NSF Award
2412054
This collaborative project supports new research opportunities across a network of 17 colleges and universities in New Hampshire (NH) to form the New Hampshire Long-term Investment to Fuel Transformative Research (NH-LIFT). Led by the University of New Hampshire, NH-LIFT includes initial partnerships with Dartmouth College, St. Anselm College, Plymouth State University, Keene State University, New England College, and the Community College System of New Hampshire. Through business-friendly policies, a talented workforce, and strong academic research, New Hampshire is emerging as a regional innovation leader. Critical to this success is a rich blend of public and private 2- and 4-year institutions of higher education that strengthen New Hampshire’s science, technology, engineering, and mathematics capacity through teaching, research, industry partnerships, and community engagement. Through NH LIFT, the project team will leverage individual institutional strengths across the state and build lasting networks that facilitate access to expertise and training; specialized equipment and resources; meaningful research and experiential-learning opportunities; and colleagues, mentors, and collaborators. <br/><br/>Led by the University of New Hampshire (NH), the New Hampshire Long-term Investment to Fuel Transformative Research (NH-LIFT) includes initial partnerships with Dartmouth College, St. Anselm College, Plymouth State University, Keene State University, New England College, and the Community College System of New Hampshire to create a collaborative and inclusive research ecosystem. This ecosystem will empower students to pursue research experiences in areas that align with their interests, and academic and industry researchers to expand their research pursuits through external funding. It will also make research infrastructure accessible across the jurisdiction, drive NH research innovation through partnerships, and create an environment that increases and retains NH’s skilled workforce-ready population. To achieve the project’s vision, NH-LIFT activities are organized into four integrated cores, each led by a multi-institutional working group and guided by four program goals. First, the Research Support Core will broaden funded research participation at predominantly undergraduate institutions and small businesses through improved research support and service capacity. Second, the Academic Infrastructure and Research Facilities Core will create a statewide network of core facilities to broaden access to advanced instrumentation and technical expertise in support of research, workforce training, and economic development. Third, the Early Career Research Trainee Pathway Core will increase student and early career researcher success through programming and partnerships to support mentoring, career development, and retention across the jurisdiction. Fourth, the Administrative Core will create a coordinated jurisdiction-wide culture of inclusion, through a culture of inclusion working group, that connects and democratizes the research environment for all participants, promotes safety in STEM, facilitates strategic planning and evaluation, and communicates impacts. The lessons learned from NH-LIFT will create a new knowledge base for how EPSCoR jurisdictions can collectively build research capacity, particularly in predominately rural jurisdictions that lack urban centers.<br/><br/>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.
