Advancing Women's Leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (ADVANCE)

Advancing Women's Leadership in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (ADVANCE) is sponsored by National Science Foundation (NSF). The ADVANCE program seeks to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic science and engineering careers. It provides funding for institutions to implement strategies that promote gender equity and create supportive environments for women faculty members.

NSF 10-593: ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE) | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation Archived funding opportunity This solicitation is archived.

Important information for proposers and award recipients All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in the funding opportunity and in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and its supplements . All NSF grants and cooperative agreements are subject to the applicable set of NSF award terms and conditions . NSF has updated its research security policies for NSF funded projects.

NSF 10-593: ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers (ADVANCE) Download the solicitation (PDF, 0.

9mb) National Science Foundation Directorate for Education & Human Resources Division of Human Resource Development Directorate for Biological Sciences Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering Directorate for Engineering Directorate for Geosciences Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences Office of Cyberinfrastructure Office of International Science and Engineering Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.

m. proposer's local time) : Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Institutional Transformation (IT) and Institutional Transformation Catalyst (IT-Catalyst) Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p. m.

proposer's local time): Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Institutional Transformation (IT) and Institutional Transformation Catalyst (IT-Catalyst) Important Information And Revision Notes Please be advised that the NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) includes guidelines implementing the mentoring provisions of the America COMPETES Act (ACA) (Pub. L. No. 110-69, Aug.

9, 2007.) As specified in the ACA, each proposal that requests funding to support postdoctoral researchers must include a description of the mentoring activities that will be provided for such individuals. Proposals that do not comply with this requirement will be returned without review (see the PAPP Guide Part I: Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II for further information about the implementation of this requirement).

Summary Of Program Requirements ADVANCE: Increasing the Participation and Advancement of Women in Academic Science and Engineering Careers The goal of the ADVANCE program is to develop systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women in academic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers, thereby contributing to the development of a more diverse science and engineering workforce.

ADVANCE focuses on ensuring that women faculty with earned STEM degrees consider academia as a viable and attractive career option. This program does not support projects to increase or retain the number of women entering into or persisting in STEM doctoral degree programs. Thus, efforts to impact the STEM pipeline are not considered appropriate for the ADVANCE Program.

Creative strategies to realize the ADVANCE program goal are sought from women and men. Members of underrepresented minority groups and individuals with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply. Proposals that address the participation and advancement of academic STEM women from underrepresented minority groups and women with disabilities are particularly encouraged.

Further, given the increasing emphasis on international collaborations in many STEM disciplines, and the importance of international recognition to career advancement, proposal components that systemically enhance and provide access to international collaborations are encouraged.

Proposals from community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, minority-serving institutions (e.g. Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges and Universities), women's colleges, and institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities are encouraged.

In 2011-2012, this program will support the following types of ADVANCE Projects: Institutional Transformation (IT) Institutional Transformation awards are expected to include innovative systemic organizational approaches to transform institutions of higher education in ways that will increase the participation and advancement of women in STEM academic careers. These awards support comprehensive programs for institution-wide change.

IT projects must include a 5-page research component designed to study the effectiveness of the proposed innovations in order to contribute to the knowledge base informing academic institutional transformation. Previous or current funding from ADVANCE is not a prerequisite for submitting an IT proposal. Any institution meeting the minimum eligibility may apply for an IT award.

Proposals for IT awards from community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, minority-serving institutions (e.g. Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions), women's colleges, and institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged.

It is anticipated that there may be significant differences in the issues facing faculty in these institutions, compared to faculty in other types of institutions that will warrant development of unique strategies and/or adaptation of proven strategies in a unique way to achieve ADVANCE Program goals.

Institutional Transformation Catalyst (IT-Catalyst) IT-Catalyst awards are designed to support historically resource-challenged institutions in efforts to conduct institutional self-assessment activities, such as data collection and analysis and policy review, in order to identify specific issues in the recruitment, retention and promotion of women faculty in STEM academics within an institution of higher education.

