OpportunityTitle: Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program
AdditionalInformationOnEligibility: *Organization Limit: Proposals may only be submitted by the following:   - Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that are accredited and offer undergraduate educational programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).    *PI Limit:&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Principal Investigator and co-Principal Investigators for the Implementation Projects, ACE Implementation Projects, and Planning Grant proposals should be the key personnel that will be involved in the implementation of the project.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Principal Investigator for Broadening ParticipationResearch Projects should be one of the individuals who will perform the research project. Other potential co-Principal Investigators include collaborators on the research project. At least one of the Principal Investigators must have formal training in education research or significant professional experience doing education research. &lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Principal Investigator for Targeted Infusion Projects should be the individual that will be involved in the implementation of the project activities.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Principal Investigator for a Research Initiation Awardshould be a faculty member in a STEM area at the HBCU.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
Description: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have awarded a large share of bachelor&apos;s degrees to African American students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and HBCUs are the baccalaureate origins of one-quarter to one-third of black science and engineering (S&amp;E) doctorate recipients. To meet the Nation&apos;s accelerating demands for STEM talent, more rapid gains in achievement, success and degree production in STEM for underrepresented minority populations are needed. The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) provides awards to develop, implement, and study innovative models and approaches for making dramatic improvements in the preparation and success of underrepresented minority students so that they may participate in STEM graduate programs and the workforce. Support is available for Implementation Projects (including Achieving Competitive Excellence), Broadening Participation Research Projects, Targeted Infusion Projects, Planning Grants, Research Initiation Awards, and other funding opportunities.Implementation Projects provide support to design, implement, study, and assess comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the numbers of students and the quality of their preparation by strengthening STEM education and research. Implementation projects create and/or adapt and assess innovative models and materials for teaching and learning in STEM, embody knowledge about how students learn most effectively in STEM teaching and learning activities, and bring STEM disciplinary advances into the undergraduate experience. Proposers are encouraged to analyze the strengths and potential of the institution in STEM. Based on this analysis, they should design innovative educational strategies appropriate in content and context to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the institution to attract, retain, educate, and train underrepresented minority students in STEM. The students should graduate prepared competitively to go on to graduate school or the workforce. Transferability and dissemination of successful models, effective methods, and innovative materials for educating undergraduate STEM students are critical aspects of implementation projects. Implementation project components may include, but are not limited to: developing and assessing innovative STEM curriculum and teaching and learning techniques; using cyberinfrastructure for anytime, anywhere, anyone learning; providing novel undergraduate student development activities and educational enrichment services; enhancing undergraduate student research experiences; providing activities that promote the development of a globally engaged workforce; creating new approaches to recruitment and retention of undergraduate STEM students; providing faculty professional development in effective STEM teaching; preparing K-12 STEM teachers; addressing the critical transitions from K-12 to undergraduate, 2-year to 4-year, and undergraduate to graduate; and implementing other activities that enhance the quality and competitiveness of undergraduate STEM programs. A new focus of HBCU-UP is the recruitment and retention of Veterans in STEM fields as a means to diversify and increase the STEM workforce. Proposals that recruit a cohort of Veterans and suggest strategies to retain them, are strongly encouraged.Within this track, Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) Implementation Projects are intended for HBCUs with exemplary achievements and established institutionalized foundations from previous Implementation Project grants. ACE seeks ambitious, potentially transformative proposals that have the promise of significant advances in STEM undergraduate education at the institution. ACE projects should create more and varied pathways to success for STEM students by increasing intellectual resources. Possible approaches might include: establishing new collaborations and alliances with public and private research institutions, centers and national laboratories; providing access to tomorrow&apos;s science through computationally intensive tools and global networks; or increasing fiscal resources for frontier STEM education and research through innovative institutional integration, leveraging partnerships, and strong linkages with business and industry. The Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education (BPR) track (formerly Education Research Projects) provides support to research projects that seek to create and study new models and innovations