NSF 09-567: NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM)

Program Solicitation NSF 09-567

National Science Foundation Directorate for Education & Human Resources Division of Undergraduate Education

Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (optional) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

     August 11, 2009

      (for the September 14, 2009 competition)

     July 14, 2010

      (for the August 12, 2010, competition)

     July 13, 2011

      (for the August 11, 2011, competition)

Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

     September 14, 2009

     August 12, 2010

     August 11, 2011

Important Information And Revision Notes

A revised version of the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), NSF 11-1, was issued on October 1, 2010 and is effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after January 18, 2011. Please be advised that the guidelines contained in NSF 11-1 apply to proposals submitted in response to this funding opportunity.

Cost Sharing: The PAPPG has been revised to implement the National Science Board's recommendations regarding cost sharing. Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited. In order to assess the scope of the project, all organizational resources necessary for the project must be described in the Facilities, Equipment and Other Resources section of the proposal. The description should be narrative in nature and must not include any quantifiable financial information. Mandatory cost sharing will only be required when explicitly authorized by the NSF Director. See the PAPP Guide Part I: Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) Chapter II.C.2.g(xi) for further information about the implementation of these recommendations.

Data Management Plan: The PAPPG contains a clarification of NSF's long standing data policy. All proposals must describe plans for data management and sharing of the products of research, or assert the absence of the need for such plans. FastLane will not permit submission of a proposal that is missing a Data Management Plan. The Data Management Plan will be reviewed as part of the intellectual merit or broader impacts of the proposal, or both, as appropriate. Links to data management requirements and plans relevant to specific Directorates, Offices, Divisions, Programs, or other NSF units are available on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/dmp.jsp. See
Chapter II.C.2.j of the GPG for further information about the implementation of this requirement.

Postdoctoral Researcher Mentoring Plan: As a reminder, each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include, as a supplementary document, a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. Please be advised that if required, FastLane will not permit submission of a proposal that is missing a Postdoctoral Researcher Mentoring Plan. See Chapter II.C.2.j of the GPG for further information about the implementation of this requirement.

Revision Summary

The provision for a planning year before scholarships are awarded has been eliminated, since in most cases scholarships can be awarded for the fall semester following notification of a grant.

The amounts allowed for administrative expenses and student support expenses have been changed.

A section on dissemination has been added to the narrative in section V.A.5.j.

Summary Of Program Requirements

General Information

Program Title:

NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM)

Synopsis of Program:

This program makes grants to institutions of higher education to support scholarships for academically talented, financially needy students, enabling them to enter the workforce following completion of an associate; baccalaureate; or graduate-level degree in science and engineering disciplines. Grantee institutions are responsible for selecting scholarship recipients, reporting demographic information about student scholars, and managing the S-STEM project at the institution.

The program does not make scholarship awards directly to students; students should contact their institution’s Office of Financial Aid for this and other scholarship opportunities.

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.

• Joyce B. Evans, Lead Program Director, 835 N, telephone: (703) 292-5098, email: jevans@nsf.gov

• Louis J. Everett, 835, telephone: (703) 292-4645, email: leverett@nsf.gov

• Joseph Grabowski, 835, telephone: (703) 292-8670, email: jgrabows@nsf.gov

Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):

• 47.076 --- Education and Human Resources

Award Information

Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards: 80 to 100

Anticipated Funding Amount: $50,000,000 to $70,000,000 annually, for new and continuing activities, pending availability of funds. Awards are normally not expected to exceed $600,000 in total. Annual budgets are limited to $225,000.

Eligibility Information

Organization Limit:

Proposals may only be submitted by the following:

• Institutions of higher education (as defined in section 101 (a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965) in the United States and its territories that grant associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degrees in the disciplines listed in section IV.C. are invited to submit proposals.

PI Limit:

The Principal Investigator must be a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM disciplines who can provide the leadership 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 responsibility. Other members of the S-STEM project management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

An Institution may submit one proposal from each constituent school or college that awards degrees in an eligible field. See Section IV.A. for details.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI:

None Specified

Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

• Letters of Intent: Submission of Letters of Intent is optional. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

• Preliminary Proposal Submission: Not Applicable

• Full Proposals:
  • Full Proposals submitted via FastLane: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, Part I: Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) Guidelines apply. The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg.
  • Full Proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=grantsgovguide)

B. Budgetary Information

• Cost Sharing Requirements: Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited.

• Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: No indirect costs are allowed.

