(CLOSED) NSF 22-527 Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) 2022

Posted: November 27, 2021. Replaces: nsf21550. Among the main changes are the following:

Changes Affecting All Proposals

• As a prior awardee in the S-STEM program Penn State is not eligible to submit a Track 1 (Institutitonal Capacity Building) proposal
• Projects supporting scholars studying in disciplinary fields in which NSF provides research funding are eligible to apply to the S-STEM program, with the following exclusions: all clinical fields (which are not funded by NSF), degrees in business administration at all levels (BABA/BSBA/BBA, MBA, etc.) and programs for STEM teacher certification or licensure currently covered by the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program (NOYCE).
• All proposers must demonstrate that the degrees pursued by students supported with S-STEM funds are within a disciplinary area of strategic national need for the economic competitiveness or national security of the United States. In addition, proposers must show that upon graduation, S-STEM scholars will have positive job prospects with their earned undergraduate or graduate degrees. The burden to demonstrate this national need and positive job prospect rests on the submitting institution. The mechanism chosen to demonstrate that scholars will be able to find a job upon graduation with an undergraduate or graduate degree and that this project helps address the long-term workforce needs of the United States is entirely up to the proposers. (see section II.B.2 and section V.A.11 for further information)
• PI eligibility limitations for Track 1, 2 and 3 projects have now been relaxed to include academic administrators, as long as the administrator has taught an S-STEM eligible discipline in the past two years.
• Institutional eligibility limitations have also changed.
  • An institution may submit up to two proposals in any track (either as a single institution or as sub awardee or as 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.
  • Restrictions of eligibility based on a single submission from each distinct college, school, or academic unit under a Dean or equivalent, have been eliminated.

  Please note: Restrictions of eligibility to submit proposals covering degrees in disciplines already funded by S-STEM active awards made to the same institution remain in effect. The waiting period of three years is still applicable. This 3-year waiting period restriction does not apply to collaborative planning grants. (see section IV.A for additional details).

• Conditions for collaborative planning grant submissions have changed. Proposals may now request up to $100,000 for up to one year. The project description should not exceed 6 single-spaced pages. Please note that the Collaborative Planning Grant proposals described in this solicitation are a solicitation-specific project category and are separate and distinct from the type of proposal described in Chapter II.E.1 of the PAPPG. When preparing a Collaborative Planning Grant proposal in response to this solicitation, the “Research” type of proposal should be selected in the proposal preparation module in FastLane or Grants.gov.
• For proposals with a duration of six years, current and pending support should be reported for the first five years of the project. In addition, proposals requesting a six-year duration must be submitted via FastLane because Grants.gov will not accommodate a six-year budget.

The S-STEM program team will host webinars in which key features and expectations of the S-STEM program will be discussed. Information regarding the webinars will be posted to the S-STEM program webpage: https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5257.

Synopsis of Program:

In 1998 Congress enacted the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act which provided funds to the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a mechanism whereby the hiring of foreign workers in technology-intensive sectors on H-1B visas would help address the long-term workforce needs of the United States. Initially, scholarships were only provided for students in math, engineering, and computer science. Later legislation authorized NSF to expand the eligible disciplines at the discretion of the NSF director. This revised solicitation expands the eligibility of degrees to most disciplinary fields in which NSF provides research funding (with some exclusions described elsewhere in this document) as long as there is a national or regional demand for professionals with those degrees to address the long-term workforce needs of the United States.

The main goal of the S-STEM program is to enable low-income students with academic ability, talent or potential to pursue successful careers in promising STEM fields. Ultimately, the S-STEM program seeks to increase the number of low-income students who graduate with a S-STEM eligible degree and contribute to the American innovation economy with their STEM knowledge. Recognizing that financial aid alone cannot increase retention and graduation in STEM, the program provides awards to institutions of higher education (IHEs) not only to fund scholarships, but also to adapt, implement, and study evidence-based curricular and co-curricular¹ activities that have been shown to be effective supporting recruitment, retention, transfer (if appropriate), student success, academic/career pathways, and graduation in STEM.

Social mobility for low-income students with academic potential is even more crucial than for students that enjoy other economic support structures. Hence, social mobility cannot be guaranteed unless the scholarship funds the pursuit of degrees in areas where rewarding jobs are available after graduation with an undergraduate or graduate degree.

The S-STEM program encourages collaborations, including but not limited to partnerships among different types of institutions; collaborations of S-STEM eligible faculty, researchers, and academic administrators focused on investigating the factors that affect low-income student success (e.g., institutional, educational, behavioral 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, as appropriate.

Scholars must be domestic low-income students, with academic ability, talent or potential and with demonstrated unmet financial need who are enrolled in an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree program in an S-STEM eligible discipline. Proposers must provide an analysis that articulates the characteristics and academic needs of the population of students they are trying to serve. NSF is particularly interested in supporting the attainment of degrees in fields identified as critical needs for the Nation. Many of these fields have high demand for training professionals that can operate at the convergence of disciplines and include but are not limited to quantum computing and quantum science, robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, computer science, data science and computational science applied to other frontier STEM areas and other STEM or technology fields in urgent need of domestic professionals. It is up to the proposer to make a compelling case that a field is a critical need field in the United States.

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

1. Disciplinary fields in which research is funded by NSF, with the following exceptions:
   1. Clinical degree programs, including medical degrees, nursing, veterinary medicine, physical therapy, and others not funded by NSF, are ineligible degrees.
   2. Business school programs that lead to Bachelor of Arts or Science in Business Administration degrees (BABA/BSBA/BBA) are not eligible for S-STEM funding.
   3. Masters and Doctoral degrees in Business Administration are also excluded.
2. Technology fields associated with the S-STEM-eligible disciplines (e.g., biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology).

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

The S-STEM program particularly encourages proposals from 2-year institutions, Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), and urban, suburban and rural public institutions.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

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.