Calls for Proposal
Applied Materials Foundation Community Investment Grants
“Applied Materials demonstrates its global citizenship in part by strategically investing financial and human resources in the communities where we live and to the world around us. Committed to diversity and inclusion, Applied and its Foundation support organizations that offer services without discrimination toward any group or individual…Applied Materials supports strategic education efforts focused on academic achievement, teacher professional development and specific university projects – opening opportunities for students to explore new ideas and experiences.”
Contact Aaron Shonk, Director, Foundation Services, for more information.
“In accordance with 10 USC §2192, Improvement of education in technical fields: general authority regarding education in science, mathematics, and engineering, the National Defense Education Program (NDEP) K-16 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and outreach is seeking to strategically implant a vehicle to identify and support stronger guidelines for conducting K-16 education and outreach programs. The Department of Defense seeks to diversify its portfolio of support and increase focus on efforts that support the Force of the Future, and align with the Federal and DoD STEM strategies. Enhancing the permeability of ideas into DoD’s workforce, especially the STEM workforce, through alliances with academia, industry and various non-traditional partners in STEM should deliver far-reaching sustainable and scalable programs and partnerships. While aligning with the DoD STEM mission, “to attract, inspire, and develop exceptional STEM talent across the education continuum to enrich our current and future DoD workforce to meet defense technological challenges,” the Defense STEM Education Consortium (DSEC) should collaboratively work with the Government to provide a cohesive strategy to meet the vision, roles, and goals outlined in the DoD STEM Strategic Plan. The goals and objectives of this strategic plan will support: (1) building and maintaining not only DOD’s, but the nation’s STEM pipeline; (2) reducing the number of STEM professionals who choose to leave DoD; and (3) keeping DoD competitive with industry and other countries also seeking STEM talent.
The fundamental elements under the DSEC Cooperative Agreement (COA) are: (1) Consortium Management; (2) Program Evaluations: Data Collection, Analysis and Reports; (3) Outreach/Communications; (4) STEM Alumni Management; and (5) Strategic Outreach Initiatives. These fundamental elements are the essential elements of the consortium that will support the DoD STEM education and outreach goals.”
Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE): Language Resource Centers Program
“The Language Resource Centers (LRC) Program provides grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or consortia of IHEs for establishing, strengthening, and operating centers that serve as resources for improving the Nation’s capacity for teaching and learning foreign languages through teacher training, research, materials development, assessment, and dissemination projects. Priorities: This notice includes two competitive preference priorities….Competitive Preference Priority 1: Applications that Propose Activities with a Significant Focus on Less Commonly Taught Languages (LCTLs)….Competitive Preference Priority 2: Collaboration with Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) or community colleges.”
Addressing Education in Northeast Nigeria
“The United States Agency for International Development in Nigeria (USAID/Nigeria) is seeking applications from eligible organizations to implement an activity entitled ‘Addressing Education in Northeast Nigeria”. The activity will address education in Northeast Nigeria targeting internally displaced people (IDPs) and host communities in Adamawa, Borno, Gombe and Yobe States. This activity will address acute emergency education needs while laying the foundation to rebuild and transform the education system in Northeast Nigeria, redressing long-standing education grievances related to the insurgency and building trust in Nigerian education institutions. Many out of school girls and boys, ages 6-15, will benefit from equitable access to certified high-quality basic education opportunities, including those who will gain access for the first time. Specific LGAs in the targeted states will be identified using information collected through the Rapid Education and Risk Analysis (RERA) process conducted at the beginning of the activity, and in collaboration with the Nigerian state governments, USAID, and donor partners. ”
Accelerating Discovery: Educating the Future STEM Workforce
“A well-prepared, innovative science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce is crucial to the Nation’s prosperity and security. Future generations of STEM professionals are a key sector of this workforce, especially in the critical scientific areas described in the Big Ideas for Future NSF Investments. To accelerate progress in these areas, the next generation of STEM professionals will need to master new knowledge and skills, collaborate across disciplines, and shape the future of the human-technology interface in the workplace. As a result, NSF recognizes the need to support development of and research on effective educational approaches that can position the future STEM workforce to make bold advances in these Big Ideas. In response to this need, the NSF’s Education and Human Resources Directorate seeks to invest in projects that can educate the STEM workforce