• Other Budgetary Limitations: Other budgetary limitations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

C. Due Dates

• Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (optional) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): 

       August 11, 2009

        (for the September 14, 2009 competition)

       July 14, 2010

        (for the August 12, 2010, competition)

       July 13, 2011

        (for the August 11, 2011, competition)

• Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

       September 14, 2009

       August 12, 2010

       August 11, 2011

Proposal Review Information Criteria

Merit Review Criteria: National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review considerations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Award Administration Information

Award Conditions: Standard NSF award conditions apply.

Reporting Requirements: Additional reporting requirements apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Agency Contacts

Other Information

I. Introduction

The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program provides institutions with funds for student scholarships to encourage and enable academically talented but financially needy students to enter the workforce following completion of an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree in fields of science, technology, engineering, or mathematics. The program was established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in accordance with the American Competitiveness and Workforce Improvement Act of 1998 (P.L. 105-277) as modified by P.L. 106-313 and P.L.108-447 in 2004. The Act reflects the national need to increase substantially the number of American scientists and engineers.

II. Program Description

A. The S-STEM program emphasizes the importance of recruiting students to science and engineering disciplines, mentoring and supporting students through degree completion, and partnering with employers to facilitate student career placement in the STEM workforce. Participating institutions are expected to support the goals of the S-STEM program including:

• Improved educational opportunities for students;
• Increased retention of students to degree achievement;
• Improved student support programs at institutions of higher education;
• Increased numbers of well-educated and skilled employees in technical areas of national need.

Students to be awarded scholarships must demonstrate academic talent and financial need. In addition, they must be US citizens, permanent residents, nationals, or refugees. Refer to Section IV.C. (Scholarship Recipients) in this Solicitation for details.

It is expected that scholarship recipients will achieve at least one of the following by the end of the scholarship award period:

• Receive an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree in one of the S-STEM disciplines;
• Transfer from an associate degree program to a baccalaureate degree program or from an undergraduate program to a graduate program in one of the S-STEM disciplines;
• Successfully complete a stage within an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree program in one of the S-STEM disciplines that, in the particular institution, is documented and described as a point of unusually high attrition.

S-STEM grants may be made for up to five years and may provide individual scholarships of up to $10,000 per year, depending on financial need. Grantee institutions may elect to support individual student scholars for four years or may elect to support several cohorts of students for a shorter duration within the award period.

Please refer to Section V.A.5., Project Description, for details about specific S-STEM project requirements.

B. The following sources may be of interest to proposers in thinking about an S-STEM project. They represent some of the literature about effective scholarship programs. The list is not a complete bibliography, only a selection from the literature.

AMS Members and Industry/Government Sponsors Help AMS Launch a New Scholarship Program. (2006). [Feature Article]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 86(12), 1821-1822.

AMS Fellowship/Scholarship Program: A Continuing Tradition of Success. (2006). [Feature Article]. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 87(9), 1233.

Baker, J. G., & Finn, M. G. (2008). Can a Merit-Based Scholarship Program Increase Science and Engineering Baccalaureates? [Feature Article]. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 31(3), 322-337.

Besterfield-Sacre, M., C. Atman, and L. Shuman (1995) "How Freshman Attitudes Change in the Freshman Year, American Society for Engineering Education Conference, June.

Besterfield-Sacre, M., C. Atman, and L. Shuman, (1997) "Characteristics of Freshmen Engineering Students: Models for Determining Student Attrition in Engineering," Journal of Engineering Education, April.

Boyer, E. L. (1996). The Scholarship of Engagement. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 49(7), 18-33.

Chesler, Naomi C. and Chesler, Mark A. (2002), "Gender-Informed Mentoring Strategies for Women Engineering Scholars: On Establishing a Caring Community," Journal of Engineering Education, ASEE January 2002, 49-52.

Dong, L., & Chapman, D. W. (2008). The Chinese Government Scholarship Program: An Effective Form of Foreign Assistance? [Feature Article]. International Review of Education, 54(2), 155-173.

Felder, R. M. (1994) "A Longitudinal Study of Engineering Student Performance and Retention, Part III - Gender Differences in Student Performance and Attitudes," Journal of Engineering Education, 151-163.

Fife, J. D., & Leslie, L. L. (1976). The college student grant study: The effectiveness of student grant and scholarship programs in promoting equal educational opportunity. Research in Higher Education, 4(4), 317-333.

National Science Foundation (2008), Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2007, National Science Foundation, Arlington, VA.

NEHA's scholarship program: focusing on the future. (1995). [Feature Article]. Journal of Environmental Health, 58, 41.