This type of work is fundamental for institutions that plan to undertake institutional transformation. The institution's need for external resources to undertake institutional self assessment and policy review will specifically be evaluated using additional ADVANCE merit review criteria. Thus, institutions applying for IT-Catalyst awards are expected to demonstrate institutional need within the proposal.

As such, institutions that are particularly encouraged to apply for the ADVANCE IT-Catalyst award include: primarily undergraduate institutions; institutions that have historically received lesser amounts of NSF research funding; minority serving institutions (e.g., Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions); women's colleges; institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities; and institutions that have a Carnegie classification of master's colleges and universities, baccalaureate colleges, associate colleges or tribal colleges.

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination (PAID) Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation, and Dissemination awards may focus on one institution or organization, or they may be a partnership between several institutions and/or organizations. PAID projects can focus on all STEM disciplines, several disciplines, or only one discipline, including the social and behavioral sciences.

Projects may have an international, national, regional or local scope. Previous or current funding from ADVANCE is not a prerequisite for submitting a PAID proposal (see additional ADVANCE merit review criteria). 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.

Program Director for ADVANCE, Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s): --- Mathematical and Physical Sciences --- Computer and Information Science and Engineering --- Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences --- Education and Human Resources --- Office of Polar Programs --- Office of International Science and Engineering --- Office of Cyberinfrastructure --- Office of Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant or Cooperative Agreement Estimated Number of Awards: The total number of awards to be made under this Solicitation is estimated to be 23.

NSF expects to make: approximately seven (7) Institutional Transformation five-year awards, at various award sizes; up to seven (7) IT-Catalyst awards with durations of up to two years and total budgets not exceeding a maximum of $200,000 each; and up to nine (9) PAID awards, of various durations, not exceeding a maximum of $750,000 for 5 years.

Anticipated Funding Amount: - Pending availability of funds, NSF anticipates having approximately $12,200,000 available over the two-year fiscal period, FY 2011-FY2012, for support of the ADVANCE portfolio. Approximately $5,600,000 will be available for the FY2011 competition and approximately $6,600,000 will be available for the FY2012 competition.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 Proposers may submit only one Institutional Transformation proposal or one IT-Catalyst proposal. There is no limit on the number of PAID proposals that can be submitted. Limit on Number of Proposals per PI: Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions A.

Proposal Preparation Instructions Letters of Intent: Submission of Letters of Intent is required. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. Preliminary Proposal Submission: Not Applicable 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 ) Cost Sharing Requirements: Cost Sharing is not required under this solicitation.

Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations: Not Applicable Other Budgetary Limitations: Not Applicable Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p. m. proposer's local time) : Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Institutional Transformation (IT) and Institutional Transformation Catalyst (IT-Catalyst) Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.

m. proposer's local time): Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination Institutional Transformation (IT) and Institutional Transformation Catalyst (IT-Catalyst) Proposal Review Information 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 Additional award conditions apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Additional reporting requirements apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information. To sustain competitiveness and facilitate continued innovation across all fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in the US, all talent the nation has to offer must be utilized.

Although women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are an increasing percentage of the overall US workforce, they remain underrepresented in STEM professions. In particular, despite significant advances made in the proportion of women choosing to pursue STEM doctoral degrees, women continue to be significantly underrepresented in almost all STEM academic positions. Women have earned an increasing percentage of Ph.

D. s in STEM disciplines in the US, rising from 17% in 1976 to 46. 1% in 2008, yet their representation in academic STEM faculty and administrative positions has not wholly reflected these gains.

1 , 2 , 3 The representation of women in academic faculty and administrative positions varies by a number of factors including discipline, rank, type of institution, and type of appointment (i.e., tenure vs. non-tenure track and part time vs. full time), as well as by race and disability status.

2 , 4 Characteristics such as department and institutional climate, structure, organization, salary equity, and culture also impact the representation of women in academic STEM positions. 5 It is clear that many factors affect women's participation and advancement in academic STEM positions that are external to their ability, interest, and technical skills.

