Research Infrastructure: ART Track 2: GROW: Success Model to Advance Research Translation at Tulane (SMART Tulane)

"Despite producing substantial research and developing capable entrepreneurial talent, universities in the Gulf South see few discoveries reach the market, and much of that talent leaves for regions with more mature innovation ecosystems. This 'innovation paradox' constrains the regional and national return on federal research investment. The Success Model to Advance Research Translation (SMART) project will address this challenge by systematically building Tulane University's capacity to convert faculty discoveries into licensed technologies, new companies, and high-wage careers. Tulane is an Association of American Universities Research university in Louisiana, with limited federal research funding and designated by the NSF as an EPSCoR state. By expanding translational infrastructure in this resource limited region, the project will broaden societal and economic returns on publicly funded research and advance national health, prosperity, and welfare. SMART will develop a regional workforce, spanning all nine of Tulane's schools, equipped to carry discoveries from laboratory to marketplace. The project will strengthen national competitiveness in critical areas including biomedicine, coastal and disaster resilience, and energy transition, generating evidence-based practices that other research universities can adopt, particularly those strengthening translational ecosystems in this region, offering the US a replicable model for institutional transformation. The ART Program, supported by the NSF TIP Directorate, seeks to advance the U.S. scientific and economic leadership by building capacity and increasing the number of robust translational research ecosystems in Institutions of Higher Education that span across the full geography of our nation. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students 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.