AGENCY: National Science Foundation (NSF)/Directorate for Engineering (ENG)/Division of Engineering Education and Centers PROGRAM: Research Experiences for Teachers (RET): Supplements and Sites OBJECTIVES: This program provides funding to support the active involvement of K-12 teachers and community college faculty in engineering research in order to bring knowledge of engineering and technological innovation into their classrooms. The goal is to help build long-term collaborative partnerships between K-12 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers, community college faculty, and the NSF university research community by involving the teachers in engineering research and helping them translate their research experiences and new knowledge of engineering into classroom activities. Partnerships with inner city schools or other high need schools are especially encouraged, as is participation by underrepresented minorities, women, and persons with disabilities. This announcement features two mechanisms for support of in-service and pre-service K-12 teachers and/or community college faculty: RET supplements to ongoing ENG awards and new RET Site awards. RET supplements may be included in proposals for new or renewed NSF Directorate for Engineering (ENG) grants or as supplements to ongoing NSF ENG funded projects. RET Sites are based on independent proposals from engineering departments, schools or colleges to initiate and conduct research participation projects for a number of K-12 teachers and/or community college faculty. (1) RET Supplement -- A request for funding of an RET supplement should be made under an existing NSF/ENG award or within a proposal for a new or renewal NSF/ENG award. The description of the RET activity should clearly articulate in some detail the form and nature of the prospective K-12 teacher or community college faculty member's involvement in the Principal Investigator's ongoing or proposed research. It is expected that the RET supplement experience will also lead to transfer of new knowledge to classroom activities. Therefore, the RET supplement description should also indicate what type of sustained follow-up will be provided to help in translating the teacher's research experience into classroom practice. (2) RET Site -- An RET Site project is based on an independent proposal to provide groups of in service and pre-service K-12 teachers and community college faculty with discovery-based learning experiences in Engineering laboratories and facilities, which will then be incorporated into their classroom activities during the school year. An An RET Site project may be conducted during the summer, academic year, or both, and must have a well-defined focus, with clearly articulated projects and activities for teachers or community college faculty. An RET Site proposal must be submitted by a College, School, or Department of Engineering and must involve teachers and/or community college faculty in an engineering research project for a duration of at least six weeks In those cases where limited availability of specialized facilities, such as clean rooms, electron microscope, etc., make it possible to offer an extraordinary experience in a shorter timeframe, a research component of a shorter duration may be proposed with appropriate justification. Because the RET experience will also lead to the transfer of new knowledge to classroom activities, the proposal must indicate the type of sustained follow-up that will be provided to translate the teacher/community college faculty research experience into classroom practice. The proposal must also provide a plan for evaluation of the proposed project and the classroom impact. ELIGIBILITY RESTRICTIONS: No more than two RET Site proposals may be submitted by an institution as the lead institution. The principal investigator of an ENG RET Site proposal must have a faculty appointment within a College/Department of Engineering or a College/Department of Engineering Technology within the submitting U.S. academic institution. An individual may serve as PI on no more than one RET Site proposal. DEADLINE:
FUNDING INFORMATION: The duration of an RET Site grant may be for up to three years, and the program may be carried out during summer months, academic year, or both. The total cost per teacher is limited to $10,000, which includes funds for the teacher's stipend and up to $2,000 for the cost of materials, equipment, software, and other supplies for developing classroom instructions and experiments. The total amount that may be requested for an RET Site may not exceed $500,000 for a duration of up to three years. An administrative allowance (limited to 25% of the teacher's stipend only) is permitted in lieu of indirect costs. It is expected that teacher/community college faculty stipends will be adjusted according to their length of residency and that stipends for in-service teachers will generally be higher than those for pre-service teachers (education majors who are still pursuing their degrees). RET Supplements are supported by the various disciplinary research programs within the Directorate for Engineering. An RET Supplement request may be included in a proposal for a new or renewal ENG grant or cooperative agreement or submitted later as a supplement to an ongoing award. The duration of the RET Supplement will be one year and the project may be carried out during summer months, academic year, or both. The total cost of the supplement is limited to $10,000 per teacher. The budget includes a teacher's stipend and up to $1,000 for the cost of materials, equipment, software and other supplies for developing classroom instructions and experiments. An administrative allowance (limited to 25% of the teacher's stipend only and included in the $10,000 total) is provided in lieu of indirect costs. Normally, funds may be available for one to two teachers, but exceptions will be considered. Center or large research efforts may request support for a number of teachers commensurate with the size and nature of the project. AGENCY CONTACT:
INTERNAL REVIEW PROCESS: To screen potential proposals for this competition, an internal deadline has been established. Principal Investigators (PIs) interested in submitting a preliminary proposal should provide the following proposal information to their Associate Dean by Monday, October 5, 2009 for internal review purposes: 1. Project description (maximum length 4 pages) should include items a – e: (a) describe the objectives of the proposed RET site, the timeline and the planned 2. Budget and budget justification (2 pages). 3. Biographical sketches: include 2-page NSF format biographical sketch for PI and Co-PIs. 4. Review comments from any previous RET submission. Following the Dean’s assessment of the internal application, it will be forwarded to Associate Provost Joan Kirkendall for review and then to the Office of the VP for Research for final selection. PIs will be informed if their proposal is selected for submission and advised of institutional cost-sharing commitments in time to complete and process their proposal for final review. REMARKS: RET Site applications must be submitted electronically using either the NSF FastLane system or Grants.gov. Collaborative proposals must be submitted via FastLane. 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. Information about Grants.gov for BU Investigators can be obtained on the OSP website at: http://www.bu.edu/osp/pdf/Grantsgovinfo.pdf. In addition, for investigators interested in submitting proposals via Grants.gov, NSF has published the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide which may be found online at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf. Investigators should contact the OSP Assistant Director assigned to their school or department as soon as possible to coordinate submission through either FastLane or Grants.gov. A request for an RET Supplement to an existing award must be submitted using the “Supplemental Funding Request” module of FastLane. A request for an RET supplement submitted as part of a proposal for a new or renewed grant is should be included in the proposal according to the instructions provided in the RET program guidelines. Complete program guidelines and application material (NSF 07-557 and NSF GPG 09-29) may be obtained from the web site listed above or from the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP). Please distribute this notice to any faculty or staff members who might be interested in the information. For more information, please contact the OSP at X3-4365 or ospinfo@bu.edu, or visit the OSP web site at http://www.bu.edu/osp. |
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