Sponsors to Consider

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

(Federal Agencies)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION (ED)

Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE)

Institute of Education Sciences (IES)

Office of Postsecondary Education (OPE)

Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSER)

Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)

U.S. Department of Education Forecast of Funding Opportunities under the Department of Education Discretionary Grant Programs

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)

National Institutes of Health (Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA))

The Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) Program funds innovative K-12 STEM and Informal Science Education (ISE) educational projects. SEPA projects create partnerships among biomedical and clinical researchers and K-12 teachers and schools, museums and science centers, media experts, and other educational organizations. SEPA K-12 resources target state and national K-12 standards for STEM teaching and learning. These projects receive a thorough evaluation for effectiveness.

NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF)

Accelerating Discovery: Educating the Future STEM Workforce (AD)

Synopsis of Program: 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.

ADVANCE: Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions

Supports projects to increase representation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers to develop innovative and sustainable ways to promote gender equity in the STEM academic workforce; and to contribute to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce.

Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL)

Synopsis of Program: The Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning opportunities, for the public in informal environments. AISL also seeks to provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, as well as advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments. Additionally, AISL programs seek to engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments. (Usually due in November)

The AISL program supports six types of projects: (1) Pilots and Feasibility Studies, (2) Research in Service to Practice, (3) Innovations in Development, (4) Broad Implementation, (5) Literature Reviews, Syntheses, or Meta-Analyses, and (6) Conferences.

Computer Science for All (CSforAll: RPP)

Synopsis of Program: This program aims to provide all U.S. students the opportunity to participate in computer science (CS) and computational thinking (CT) education in their schools at the preK-12 levels. With this solicitation, the National Science Foundation (NSF) focuses on researcher-practitioner partnerships (RPPs) that foster the research and development needed to bring CS and CT to all schools. Specifically, this solicitation has three goals. First, to provide high school teachers with the professional development (PD), and ongoing support they need to teach rigorous computer science courses. Second, to provide PreK-8 teachers with the instructional materials and preparation they need to integrate CS and CT into their teaching. Third, provide schools and districts the resources needed to define and evaluate multi-grade pathways in CS and CT.

Education and Human Resources Core Research (ECR)

Synopsis of Program: The EHR Core Research (ECR) program establishes a mechanism in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources to provide funding in foundational research areas that are broad, essential and enduring. EHR seeks proposals that will help synthesize, build and/or expand research foundations in the following core areas: STEM learning, STEM learning environments, workforce development, and broadening participation in STEM. We invite researchers to identify and conduct research on questions or issues in order to advance the improvement of STEM learning in general, or to address specific challenges of great importance. (Usually due in October)

Education and Human Resources Core Research (ECR): Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER)

Synopsis of Program: ECR’s Building Capacity for STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) solicitation supports projects that build individuals’ capacity to carry out high quality STEM education research. Resulting in enhancing the nation’s STEM education enterprise and broadening the pool of researchers that can conduct fundamental research in STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.

Specifically, ECR: BCSER supports activities that enable early and mid-career researchers to acquire the requisite expertise and skills to conduct rigorous fundamental research in STEM education. ECR: BCSER seeks to fund career-development research activities on topics that are relevant to qualitative and quantitative research methods and design, including the collection and analysis of new qualitative or quantitative data, secondary analyses using extant datasets, or meta-analyses. (Usually due in June)

Discovery Research PreK-12

Synopsis of Program: The Discovery Research PreK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to, significantly enhance, the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and computer science (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of STEM education innovations and approaches. Projects in the DRK-12 program build on fundamental research in STEM education and prior research and development efforts that provide theoretical and empirical justification for proposed projects. Projects should result in research-informed and field-tested outcomes and products that inform teaching and learning. Teachers and students who participate in DRK-12 studies will enhance their understanding and use of STEM content, practices and skills.

Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER)

Synopsis of Program: CAREER: The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a Foundation-wide activity that offers the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education and to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization. Activities pursued by early-career faculty should build a firm foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. NSF encourages submission of CAREER proposals from early-career faculty at all CAREER-eligible organizations and especially encourages women, members of underrepresented minority groups, and persons with disabilities to apply. (Usually due in July)

Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Computing and Undergraduate Education (IUSE: CUE)

Synopsis of Program: Increasingly, undergraduate computer science (CS) programs prepares larger and more diverse student populations for careers in both CS and non-CS fields, including careers in scientific and non-scientific disciplines. Many of these students aim to acquire the understandings and competencies needed to learn how to use computation collaboratively across different contexts and challenging problems. However, standard CS course sequences do not always serve these students well. With this solicitation, NSF will support teams of Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) in re-envisioning the role of computing in interdisciplinary collaboration within their institutions. In addition, NSF will encourage partnering IHEs to use this opportunity to integrate the study of ethics into their curricula, both within core CS courses and across the relevant interdisciplinary application areas. (Usually due in May)

Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources (IUSE: EHR)

Synopsis of Program: The IUSE: EHR is a core NSF program that seeks to promote novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning in order to improve STEM education for undergraduate students. NSF supports IUSE: EHR projects that seek to bring recent advances in STEM knowledge into undergraduate education; and projects that adapt, improve, and incorporate evidence-based practices into STEM teaching and learning. These projects should also lay the groundwork for institutional improvement in STEM education. IUSE: EHR includes two tracks, Engaged Student Learning (ESL) and Institutional and Community Transformation (ICT), each with three levels of funding. (ESL proposals for Level 1 and ICT proposals for Capacity Building and Level 1 are due in February and August; ESL proposals for Levels 2-3 and ICT proposals for Level 2 are due in December).

Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program

The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program encourages 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 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. (Usually due in September)

Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST)

The ITEST program supports research on the design, development, implementation, and selective spread of innovative strategies to engage students in technology-rich experiences. The experience should (1) increase student awareness of STEM occupations; (2) motivate students to pursue appropriate education pathways to STEM occupations; or (3) develop disciplinary-based knowledge and practices, or promote critical thinking, reasoning skills, or communication skills needed for entering STEM workforce sectors. (Usually due in August)

NSF INCLUDES

Supports effort to enhance U.S. leadership in STEM discoveries and innovations by supporting diverse participation in these fields through collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing the preparation, increasing the participation, and ensuring the contributions of individuals from groups that have traditionally been underrepresented and underserved in the STEM enterprise: including women; ethnic minorities, and persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Limited submission: an organization can serve as the lead on one proposal. (Usually due in July)

NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program

The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) program encourages the development and implementation of bold, new, and potentially transformative models for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduate education training. The NRT 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. The program dedicates effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas, by using a comprehensive traineeship model that is innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs. (Letter of Intent window: November 25-December 6; Full proposal usually due in February)

NSF Scholarships in STEM Program

This program seeks to increase the number of low-income academically talented students with demonstrated financial need obtaining degrees in STEM and entering the workforce or graduate programs in STEM, as well as improve the education of future scientists, engineers, and technicians, with a focus on academically talented low-income students. Additionally, the program will generate knowledge to advance understanding of how factors or evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities affect the success, retention, transfer, academic/career pathways, and graduation in STEM of low-income students. (Usually due in March)

Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science (including engineering and computer science) teachers. The program invites creative and innovative proposals that address the critical need for recruiting and preparing highly effective elementary and secondary science and mathematics teachers in high-need local educational agencies. (Usually due in August)

Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC)

The goals of the SaTC program is to protect and preserve the growing social and economic benefits of cyber systems while ensuring security and privacy. There are six areas critical to successful cybersecurity research and development: (1) scientific foundations; (2) risk management; (3) human aspects; (4) transitioning successful research into practice; (5) workforce development; and (6) enhancing the research infrastructure. The NPRS identifies a framework for privacy research, anchored in characterizing privacy expectations, understanding privacy violations, engineering privacy-protecting systems, and recovering from privacy violations. In alignment with the objectives in both strategic plans, the SaTC program takes an interdisciplinary, comprehensive and holistic approach to cybersecurity research, development, and education, and encourages the transition of promising research ideas into practice. (Proposals accepted anytime.)

Other NSF Resources:

Portal to find NSF funding opportunities

Common Guidelines for Education and Research Development (By the ED and NSF)

Resources for STEM education

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

(Associations, Foundations, etc)

American Association of University Women Educational Foundation

Supports one-year grants ($2,000-$7,000), which provide seed money for new projects and two-year grants ($5,000-$10,000), which provide start-up funds for longer-term programs that address the particular needs of the community and develop girls’ sense of efficacy. For both programs, topic areas are unrestricted, but should include a clearly defined activity that promotes education and equity for women and girls. Applicants must be women who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Applications are open August 1st – December 1st

American Educational Research Association

Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals that develop or benefit from new quantitative measures or methodological approaches for addressing education issues; include interdisciplinary teams with subject matter expertise, especially when studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning; analyze TIMSS, PISA, or other international data resources; or include the integration and analysis of more than one data set.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Visit website for submission deadline.

American Psychological Foundation

The American Psychological Foundation (APF) provides financial support for innovative research and programs that enhance the power of psychology to elevate the human condition and advance human potential both now and in generations to come.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Visit website for submission deadline.

American Honda Foundation

The American Honda Foundation engages in grant making that reflects the basic tenets, beliefs and philosophies of Honda companies that characterize the following qualities: imaginative, creative, youthful, forward thinking, scientific, humanistic and innovative. The American Honda Foundation supports youth education with a specific focus on the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in addition to the environment, job training and literacy. Their aim is to seek out those programs and organizations with a well-defined sense of purpose, demonstrated commitment to making the best use of available resources and a reputation for accomplishing their objectives. In addition, programs should be:

  • Innovative and creative that propose untried methods that ultimately may result in providing solutions to the complex educational concerns currently facing the American society.
  • Broad in scope, intent, impact, and outreach.
  • Possess a high potential for success with a relatively low incidence of duplication of effort (i.e. other organizations administering the same programs).
  • Dedicated to improving human condition.
  • Operate from a position of financial and administrative soundness.
  • In urgent need of funding from a priority basis (not necessarily financial need); i.e., the relative importance of the program or project to the public.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Visit website for submission deadline.

Amgen Foundation

The Amgen Foundation seeks to advance science education, improve quality of care and access for patients, and support resources that create sound communities where Amgen staff members live and work. The Amgen Foundation carefully considers each grant application it receives, seeking out diverse organizations whose philosophies, objectives and approaches align with the Foundation goals and mission. The Foundation awards grants to local, regional, and international nonprofit organizations that are replicable, scalable and designed to have a lasting and meaningful effect in our communities. Grants should reflect Amgen’s dedication to impacting lives in inspiring and innovative ways. Amgen Foundation grants range from $10,000 to multi-million dollar commitments.

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Visit website for submission deadline.

Association for Women in Mathematics (Travel Grants and Mentoring Travel Grants)

Supports travel grants for women mathematics researchers and educators. The goal of this funding announcement is to enable women to attend conferences in fields supported by NSF’s Mathematical Sciences Division. Up to $2,300 is available for domestic travel and $3,500 for foreign travel. Mathematics mentoring travel grants (annual deadline: February 1st) provide up to seven awards of up to $5,000 each to help junior women researchers develop long-term working relationships with senior mathematicians.

If link does not open, copy and past the following web address in your browser:

https://awm-math.org/awards/awm-grants/travel-grants/

SUBMISSION INFORMATION: Deadlines include February 1st