9720653 Pruitt Alabama's strategy to improve its R&D competitiveness is based on a detailed analysis of Alabama' s economy, industrial enterprises, and research and technology base. The strategy is to strengthen infrastructure in information science and technology, materials science, and biological and environmental science. Specific projects for which NSF support is requested are: (1) Infrastructure to support Alabama and regional connections to Internet 2, which will provide Alabama university researchers with high performance Internet connections to National and regional networks; (2) integrated research environment for intermeshed optoelectronics, which will develop an integrated research environment to study systems in which optical and electronic elements are intermeshed in close physical proximity; (3) Infrastructure in sensor technologies for public safety which will develop sensitive, miniature, "smart" detectors for identifying contaminants in food supplies, for detecting the presence of explosives in cargo and luggage, and for monitoring of roadways for hazardous conditions; (4) laser and photonics research infrastructure, which will develop new optical imaging techniques for biomedical applications; (5) infrastructure support for the Biomedical Implant Center, which will support recruitment of additional faculty and students and purchase of sophisticated instrumentation for improving the compatibility of medical implant devices; and (6) infrastructure enhancement for marine sciences, which will support the recruitment of experts in sedimentology and ecological modeling to strengthen research in marine sciences. Each of these proposed activities have carefully developed management plans and strategies to obtain financial support beyond the period of EPSCoR funding.