in STEM teaching and learning, enhance understanding of the participation of diverse groups in STEM education, and inform STEM education practices and interventions. BPR projects add new research-based strategies and models to broadening participation in STEM and increase the capacity of scholars in minority-serving institutions to conduct this type of research. Proposed research may investigate behavioral, cognitive, affective, learning and social differences as well as organizational, institutional or systemic processes that may impact participation in STEM education. BPR projects are likely to use methods from sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, statistics, and other social and behavioral science and education disciplines. Successful proposals will be grounded in appropriate theory and incorporate recent innovations and advances in research methodologies, conceptual frameworks and/or data gathering and analytic techniques. The goal of this track is to enhance our understanding of the underlying issues affecting the differential participation rates of students from underrepresented groups in STEM. The BPR track will catalyze acquisition of knowledge on what types of interventions have what types of impact on learning, persistence, and success in STEM for which groups under what conditions and in what contexts. The Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education track exists across programs in the Division of Human Resource Development (HRD) and may be found in the following solicitations: Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP); Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP); Research in Disabilities Education (RDE); Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE); and Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP). Priorities and restrictions on study populations and awardee institutions may apply depending on the HRD program to which the proposal is submitted.Targeted Infusion Projects (TIP) provide support to achieve a short-term, well-defined goal to innovate or improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education at HBCUs. Targeted Infusion Projects could develop innovative learning experiences in emerging fields of science and engineering such as energy science, climate science, and other dynamic interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary fields. Projects could develop creative uses of cyberinfrastructure for anytime, anywhere, anyone learning in STEM and next generation STEM undergraduate programs. Projects could enhance academic infrastructure by updating curriculum, modernizing laboratory research equipment, or improving the computational network array for research and education. Such approaches could help to improve the preparedness of students for graduate school and the recruitment of qualified STEM faculty. Projects could enhance existing degree programs, establish new degree programs or concentrations, secure specialized accreditation or certification, or infuse STEM programs with disciplinary field advances and evolving workforce requirements. These approaches should be aimed at improving the competitiveness of graduating students and recruiting more students to the program. Projects could build explicit collaborations between STEM disciplines and teacher education programs. Typically, projects are focused on one activity within a single STEM department; however interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary projects are encouraged. Planning Grants provide support to undertake self-analysis of the institution&apos;s undergraduate STEM programs to identify components that need improvement or enhancement in order to provide a high quality undergraduate STEM education. Planning grants should also examine existing activities and strategies across the nation that could be implemented in a proposed project to improve the quality and competitiveness of undergraduate STEM education at the institution. The proposed activities should include an institutional STEM self-analysis leading to an action plan. This should include activities and strategies to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that affect the capacity and effectiveness of the institution to attract, retain, educate, and train underrepresented minority students in STEM and graduate them prepared competitively to go on to graduate school or the workforce. Typical activities include: data collection and analysis, stakeholder consultation, development of potential activities and strategies, site visits to model programs, and data gathering for a proposal for an Implementation Project (including ACE).Research Initiation Awards (RIA) provide support for faculty members in STEM areas at HBCUs to pursue research at an NSF-funded Center, at a research-intensive institution, or at a national laboratory. Awards are intended to help further the faculty member&apos;s research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. These awards are particularly appropriate for junior faculty as a means of recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientists and engineers at HBCUs.Other funding opportunities include: Conferences, Symposia, and Workshops; EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) and Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) grants; and Grant Supplements for existing awards. PIs are invited to seek supplemental support from NSF for their participating students and faculty who are accepted as participants in one of four Department of Energy initiatives: Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internships (SULI), Faculty-Student Teams (FaST), Community College Institutes (CCI),and Pre-Service Teacher (PST) Internships. The initiatives are intended to support the research opportunities in DoE national laboratories during the summer.
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CloseDateExplanation: LOI Due Date(s) (required):February 07, 2011 Full Proposal Deadline(s): April 06, 2011 See full proposal for details