July 15, 2005

Leadership Awards

July 22, 2005

Institutional Transformation Awards

January 27, 2006

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination

ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers

The pursuit of new scientific and engineering knowledge and its use in service to society requires the talent, perspectives and insight that can only be assured by increasing diversity in the science, engineering and technological workforce. Despite advances made in the proportion of women choosing to pursue science and engineering careers, women continue to be significantly underrepresented in almost all science and engineering fields, constituting only approximately 25% of the science and engineering workforce at large, and less than 21% of science and engineering faculty in 4-year colleges and universities. Women from minority groups underrepresented in science and engineering constitute only about 2% of science and engineering faculty in 4-year colleges and universities.

The goal of the ADVANCE program is to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce. Creative strategies to realize this goal are sought from men and women. Members of underrepresented minority groups and individuals with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply. Proposals that address the participation and advancement of women from underrepresented minority groups are encouraged.

In 2005-2006, this program will support the following types of ADVANCE Projects:

Institutional Transformation Awards

Institutional Transformation Awards support academic institutional transformation to promote the increased participation and advancement of women scientists and engineers in academe. These awards support innovative and comprehensive programs for institution-wide change.

Deadline July 22, 2005

Leadership Awards

Leadership Awards support the efforts of individuals, small groups, or organizations in developing national and/or discipline-specific leadership in enabling the full participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

Deadline July 15, 2005

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Awards

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Awards support the analysis, adaptation, dissemination and use of existing innovative materials and practices that have been demonstrated to be effective in increasing representation and participation of women in academic science and engineering careers.

Deadline January 27, 2006

Currently women make up less than 21% of science and engineering faculty in 4-year colleges and universities, and hold an even smaller percentage of high-ranked positions. Persistent under-representation of senior women faculty members is likely to affect women students' critical relationships with mentors, full participation as members of research and education teams, and self-identification as potential researchers. This situation creates a minimizing effect on the number of women choosing to pursue science and engineering careers. A number of factors have been hypothesized to account for the lower proportion of women in the senior ranks of science and engineering faculties, e.g. differential effects of conflicts between work and family demands, unequal access to resources such as space and supporting facilities, underrepresentation of women in important departmental decision-making processes, to name but a few. The cumulative effect of such diverse factors has been to create formidable barriers to the advancement of women in academic science and engineering. To address these and other challenges, the ADVANCE Program provides Institutional Transformation Awards, Leadership Awards, and Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Awards.

The goal of the ADVANCE Program is to increase the participation of women in the scientific and engineering workforce through the increased representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. Through these awards, NSF seeks to support new approaches to improving the climate for women in U.S. academic institutions and to facilitate women's advancement to the highest ranks of academic leadership. Creative approaches to realize the goal of this program are sought from men and women. Proposals may include international activities that directly support the goals of ADVANCE.

Institutional Transformation Awards

Despite some progress toward realizing gender-neutral attitudes, policies, and practices in academe, women scientists and engineers continue to be significantly underrepresented in some science and engineering fields and underrepresented in senior positions in science and engineering in general in the Nation's colleges and universities. There is increasing recognition that the lack of women's full participation at the senior level of academe is often a systemic consequence of academic culture. To catalyze change that will transform academic environments in ways that enhance the participation and advancement of women in science and engineering, NSF seeks proposals for institutional transformation.

Institutional Transformation awards provide flexibility to proposing institutions to define and implement effective approaches to increase the participation and advancement of women faculty members into the senior and leadership ranks of science and engineering, and to implement the changes necessary to institutionalize those approaches through changes to institutional policies and practices. By supporting the groundwork necessary to transform institutional practices systemically, the Institutional Transformation Awards seek to create positive, sustainable, and permanent change in academic climates.

Projects may be directed at review and transformation of multiple departments or schools of science or engineering, or of an entire institution or group of institutions. Activities that enhance the participation of women students in science and engineering should not be the primary or major focus of proposals.

Institutional Transformation proposals must clearly state the conceptual framework for the proposed project, identify relevant research findings, and build on existing research and practice. NSF anticipates that publicly available findings from earlier ADVANCE Program awards will be incorporated as appropriate into proposals for institutional transformation, and that research perspectives relevant to the issues ADVANCE seeks to address will be reflected in the design of proposed projects. Proposals should demonstrate the connection between the conceptual framework, the issues identified through analysis of institutional data, and the proposed plan.

