species, human activities and climate change on the biodiversity and ecosystems of the Hawaiian Islands.
For more info on the new grant, read the full writeup here.