For more information, please visit the workshop page.

Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. submitter’s local time):

     June 14, 2021

     January 20, 2022

     Third Thursday in January, Annually Thereafter

IMPORTANT INFORMATION AND REVISION NOTES

• Alliance and Alliance Extension awards have been substantially revised to emphasize the need for the projects to serve as national resources in support of the CISE Strategic Plan for Broadening Participation.
• Demonstration Projects are expected to contribute evidence-based findings on teaching diverse student populations in computing.
• The budget limits for Alliance Extension and Demonstration Projects have been revised.
• Supplement awards have been added to extend the reach of broadening participation plans implemented as part of a CISE Core Medium or Large project.

Any proposal submitted in response to this solicitation should be submitted in accordance with the revised NSF Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) (NSF 20-1), which is effective for proposals submitted, or due, on or after June 1, 2020.

Synopsis of Program:

The Broadening Participation in Computing program (BPC) aims to significantly increase the number of U.S. citizens and permanent residents receiving post-secondary degrees in the computing disciplines, and to encourage participation of other underrepresented groups in the discipline. These groups may include women, persons with disabilities, Blacks and African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. With this solicitation, the BPC program seeks to engage the computing community to develop and implement innovative methods, frameworks, and strategies to improve recruitment and retention of these students through undergraduate and graduate degrees. Projects that target stages of the academic pipeline through faculty ranks are encouraged. All BPC projects must have the potential for widespread, national impact. That is, they should either develop an effective practice that could be widely deployed, or they should deploy existing effective practices to reach larger audiences.

The BPC program will support three categories of awards: Alliances, Demonstration Projects, and Supplements.

Alliances arebroad coalitions of academic institutions of higher learning, K-12 schools, government, industry, professional societies, and other not-for-profit organizations that design and carry out comprehensive programs addressing underrepresentation in the computing disciplines. They have a large regional or national scope. Alliances operate across multiple stages of the academic pipeline and address one or several intended groups that are underrepresented. Collectively, Alliances serve as a national resource for achieving the transformation of computing education.

Existing Alliances with documented evidence of national impact on broadening participation in computing may apply for additional funding. An Alliance Extension increases the duration of the Alliance award as well as its scope, introducing additional student groups to be reached, partners, and/or projects with the intended purpose of significant impact to the populations served.

Demonstration Projects (DPs) are more focused than Alliance projects. Typical DPs pilot innovative programs that, once fully developed, could be incorporated into the activities of an existing or new Alliance, or otherwise scaled up for widespread impact. Examples include projects proposed by a single institution or those that focus on a single underrepresented community, a single point in the academic pathway, or a single impediment to full participation in computing. Demonstration projects should contribute knowledge to our understanding of effective teaching and learning of computing for students from groups underrepresented in computing.

Both Alliances and Demonstration Projects have significant evaluation efforts with both formative and summative components. Competitive projects will have significant impact both in the quality of opportunities afforded to participants and in the number of participants potentially served.

Supplements to existing CISE research awards are intended to engage more members of the computing research community in significant BPC efforts as part of a project’s BPC plan.

Anticipated Type of Award: Standard Grant or Continuing Grant
Estimated Number of Awards: 21 to 30
Anticipated Funding Amount: $12,750,000

For more information concerning eligibility, award information, or proposal preparation, please visit the award page.

The Ohio Department of Higher Education (ODHE) has released the RFP for the current RAPIDS (Regionally Aligned Priorities in Delivering Skills) competition. ODHE uses RAPIDS to make strategic regional investments in equipment and facilities to develop and support postsecondary workforce development projects that enhance the economic growth of students and businesses. Applications are submitted by a regional collaborative. Northeast Ohio will receive $2,042,500 -which will be divided equally among the three areas within the region. The University of Akron is in the Northeast Central Region ($680,833 allocated) and is an eligible Fiscal Agent along with: Kent State University, Northeast Ohio Medical Center, Lakeland Community College, and Stark State College.  

Due to interest in this program from multiple groups at the University, we are looking for:

• Equipment Proposals: Identify equipment ($25,000 or higher) that will support workforce development projects in targeted regional industries. Areas of investment broadly include additive manufacturing, robotics, and cybersecurity.

Additional information may be found at: https://www.ohiohighered.org/grants-rfps

Anyone interested in submitting an equipment proposal is to respond to this Limited Submission notice by March 29, 2021, by 5pm. Full proposals to ODHE are due May 14, 2021.

Please include the following in your LOI and email your LOI to Emily Njus at emily@uakron.edu by the above deadline:

Equipment Proposals are to include (1) description of the equipment (2) estimated cost of the equipment (3) the career pathway within the targeted industry and in-demand occupations that are targeted (http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Career-Tech/Career-Connections/Career-Pathways)

and (4) briefly explain how the purchase meets the requirements of the RFP (https://www.ohiohighered.org/sites/default/files/uploads/rapids/RAPIDS_2021-RFP_031221.pdf)

Contact Emily Njus with any questions you may have regarding this Limited Submission opportunity: 330-972-2760 or emily@uakron.edu

Are you applying for or managing an NIH award? To help you navigate our grants systems, the electronic Research Administration (eRA) website provides a myriad of resources. Here are the three most commonly accessed resources that you may find helpful:

1. eRA Commons Online Help for step-by-step instructions
   eRA Commons Online Help can be accessed throughout the eRA Commons modules by clicking the question mark icon  in various places on the screens.  But did you know the online help is also available outside of the eRA Commons modules? Using the link above, you can get to the complete online help content.  It provides information from passwords to ORCID iDs, status to closeout and everything in between.
2. eRA Video Tutorials for quick overviews
   Sometimes you just want to see how something works and we have an ever-growing library of videos (currently at 50+) to help you. Designed to be short and sweet and to the point, most videos are less than 5 minutes and demonstrate key functionality of the different modules that make up eRA Commons. If you are a fan of Twitter, look for an increasing number of videos specifically designed for social media from the @NIHgrants (Grants and Funding News from the Office of Extramural Research) handle.
3. eRA Commons Frequently Asked Questions for helpful answers
   FAQs are kind of the unsung hero of this list.  Developed from real user feedback, the FAQs are constantly being updated with new content and improved information.  Divided into 25 different categories, eRA FAQs cover a wide range of topics to help you find the answers that you are looking for.

For more information, please visit the NIH page.

The NIH Research Education Program (R25) supports research education activities in the mission areas of the NIH.  The overarching goal of this R25 program is to support educational activities that complement and/or enhance the training of a workforce to meet the nation’s biomedical, behavioral and clinical research needs.

To accomplish the stated over-arching goal, this FOA will support creative educational activities with a primary focus on:

Courses for Skills Development

Posted DateMarch 15, 2021Open Date (Earliest Submission Date)May 04, 2021Letter of Intent Due Date(s)

May 4, 2021Application Due Date(s)

June 4, 2021  

All applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. All types of non-AIDS applications allowed for this funding opportunity announcement are due on the listed date(s).

Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow adequate time to make any corrections to errors found in the application during the submission process by the due date.AIDS Application Due Date(s)

September 7, 2021

All applications are due by 5:00 PM local time of applicant organization. All types of AIDS and AIDS-related applications allowed for this funding opportunity announcement are due on the listed date(s).

Applicants are encouraged to apply early to allow adequate time to make any corrections to errors found in the application during the submission process by the due date.

For more information about this award, please refer to the award page.