This award provides NSF support for a planning grant to help New Mexico set priorities for the improvement of its basic science and engineering infrastructure. Planning activities will include 1) construction of databases to document the current and potential state of research competitiveness in New Mexico's six universities, 2) cataloging of barriers that must be surmounted for promising University programs in science and engineering to develop into nationally and internationally recognized centers of excellence, 3) developing a ten-year implementation strategy to improve New Mexico's science and engineering research base. This planning grant will collect data, establish a state steering committee, select targeted EPSCoR research themes and subprograms, and develop a process for selecting a state EPSCoR Project Director(s). The planning activity is excepted to result in submission of an EPSCoR Implementation Proposal for sustainable infrastructure improvements which will enable New Mexico researchers to more effectively compete for federal and private R&D funding.