Olds, B.M., Moskal, B.M. and Miller, R.L. "Assessment in Engineering Education: Evolution, Approaches and Future Collaborations." Journal of Engineering Education. January 2005, pp. 13-25.

Planty, M. et al (2008), The Condition of Education 2008, National Center for Education Statistics, US Department of Education, Washington, D.C.

Seymour, Elaine and Hewitt, Nancy (1997), Talking About Leaving: Why Undergraduates leave the Sciences, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado.

Shapiro, N.S. and Levine, J.H., (1999), Creating Learning Communities, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco.

Stewart, G. L., Russell, R. B., & Wright, D. (1997). The comprehensive role of student affairs in African American student retention. Journal of College Admission, 154, pp. 6-11.

Stewart, T., Wolf, P., Wolf, P. J., & Cornman, S. Q. (2007). Parent and Student Voices on the First Year of the DC Opportunity Scholarship Program. [Feature Article]. Peabody Journal of Education, 82(2/3), 311-386.

Tinto, V., (1997) Universities as Learning Organizations. About Campus, 1(6), pp. 2-4.

Thomas S. Dee, L. A. J. ( 1999). Who Loses HOPE? Attrition from Georgia's College Scholarship Program. Southern Economic Journal, , 66.

Weidner, V. R., & Herrington, C. D. (2006). Are Parents Informed Consumers: Evidence From the Florida McKay Scholarship Program. [Feature Article]. Peabody Journal of Education, 81(1), 27-56.

III. Award Information

The number and size of awards will vary depending upon the scope of projects and availability of funds. Approximately $50-$70 million is expected to be available annually, for new and continuing activities, pending availability of funds, to support approximately 80-100 new S-STEM awards.

Awards are normally not expected to exceed $600,000 in total. Annual budgets are limited to $225,000. The award duration may be up to five years within the annual and overall budget limits. The limits include the funds for administrative and support functions as well as the scholarship funds. (See section V.A.8. below for details on the budget.)

IV. Eligibility Information

Organization Limit:

Proposals may only be submitted by the following:

• Institutions of higher education (as defined in section 101 (a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965) in the United States and its territories that grant associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degrees in the disciplines listed in section IV.C. are invited to submit proposals.

PI Limit:

The Principal Investigator must be a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM disciplines who can provide the leadership 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 responsibility. Other members of the S-STEM project management team may be listed as Co-Principal Investigators.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization:

An Institution may submit one proposal from each constituent school or college that awards degrees in an eligible field. See Section IV.A. for details.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI:

None Specified

Additional Eligibility Info:

A. Institutions

1. Institutions of higher education (as defined in section 101 (a) of the Higher Education Act of 1965) in the United States and its territories that grant associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degrees in the disciplines listed in section C, below, are invited to submit proposals.
2. An institution may submit one proposal from each constituent college or school that awards eligible degrees. (For example, a university with a College of Engineering, a School of Life Sciences, and a College of Arts and Sciences could submit one proposal from each for a total of three. However, within a College of Engineering, if the Department of Electrical Engineering were submitting a proposal, a proposal from the Department of Mechanical Engineering could be submitted only in a subsequent year. The two departments could also submit a proposal jointly.)
3. An institution without constituent schools (for example, a 4-year college or a community college) may submit one proposal each year.
4. An institution that is part of a larger system is considered separate for this purpose if it is geographically separate and has its own chief academic officer.

B. Principal Investigator

The Principal Investigator must be a faculty member currently teaching in one of the S-STEM disciplines who can provide the leadership 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 responsibility. Other members of the S-STEM project management team may be listed as Co-Principal investigators.

C. Scholarship Recipients

S-STEM scholarship recipients will be selected by the awardee institution, but must:

• be citizens of the United States, nationals of the United States (as defined in section 101(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), aliens admitted as refugees under section 207 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, or aliens lawfully admitted to the United States for permanent residence;
• be enrolled full time in a program leading to an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree in one of the following disciplines. Enrollment must be full-time for each semester or quarter a student receives a scholarship.

• biological sciences (except medicine and other clinical fields);

• physical sciences, including physics, chemistry, astronomy, and materials science;

• mathematical sciences;

• computer and information sciences;

• geosciences;

• engineering;

• technology areas associated with the preceding fields (for example, biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology, etc.)

• demonstrate academic potential or ability;
• demonstrate financial need, defined for undergraduate students by the US Department of Education rules for need-based Federal financial aid, or, for graduate students, defined as financial eligibility for Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GANN).

