Office of Research and Creative Scholarship Newsletter - Special Edition
Limited Submission, Call for Proposals: NSF 25-522: EPSCoR E-RISE
Internal Submission Deadline: Monday, October 19, 2026 at 11:59pm
Solicitation
The UM Office of Research Development is running an internal call for proposals for the NSF ESPSCoR E-RISE program. Please follow the outlined submission guidance, and see program information below for additional information. To be competitive, E-RISE projects are expected to be multi-institutional, and should include the breadth of institutions in the jurisdiction.
Please email ORD with any questions: research.development@umontana.edu
Submission Guidance and Internal Procedure
PIs interested in submitting a proposal for internal review must submit a 2-3 page proposal, along with CVs for each PI and co-PI affiliated with the proposal. Proposals should be submitted via the submission form by 11:59pm on Monday, October 19.
Your internal proposal should include a description of your proposed project, its potential impact, team composition and qualifications, and a clear case for how the project is beneficial to UM and the ESPSCoR jurisdiction. For this competition, proposals should address the six key elements of E-RISE projects as outlined in the solicitation:
- Building of a jurisdiction-wide network of individuals, institutions, and organizations to develop high-quality research aligned with jurisdictional scientific priority areas and the EPSCoR mission and goals
- Collaborative engagement across different institution types and sectors
- Development of a skilled workforce that is relevant to the project and its outcomes (Workforce Development)
- Incorporation of use-inspired perspectives and societal impact (SI)
- Building of a pathway to project sustainability
- Development of a continual improvement cycle
The Office of Research Development will convene a panel for review of proposals for a final decision.
Program Synopsis
The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) supports the mission of the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) by promoting nationwide scientific progress. Through this program, NSF fosters partnerships among academic institutions, government entities, industry, and non-profits. These collaborations aim to drive long-term improvements in research infrastructure, enhance R&D capacity, and boost the research competitiveness of eligible EPSCoR jurisdictions, including states, territories, and commonwealths.
A jurisdiction's research ecosystem is the interconnected network of institutions, organizations, researchers, trainees, community stakeholders, and resources that contribute to the process of research and innovation that advances fundamental knowledge, generates use-inspired products, and ultimately cultivates beneficial societal impacts for a jurisdiction. E-RISE supports hypothesis-driven or problem-driven research and fosters the development of research teams and products in a scientific topical area that aligns with a jurisdiction's research ecosystem and priorities, as detailed in the jurisdiction's Science and Technology (S&T) Plan or drawn from other jurisdiction plans, reports, or publications prepared by appropriate authorities or bodies. E-RISE invites innovative proposals within the chosen research area that will lead to development and implementation of sustainable broad networks of individuals, institutions, and organizations, and that will transform the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research capacity and competitiveness in a jurisdiction. E-RISE is particularly interested in proposals that justify exploring emerging or interdisciplinary research areas with high potential impact.
E-RISE projects must have a clearly articulated research goal that will lead to new knowledge by addressing a clear hypothesis or problem. The E-RISE project should promote
(i) areas of research capacity-building within a chosen research topic;
(ii) development of a skilled workforce that is relevant to the research topic, as well as the project and its outcomes;
(iii) a culture of collaboration and engagement across different types of academic institutions and organizations, as well as non-academic sectors (e.g., industry and government);
(iv) integration of the research with societal impacts; and
(v) a clear sustainability plan to preserve the resulting research incubator's team and products beyond E-RISE funding.
