Program Title:
NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM)
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. Undergraduate and
graduate degrees in most disciplinary fields in which NSF provides research funding (with some exclusions described elsewhere in this
document) are eligible 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 academically promising 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.
To be eligible, 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 and computer engineering, 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 (Ph.D. or other comparable doctoral degree)
S-STEM Eligible Disciplines
Disciplinary fields in which research is funded by NSF, including technology fields associated with the S-STEM-eligible disciplines (e.g.,
2
biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology, etc.).
The following degrees and disciplines are excluded:
Clinical degree programs, including medical degrees, nursing, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, and others not
funded by NSF, are ineligible degrees.
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.
Masters and Doctoral degrees in Business Administration are also excluded.
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), predominately
undergraduate institutions, and urban, suburban and rural public institutions.
1 an activity at a school or college pursued in addition to the normal course of study.
Cognizant Program Officer(s):
Please note that the following information is current at the time of publishing. See program website for any updates to the points of contact.
Alexandra Medina-Borja, Lead, telephone: (703) 292-7557, email: amedinab@nsf.gov
Mindy Capaldi, Co-Lead, telephone: (703) 292-2994, email: mcapaldi@nsf.gov
Michael J. Ferrara, Co-Lead, telephone: (703) 292-2635, email: mferrara@nsf.gov
Thomas D. Kim, Co-Lead, telephone: (703) 292-4458, email: tkim@nsf.gov
Michael J. Davis, telephone: (703) 292-5111, email: mdavis@nsf.gov
Connie K. Della-Piana, telephone: (703) 292-5309, email: cdellapi@nsf.gov
Jennifer T. Ellis, telephone: (703) 292-2125, email: jtellis@nsf.gov
Bonnie Green, telephone: (703) 292-5111, email: bongreen@nsf.gov
Abiodun Ilumoka, telephone: (703) 292-2703, email: ailumoka@nsf.gov
John Jackman, telephone: (703) 292-4816, email: jjackman@nsf.gov
Elise N. Lockwood, telephone: (703) 292-2410, email: elockwoo@nsf.gov
Jill K. Nelson, telephone: (703) 292-5111, email: jnelson@nsf.gov
Kalyn Owens, telephone: (703) 292-4615, email: kowens@nsf.gov
Eric J. Sheppard, telephone: (703) 292-5111, email: esheppar@nsf.gov
Keith A. Sverdrup, telephone: (703) 292-4671, email: ksverdru@nsf.gov
Paul Tymann, telephone: (703) 292-2832, email: ptymann@nsf.gov
Patrice Waller, telephone: (703) 292-4944, email: pwaller@nsf.gov
Huihui H. Wang, telephone: (703) 292-4894, email: hhwang@nsf.gov
Mindy Capaldi, telephone: (703) 292-2994, email: mcapaldi@nsf.gov
Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):
47.076 --- STEM Education
Award Information
Anticipated Type of Award:Standard Grant or Continuing Grant
Estimated Number of Awards:
50 to 90 subject to availability of funds.
Anticipated Funding Amount: $80,000,000 to $120,000,000
Awards for Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) projects may not exceed $1,000,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.
Awards for Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) projects may not exceed $2,500,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.
Awards for Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia) projects may not exceed $5,000,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.
Collaborative Planning projects may not exceed $100,000 for a maximum duration of 1 year.
Eligibility Information
Who May Submit Proposals:
Proposals may only be submitted by the following:
Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) - Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus
located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If
the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including
through use of subawards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at
the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.
Who May Serve as PI:
3
For Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) and Track 2 (Implementation: Single Institution) projects,
the Principal Investigator must be (a) a
faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM eligible discipline, or (b) an academic administrator who has taught in an S-STEM eligible
discipline in the past two years. The Principal Investigator must be able to provide the leadership and time 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 CoPrincipal Investigators, senior personnel or scholar mentors. Other members of the S-STEM project senior leadership and management team
may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators.
For Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia) projects, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM
eligible discipline, (b) an academic administrator who has taught an S-STEM eligible discipline in the past two years, or (c) a non-teaching
institutional, educational, or social science researcher investigating questions related to low-income student success.
The Principal
Investigator must be able to provide the leadership and time required to ensure the success of the project. Track 3 consortium proposals must
have a Principal Investigator who accepts overall management and leadership responsibility across all consortia members. Faculty from all
institutions and departments involved need to have roles in the project as either Co-Principal investigators, senior personnel or scholar
mentors. Other members of the S-STEM project senior 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 Inter-institutional Track 3 proposal. For
Collaborative Planning grants, the Principal Investigator must be (a) a faculty member teaching in any S-STEM eligible discipline, or (b) a
STEM administrator (department head or above) at one of the institutions within the envisioned inter-institutional consortia, or (c) a nonteaching institutional, educational, or social science researcher investigating questions related to low-income student success. The Principal
Investigator on a Collaborative Planning grant must demonstrate the capacity to convene and lead a team of inter-institutional S-STEM eligible
faculty,
social science or educational researchers, and administrators focused on low-income student success to write the desired proposal in
a 1-year timeframe.
Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 2
An institution may submit up to two proposals (either as a single institution or as a subawardee or a member of an inter-institutional consortia
project (lead or co-lead) 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).
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.
