The Arkansas Research Alliance of Little Rock (ARA) announced Monday that it has been awarded a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant for $8 million to launch a new statewide program called AR-NETWORK, which aims to amplify Arkansas’ research capacity, accelerate commercialization and expand STEM career pathways.
AR-NETWORK (Arkansas Nexus for Excellence in Technology, Workforce, Outreach & Research Knowledge) is being funded through a new initiative at the NSF called E-CORE.
ARA is the first organization in Arkansas to receive an award from the program. The $8 million in funding will be distributed across a four-year period.
Goals for AR-NETWORK include offering additional funding to jumpstart new research, hosting statewide workshops that pair scientists with entrepreneurs to form new startups, and creating student internships and teacher externships with Arkansas companies to strengthen the talent pipeline.
AR-NETWORK will be led by principal investigator Sarah Burnett Smith who recently joined ARA as a program director. Smith will be supported by ARA team member Doug Hutchings and a team of co-principal investigators representing the project’s key partners: David Hinton, University of Arkansas; Tiffany Henry, ACC Capital Foundation; Julie Mikles-Schluterman, Arkansas Tech University; and Emad Badradeen, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff.
With the award, the ARA hopes to “weave together” Arkansas’ research talent and industry leaders to create new jobs, companies and opportunities across the state, Smith said in a press release announcing the grant.
The award assembles a statewide network of partners from academic and nonprofit sectors, comprising more than a dozen private-sector collaborators spanning advanced materials, ag-tech, logistics and digital health.
The project also established a new partnership with Arkansas State University’s Office of Behavioral Research & Evaluation.
“Strengthening our applied research and development capacity and fostering industry partnerships are critical for growing our innovation economy in Arkansas,” Arkansas Secretary of Commerce Hugh McDonald said in the release. “This award from the National Science Foundation empowers AR-NETWORK to support the research community in Arkansas for years to come.”
Grant Changes
In 2023, the NSF retired a large funding initiative that had served as a primary source of research funding for more than 30 states since 1979.
That program had strict guidelines including a limit of one active award per state and integrated support for research, education and administrative activities. The limitation called for recipients to provide statewide support for research administration and technical assistance, which was managed in Arkansas through a state office within the Arkansas Economic Development Commission (AEDC).
The new initiative and funding programs that were introduced have revised eligibility guidelines and a modular structure. Applicants can now choose to either request funding for administrative activities or funding for research activities, as separate but complementary funding streams.
The new guidelines require an organization within an eligible state to receive an E-CORE award, the administrative funding stream and ARA’s award, before any college or university in that state can compete for awards through the complementary research funding stream.
State governments were ineligible to apply to the administrative funding stream, which incentivized the Arkansas research community to identify an eligible organization to assume statewide leadership under the new structure. ARA led a year-long effort to develop the AR-NETWORK project and pursue this award not only to expand the ARA, but also to enable Arkansas colleges and universities to compete for research funding through the complementary program.
This is the first such award in Arkansas. A total of $44,981,508 has been awarded to 12 states through this program since its launch. And due to the revised guidelines, only the researchers in those 12 states will be allowed to pursue research funding through the complementary program.
“Think of the Arkansas innovation ecosystem as a professional playing field,” Bryan J. Barnhouse, ARA president and CEO, said in the press release. “To win, we need research talent and teamwork. AR-NETWORK will expand the roster and put more players on the field, equipping them to be more competitive for research funding and attractive for more engagement from industry — state and nationwide.”
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