Research on factors that may account for the lower proportion of women in the various ranks of STEM faculties includes the effects of implicit and explicit bias; differential effects on women regarding conflicts between work and family demands; access to international collaborations; unequal access to resources such as laboratory space, salary, and supporting facilities; and underrepresentation of women in academic leadership and decision-making positions.

5 The cumulative effect of such diverse factors has been to create formidable barriers to the participation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers.

Overcoming and eliminating these barriers, as well as addressing emerging challenges such as the increasing emphasis on a globally engaged STEM academic workforce and the increasing interdisciplinarity of STEM research and education, is critical to support the full participation of women in academic STEM careers.

The full participation of women in academic STEM careers is also important given the pivotal role that faculty members and administrative leadership have as intellectual, professional, personal, and organizational role models that shape the expectations of many prospective scientists and engineers.

Persistent underrepresentation of women faculty, especially in leadership positions, may affect all students' critically important relationships with mentors, participation as members of research and education teams, and self-identification as potential researchers.

The ADVANCE program provides support to address these and other identified challenges to increase the participation and advancement of women in academic faculty and leadership positions.

ADVANCE is particularly interested in projects that include a focus on underrepresented minority women and women with disabilities, as these populations are even more severely underrepresented in STEM academic careers and different strategies may be required to address their low representation. The ADVANCE Program welcomes creative uses of cyberinfrastructure.

In addition, proposal components that systemically enhance and provide access to international collaborations are encouraged. [ 1 ]. Hoffer, T.

B. , M. Hess, V.

Welch, Jr., and K. Williams, 2007 . Doctorate Recipients from United States Universities: Summary Report 2006.

Chicago: National Opinion Research Center. (The report gives the results of data collected in the Survey of Earned Doctorates, conducted for six federal agencies, NSF, NIH, USED, NEH, USDA, and NASA by NORC.) [ 2 ].

Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering, National Science Foundation, 2009 . [ 3 ]. Survey of Earned Doctorates, National Science Foundation, 2009.

[ 4 ]. Science and Engineering Indicators, National Science Board, 2008 . Two volumes.

Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation (volume 1, NSB 08-01; volume 2, NSB 08-01A). [ 5 ]. Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering, The National Academies Press, Washington, D.

C. , 2007 1. Institutional Transformation (IT): five-year, comprehensive, institution-wide, transformational projects Innovation: IT awards are expected to include innovative, systemic, organizational approaches in order to increase the participation and advancement of women in STEM academic careers.

The proposed strategies must be accompanied by a rigorous social science study of the innovation and the IT project activities. Project Scope: IT projects are expected to be designed to achieve the transformation of all departments or schools of STEM fields within the institution, including the social and behavioral sciences.

If an IT proposal focuses on a subset of science and engineering departments, the rationale for such a focus must be included in the proposal. Additionally, proposals that involve activities targeted toward specific populations of women faculty (e.g., women faculty of color, women faculty with disabilities) must include current institutional data on this group, disaggregated by race, ethnicity and/or disability status, as appropriate.

Reasons for lack of such baseline data must be explained in the proposal; further justification for the project may be necessary without such baseline data. ADVANCE projects should focus on activities that encourage the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women faculty and academic administrators in STEM.

Complementary activities that enhance the participation of women students and postdoctoral researchers in science and engineering and non-STEM faculty should be supported by the institution.

Project Activities: IT awards provide maximum flexibility to proposing institutions to define and implement systemic organizational approaches to increase the participation of women STEM faculty members; to promote their retention and advancement into the senior and leadership ranks; and to implement the changes necessary to institutionalize those approaches through changes to institutional policies, procedures, and practices.

The proposed strategies must be based on and justified by relevant social science research. Both men and women should be involved with the project implementation in order to achieve the program goals; men and women should also be participants in project initiatives, as appropriate.

ADVANCE also encourages IT awards that creatively address the underrepresentation of women faculty in meaningful international scholarly activity as a mechanism toward achieving institutional transformation goals. IT awards can include efforts to promote globally engaged researchers and leaders if appropriate for achieving institutional transformation goals.

IT awards should create positive, sustainable, and permanent change in academic climates by transforming institutional practices systemically. An explanation of how activities that provide direct financial support to individual faculty will lead to institutional transformation within the period of the award should be included as well as a plan for systematizing and sustaining the activities.