Financial need is defined for undergraduates by the US Department of Education as the Cost of Attendance (COA) for an institution minus the Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) for the student (see http://www.studentaid.ed.gov/students/publications/student_guide/2004_2005/english/index.htm). The Cost of Attendance, determined by each educational institution, is the total amount it will cost a student to go to school, including tuition and fees; on-campus room and board (or a housing and food allowance for off-campus students); allowances for books, supplies, transportation, loan fees, dependent care, costs related to a disability; and miscellaneous expenses. The Estimated Family Contribution is determined by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form and represents the expected family contribution toward the Cost of Attendance (http://www.fafsa.ed.gov). It is recommended that the PI consult the campus financial aid office for more information regarding the institutional COA and the calculation of student financial need.

• be part of a natural student cohort that is likely to associate during the scholarship period. Students may be from a single major, or from a group that will take several classes together, or from some other group that the proposal describes. See section V.A.5.k, Special Program Features, below, for more discussion of the rationale for a cohort.

V. Proposal Preparation And Submission Instructions

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

Letters of Intent (optional): Optional Letters of Intent are encouraged and should be prepared and submitted via FastLane by the date indicated above. Note that NSF will not comment on the Synopsis text; please include only a single sentence describing the project in that section. You must indicate the disciplines to be involved in the space for that purpose. NSF will use the Letter of Intent to estimate the number of proposals likely to be submitted and their distribution among fields in order to arrange for proposal review.

Letter of Intent Preparation Instructions:

When submitting a Letter of Intent through FastLane in response to this Program Solicitation please note the conditions outlined below:

• Sponsored Projects Office (SPO) Submission is not required when submitting Letters of Intent
• Identification of the disciplines to be involved is required when submitting Letters of Intent
• Submission of multiple Letters of Intent is allowed

Full Proposal Instructions: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the guidelines specified in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide (GPG). The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg. Paper copies of the GPG may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-PUBS (7827) or by e-mail from nsfpubs@nsf.gov.

Full Proposal Content

1. Cover Sheet.
While filling out the cover sheet in FastLane, it is important to choose the program solicitation number indicated on the cover of this document "NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics" from the list of programs in the "NSF Unit Consideration" section. This choice must be specified in order to have access to the DUE Project Data Form, which is required for S-STEM proposals.

An informative title for the proposed Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Scholarship project must be provided on the appropriate line. Please use the full project title and refrain from using the S-STEM name or acronym, NSF, or the institution's name in the project title.

2. Project Data Form.
A Project Data Form must be completed for all proposals. The information on this form is used to direct proposals to appropriate reviewers and to determine the characteristics of projects supported by the Division of Undergraduate Education. In Fastlane, this form will appear in the list of forms for the proposal only after you have selected the appropriate Program Solicitation number (indicated on the cover of this document) on the proposal cover sheet and have saved the cover sheet.

3. Project Summary.
Provide a brief (300 words or fewer) description of the S-STEM project including the number of scholarships to be provided, the discipline areas to be served by the scholarship funds, the objectives of the project, and basic information about the student recruitment, selection, support, and career placement services to be provided as part of this S-STEM project.

The project summary MUST address both Merit Review Criteria (Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts) in separate statements. See Section VI. A., Proposal Review Process, for a statement of the two criteria. NSF will return without review proposals that do not address both criteria in the Project Summary.

4. Table of Contents.
The Table of Contents is system generated and cannot be edited.

5. Project Description.
The Project Description must conform to GPG formatting requirements and must not exceed 15 single-spaced pages. For legibility, 12-point type is preferred. Proposals that exceed the page limit will be returned without review. The Project Description should contain the following information:

a. Results from Prior NSF Support.
Please report on the results from related prior NSF support. If there have been any existing or prior S-STEM (formerly CSEMS) projects at the institution, provide information about them and describe the relationship of this proposed project to the other S-STEM or CSEMS project. See Section V.A.5.k. for more details about information to include about any prior S-STEM awards to an institution.

b. Project Objectives and Plans.
The project should have specific objectives that reflect the goals of the S-STEM program and local needs, as well as specific plans to select students, encourage them to achieve their best academic performance, and enable them to enter the workforce or continue studies in their fields.

c. Significance of Project and Rationale.
The proposal should address how the goals of the S-STEM program (see Program Description, Section II) will be met. In addition, it should include information on the demographics of the departments or programs affected by the scholarships, including number of majors and number of graduates per year, as well as information on overall enrollment and retention within the institution and programs involved. A rationale for the number of scholarships and the scholarship amount requested should also be provided.

