Winthrop to Co-Lead $10 Million NSF Grant to Build Sustainable STEM Workforce Pathways (08/11/26)

HIGHLIGHTS

• The statewide initiative will build research capacity and STEM workforce pathways across South Carolina's Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
• Winthrop will directly receive $550,000 primarily to support faculty and student research projects to build up its capacity as a university in technical STEM areas.

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - Winthrop University will join 10 other S.C. institutions in a $10 million grant from National Science Foundation's Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (NSF EPSCoR) in launching the South Carolina Collaborative Academic Pathways in STEM (SC-CAPS).

The statewide initiative will build research capacity and STEM workforce pathways across South Carolina's Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).

The grant is awarded to the S.C. Research Authority (SCRA) and will be led by Nadim Aziz, South Carolina EPSCoR director, who serves as principal investigator and project director. Eleven institutions will be connected through the network: Anderson University, Coastal Carolina University, Coker University, College of Charleston, Furman University, Lander University, Presbyterian College, South Carolina State University, University of South Carolina Upstate, Voorhees University and Winthrop.

"The SC-CAPS grant represents the culmination of several months of collaborative work across the state," said Aziz. "Thanks to this $10 million NSF EPSCoR investment, we will build a collaborative network among these institutions to strengthen South Carolina's research capacity and STEM workforce pathways, and build a sustainable future in both areas."

Winthrop Provost Sebastian van Delden is one of four co-principal investigators with the project.

Winthrop will directly receive $550,000 primarily to support faculty and student research projects to build up its capacity as a university in technical STEM areas. "With the recent historic announcement of Octapharma Plasma investing $1.5 billion in high-tech life sciences manufacturing in our region and the SCRA establishing an Innovation Hub on our campus for the region, the timing couldn't be better for Winthrop to continue to develop our expertise and capabilities to support this high tech workforce and economic development transformation in York County," van Delden said.

SCRA President and CEO Bill Kirkland said this is an important initiative for the state's workforce readiness. "A STEM workforce, specifically, is crucial for the success of our state as we continue to grow research opportunities to support innovation and industry," Kirkland said.

Three Core Programs

SC-CAPS launches with three interconnected cores:

Experiential Learning Core - Engages high school, transfer and undergraduate students across all 11 campuses to build research skills, expand institutional research capacity and broaden participation in STEM.
Building STEM Pathways Core - Focuses on retention, on-time graduation and career readiness through evidence-based strategies including articulation agreements, high school bridge programs, enhanced advising and peer mentoring.
Faculty and Institutional Growth Core - Supports faculty development through institutional commitments and programmatic initiatives designed to strengthen research competitiveness and secure long-term sustainability.

Additional Opportunities

Beyond the three cores, SC-CAPS opens additional capacity-building opportunities to all PUIs and HBCUs in South Carolina, including competitive seed funding for equipment, a proposal-writing academy built around multi-institutional faculty collaboration, statewide best-practice workshops and research experiences for students.

"SC-CAPS is a direct investment in the goals outlined in South Carolina's Science and Technology Plan, particularly around growing research capacity at our PUIs and HBCUs and building a stronger, more sustainable STEM workforce pathway for the state," said Tim Stemmler, chair of the South Carolina EPSCoR State Committee and vice president for research at the Medical University of South Carolina. "This kind of statewide collaboration is exactly how we move the plan's priorities from strategy into action. We all benefit from leaders like Dr. Nadim Aziz, who promote collaborative initiatives that enable the entire state; we are truly stronger and more powerful when we work together."

Project Leadership

Along with van Delden, other co-principal investigators of the project are:

Chris Korey, associate provost for student success, College of Charleston
John Wheeler, associate provost for integrative science, Furman University
Robert Young, associate provost for research, Coastal Carolina University
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SC-CAPS is funded by the National Science Foundation under Award No. OIA-2539219.

For more information on Winthrop's role in the grant, please contact Judy Longshaw, news and media services manager, at [email protected] or 803/323-2236.