to advance discovery in the six research Big Ideas: Harnessing the Data Revolution; The Future of Work; Navigating the New Arctic; Multi-messenger Astrophysics; The Quantum Leap; and Understanding the Rules of Life. In addition to developing and implementing novel educational and/or training programs, these projects should simultaneously generate new knowledge about effective STEM education, by studying such programs and exploring related issues. Specifically, NSF accepts proposals to support education research and development projects focused on re- or up-skilling the existing workforce; developing the skilled technical workforce; and/or preparing those at the undergraduate, graduate, or postdoctoral fellow/early career levels. We encourage projects to partner with industry, public, and private sectors to define the needs of tomorrow’s workforce and develop educational and learning strategies to meet those needs. Proposals should address near-, mid-, and long-term challenges and opportunities facing the development of STEM professionals or anticipate new structures and functions of the STEM learning and teaching enterprise. Proposers are encouraged to include approaches that have the potential to increase and diversify participation in STEM. All proposals should contribute to one or more of the six research Big Ideas. EHR is particularly interested in supporting innovative education research and development in two Big Ideas: The Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (FW-HTF) and Harnessing the Data Revolution for 21st Century Science and Engineering (HDR). Projects of interest include: innovative uses of technology and big data to understand learning; educational approaches that prepare tomorrow’s innovators to use technology and big data to understand the natural world; effects of advances in intelligent agents on STEM teaching and learning; and evaluation of disruptive educational interventions on long-term student outcomes. Outcomes of these projects can enable the Nation to: better prepare its scientific and technical workforce for the future; use technological innovations effectively for education; and advance the frontiers of science. Proposals should describe projects that build on available evidence and theory, and that will generate evidence and build knowledge, while contributing to the education of the future STEM professionals.”
STEM + Computing K-12 Education
“An innovative science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computing (STEM+C) workforce and well-educated citizenry are crucial to the Nation’s prosperity, security and competitiveness. Preparation for the future workforce must begin in the earliest grades from preK-12, where students need to learn not only the science and mathematics central to these areas, but also how computational thinking is integral to STEM disciplines. Because of the powerful innovation and application of computing in STEM disciplines there is an urgent need for real-world, interdisciplinary, and computational preparation of students from the early grades through high school (preK-12) that will provide a strong foundation for mid-level technical careers and for continuing education in higher education. This is particularly important in the key science areas described in the National Science Foundation’s Big Ideas for Future NSF Investment. The STEM+C program supports research and development proposals related to new approaches to pre-K-12 STEM teaching and learning related to Harnessing the Data Revolution, Convergence Research and the Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier. The STEM+C Program focuses on research and development of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches to the integration of computing within STEM teaching and learning for preK-12 students in both formal and informal settings. The STEM+C program supports research on how students learn to think computationally to solve interdisciplinary problems in science and mathematics. The program supports research and development that builds on evidence-based teacher preparation or professional development activities that enable teachers to provide excellent instruction on the integration of computation and STEM disciplines. Proposals should describe projects that are grounded in prior evidence and theory, are innovative or potentially transformative, and that will generate and build knowledge about the integration of computing and one or more STEM disciplines at the preK-12 level. A proposal submitted to this program description should describe the integration of computing with one or more STEM disciplines. A proposal may focus on studies on the effects of integrating computational thinking with STEM disciplines or the challenges of implementing these potentially disruptive educational interventions. Proposed projects may develop models, assessments, and technological tools to support teaching and learning in this area as well as conduct research on these models, assessments, and tools. Outcomes of projects should enable the Nation to have a future workforce with knowledge of computational thinking integrated with STEM disciplines, and students prepared and interested in careers in the skilled technical work force or further education and science careers”
“The Fulbright- Hays DDRA Fellowship program provides opportunities to doctoral candidates to engage in full-time dissertation research abroad in modern foreign languages and area studies. The program is designed to contribute to the development and improvement of the study of modern foreign languages and area studies in the United States.”
Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE): Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad Program
“The purpose of the Fulbright-Hays GPA program is to promote, improve, and develop modern foreign languages and area studies at varying levels of education. The program provides opportunities for faculty, teachers, and undergraduate and graduate students to conduct individual and group projects overseas to carry out research and study in the fields of modern foreign languages and area studies. This competition will support both Fulbright-Hays GPA short-term projects (GPA short-term projects) and Fulbright-Hays GPA long-term projects (GPA long-term projects).
There are three types of GPA short-term projects: (1) Short-term seminar projects of four to six weeks in length designed to increase the linguistic or cultural competency of U.S. students and educators by focusing on a particular aspect of area study, such as the culture of an area or country of study (34 CFR 664.11); (2) curriculum development projects of four to eight weeks in length that provide participants an opportunity to acquire resource materials for curriculum development in modern foreign language and area studies for use and dissemination in the United States (34 CFR 664.12); and (3) group research or study projects of three to twelve months in duration designed to give participants the opportunity to undertake research or study in a foreign country (34 CFR 664.13).
GPA long-term projects are advanced overseas intensive language projects that may be carried out during a full year, an academic year, a semester, a trimester, a quarter, or a summer. GPA long-term projects are designed to take advantage of the opportunities in the foreign country that are not present in the United States when providing intensive advanced foreign language training. Only participants who have successfully completed at least two academic years of training in the language to be studied are eligible for language training under this program. In addition, the language to be studied must be indigenous to the host country and maximum use must be made of local institutions and personnel”
National Science Foundation Social Psychology
“The Social Psychology Program at NSF supports basic research on human social behavior, including cultural differences and development over the life span. Among the many research topics supported are: attitude formation and change, social cognition, personality processes, interpersonal relations and group processes, the self, emotion, social comparison and social influence, and the psychophysiological and neurophysiological bases of social behavior. The scientific merit of a proposal depends on four important factors: (1) The problems investigated must be theoretically grounded. (2) The research should be based on empirical observation or be subject to empirical validation. (3) The research design must be appropriate to the questions asked. (4) The proposed research must advance basic understanding of social behavior.”
Contact Aaron Shonk, Director, Foundation Services, for more information.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research
Healthy Eating Research issues calls for proposals (CFPs) to solicit scientifically rigorous, solution-oriented proposals from investigators representing diverse disciplines and backgrounds. This CFP is for two types of awards aimed at providing advocates, decision-makers, and policymakers with evidence to promote the health and well-being of children through nutritious foods and beverages.
The two types of funding opportunities included in this CFP are:
- Round 11 small-scale grants (up to $200,000 and 18 months)
- Round 11 large-scale grants (up to $500,000 and 24 months)
Contact Aaron Shonk, Director, Foundation Services, for more information.
Agriculture and Food Research Initiative – Education and Workforce Development
“The Agriculture and Food Research Initiative – Education and Workforce Development (EWD) (formerly the Food, Agriculture, Natural Resources and Human Sciences Education and Literacy Initiative, or ELI) focuses on developing the next generation of research, education, and extension professionals in the food and agricultural sciences. In FY 2018, EWD invites applications in four areas: professional development opportunities for K-14 teachers and education professionals; training of undergraduate students in research and extension; fellowships for predoctoral candidates; and fellowships for postdoctoral scholars. See EWD Request for Applications for specific details.”
Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program
“The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative approaches to STEM graduate education training. The program seeks proposals that explore ways for graduate students in research-based master’s and doctoral degree programs to develop the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed to pursue a range of STEM careers.
IGE focuses on projects aimed at piloting, testing, and validating innovative and potentially transformative approaches to graduate education. IGE projects are intended to generate the knowledge required for their customization, implementation, and broader adoption. The program supports testing of novel models or activities with high potential to enrich and extend the knowledge base on effective graduate education approaches.
The program addresses both workforce development, emphasizing broad participation, and institutional capacity building needs in graduate education. Strategic collaborations with the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science centers, and academic partners are encouraged.”