d. Activities on Which the Current Project Builds.
S-STEM projects should build on existing student support structures and program elements. Proposals should discuss existing support structures and projects that are relevant to the S-STEM project and describe ways in which the S-STEM project will utilize or enhance the structures. Proposals should describe specific support structures set up for S-STEM students. Also provide information on any prior S-STEM, CSEMS, or other scholarship projects on which the project builds. See Section V.A.5.k. for more details about information to include about prior CSEMS or S-STEM awards to an institution.

e. S-STEM Project Management Plan.
S-STEM projects should be guided by a management plan in which the key personnel, the strategic plan, and project logistics are defined. The roles and responsibilities of the personnel involved should be clear. The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a faculty member in one of the S-STEM disciplines who can provide the leadership needed in order to ensure the success of the project. The PI will have overall responsibility for administering the project and for interacting with NSF. There should be evidence of strong faculty support and participation beyond the Principal Investigator within the disciplines impacted by this project. Financial aid and student support specialists may also be appropriate individuals to include in the management team as Co-Principal Investigators.

Plans should be in place for activities such as advertising and recruitment of students, selection of students, maintenance of S-STEM records, reporting responsibilities, oversight for student support services, and implementing a process by which students who lose S-STEM eligibility will be replaced by new students.

The management plan should indicate how students' eligibility will be determined, the mechanisms by which scholarships for students will be provided, and how scholarship program outcomes will be evaluated and disseminated. It should also identify criteria for retention of students' scholarships from one year to the next.

Proposing institutions may request additional funds of up to 5% of the total scholarship amount for expenses related to program administration. Note that these funds are included in the maximum of $600,000 for each award. See Section V.A.8, Proposal Preparation Instructions, for a discussion of budget detail.

f. Student Selection Process and Criteria.
The proposal should include a plan for the process by which students will be selected to receive the S-STEM scholarship award. Included in this plan should be a description of the eligibility criteria to be used in selecting scholars. The program requires that the students meet the requirements for citizenship, major, academic potential, and need that are outlined in Section IV.C, Additional Eligibility Information, Scholarship Recipients. Projects should have additional selection criteria that reflect the local program. S-STEM scholars must be able to demonstrate their eligibility in each semester or quarter of S-STEM support.

The selection process for scholarship recipients should include indicators of academic merit and other indicators of likely professional success. Multiple indicators may be appropriate in gauging both academic merit (e.g., grade point average, placement test results) and professionalism (e.g., motivation, ability to manage time and resources, communication skills). Selection criteria should be flexible enough to accommodate applicants who come from diverse backgrounds and with diverse career goals. The program encourages efforts to increase the number of members of underrepresented groups (women, minorities, and persons with disabilities) in STEM fields, but it aims broadly to assist any student who has financial need.

g. S-STEM Student Support Services and Programs.
It is expected that awardee institutions will have or develop support programs and services designed to enhance student learning, confidence, performance, retention to graduation, and career or higher education placement. Examples of student support include:

• Recruitment of students to higher education programs and careers in the S-STEM disciplines;
• Support and mentoring of students by faculty and other professionals;
• Academic support services such as tutoring, study-groups, or supplemental instruction programs;
• Industry experiences or internship opportunities;
• Community building and support among S-STEM scholars within the institution;
• Participation in local or regional professional, industrial or scientific meetings and conferences;
• Access to appropriate technology and technological support personnel; and
• Career counseling and job placement services for S-STEM scholars.

For support services and programs that already exist, there should be a plan to adapt them to meet the specific objectives of the S-STEM project.

Proposing institutions may request additional funds of up to 10% of the total scholarship amount for student support services. Note that these funds are included in the maximum of $600,000 for each award. See section V.A.8, Proposal Preparation Instructions, for a discussion of budget detail.

h. Quality Educational Programs.
Institutions should provide evidence of the quality of their educational programs, particularly those in the targeted disciplines. Where appropriate, cite external accreditations in the S-STEM disciplines (for example, ABET for engineering).

i. Assessment and Evaluation.
As with all NSF projects, S-STEM projects must have clear and specific plans for assessment and evaluation. This includes not only assessment of student progress but overall evaluation of the S-STEM project. S-STEM projects are required to participate in regular NSF-led data collection activities to track the students. S-STEM projects should have impact on the departments and disciplines involved as well as the institution beyond simple student input and output. These goals must be clearly articulated in the S-STEM proposal. The S-STEM proposal should identify appropriate assessment and evaluation plans as well as plans for programmatic evaluation at the end of the project. The S-STEM program expects the evaluation plan to reflect the simplicity of the project design compared to other educational projects and the limited resources available for evaluation.

j. Dissemination.