Targeted efforts for special groups, such as underrepresented minority women and women with disabilities, are expected to include specific strategies designed for these populations as well as relevant data. 2.

IT-Catalyst: two-year, institutional self-assessment projects Project Scope: IT-Catalyst projects are expected to be designed to assess all departments or schools of STEM fields within the institution, including the social and behavioral sciences. If an IT-Catalyst proposal focuses on a subset of science and engineering departments, the rationale for such a focus must be included in the proposal.

Additionally, proposals that involve activities targeted toward specific populations of women faculty (e.g., women faculty of color, women faculty with disabilities) must include current institutional data on this group, disaggregated by race, ethnicity and/or disability status, as appropriate.

Reasons for lack of such baseline data must be explained in the proposal; further justification for the project may be necessary without such baseline data. Project Activities: Institutions that seek to undertake institutional transformation must first understand what transformation is required, which is often informed by data collection and analysis, climate surveys, and review of institutional policies and practices.

It is anticipated that a successfully completed IT-Catalyst project can serve as a springboard for embarking on a full-scale institutional transformation.

A wide range of self-assessment activities may be undertaken as part of an IT-Catalyst project: data collection on STEM faculty at the institution with respect to indicators such as salaries, faculty recruitment and retention, faculty applicant pools, tenure and promotion outcomes; identification of resources to assist with recruitment, such as national pool data by discipline; review of institutional policies and their usage regarding work and life issues, climate surveys, and any other tools or indicators that capture the institution's current culture and environment.

Both men and women should be involved with the project implementation in order to achieve the program goals; men and women should also be participants in project initiatives, as appropriate. Based on the results of the IT-Catalyst project, the awardee should be able to determine the most critical institutional transformation needs and formulate specific institutional transformation strategies and goals. 3.

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID): one- to five-year projects that support the ADVANCE program goals Partnerships: Proposals that are designed as partnerships among multiple institutions and/or organizations are encouraged, but a partnership design is not required.

Partnerships may, for example, be between an existing ADVANCE awardee and new partners, or between two or more institutions or organizations that have not previously received an ADVANCE award. A PAID proposal with partnerships may be submitted as a collaborative proposal. See the NSF Grant Proposal Guide Chapter II.

D. 4. for additional information on collaborative proposals: https://www.

nsf. gov/publications/pub_summ. jsp?

ods_key=gpg . Partnership proposals should offer a clear rationale for the partnership as well as the value added to and by each partnering institution. Letters of support are required from partners.

Project Scope: PAID projects can focus on all STEM disciplines, several disciplines, or only one discipline, including the social and behavioral sciences. Projects can have an international, national, state or local scope.

Projects that have an international focus should provide for long term impact on the capacity of the institution to address the underrepresentation of women faculty in international collaborations, and should include strategies for sustainability of international activity beyond the funded project period. Projects that have national systemic impact across a discipline or set of related disciplines are particularly encouraged.

Additionally, proposals that involve activities targeted toward specific populations of women faculty (e.g., women faculty of color, women faculty with disabilities) must include current institutional data on this group, disaggregated by race, ethnicity and/or disability status, as appropriate.

Reasons for lack of such baseline data must be explained in the proposal; further justification for the project may be necessary without such baseline data. Project Activities: A wide range of activities can be undertaken as part of a PAID project. Previous or current funding from ADVANCE is not a prerequisite for submitting a PAID proposal.

However, it is expected that the proposed PAID activities will be informed by social science literature, as well as the results of related ADVANCE projects and other non-ADVANCE projects (national and international). Potential project activities may include any of the projects listed below or any combination thereof. These examples should not limit the types of projects that are proposed under PAID.

Adaptation and Implementation: For institutions not currently supported through an ADVANCE Institutional Transformation award, PAID awards could provide support for directed institutional transformation efforts (at a departmental, college, institutional, state, or regional level).