It is expected that each project will complement its efforts with formative evaluation. This evaluation should be the basis for strengthening implementation over the course of the project and for annual reporting to NSF. Proposals should provide suggestions of objectives, benchmarks, and indicators of progress that will inform reviewers of the proposers' understanding of essential factors for judging accountability, both quantitative (indicators of women's representation at various academic ranks, in recruitment and promotion pools, for example) and qualitative (the process of change in organizational culture, experiences of academic climate).

Within institutional transformation proposals, attention to the issues associated with transitions between career stages is encouraged. Movement from post-doctoral positions to tenure track faculty positions, transitions associated with re-entry to full time faculty positions following leave for dependent care, or challenges of moving from one academic institution to another as part of a dual-career couple, all pose risks for women scientists and engineers to fall behind or to decide to leave science because flexible institutional options are not available that meet their needs during these transitional periods.

Activities that focus on increasing the participation and advancement of women from underrepresented groups are encouraged. As indicated by the extremely low number of women of color in academic science and engineering careers, different strategies may be required to address their low representation in science and engineering.

Institutional Transformation proposals must include a management plan that details how project activities will be organized. This should describe leadership, participants and partners. A site's capacity to organize its efforts coherently and strategically, and to document progress, will be a key to its success. Its director and senior management must be able to develop and lead a team to fulfill a clearly articulated shared vision. The director is responsible for the management, staffing, and resource allocation of the program; for administering the award in accordance with NSF policies and the terms of the grant or cooperative agreement; for serving as the liaison between the site and a national network of ADVANCE sites; and for arranging for external evaluation of the project’s activities. Successful proposals will provide clear evidence of institutional readiness to provide necessary administrative functions in support of the project, for example, appropriate office space and clear access to institutional leadership. Institutions are encouraged to provide evidence that the challenges of administering a project that spans various administrative units have been considered. Attention should be paid to the sustainability of the efforts past the term of the award.

The institutional transformation leadership team must include appropriate social science expertise. This expertise will contribute to analysis and innovation of institutional policies and practices that are informed by current scholarly knowledge of gender issues and of organizational effectiveness.

The program encourages dissemination of knowledge gained about institutional transformation to organizations and institutions that can implement reforms based on what has been learned. Since the goal of the program is to contribute to a national knowledge base, it is important to show that the investigator is aware of appropriate channels -- specific peer-reviewed journals, publications, web sites, professional association conferences -- and is committed (including allocating resources) to make sure that the investment in the project leads to this contribution and that peers in the community will benefit. The ADVANCE Program welcomes creative uses of cyberinfrastructure for enabling and enhancing Institutional Transformation projects.

Awards are for up to five years. Additional reporting requirements apply for Institutional Transformation awards.

Leadership Awards

Leadership awards provide support for national and/or discipline-specific leadership in meeting the challenges of increasing the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. These awards are available to support efforts of individuals, small groups, and organizations such as professional societies to advance the diversity of the academic science and engineering workforce. Awards will enable awardees to sustain, intensify, and initiate new activities designed to increase the participation and advancement of women scientists and engineers in academe.

In general, Leadership awards will support work that has systemic impact. Leadership in meeting the challenges of increasing the number of women in science and engineering takes many forms, including for example, development and implementation of new strategies and programs that enable women with advanced degrees or equivalent training to establish or re-establish successful academic careers and advance into positions of academic leadership; programs to encourage the adoption of best practices for advancing faculty development among women in science or engineering, or programs for career advising to clarify pathways for reaching senior professorships and senior academic administrative and leadership positions. Innovative approaches that address particular career stages are also welcomed, for example advancing from post-doctoral appointments to tenure track positions, from associate to full professor, or from senior faculty to academic leadership positions.

Activities that enhance the participation of women students in science and engineering may be included in proposals, but should not be the primary focus of proposals. The primary focus of activities under this category should be on faculty and leadership development.

Proposals must include letters of support (at least 1 but no more than 3) attesting to the proposer's leadership in contributing to increasing participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

The ADVANCE Program welcomes creative uses of cyberinfrastructure for enabling and enhancing Leadership projects.

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID)

Awards for adaptation, implementation and dissemination provide support to broaden the impact of institutional transformation efforts, and to expand the network of institutions and individuals that are equipped with knowledge about the institutional factors underlying the underrepresentation of women in academic science and engineering. These awards seek innovative approaches to adapting and implementing exemplary programs, policies, and practices for increasing the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers, particularly at the senior faculty and leadership levels. PAID proposals are expected to provide evidence that the exemplary materials and practices have been effective on other campuses, to explain why they are expected to be effective in this new situation, and to provide a plan to evaluate them, including any necessary adaptations, in this new environment.

For institutions not currently supported through ADVANCE Institutional Transformation awards, PAID awards could provide support for ‘mini’ transformation efforts, for example at a departmental level, or a college level. In addition, PAID awards may support workshop and planning activities that emphasize, for example, approaches to data collection; designing, executing and analyzing climate surveys; or programs that encourage development of a cohort of faculty to be leaders of institutional change efforts at other institutions. Through the subsequent synthesis of evaluation results, NSF seeks to continue building knowledge about effective institutional practices and policies (what works under what circumstances), thereby strengthening the cycle of innovation. Institutions under served in the current ADVANCE portfolio, including undergraduate institutions, minority-serving institutions, and women’s colleges are encouraged to apply in order that a wide variety of experience and practice can be included in clarifying the persistent institutional factors that affect the career advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

PAID proposals should address the relevance of the expected outcomes and impacts of the activities to the future goals of the organization and to the goals of the ADVANCE program. Activities of various scales are welcome; budgets are expected to be appropriately scaled to the size and complexity of the institution and/or proposal

For current ADVANCE Institutional Transformation awardees, PAID awards provide an opportunity to streamline and focus continued efforts on programs that work and areas that are in serious need of continued effort, based on evidence generated in the first grant period, while pursuing creative means of disseminating learning, methods, and practices to a wider community beyond the awardee institution.

Proposals that are designed as partnerships between more than one institution are encouraged. Such partnerships may be between an existing ADVANCE awardee and a new partner, or between two or more institutions that have not previously received an ADVANCE award. Partnership proposals may be submitted as either two collaborative proposals or as a subaward to a partnering institution. Partnership proposals should offer a clear rationale for the partnership as well as the value-added to each partnering institution.

All projects supported by PAID seek to speed the diffusion of innovative approaches to transformation of institutional climate, practices, and policies that increase the participation and advancement of women science and engineering faculty. The ADVANCE Program welcomes creative uses of cyberinfrastructure for enabling and enhancing PAID projects.

Institutional Transformation Awards

Institutional Transformation proposals may be submitted by academic institutions of higher learning in the U.S., its territories or possessions, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, that award degrees in a field supported by NSF. Partnerships involving industry, government, professional societies and other not-for-profit organizations are encouraged but not required; however, in the case of partnerships, the lead partner organization must be an academic institution of higher learning and must accept overall management responsibility for the activity. Government organizations (other than academic institutions of higher learning) are not eligible to apply, but may participate in partnerships when the lead partner organization is an academic institution of higher learning with overall management responsibility for the activity. Partner organizations and institutions must be based in the U.S., its territories or possessions, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Limit on number of proposals: Organizations may submit only one Institutional Transformation proposal.

Organizations currently holding NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation awards are not eligible to apply for an institutional transformation award.

Leadership Awards, and Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Awards

Limit on Number of Proposals: There is no limit on the number of Leadership or Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination proposals that an organization may submit.

Estimated program budget, number of awards and average award size/duration are subject to the availability of funds.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $10,000,000 - NSF anticipates having $6M in FY2005 and $4M in FY2006 for new awards under this solicitation, pending the availability of funds.

Institutional Transformation Awards: Annual budgets may not exceed $750,000, with duration of up to five years. Awards will be made as cooperative agreements with start dates between October 2005 and January 2006.

Leadership Awards: Total budgets may not exceed $300,000, with duration of up to three years. Awards must start between October 2005 and January 2006.

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Awards: Total budgets may not exceed $500,000, with duration of up to three years. Awards must start between September 2006 and January 2007.

Cover Sheet: The title of the proposal should include the appropriate ADVANCE project name: “ADVANCE Institutional Transformation Award;” “ADVANCE Leadership Award;” or ADVANCE Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination Award.”

Project Summary: Provide an abstract of up to 250 words describing the proposed project.

Project Description: Provide the following materials as appropriate, (not to exceed 15 pages including Results from Prior NSF Support):

Institutional Transformation Awards

Provide a clear and concise plan to enable effective and sustainable institutional transformation designed to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. In the plan:

Discuss the current status of women at the participating institution(s)/department(s) with supporting documentation and data, including data on minority women from groups underrepresented in science and engineering.

