The success of NSF EPSCoR in the 1980s led Congress to expand the NSF program in the 1990s and early 2000s and create EPSCoR-related programs in the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
All agencies have research competitiveness as a cornerstone upon which the states are to develop strategies leading to future national prominence. Each EPSCoR state designs and executes its own strategic plans by melding exemplary research, education and economic development initiatives into a statewide approach. EPSCoR is a catalyst of change that is widely reviewed as a model federal-state partnership.