Written and maintained by CASRAI Editorial Board
Last updated
NASA EPSCoR, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, is the NASA program that builds aerospace research capacity in jurisdictions that have historically won little competitive aerospace funding. It is not one award. It is a set of award types, each with its own solicitation, and an individual researcher usually enters through a state or jurisdiction route or through the RII Fellows pathway. This guide, based on the official NASA pages as described on 2026-10-29, maps those award types and shows where an individual researcher fits. It is separate from NSF EPSCoR, which is run by a different agency.
Ask CASRAI · free to try
Ask about this guide — your first 2 questions are free.
Suggested question: “What does NASA EPSCoR stand for?”
What it is and who runs it
NASA EPSCoR is run by NASA. The program page says it builds partnerships among government, higher education and industry, and is “designed to effect lasting improvements in a state or region’s research infrastructure.” It targets jurisdictions that “have not participated equably in competitive aerospace and aerospace-related research activities.” As described on the official page on 2026-10-29, participating jurisdictions are 25 states, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam (28 in all), and five federal agencies run EPSCoR programs.
Source: NASA, Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, checked 2026-10-29. The NASA EPSCoR Program Manager is listed on the awards page, with the program mailbox [email protected].
Eligibility
The NASA program page does not itself state who may propose, so eligibility sits in each solicitation. Two things are visible in the official sources as of 2026-10-29:
- Jurisdiction. The archived 2024 Rapid Response Research (R3) funding opportunity (NNH24ZHA003C-EPSCORR3, Assistance Listing 43.008) said NSF determines which jurisdictions are eligible, and it listed 28 jurisdictions. Use the list in the solicitation you are answering.
- Institution limit. That same notice accepted “only three proposals per Institution within the EPSCoR Jurisdiction.” Institutions therefore run internal selection before submission.
For RII Fellows the NASA research-fellows page states: “only Instructor, Assistant or Associate professors from within EPSCoR Jurisdictions are eligible to apply,” with one trainee (a full-time undergraduate or graduate student, or a postdoc, from an EPSCoR jurisdiction). It adds that lawful permanent residents are eligible for research opportunities at NASA centers, while some facilities require U.S. citizenship.
What it funds or requires
The NASA EPSCoR awards page names these award types. Amounts and durations differ by solicitation and are not stated here for most of them.
| Award type | What the sources say |
|---|---|
| Research Infrastructure Development (RID) | Listed on the awards page, including RID Augmentation rounds for 2019, 2020 and 2022. |
| Research Awards | Listed on the awards page; labeled “Basic Research” for FY2024. |
| Rapid Response Research (R3) | Listed on the awards page. The archived 2024 notice described about 30 awards, a maximum of $125,000 each, a $4,000,000 program total, no cost sharing, and a cooperative agreement as the instrument. |
| ISS Flight Opportunities | Listed on the awards page. |
| Suborbital Flight Opportunities | Listed on the awards page, with 2021 and 2022 rounds shown. |
| RII Fellows (formerly RII Track-4) | An NSF EPSCoR award that builds research capacity and supports extended or periodic visits to a NASA center host site. |
The R3 terms above come from an archived 2024 notice (archived 2025-03-28), so read them as how that round worked, not as current terms. That notice also required that each funded proposer “work closely with a NASA researcher.” A cooperative agreement differs from a grant because the agency stays substantially involved; see grant vs contract vs cooperative agreement.
Where an individual researcher fits
NASA lists EPSCoR directors by jurisdiction on its program page, and a faculty member can begin there to ask which solicitations their institution is pursuing. The RII Fellows pathway is the one the NASA pages describe directly for an individual. It has two sub-tracks: RII:NSF, which is broad, and RII:@NASA, for faculty at institutions with high enrollments of underrepresented students in STEM. A principal investigator eligible for both applies to only one per cycle.
Application and compliance steps
NASA solicitations are published and submitted through NSPIRES; see NASA NSPIRES. The NASA Award Proposers Guide is linked from the program page. For RII Fellows, the research-fellows page (last updated 2026-05-05) describes this sequence:
- Email the EPSCoR office with your contact information, citizenship status, university or campus, rank, and a short resume or statement of interests.
- The office acknowledges, shares your interests with NASA scientists and engineers, and arranges an introductory meeting.
- The fellowship depends on matching with a NASA collaborator.
- The proposal needs a letter of support from the primary NASA collaborator and a letter from the NASA EPSCoR coordinator. For drafting, see letters of support for a grant proposal.
Read each solicitation as you would any notice of funding opportunity, because eligibility, limits and instrument type are set there.
Typical timeline phases
- Jurisdiction and institution engagement: contact the EPSCoR office and agree internal selection.
- Collaborator match (for fellows): find and meet a NASA collaborator before drafting.
- Solicitation open: a posted notice with a stated deadline. The research-fellows page listed a deadline of April 14, 2026 on 2026-10-29; deadlines are set per cycle.
- Review and award, then post-award work with the NASA collaborator.
Common mistakes
- Treating NASA EPSCoR and NSF EPSCoR as one program. NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement awards are a separate NSF program (see NSF EPSCoR), though RII Fellows is an NSF EPSCoR award with a NASA host site.
- Quoting award sizes from third-party summaries rather than the current solicitation.
- Ignoring the per-institution proposal limit that earlier solicitations used.
- Starting an RII Fellows proposal without a NASA collaborator, since the match comes first.
- Assuming an eligibility rule for one award type applies to the others.
Related programs
| Program | Run by | Connection |
|---|---|---|
| NSF EPSCoR | NSF | Sets jurisdiction eligibility per the 2024 R3 notice; RII Fellows is an NSF EPSCoR award hosted at NASA centers. |
| NASA NSPIRES | NASA | The system through which NASA solicitations are posted and proposals submitted. |
FAQ
What does NASA EPSCoR stand for?
Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. NASA’s page uses “Established” in the program title.
Who can apply?
It depends on the award type. Applicants are tied to participating jurisdictions, and RII Fellows is limited to Instructor, Assistant or Associate professors within EPSCoR jurisdictions.
How much does NASA EPSCoR fund?
The NASA program page does not state a general amount. The archived 2024 R3 notice set a maximum of $125,000 per award; check the current solicitation for any other award type.
Where are solicitations posted?
Through NSPIRES, linked from the NASA program page.
Sources
- NASA, Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, and its awards page, checked 2026-10-29.
- NASA, RII Fellows, page last updated 2026-05-05, checked 2026-10-29.
- Grants.gov, NNH24ZHA003C-EPSCORR3 (archived 2025-03-28), checked 2026-10-29.
