We are pleased to announce the launch of Limited Submission – Sloan Foundation – Creating Equitable Pathways to STEM Graduate Education. Click on the link below to view more information. Thank you!
Internal Submission Deadline: Tuesday, April 12, 2022
Cycle: 2022
Discipline/Subject Area: STEM Graduate Education
Funding Available: 500000
Foundation Name: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Foundation Program Name: Creating Equitable Pathways to STEM Graduate Education
Description
Internal Deadline: April 12, 2022
Funder: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Program Guidelines: Creating Equitable Pathways to STEM Graduate Education
UCSC Contacts: Sarah Carle | FR | sacarle@ucsc.edu, Heather Bell | OR | hmbell@ucsc.edu
Award Amount & Terms: up to $500,000
Overview
The Sloan Foundation is seeking to diversify the STEM academic and non-academic workforce by significantly increasing the number of domestic Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o students who enroll and succeed in terminal master’s and doctoral degree programs in astronomy, biology, chemistry, computer science, data science, Earth sciences, economics, engineering, marine science, mathematics, physics, and statistics. The objectives of this funding program are to:
- Support the development and enhancement of educational pathways from MSI undergraduate programs to STEM master’s and doctoral degree programs at other MSIs and/or PWIs;
- Support mutually beneficial partnerships between faculty and staff across such institutions—particularly as a key component of a broader commitment to creating stronger and more sustainable relationships between MSIs and PWIs in ways that foster joint research, expanded professional networks, and/or capacity building to serve domestic Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o students as they pursue master’s and doctoral degrees in STEM;
- Enhance the quality of the undergraduate STEM education and research experiences such that they create strong, evidence-based, and equitable systems that support the academic and non-academic preparation of domestic Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o students for admission, enrollment, success, and completion in STEM graduate programs;
- Enable activities that disrupt systemic racism, bias, and discrimination in institutional policy and practice as it relates to STEM education pathways to graduate study and completion;
- Lay the groundwork for long-term investment in equitable undergraduate to graduate education pathways by other foundations, government agencies, and higher education institutions themselves.
A key area of focus for this work is supporting approaches to proposed partnerships that create systemic change in the departments and schools on each campus, meaning approaches that not only seek to change the odds for individual students but change the culture and climate within the environments that students reside. This may include changing the actions—and the mindsets—of STEM faculty and other gatekeepers such that they demonstrate not only a willingness, but a commitment, to sustained and mutually beneficial partnerships with MSIs and create equitable pathways to graduate degrees for domestic Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o students.
Please read the guidelines carefully to obtain background information on sample project activities and partnership structures.
Award Amount & Terms
Three types of grants will be funded:
- Planning grants to support two or more institutions to conduct internal reviews of existing barriers to student success and for analysis and planning for future systemic change partnerships/collaborations (Up to $75,000 for 1 year);
- Seed grants to support work at two or more institutions that seek to formalize existing systemic change partnerships/collaborations and launch one or more pilot initiatives (Up to $250,000 over 1-2 years); and
- Implementation grants to support work at two or more institutions that allow for the augmentation or scaling of existing systemic change partnerships/collaborations (Up to $500,000 over 2-3 years).
The Sloan Foundation requests only one letter of inquiry (as the lead institutional partner) per institution, and only one submission per individual PI. The Foundation expects to award up to 3 implementation grants, with additional funding going to planning and seed grants.
Eligibility
- Lead investigators from submitting and partner institutions should be at the full, associate, or assistant professor level, a department chair, or in an administrative role with high connectivity to academic positions.
- Submissions from diverse teams led by women and Black, Indigenous, and Latina/o individuals are strongly encouraged.
To apply
To be considered for nomination, materials should be submitted to the internal campus competition via InfoReady.
It is important to specify the grant type you’re applying for. Please note UC Santa Cruz can only submit a single candidate for the entire competition.
Select “Apply” from the menu on the right-hand side and upload the following documents.
- A Letter of Inquiry – LOI 3-5 pages in length (excluding budget table and other supplemental material), in 11-point font, double spaced. Submissions should address the following questions, with each question serving as a section heading:
a. Significance. What is the specific problem the project is aiming to solve?
b. Project Activities. What is the nature and scope of the planned activities for the project? (Include which individuals/institutions will be primarily responsible for which activities).
c. Project Team. How is the project team well-suited for this project? (Address how the parties are also suited for collaboration).
d. Partnerships. How will the project ensure mutual benefit across the participating institutions?
e. Measures of Success. How will you know if this project is successful?
f. Additional Sources of Support. What other sources of support can the project leverage to ensure its success? - Brief CV of Lead PI at UCSC
- Brief Budget Summary (1 page maximum)
Timeline
- April 12, 2022 by 5:00pm PST Internal submissions due
By April 21, 2022 Notification of candidate selection results
May 1, 2022, by 5:00pm EDT LOI Submissions are due to sponsor
Late June, 2022 Decisions
July 31, 2022 If invited, full proposal due
Special Instructions
If you are selected as the campus candidate for this opportunity, please submit a proposal intake form prior to UCSC’s internal Institutional Deadlines. Please contact Foundation Relations (cfr@ucsc.edu) if you are interested in applying. For support developing your LOI, please contact the Research Development Specialist assigned to your unit or send a request to resdev@ucsc.edu. Within the Division of Social Sciences, please contact Ashlee Tews (ashleeac@ucsc.edu) to initiate notification and support for full proposals.
Call sent: March 18, 2022
The Office of Foundation Relations is a unit of University Relations. The FR team creates and maintains mutually beneficial, long-term relationships with private organizations, matching grant initiatives with educational and research programs and centers. FR supports faculty and staff to identify and approach these and other private foundations and corporations for funding, to assist in strategic positioning of the grant application, and to facilitate funder campus visits.
For a list of recent funding opportunities, please visit the FR website. FR Calls for Funding