September 5, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Suzanne Ernst (702) 889-8426

National Research Conference to be Held in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS -- Nearly 400 people from private industry, government and higher education will gather at the Alexis Park Resort and Spa here next week for the National Science Foundation’s annual meeting of the Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research—or EPSCoR. Among those attending are some 40 state senators and representatives from around the United States.

Kicking off Sunday, the three-day event will address future initiatives and opportunities in research and development critical to the national EPSCoR program that encourages partnerships and collaboration among industry, government and academia in states like Nevada.

University and Community College System of Nevada Chancellor Jane Nichols will host an opening reception Sunday at 5:30 p.m. featuring entertainment by the UNLV Jazz Band. Nichols will also take part in a panel discussion called “Higher Education Perspectives” at 11 a.m. on Monday.

Rita Colwell, director of the National Science Foundation, will give the keynote speech at 8:30 a.m. on Monday.

UNLV History Chair Hal Rothman will address the group that evening. His talk about Las Vegas is entitled, “The First City of the 21st Century: How experience became currency, entertainment became culture and one little city benefited from them all.”

The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research is a program designed to build the scientific research capacity in states that rank in the lower third in receiving federal research funds. The EPSCoR philosophy is to stimulate competitive research by helping faculty members improve their research and write competitive proposals. The EPSCoR program was created by the National Science Foundation and is administered in Nevada by the UCCSN.

The Nevada Board of Regents is the elected, 13-member governing body for the University and Community College System of Nevada. Comprising two doctoral granting universities, a state college, four comprehensive community colleges and one environmental research institute, the UCCSN serves the educational and job training needs of the nation's fastest growing state. As Nevada's only system of higher education, the UCCSN provides educational opportunities to more than 93,000 students.

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