New Mexico State University
Research, Creativity and Economic Development

Write an NSF Proposal, Write a Second NSF Proposal, and Follow Up with a Third

By Drs. Luis Cifuentes, Vice President for Research, Creativity, and Economic Development and Shelley Lusetti, Department Head of Chemistry and Biochemistry

The CHIPS and Science Act was passed in summer of 2022 and funded in fiscal year (FY) 2023. The Bill directs the National Science Foundation (NSF) to allocate a percentage of its Research and Related Activities Account to NSF EPSCoR jurisdictions as follows: 15.5% in FY 2023, 16.0% in FY24, 16.5% in FY25, 17.0% in FY26, 18.0% in FY27, 19.0% in FY28, and 20.0% in FY29. New Mexico is among twenty-four EPSCoR states. Set asides for fellowships and other training are included as well. Furthermore, set asides have been mandated also for Department of Energy (DOE), NASA, USDA, and Department of Defense (DoD) EPSCoR programs.

According to the EPSCoR IDeA Coalition (Dr. Lusetti is a Coalition board member), the NSF retains flexibility as to how it will achieve these large increases in funding to EPSCoR jurisdictions. NSF leadership, specifically Alicia Knoedler (Head of the NSF Office of Integrated Activities) and Sandra Richardson (Section Head for NSF EPSCoR) have both said publicly, many times, that additional funding from the set asides will NOT flow only through the EPSCoR program itself. While this is nowhere to be found in writing (or the internet) we believe that the NSF will find ways to get the additional required funding to EPSCoR states through other, mainstream NSF programs. This includes both existing grant mechanisms and through the release of new programs.

Undoubtedly, the CHIPS and Science Act has supercharged EPSCoR programs. Significant changes have been made to the NSF EPSCoR Track-1 program that NMSU has successfully competed for many times. Moving forward, we will be vying for EPSCoR Collaborations for Optimizing Research Ecosystems Research Infrastructure Improvement Program (E-CORE RII) and EPSCoR Research Incubators for STEM Excellence Research Infrastructure Improvement Program (E-RISE RII) programs.

The metric of accountability for EPSCoR jurisdiction states, e.g., New Mexico, is quite simple: the number of NSF proposals being submitted, and not just proposals submitted to NSF EPSCoR programs. Faculty, and research staff must take advantage of this increase in funding and write more NSF proposals to suitable directorates. In turn, more of our students should be encouraged to compete for fellowships and have access to funded traineeships.

The Proposal Development Group of Research, Creativity and Economic Development will schedule an NSF proposal interest workshop designed to link faculty, staff, and student research with a suitable funding mechanism. Dr. Hamid M. Rad (NSF, DoD, DOE, hamid@nmsu.edu) and Ms. Cynthia Ramirez (NIH, DOED, USDA, cindyram@nmsu.edu), in particular, are here to assist.

News from Research Administration

By Ms. Alisha Giron, Associate Vice President for Research

I am excited to share another milestone for NMSU Research Administration! Last week, I submitted my first proposal as an NMSU Principal Investigator (PI). The project entitled, “Filling the Gap: Establishing an Undergraduate Program in Research Administration and Management,” was submitted to the National Science Foundation (NSF) Growing Research Access for Nationally Transformative Equity and Diversity (GRANTED) program. The overall project will be led by the University of South Alabama. Other project collaborators include: University of California-San Diego, Miami University, Alabama A&M University, and the Society of Research Administrators International. This proposed NSF GRANTED project aims to fill a critical gap in the development of research administrators by establishing research administration and management as a known, viable professional career option beginning at the undergraduate level. My fellow NMSU Co-PI is Carol Flinchbaugh, Interim Associate Dean of the Graduate School and Associate Professor, Department of Management. If awarded, Dr. Flinchbaugh and I will lead our project over the next three years.

Ms. Alisha Giron, NMSU

News from Infrastructure and Partnerships

By Dr. Tanner Schaub, Assistant Vice President for Research

The FY24 Technology Enhancement Fund proposal submission and review process is underway. During the Q1/Q2 combined cycles, NMSU researchers have requested $5.9 million in new TEF funds, which would be matched with non-state funding sources to support new research projects totaling $24.9 million. These figures underscore the significant value that NMSU research, involving faculty, staff, and student researchers, brings to the State with respect to return on investment, capacity building, student research, social mobility opportunities, and the foundation for economic development. The state-level review committee meets on October 18th to make funding recommendations, and we have high hopes based on the quality of projects brought forth by our faculty.