“The Small Research Grants program is intended to support education research projects with budgets of $50,000 or less. In keeping with the Spencer Foundation’s mission, this program aims to fund academic work that will contribute to the improvement of education, broadly conceived.”
“We fund research that increases understanding in one of our two focus areas:
- programs, policies, and practices that reduce inequality in youth outcomes, and
- strategies to improve the use of research evidence in ways that benefit youth.
We seek research that builds stronger theory and empirical evidence in these two areas. We intend for the research we support to inform change. While we do not expect that any one study will create that change, the research should contribute to a body of useful knowledge to improve the lives of young people.”
Institutes of Education Sciences (IES): Education Research and Development Centers
“In awarding these grants, the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) intends to provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of (1) developmental and school readiness outcomes for infants and toddlers with or at risk for a disability, (2) education outcomes for all students from early childhood education through postsecondary and adult education, and (3) employment and wage outcomes when relevant (such as for students who engaged in career and technical, postsecondary, or adult education). The Institute’s research grant programs are designed to provide interested individuals and the general public with reliable and valid information about education practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to education opportunities for all students. These interested individuals include parents, educators, students, researchers, and policymakers. In carrying out its grant programs, the Institute provides support for programs
of research in areas of demonstrated national need…
Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that address one of the following two topics: • Improving Rural Education. • Writing in Secondary Schools. ”
National Science Foundation Sociology
“The Sociology Program supports basic research on all forms of human social organization — societies, institutions, groups and demography — and processes of individual and institutional change. The Program encourages theoretically focused empirical investigations aimed at improving the explanation of fundamental social processes. Included is research on organizations and organizational behavior, population dynamics, social movements, social groups, labor force participation, stratification and mobility, family, social networks, socialization, gender, race and the sociology of science and technology. The Program supports both original data collections and secondary data analysis that use the full range of quantitative and qualitative methodological tools. Theoretically grounded projects that offer methodological innovations and improvements for data collection and analysis are also welcomed. The Sociology Program also funds doctoral dissertation research to defray direct costs associated with conducting research, for example, dataset acquisition, additional statistical or methodological training, meeting with scholars associated with original datasets, and fieldwork away from the student’s home campus.”
Contact Aaron Shonk, Director, Foundation Services, for more information.
” In awarding these grants, the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) intends to provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of (1) developmental and school readiness outcomes for infants and toddlers with or at risk for a disability, (2) education outcomes for all students from early childhood education through postsecondary and adult education, and (3) employment and wage outcomes when relevant (such as for students who engaged in career and technical, postsecondary, or adult education). The Institute’s research grant programs are designed to provide interested individuals and the general public with reliable and valid information about education practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to education opportunities for all students. These interested individuals include parents, educators, students, researchers, and policymakers. In carrying out its grant programs, the Institute provides support for programs
of research in areas of demonstrated national need…
Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that address one of the following two topics: • Researcher-Practitioner Partnerships in Education Research. • Evaluation of State and Local Education Programs and Policies.”
Institute of Education Sciences (IES): Education Research
” In awarding these grants, the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) intends to provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of (1) developmental and school readiness outcomes for infants and toddlers with or at risk for a disability, (2) education outcomes for all students from early childhood education through postsecondary and adult education, and (3) employment and wage outcomes when relevant (such as for students who engaged in career and technical, postsecondary, or adult education). The Institute’s research grant programs are designed to provide interested individuals and the general public with reliable and valid information about education practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to education opportunities for all students. These interested individuals include parents, educators, students, researchers, and policymakers. In carrying out its grant programs, the Institute provides support for programs
of research in areas of demonstrated national need…
Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that address one of the following topics: • Career and Technical Education. • Cognition and Student Learning. • Early Learning Programs and Policies. • Education Leadership. • Education Technology. • Effective Teachers and Effective Teaching. • English Learners. • Improving Education Systems. • Postsecondary and Adult Education. • Reading and Writing. • Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education. • Social and Behavioral Context for Academic Learning. • Special Topics, which include— • Social Studies. • Foreign Language Education.”
