The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Small Business and Civil Rights is offering the Minority Serving Institutions Program grant to increase diversity and build capacity in nuclear-related STEM fields.

Eligible applicants are regionally accredited U.S. public and private minority institutions of higher education.

This FOA is issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of Small Business and Civil Rights (SBCR) to fund Minority Serving Institutions’ (MSI) programs and activities relevant to nuclear safety, security, environmental protection, or any other fields the Commission deems critical to its mission.

The goal of the NRC SBCR MSIP to assist MSIs in their effort to increase the number of students and faculty from groups underrepresented in fields related to the nuclear industry.

The MSIP objectives are to assist MSIs in their efforts to achieve academic excellence; build capability, capacity and infrastructure; develop human capital (faculty and students); gain knowledge and skills to effectively compete for grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and resources; participate in Federal and public programs; and to create a diverse skilled Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) pipeline.

The program supports institutional grants with well integrated developmental activities that may include, but are not limited to, leadership development activities, research experiences at on or off-campus laboratories, specialty courses with a focus on critical thinking and development of research skills, collaborative learning experiences, career seminars, mentoring activities, scientific reading comprehension and writing skills, tutoring for excellence, recruitment activities and travel to professional meetings. Support is also available for evaluation activities.