The University of Texas Permian Basin (UTPB) recently received a competitive 3-year, $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) as part of their Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) program to strengthen the university's role in research, innovation, and workforce development. This is the second largest award from NSF in UTPB's history.

Rural colleges are taking innovation on the road — using mobile units, hands-on tech, and targeted support to reach first-generation students where they live. Through EPIIC’s RREDI project, four institutions are building innovation hubs, strengthening workforce pathways, and sharing what works (and what doesn’t) to overcome rural barriers.

Paul Smith’s College — part of the EPIIC award, Partnering to Advance And Drive Innovation on Sustainability and the Environment (PARADISE) — has received a $999,991 grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission’s Forest Economy Program, a federal-state initiative that strengthens the evolving forest economy across northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. The award will help Paul Smith’s College launch its Troops to Timber workforce initiative, preparing veterans, military families, and other jobseekers for skilled careers in forestry, logging, arboriculture, and forest management.

The NSF-EPIIC program is empowering universities to strengthen collaboration with industry through tailored workshops that demystify how to build and sustain partnerships. Four institutions, including Santa Clara University, have already launched these efforts and are developing campus-specific action plans.

At small colleges like Albion College, the EPIIC-supported “Connect Four” cohort is building regional industry partnerships through modules like interdisciplinary consulting teams, networking, and infrastructure-reforms that embed partnership activity into institutional culture.

The program stands out for its strategic, hands-on support guiding research institutions through every step of proposal development.

Brian Hall traveled to Capitol Hill to represent the college at a showcase for the Congressional Artificial Intelligence Caucus. The event gathered experts from academia, government, and industry to inform policymakers about AI’s technological, economic, and social impacts.

Montgomery College and the University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) have announced a new partnership to help meet the growing demand for skilled professionals in the bioeconomy. Starting in Spring 2025, students who earn an Associate in Applied Science Degree in Biotechnology at Montgomery College will receive guaranteed acceptance into UMF’s online Bachelor of Arts in Biology program with a Pre-Professional concentration.

Check out these resources to learn more about NSF’s EPIIC program.

Community colleges are critical for America to build an inclusive innovation economy and ensure that public investments in emerging technology leadership lead to a renewal of the hollowed-out middle-class. Recognizing that fact, NSF’s Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate launched the EPIIC grant funding program. The funding was made possible by the CHIPS & Science Act of 2022.