The North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, known as EPSCoR, has scheduled its 2015 State Conference for April 22 at the Holiday Inn, Fargo. Research faculty and their students are especially encouraged to attend.

The meeting will include a poster session for undergraduates, graduates and postdocs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, known as STEM. The deadline for abstract submission is noon, April 1. The conference registration deadline is noon, April 13. The no-cost conference and meal registration is at www.ndepscor.nodak.edu.

The keynote speaker will be Heidi Baxter Lauffer, director of The Wisconsin Fast Plants Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison. Lauffer will speak on “Building our Capacity for Talking Sustainability Challenges by Diversifying Participation in STEM Academics and Careers.”

The conference agenda includes panel discussions on the Center for Regional Climate Studies and the Center for Sustainable Materials Science, along with informational sessions on Basics of High Performance Computing. Two National Science Foundation program officers also will be present and available for questions.

No-cost conference and meal registration is at www.ndepscor.nodak.edu.

Questions may be directed to the ND EPSCoR office at the NDSU campus at 701-231-8400 or 701-231-1048. 

North Dakota EPSCoR is a federal- and state-funded program designed to help university researchers compete more effectively for federal, regional and private research grants in the sciences, engineering and mathematics. For more information on the conference or ND EPSCoR visitwww.ndepscor.nodak.edu.