Envisioning the Future of NSF EPSCoR
EPSCoR impacts at a glance
EPSCoR Factsheet 2020
This 2-page fact sheet describes the NSF EPSCoR investment strategy portfolio and its impacts.
EPSCoR logic model and key outcomes and indicators
EPSCoR Framework: Logic Model and Key Outcomes & Indicators
EPSCoR’s hybrid theory of change and logic model outline the various contextual factors that help to build STEM capacity and competitiveness in alignment with the program’s mission and goals. The comprehensive set of outcome indicators enhances the logic model by describing what types of measurable products and effects seen over time as a result of EPSCoR’s focused activities.
Examining NSF EPSCoR outcomes
Since EPSCoR began in 1979, its community has conducted thorough examinations of the program's strategic goals and progress. Below, NSF EPSCoR provides a collection of important reports and assessments for review.
The 2022 Government Accountability Office Report: 'Better Reporting Could Give More Visibility into Gains in States’ Research Competitiveness' is an economic analysis of the performance of NSF EPSCoR jurisdictions towards their goal of greater shares of NSF research funding. The report also includes a recommendation regarding the efforts to track broadening participation efforts.
This study presents an exploratory analysis and conceptual framework for the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research using NSF administrative data.
This provides a summary of the key points from the 2M study of NSF EPSCoR.
This report provides an overview of active EPSCoR programs, including eligibility criteria, operations and funding information, findings and recommendations from program assessments, programmatic and policy issues, and recent congressional activity. This report focuses on the EPSCoR program at NSF, but also provides information about, and comparisons to and among, the EPSCoR programs at other federal agencies.
The U.S. National Science Foundation created EPSCoR to help meet its legislatively mandated objective of avoiding undue concentration of research and education in the United States. In 2011, NSF asked STPI to conduct a two-year evaluation of the EPSCoR program. The objective of the evaluation was to perform an in-depth, life-of-program assessment of EPSCoR activities and of the outputs and outcomes of these activities.
Since its inaugural year in 1979, the EPSCOR program has grown from funding programs in five states to awarding funding to 31 states in 2012. This report assesses the effectiveness of EPSCOR and similar federal agency programs in improving national research capabilities, promoting an equitable distribution of research funding, and integrating their efforts with other initiatives designed to strengthen the nation's research capacity.