Describe the specific barriers to women's advancement that the project is intended to address; supply relevant data. Discuss the vision, goals, and anticipated impact of the proposed project. Be specific about what is new and innovative. Describe synergy among project components.

Describe the conceptual framework for the proposed project, drawing on relevant research findings. Include reference as appropriate to publicly available findings from earlier ADVANCE Program awards. Clarify the connection between the conceptual framework, the issues identified through analysis of institutional data, and the proposed plan.

Describe specific strategies for expanding the participation of women from minority groups underrepresented in science and engineering.

Describe a performance plan and methodology that relates the project goals to indicators and specific measurements for assessing progress toward goal achievement. This assessment should involve both formative evaluation as well as evaluators who are external to the project, who can render an objective evaluation, and whose expertise is relevant to the issues affecting the participation and advancement of women in science and engineering.

Describe formative evaluation strategies. Include objectives, benchmarks, and indicators of progress that will be used for assessing project effectiveness. Describe how feedback from formative evaluation will be used to strengthen the project over the course of the award.

Define a management plan that details how project activities will be organized. The plan should describe leadership, participants and partners. Provide evidence of institutional readiness to provide necessary administrative functions in support of the project, for example, appropriate office space and clear access to institutional leadership, as well as evidence that the challenges of administering a project that spans various administrative units have been considered. Describe plans for sustainability of the efforts past the term of the award. Include discussion of provision for data collection to support documentation and reporting of project progress and indicators. Identify project participants, their expertise, roles and level of effort on the project. Indicate how current scholarly knowledge of gender issues and of organizational effectiveness is incorporated through the project participants.

Describe factors that support the sustainability of project results, including leadership involvement and commitment, participation of senior faculty and academic administrators, and institutional readiness to participate in development of appropriate policies and practices and long-term evaluation and intervention.

Detail plans for sharing best practices during and at the end of the award period.

Leadership Awards

If not an academic institution, provide a brief discussion of the submitting organization, its mission and its relevance to the ADVANCE goal.

Discuss the vision, goals, and anticipated impact of the proposed project. Be specific about what is new and innovative. Describe the specific barriers to women's full participation in science and engineering that the proposed project addresses; reference relevant literature and existing effective practice.

Describe in detail activities upon which the Leadership Award funds will be spent. Describe extent and type of impact anticipated from proposed activities. Budget explanation notes should clarify how the funds will be allocated and the time commitment of the PI with respect to the proposed activities.

Describe the qualifications and/or achievements of the PI and submitting organization in increasing the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers.

Describe strategies for expanding the participation of women from minority groups underrepresented in science and engineering.

Submit a plan of action, including an assessment and evaluation component that incorporates indicators and other specific measurements for ascertaining progress in achieving the goals of the proposed activities.

Describe how results will be disseminated to other potential cohorts or partners, and in the peer-reviewed literature.

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Awards

Describe why the new approaches are needed for the proposer’s institution or organization, including relevant data on the status of women faculty in science and engineering at the proposer’s institution.

Describe the materials to be adapted and implemented in the new setting. Include all necessary references and citations, especially those demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed approach in the past and their applicability to the new institution(s).

Describe benchmarks and methods for evaluating the success of these approaches following the adaptation and implementation in the new setting.

Describe timelines for the evaluation process and how activities may be changed as a result of findings from these exercises

Provide evidence of institutional support for the proposed adaptation and implementation effort.

Provide a performance plan that outlines the management structure for the project and provides a timeline for project implementation..

Describe how results will be disseminated to other potential cohorts or partners, and in the peer-reviewed literature.

Describe details of any proposed partnerships

For current ADVANCE awardees that propose to streamline and focus continued efforts on programs that work and on areas that are in serious need of continued effort,

Present evidence generated in the first grant period of effectiveness of programs and of need for continued effort.

Describe indicators of institutional support for sustainability of project results.

July 15, 2005
Leadership Awards

July 22, 2005
Institutional Transformation Awards

January 27, 2006
Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination

For Institutional Transformation Awards, awardees will be required to submit annual reports on progress and plans that will be used as a basis for performance review to determine the level of continued funding. To support this review, and management of the institutional transformation activities undertaken, awardees will be required to develop a set of management goals and performance indicators for submission annually to NSF. These reporting requirements will be included in the cooperative agreement that is binding between the awardee institution and the NSF.

For all other ADVANCE Awards, standard NSF reporting requirements apply.