South Dakota NASA EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Development Program

The goal of the South Dakota 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. In recent years NASA EPSCoR activities in South Dakota have become increasingly integrated with efforts of other EPSCoR and EPSCoR-like programs resulting in better overall alignment with the broader mission of nurturing and diversifying the nation’s scientific and engineering research enterprise. The implementation strategy to achieve the four major 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 institutions of higher education in the state, including 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. SD NASA EPSCoR offers travel grants and seed grants (Research Initiation Grants) to promote development of new contacts and cooperative research ties with NASA Centers and/or Mission Directorates. Because South Dakota has limited university-based and industry-based aerospace R&D, a major focus of SD NASA EPSCoR is redirection of non-aerospace research assets to efforts that address research and technology development needs of NASA. In the solicitations for Research Initiation Grants and NASA EPSCoR major research grants, explicit emphasis is given to development of new or continuing partnerships among colleges and universities in the jurisdiction that will enhance the jurisdiction’s abilities to respond to the research and technology development needs of NASA. This NASA EPSCoR RID program proposal outlines South Dakota’s plan to continue to support improvement of the research environment in South Dakota and to further promote technology developments that align with NASA’s strategic goals. SD NASA EPSCoR is well positioned to identify and cultivate new research collaborations within the state and with NASA that will increase the state’s capacity in STEM research and education and effectively address the critical research and development and economic development priorities of the state and NASA.

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.