Two new employees are joining the office of the North Dakota Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, known as EPSCoR.

Kathleen Wahlberg began her role as project assistant on March 10. She will support the administrative functions of the National Science Foundation-funded Track-1 Center for Sustainable Materials Science and the state-funded Nurturing American Tribal Undergraduate Research and Education program, known as NATURE. She previously served in other roles at NDSU in the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering and at the NDSU Bookstore.

Wahlberg earned a master's degree in business administration from NDSU and a bachelor's degree in elementary education from Minnesota State University Moorhead.

Scott Hanson will begin his role as Tribal Colleges liaison manager for ND EPSCoR on May 21. He will serve all five Tribal Colleges located in North Dakota, including Cankdeska Cikana Community College, Fort Berthold Community College, Sitting Bull College, Turtle Mountain Community College and United Tribes Technical College. Hanson will work to maximize the effectiveness of the NATURE program with the goal of analyzing and integrating best practices to foster positive outcomes for Native American students pursuing STEM disciplines.

During his career, Hanson has been a researcher and taught biological sciences. He earned his doctorate and master's degrees in biological sciences from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana and a bachelor's degree in zoology from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan.

North Dakota EPSCoR is a federally- 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, visit www.ndepscor.nodak.edu.