The Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR, establishes partnerships with government, higher education, and industry that are designed to affect lasting improvements in a state’s or region’s research infrastructure, R&D capacity and hence, its national R&D competitiveness.
The goal of Delaware’s NASA EPSCoR program is to provide seed funding to develop academic research enterprises directed toward long-term, nationally-competitive capabilities in areas of science and technology related to NASA’s broad interests, including space, aeronautics, astrophysics, and engineering. These capabilities are also meant to contribute to Delaware’s economic viability.
-
NASA EPSCoR Stimuli Publication
NASA EPSCoR Stimuli is a summary collection of college and university basic research and technology development reports impacting NASA’s earth science, aviation, and human and robotic deep space exploration programs. This document addresses research which is relevant to NASA’s mission, and currently administered by the agency’s Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research.
-
2025-2026 Delaware NASA EPSCoR RID Seed Grant Program Awards
Congratulations to the NASA_EPSCoR_SeedGrant_2025-2026 awardees! Each researcher received a seed award up to the amount of $21,000 in direct funds for their projects:
Nuwan Dewapriya, UD Center for Composite Materials
Molecular Dynamics Modeling of Semi-crystalline Thermoplastics for Integration into NASA Multiscale Analysis Tool (NASMAT)
Kelvin Fu, UD Mechanical Engineering
Advanced Fiber-Reinforced Composite Technologies for Lunar and Space Habitat Shielding
Francesco Pecora, UD Physics and Astronomy
Tracking Solar Wind Evolution: Acquiring Turbulence Properties from PSP and PUNCH White-Light Images
Jun Xu, UD Mechanical Engineering
Dynamic Electrochemo-Mechanics in Solid-state Batteries under Extreme Conditions -
2025 NASA EPSCoR CAN Research Award
Congratulations to Professor Matthew Oliver (Science PI) and Professor Jonathan Cohen (Co-I) from UD’s School of Marine Science and Policy on the submission of a successful proposal in NASA’s national competition! The proposal, Advancing oceanographic retrievals and interpretation for NASA airborne LiDAR systems, was selected by NASA for an award of $749,785.
-
NASA EPSCoR ISS Flight Awards
University of Delaware researchers’ projects are slated to fly on the International Space Station!
Associate Professor Yuping Zeng (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
High performance radiation hardened GaN high electron mobility transistors on silicon substrate for space applications
Vehicle: SpX-33
Launch Date: August 2025, Return Date: March 2026
Assistant Professor Tyler Van Buren (Mechanical Engineering)
Turbulence decay of a bubble/sediment laden liquid in ISS microgravity
Mission: MISSE-21, Vehicle: HTV-X1
Launch Date: October 2025, Return Date: December 2025
Associate Professor Tingyi Gu (Electrical & Computer Engineering)
Reliability evaluation of the integrated photonic receiver subsystems with all-optical signal processors
Mission: MISSE-21, Vehicle: HTV-X1
Launch Date: October 2025, Return Date: December 2025
Impact of temperature cycles and outgassing on the fiber-packaged silicon photonic transceivers
Possible Mission: MISSE-23