The results of successful projects will be of potential interest to other faculty, staff, students, and the community of which the institution is a part, to student aid professionals, as well as others who operate scholarship programs. The proposal should include a plan to report on the project to appropriate audiences.

k. Special Program Features.
There are several considerations related to special features of the S-STEM program that may need to be considered and addressed in S-STEM proposals. These include:

The S-STEM solicitation specifies that a faculty member currently teaching in an S-STEM discipline must serve as the principal investigator for the project. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that the faculty of the disciplines involved have a commitment to active involvement with the S-STEM scholars. Other faculty must be involved, and their roles described, as appropriate. In addition to the faculty involvement, it is often helpful if a team of individuals, including financial aid and student support specialists, is developed for the S-STEM project.

Experience in the S-STEM program indicates that the most successful scholarship projects involve a group of students who in some way naturally associate, whether as majors in the same department, or sharing classes, or participating together in activities of common interest. Since students in many disciplines are potentially eligible for S-STEM scholarships, the project design should include plans to attract and maintain a cohort of students who hold scholarships. This may be done by limiting the project to students in one major, or in closely related majors, but other means may be proposed.

S-STEM projects should provide student support structures that help the scholarship recipients succeed as students and, later, as working professionals. Ideally, S-STEM scholars are part of a cohort that is managed and supported as part of an active learning community. This can involve existing support structures or new support mechanisms to be developed by the S-STEM project. S-STEM proposals should describe these support structures and explain, particularly in the case of existing support structures, how the S-STEM students will be involved with the support structure or activity.

S-STEM projects often include enhancements such as seminars, field trips, social activities, student-faculty interaction outside classes, and other enrichment activities. These are valuable parts of programs. Such activities may be required as part of the scholarship program, but the requirements should be structured so that students who have other responsibilities can reasonably participate, and the requirements should be flexible enough to allow reasonable absences.

In addition, some projects may offer research opportunities, tutoring of others, and internships for scholarship recipients. While these activities can enhance the student experience, they must be included as optional components of the S-STEM project. S-STEM scholarships may not be, nor appear to be, payment for services. Since the scholarship often provides funds that allow a student to concentrate on full time studies rather than full time work, opportunities of this kind are valuable components of S-STEM projects as long as they are clearly optional for the student. This limitation on required research does NOT apply for graduate students doing research as part of their thesis work.

Students who receive S-STEM scholarships must be enrolled full time in a program leading to a degree in one of the S-STEM disciplines. Often there are programs at an institution that do not have exactly the same title as an S-STEM discipline, but might be related to or part of the S-STEM discipline. In cases where students are in programs that are not included in the specific S-STEM disciplines, the proposal must clearly document and justify the inclusion of the program in the S-STEM scholarship group. If necessary, S-STEM proposals should address this issue in enough detail so that expert reviewers can see the connection and relevance of the project to the S-STEM disciplines.

Many students may not be eligible for the maximum scholarship of $10,000 per year, depending on the student’s expected family contribution and the amount of the institution’s cost of attendance. The proposal budget requires an estimate of both the number of scholarships to be awarded and the total amount of funds that would be required. The proposal should include an explanation of how these estimates were determined. The proposal should include the potential number of students in the proposed cohort (for example, a disciplinary major) and an estimate of the number of these students who might have financial need. It may be helpful to consult with the financial aid office at the institution to determine typical financial need for the proposed cohort of students (or for some larger group of students if information on the smaller cohort is not easily available). While there is flexibility within a project budget after a grant is made, the size of the budget request must be closely related in the proposal to a realistic estimate of student need.

S-STEM scholarships involve full-time students who are financially needy as well as academically talented. NSF has adopted the standard U.S. Department of Education guidelines for determining financial need as well as allowable educational expenses. NSF, however, cannot prescribe the way in which local financial aid offices or departments develop policies or manage their students. Thus, rather than defining a specific number of hours for full time classification, S-STEM provides that students are full-time if classified as full time by their local institution. Similarly, NSF cannot dictate financial aid policy to institutions. While we hope that our broad interpretation of allowable educational expenses will be used to calculate need and funding potential, NSF must rely on local financial aid office policies about management of student aid and scholarship funds. Likewise, each institution determines measures of academic promise for its students. Principal investigators developing S-STEM proposals should talk over these issues with appropriate financial aid offices as well as their discipline faculty in developing policies and criteria that are included in the S-STEM proposal.