Speaking of TEF, we are in the advanced stages of finalizing purchase orders for approximately $8 million in new research instrumentation for three upcoming research facilities this month. These purchases encompass equipment for the Molecular Structure Determination Core within the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, a vivarium for wild and laboratory animals in the new biomedical research building currently under construction, and a state-of-the-art, open-access chemical analysis instrumentation laboratory in Skeen Hall. We'll keep you updated on the arrival and capabilities of these valuable resources. I want to thank the following groups and individuals for their professionalism as we all work together to get this equipment “landed”: NMSU Facilities and Services including the staff at the property office, Sandra Lujan, D’Anne Stewart, Jodie Webb, Lorenza Sanchez, Tina Hales, Erika Zavala Martinez, Lisa Osborne, Lucille Casas, Kevin Dewolf, and Cole Collins.

I'm delighted to announce that we are currently hosting the first of several candidates on campus this week as part of the final selection process for the founding director of our new biomedical data science/informatics core. This initiative is being established in partnership with RCED, the Office of the Provost, and the New Mexico INBRE program. We aim to complete the hiring process within the next month and begin setting up the core in the upcoming winter and spring.

Additionally, we are strengthening the partnership between New Mexico State University (NMSU) and Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). Our objectives include promoting collaborative research, securing joint funding opportunities, improving research capabilities, offering students practical experience, and addressing SNL's talent requirements for its missions.

These activities are just the tip of the iceberg. We have exciting developments in progress across various fronts, such as the NMSU Postdoc Association, EPSCoR, the new STEM+ Education Research Institute (SERI), the impressive $1 M field-emission scanning electron microscope in the MICS core facility  (which is producing remarkable images!), and our partnership with Plug Power. The list goes on…

We encourage anyone who is interested in these projects and efforts to get involved – please contact me at tschaub@nmsu.edu

This is an exhilarating period for NMSU research!

News from Workforce and Strategic Engagement

By Dr. Patricia Sullivan, Director, Strategic Initiatives

The Office of Workforce Development and Strategic Engagement has partnered with the University of Colorado (CU) Denver and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to expand the NIST Professional Research Experience Program (PREP). The NMSU partnership is led by Drs. Patricia Sullivan, Jay Misra, and Michèle Shuster with the objective of establishing research collaborations with NIST and with the CU Denver faculty in aligned research area. The program will also seek to place undergraduate and graduate students, as well as post-doctoral researchers in NIST labs to gain hands-on research experience working along side NIST researchers.  

News from the Arrowhead Center

By Ms. Dana Catron, Arrowhead Center

The Arrowhead Center received a competitive $650,000 award from the Economic Development Administration for a three year New Mexico University Center for Regional Commercialization and Resilience project. The goal of the Center is to enhance and foster entrepreneurial cultivation, focused on smaller-sized higher education institutions and rural communities across NM. Leveraging program results from previous EDA funding, Arrowhead will bolster the college/university student incubator – Studio G – and its existing and future network of sites across NM to realize two goals: 1) Provide comprehensive and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)-cognizant entrepreneurial education and technology commercialization training programming and 2) Facilitate technology commercialization through experiential learning opportunities.

Cowboys for Cancer Research: FY2023 Pilot Grant Opportunity

By Ms. Cindy Ramirez, Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

NMSU announces the availability of a pilot project funding opportunity for NMSU faculty and staff through the Cowboys for Cancer Research organization in Las Cruces, NM. The purpose of this grant program is to encourage development of investigator-initiated research projects involving basic, preclinical, clinical, and translational cancer research, and acquisition of specialized instrumentation supporting collaborative cancer research. Please download the application here or email me at cindyram@nmsu.edu.

Applications are due on October 30, 2023.  For any questions you can contact: Dr. Jessica P. Houston (jph@nmsu.edu) for application/scientific/technical/budget queries and progress reports and me (cindyram@nmsu.edu) for administrative and submission queries.

Recognizing Large Award (September 2023)

By Dr. Hamid Mansouri Rad, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS 

Congratulations to Drs. Monique Matute-Chavarria, assistant professor of Special Education (PI), Anita Hernandez, co-associate dean for research in the College of HEST and Sarah Wiegand, assistant professor of Special Education (co-PIs) for receiving a $1.2 million competitive award from the Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs. The award funds the team’s project titled Reimagining Intervention to Support Early Childhood (RISE) whose goal is to increase the number of personnel (including those from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, personnel who are multilingual, and personnel with disabilities) who are prepared to provide culturally and linguistically responsive effective and equitable instruction, interventions, and services that improve outcomes for infants, toddlers, and their families in New Mexico.

