ND EPSCoR announces $6522,900 in new faculty start-up monies The North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (ND EPSCoR) has announced that four academic units at the University of North Dakota will share in $652,900 designated for seven new faculty start-up opportunities. These funds are made available on a competitive basis and are designed to enhance the start-up packages offered to prospective research faculty during the hiring process. Awards, which are of two years duration and begin in August 2008, were made to the College of Nursing, Department of Chemistry, Department of Electrical Engineering, and the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering. According to Gary Johnson, interim vice president for research at UND and co-chair of the ND EPSCoR steering committee, “The new faculty start-up awards constitute one of the most important components of the multi-faceted EPSCoR program.” He went on to express appreciation to the National Science Foundation and the State of North Dakota for their support of research through this innovative program in which North Dakota’s public research universities, UND and NDSU, have been a partner since 1986. In announcing the awards, Johnson added, “The overall goal of ND EPSCoR is to increase the competitiveness of North Dakota for merit-based grants and contracts in support of science and technology research from federal funding agencies. New faculty start-up awards move UND in the proper direction toward meeting this objective.” Funded through federal, state and private sector partnerships, ND EPSCoR manages a comprehensive research development plan that involves infrastructure improvement programs, science outreach and recruitment programs, and technology transfer and commercialization programs. ND EPSCoR's federal research partners include the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Energy (DOE), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the Department of Defense (DOD).