9720642 Benfield The three South Dakota research universities, South Dakota State University, the University of South Dakota, and South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, will collaborate to develop infrastructure that promotes competitiveness on the part of individual investigators. Another partner in this project is the Earth Resources Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center, a federal facility located in the state. Infrastructure development and co-funding endorsement will be in the context of three scientific areas and one supporting area, all chosen for their relationship to the South Dakota economy, for the existence of scientific talent in the state, and for the inherent potential for independent fundability. The scientific focus areas are: (1) Biological Response to Stress; (2) Geophysical Processes of the Northern Plains; and (3) Materials and Processes for the 21st Century. The supporting technical area is telecommunications and information technology. In addition, infrastructure development activities will be carried out. Such activities will include: (1) new faculty start- up costs to assist new faculty members in establishing laboratories for their research and for purchasing scientific equipment; (2) investigator special travel awards provided specifically for faculty to travel to funding agencies in Washington to discuss grant opportunities and procedures; (3) Rushmore Conferences to host a national conference in South Dakota in each of the three primary focus areas as well as two special conferences on "Native Americans in Science," and "The Scientist as Entrepreneur;" (4) graduate fellowships, nine special fellowships each year to attract the best students to South Dakota; (5) undergraduate research fellowships, to support a total of 30 undergraduates every year in summer research involvement; (6) a joint industry program with North Dakota to place students in industrial internships; (7) an annual state EPSCoR conference held in the st ate, including a joint conference with North Dakota in 1999; (8) a seminar series, enabling each primary focus group to host two national speakers per year by bringing them to one campus and broadcasting their visit interactively to the other schools; (9) a proposal enhancement program to provide small grants to faculty who submit proposals to major external funding agencies, coupled with proposal-writing workshops; and (10) equipment funds to purchase state-of-the-art research instrumentation related to the above focus areas, which will permit South Dakota faculty to carry out competitive research.
