August witnessed the peak of the magnificent Perseid Showers offering a magical sight lighting up the night sky. I am happy to report that Vermont EPSCoR’s research ecosystem is on fine display across multiple venues and shining brightly as well. Most recently, SOCKS faculty, postdoctoral associates, graduate research assistants, undergraduate interns and staff presented cutting edge research at the IC2S2 Conference on July 28 – 30, 2026 in Burlington, Vermont. A premiere conference, hosted by the Vermont Complex Systems Institute (VCSI), almost 600 attendees participated.
 
The 2026 Summer Undergraduate Research Internship program successfully completed a 10-week program with a capstone symposium held on July 23rd and 24th.
 
We’ve expanded our ecosystem of SOCKS aligned researchers with six new Faculty Pilot Research and three private sector SBIR Phase (0) awardees. The call for the next round of proposals for each competition is expected to open in October 2026.
 
Vermont EPSCoR was well represented at the recent AAAS NSF EPSCoR Summit held in New Orleans, Louisiana, in May 2026. Katie Grenon, Health Team Graduate Research Assistant, successfully presented "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...An Ode to Little Words" and Julia Zimmerman, SOCKS Postdoctoral Associate, presented "A Smorgasbord of Stories: Meaning Construction at all Scales, from LLMs to Literary Universes” to interested attendees.
 
Our exciting community outreach continues through partnerships such as the AI Vermont CafeSci series, which launched at the ECHO Leahy Center for Lake Champlain on May 7th. Check out our story in this newsletter for more information.
 
The next class of the Teacher’s Graduate Certificate is at capacity for the second cohort of 7 – 12 grade teachers. I hope you take a moment to see the impact of this program, firsthand, from one of the students, Ollie Brown.
 
I would also like to share the exciting news that Dr. Ellen Brennan has started her new role as the Assistant Director of the newly combined Vermont EPSCoR and Vermont Space Grant Consortium (VTSGC) Office. Also joining the SOCKS team in September 2026 are GRAs Elizabeth Rochon (Health Team), Ankit Bhatia (Social Team), and Yiqing Yang (Social Team).
 
Please check out our videos on many aspects of the SOCKS project here! I hope you enjoy learning about the team and research innovations!
 
We look forward to staying in touch. Visit us at www.uvm.edu/EPSCoR or email us at epscor@uvm.edu.