NASA awards $375,000 to EPSCoR program

The North Dakota NASA EPSCoR program was notified recently by NASA that it has been awarded $375,000 over a three years for its Research Infrastructure Development (RID) project proposal submitted in July 2012, according to Santhosh Seelan, professor and chair of Space Studies and director of the state NASA EPSCoR program.

In addition to the NASA award, the North Dakota State Legislature also provides match funding to the project, Seelan said.

ND NASA EPSCoR is a statewide program and the funds from this award will be used for NASA relevant seed research and travel support for scientists to visit NASA centers to develop collaborative research. Funding for graduate research assistantships via the seed research grants will also be available. Faculty from UND and North Dakota State will be eligible to compete for these grants.

Seelan is also principal Investigator for this RID award. He can be reached at seelan@space.edu.

— David L. Dodds, media relations/writer and editor, University Relations, 777.5529, david.dodds@UND.edu.