Workshops to Increase the Number and Competitiveness of Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs)' Proposals to NSF Life STEM Program

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This broadening participation project will coordinate and oversee three two-day regional workshops about research on STEM education for teams of researchers and leaders from minority-serving institutions (MSIs). The goal of the workshops will be to increase the capacity of MSIs to contribute to attracting, preparing, and retaining underrepresented students for the future STEM workforce. To achieve this goal, specialized activities will be implemented to create greater awareness of current opportunities at NSF that will help prepare MSIs to take part in diversifying the future STEM workforce. These activities will help increase the quantity and quality of proposals from MSIs seeking funding to create, implement, and evaluate innovative models of intervention that will help more PreK-12 or undergraduate students select careers in STEM fields. This coordinated effort will facilitate individual and cross-institutional capacity building related to curriculum development, teacher support, and student engagement.Critical to this capacity-building effort will be a focus on understanding the current research context and expectations for competitive participation in STEM education opportunities offered by NSF. The workshops will be hosted by Xavier University in New Orleans, Louisiana; Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, and Rutgers-Newark in Newark, New Jersey to provide intensive training to help more MSIs fully participate in and contribute to national STEM education goals. This, in turn, will align with the Foundation's strategic direction for broadening participation in STEM through innovation and cutting-edge research. Project-related materials will be made available online to ensure broader dissemination of information that will be beneficial to all MSIs and other research institutions in relation to the Life STEM initiative.