Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences has been awarded a three-year $400,000 EPIIC (Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity) grant from the National Science Foundation. The funding will support the College in growing its capacity to participate in regional innovation ecosystems.
ACPHS is one of 50 institutions nationally named as part of NSF’s $19.6M investment designed to enhance collaboration in key technologies such as advanced manufacturing, advanced wireless, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum information science, semiconductors, novel materials, and microelectronics.
“This award will ignite future ACPHS research collaborations allowing us to further our mission of educating the next generation of leaders to improve the health of our society,” said ACPHS President and Professor, Toyin Tofade MS, PharmD, BCPS, CPCC, FFIP. “There is incredible potential in the biotechnology field and ACPHS is poised to help build the workforce needed for the future.”
The grant provides three years of training and support to build more inclusive regional ecosystems and potentially connects ACPHS to NSF Regional Innovation Engines. According to NSF, establishing more inclusive innovation ecosystems will require broad networks of partners working together in support of use-inspired research; the translation of such research to practice or commercial application; and the development of a skilled workforce.
ACPHS will partner with Hobart and William Smith College, University of Maine Farmington, Montgomery College Rockville, Benjamin Franklin Cummings Institute of Technology and Ohio Wesleyan University on the Collaborative Research: EPIIC: EmpowerEd – Building the Future Workforce Together program. At ACPHS, the research program will be led by principal investigator, Michelle Lewis PhD, executive director of ACPHS’ Stack Family Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training and co-principal investigator, ACPHS Life Sciences Professor, Martha Hass PhD.
“We are proud to receive the NSF EPIIC Award,” stated Dr. Lewis. “It reflects our commitment to advancing education and research through collaboration and capacity building. With our partners, we will deliver new workforce training programs and build pathways for interdisciplinary research. This funding expands the ACPHS research enterprise and increases our network of external partnerships.”
"NSF recognizes that institutions with limited research capacities require comprehensive support to become equitable partners in their regional innovation ecosystems," said Thyaga Nandagopal, director of TIP's Division of Innovation and Technology Ecosystems. "This funding aims to set EPIIC awardees on level ground to seek and build lasting partnerships to tap into their innovation potential, and the capacity-building efforts will continue to provide significant innovation partnership opportunities well into the future."
About Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences
Founded in 1881, Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (ACPHS) is a private, independent college dedicated to educating the next generation of leaders to improve the health of society. The College offers 12 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, including the only Masters of Biomanufacturing and Bioprocessing degree in the state. Students have myriad opportunities to extend what they are learning in the classroom through experiential learning opportunities such as in our Stack Family Center for Biopharmaceutical Education and Training (CBET) as well as at student-supported pharmacies in underserved communities and a public health Collaboratory, designed to alleviate community health disparities. ACPHS ranks #1 in New York State for best return on investment according to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce and was graded an A+ for value by Niche. For more information, visit www.acphs.edu.
Grant Note: Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences: Collaborative Research: EPIIC: EmpowerEd -- Building the Future Workforce Together (NSF Award 2331557)