The West Virginia National Research Center for Coal and Energy (WV NRCCE)-the West Virginia's lead office for the WV DOE EPSCoR Program-in collaboration with the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)-the newest national laboratory- will host the NSF-DOE Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Conference titled "Collaborative Research Opportunities for Clean, Affordable, and Secure Energy" on June 14-15, 2005 in Morgantown, West Virginia. The overarching goal of the conference is to promote EPSCoR states' involvement in research focused on fossil energy and its objectives are the following:
To enhance EPSCoR states' awareness of facilities and programs at the national laboratories, especially those with ongoing relationships with NETL.
To discuss states' perceptions of the strengths and difficulties of the EPSCoR program and how to address them.
To promote regional collaboration between NSF and DOE EPSCoR states.
To foster scientist-to-scientist interactions.
The conference will also afford the federal agencies an opportunity to meet with state EPSCoR administrators and scientists to assess the programs and to promote new directions as appropriate. Ultimately, this event will allow states to enhance their understanding of the national laboratories through plenary, panel, poster, and breakout sessions.
