STEM, Education, Training

J. Wolfe (Mathematics) 
M. Hosten (Mathematics)

UA may submit two proposals.
The submission of this funding program is coordinated by RII with the assistance of the UA Foundation.

The APS Foundation supports programs that enhance academic achievement in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Since 1981, the Foundation has invested more than $44 million in projects throughout Arizona that help prepare students to compete in a 21st century economy.
A workforce proficient in STEM skills is critical to attracting and retaining high-quality businesses and industries to the state. The APS Foundation targets projects that help educators increase content knowledge in STEM subjects as well as the ability to transfer this knowledge effectively to students.

Average funding amount: ~ $75,000

How we evaluate potential programs:
Organizations must be registered as a 501(c)(3) public charity in good financial and public standing. Programs should demonstrate their ability to improve educational outcomes, increase access and/or offer an innovative approach to learning.
All grantees will have specific reporting requirements and must submit a final evaluation before they can be considered for additional funding.

Please note, the APS Foundation will not support:
• Individuals
• Individual K-12 schools
• Religious organizations, churches and programs that are purely denominational in purpose
• Political, labor or fraternal organizations, associations or civic service clubs
• Legislative, lobbying or advocacy efforts or organizations
• Private or family foundations
• Animal shelters or agencies
• Foundations or organizations which are grant-making entities or that distribute funds to other nonprofit organizations (pass through)
• Start-up organizations defined as nonprofits whose ruling year has been granted by the IRS for less than three years
• Organizations that discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, disability, gender, gender identity, age, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, protected veteran status or any other classification protected by law
• Health organizations whose primary focus is funding programs or services for a specific disease or illness
• Sports teams or sporting programs
• Scouting troops
While not a part of our traditional grant program, the APS Foundation occasionally supports capital requests of our long-standing partners on an invite-only basis.

RII is Institutionally Coordinating the submission of proposals to NSF.
Contact RDS for more information.

The S-STEM program provides institutions of higher education (IHEs) with funds for scholarships to encourage and enable domestic low-income students with academic ability, talent or potential and demonstrated financial need to enter the US workforce following completion of associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degrees in S-STEM eligible disciplines. To enable social mobility of these students with academic talent, funds should be allocated to support scholars in areas of regional or national need. 

Description of Program Tracks

• Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building)
  UA is not eligible to apply to Track 1, due to a previous award under this track.
   
• Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution)
  Track 2 proposals have the same S-STEM goals as Track 1 proposals. They generally involve and benefit only one institution, but they will serve more scholars than Track 1 proposals. Any IHE (as described under the eligibility section) can submit a Track 2 proposal, whether or not the institution has received prior S-STEM or STEP awards.
  Track 2 proposals may, in some cases, also include a focus on student transfer or progression to graduate school. In this case, if needed, two or more institutions could partner.
  Track 2 projects must be led by a PI who is (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines being pursued by the targeted scholars, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in one of the eligible disciplines in the last two years from submission and can dedicate the time necessary to assure project success. The PI must be a member of the proposed project's leadership and management team. The leadership and management team should also include a STEM administrator (department head or above). Faculty members from all departments or academic units involved should have a role in the project either as Co-PIs, senior personnel, or scholar mentors. The project team could include, if appropriate, a non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher to support evidence-based responses to items raised by the external evaluator through formative evaluation. This additional researcher cannot take the place of the external evaluator. Proposals for Track 2 may request up to $2,500,000 total for up to 6 years.
  
   
• Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia)
  Track 3 projects support multi-institutional collaborations that focus on a common interest or challenge. Inter-institutional Consortia projects represent diverse collaborations, including partnerships between 2-year colleges and 4-year colleges and universities, between 4-year colleges and graduate programs, or between comparable institutions looking to implement and study parallel interventions. For example, a collaboration among community colleges and four-year institutions may focus on issues associated with successful transfer of low-income students from 2-year institutions to 4-year programs. In another example, a multi-institutional collaboration may focus on factors that contribute to the success or degree attainment of domestic, low-income students in different types of institutions.
  Proposals with a strong focus on the transfer or advancement of students from one educational level to another should collaborate with appropriate institutional partners. For example, proposals focused on the transfer of students from 2-year institutions to 4-year institutions should include faculty and administrators from 2-year institutions and 4-year institutions in the leadership team; likewise, proposals focusing on the advancement of undergraduate students at predominately undergraduate institutions to graduate programs should include institutions, administrators and Co-PIs representing both the undergraduate programs and the receiving graduate programs.
  Track 3 projects have the same overall goals as Track 1 and 2 projects but seek to accomplish these goals at a very large scale by leveraging multi-institutional efforts and infrastructure. In addition to the expectations stated below in section II.B.2 for all tracks, Track 3 projects are also expected to:

1. Establish an authentic, strong and mutually beneficial collaboration across all institutions involved in the consortia, providing comparable benefits to all institutions in terms of number of scholarships as well as in the infrastructure established to serve low-income students;
2. Establish strong technical assistance and processes that support and manage project activities across institutions involved in the collaborative effort.
3. Engage in high quality educational or social sciences research to advance understanding of how to adapt, implement and scale up effective evidence-based programs and practices designed to foster positive outcomes for low-income students in STEM.
   
   NSF does not favor a particular research design over others. How the chosen research methods and approaches are aligned with and appropriate for the research goals should be fully explained in the proposal. The ultimate goal of S-STEM is to support low-income students with awards covering their unmet need, up to the maximum allowable scholarship amount (whatever is less). Projects are strongly discouraged from allowing a desired sample size to play a role in the determination of the size of awarded scholarships.
   Track 3 projects are managed by leadership and management teams composed of faculty members who are currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline(s), STEM administrators, and non-teaching institutional, educational, or social science researchers. The PI of Track 3 proposals must be either (a) a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM eligible disciplines, (b) a STEM administrator (department head or above), or (c) a non-teaching researcher whose expertise is in institutional, educational, or social science research in higher education. Faculty from all the institutions and disciplines involved need to be included in the leadership team and/or senior personnel. The lead PI needs to demonstrate the capacity, experience and resources needed to manage a complex, large-scale project and the necessary time to dedicate to assure project success.
   Track 3 proposals may request up to $5 million total for up to 6 years.
   Proposers should be aware that Track 3 projects will be formally reviewed by NSF during their third year to determine whether satisfactory progress has been made, with continued funding contingent on the result of the third-year review. See section VII.C on reporting requirements.

• Collaborative Planning Grants to Develop an Inter-institutional Consortium
  Collaborative Planning projects provide support for groups of two or more IHEs and other potential partner organizations to establish fruitful collaborations, increase understanding of complex issues faced by low-income students at each institution, establish inter-institutional agreements when necessary and develop mechanisms for cooperation in anticipation of a future Track 3 proposal that will benefit all institutions and their scholars as equal partners.
  This category of projects aims to provide proposers from two or more institutions the funds and time to establish the relationships and agreements necessary for submitting an Inter-institutional Consortia S-STEM proposal. It is expected that proposers will be ready to write and submit this Inter-institutional Consortia proposal within 1-2 years of receiving a Collaborative Planning grant award. Any subsequent proposals to S-STEM based on this work must describe the results of the planning effort.

New institutional restrictions for this program for 2022:

1. An institution may submit up to two proposals (either as a single institution or as subawardee or a member of an inter-institutional consortia project) for a given S-STEM deadline. Multiple proposals from an institution must not overlap with regard to S-STEM eligible disciplines. See Additional Eligibility Information below for more details (see IV. Eligibility Information).
2. Institutions with a current S-STEM award should wait at least until the end of the third year of execution of their current award before submitting a new S-STEM proposal focused on students pursuing degrees in the same discipline(s).

The above restrictions do not apply to collaborative planning grant proposals.

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

Through this solicitation, NSF seeks to foster a network of S-STEM stakeholders and further develop the infrastructure needed to generate and disseminate new knowledge, successful practices and effective design principles arising from NSF S-STEM projects nationwide. The ultimate vision of the legislation governing the S-STEM parent program[1] (and of the current S-STEM-Net solicitation) is that all Americans, regardless of economic status, should be able to contribute to the American innovation economy if they so desire.

To support collaboration within the S-STEM network, NSF will fund several S-STEM Research Hubs (S-STEM-Hub). The S-STEM Network (S-STEM-Net) will collaborate to create synergies and sustain a robust national ecosystem consisting of multi-sector partners supporting domestic low-income STEM students in achieving their career goals, while also ensuring access, inclusion, and adaptability to changing learning needs. The Hubs will investigate evolving barriers to the success of this student population. It will also disseminate the context and circumstances by which interventions and practices that support graduation of domestic low-income students (both undergraduate and graduate) pursuing careers in STEM are successful.

The target audience for this dissemination effort is the community of higher education institutions, faculty, scholars, researchers and evaluators, local and regional organizations, industry, and other nonprofit, federal, state, and local agencies concerned with the success of domestic low-income STEM students in the United States.

