New Mexico State University has received a four-year, $6 million grant from the National Science Foundation through the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research, or EPSCoR. This funding was awarded to 14 projects worth $77.8 million to build research and development capacity and strengthen STEM education opportunities in often underfunded states.
The NSF EPSCoR Research Infrastructure Improvement-Focused EPSCoR Collaborations Program awards will drive discovery and build sustainable science, technology, engineering and math capacity that exemplifies individual, institutional, geographic and disciplinary diversity.
NMSU’s “Accelerating Community-Centric Energy Transformation through Artificial Intelligence-Driven Digital Twinning for Climate-Aware Resilience” project addresses the urgent challenge of climate change intertwined with the country’s aging energy infrastructure, a challenge most critical in underserved communities. The project aims to enhance local research infrastructure across four EPSCoR jurisdictions, New Mexico, Montana, Oklahoma and Alabama, enabling these regions to benefit from advancements in AI, digital twin technology and renewable energy.
“I was very excited to learn that our project had been chosen for funding after passing through a rigorous and highly competitive review process,” Di Shi, principal investigator and NMSU Klipsch School of Electrical and Computer Engineering associate professor. “I feel very grateful for the hard work from my collaborators from NMSU and other institutions, especially Dr. Fengyu Wang and Dr. Patricia Sullivan, and the strong support from our ECE department, led by Dr. Steve Stochaj. It is great to know that our vision of leveraging AI and digital twins to transform energy systems and build climate resilience is recognized and favored by the National Science Foundation.”
The project’s co-principal investigators include Sullivan from NMSU, Faraz Dadgostari from Montana State University, Ying Zhang from Oklahoma State University and Leiqiu Hu from the University of Alabama in Huntsville.
“Every part of our nation has been impacted by the changing climate. We build a sustainable future for all by investing in climate resilience research and solutions across our country,” NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan said. “By empowering researchers from different EPSCoR jurisdictions and enabling collaborations across diverse institutions from the Mountain West to the Gulf Coast, from the Southwest to the mid-Atlantic and New England and beyond, we are driving innovation that fosters STEM opportunities, economic growth and climate resilient communities.”
By developing AI-driven digital twins tailored to the energy infrastructures and socio-economic needs of three representative underserved communities, the Navajo Nation and Kit Carson and Mora-San Miguel rural electric cooperatives in New Mexico, NMSU’s project will optimize energy utilization, integrate renewable sources more effectively, and improve overall climate resilience.
In addition to energy system planning, this project also supports education and workforce development and will collaborate with initiatives such as NMSU’s Pre-freshman Engineering Academy, or NM PREP; UAH’s Research and Engineering Apprenticeship Program; and OSU’s NSF-sponsored Oklahoma Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation.
“This project will greatly promote STEM among minority students, aligning with NMSU’s mission as a Minority-serving Institution. It will expose and train our students in key new technologies of national significance, such as digital twins, AI, large language models, and sustainable energy systems, preparing them for the future,” Shi said.
