Kentucky’s EPSCoR program is a federal-state partnership aimed at improving science and engineering research, education and technology capabilities in the Commonwealth. Kentucky became an EPSCoR state in 1985 by receiving an award from the NSF. Since that time, other federal R&D agency EPSCoR programs such as 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) have awarded funds to Kentucky.