STEM, Education, Training

D. Johnson (Study Abroad)

The Institute of International Education“IIE American Passport Project” to assist students, who are in their first year and eligible for Pell grants, obtain a U.S. passport, and to facilitate international experiences as part of their post-secondary education.

J. Van Haren (Biosphere 2)

Mid-scale RI-2 is an NSF-wide competitive program that addresses scientific demand for research infrastructure in the $20 million -$100 million cost range for implementation. Mid-scale RI-2 is intended to support visionary projects that are high-priority national needs as identified by research communities of the United States, rather than projects primarily serving regional, campus or local interests. Solving the most pressing scientific and societal problems of the day – such as those called out in National Academies reports and decadal surveys, identified through research community planning and prioritizing exercises or other emerging national priorities – using new technologies, techniques, and concepts is encouraged in this competition. The scientific justification should demonstrate how the proposed research infrastructure provides potentially transformative research capability or access relative to what is currently available to the general U.S. research community. Investigators whose preliminary proposals are for capabilities similar to those currently available to the U.S. research community are unlikely to be invited to submit full proposals. All proposals should show the project's value and benefit to the U.S. science community.

Proposals for research infrastructure that is part of a larger project must clearly state the impact of the proposed infrastructure on the project, whether and how any specific part(s) of the infrastructure would be identified with NSF, and the benefit to the U.S. research communities that NSF supports.

The Total Project Cost (TPC) submitted to NSF for implementation must be at least $20 million but less than $100 million. Mandatory cost analyses will be conducted on proposals considered for award and will need to demonstrate a high probability that the project can be completed in less than $100 million. Projects whose most likely risk-adjusted costs are found to exceed this threshold, as determined via the NSF cost analysis, will not be considered for funding from the Mid-scale RI-2 Program. NSF will utilize independent cost estimate reviews (in some cases performed by contractors or other government agencies) to inform the cost analysis.

PIs are reminded of the GAO cost escalation and uncertainly requirements as outlined in the RIG (Section 4.2.2.3). Besides the award duration, careful consideration should also be given to the 2-year cycle of the Mid-scale RI-2 Program, from solicitation publication to eventual award decision, and its potential impact on the anticipated total project cost. Thus, proposed budgets should carefully consider validity of quotes, market forces, escalation (including inflation), and other potential influencing factors that could push the risk-adjusted total project cost above the programmatic threshold.

If a PI finds, while developing the project budget, that the total project cost could reasonably exceed the upper limit of the Mid-scale RI-2 Program, they should consult with the cognizant Program Officer about other potential options.

NSF defines Research Infrastructure (RI) as any combination of facilities, equipment, instrumentation, or computational hardware or software, and the necessary human capital in support of the same. Major facilities and mid-scale projects are subsets of research infrastructure. The NSF Mid-scale RI-2 Program supports the implementation of unique and compelling RI projects at a national scale. Mid-scale RI-2 projects may include any combination of equipment, instrumentation, cyberinfrastructure, broadly used large-scale data sets, and the commissioning and/or personnel needed to successfully complete the project. Mid-scale RI-2 projects should fill a research community-defined scientific need or national research priority that enables current and next-generation U.S. researchers and a diverse STEM workforce to remain competitive in the global research environment. Mid-scale RI-2 investments are expected to demonstrate high potential to significantly advance the Nation's research capabilities. Mid-scale RI-2 projects will directly enable advances in any of the research domains supported by NSF, including STEM education research. Projects may also include upgrades to existing research infrastructure.

Mid-scale RI-2 is intended to support the implementation stage of a wide variety of RI projects. Mid-scale RI-2 therefore uses an inclusive definition of implementation, which can include traditional stand-alone construction or acquisition as well as a degree of final development for infrastructure and equipment projects. For example, it could include a spiral development step leading to the acquisition of a larger system for cyberinfrastructure or other shared community research capability.

A.Linares-Gaffer (Nutritional Sciences) 

The purpose of the Higher Education Multicultural Scholars Program (MSP), Assistance Listing 10.220, is to provide scholarships to support recruiting, engaging, retaining, mentoring, and training committed multicultural scholars, resulting in either baccalaureate degrees within the food and agricultural science disciplines or Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) degrees. The goals and objectives of the scholarships are to encourage outstanding students from groups that are historically underrepresented and underserved to pursue and complete baccalaureate degrees in food and agricultural sciences, or achieve a D.V.M., that would lead to a diverse and highly skilled work force. This may or may not include the teaching and preservation of traditional ecological knowledge.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The CCDC ARL invites applications/proposals from covered educational institutions for research and education programs that will meet the following objectives:

a. Enhance research and engineering capabilities in areas important to national defense;
b. Increase the number of graduates in STEM disciplines; and
c. Encourage research and education collaborations with other institutions of higher education and with defense organizations.