For more information, please contact Dr. Monique Matute-Chavarria at mmatute@nmsu.edu.

Dr. Monique Matute-Chavarria, NMSU 

Recognizing Large Proposal Submitters (September 2023)

By Dr. Hamid Mansouri Rad, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS 

Congratulations to Drs. Catherine Brewer, Anita Hernandez, and April Ulery, for each submitting a large proposal in the month of September.

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Dr. Catherine Brewer led the submission of a $4.8 million proposal to the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program. The proposed project aims to expand the size and diversity of the available workforce with skills to manage radioactive tank waste through capacity building with new equipment, interdisciplinary training in f-orbital elements and supply chains, and hands-on laboratory and travel experiences. The long-term goal of the two-year project is to expand the minor in nuclear chemical engineering and develop a new interdisciplinary graduate certificate at NMSU that can be completed by students from science, engineering, and business backgrounds to enhance their knowledge and experience in DOE EM-needed areas. This proposal is the result of the collaboration with other NMSU faculty including Drs. Paul Andersen (Chemical and Materials Engineering), Sergio Martinez-Monteagudo (Family and Consumer Sciences), Cory Windorff (Chemistry and Biochemistry), Frank Ramos (Geological Sciences), Lambis Papelis (Civil Engineering), Victor Pimentel (Management), and Faruk Arslan and Donovan Fuqua (Accounting and Information Systems). External collaborators on this project include researchers from the University of Texas at El Paso, Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah River National Laboratory, and Savannah River Nuclear Solutions.

For more information, please contact Dr. Brewer at cbrewer@nmsu.edu. 

Dr. Catherine Brewer, NMSU

Congratulations to Dr. Anita Hernandez (College of HEST’s Co-Associate Dean for Research) for leading a $1.6 million proposal to the Department of Education titled “Learning and Memory of English-Spanish Cognates, Verb Phrases, Compound Words, and Idioms: Exploratory Studies.” The proposed four-year project aims to improve reading and language opportunities and outcomes for Spanish-speaking English learners in the state of New Mexico. Other investigators on this project included Drs. Michael Hout, professor and graduate program director in the Department of Psychology; Tonghui Wang, professor of mathematics; and Jose Montelongo, former Director of the Project ELevate in the School of TPAL.

For more information, please contact Dr. Hernandez at achernan@nmsu.edu.

Dr. Anita Hernandez, NMSU

Dr. April Ulery, professor of Plant and Environmental Sciences (lead) and Dr. Kenneth C. Carroll, professor of Water Science and Management (co-principal investigator) submitted a $1.1 million proposal to the Department of Energy for their proposed project titled, Minority Environmental Training & Organizational Recruitment (MENTOR) program. The goal of the program is to develop and populate a pipeline of underserved minority students for employment by DOE's Office of Environmental Management (EM). The DOE EM's mission is to complete the safe cleanup of the environmental legacy brought about from decades of nuclear weapons development and government-sponsored nuclear energy research. If selected for funding, the  proposed MENTOR program will develop an education and professional development program to train students to conduct research and technology development that supports DOE-EM’s missions.  External institutions collaborating on this project are Southwest Indian Polytechnical Institute, San Juan College, Indian Resources Development, Los Alamos National Lab, Sandia National Lab, and Waste Isolation Pilot Plant.

For additional information please contact Dr. Ulery at ulery@nmsu.edu.

Dr. April Ulery, NMSU

Reception Studies Conference Held at NMSU

By Dr. Allison Layfield, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

NMSU hosted this year’s Biannual Reception Studies Society Conference from September 28-30, 2023. The Reception Study Society (RSS) is a national academic society that promotes informal and formal exchanges between scholars in several related fields: reader-response criticism and pedagogy, reception history, history of reading and the book, audience and communication studies, media studies, institutional studies, and gender, race, ethnic, sexuality, postcolonial, religious, and other studies. RSS welcome presentations on all aspects of reception, but this year RSS especially encouraged papers or panels on the theme: Diverse Audiences, Diverse Receptions.

The conference included 47 scholars from 30 institutions. Scholars flew in from locations as far away as Calgary, Canada and Israel to participate. NMSU was represented by Julia Smith, Steven Cousler, Lauren Cifuentes, Rene Guillaume, Mary Fahrenbruck, Allison Layfield, Kori Plank and Tracey Miller-Tomlinson.

