2026 EPSCoR Summit Team Highlights

Members of the Chemurgy 2.0 community recently shared their experiences and insights from the 2026 NSF EPSCoR Summit in New Orleans, a gathering that brought together researchers, early-career professionals, and program leaders from NSF-supported institutions.

Graduate student Mirza Md Tasnim Mukarram (University of Iowa) described the summit as the “best experience by far,” noting that it offered a unique chance to meet top researchers, learn how they identify research gaps, and receive valuable feedback on his poster presentation that strengthened his research concept. 

Uday Venkat Kiran Kommineni, a Ph.D. graduate research assistant at Iowa State University, highlighted the wide range of NFS-supported research across EPSCoR jurisdictions and the opportunities for new collaborations beyond his work with Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He also emphasized the value of the early-career workshops, where he gained evidence-based strategies for building meaningful relationships with advisors and peers, as well as practical mentoring skills.

Fatima Toor, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the Toor Lab at the University of Iowa, called the summit “tremendously valuable,” particularly for the rare opportunity to meet directly with NSF program managers and connect with colleagues from other state EPSCoR programs. She also found the sessions on preparing competitive EPSCoR proposals especially useful for her future work.

Binayak Raj Pandey, a third-year Ph.D. student and Chemurgy 2.0 participant at Iowa State University, said the summit provided him with a broad overview of EPSCoR-funded research areas and how they translate into public benefit. He attended the EPSCoR Research Fellows sessions and gained important insights into funding agency expectations and why strong projects sometimes fail to secure grants.

Tim Stanley, a graduate student in Biochemistry working in the Yandeau-Nelson Lab at Iowa State University, found networking easier than expected because everyone was eager to share their research. He received insightful feedback during his poster presentation that will guide his future research directions, and he said the experience increased his confidence for future conferences.

Together, these Chemurgy 2.0 members reflected on the summit as a transformative experience that strengthened their research, opened new collaboration opportunities, and deepened their understanding of how to translate scientific work into real-world impact.