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NSF announces $39.9M in NSF EPSCoR awards to strengthen research capacity across 16 jurisdictions

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The U.S. National Science Foundation is investing $39.9 million through its Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) Research Infrastructure Improvement Program: Focused EPSCoR Collaborations (FEC). The eight awards will support research teams working across 16 NSF EPSCoR jurisdictions to advance scientific discovery while strengthening research capacity and infrastructure.

The FEC program brings together researchers from two or more EPSCoR jurisdictions to tackle scientific and engineering challenges that require shared expertise, resources, and perspectives. These four-year projects are designed to build lasting research partnerships, strengthen science, technology, engineering, and mathematics capacity, and create opportunities that extend well beyond the life of a single award.

The Fiscal Year 2026 awards support research in agriculture, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, environmental monitoring, critical mineral recovery, coastal resilience, snow science, semiconductors, and quantum materials. The projects address regional and national challenges, advancing interjurisdictional collaboration, research infrastructure, and workforce development.

The FEC program is part of EPSCoR, which helps build research and development capacity in jurisdictions that have historically received a smaller share of federal research funding. By supporting investigator-driven collaborations aligned with NSF priorities, FEC strengthens long-term partnerships and expands the nation's research enterprise.

The FY 2026 FEC awards are:

  • Boosting Tolerance to Water Stress in Rice and Wheat Using Mycorrhizal Inoculants: The project will combine plant physiology, genomics, and AI to identify mycorrhizal fungi that can improve drought tolerance in rice and wheat. The project aims to boost drought tolerance, food security, and farmer profitability while supporting workforce development and engagement with agricultural stakeholders. (Arkansas State University, University of Kansas Center for Research Inc., University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kansas State University)
  • Snow STORE: Snow Science and Technology for Operations, Research, and Economic Development in Northern New England: Researchers will establish a regional snow monitoring network by integrating observations, modeling, and forecasting tools to improve understanding of snow conditions across northern New England. The resulting data and decision-support resources will help build a regional network connecting researchers, ski areas, state agencies, and other partners to support the region's winter economy. (University of Vermont & State Agricultural College, University of New Hampshire, Subawardees: Vermont State Colleges, University of Maine Farmington, University of Maine, Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire)
  • Converging AI, Biomechanics, and Genomics to Engineer Lodging Resilient Field Crops: The project establishes a consortium to address stalk lodging, a persistent threat to global food security. By integrating engineering, AI, biomechanics, and genomics, the research will yield deployable phenotyping technologies, open-source datasets, and analytical tools while preparing the next generation of scientists in convergent STEM disciplines. (University of Idaho, Clemson University, University of Nebraska Medical Center)
  • Transformative Bioprocessing and AI-Driven Frameworks for Sustainable Critical Mineral Recovery:
    The project establishes a Smart Bio-Refinery framework with AI-enabled microbial recovery systems to address the nation's reliance on foreign sources of rare earth elements. The interdisciplinary research collaboration will integrate microbiology, mineralogy, AI, and process engineering to advance critical mineral recovery. The project aims to strengthen U.S. economic and national security through reduced dependence on foreign sources of critical minerals. (University of Alaska Anchorage Campus, Montana Technological University, University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus, Subawardee: University of Wyoming)
  • EcoCARE: A Use-inspired Ecological-Economic Collaboratory for Advancing Coastal Wetland Restoration and Resilience: The project will build a partner community, establish the EcoCARE Hub, and develop an integrated web portal to improve coastal wetland restoration and resilience across coastal systems. Leveraging community partnerships, integrated data and model commons, and jurisdiction-specific policy expertise, researchers will develop innovative approaches in molecular biomonitoring, AI-enhanced modeling, wetland valuation, and restoration financing. (University of Rhode Island, Louisiana State University, Subawardees: Roger Williams University, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, Louisiana University Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University Health Science Center)
  • AI-Enabled Environmental Surveillance of Microbial and Chemical Threats to Food Production Systems: Addressing microbial and chemical threats to food production systems, this interjurisdictional collaboration will develop AI-enabled environmental surveillance technologies to detect and quantify pathogens and contaminants affecting aquaculture and livestock. The project will strengthen research infrastructure, advance AI-enabled environmental surveillance for food safety, and support workforce development in AI and biotechnology. (University of Hawaii, University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
  • Spin Control via Topology, Symmetry and Dimensionality: The project will investigate new, low-energy ways to control electron spin, a property underlying memory, sensing, and quantum information technologies. Researchers will explore a newly discovered class of magnetic materials called altermagnets that respond to light and how light can control spin in nanoscale semiconductor structures. The work will train students for careers in critical and emerging technology fields. (West Virginia University Research Corporation, University of Delaware)
  • Plastic-based Nano-Systems for High Throughput Multi-omic Biological Studies: The project will develop new nanoscale tools and a mixed-scale, single-molecule platform to analyze biological molecules, initially focusing on proteins. The technology will be reconfigurable to analyze other biological polymers and use AI to support manufacturing and single-molecule identification. The effort will advance technologies, methods, and fundamental knowledge while building a multidisciplinary biotechnology workforce. (University of Kansas Center for Research Inc., Subawardees: Louisiana State University, Southern University and A&M College)
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