SUNY Brockport Receives New NSF Funding
SUNY Brockport has received a three-year, $373,360 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to strengthen the University’s capacity to pursue innovative, externally funded research—work that often grows through collaboration with regional industry and community partners.
SUNY Brockport will join NSF’s Enabling Partnership to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) program as part of the Supporting Partnership for Advancement, Research, and Knowledge (SPARK) cohort. The national program is designed to help institutions expand research capacity and build stronger partnerships that support innovation.
SUNY Brockport collaborated with three other SPARK cohort institutions—Guilford College, Rhode Island School of Design, and Southern Arkansas University—to submit the proposal.
“The NSF recognizes that a majority of the research they fund goes to highly resourced institutions, which can leave others behind in federal funding,” said Dr. Jose Maliekal, associate professor and principal investigator for the project. “Institutions like Brockport have the capacity to innovate, but our faculty don’t always have the time or resources to dedicate to projects.”
The grant’s aim is to create a collaborative environment that supports scholarship through community partnerships and that allows innovative work to take shape. Maliekal will serve as the principal investigator (PI) and lead the initiative at SUNY Brockport alongside co-principal investigators Dr. Martin Abraham, Dr. Laurie Cook, and Dr. Michael Coleman.
“Writing a grant is labor-intensive, so fewer faculty are writing them, which reduces our institution’s capacity for research opportunities,” Maliekal said. “We want to create an environment in which faculty feel supported as they seek collaboration and funding to advance their career goals.”
The EPIIC-SPARK grant will create conditions for more Brockport faculty to compete for external funding, allowing more students to participate in applied research and community-based projects that connect classroom learning to real regional needs. A central component of the initiative is collaboration with regional industry and community partners whose needs coincide with the expertise of SUNY Brockport faculty.
“External partners are not always aware of what we have to offer them,” Cook said. “EPIIC is essentially trying to bridge that gap between the needs of institutions and regional partners.”
As part of this initiative and community collaboration, more experiential learning opportunities will be available for students to take part in engaging research, internships, and shadowing/mentoring with regional partners.
“When faculty scholarship connects with regional partners, long-term connections are made and pipelines open up for our students,” Cook said. “Ultimately, that is where the NSF is going. They want to better prepare our students to enter the modern workforce.”
In addition, the initiative will recruit two Faculty Fellows each year, who will receive course release time and professional development. Each Fellow will build a small team of colleagues to develop a project and prepare a grant proposal—expanding the number of faculty positioned to compete for external funding and increasing opportunities for students to participate in applied research.
“The more faculty learn about opportunities like this, the better positioned they will be to take advantage of them,” Maliekal said.
Want to partner with SUNY Brockport?
Regional/industry and community partners interested in exploring research collaborations, internships, mentoring, or applied projects may contact Jose Maliekal at 585-395-5598 or jmaliekal@brockport.edu or Laurie Cook at 585-395-5757 or lcook@brockport.edu to discuss partnership opportunities.
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