SC NASA EPSCoR RID AUGMENTATION - 2020 - 2022

We propose to expand on an existing research consortium, CORE SC, to work with our island colleagues in Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, Alaska, Hawai’i and Guam to better understand the natural hazards facing our jurisdictions. Collectively, we will address key research questions in response to, and in support of, NASA’s effort to understand the response of the Earth System to disasters and disaster resilience. South Carolina NASA EPSCoR is a member of CORE SC – Center of Resiliency Excellence in South Carolina. Together, Charleston County, the College of Charleston and the SC Aquarium form the nexus for research, innovation, and collaboration that leads to actionable outcomes to improve community and societal resiliency in response to natural and anthropogenic events. Acting also as a virtual hub, CORE SC supports, connects, and coordinates regional and national partners engaged in all aspects of the entire life cycle of resilient program development. These aspects include ideation, research, data acquisition, policy creation, prototype implementation, field-testing, deployment, maintenance, and commercialization. We will use existing NASA data such as AVIRIS, UAVSAR, G-LiHT and more to support data collected in the field. Two planning workshops are proposed in Year 2 to identify and evaluate issues and best practices on the east and west coasts of the US to be addressed in a larger workshop in Year 3. Topics to be discussed include five central resiliency sectors for each of the partner jurisdictions: 1. Water – maintaining healthy drinking water, mitigation of coastal erosion, sea-level rise, filtering and controlling storm run-off, responding to climate change 2. Energy – Testing, developing, deploying renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, water, battery, bio-sources 3. Connectivity – Ensuring societal access to internet and other means of communication 4. Agriculture – Providing sustainable Food Sources (Aqua/Land) 5. Natural Hazards – Mitigating and communicating / responding to effects of earthquakes, tsunamis, flooding, hurricanes, tornados.

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.