Ff

BY THE NUMBERSTennessee in FY 2012

$71 Million: NSF funds awarded 22nd: National ranking in NSF funds 25: NSF-funded institutions 259: NSF grant awards 2: NSF research centers/facilities

EXAMPLES OF NSF-FUNDED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH IN TENNESSEE

EXAMPLES OF NSF-FUNDED EDUCATION PROGRAMS IN TENNESSEE

1

Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) 1527 Eighteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 www.cnsfweb.org

Tennessee THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)

is the only federal agency whose mission includes support for all fields of fundamental science and engineering.

“NSF funding is critical to the continuing education of Tennessee students at the K-12, undergraduate and

graduate level in the STEM fields as well as supporting cutting-edge research in our state that leads to new

technologies and jobs.”

- Camilla Benbow, Dean of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College of Education and Human Development and member

of the National Science Board

The Scientist-in-the-Classroom Partnership pairs science teaching fellows from Vanderbilt University, Tennessee State University, Meharry Medical College and Fisk University with middle school teachers one day a week throughout the school year. The teams collaborate on lesson plans and hands-on, inquiry-based activities, with the fellows providing additional demonstrations and tutoring.

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has been awarded $16 million to begin the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, or NIMBioS. UT Knoxville won the award in competition with 18 of the nation's other top research institutions.

“Math Success for STEM Majors” at Tennessee Tech University will include 2,300 students in six initiatives over the course of five years in projects aimed at improving math instruction.

Vanderbilt University Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Robert J. Webster III has been awarded an NSF Faculty Early CAREER Development grant to further his efforts to design more accurate and less invasive surgical tools called continuum robots. Since 2000, 25 Vanderbilt School of Engineering faculty members have received NSF CAREER awards.

University of Memphis Associate Professor of Computer Science Lan Wang has received an NSF grant to create new and innovative ways to build a more reliable and robust Internet. The project, known as Named Data Networking, could redesign the Internet to offer better support for security, mobility and new applications.

Middle Tennessee State University received a $1.1 million award to implement a program to improve success rates for students in the science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, disciplines.

The Collaborative Chemistry Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program at the University of Memphis annually provides 8 undergraduate students from across the midsouth with a ten-week intensive research experience complemented with industrial site visits, and weekly one-hour sessions devoted to research support skills, such as literature searching, critical reading of the scientific literature, writing, scientific ethics, and presentation skills.

 With support from the IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) program, the Vanderbilt-Fisk Interdisciplinary Program for Research and Education in the Nanosciences is a graduate level program focused on research and graduate student education associated with nanoscale science and engineering.

Tennessee

Coalition for National Science Funding (CNSF) 1527 Eighteenth Street, NW Washington, DC 20036 www.cnsfweb.org

TENNESSEE’S EXPERIMENTAL PROGRAM to STIMULATE COMPETITIVE RESEARCH (EPSCoR) AWARD

$20 MILLION DOLLARS

In October 2010, Tennessee was one of seven states selected by NSF to receive an EPSCoR award, totaling $20 million for five years. This is one of the largest federal science grants ever

awarded to the state. Tennessee’s award seeks to expand and enhance the physical, personnel, and cyber infrastructure at academic institutions in the state. The program builds on the state government's investment in the clean energy sector for economic development and the recent

hiring of eminent faculty members in energy related areas in the University of Tennessee system.

RESEARCH STIMULATED BY EPSCoR

TENNESSEE SOLAR CONVERSION AND STORAGE USING OUTREACH, RESEARCH AND EDUCATION (TN-SCORE)

• Awards to new faculty at non-research extensive institutions• Scholarships/stipends for graduate

students participating in academic bridge programs• Summer research experience for undergraduates• Summer mini-sabbaticals for high school, community college and four-year college faculty• Outreach to K-12 classrooms• Summer internships and a yearlong undergraduate training program

The grant will help foster collaboration between institutions and researchers. In the collaboration, faculty and students will be grouped in "network nodes" for research, mentorship, and outreach. These collaborative efforts and the research of TN-SCORE will focus on three main areas:

• Advanced solar conversion and innovation• Components and devices for energy storage and conversion• Nanostructures for enhancing energy efficiency

UNIVERSITY PARTNERS

East Tennessee State UniversityFisk UniversityKing College

Middle Tennessee State UniversityOak Ridge National Laboratory

Tennessee State UniversityTennessee Technical University

University of Tennessee, KnoxvilleVanderbilt University

University of MemphisUniversity of Tennessee Space Institute

THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) not only funds cutting-edge research at institutions across the country, NSF’s education initiatives ensure the U.S. will remain a global leader in innovation for generations to come.