OUR RESEARCH
A Partnership of Higher Education, Private Industry and State Government.
Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research
A Partnership of Higher Education, Private Industry and State Government.
The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is a program designed to fulfill the National Science Foundation's (NSF) mandate to promote scientific progress nationwide. The EPSCoR program is directed at those jurisdictions that have historically received lesser amounts of NSF Research and Development (R&D) funding. Twenty-eight states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam are currently eligible to participate.
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The BREE project helps identify strategies for resilience in the social ecological system of the Lake Champlain Basin. Research methods include creation of a new soil sensor network, leveraging of existing water sensors for redeployment, and development of new models, including land use and network models that capture the cognitive behaviors and opinions of land users and policy makers.
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The VT EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity works to cultivate and prepare students in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Through integrating students and teachers into active research we inspire students to pursue STEM careers. The CWDD helps connect interested students in social science and STEM areas with faculty researchers throughout Vermont at multiple institutions.
LEARN MOREResearch in Action!
| BREE Research Experiences for High School Students and Teachers |
The High School Program offers students and teachers the opportunity to participate in current research. Through involvement in the Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) research program, participants develop skills in scientific methods and Earth systems thinking and experience what it is like to be a scientist.
LEARN MORE| Federal Agency Grant and Funding Opportunities related to the COVID-19 Outbreak |
List describing federal opportunities/agency notices regarding COVID-19.
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| Spatial targeting of floodplain restoration to equitably mitigat |
Floodplain restoration offers an opportunity to enhance communities resilience to flooding. However, the degree to which these interventions mitigate damages is often unknown, and identifying the best locations for implementation is a challenge. Further, the extent to which the benefits of flood mitigation are equitably distributed within communities is rarely considered in restoration projects. Here, we develop a novel framework to optimize investments in floodplain restoration that maximizes the utility of avoided damages from flood inundation for a range of budgetary constraints. We estimate the expected reduction in flood damages from restoration interventions by integrating a hydraulic flood model and an economic damage cost model. Using equity-weighted utility functions, we explicitly evaluate how the value of reduction in flood damages varies for different property owners. We demonstrate the potential of this approach in the Lewis Creek watershed, located in Vermont, USA. Under all optimal scenarios, the benefits of avoided flood damages over a 100-year time period outweigh the costs of restoration by at least 5-to-1. Floodplain restoration has the potential to reduce the present value of damages by up to $400,000, a 5% decrease from the baseline, at a cost of only $75,000. We also show that the equity-weighted utility of flood mitigation increase when restoration interventions protect the lowest-income property owners, particularly those who live in mobile homes. Together, our results illuminate the importance of evaluating the distribution of benefits and costs associated with alternative restoration strategies, as well as underscore the capacity for floodplain restoration to build resilience to flooding.
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Vermont EPSCoR provides the opportunity for Vermont small businesses to compete for grants to foster research and development projects which will lead to application to federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) programs.
The main goal of the Vermont ESPCoR Phase (0) solicitation is to identify proposals that show promise for success in federal SBIR competitions
Vermont EPSCoR seeks collaborative proposals from higher education – small business partnerships for research that is complementary to our BREE research. These awards are for innovation; and to move research forward. While undergraduate support is allowed, Pilot Awards are not intended for primarily undergraduate research.
LEARN MOREVT EPSCoR is excited to offer travel awards to Vermont entrepreneurs who wish to attend various SBIR/STTR related conferences.
LEARN MOREThe Undergraduate Internship Program offers students the opportunity to participate in current research conducted through the Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) program. Undergraduates selected to participate in the BREE program will be matched with a research team of faculty and graduate students working on the transdisciplinary BREE research program. Students perform full-time research for 10 weeks during the summer with a faculty members. In April, students give an oral presentation or poster presentation of their research results.
LEARN MOREThe VT EPSCoR Center for Workforce Development and Diversity (CWDD) works to cultivate and prepare a diverse science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) workforce in Vermont by inspiring students to enter STEM careers. As part of our work we are pleased to award $5,000 scholarships to Native American (including Abenaki) and First Generation college students who enter STEM majors at a Vermont college or university.
LEARN MOREThe High School Program offers students and teachers the opportunity to participate in current research. Through involvement in the Basin Resilience to Extreme Events (BREE) research program, participants develop skills in scientific methods and Earth systems thinking and experience what it is like to be a scientist.
LEARN MOREResearch can be a powerful way for teachers to enhance science content. The goal of the VT EPSCoR CWDD middle level outreach program is to expose middle level teachers and students to scientific research.
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