AGENCY: National Science Foundation (NSF)/ Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR)/Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE)

PROGRAM: Scholarships in Science, Technology and Mathematics (S-STEM)

OBJECTIVES: This program provides funding to support scholarships for academically talented, financially needy students, enabling them to enter the workforce following completion of an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level degree in science and engineering disciplines. Grantee institutions are responsible for selecting scholarship recipients, reporting demographic information about student scholars, and managing the S-STEM project at the institution.

The program emphasizes the importance of recruiting students to science and engineering disciplines, mentoring and supporting students through degree completion, and partnering with employers to facilitate student career placement in the STEM workforce. It is expected that scholarship recipients will achieve at least one of the following by the end of the scholarship award period: (1) receive an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree in one of the S-STEM disciplines; (2) transfer from an associate degree program to a baccalaureate degree program or from an undergraduate program to a graduate program in one of the S-STEM disciplines; or (3) successfully complete a stage within an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree program in one of the S-STEM disciplines that, in the particular institution, is documented and described as a point of unusually high attrition.

ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: An institution may submit one proposal from each constituent college or school that awards eligible degrees. The Principal Investigator must be a faculty member currently teaching within one of the S-STEM disciplines 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 responsibility. Other members of the S-STEM project management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators. S-STEM scholarship recipients will be selected by the awardee institution but must:

(a) be citizens of the United States, nationals of the United States, aliens admitted as refugees under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or aliens lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence;

(b) be enrolled full time in a degree program at the associate, baccalaureate, or graduate level in one of the following 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 areas associated with the preceding fields (for example, biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology, etc.). Enrollment must be full-time for each semester or quarter a student receives a scholarship.

(c) demonstrate academic potential or ability;

(d) demonstrate financial need, defined for undergraduate students by the US Department of Education rules for need-based Federal financial aid, or, for graduate students, defined as financial eligibility for Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN);

(e) be part of a natural student cohort that is likely to associate during the scholarship period. Students may be from a single major, from a group that will take several classes together, or from another group that the proposal describes.

DEADLINES:
BU Internal Deadlines: July 10, 2009
Letter of Intent (optional): August 11, 2009
Application Deadline: September 14, 2009

FUNDING INFORMATION: S-STEM grants may be made for up to five years and may provide individual scholarships of up to $10,000 per year, depending on financial need. Grantee institutions may elect to support individual student scholars for four years or may elect to support several cohorts of students for a shorter duration within the award period. Awards are normally not expected to exceed $600,000 in total. Annual budgets are limited to $225,000. Instead of indirect costs, an institution may request up to 5% of the scholarship amount for administrative costs and up to 10% of the scholarship amount for student support costs. These costs are included in the maximum award amount.

AGENCY CONTACT:
Duncan E. McBride, Section Head
Directorate for Education & Human Resources
Division of Undergraduate Education
Room 835 N
>National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22230
telephone: (703) 292-4630
fax: (703) 292-9015
email: dmcbride@nsf.gov
Web: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09567/nsf09567.htm

INTERNAL REVIEW PROCESS: An institution may submit one proposal from each constituent college or school that awards eligible degrees. To screen potential proposals for this competition, an internal deadline has been established. Principal Investigators (PIs) interested in submitting an application should provide the following proposal information to their Associate Dean by Friday, July 10, 2009 for internal review purposes:

1.  Project description (maximum length 4 pages) should include items a – d:

(a) describe the objectives or the proposed program, including the discipline area to be
    served by the scholarship funds and the number of scholarships to be provided;
(b) outline plans for the recruitment, mentoring and support of students;
(c) provide a management plan;
(d) address the intellectual merit and broader impacts of the proposed activity (the NSF
    Merit Review criteria).

2. Budget and budget justification (two pages).

3. Biographical sketches: include 2-page NSF format biographical sketch for PI and Co-PIs involved with the proposed program.

4. Review comments from any previous S-STEM submission.

PIs will be informed if their proposal is selected for submission in time to complete and process their proposal for final review.

REMARKS: Letters of intent (optional, but encouraged) must be submitted via the NSF FastLane system. Applications must be submitted via FastLane, NSF's web-based system for proposal submission and review. For more information about FastLane, or to register as a FastLane user, please contact Kathleen Foster in the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) at x3-4365 or kfoster@bu.edu.