Innovative Postdoctoral Entrepreneurial Research Fellowship (I-PERF)

拟议的博士后奖学金计划的更广泛影响将是增加妇女、非裔美国人、西班牙裔美国人、美洲印第安人、夏威夷/太平洋岛民和残疾人等代表性不足群体的人数，这些群体为支持联邦政府进行小型企业研究，并参与私营部门的技术开发和创业。该项目旨在为具有创业精神的、未被充分代表的学者定义一条新的职业道路。有人建议，政策、与方案经理、企业家和投资者有计划的互动、专业发展规划以及所提供的总体机会将在其他努力不足的地方取得成功。此外，该项目还将积极参与由美国国家科学基金会（NSF）设立的刺激竞争性研究项目（EPSCoR）所界定的地理上服务不足的州的代表性不足的群体、创新型初创企业和小型企业。拟议的博士后奖学金计划将为合格的创新型初创公司和小型企业中未被充分代表的研究员创造新的专业发展机会，这些研究员将获得NSF SBIR/STTR第二阶段的资助。从长远来看，该项目有望通过创造新的技术就业机会和更多的初创公司，扩大美国创新生态系统中代表性不足的创新者的参与。在2013财年，也就是提案团队可以获得的最后一年数据，小企业管理局（SBA）颁发了5159项小企业创新研究（SBIR）和小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段和第二阶段的奖励，总额为21亿美元。那一年，只有236个或4.57%的奖励给了少数族裔拥有的公司。相比之下，这一结果低于当年被授予科学与工程（S&amp；E）博士学位的比例和数量，分别为12.64%和2,897人，并且没有反映出美国劳动力中超过13万名未被充分代表的S&amp；E博士学位持有者的能力。在私营部门也发现了类似的问题。2016年，风险投资家在5839家男性创办的公司中投资了582亿美元，而在359家女性创办的公司中仅投资了14.6亿美元；女性占交易流量的4.94%。在少数族裔企业中，这一比例较低。在21世纪美国创新的主导地位面临前所未有的竞争压力之际，拟议的博士后奖学金计划将直接解决上述挑战。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of the proposed postdoctoral fellowship program will be an increase in the number of persons from underrepresented groups such as women, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders and those with disabilities who perform small business research in support of the federal government and participate in technology development and entrepreneurship in the private sector. This program is aimed at defining a new career pathway for entrepreneurial-minded, underrepresented scholars. It is proposed that the policies, planned interactions with program managers, entrepreneurs and investors, professional development programming, and the overall opportunity provided will succeed in this effort where other efforts have come short. In addition, the program will actively engage underrepresented groups and innovative start-up and small business companies in geographically under-served states as defined by National Science Foundation (NSF) Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).The proposed postdoctoral fellowship program will create new professional development opportunities for underrepresented fellows in qualified innovative start-up companies and small business that receive SBIR/STTR Phase II funding from NSF. On the long term, the program is expected to expand the participation of underrepresented innovators in the US innovation ecosystem, through the creation of new technology jobs and more start-up companies. In FY 2013, the last year data was available to the proposing team, the Small Business Administration (SBA) made 5,159 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I and Phase II awards totaling $2.1 billion. Only 236 or 4.57% awards were made to minority owned firms that year. For comparison, this outcome is lower than the percent and number of Science and Engineering (S&E) doctorates awarded to under-represented groups that year, 12.64% and 2,897 respectively, and does not reflect the capacity of the more than 130,000 underrepresented S&E doctorate degree holders in the U.S. workforce. A similar problem is found in the private sector. In 2016, venture capitalists invested $58.2 billion in 5,839 male-founded companies compared to just $1.46 billion in 359 female-founded companies; women represented 4.94% of the deal flow. The percentages are lower among minority business enterprises. The proposed postdoctoral fellowship program will directly address the aforementioned challenges at a time in the 21st century where the primacy of United States (US) innovation is facing unprecedented competitive pressure.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.