The mission of EPSCoR is to assist the National Science Foundation in its statutory function "to strengthen research and education in science and engineering throughout the United States and to avoid undue concentration of such research and education."

EPSCoR Goals:
a) to provide strategic programs and opportunities for EPSCoR participants that stimulate sustainable improvements in their R&D capacity and competitiveness; and
b) to advance science and engineering capabilities in EPSCoR jurisdictions for discovery, innovation and overall knowledge-based prosperity.

EPSCoR Objectives:

-	to catalyze key research themes and related activities within and among EPSCoR jurisdictions that empower knowledge generation, dissemination and application;
-	to activate effective jurisdictional and regional collaborations among academic, government and private sector stakeholders that advance scientific research, promote innovation and provide multiple societal benefits;
-	to broaden participation in science and engineering by institutions, organizations and people within and among EPSCoR jurisdictions;
-	to use EPSCoR for development, implementation and evaluation of future programmatic experiments that motivate positive change and progression.

ESIG is a group of libraries in the various EPSCoR states. The purpose of ESIG is to enable participating libraries to better provide STM information to their researchers, who are eligible to participate in the National Science Foundation's EPSCOR program.

The group was envisioned in a proposal presented on March 12, 2001 in Arlington, VA to EPSCoR state directors and was brought into being at a meeting of librarians at Montana State University, Bozeman, MT on June 8, 2001.

NSF at a Glance:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency created by Congress in 1950 "to promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; to secure the national defense…" With an annual budget of about $6.06 billion, we are the funding source for approximately 20 percent of all federally supported basic research conducted by America's colleges and universities.

Who They Are:
NSF leadership has two major components: a director who oversees NSF staff and management responsible for program creation and administration, merit review, planning, budget and day-to-day operations; and a 24-member National Science Board (NSB) of eminent individuals that meets six times a year to establish the overall policies of the foundation. At present, NSF has a total workforce of about 1,700 at its Arlington, VA, headquarters, including approximately 1,200 career employees, 150 scientists from research institutions on temporary duty, 200 contract workers and the staff of the NSB office and the Office of the Inspector General.

What They Do:
As described in our strategic plan, NSF is the only federal agency whose mission includes support for all fields of fundamental science and engineering, except for medical sciences. They are tasked with keeping the United States at the leading edge of discovery in areas from astronomy to geology to zoology. So, in addition to funding research in the traditional academic areas, the agency also supports "high-risk, high pay-off" ideas, novel collaborations and numerous projects that may seem like science fiction today, but which the public will take for granted tomorrow. And in every case, they ensure that research is fully integrated with education so that today's revolutionary work will also be training tomorrow's top scientists and engineers.

How They Work:
NSF's task of identifying and funding work at the frontiers of science and engineering is not a "top-down" process. NSF operates from the "bottom up," keeping close track of research around the United States and the world, maintaining constant contact with the research community to identify ever-moving horizons of inquiry, monitoring which areas are most likely to result in spectacular progress and choosing the most promising people to conduct the research.