Support for research, development, testing, evaluation, or educational enhancements will be through the competitive awarding of grants or cooperative agreements.


The Department of Defense, through the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (USD(R&E) Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Minority-Serving Institutions (HBCU/MI) Program will establish four new Centers of Excellence (COE) in critical technology areas.  

COE critical technology focus areas ( UofA may submit under one of these topics):

• Advanced Computing and Software
• Future Generation Wireless Technology (FutureG)
• Integrated Sensing and Cyber 
•  Renewable Energy Generation and Storage

Funding and Performance Period: $2 million per year, over 5 years
DoD will host a webinar to overview the RFPs and to address any questions that arise


Please find the registration link for the webinar below. Please also note the date/time for the webinar is 12 April 2023 at 1:30 pm ET.

Webinar Registration - Zoom:
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dVnGm8cHTCCpc2E03aIPHg

Internal deadline TBA. Contact RDS for more information.
 

NOTE: This is a Forecasted Opportunity.
Estimated posting date: April 15, 2023

The Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR)-Simulation Education Training (SET) program aims to enhance nursing education and practice with the use of simulation-based technology to advance the health of patients and families in the acute care setting to improve health outcomes. This program also intends to increase and strengthen the capacity student nurses from diverse backgrounds, (including underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities) to address the complex health care needs of populations for patient safety outcomes and improve health equity and health literacy of vulnerable and underserved populations.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

The purpose of this program is to prepare new Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs) to effectively provide primary care by supporting the establishment, expansion and/or enhancement of existing community-based Nurse Practitioner (NP) residency and fellowship training programs that are accredited or in the accreditation process. The program also focuses on the integration of behavioral health and/or maternal health into primary care by training new primary care providers (adult, family, adult gerontology, pediatric and women’s health NPs), behavioral health providers (psychiatric/mental health NPs) and/or Certified Nurse Midwives (CNMs) to transition from education completion to practice, in community-based settings. The applicant must train these postgraduate APRNs who will serve in primary care settings with a focus on improving access to quality healthcare for rural, urban, and tribal underserved populations.


Program Goals

1. Support expansion or enhancement of primary care NP residency programs.

2. Increase the number of new primary care, behavioral health and maternal health NPs serving in rural, urban, and tribal underserved community-based settings.

3. Integrate behavioral health and maternal health care into community-based primary care NP residency programs.

Program Objectives

• Support new primary care providers through the establishment, expansion, or enhancement of NP residency programs in community-based settings.

• Strengthen the clinical competency and readiness for practice of new primary care NPs through didactic and clinical training that equips participants with the skills and knowledge to provide care for the complex co-morbidities and multi-level chronic health and social needs of communities. • Increase access to quality primary care providers through the placement of residency completers in rural, urban, and tribal underserved community-based settings.

• Expand academic practice partnerships to provide learning opportunities which integrate primary care, behavioral health and maternal health domains of practice. These partnerships should promote health equity, improve diversity of the workforce to address the needs of the populations they serve, and address workforce wellness and resiliency. For more details, see Program Requirements and Expectations.

1. E. Gornish (Cooperative Extension Specialist in Ecological Restoration)
2. T.  Hodges ( Regional Academic Programs - Yuma Distance Campus)
    

UArizona can submit two proposals to this funding program. 

The purpose of this program is to support research, education/teaching, and extension projects that increase participation by women and underrepresented minorities from rural areas in STEM. NIFA intends this program to address educational needs within broadly defined areas of food and agricultural sciences. Applications recommended for funding must highlight and emphasize the development of a competent and qualified workforce in the food and agricultural sciences. WAMS-funded projects improve the economic health and viability of rural communities by developing research and extension initiatives that focus on new and emerging employment opportunities in STEM occupations. Projects that contribute to the economic viability of rural communities are also encouraged.


The submission for this funding program is coordinated by the University of Arizona Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives (HSI), for more information don't hesitate to get in touch with Riley McIssac, Associate Director of Grants Development.

No applicants // Limit: 1 // Tickets Available: 1 

UArizona can submit one proposal as a lead organization and can serve on no more than two proposals as a collaborator. Both, collaboration and leading projects should participate in the internal competition in other to determine the projects that will be selected to represent UofA.

All IHEs can participate in ART in some form, either as lead or partner/mentor.  It’s up to the institution to make the case of where they seem themselves fitting in.  There are different metrics that can be used to determine research translation and entrepreneurship that reflect the current capacity and status of infrastructure for translational research at an IHE.  We are asking IHEs to self-determine and provide data as justification.  