PAID adaptation and implementation projects may include original innovative components and/or adapt existing strategies to a new context (such as a community college or minority serving institution) that will make significant contributions to our understanding of institutional transformation. The proposed strategies for adaptation and implementation do not have to be drawn from previous ADVANCE projects.

PAID proposals designed to adapt and implement strategies are expected to: provide evidence that the materials, tools and practices have been effective in other situations; explain why they are expected to be effective in the new context; provide a plan to evaluate the results from the activities; and include a process for determining why particular strategies are more effective than others.

Dissemination: PAID dissemination projects are expected to broaden the impact of systemic approaches to enhance the participation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers and to expand the network of institutions and individuals that are equipped with knowledge about the institutional factors underlying the underrepresentation of women in academic STEM and the effective strategies to overcome these institutional factors.

Innovative strategies for dissemination and diffusion are encouraged, particularly those that take advantage of existing organizational infrastructures that can sustain the proposed activities. Dissemination projects should identify the appropriate audiences and dissemination strategies based on the proposed project goals.

The materials, tools, and practices to be shared must have been demonstrated to be effective in increasing the participation and advancement of women in academic STEM careers; evidence of the effectiveness of such strategies must be included in the proposal.

PAID dissemination projects may include workshops for individuals; however, these workshop proposals must include a clear plan for sustaining the workshops after the ADVANCE project ends (see additional ADVANCE merit review criteria). Examples of workshops include but are not limited to: Training on institutional transformation strategies for various appropriate audiences.

For example, approaches to data collection; designing, executing and analyzing climate surveys; or national, international, and/or discipline-specific leadership development. Skill development for STEM faculty, departmental chairs, and other academic leaders.

For example, these could focus on career stages and transitions, such as advancing from post-doctoral appointments to tenure-track positions, from associate to full professor, from senior faculty to academic leadership including global leadership roles. PAID-Research : PAID-Research awards support investigator-initiated scientific research on gender in the academic STEM workforce.

These projects must be grounded in theory and must advance our scientific understanding of women in academia. Thus, PAID-Research proposals must be rigorous social science studies. PAID-Research proposals may be jointly reviewed as appropriate with other NSF research programs such as: the Innovation and Organizational Sciences (IOS) program ( https://www.

nsf. gov/funding/pgm_summ. jsp?

pims_id=5378&org=SES&from=home ); the Science Technology and Society (STS) program ( https://www. nsf. gov/funding/pgm_summ.

jsp? pims_id=5324&org=SES&from=home ); and the Research on Gender in Science and Engineering (GSE) program ( https://www. nsf.

gov/funding/pgm_summ. jsp? pims_id=5475&org=HRD&from=home ).

Although proposals to ADVANCE may be jointly reviewed, PAID-Research proposals submitted to ADVANCE must adhere to the proposal deadlines outlined in the ADVANCE solicitation. Pending availability of funds, NSF anticipates having approximately, $12,200,000 available over the two fiscal year periods, FY2011-FY2012, for support of the ADVANCE portfolio. IV.

Eligibility Information Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 1 Proposers may submit only one Institutional Transformation proposal or one IT-Catalyst proposal. There is no limit on the number of PAID proposals that can be submitted.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI: Additional Eligibility Info: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: Institutional Transformation (IT) Institutional Transformation proposals may be submitted by non-profit academic institutions of higher education that have educational programs in a field supported by NSF and are in the US, its territories or possessions, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Institutions of higher education that have received an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation award are not eligible to apply for another Institutional Transformation award. Organizations that received an IT-Catalyst (formerly IT-Start) award are eligible to apply for an Institutional Transformation award. Any institution meeting the minimum eligibility and review criteria may apply for an IT award.

It is not necessary to have had an IT-Start or IT-Catalyst award in order to submit an Institutional Transformation proposal.

Proposals for IT awards from community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, minority-serving institutions (e.g. Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions), women's colleges, and institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged.

IT-Catalyst proposals may be submitted by non-profit academic institutions of higher education that have been historically under-resourced and are designated as community colleges, primarily undergraduate institutions, minority-serving institutions (e.g. Tribal Colleges and Universities, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions), women's colleges, and institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities.

