Iowa-Nebraska Collaboration, RuralSTAMINA, Named NSF Engines Finalist

At a special Capitol Hill event co-hosted by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Economic Innovation Group, on September 18, 2025, RuralSTAMINA – Ascending Rural communities through Sustainable, Transformative, Advanced Manufacturing INnovations and Alliances – was announced one of 15 finalists in the NSF Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program competition.

“Securing America’s place at the forefront of science and technology requires growing innovation capacity everywhere so that we can, in turn, aggressively accelerate the pace of development of key technologies,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director. “The NSF Engines finalists have consistently communicated their strong vision for placing their regions on the map as the national and world leaders in key technologies, demonstrating their commitment to advancing U.S. research, innovation and workforce development. We congratulate each team on making it to this stage of the competition.”

The Iowa State University-led RuralSTAMINA project is focused on bolstering the economy and vitality of rural communities in Iowa and Nebraska by creating a bioeconomy-focused innovation ecosystem in the region.  Combined, both states lead the nation in agricultural production, making them heavily reliant on the farm economy. Commercialization of innovations in biomass conversion and biomanufacturing – and developing an advanced manufacturing workforce to power the economy – will enable the Engine to create new value-added products from things that grow in the region.

More than 70 public and private partners across these two agricultural powerhouse states currently share the project’s vision of economic growth and prosperity for rural stakeholders. In addition to Iowa State, the core partner institutions include: University of Iowa; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Southeast Community College; Des Moines Area Community College; BioConnect Iowa; the Iowa Biotechnology Association; and Invest Nebraska.

The RuralSTAMINA team now enters the final stage of an intense and lengthy competition that began more than a year ago. Nearly 300 letters of intent (LOIs) – spanning every U.S. state and territory – were submitted by its July 2024 deadline. In October 2024, the agency advanced 71 projects from the pool of preliminary proposals it received by its August 6, 2024, deadline. In early July 2025, the agency advanced 29 projects to the semifinalist stage. The committee then narrowed the competition to 15 finalists after conducting reverse site visits in July and August.

Later this fall, the committee will conduct in-person site visits with all finalist project teams. Then, in early 2026, the committee will announce the projects it has selected for funding support – $15 million over two years, and up to $160 million over 10 years for those Engines that demonstrate progress toward their research milestones.

Iowa State University Vice President for Research, Peter Dorhout serves as the project lead for RuralSTAMINA.

“From the beginning, all of the partners of RuralSTAMINA have been driven by a passion and purpose of creating a concept that would bring new energy and real economic expansion, driven by research innovations, to the rural areas of Iowa and Nebraska,” Dorhout said. “We share a common vision that RuralSTAMINA is the roadmap for elevating our rural constituents and communities. We’re confident the project will provide the innovation ecosystem and create the workforce development infrastructure that will make our states the nation’s leaders in a robust and thriving bioeconomy.”

Iowa State University President, Wendy Wintersteen, said “Iowa State University is proud to lead the RuralSTAMINA project in collaboration with our regional partners. As a finalist in the NSF Engines competition, we look forward to demonstrating our unique strengths in producing innovation, fueling economic growth, and enhancing rural vitality to create a thriving bioeconomy ecosystem.”

Iowa and Nebraska’s economic development leaders offered their perspectives on RuralSTAMINA advancing to the finalist stage of the NSF Engines competition . . .

Iowa Economic Development Authority

Nebraska Department of Economic Development

About NSF Regional Innovation Engines

Launched by NSF TIP, the NSF Engines program is building and scaling regional innovation ecosystems nationwide. Each NSF Engine is powered by a broad coalition of private sector, regional and scientific leaders and organizations to accelerate breakthrough emerging technology R&D that drives growth and ultimately bolsters U.S. economic competitiveness and national security.

Iowa-Nebraska RuralSTAMINA Project Named NSF Engines Semifinalist

August 4, 2025

An ambitious and broad-sweeping Iowa State University-led project proposal, has been selected as one of 29 semifinalists for the National Science Foundation (NSF) Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) program competition.

Ascending Rural communities through Sustainable, Transformative, Advanced Manufacturing INnovations and Alliances – or RuralSTAMINA – is focused on bolstering the economy and vitality of rural communities in Iowa and Nebraska by creating an innovation ecosystem that fuels advanced and bio-based manufacturing in the region.

The collaborative Iowa-Nebraska project was conceived and submitted for the second Engines competition that NSF launched in 2024. Early that summer, the agency received nearly 300 letters of intent (LOI) – the initial step required to demonstrate interest in applying for the program. From the teams that submitted preliminary proposals, 71 advanced to the next round of competition, including RuralSTAMINA (see below), before the agency narrowed the list to the 29 semifinalists.

