August 22, 2019

The Scientific Advocate Network (SAN) program aims to increase diversity in materials research and education with a goal of increasing diversity of the STEM pipeline of Under Represented Minority (URM), women, and persons with disabilities.

Funding priority will be given to proposals that show significant promise to positively impact the diversity of the pipeline. To achieve this, the SAN program provides four primary funding types:

Support for URM undergraduate students in research related to MADE in SC
Support for increasing the recruitment of a diverse group of graduate students
Support for hosting scientific conferences, symposia, and meetings in South Carolina that aim to increase diversity of the STEM student pipeline
Support for other specific approaches to Broadening Participation in STEM

Full Proposal due Mon, Oct 7, 5 pm EST

At-A-Glance

Max Funding Amount Per Award: $10,000

Award Duration: 12 months

# of Awards: Depends on quality of proposals and availability of funds

Who May Apply

Investigator must be from a South Carolina college or university. Current SAN Awardees are eligible to apply for a Program Type different from the one for which they are currently funded.

Questions?

Contact April Heyward

Also Available

The goal of GEAR Program is to encourage faculty researchers at SC’s three comprehensive research universities to compete for research funding to support the MADE in SC research clusters.

Max Funding Amount Per Award: $60,000
Award Duration: 12 months

Full Proposal due Mon, Sept 30, 5 pm EST

The goal of GEAR CRP is to encourage faculty researchers to build collaborative CRU/PUI academic research teams that will enhance the network of scientists conducting research related to MADE in SC.

Max Funding Amount Per Award: $60,000
Award Duration: 12 months

Full Proposal due Mon, Sept 30, 5 pm EST

Questions? Contact April Heyward

On Saturday, August 10, Dr. Qian Wang, MADE in SC Thrust 3 (Biomaterials) co-leader, presented at Midlands Science on Tap hosted at the Hunter-Gatherer Brewery in Columbia, SC. Dr Wang spoke to a crowd of almost 50 people on turning viruses from parasite to medical cures.

Said the event organizer, “Thank you for putting us in touch with Dr. Wang. He was absolutely wonderful and we received a lot of positive comments regarding his presentation.”

Friday, September 20, Pastides Alumni Center, UofSC Columbia:
MADE in SC All-Faculty and Research Fellows Conference.

All faculty and students who are supported by MADE in SC to conduct research are expected to attend. More details to come.

Update on DEPSCoR Funding Opportunity

The Department of Defense hosted a DEPSCoR webinar on Thursday, August 15, 2019 to discuss the recently released Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) AFRL-AFOSR-2019-0004. The full proposal due date was amended to Friday, February 14, 2020 from Friday, March 20, 2020.

DOD posted Questions and Answers on July 26 and August 6 on Grants.gov. For more information on FOA-AFRL-AFOSR-2019-0004 including Q&A updates, click here.

SC EPSCoR Supports
Diversity-Growing Projects

The following two programs are supported in part with SC EPSCoR SAN Program funding:

National GEM Consortium’s Getting Ready for Advanced Degrees (GRAD) Lab, hosted at the UofSC College of Engineering and Computing on Oct 4-5. GRAD Lab encourages students considering grad engineering or science education, and to apply for the GEM fellowship. This event is for undergrad STEM students considering attending grad school. More info and registration.

STEM – ALL IN hosted at Clemson University, Oct 17-20. All-expense paid, three-day visit to learn about Clemson’s engineering and science graduate programs. The STEM ALL IN program is a diversity recruitment initiative designed to give talented students from underrepresented populations an opportunity to visit the campus early in the application process in order to learn about STEM-related research opportunities at Clemson. Open to US residents or students attending a US university. Apply by Sept 19.

News, Opportunities and Deadlines

The 26th NSF EPSCoR National Conference will welcome other EPSCoR jurisdictions around the country Oct 27-30 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. Register by Sept 20. Learn more

Abstract Deadline: TOMORROW Fri, Aug 23, 5 pm EST. Researchers in South Carolina involved with the following EPSCoR affiliated programs are eligible to submit abstracts: NSF RIIs Track-1 (in SC: MADE in SC), Track-2, and Track-4, Grants for Exploratory Research (GEAR), GEAR Collaborative Research Program (GEAR CRP), Scientific Advocate Network Program (SAN), Stimulus Research Program (SRP), NASA EPSCoR, DOE EPSCoR

SC INBRE invites the public to attend its 11th Annual Science Symposium, Sat, Sept 7, Russell House, UofSC Columbia. New this year is a 1-hour Bioinformatics Workshop: Basic Genomic Analysis in R. Symposium and Workshop are free and open to the public, but must register by 5 pm, THIS Mon, Aug 26.

Looking for collaborators?

• Research Expertise Profiles Database (faculty)
• Student Research Interests Profiles Database (students)

Funding Opps:
• SC EPSCoR (3 open – GEAR, GEAR CRP, and SAN)
• DEPSCoR (DoD EPSCoR)
• DOE
• NASA
• NIH
• NSF
• USDA
• More can be found on our Google Calendar!