Seed Awards

About Infrastructure Seed Grants

SEED Grant

The Infrastructure Seed Grant (ISG) program is designed to increase the impact of NM EPSCoR on the undergraduate student population at New Mexico’s non-PhD granting institutions. The intent of the ISG program is to increase the access of undergraduate students, especially women and members of underrepresented groups, to research experiences by increasing non-PhD granting institutions’ capacity to provide research experiences for students. The ISG may be used to purchase research and teaching equipment related to environmental science topics including climate change, hydrology and water quality science and to pay for student researcher salaries, research supplies and student conference travel.

Faculty members at any public (including Bureau of Indian Education) 2 or 4-year New Mexico institution of higher education that does not offer any STEM PhD degree programs are eligible to apply. The proposed infrastructure improvements must serve to enhance undergraduate research opportunities. Collaborations with PhD-granting institutions are allowed in order to leverage additional resources and access additional expertise, but the focus must remain on building the non-PhD granting institutions’ capacity to support undergraduate research experiences. A PhD granting institution cannot be the lead institution for ISG proposals.

A total of $350,000 will be available to faculty from the regional universities and tribal colleges. Proposals will be solicited annually and will be selected for funding through a peer-review process overseen by the EPSCoR Management Team. The undergraduate institution faculty will integrate their proposed activities with the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program through recruitment and collaborations with research institution faculty.

First Round of Funding:

Second Round of Funding:

Third Round of Funding: