Investing over $550M in the STEM workforce through
transformational graduate education
The discoveries made by STEM researchers touch nearly every aspect of our lives. Leaders in science, technology, engineering and math are pioneering solutions to the most challenging national and global challenges we face today, from harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to protecting communities from the effects of climate change.
For 10 years, the U.S. National Science Foundation Research Traineeship program (NSF NRT) has worked to ensure that the next generation of STEM leaders are prepared to drive the discoveries of tomorrow. Since 2014, NSF NRT has invested over $550 million in transforming STEM graduate education to align with the increasing complexities confronting communities, the country, and the planet.
By funding innovative programs at over 120 diverse research institutions in 45 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the program has provided dynamic opportunities for emerging researchers to create and implement vital, real-world solutions. Its unique approach is grounded in three core principles:
- Advancing convergent research: The challenges society faces demand new frameworks and paradigms that go beyond the confines of one discipline. Developing solutions for using AI ethically requires the input of data scientists, psychologists and many others, while addressing the impact of climate change on coastal communities might engage engineers, anthropologists and marine and environmental scientists. Since its beginnings, the NRT program has centered its support on programs that intentionally integrate knowledge across fields and disciplines, bringing researchers together to drive innovation.
- Increasing diversity and community engagement: Enriching STEM fields with diverse perspectives and insights from participants with different life experiences not only fosters innovation and drives groundbreaking discoveries but also provides valuable opportunities for underrepresented groups through enhanced equity and inclusion. The NRT program invests in projects and institutions that seek to deepen inclusivity in the STEM workforce. To date, the program has funded projects at a wide range of minority-serving institutions across the country to support the continued democratization of research funding. In addition, many NRT projects focus on elevating research models grounded in ethical and reciprocal community engagement. Trainees gain invaluable experience learning to engage community members with lived experience and ultimately learn to design solutions centered on community needs.
- Elevating professional development for diverse career choices: The complexity of today's societal challenges requires STEM graduate students to pursue a wider range of careers than ever before. From its beginnings, the NRT program has recognized the need to prepare graduate students for careers in diverse sectors, whether they're working in a national lab, corporation or nonprofit advocacy or policy-focused organization. NRTs provide trainees with professional development in key areas from communications to ethics and on-the-ground experiences through internships and field research.
Grounded in these principles, the NRT program has supported more than 5000 graduate students in becoming leaders in their fields, creating and implementing the solutions we need to make our world safer, healthier and more equitable for all.
2014-2018: Beginnings
Beginning in 2014 with 18 initial awards, the NRT program expanded funding to 56 institutions in 33 states across the country in its first four years. While the program sought proposals on any research theme of national priority, it specifically focused on supporting innovative interdisciplinary research in critical priority areas, including:
- Advancing data-enabled science and engineering by fueling breakthroughs in computational data-analysis that harness the power of using massive amounts of data
- Sparking Innovations at the nexus of food, energy and water systems to address challenges like population growth and migration, land use change, climate variability while maintaining vital ecosystem services
- Exploring how to harness the data revolution, in alignment with the 10 Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments, to develop a national-scale approach to research data infrastructure and a 21st-century data-capable workforce
Featured NRT Project: Supporting resilience in Indigenous communities at the University of Arizona (2017)
A team at the University of Arizona was awarded an NRT to launch the Indigenous Food Energy Water Security Sovereignty Training Program. Led by Karletta Chief, a Diné hydrologist, the project used a cutting-edge, culturally grounded curriculum to prepare trainees to work in partnership with Indigenous communities, with a focus on using off-grid technologies to address the lack of safe water energy, and food security on the Navajo Nation. Chief credits the NRT project with kickstarting needed changes at the University of Arizona, including introducing a doctoral minor in Indigenous food, energy and water systems, a professional seminar series that elevates Native scientists and the creation of the Indigenous Resilience Center.
NSF Innovations in Graduate Education: A powerful initiative with roots in the NRT program
When the NRT program was launched, it had two tracks: one for projects dedicated to education of STEM graduate students through an innovative, evidence-based traineeship approach, and another dedicated solely to piloting, evaluating and scaling bold new graduate education approaches. This Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Track specifically provided institutions of higher education with opportunities to explore potentially groundbreaking STEM research and education models. These opportunities proved powerful enough for NSF to launch the NSF Innovations in Graduate Education initiative in 2017, which has now invested over $40 million in over 80 projects in 35 states and the District of Columbia.
2019-2021: Exploring new frontiers in science
From 2019 through 2021, the NRT program continued to grow, funding new projects in over 58 diverse institutions in 30 states across the country, creating opportunities for thousands of graduate students. Projects continued to address a diverse range of priority research areas, with a focus on:
- Understanding the exploding use of AI technology, developing solutions to harness its power both effectively and ethically
- Examining dramatic changes in the future of work, applying technology to increase opportunities for workers and productivity for the American economy
- Navigating the new Arctic to better understand how Arctic change will fundamentally alter the climate, weather and ecosystems globally
Featured NRT Project: Bridging data-based and human-centered science to combat bias at Stony Brook University (2021)
Through an innovative NRT project, Stony Brook University is confronting one of AI's most serious ethical implications for society — the risk of increased systemic discriminatory bias. The project, Detecting and Addressing Bias in Data, Humans, and Institutions, seeks to build an interdisciplinary bridge between the data sciences and the human-centered sciences to explore how machine learning and AI are affected by bias at the deepest and most holistic levels.
2022-2024: A new phase of expansion
From 2022 through 2024, the NRT program has experienced a period of significant expansion. In recognition of the importance of supporting the STEM workforce of the future, the "CHIPS and Science Act of 2022" provided $6 million in funding for NRT projects. Institutions in nearly every state, as well as the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, have launched NRT projects to support emerging STEM researchers. They continue to approach a wide range of research themes with broad national significance and the potential to develop novel, innovative practices in graduate education. In addition to continued investigation into AI engineering, the NRT program supported projects focused on advancing quantum information science and engineering to develop next-generation technologies for sensing, computing, modeling and communicating.
Featured NRT: Project Harnessing the quantum revolution at The Ohio State University (2023)
A new and innovative NRT at The Ohio State University mirrors the interdisciplinary nature of quantum technology itself, as one of only a few NRT projects in the country not based in one single academic department. The Ohio State NRT team features faculty leaders in a wide range of departments, from physics, chemistry and mathematics to computer science, electrical engineering and materials science. In addition to a comprehensive curriculum, trainees will take part in industry internships while developing skills essential to success in the workplace, including ethics, technical writing, communication and more. By breaking down some of the barriers associated with traditional graduate education, this project will model new ways to develop a workforce prepared to capture the raw potential of quantum technologies.
To learn and explore more about the NRT program, visit: https://new.nsf.gov/funding/initiatives/nrt