Mississippi NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development Program (RID)

Mississippi NASA EPSCoR will utilize the Augmentation to increase the number and size of the seed grant awards for it's RID program. In Year 1, two seed grant awards of $47,500 were made, and each awardee is providing a 1:1 match from her/his own institution. With the Augmentation, the number and size of awards is adjusted for Years 2 and 3: Year 2: 3 awards of $36,000 with $18,000 match required, and Year 3: 3 awards of $45,000 with $22,500 match required. The second element of the program is the initiation/development of relationships between Mississippi researchers and relevant NASA scientists and engineers in the Mission Directorates and Field Centers. Dollars are set aside to fund these Faculty Travel Opportunities. Under the Augmentation, the total amount budgeted for this purpose is adjusted down from $14,382 to $13,698. This small decrease is to facilitate a balanced budget with the increased funding allocation for the seed grants.

This is a mature technology (TRL 7+) — the realistic path in is usually NASA's Technology Transfer Program: licensing an existing NASA patent, or a Space Act Agreement to use NASA facilities/expertise directly. NASA also runs a startup licensing program with no upfront fee for companies formed to commercialize a specific NASA technology.

None of these are guaranteed paths for this specific project — TechPort itself doesn't have an "apply" button. Reaching out to the contact(s) above with a specific question is usually the fastest way to find out what's actually open.