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

The Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) Program provides support for a mentored postdoctoral research experience at a research-intensive institution combined with an opportunity to develop critical teaching and mentoring skills at a teaching-intensive partner institution with a diverse student population. Accordingly, the IRACDA program requires effective partnerships between a research-intensive institution and a teaching-intensive partner institution that has a historical mission or a demonstrated commitment to educating students from groups underrepresented in the biomedical research workforce.

One goal of the IRACDA program is to develop a diverse pool of well-trained biomedical scientists who have the necessary knowledge and skills to pursue independent academic teaching and research careers. An additional goal of the IRACDA program is to benefit the teaching-intensive partner institutions, e.g., by providing research-oriented, early career teachers, mentors, and role models for the students; enhancing science educational offerings; providing research opportunities for the faculty and students; and/or bringing expertise with state-of-the-art research methods and technologies.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) does not allow appointed scholars to lead an independent clinical trial but does allow them to obtain research experience in a clinical trial led by a mentor or co-mentor.

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

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) invites applications for the Centers for Agricultural Safety and Health (Ag Centers). These centers are expected to conduct high quality research and subsequently disseminate their findings and recommendations in audience appropriate products to contribute to improving the safety and health of agriculture, forestry, and fishing workers. Center structure should take advantage of diverse scientific resources and focus on local, regional, and/or national worker safety and health issues. Emphasis should be placed on the creation and implementation of evidence-based solutions that address important agricultural, forestry, and fishing safety and health problems. Centers should also use innovative approaches to identifying, understanding, and developing strategies for overcoming barriers to the adoption, adaptation, integration, scale-up and sustainability of evidence-based solutions. Collaborations with other academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and other occupational safety and health focused groups are expected. Applicants must concisely describe the occupational safety and health burden within their service area and directly link research and outreach activities to help alleviate the burden. Applicants should also clearly articulate the anticipated impacts of the proposed work, both during the project period and beyond.

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

YouthBuild is a community-based alternative education program for youth between the ages of 16 and 24 who left high school prior to graduation that also have other risk factors, including being an adjudicated youth, youth aging out of foster care, youth with disabilities, migrant farmworker youth, youth experiencing housing instability, and other disadvantaged youth populations. The YouthBuild program simultaneously addresses multiple core issues important to youth in lowincome communities: affordable housing, leadership development, education, and employment opportunities in in-demand industries and apprenticeship pathways.

YouthBuild programs serve as the connection point to vital services for participants. Key aspects of the YouthBuild service delivery model include meaningful partnership and collaboration with the public workforce development system, education and human services systems, and labor and industry partners. The YouthBuild model balances project-based academic learning and occupational skills training to prepare opportunity youth for career placement and supports the Administration's goal to build a modern and sustainable infrastructure. YouthBuild programs are well-positioned to connect participants with career opportunities developing as a result of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (construction), Inflation Reduction Act (clean energy), and CHIPS and Science Act (manufacturing). 

Due to application requirements the University of Arizona is not able to participate in this opportunity.


The Foundation is dedicated to providing financial assistance to organizations committed to improving our world. Solutions to the problems of today's world still lie in the values of innovation, practicality, hard work and compassion.

Applications for grants are considered in the following areas:

• Education
• Social Service
• Healthcare
• Civic and Cultural
• Environmental

The categories above are not intended to limit the interest of the Foundation from considering other worthwhile projects. In general, the Foundation guidelines are broad to give us flexibility in providing grants.

Over the past decade, approximately 28% of Dr. Scholl Foundation's grants have been related to education, 28% to social services, 22% to hospitals and healthcare, 17% to civic and cultural with the remaining percentage spread out in the above categories. The majority of the grants are made in the U.S. However, the Foundation recognizes the need for a global outlook.

Contact RDS for additional information.

S. Baker (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)

UA may participate in only two (2) proposals per NRT competition as lead or collaborative non-lead. Collaborative non-lead projects must participate in the internal competition. One slot is still available.
UA is not eligible for track 2. Doctoral Universities: Very High Research Activity (R1) are not eligible for Track 2 consideration.

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas, through a comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs. Proposals are requested that address any interdisciplinary or convergent research theme of national priority.

The NRT program addresses workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity building needs in graduate education. The program encourages proposals that involve strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science centers, and academic partners. NRT especially welcomes proposals that include partnership with NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) and leverage INCLUDES project efforts to develop STEM talent from all sectors and groups in our society. Collaborations between NRT proposals and existing NSF INCLUDES projects should strengthen both NRT and INCLUDES projects.
 

