Idaho EPSCoR understands that diversity and the pursuit of a more diverse faculty, staff and student population is essential for the success of the Nation's scientific and technical well-being. Our success as a State cannot and will not be defined simply by the inclusion of a few individuals with different ethnic backgrounds in our RII activities. We embrace NSF's concern that we make a more concerted effort to approach increased diversity in a more systemic manner across the State. This strategic plan does so.

Diversity brings different perspectives and skill sets and helps to broaden our vision. We also recognize that geographic and societal challenges exist that will need pragmatic solutions with achievable and measurable goals. Idaho's demographics show a population that is 92.5% White, 9.5% Hispanic (any race), 1.1% Native American, 1% Asian, and 0.5% Black. While Idaho's public universities serve a small, but proportional number of Native Americans and African Americans, about 5% of Idaho's university students are Hispanic; fewer are STEM majors.

Historically, our challenge has been the very "thin pipeline" of minority students residing and attending schools in our state. However, our Native American population and growing Hispanic population (within the Boise area) provide us with new opportunities to enhance the diversity, outreach, and communication activities proposed in our RII.

Currently, Idaho EPSCoR supports a number of activities that span the K-gray population, including efforts which are directed specifically at recruiting women and minority faculty and post-docs. Our record with women students and faculty has been quite good; changes in the demographics in Idaho present opportunities for an accelerated effort in diversity, outreach, and communications.