The NSF is offering the S-STEM Grant to support low-income students in STEM fields.

*Who May Serve as PI:

For Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) and Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) projects, the Principal Investigatormust be a faculty member currently teaching inan S-STEM eligible discipline who can provide the leadership required to ensure the success of the project. Projects involving more than one department within an institution are eligible, but a single Principal Investigator must accept overall management and leadership responsibility. Faculty from all departments involved need to have roles in the project as either Co-Principal investigators or senior personnel. Other members of the S-STEM seniorproject leadership and management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators.

For Track 3 (Interinstitutional Consortia) projects, the Principal Investigator must be a faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline or an institutional, educational, or social science researcher who can provide the leadership required to ensure the success of the project. A consortium project must have a Principal Investigator who accepts overall management and leadership responsibility. Faculty from all institutions and departments involved need to have roles in the project as either Co-Principal investigators or senior personnel. Other members of the S-STEM senior project leadership and management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators or as Principal Investigators on collaborative research proposals.

Collaborative Planning grants are intended to help a collection of institutions plan for a future Track 3 proposal. For Collaborative Planning grants, the Principal Investigator must a be a faculty member teaching in any S-STEM eligible discipline or STEM administrator (e.g., Department Head, Chair, Dean or Associate Dean) at one of the institutions within the envisioned interinstitutional consortia, who can provide the required leadership and has the capacity to convene and shepherd a team of interinstitutional STEM faculty and social science or education researchers to write the desired proposal in a 1-2 year timeframe.

The program seeks to 1) increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need obtaining degrees in S-STEM eligibledisciplinesand entering the US workforce or graduate programs in STEM; 2) improve support mechanisms for future scientists, engineers, and technicians, with a focus on low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need; and 3) advance our understanding of howinterventions or evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities affectthe success, retention, transfer, academic/career pathways, and graduation of low-income students in STEM.

The S-STEM program encourages collaborations among different types of participating groups, including but not limited topartnerships among different types of institutions; collaborations of STEM faculty and institutional, educational, and social science researchers; and partnerships among institutions of higher education and business, industry, local community organizations, national labs, or other federal or state government organizations,if appropriate.

Scholars must be domestic low-income, academically talented students with demonstrated unmet financial need who areenrolled in an associate, baccalaureate or graduate degree program in an S-STEMeligible discipline.Proposers must provide an analysis that articulates the population of students they are trying to serve. This analysis must include the predicted number of students who meet all the eligibility requirements at the time of proposal submission as a proxy measure of the pool of students that would qualify in the future if the proposal is awarded. This number may be based on current and/or historical data about students who are currently pursuing degrees in the STEM disciplines targeted by the proposal.

S-STEM Eligible Degree Programs

• Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Engineering, and Associate of Applied Science
• Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Engineering and Bachelor of Applied Science
• Master of Arts, Master of Science and Master of Engineering
• Doctoral

S-STEM Eligible Disciplines

• Biological sciences (except medicine and other clinical fields)
• Physical sciences (including physics, chemistry, astronomy, and materials science)
• Mathematical sciences
• Computer and information sciences
• Geosciences
• Engineering
• Technology fields associated with the disciplines above (e.g., biotechnology,chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology)

Note that programs in business schools that lead to Bachelor of Arts or Science in Business Administration degrees (BABA/BSBA) are not eligible for S-STEM funding.

Proposers are strongly encouraged to contact Program Officers before submitting a proposal if they have questions concerning degree eligibility.

The S-STEM program particularly encourages proposals from 2-year institutions, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), tribal colleges and universities, and urban and ruralpublic institutions.