Contact: Robbie Ward
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A Mississippi State research administrator is joining the board of directors for a national research and education coalition that helps provide university funding in science and engineering.
Sandra H. Harpole of West Point recently was appointed to a three-year term on the governing body for the Coalition of EPSCoR/IDeA, which includes 23 states, Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the U.S Virgin Islands. She is associate vice president for research and a physics professor at MSU.
The board is responsible for organizing strategic discussions regarding the course of the EPSCoR/IDeA programs and the role of the EPSCoR/IDeA coalition in supporting the goals and objectives of its programs.
EPSCoR, also known as the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, is a joint program of the National Science Foundation and several U.S. states and territories. It promotes the development of science and technology resources through partnerships involving universities and industries, as well as government and federal research and development enterprises.
The program is directed at areas that historically have received smaller amounts of funding from NSF Research and Development.
The IDeA program, an acronym for the Institutional Development Award, works to broaden the geographic distribution of the National Institutes of Health for biomedical and behavioral research. IDeA program works to enhance health-related research and the competitiveness of institutional researchers in states where the success rate of securing NIH applications historically has been low.
In addition to her role as associate vice president, Harpole directs MSU's Center for Science, Mathematics and Technology at the 130-year-old land-grant university. Over her campus career, she has been honored with the John Grisham Master Teacher and Faculty Achievement awards, as well as the Outstanding Faculty Woman recognition and American Association of Physics Teachers' Distinguished Service Citation.
As a faculty member and administrator, she has secured numerous state and national research grants for teacher enhancement and training in science, mathematics and technology. She also has been recognized as one of Mississippi's most highly funded researchers.
Harpole currently directs grants valued at more than $10 million and serves as co-principal investigator on two additional NSF grants totaling $900,000.
She holds bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from MSU.
NEWS EDITORS/DIRECTORS: For more information, contact Dr. Harpole at sharpole@research.msstate.edu or 662-325-3570.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.