EPSCoR provided funds and opportunities to build research capability across a broader set of institutions. Through it , we have changed the shape of research in our higher education system. From it , we have learned new ways to build stronger connections between research and education, to enrich and embolden each. Your institutions and states have also developed innovative, even ingenious, ways to tie the fundamental research in your institutions to the economic and social needs of your state and regional populations. In that respect, you serve as models to emulate for the broader community in higher education.
Good ideas are always worth sharing.
But as we celebrate and congratulate ourselves on the vitality and success of EPSCoR, we must also remember that a successful concept is always an evolving concept. In a dynamic society, rigidity is a sure sign of decline. The future will always be different from the past. NSF and its constituents must work together to build on newly developed capabilities to take us to further frontiers. They have been especially significant for EPSCoR institutions.