The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP) announced a new foundation-wide solicitation for the Accelerating Research Translation (ART) program, which was authorized by the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022.  The ART program aims to support projects that will increase the role of U.S. institutions of higher education in their region’s innovation ecosystems through building their capacity and strengthening their infrastructure for translational research and supporting translational research training for graduate students and postdocs.  For this competition, NSF recognizes “translational research” as converting research into practical applications that can be deployed at scale, including knowledge/technology transfer, commercialization, or transition to practice, resulting in tangible economic and/or societal benefits.

This solicitation seeks proposals that enable IHE-based teams to propose a blend of: (1) activities that will help build and/or strengthen the institutional infrastructure to sustainably grow the institutional capacity for research translation in the short and long terms; (2) educational/training opportunities, especially for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, to become entrepreneurs and/or seek use-inspired and/or translational research-oriented careers in the public and/or private sectors; and (3) specific, translational research activities that offer immediate opportunities for transition to practice to create economic and/or societal impact. The funded teams will form a nationwide network of 'ART Ambassadors' who will champion the cause of translational research.

Submissions to the ART solicitation must address how an institution would:

1. “Develop institutional capacity and infrastructure for translational research activities in the short term (during the four-year duration of the award) and long term (beyond the duration of the award);
2. Create and continually train new cohorts of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers versed in translational research to successfully create economic and/or societal impact through various career pathways, e.g., as entrepreneurs, in industry or public sectors; and
3. Support a nationwide network of 'ART Ambassadors' who will be the agents of change within their institutions and region to support equal importance for translational research and its ensuing impact.”

Among other activities, ART awardees will be required to identify and fund at least two Seed Translational Research Projects (STRPs) selected from research being done at the lead institution with translational potential.  Each STRP must be supported for at least two years and total funding for all STRP projects supported throughout the duration of the award cannot be more than half of the total funding for the project. 

Colleges and universities that have high levels of fundamental research activity but low translational research activity are encouraged to apply to the ART solicitation.  NSF recommends that institutions who already have high levels of translational research activity consider participating as a collaborator that can provide expertise to funded institutions working on their translational research capacity building.  Applicants must provide data to “justify their current capacity and infrastructure for translational research activities, using multiple evidence-based methods and metrics to determine their capacity.”  NSF recommends utilizing their data on research expenditures, linked below, as a starting point to determine if an institution is operating at a high fundamental research level.  Specific metrics to reflect the level of translational research activity are up to the applicant.  Some examples provided by NSF are number of invention disclosures; number of start-ups; number of patents issued; volume of industry-funded research; broad adoption of research outputs; licenses issued; and revenue from royalties.  Institutions applying to the ART program also need to clearly state why they have significant potential to build translational research capacity. Finally, the solicitation highlights that translational research activities at institutions receiving ART awards must be valued similarly to fundamental research activities, including when institutions are making decisions about faculty recruitment, promotion, and tenure.

Sources and Additional Information:

• The ART program page is available at https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/accelerating-research-translation-art.
• The full ART solicitation is available at https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2023/nsf23558/nsf23558.htm.
• Registration information for the webinar can be found at https://nsf.zoomgov.com/webinar/register/WN_N-mFOgtjSkijCuOI7orPvw?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery.

H. Chen (Artificial Intelligence Laboratory - AZSecure Cybersecurity Fellowship Program) Institutionally Coordinated Resubmission. 

The goals of the CyberCorps(R): Scholarship for Service (SFS) program are aligned with the U.S. strategy to develop a superior cybersecurity workforce. These goals are to increase the quantity of new entrants to the government cyber workforce, to increase the national capacity for the education of cybersecurity professionals, to increase national research and development capabilities in critical information infrastructure protection, and to strengthen partnerships between institutions of higher education and relevant employment sectors. The SFS program welcomes proposals to establish or to continue scholarship programs in cybersecurity. All scholarship recipients must work after graduation for a federal, state, local, or tribal Government organization in a position related to cybersecurity for a period equal to the length of the scholarship. A proposing institution must provide clearly documented evidence of a strong existing academic program in cybersecurity. Such evidence can include ABET accreditation in cybersecurity; a designation by the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security as a Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education (CAE-CDE), in Cyber Operations (CAE-CO) or in Research (CAE-R); or equivalent evidence documenting a strong program in cybersecurity.

C. Hall currently  (Department of Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering) - Track 1:  Planning Grants

UArizona may serve as sole submitting organization or as lead organization on only one submission per competition, regardless of track, but may serve as the non-lead organization of a collaborative project more than once per competition.

Because the Implementation Projects requires an LOI due February 01, 2022, there is insufficient time to hold an internal competition. Therefore, this opportunity will be listed as "Open" based on the earliest sponsor's deadline for submission toward either the March Implementation deadline or the May planning grant deadline.