Institute of Education Sciences (IES): Statistical and Research Methodology in Education
” In awarding these grants, the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) intends to provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of (1) developmental and school readiness outcomes for infants and toddlers with or at risk for a disability, (2) education outcomes for all students from early childhood education through postsecondary and adult education, and (3) employment and wage outcomes when relevant (such as for students who engaged in career and technical, postsecondary, or adult education). The Institute’s research grant programs are designed to provide interested individuals and the general public with reliable and valid information about education practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to education opportunities for all students. These interested individuals include parents, educators, students, researchers, and policymakers. In carrying out its grant programs, the Institute provides support for programs
of research in areas of demonstrated national need…
Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that address one of the following two topics: • Statistical and Research Methodology Grants.
• Early Career Statistical and Research Methodology Grants”
“The ONR seeks a broad range of applications for augmenting existing or developing innovative solutions that directly maintain, or cultivate a diverse, world-class STEM workforce in order to maintain the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps’ technological superiority. The goal of any proposed effort must provide solutions that will establish and maintain pathways of diverse U.S. citizens who are interested in uniformed or civilian DoN (or Navy and Marine Corps) STEM workforce opportunities...”
Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources
“The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) hold much promise as sectors of the economy where we can expect to see continuous vigorous growthin the coming decades. STEM job creation is expected to outpace non-STEM job creation significantly, according to the Commerce Department, reflecting the importance of STEM knowledge to the US economy. The National Science Foundation (NSF) plays a leadership role in development and implementation of efforts to enhance and improve STEM education in the United States. Through the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) initiative, the agency continues to make a substantial commitment to the highest caliber undergraduate STEM education through a Foundation-wide framework of investments. The IUSE: EHR program is a core NSF undergraduate STEM education program that seeks to improve the effectiveness of undergraduate STEM education for both majors and non-majors. ”
Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate
“The Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program seeks to advance knowledge about models to improve pathways to the professoriate and success for historically underrepresented minority doctoral students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty, particularly African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders, in specific STEM disciplines and/or STEM education research fields.”
Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology Education
“The goal of the RCN program is to advance a field or create new directions in research or education by supporting groups of investigators to communicate and coordinate their research, training, and educational activities across disciplinary, organizational, geographic, and international boundaries.”
Science, Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships in Higher Education Program
“USAID has a long history of engaging higher education institutions (HEIs) to achieve development objectives. Together with HEIs, the U.S. Global Development Lab partners with USAID colleagues, other federal agencies, NGOs, and the private sector to increase the scientific knowledge and evidence directed toward addressing USAID’s development priorities and improving policy and programming decisions.”
“Purpose of Program: In awarding these grants, the Institute of Education Sciences (Institute) intends to provide national leadership in expanding fundamental knowledge and understanding of (1) developmental and school readiness outcomes for infants and toddlers with or at risk for a disability, (2) education outcomes for all students from early childhood education through postsecondary and adult education, and (3) employment and wage outcomes when relevant (such as for students who engaged in career and technical, postsecondary, or adult education). The Institute’s research grant programs are designed to provide interested individuals and the general public with reliable and valid information about education practices that support learning and improve academic achievement and access to education opportunities for all students. These interested individuals include parents, educators, students, researchers, and policymakers. In carrying out its grant programs, the Institute provides support for programs of research in areas of demonstrated national need…
Under this competition, NCER will consider only applications that address low-cost, short-duration evaluation of education interventions.”
Partnerships for International Research and Education (PIRE)
Anticipated RFP Announcement: April/May 2019
Smith Richardson Foundation Domestic Public Policy Program
“The Domestic Public Policy Program supports projects that will help the public and policy makers understand and address critical challenges facing the United States. To that end, the Foundation supports research on and evaluation of existing public policies and programs, as well as projects that inject new ideas into public debates. ”
Contact Aaron Shonk, Director, Foundation Services, for more information.
Laird Norton Foundation
Contact Aaron Shonk, Director, Foundation Services, for more information.