Janet Staiger, Professor Emeritus, UT Austin and foundational scholar in film reception studies, gave a plenary talk on “Diverse Conditions and Diverse Audience(s) Reception.” Cedric Burrows, cultural rhetoric scholar from Arizona State University, gave a plenary talk on his latest project, titled “The Reception of Blackness in Mainstream Culture.”

Among many highlights of the conference, the editor of the journal, Reception: Readers, Texts, Audiences, History was inspired by conference presentations to consider an upcoming special issue focused on the topic of censorship.

The conference program is available online: https://receptionstudy.org/storage/media/78/2023-RSS-Program.pdf

NMSU's Faculty spotlight

By Dr. Hamid Mansouri Rad, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

An article authored by an NMSU faculty in collaboration with faculty at Arizona State University was recognized as the Outstanding Published Paper that Significantly Contributed to the Specialty Crops Economics Discipline at the 2023 Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting in Washington, DC. The authors, Dr. Alwin Dsouza (Assistant Professor of Agricultural Economics and Agricultural Business), Dr. Ashok Mishra (Professor of Agribusiness at Arizona State University), and Dr. Scott Webster (Professor of Supply Chain Management at Arizona State University), studied the post-harvest losses (PHLs) in okra cultivation and found that “okra growers under production or marketing contracts have higher profits and PHLs than independent okra growers. However, under a low rejection rate (rejection rate is the percentage of produce not purchased by the agribusiness firms due to low quality) scenario, growers under production or marketing contracts have significantly lower PHLs and increased profits. The reduction in PHLs is not surprising, but the magnitude of the decrease shows that rejection rates are the major contributor to PHLs for contracted growers. Thus, contract farming with low rejection reduces PHLs and increases the profits of smallholders, which is a win-win situation for growers and contracting firms. Therefore, along with policies that increase contract farming participation, targeted labor hiring programs may be implemented, which can reduce rejection rates as produce gets harvested at the right time.”

The citation information of the article is: 

Dsouza, Alwin, Ashok K. Mishra, and Scott Webster. “Vertical coordination and post‐harvest losses: Implications on food loss.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 45, no. 1 (2023): 460-486.

For more information, please contact the authors.

Dr. Alwin Dsouza, NMSU

Call for Applications: NMSU Arts and Humanities Seed Grants

By Dr. Allison Layfield, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

The Office of Research, Creativity and Economic Development (RCED) is requesting applications for the 2024 NMSU Arts and Humanities (A&H) Seed Funding Program. The program is designed to help faculty launch new projects for which they will seek external funding. It is expected that this multi-year commitment by RCED will result in strong growth in proposal submissions to external funding agencies in support of creative activities, ultimately contributing to NMSU’s goal of attaining R1 status. Applications will be awarded based on merit and applications that include an identified opportunity and a clear plan to submit a proposal will have the highest priority.

It is anticipated that internal support will not exceed $10,000, or the amount requested in the proposal to be submitted for external funding, whichever is less.

Read the full CfA for further information about project and faculty eligibility: https://research.nmsu.edu/funding/ArtsHumanitiesSeedFunding.html

Applications are due no later than 5:00pm on November 10, 2023 and must be electronically submitted. Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted. Awards will be announced no later than January 31, 2024.

Faculty with expertise in the Arts and Humanities are encouraged to serve as reviewers for the program, which can give great insight into the proposal selection process. Reviewers may also submit their own applications.

For assistance with your application or to sign up as a reviewer, contact Allison Layfield: layfield at nmsu.edu.  Grant writing resources are also available on the Arts & Humanities Funding Teams site.

For more information, contact me at layfield@nmsu.edu.

Limited Submission Funding Opportunities

By Dr. Hamid Mansouri Rad, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

Research Administration Services maintains a list of limited submission funding opportunities for NMSU research community.  The list is accessible through a link on the Research website, through the Research Administration tab. NMSU users can also access the list directly on SharePoint.  We encourage NMSU researchers to periodically visit the site and if they are interested in any of the opportunities to please inform us by sending email to ras@nmsu.edu. 

Pivot Funding Opportunity Database

By Dr. Hamid Mansouri Rad, Senior Proposal Development Specialist, RAS

This is a reminder that in order to assist NMSU faculty and staff in locating external funding opportunities, the RCSI has purchased a subscription to ProQuest’s Pivot available at https://pivot.proquest.com/session/login.  

To create an account with Pivot for the first time

 To request a one-on-one or group Pivot training, send email to hamid@nmsu.edu. 

Graduate School

No news this month. 

Questions and comments regarding NMSU’s Research Digest should be directed to Hamid Mansouri Rad, Ph.D. at hamid@nmsu.edu, (575) 646-6429.