The Puerto Rico Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (PR-LSAMP), is a collaborative between the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) system and two private universities – Ana G. Méndez University System (AGM) and the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico (PCUPR). Created in 1991, PR-LSAMP aims at increasing the number of students who successfully complete a baccalaureate degree in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and pursue and complete a graduate degree in a STEM-related field. During the first four Phases of PR-LSAMP (1991 to 2011), undergraduate STEM enrollment at participating institutions increased from 12,572 to 28,112 in 2011. During this same period of time, institutions awarded 42,073 BS degrees, and the annual degree production increased from 1,709 in 1991 to 2,764 in 2011, placing PR-LSAMP institutions as the Nation’s leading producer of Hispanic STEM BS degree recipients. This accomplishment was stimulated by a two-prong approach: (1) increasing enrollment in STEM disciplines, and (2) improving retention and graduation rates by implementing a series of strategies to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of STEM programs.

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The Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) is a science and technology research and development program within seven federal agencies.

The importance of EPSCoR lies in the distribution of R&D funds to talented researchers at universities and nonprofit organizations in areas that have historically not received significant Federal R&D funding.

These areas include 18 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico .EPSCoR helps researchers, institutions and regions improve the quality and capability of their research in order to compete more effectively for non-EPSCoR research funds. EPSCoR promotes economic development within Puerto Rico by fostering collaborative agreements between industry and academia.By enhancing research capability, developing industry-university collaborations and improving the abilities of our human resources, EPSCoR funding allows students and residents of participating jurisdictions to enjoy access to ...

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The Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12) Project, “From Hectares to Nanometers: GK-12 Multidisciplinary Explorations of Tropical Ecosystems and Functional Nanoscience” builds a strategic interdisciplinary partnership between the two largest and most developed research institutes of the University of Puerto Rico System: the Institute of Tropical Ecosystem Studies (ITES) and the Institute for Functional Nanomaterials (IFN).

The subject matter of these diverse fields spans 10¹¹orders of magnitude and to the untrained minds there seems to be no relation between them. This Program exploits this huge difference to introduce to teachers and students “that the universe is a unified system” and that knowledge gained from studying one part can be applied to other scales and help understand what apparently seems to be very diverse worlds.

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The University of Puerto Rico (UPR) is a state-funded institution that was established in 1903 as Puerto Rico’s first public institution of higher education, is host of the Puerto Rico IDeA Network Biomedical Research Excellence (PRINBRE). PRINBRE is a program inspired by the National Institutes of Health Institutional Developmental Awards: IDeA Networks of Biomedical Research Excellence (INBRE). Thus, PRINBRE is a program whose efforts are to promote the continued development of biomedical research infrastructure in Puerto Rico. Such continued development is achieved through the implementation of a strengthened and cohesive structure and integration of common scientific and educational interests, collaborations, and a newly created Mentoring Initiative.

PRINBRE will advance the development, coordination and sharing of research resources and expertise and will expand research opportunities for the biomedical research community in Puerto Rico, with emphasis on the Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) of the Alliance. In addition PRINBRE impact on Puerto Rico’s Workforce and Economy focuses on development and enhancing the research capacity in science and biotechnology in Puerto Rico.

The main goals of the Puerto Rico IDeA Network Biomedical Research Excellence (PRINBRE) proposal are to: (1) enhance and strengthen the scientific infrastructure and research competitiveness of the Commonwealth in three specific research areas deemed to be key to advance Puerto Rico’s biomedical and behavioral research capacity; (2) elevate the productivity, competitiveness, and number of human resources needed to attract established investigators in those research areas; and (3) promote the development of research skills of talented junior investigators and gifted students. The Alliance created  counts with three distinct institutional types, namely Mentoring, Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs), and Outreach Institutions.

The Scientific Cluster Areas to be enhanced and strengthen were selected by the PRINBRE Steering Committee (described below) after consensus of all participating institutions, and these will remain similar as during Phase II, namely Neuroscience, Drug Development, and Molecular Medicine.