9634545 Teich In 1993, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) initiated an effort to assist NSF and the state EPSCoR programs in developing a clearer understanding of the concept of a state's competitiveness in research, developing criteria for assessing competitiveness and its progress over time, and identifying strategies to enhance competitiveness. This effort has yielded important results which have improved the understanding of what makes states, institutions, and individuals competitive in research. The results are in a book published by AAAS early in 1996 entitled, Competitiveness in Academic Research (Albert H. Teich, editor). The present proposal seeks support to build on this intellectual base and use AAAS's resources to build closer ties between the EPSCoR program participants and the broader science and technology community. The proposed project will have three elements: (1) A leadership development program to assist EPSCoR states in developing and nurturing ties to the broader scientific community. This element will include a series of regional meetings for EPSCoR personnel aimed at giving them the opportunity to think systematically about the conceptual and practical issues surrounding their programs; (2) A technical assistance extension service to work with EPSCoR states in shaping their science and technology development plans and integrating those plans into broader economic and social development strategies. Under this project element, a team of world-class experts will be developed and made available to state EPSCoR programs to assist them in their planning and proposal development efforts; (3) An effort to enrich the intellectual framework of the EPSCoR program through an examination of the nature of competitiveness in research and the relative efficacy of various strategies aimed at achieving it, extending and exploiting the work begun under the initial AAAS EPSCoR project and gaining additional value from i t. A distinguished advisory committee constituted by the AAAS Committee on Science, Engineering, and Public Policy (COSEPP) and including members of COSEPP, state EPSCOR project directors, and others with relevant perspectives and expertise, will oversee all aspects of the project. The project is planned to run for three years.
