Peace Garden News

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has allocated more than $8 million in funding to support STEM initiatives at ten colleges and universities across North Dakota. The awards, totaling $8,163,797, are aimed at building a robust and enduring STEM ecosystem throughout the state.

A major portion of the funding—$7,963,804—will be distributed among the institutions to enhance connections between researchers statewide, expand STEM opportunities in rural areas, and improve access to STEM education for students attending tribal colleges. North Dakota State University will receive $3,258,486; the University of North Dakota (UND) will get $931,200; Minot State University is set to receive $480,144; Turtle Mountain Community College and Sitting Bull College will each receive $480,000; Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College will get $479,993; Mayville State University is awarded $479,608; Valley City State University will receive $478,893; United Tribes Technical College is allocated $475,832; and Cankdeska Cikana Community College will receive $419,648.

In addition to this broad initiative, UND has been granted a separate award of $199,993. This funding supports the development of a staleness-resilient and privacy-aware data synthesis framework for Edge AI-based network measurement. The project aims to merge synthetic data generation with decentralized collaboration among edge devices.

Senator Kevin Cramer commented on the NSF’s investment: "North Dakota’s colleges and universities play an important role in developing our future workforce. These investments from NSF will help foster innovation in science and technology fields while providing more opportunities for students – especially those at our tribal colleges – to pursue careers in these critical areas."