Proposals are welcome from all eligible institutions. However, if the institution has received a prior S-STEM (or CSEMS) award, the proposed project must build on the experience from the prior project. Proposal reviewers will want to know quantitative and qualitative outcomes of any current or former project and how the experience has affected plans for the current project. This is especially true when the same or related disciplines are involved, even if there is no overlap in personnel. Proposers may use the NSF web search (https://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5257&org=DUE&from=home, see the link "Abstracts of Recent Awards Made Through This Program" at the bottom of the page) to search for prior awards in the S-STEM program, by institution name or state. A brief but detailed discussion of any other project and its relation to the proposed project must be included in the project description.

l. Project Description Content Checklist.
In summary, the proposal should clearly describe the plan for implementing a program with the goals and characteristics outlined in the preceding text. The proposal should include, within the project description (limited to 15 single-spaced pages), the following:

• Results from prior NSF support, with particular emphasis on any prior S-STEM of CSEMS awards made to the institution;
• Statement of the project objectives and plans;
• Discussion of the project's significance, including demographic information and rationale for the number of scholarships and the scholarship amount requested;
• Discussion of activities on which the project builds (particularly connections to any existing S-STEM or CSEMS award at the institution);
• Description of the management plan, including discussion of the role of faculty in the disciplines in the operation of the project;
• Outline of the student selection process and criteria;
• Description of the student support services and programs, and their impact on students;
• Evidence of the quality of the institution's educational programs; and
• Plans for project assessment and evaluation.
• Plans for dissemination

6. References Cited. If applicable.

7. Biographical Sketches.
Include a 2-page biographical sketch for the Principal Investigator and each listed Co-Principal Investigator and/or Senior Personnel.

8. Budget, Budget Justification, and Allowable Costs:
Provide a budget for each year of support requested. The maximum S-STEM request is normally not to exceed $600,000 in total. Annual budgets are limited to $225,000. The annual and cumulative limits, which apply separately, include all funds (scholarships, administrative costs, and student support costs).

• No indirect costs are allowed.
• Allocations for scholarships should be indicated in Section F.1 Participant Support - "Stipends" of the Fastlane budget form. Scholarships may be requested for up to $10,000 per student per year. Because many students may not be eligible for the maximum scholarship amount of $10,000, the proposal should explain how the number of scholarships requested and the total amount of scholarship funds requested were determined.
• In addition, up to 15% of the total scholarship amount shown on the Participant Support - "Stipends" budget line may be requested for expenses related to program administration (up to 5%) and student support services (up to 10%). The request for funds under this 15% allowance must be assigned to the appropriate NSF budget categories on the NSF budget form and must be explained on the budget explanation page. Refer to the GPG instructions for appropriate categories. Do not enter any costs on line G.6. Other Direct Costs - "Other" or F.4. Participant Support Costs - "Other." The limits for administrative and student support costs apply to the cumulative budget; projects may propose to distribute these costs unevenly among the annual budgets.
• Faculty salary requests must be accompanied by an appropriate indication of the fraction of academic or summer months to be paid by the grant. If no salary is requested from the grant, then the fraction of NSF-funded academic and summer months should be listed on the budget form as zero.

9. Current and Pending Support.
Provide a list of Current and Pending Support for the Principal Investigator and each Co-Principal Investigator. All investigators should list the S-STEM proposal as a pending project.

10. Facilities, Equipment, and Other Resources.
See GPG Section II. D.9.

11. Supplementary Documentation.
Evidence of the high quality of academic programs or excellence in student recruitment, support, or career placement may be included as supplementary documentation. Scanned copies of letters of institutional support and letters documenting partnership commitments should also be included as supplementary documentation. Do not send paper copies to NSF.

B. Budgetary Information

Cost Sharing: Inclusion of voluntary committed cost sharing is prohibited

Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: No indirect costs are allowed.

Other Budgetary Limitations: Additional funds up to 15% of the total scholarship amount may be requested for expenses related to program administration (up to 5%) and student services (up to 10%), all of which must be listed under the appropriate NSF budget categories. See section V.A.8 above for details. Do not enter items in either categories G.6. or F.4., "Other."

C. Due Dates

• Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (optional) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

       August 11, 2009

        (for the September 14, 2009 competition)

       July 14, 2010

        (for the August 12, 2010, competition)

       July 13, 2011

        (for the August 11, 2011, competition)

• Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

       September 14, 2009

       August 12, 2010

       August 11, 2011

D. FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements

• For Proposals Submitted Via FastLane:

  Detailed technical instructions regarding the technical aspects of preparation and submission via FastLane are available at: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/a1/newstan.htm. For FastLane user support, call the FastLane Help Desk at 1-800-673-6188 or e-mail fastlane@nsf.gov. The FastLane Help Desk answers general technical questions related to the use of the FastLane system. Specific questions related to this program solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this funding opportunity.

