grant_number,project_title,termination_letter_date,org_name,org_city,org_state,org_district,usaspending_obligated,award_type,directorate_abbrev,directorate,division,nsf_program_name,nsf_url,usaspending_url,nsf_startdate,nsf_expected_end_date,org_zip,org_uei,abstract,in_cruz_list
2135329,Collaborative Research: Research: Early-Career Engineers Experiences with Equity and Ethics as They Transition to Practice and Implications for Formation of Engineers,2025-04-25,University of New Mexico,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,NM01,190725,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2135329,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2135329_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,871310001,F6XLTRUQJEN4,"Transportation systems, computing algorithms, and healthcare devices are among the many designs, products, and systems developed by the engineering profession that have important impacts on society. The decisions made by engineers can help advance fairness and justice in society, or these decisions can increase and build upon existing inequities leading to adverse consequences for minoritized populations. Furthermore, the engineering profession is a field with a history of exclusion where People of Color, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and white women remain underrepresented after years of effort to increase diversity. To address these concerns about engineering practice, we need to understand and then transform how new engineers form their attitudes and behaviors around social equity and inclusion in the workplace. Engineering students learn about the ethical obligations of engineers to benefit humanity while they are in school, and it is becoming more common for engineering students to learn specifically about how diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to the engineering profession. And hiring organizations might also provide learning opportunities on issues of diversity and inclusion with various goals such as creating more inclusive environment. In this project we will study new engineers, in their first five years of practice, to learn how these engineers are using lessons from school and the messages they receive in the workplace to shape their professional behavior at a key transitional stage. The ultimate goal of this study is to help develop ethical and equity minded engineers who are prepared to use their professional work to enhance fairness in society and in engineering workplaces.    This project will use a sequential mixed methods design including a national survey and interviews. The research process will document the perceptions and experiences of early-career engineers involving equity and ethics and their preparedness to address these issues based on their learning experiences at both engineering school and the workplace. Our research seeks to answer the following questions: 1) What aspects of their academic preparation and exposure to issues of equity and ethics do early-career engineers find relevant and use in their professional work? 2) What are early-career engineers’ experiences of on-the-job learning related to equity and ethics and what types of resources are available to support these learning experiences? 3) What are the perceptions of early-career engineers about equity and ethics and their importance in interpersonal interactions in the work environment? 4) What are the perceptions of early-career engineers about equity and ethics and their importance in the professional work of engineers? In addition, what experiences/situations have contributed to these perceptions? And 5) To what extent and in what ways do early-career engineers with different social identities have differing views and motivation to act on issues of equity and ethics in engineering? We will use our findings to create learning activities (such as videos) based on the situations where our participants encountered decisions with equity and ethics implications. These activities can be used by engineering instructors to incorporate realistic early-career situations involving equity and ethics in undergraduate education. This project has an advisory board including members of professional societies and industry who will help guide the study and convey our findings to organizations that can use our findings to shape early-career professional development of engineers.    This project is jointly funded by the Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE) and the Ethical and Responsible Research (ER2) programs.    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.",TRUE
2342099,MyTurn: An Afterschool Social Robotics Program to Promote Interest in Computing Among Middle School Students,2025-04-25,University of Illinois at Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL07,499999,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342099,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342099_4900,2024-08-15,2027-07-31,606124305,W8XEAJDKMXH3,"Computational thinking and robotics are increasingly essential to many scientific and technological careers of the future, yet youth often do not have opportunities to practice broad and diverse applications of computing beyond basic programming. This project will address this issue through developing and testing design principles for afterschool programs that build youths’ interest in a broad range of computing careers. As part of this project, girls in middle school will co-design an afterschool robotics program, named MyTurn, in partnership with women mentors from industry and undergraduate computer science programs. While participating in MyTurn, girls will work in teams to design and program reconfigurable social robots that will perform youth-selected applications, such as providing various types of assistance to others. The research will explore whether and how different design elements of the program fostered girls’ interest in computing and computing careers. The materials associated with MyTurn, as well as the design principles that informed the creation of the program, will be widely and freely disseminated through numerous professional networks that develop afterschool programming. Ultimately, the deliverables from this project are likely to advance knowledge and practice regarding broadening participation in computing careers and career pathways among girls and women who have historically been underrepresented in these fields.     In this Exploring Theory and Design Principles project, the University of Illinois Chicago will develop theories and principles which illustrate how stakeholders can co-design afterschool programs that increase middle school girls’ interest in computing careers. These theories and design principles will be iteratively developed and tested in conjunction with the afterschool social robotics program. Mixed methods research will identify key mechanisms that positively influence youths’ experiences, sense of belonging, and interest in computing and computing careers. Specifically, the project team will analyze surveys that explore youths’ interest in computing and computing careers; transcripts of interviews with the youth and their mentors; videos of the participatory sessions during which women and girls co-design the afterschool program; and youth artifacts. The findings from these analyses will be disseminated widely via professional networks of computer science education researchers and practitioners. This project will result in empirically-tested design principles, which outline how educators of afterschool programs can build girls’ interest in computing careers at a critical time in their trajectories, which can prepare and inspire them to pursue additional computer science experiences and courses in high school and beyond. