Zoblotsky to PI National Science Foundation Grant

The vision for engineering leadership that addresses national, global and societal needs

America’s economic competitiveness is tied directly to the pace of scientific and technological discovery, which requires sustained, long-term support as well as agility. To help the United States stay at the forefront of research and innovation — and maintain its leadership in the global economy — the National Science Foundation (NSF) Directorate for Engineering launched the Engineering Research Visioning Alliance (ERVA), the first engineering research visioning organization of its kind.

ERVA brings the engineering community together to envision high-impact solutions to society’s grand challenges and to spark new research directions for a more secure and sustainable world. It is an engaged, inclusive, multilayered partnership, providing a truly diverse array of voices with the opportunity to impact national research priorities.

Funded with a five-year, $8 million award from the NSF, the initiative convenes, catalyzes, and enables the engineering community to identify nascent opportunities and priorities for engineering-led innovative, high-impact, cross-domain, fundamental research that addresses national, global, and societal needs. Its founding partners are members of the Big Ten Academic Alliance; the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR)/Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Foundation (EIF); and the University Industry Demonstration Partnership (UIDP).

The evaluation for ERVA is being conducted by the Center for Research in Educational Policy (CREP) at the University of Memphis (UofM), with a budget of $800,000. The purpose of the evaluation is to annually assess the ongoing impact of ERVA activities and communication strategies on enabling the alliance to achieve its stated mission to, “identify and develop bold and transformative new engineering research directions and to catalyze the engineering community's pursuit of innovative, high-impact research that benefits society” and directly support the nation’s ability to compete in a rapidly changing global economy. 

Through both formative and summative assessment, CREP will (a) assess the degree to which ERVA is meeting its organizational goals and objectives, (b) inform continuous operational and programmatic improvement, and (c) identify the influence and impact ERVA activities have on the engineering research ecosystem. The evaluation will include a comprehensive annual review of (a) planned project activities (e.g., convening, ideation, and visioning); (b) work products (e.g., visioning documents); (c) stakeholder engagement (e.g., communication and inclusion strategies); and (d) operating procedures to determine the degree to which ERVA is implementing effective, efficient, and inclusive ideation and visioning processes and engaging in communication approaches that involve and influence varied engineering stakeholder communities.  Importantly, the evaluation will also determine the degree to which activities influence or result in tangible, measurable changes in (a) connectivity, coordination, and collaboration across stakeholder communities; (b) research directions,  policies, and programming; and (c) awareness of NSF Engineering’s leadership role in advancing discovery and technology development for the betterment of society. The mixed-methods design will focus on both qualitative and quantitative data analysis methods. Baseline measures for all outcomes will come from fall 2021, with annual follow up (post) analyses each subsequent spring from 2022 through 2026.

CREP’s work on the ERVA evaluation aligns with its larger mission to serve the research and policy community. As part of the College of Education, CREP is designated as a State of Tennessee Center of Excellence. For over 30 years, CREP’s primary mission has been to conduct rigorous research and evaluation in K-12 schools and higher education as well as multi-disciplinary and community outreach programs. 

CREP is pleased to designate three team members to work closely with the ERVA Executive Committee to measure ERVA’s organizational goals and objectives, inform operational and programmatic growth, and identify the impact ERVA’s activities have on the engineering research ecosystem: Dr. Carolyn Kaldon, research associate professor and project Co-I;  Mr. Dan Strahl, associate director of CREP; and Dr. Todd Zoblotsky, research professor and Project PI. CREP is delighted and honored to be part of this amazing alliance tasked with setting the direction of engineering research for the nation and looks forward to supporting ERVA’s progress on this essential work.

For more information on this grant or project, contact Zoblotsky at tzbltsky@memphis.edu.