Priority Research Areas

For FY2021 and FY2022, proposals are encouraged in the research areas of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Information Science and Engineering (QISE) and the six research areas in NSF's 10 Big Ideas. The NSF research Big Ideas are Harnessing the Data Revolution (HDR), The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF), Navigating the New Arctic (NNA), Windows on the Universe: The Era of Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (WoU), The Quantum Leap: Leading the Next Quantum Revolution (QL), and Understanding the Rules of Life: Predicting Phenotype (URoL). The FY2021 Budget Request to Congress includes an additional $15 million to include a special focus on artificial intelligence and artificial intelligence engineering.

Track 1
Track 1 proposals may request a total budget (up to five years in duration) up to $3 million for projects with a focus on STEM graduate students in research-based PhD and/or master’s degree programs. All Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members and that award a research-based master’s degree and/or a doctoral degree in STEM disciplines supported by the National Science Foundation are eligible to apply to Track 1

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

Duplicate or Multiple Submissions – duplicate or multiple submissions are not allowed. NIFA will disqualify both applications if an applicant submits multiple applications that are duplicative or substantially overlapping to NIFA programs within the same fiscal year.

The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) is America’s flagship competitive grants program that provides funding for fundamental and applied research, education, and extension projects in the food and agricultural sciences. In 2022, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) requests applications for the AFRI’s Education and Workforce Development program areas to support:
1. professional development opportunities for K-14 educational professionals;
2. non-formal education that cultivates food and agricultural interest in youth;
3. workforce training at community, junior, and technical colleges;
4. training of undergraduate students in research and extension;
5. fellowships for predoctoral candidates and postdoctoral scholars; and
6. special workforce development topics


Food and Agricultural Non-Formal Education (FANE) - A7801
Program Area Priority: 
Major advances in agricultural productivity and rural prosperity in the past have resulted from transformative technologies such as breeding tools and strategies, mechanization, and prudent use of agrochemicals. There are several emerging technologies that hold a similar promise. This program area priority will support content development and activities for non-formal education to foster development of technology-savvy youth. Projects must develop activities that cultivate interest and competencies in STEM and in food and agricultural sciences supported by the six Farm Bill Priority areas of AFRI. Data science, including artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics as well as gene editing, and biotechnology will be supported in this program area priority.

Food and Agricultural Non-formal Education (FANE) applications must address the following:

a. Develop content and activities to enhance youth’s understanding of gene editing, biotechnology, data science, artificial intelligence, robotics, automation, and other technologies that enhance the food and agricultural enterprise and prepares them to help meet the needs of the future workforce through enhanced non-formal education modules.

b. Develop outreach materials that clearly communicate the demonstrated benefits of agricultural technologies and biotechnology.

c. Should complement and build upon programs that have successfully demonstrated positive youth development strategies and outcomes (i.e., 4-H programming, Agriculture in the Classroom, FDA’s Agricultural Biotechnology Education and Outreach Initiative, etc.).

d. Involve youth in the design, execution, and evaluation of activities that lead to the development of consumer-friendly content that builds public confidence in the safe use of biotechnology in agriculture and the food system.

UArizona eligibilty: 

• Track 1: Planning or Pilot Projects (PPP)-  track provides a funding opportunity for institutions that are new to NSF5 or are Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs6). UA is not eligible to submit a lead proposal for this track but may partner with other institutions.
• Track 2: Implementation and Evaluation Projects (IEP) - UArizona is eligible. There are no restrictions or limits on the number of submissions or awards. 
• Track 3: Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP)  - UArizona is eligible. Limited to one submission per institution.
   

Track 3: The Institutional Transformation Projects (ITP) track supports institution-wide structural or systemic changes to enhance undergraduate STEM education at the proposing HSI. The ITP must be grounded in STEM education research and broadening participation research and be designed to make institutional infrastructure and policy changes to support long-term institutional changes that encourage and support faculty in implementing evidence-based practices that enhance student outcomes in STEM at the proposing HSI.

Due to the institutional infrastructure and policy requirements for track 3, the submission for this track is Institutionally Coordinated.
Please contact UArizona HSI Initiatives for more information please contact:
 

Marla Franco, PhD
Vice President, Hispanic Serving Institution Initiatives
marlafranco@arizona.edu

Riley McIsaac
Associate Director of Grants Development
rmcisaac@arizona.edu