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!
| NSF Wants Your Ideas! Requesting Future Topics for the NSF Convergence Accelerator |
The NSF Convergence Accelerator issued a Dear Colleague Letter (NSF-21-012): Request for Information (RFI) on Future Topics for the NSF Convergence Accelerator program to capture national-scale societal impact ideas from the global community for fiscal year 2022.
LEARN MORE| UVM Research at the Heart of Vermont s New Clean Waters Management Program |
In Fall 2020, vital components of Vermont s new law to protect state waterways from pollution, Act 76, will go into effect. Significant aspects of that law were drawn from a study conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers based at the University of Vermont as part of the National Science Foundation funded Vermont Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (VT EPSCoR). And the results of that study can now be read in a paper recently published in Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory.
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| Modeling Alternative Collaborative Governance Network Designs An |
With the widespread use of collaborative governance mechanisms for mitigating water pollution, an opportunity exists to test alternative institutional designs based on collaborative governance theory using computer simulation models, particularly when there is a clear relationship between governance networks, observable resource allocation decisions, and measurable outcomes. This is especially the case for wicked problems like nonpoint source water pollution where there are compelling questions regarding how best to design policies, allocate funds, and build administrative capacity to meet water quality standards. We present an agent-based model (ABM) of water governance for the Lake Champlain Basin to simulate the impacts of alternative collaborative governance arrangements on the development of suites of water quality projects. The ABM is connected or coupled with land use and phosphorus load accumulation models that are informed by existing hydrologic models, project datasets, and state-set load reduction targets. We find that regionally arranged collaborative governance in water quality project planning and implementation can lead to better water quality outcomes, thereby affirming one of the central premises of collaborative governance regime theory. We also find that externally mandated collaboration, as opposed to voluntary, self-initiated collaboration, can lead to better water quality outcomes, adding to our understanding of which type of collaborative governance arrangement is best suited to the specific contexts of this case. Further, without adequate administrative capacity in the form of human resources located in central network actors to manage project funds, administrative bottlenecks may form and money can go unspent. This research demonstrates the efficacy of using simulations of alternative institutional design for theory testing and tuning, and policy prototyping.
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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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