NSF is currently conducting live, virtual visits with all semifinalists to assess each Engine proposal’s regional coalition, leadership alignment, and vision for transformative impact. The virtual site visit for RuralSTAMINA took place July 23, 2025.

Following the virtual assessments, selected teams will advance to in-person site visits later this year before final funding decisions are announced in early 2026. Ultimately, 10 teams will receive $15 million across two years to conduct their research, and teams that show progress toward milestones could receive up to $160 million from NSF over 10 years.

“This outstanding cohort of semifinalists clearly demonstrates that America’s technology competitiveness will depend as much on expanding our ability to unlock innovation capacity in every part of our country . . . as it will on advancing the technologies themselves,” said Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (NSF TIP). “Each team was selected because it brought strong public and private partners to the table and outlined a promising vision for research, innovation, and workforce development in their respective regions or service, thereby advancing U.S. competitiveness, national security and economic growth.”

Iowa State University Vice President for Research, Peter Dorhout serves as the project lead for RuralSTAMINA.

“We’re thrilled to advance to the semifinalist stage of this rigorous NSF review,” he said. “Our partners share a deep commitment to RuralSTAMINA because we see a powerful opportunity for this region to lead in advanced bio-based manufacturing. We’re eager to continue to demonstrate how our bold innovations and workforce development strategies can strengthen local economies and revitalize the rural communities that are the backbone of Iowa, Nebraska, and the greater Midwest.”

Iowa-Nebraska Collaboration Moves to Stage Two of NSF Engines Program

The proposed project known as RuralSTAMINA – Ascending Rural communities through Sustainable, Transformative Advanced Manufacturing INnovations and Alliances – is a collaboration led by Iowa State University. The initial proposal includes more than 35 public-private collaborators, including these core partners: University of Iowa; University of Nebraska-Lincoln; Southeast Community College; Des Moines Area Community College; BioConnect Iowa; the Iowa Biotechnology Association; and Invest Nebraska. The lead institutions welcome the participation of additional like-minded organizations that share the vision of the Rural STAMINA initiative.

The focus of RuralSTAMINA is to ignite a regional innovation ecosystem that bolsters the economies and vitality of rural communities in Iowa and Nebraska by leveraging the region’s advantage of ready access to renewable feedstocks that can be transformed into value-added bio-based products and next-generation critical materials.

“Innovating new sustainable, transformative advanced biomanufacturing technologies – and developing a workforce skilled in these technologies – is critical for the ongoing competitiveness of U.S. manufacturing and our national security,” said Peter Dorhout, Vice President for Research at Iowa State University, and principal investigator (PI) on the RuralSTAMINA project. “All of the RuralSTAMINA partners are bonded by a common belief that we can catalyze a bio-based advanced manufacturing innovation ecosystem in Iowa and Nebraska that creates opportunities that revitalize our rural communities while also advancing our national interests.”

The co-PIs on the project share Dorhout’s enthusiastic perspective on the impact RuralSTAMINA could have on the region . . .

University of Iowa

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Southeast Community College

Des Moines Area Community College

BioConnect Iowa

Invest Nebraska

The NSF Engines program was authorized in 2022. In January 2024, the agency announced 10 NSF Engines as part of its inaugural class. This second iteration of the program received nearly 300 letters of intent (LOIs) – spanning every U.S. state and territory – by its July 2024 deadline. On October 24, 2024, the agency announced it was advancing 71 projects from the pool of preliminary proposals it received by its August 6, 2024, deadline. Preliminary proposals were reviewed by panels of experts whose guidance helped NSF select teams that will progress to the next stage of merit review. These teams will submit full proposals by February 2025. RuralSTAMINA is the only project from the states of Iowa and Nebraska to advance to the next stage in the selection process.

NSF Engines was launched by the NSF Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP). The program envisions fostering multiple flourishing regional innovation ecosystems across the country, providing a unique opportunity to spur economic growth in regions that have not fully participated in the technology boom of the past few decades. Each NSF Engine catalyzes robust partnerships rooted in scientific and technological innovation to positively impact the economy within a geographic region, address societal challenges and advance national competitiveness. 

Erwin Gianchandani, NSF assistant director for TIP, said “The breadth and depth of preliminary proposals submitted to the NSF Engines funding opportunity demonstrates both the very real need for and the potential of harnessing the full geography of innovation across our nation.

“The teams invited to submit a full proposal have shown through their preliminary proposal submissions how they will knit together innovative ideas, talent and resources in their respective regions to accelerate the development of key technologies,” he added. “Collectively, they are well positioned to directly contribute to strengthening our nation’s competitiveness and security for the mid-21^st century.”