The $9 million National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR: South Carolina Research Infrastructure Improvement (RII) Grant (2001) is building areas of existing research excellence in nanoscience, structural and chemical biology, and bioengineering by adding a critical mass of researchers to these targeted areas. Collectively, these new faculty hires, coupled with the increasing strength in the participating departments, is enabling the programs targeted for infrastructure improvement to attain regional and national competitiveness. The program is also resulting in considerable improvement in centralized research facilities located in dedicated space and managed to ensure effective usage and maximum benefits. Outreach initiatives to support interfaces with the state’s four-year colleges, HBCUs, and the private sector are also being implemented.

Six new faculty hires into the nanomaterials/nanotechnology program at Clemson University complements related expertise in the state, will significantly benefit graduate and undergraduate education and serve to stimulate the further development of the emerging knowledge-based, high-tech economy in South Carolina. The Medical University of South Carolina is expanding its biomolecular structure capacity and develop chemical biology through the addition of five new faculty.

Partnerships with the College of Charleston and interactions with state and federal agencies are adding synergism and competitiveness in additional areas of research. The bioengineering/biomaterials program has established a branch of the Clemson University Bioengineering Department at the Medical University of South Carolina staffed with new Clemson University bioengineering hires, and has added new faculty at Clemson with expertise in molecular biology.

In support of the infrastructure improvement activities, South Carolina is continuing the implementation of successful policies, procedures and programs to recruit and encourage the success of minorities and women as professionals in SMET fields. Collaborative opportunities between faculty from the state’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) and those residing within the major research universities are further developing the state’s enterprise. Entrepreneurial opportunities are provided through a competitive Small Business Innovative Research Phase-0 Program and a competitive skills development program for graduate students.

The $3 million National Science Foundation (NSF) EPSCoR: South Carolina Science and Technology Infrastructure Improvement Activities (2000) is striving to enhance the research infrastructure in the state of South Carolina's three major academic research institutions. The three universities are focusing on faculty development activities through the recruitment of thirteen tenure-track positions. The University of South Carolina is diversifying their core of nanoscience faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry with six of seven new hires to be made outside the department in the areas of nanobiology and nanoscale photonics, electronics, and chemical engineering.

The Medical University of South Carolina is transitioning their Signal Transduction program into new related areas by making four new hires in the area of molecular and cellular basis of neuroplasticity. Clemson University has initiated a materials based biotechnology program by integrating the materials science and engineering strengths within their College of Engineering and Science and the biotechnology strengths within their College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences through the addition of two new faculty in cell biology and tissue engineering. In addition, the project supports initiatives involving collaborative research with minority institutions, summer research programs for undergraduates, teachers and high school students, and industrial research traineeships for graduate students.

The state's strategy to effect infrastructure improvements has as its goal the establishment of specialized centers of research, poised to compete nationally, in partnership with other institutions or the private sector, for individual investigator proposals, program projects, shared instrumentation, research training awards, and center grants. The state's goal is consistent with the NSF EPSCoR program goal to increase the national competitiveness of the researchers in the EPSCoR states.