Collaborative Research: EPIIC: Developing Emerging Technology Ecosystem Partnerships for Primarily Undergraduate Institutions

This is a collaborative project across the following institutions: Champlain College, Christopher Newport University, and Western Oregon University. The Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity Award is focused on building the capacity of three Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) to sustainably increase the number of partnerships to drive workforce development and research projects between faculty and students, industry, and Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). The project cohort is collaborating to learn, share, and apply the expertise needed to move toward a model for developing and maintaining external partnerships. The geographical distribution of the cohort allows for broadened participation in emerging-technology innovation ecosystems in three regions of the continental U.S.: Mid-Atlantic, New England, and Pacific Northwest. Their capacity-building efforts will increase the number of undergraduate students who engage in hands-on learning and career preparation opportunities as part of the college experience (e.g., internships, industry research) in the emerging technology industries being targeted, which include Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, and Biotechnology. The cohort institutions will collectively identify best practices from other successful model institutions, share learned expertise, and create and expand upon a centralized organizational structure at each institution. Additionally, they will organize and pilot industry partnerships to find sustainable partnership models and work to improve the infrastructure necessary to apply for further funding to sustain these efforts beyond the timeframe of the project. Each of the institutions will provide workforce development and foster future regional economic prosperity by creating intentional educational opportunities for their community members and generate a system of shared opportunities between academic institutions and industry. By leveraging existing support programs, this project will also create new opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds, including students with historically underrepresented identities in STEM fields (e.g., first generation, minority populations, women, and nontraditional age students). The cohort will disseminate and share best practices and models for establishing and maintaining partnerships with other PUIs and IHEs, with the intent of helping them strengthen their capacity for sustainable industry and research partnerships, improve workforce pipelines in emerging technology fields, and increase involvement in local technology ecosystems. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.