South Dakota NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development Program Funding Extension (Year 4)

This proposal requests a one-year funding extension to the FY 2015 South Dakota NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development Program. The goal of the South Dakota NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development (RID) program is to promote competitive research and technology development in the state with an emphasis on areas of strategic importance to NASA. Attaining that goal requires close coordination among the state's research institutions, government, industry, NASA Headquarters, and NASA research and development centers. The implementation strategy to achieve the objectives of the NASA EPSCoR Program focuses on the major STEM Ph.D.-granting institutions in the state, but also seeks to develop collaborations between those institutions and additional higher education institutions, including the jurisdiction's tribal universities. Because RID resources are limited, the allocation of these investments in the state is guided by the following criteria: (1) alignment with NASA R&D priorities, (2) development of NASA research contacts, (3) support for state R&D priorities, (4) formation of multi-institution collaborations, (5) meaningful involvement of Minority-Serving Institutions in research, and (6) potential for economic development and industry partnerships.

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.