Slots: Both slots taken. An eligible organization may participate in two Innovations in Graduate Education proposals per annual competition. Participation includes serving as a lead organization on a non-collaborative proposal or as a lead organization, non-lead organization, or subawardee on a collaborative proposal. Organizations participating solely as evaluators on projects are excluded from this limitation. Proposals that exceed the organizational eligibility limit (beyond the first two submissions based on timestamp) will be returned without review regardless of the organization’s role (lead, non-lead, subawardee) in the returned proposal.
Deadlines
Internal Deadline: Friday, December 6th, 2024, 5pm PT Closed.
LOI: N/A
External Deadline: March 25, 2025
Recurring Deadlines: March 25, Annually Thereafter
Award Information
Award Type: Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 16 to 20
Anticipated Award Amount: IGE Track 1 Awards (6 to 10 anticipated in FY 2024) are expected to be up to three (3) years in duration with a total budget between $300,000 and $500,000.
IGE Track 2 Awards (6 to 12 anticipated in FY 2024) are expected to be up to five (5) years in duration with a total budget up to $1,000,000.
The estimated number of awards and the anticipated funding amounts listed above for both Track 1 and Track 2 are for FY 2024. The number of awards and funding amounts in FY 2025 and FY 2026 are subject to the availability of funds.
Anticipated Funding Amount: The anticipated funding amount of $14,000,000 is for FY 2024.
Who May Serve as PI: There are no restrictions or limits.
Link to Award: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2024/nsf24529/nsf24529.htm
Process for Limited Submissions
PIs must submit their application as a Limited Submission through the Research Initiatives and Infrastructure (RII) Application Portal: https://rii.usc.edu/oor-portal/. Use the template provided here: RII Limited Submission Applicant Template
Materials to submit include:
- (1) Two-Page Proposal Summary (1” margins; single-spaced; standard font type, e.g. Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, or Georgia typeface; font size: 11 pt). Page limit includes references and illustrations. Pages that exceed the 2-page limit will be excluded from review. You must use the template linked above.
- (2) CV – (5 pages maximum)
Note: The portal requires information about the PIs in addition to department and contact information, including the 10-digit USC ID#, Gender, and Ethnicity. Please have this material prepared before beginning this application.
Purpose
The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program is designed to encourage development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that a) explore ways for graduate students in STEM master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers, or b) support research on the graduate education system and outcomes of systemic interventions and policies.
IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for the customization, implementation, and broader adoption of potentially transformative approaches to graduate education. The program supports piloting, testing, and validating novel models or activities and examining systemic innovations with high potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches.
The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity-building needs in graduate education. Strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science organizations, and academic partners are encouraged.
IGE RESEARCH PROJECTS
With this solicitation, NSF invites proposals for two types of projects (described below):
Track 1: Career Preparation and Student Success Pilots: IGE supports projects that generate knowledge about new, potentially transformative improvements in graduate education and workforce development that prepare the next generation of scientists and engineers for the full range of possible STEM career paths to advance the nation’s STEM enterprise.
Track 1 proposals focus on novel, pilot interventions in a single STEM program or at a single institution benefiting STEM students across multiple graduate programs. Track 1 will also support proposals examining the potential to extend a successful approach developed in one discipline or context to other disciplines or contexts. Examples of topics that Track 1 projects may address include, but are not limited to: student professional skill development; career preparation and vocational counseling; faculty training and faculty professional development; entrepreneurship; experiential and project-based learning; outreach and community engagement; international experiences; virtual networks; pedagogical innovations related to generative AI and large language models; personalized learning; STEM identity and belonging; and mentoring. Projects should address how the proposed approach would serve a broad population of students from diverse backgrounds.
Track 1 proposals may request a total budget (up to three years in duration) between $300,000 and $500,000.
Track 2: Systemic Interventions and Policies: IGE Track 2 awards support research projects that are expected to generate knowledge about the graduate education system and outcomes of systemic intervention and policies. IGE Track 2 projects may be implemented at different scales: within a field of study across multiple institutions and programs; across multiple fields of study within a single institution; or across multiple institutions and fields of study. Specifically encouraged are proposals that address one of the following six areas:
1. Funding models and funding mechanisms with a priority emphasis on studies on the effects of traineeships, fellowships, internships, and teaching and research assistantships on graduate student outcomes addressing differences by sex, race, ethnicity, and citizenship and student debt load.
2. Graduate student mental health and wellbeing with a priority emphasis on projects that include research, data collection, and assessment of the state of graduate student mental health and wellbeing, factors contributing to and consequences of poor graduate student mental health, and the development, adaptation, and assessment of evidence-based strategies and policies to support emotional wellbeing and mental health.
3. Mentoring policies, procedures, and models with a priority emphasis on studies of effects of graduate education and mentoring policies and procedures on degree completion, including differences by (i) sex, race and ethnicity, and citizenship; and (ii) student debt load.
4. Graduate research environments and teams with a priority emphasis on proposals to study differences in graduate research environments (e.g., academic, industry, government, hybrid; place-based; team vs. independent; formal and informal social supports) and associated outcomes or develop and assess new or adapted interventions, including approaches that improve mentoring relationships, develop conflict management skills, and promote healthy research teams;
5. Inclusive recruitment, admissions, retention, and completion strategies including, but not limited to, studies of the impact of previously implemented and/or new innovations in policies or other interventions designed to broaden participation in STEM graduate education of students who are members of groups underrepresented in the STEM workforce; and
6. Credentialing and degree milestones including, but not limited to, studies assessing the impact of systemic innovations in graduate degree milestones, micro-credentials, stackable credentials, and competency-based approaches on graduate education outcomes such as student recruitment, retention, completion, skills development, and employment readiness.
Track 2 proposals may request a total budget (up to five years in duration) up to $1,000,000.
Leadership teams (PI/Co-PIs) for both tracks are encouraged to include experts in education research, the learning sciences and/or evaluation, as appropriate, as well as in the principal science domain(s) as needed to design and implement a robust and appropriate research plan.
Visit our Institutionally Limited Submission webpage for more updates and other announcements.