Planning: Growing Research Infrastructure Together in Mississippi (GRIT Mississippi)

About This Grant

The Growing Research Infrastructure Together in Mississippi (GRIT Mississippi) project aims to strengthen the research administration capacity of Mississippi's institutions of higher education (IHEs). This planning effort also addresses a fundamental issue in the national research ecosystem—the uneven development of research infrastructure across U.S. regions. Mississippi historically has received less NSF research funding than many other states and has long held EPSCoR status, highlighting the potential positive role for targeted capacity-building. By conducting a statewide needs assessment, GRIT Mississippi will help uncover institutional and state-wide barriers to research support, compliance, and collaboration. The project will also spotlight effective practices that can be shared across similarly situated institutions nationwide. Enhanced research administration infrastructure in Mississippi will enable greater participation in science, foster cross-institutional collaboration, increase faculty and administrator engagement with research support systems, and strengthen the pipeline for future STEM researchers and grant professionals. GRIT Mississippi is a planning grant designed to assess and strengthen the research administration capacity of Mississippi’s institutions of higher education (IHEs). The project will conduct a statewide learning and needs assessment to identify gaps and opportunities in research support systems across Mississippi IHEs — including R1s, R2s, HBCUs, regional universities, private colleges, and community colleges. Through surveys, interviews, site visits, and convenings, GRIT Mississippi will develop a comprehensive inventory of research administration assets and needs, culminating in a strategic infrastructure development plan. This plan will support institutional readiness for future implementation proposals aligned with NSF GRANTED priorities along with identification of prospective PIs and cross-institutional personnel to lead those proposals, helping expand participation in the U.S. research enterprise. The project offers a novel contribution to the emerging field of research-on-research administration by producing statewide, cross-institutional data on research infrastructure; an area where most prior studies are institution-specific. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.