Institutions of higher education that do not meet the above criteria or have received an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation or IT-Catalyst (formerly IT-Start) award are not eligible to apply for an additional IT-Catalyst award. The institution's need for external resources to undertake institutional self assessment and policy review will specifically be evaluated using additional ADVANCE merit review criteria.

Institutions applying for IT-Catalyst awards are expected to demonstrate institutional need within the proposal.

As such, institutions that are particularly encouraged to apply for the ADVANCE IT-Catalyst award include: primarily undergraduate institutions; institutions that have historically received lesser amounts of NSF research funding; minority serving institutions (e.g., Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions); women's colleges; institutions primarily serving persons with disabilities; and institutions that have a Carnegie classification of master's colleges and universities, baccalaureate colleges, associate colleges or tribal colleges.

Institutions of higher education that do not meet the above criteria or have received an NSF ADVANCE Institutional Transformation or IT-Catalyst (formerly IT-Start) award are not eligible to apply for an additional IT-Catalyst award.

Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination (PAID) Partnerships for Adaptation, Implementation and Dissemination proposals may be submitted by non-profit academic institutions of higher education and state systems of higher education that have educational programs in a field supported by NSF, professional societies and other not-for-profit organizations that support the STEM enterprise.

Submitting institutions and organizations, as well as partner institutions and organizations that would receive funds from the NSF grant, must be based in the US, its territories or possessions, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Partnerships involving industry, government, professional societies and other not-for-profit organizations are encouraged, but not required.

Similarly, while NSF funds typically only support the US interest of the activity, partnerships with international entities are encouraged. V. Proposal Preparation And Submission Instructions A.

Proposal Preparation Instructions Letters of Intent (required) : Letters of intent are required for all ADVANCE proposals. Only one letter of intent for an Institutional Transformation (IT) or an IT-Catalyst proposal can be submitted from an Institution of Higher Education (IHE). A separate letter of intent for each different PAID proposal is required even if submitted by one IHE or organization.

The letters of intent will be reviewed by the program office. Project Synopsis: Provide a description of the proposed project. The program office will use this to determine if the proposal is appropriate for submission and if the proposal will need specialized expert review.

Other Comments Input Text Area: List senior project personnel with a brief description of their proposed roles. List partner institutions and organizations, if any, with a brief description of each partner's involvement in the project. Other information such as known conflicts and areas of specialized expertise pertinent for the review process can also be included.

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 Submission of multiple Letters of Intent is allowed Full Proposal Preparation Instructions: Proposers may opt to submit proposals in response to this Program Solicitation via Grants.

gov or via the NSF FastLane system. Full proposals submitted via FastLane: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the general guidelines contained 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) 292-7827 or by e-mail from nsfpubs@nsf. gov .

Proposers are reminded to identify this program solicitation number in the program solicitation block on the NSF Cover Sheet For Proposal to the National Science Foundation. Compliance with this requirement is critical to determining the relevant proposal processing guidelines. Failure to submit this information may delay processing.

Full proposals submitted via Grants. gov: Proposals submitted in response to this program solicitation via Grants. gov should be prepared and submitted in accordance with the NSF Grants.

gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants. gov. The complete text of 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 ). To obtain copies of the Application Guide and Application Forms Package, click on the Apply tab on the Grants.

gov site, then click on the Apply Step 1: Download a Grant Application Package and Application Instructions link and enter the funding opportunity number, (the program solicitation number without the NSF prefix) and press the Download Package button. Paper copies of the Grants. gov Application Guide also may be obtained from the NSF Publications Clearinghouse, telephone (703) 292-7827 or by e-mail from nsfpubs@nsf.

gov . In determining which method to utilize in the electronic preparation and submission of the proposal, please note the following: Collaborative Proposals. All collaborative proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations must be submitted via the NSF FastLane system.

Chapter II, Section D. 4 of the Grant Proposal Guide provides additional information on collaborative proposals. 1.

Institutional Transformation (IT) Institutional Context and Data Contextual information on the proposing institution, including a brief institutional profile,