Possible Impacts of 2015 America COMPETES Act on Oklahoma EPSCoR Dr. Kelvin K. Droegemeier Vice President for Research Regents’ Professor University of Oklahoma Dr. Jerry Malayer, Director Oklahoma EPSCoR Professor & Associate Dean Oklahoma State University

EPSCoR Program EPSCoR = Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research EPSCoR was created at NSF in 1980 to help prevent undue geographic concentration in research funding (Oklahoma joined in 1985) Several agencies have joined since then (see below) 31 states (jurisdictions) are eligible for EPSCoR funding Total budget today at NSF is ~ $180M

Currently Active EPSCoR Awards in Oklahoma Total Active Awards = $77.2M (roughly half of Federal obligations in science and engineering to Oklahoma educational institutions in FY10)

Impact of EPSCoR in Oklahoma Track-1 RII grants have created 18 new faculty positions at OU and OSU Nanotechnology research underpinned growth of > 20 companies 119 other technologies and 17 high-tech start-ups created New high-speed Internet access Severe weather technology private sector growth > 40% in 3 years Radiation dosimeter device has generated more than $108M in revenue More than 34,000 students, teachers, faculty impacted by EPSCoR outreach

EPSCoR Program Funding Contributions AGENCY REGENTS UNIVERSITY TOTAL NSF $64,296,440 $26,339,442 $3,836,437 $94,138,986 IDeA $280,139,402 $3,850,270 $283,989,672 NASA $12,828,320 $6,157,931 $5,130,811 $24,117,062 DOE $5,910,697 $1,050,000 $2,210,606 $9,171,303 DEPSCoR $21,217,309 $6,659,687 $5,035,260 $32,912,256 EPA $713,779 $580,999 $169,988 $1,464,766 $385,105,947 $44,638,329 $16,383,102 $445,794,045 100%

Potential Impact of 2015 COMPETES Act Authorization on Oklahoma EPSCoR The 2015 House of Representatives’ America COMPETES Act authorizes a deep cut to the NSF Office of Integrative and International Activities, within which the NSF EPSCoR Office is housed The cut is 11.2% below the FY15 Enacted Budget The cut is 17.8% below the FY16 Request These cuts could mean the loss of millions of dollars in NSF EPSCoR funding to Oklahoma EPSCoR is about OKLAHOMA, as well as OSU and OU

Other Concerns about COMPETES Act Authorization Removing from NSF & the community the ability to set research priorities via authorizing funding by research directorate 8% cut to the Geosciences, and 45% cut to the Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Directorates, which will greatly slow research on tornado prediction and eviscerate efforts to develop better warning strategies for the public Substantial cuts to the Graduate Research Fellowship program, which brings the best graduate students to OU and OSU Significant cuts to the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program, upon which OU and OSU rely to purchase large pieces of equipment for research, frequently leading to patents and licensing to commercial companies