CSN & NSF: Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC)
Three-Year NSF Project Positions College of Southern Nevada in a Multi-institution Faculty Research Training Initiative
The College of Southern Nevada ($_____ grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF)) is working as a member of a collaborative initiative focused on advancing high-level research skills among community college faculty. The project brings together faculty and researchers from CSN, Hawaii Community College, and Northern Marianas College in a coordinated effort to strengthen research capacity, mentorship, and scholarly productivity across geographically diverse institutions.
This NSF-funded initiative is designed to equip faculty with the tools, training, and collaborative networks needed to engage in rigorous, externally funded research, while simultaneously enhancing undergraduate student involvement in authentic research experiences.
“This project reflects what community colleges do best when we actually work together, taking innovation and applied research and turning it into real opportunities for faculty and students,” said Dr. Douglas B Sims, CSN Dean of the School of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics. “By partnering with Hawaii Community College and Northern Marianas College, we’re building a research ecosystem that helps faculty grow, brings students directly into meaningful research, and has impact well beyond our campuses.”
Project Outcomes and National Impact
Over the five-year award period, the project will deliver four major outcomes aimed at transforming faculty research engagement across community colleges nationwide:
Faculty Research Training Programs
Structured professional development that prepares faculty to design, lead, and publish high-quality research projects, including mentorship in grant writing, research design, data analysis, and dissemination.
Collaborative Research Networks
Cross-institutional research teams connecting faculty at CSN, Hawaii Community College, and Northern Marianas College to share expertise, infrastructure, and mentorship while addressing regionally and nationally relevant research questions.
Open Educational and Research Resources
Freely available materials documenting best practices for building research programs at teaching-focused institutions, lowering barriers for other community colleges seeking to expand their research footprint.
New Research on Faculty Development Models
Scholarly evaluation of how community college faculty transition into advanced research roles and how collaborative, multi-institutional models accelerate research capacity and sustainability.CSN as the Research and Coordination Hub
CSN serves as the project’s coordination and research hub for the Nevada Team, overseeing faculty training, cross-campus collaboration, and dissemination of results. Faculty at CSN will work closely with colleagues in Hawai‘i and the Northern Mariana Islands, creating a distributed yet tightly integrated research community that reflects the geographic, cultural, and institutional diversity of the Pacific and Southwest regions.
“This NSF project is an exciting opportunity for CSN to extend our mission beyond the classroom and into national research leadership,” said Dr. James McCoy, Vice President of Academic Affairs. “We are intentionally building faculty research capacity while staying true to what community colleges do best, keeping students at the center of meaningful, high-impact work.”
Elevating Faculty and Student Opportunities
The project intentionally trains faculty not only to conduct high-level research, but also to mentor undergraduate students in the practice of research itself, from asking the right questions to collecting data, analyzing results, and communicating findings. Students will work directly alongside faculty throughout the research process, gaining hands-on experience that is rarely available at the community college level.By embedding authentic research into the community college environment, the initiative strengthens pathways into STEM careers, graduate education, and advanced technical fields, particularly for students who are historically underrepresented in research-intensive settings.
When complete, the project will leave behind a scalable, replicable framework that shows how community colleges can develop faculty as researchers and as research mentors, positioning CSN and its partners as national leaders in research-driven teaching and collaboration.
Learn More About CSN's Research Project
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