  Submission of Electronically Signed Cover Sheets. The Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must electronically sign the proposal Cover Sheet to submit the required proposal certifications (see Chapter II, Section C of the Grant Proposal Guide for a listing of the certifications). The AOR must provide the required electronic certifications within five working days following the electronic submission of the proposal. Further instructions regarding this process are available on the FastLane Website at: https://www.fastlane.nsf.gov/fastlane.jsp.

• For Proposals Submitted Via Grants.gov:

Before using Grants.gov for the first time, each organization must register to create an institutional profile. Once registered, the applicant's organization can then apply for any federal grant on the Grants.gov website. Comprehensive information about using Grants.gov is available on the Grants.gov Applicant Resources webpage: http://www07.grants.gov/applicants/app_help_reso.jsp. In addition, the NSF Grants.gov Application Guide provides additional technical guidance regarding preparation of proposals via Grants.gov. For Grants.gov user support, contact the Grants.gov Contact Center at 1-800-518-4726 or by email: support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Contact Center answers general technical questions related to the use of Grants.gov. Specific questions related to this program solicitation should be referred to the NSF program staff contact(s) listed in Section VIII of this solicitation.

Submitting the Proposal: Once all documents have been completed, the Authorized Organizational Representative (AOR) must submit the application to Grants.gov and verify the desired funding opportunity and agency to which the application is submitted. The AOR must then sign and submit the application to Grants.gov. The completed application will be transferred to the NSF FastLane system for further processing.

VI. NSF Proposal Processing And Review Procedures

Proposals received by NSF are assigned to the appropriate NSF program where they will be reviewed if they meet NSF proposal preparation requirements. All proposals are carefully reviewed by a scientist, engineer, or educator serving as an NSF Program Officer, and usually by three to ten other persons outside NSF who are experts in the particular fields represented by the proposal. These reviewers are selected by Program Officers charged with the oversight of the review process. Proposers are invited to suggest names of persons they believe are especially well qualified to review the proposal and/or persons they would prefer not review the proposal. These suggestions may serve as one source in the reviewer selection process at the Program Officer's discretion. Submission of such names, however, is optional. Care is taken to ensure that reviewers have no conflicts of interest with the proposal.

A. NSF Merit Review Criteria

All NSF proposals are evaluated through use of the two National Science Board (NSB)-approved merit review criteria: intellectual merit and the broader impacts of the proposed effort. In some instances, however, NSF will employ additional criteria as required to highlight the specific objectives of certain programs and activities.

The two NSB-approved merit review criteria are listed below. The criteria include considerations that help define them. These considerations are suggestions and not all will apply to any given proposal. While proposers must address both merit review criteria, reviewers will be asked to address only those considerations that are relevant to the proposal being considered and for which the reviewer is qualified to make judgements.

What is the intellectual merit of the proposed activity?
How important is the proposed activity to advancing knowledge and understanding within its own field or across different fields? How well qualified is the proposer (individual or team) to conduct the project? (If appropriate, the reviewer will comment on the quality of the prior work.) To what extent does the proposed activity suggest and explore creative, original, or potentially transformative concepts? How well conceived and organized is the proposed activity? Is there sufficient access to resources?

What are the broader impacts of the proposed activity?
How well does the activity advance discovery and understanding while promoting teaching, training, and learning? How well does the proposed activity broaden the participation of underrepresented groups (e.g., gender, ethnicity, disability, geographic, etc.)? To what extent will it enhance the infrastructure for research and education, such as facilities, instrumentation, networks, and partnerships? Will the results be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding? What may be the benefits of the proposed activity to society?

Examples illustrating activities likely to demonstrate broader impacts are available electronically on the NSF website at: https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/gpg/broaderimpacts.pdf.

Mentoring activities provided to postdoctoral researchers supported on the project, as described in a one-page supplementary document, will be evaluated under the Broader Impacts criterion.

Additional Solicitation Specific Review Criteria

Reviewers will be asked to consider the above two merit review criteria with emphasis placed on the S-STEM program components (see "Program Description"). Those elements include:

• Student-support infrastructure for the successful graduation of scholarship recipients,
• Management and administration plan that is effective and clearly articulated,
• Evidence of faculty participation and support from the appropriate financial aid and student services personnel,
• Justification of the number and amount of scholarships requested based on current student demographics, and
• Educational program of high quality.