Professor John Orcutt to chair statewide committee promoting NH science and technology

Franklin Pierce Law Center Professor John Orcutt was recently elected chair of New Hampshire's "EPSCoR" Statewide Committee.

In 2004, New Hampshire became a member state in the National Science Foundation's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). EPSCoR's goal is to maximize science and technology resources through partnerships among universities, industries, state government, and federal R&D agencies and operates on the principle that aiding researchers and institutions in securing federal funding will develop a state's research infrastructure and advance economic growth. EPSCoR status is awarded to states that traditionally have received lower levels of federal research funding.

Orcutt's classes and research at Pierce Law focus heavily on entrepreneurialism and what is needed to create more entrepreneurial environments. Orcutt is also a founder of Pierce Law's International Technology Transfer Institute that focuses on improving the marketplace distribution of technology in countries with low technology flow. Orcutt is a former capital markets attorney and served as a senior investment banker with a Silicon Valley investment bank that focused on venture capital-backed start-ups.

New Hampshire's EPSCoR Statewide Committee brings representation from all major areas of postsecondary education, as well as industry and government, to the state's EPSCoR initiatives. Orcutt notes, "The Statewide Committee sees its role as being the lead organization to advance the state's science and technology infrastructure so that New Hampshire's academic and private institutions increase their national and global competitiveness in both research and development."

Since 2005, more than $12.46 million in EPSCoR grants have been awarded to the University of New Hampshire, Dartmouth College, Plymouth State University, White Mountains Community College, Colby-Sawyer College, the NH Innovation Research Center and three small companies. These grants have been awarded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.