A group of Stanislaus State faculty members are helping lay the foundation for a regional pathway that will advance the circular bioeconomy in the Central Valley, and the recent awarding of a $400,000 grant has increased their momentum.
The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Enabling Partnerships to Increase Innovation Capacity (EPIIC) grant will help build the University’s capacity for innovation by establishing a team of consultants and coordinators to strengthen external partnerships and expand learning and career opportunities for students.
The grant was awarded to the team of Professor of Art Jake Weigel, Associate Professor of Teacher Education Adam Devitt, Dean of Professional and Global Education Kari Knutson Miller and Associate Vice President for Faculty Affairs Kris Roney as part of the North San Joaquin Valley Regional Innovation Translation Ecosystem (NSJV-RITE) project, a collaboration between Stan State and the University of the Pacific to strengthen the region’s innovation capacity and economic resilience. Funded by the NSF, this initiative seeks to make the North San Joaquin Valley a dynamic hub for research, entrepreneurship and applied learning by aligning institutional assets with regional industry.
Weigel serves as the NSF EPIIC principal investigator and project coordinator; Devitt and Knutson Miller are co-principal investigators and Roney provides additional support and valuable insight into policy and faculty and research interests.
Weigel described the grant as essential to creating career pathways for students.
“What we’re doing with the money from this grant is looking at what Stan State already does in the area of building and sustaining external partnerships, and figuring out what we could do better,” Weigel said. “It’s ground level, but it’s incredibly important in helping determine what policies, staff and administrative support is needed.
“It will also help determine what kind of partnerships we have and can develop, in addition to what workforce readiness is needed and how we can be more responsive as an institution.”
The EPIIC grant supports analysis of the University’s baseline and identifies opportunities for enhanced partnerships that can provide students with expanded internship, externship and applied research opportunities, greater access to STEM pathways and emerging industries, and ultimately enhanced workforce readiness in high-demand sectors. Additionally, faculty can create clearer support structures for partnerships and new avenues for externally engaged research.
“We need to be looking at what kind of skills industries in the region are looking for from our students, and how we can better support that,” Weigel said. “As an institution, how can we build those 21st-century skills and soft skills? What is the region in need of, in terms of sustainable, higher wage jobs that can push this newer industry and bring some more life to the Central Valley?”
By participating in this systematic approach, Stan State can improve its resilient institutional identity tied to regional economic transformation and build stronger multi-campus collaborations and cross-sector alliances, elevating the University’s profile as a key contributor to the regional priorities and as a partner of choice for regional development initiatives and a thought leader in university-industry collaboration.
Stan State is one of BEAM Circular’s partners, a role that connects the University’s academic and research strengths to real-world efforts that promote sustainability and regional prosperity. Through partnerships such as BEAM Circular and North Valley THRIVE, the EPIIC project is helping the University test and strengthen new approaches to external collaboration. While the work is rooted in the region’s emerging circular bioeconomy, it is designed to inform a broader framework for partnership development and institutional responsiveness.
In August, the University received a $435,255 grant from BEAM Circular to establish the Centre for Sustainable Biotechnology, a state-of-the-art research and training hub dedicated to advancing workforce development in biotechnology and the circular bioeconomy in Stanislaus County. The University is also a founding member of the Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Collaborative (CBIO Collaborative), a vast network of partners launched with support from the National Science Foundation.
The EPIIC grant will also build a framework that strengthens the University’s competitiveness for future federal funding from the NSF.
“We want industries to know that Stanislaus State is looking to respond to their needs, concerns and aspirations,” Weigel said. “This is a good way for us to start developing a plan and move forward strategically as an institution.”
