Zacharias asks administration to braoden U.S. R&D funding

Zacharias spoke on behalf of increased support for a federal program that helps poorer states like Mississippi become more competitive in the scientific research arena. The remarks came in a Washington, D.C., meeting in November with senior staff of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Mississippi and 17 other states participating in the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) receive only 2 percent of all federal research funds and only 5.5 percent of such funds going to universities, Zacharias said.

The federal government is by far the most important source of financial support for scientific research, most of which takes place in universities. But almost 50 percent of the federal funding is concentrated in only five states, contrary to the national interest, Zacharias said.

He called for continued EPSCoR support to broaden the nation's research and development capability and tap into under used human resources in states such as Mississippi.

EPSCoR was started by the National Science Foundation in the 1980s and has since expanded to other federal agencies such as NASA, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Agriculture. The program helps research institutions in designated states compete more effectively within the merit review system to gain a greater share of federal research dollars. Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana also are among the EPSCoR states.

In Mississippi, EPSCoR has sponsored research and development of increased capability in chemistry and materials science at the state's four largest universities.

Mississippi State researchers are participating in work on advanced polymeric materials, composite materials, and chemical structure and dynamic analysis of materials.