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2201103,Collaborative Research: The Organizational Climate Challenge: Promoting the Retention of Students from Underrepresented Groups in Doctoral Engineering Programs,2025-04-25,American Society For Engineering Education,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,124241,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201103,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201103_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,200362476,F6G9C4HMNHW4,"The ongoing lack of diversity in the engineering doctoral workforce remains a significant problem with far-reaching implications for the US economy. The long-term vitality of the US workforce relies on the full range of engineering career pathways being available to all Americans. A diverse STEM workforce is more creative and innovative. While the number of women completing STEM doctorates has risen, the proportion of women earning engineering doctorates remains low. And, in 2019, while 24.1% of engineering doctorates were earned by women, only 1.4% were earned by Hispanic, Black, and Native American women (no Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander women). Doctoral engineering attrition rates reveal a disproportionately high loss of students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The problem is not students’ inability to complete the Ph.D. degree requirements, but rather that talented students leave engineering doctoral programs before completing their doctorates. Student attrition results in a loss of human talent to the national endeavor of research and discovery at universities fueling US economic growth. Unwelcoming organizational climates in engineering doctoral programs likely contribute to this attrition. This project aims to examine the organizational climates of engineering doctoral programs to guide efforts that promote the persistence and retention of doctoral students in engineering.     The goal of this mixed-methods project is to examine doctoral students’ perceptions of the factors that impact their persistence in degree completion and the differences in experiencing those factors based on intersecting social categories. This project adopts an explicitly intersectional approach to the meaning and relevance of students’ belonging to multiple social categories, including gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation, considered within the context of engineering doctoral education. Drawing on organizational climate research and intersectionality theory, the project’s multidisciplinary team aims to use a student-centered approach to shed light on multiple climate factors (e.g., climate for diversity, climate for inclusion, student sense of belonging, etc.) by engaging with students from diverse groups. To achieve a comprehensive picture of departmental climate and persistence, which may differ by intersectional group, major, and institution type, iterative and complementary cycles of project implementation are planned over the four-year project period. In Year 1, the researchers aim to use findings from the quantitative pilot climate survey approach to inform the qualitative design. The team aims to repeat this process in Year 2 to develop, refine, and validate the final survey instrument, including a climate scale which will be sensitive enough to assess intersectional phenomena unique to students from diverse groups. The scale will be grounded in measurement invariance, in that factors will be measured in the same way across different groups to reveal similarities and differences between engineering doctoral student populations. In Years 3 and 4, the researchers plan to administer the final survey nationally and incorporate follow-up interviews with a subsample of survey respondents, using a mixed-methods approach. In partnership with the American Society for Engineering Education, the team plans to deploy the climate survey nationally to engineering doctoral students and to share survey findings with engineering deans.       This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2215382,"Engaging Rural, Latinx Youth in an After School Program That Integrates Design Thinking, Making and Math",2025-04-25,TERC Inc,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,2601763,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215382,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215382_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,021401339,GSLCJ3M62XX1,"The project will develop and research an after-school program designed to engage rural, Latinx youth in design thinking and math through making. Making is a learner-centered environment where participants design, create, and develop projects. Latinx individuals are underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The project will engage Latinx youth during the critical middle school years when young people make choices that affect their futures. The project will work with community members, after school staff, and youth as co-designers to develop and pilot the complete after school program. The program will involve Latinx youth who live in the agricultural regions of the Southwest United States with the goal of developing agency and positive identity, as makers, mathematical doers and users, and active community members. They will engage in developmentally appropriate mathematics, such as the volume and surface area of geometric shapes, within the context of informal learning projects. The program will comprise four semester-long after school projects, involving participants for 2-4 hours each week, during which time youth will design and create objects to address typical community challenges. Each project will incorporate smaller modules to enable youth with different attendance needs to participate. Real community problems (e.g., drought) and solution paths (e.g., water catchment system) will motivate the making and the mathematics. The program, co-designed in partnership with the Cesar Chavez Foundation, promises to reach 100,000 youth over the next decade. Because the program can serve as a model for others with similar goals, this reach has the potential to be expanded in many other communities.     Project research will address a gap in the current literature on mathematics, making, and community membership. The project connects community mathematics—the rich mathematical knowledge and practices drawn from communities—to educational making to both enrich understanding of school mathematics and aid in developing students’ positive mathematical and cultural identities. The project will also result in a model of professional development that can be used and studied by after school programs and researchers, contributing to the limited body of knowledge of professional development on STEM making for after school facilitators. The research design for this project will follow a mixed methods approach where quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis will occur simultaneously. Results of both strands will be brought together at the interpretation and reporting level to compare and bring out the convergence, divergence, or complementarity of findings. The research will take place in two stages (co-design and pilot) over 3 years, with an additional half year for developing communications of the findings. Research will address the following questions: (1) What are the key features of projects for integrating community mathematics, school mathematics understanding, and design/making? (2) How do facilitators support the youth in engaging in program activities? (3) What math content and practices do youth learn through participation in program activities? and (4) How do youth’s agency and identity as makers, mathematics doers and users, and community members change with participation in the program? Program research and resources will be disseminated nationally through the Cesar Chavez Foundation and by sharing project research and resources through publications and conference presentations reaching researchers, educators, and program developers.     This research project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",TRUE
2405633,Design Effective and Equitable Professional Learning for Middle School Computer Science Teachers,2025-04-25,San Francisco State University,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,565771,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2405633,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2405633_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,941321740,F4SLJ5WF59F6,"Providing computer science (CS) education to students prior to high school is critical for catalyzing their interest in CS and closing achievement and development gaps. However, the retention rate for underrepresented group participants in middle school CS teacher preparation programs is lower than that for their peers. The resulting lack of diversity in CS teachers contributes to students’ inequitable access to quality middle school CS education. In this four-year, Design and Development, Teaching Strand project, San Francisco State University, WestEd, and 10+ school districts in California will investigate effective design and implementation strategies of CS teacher preparation programs aimed to increase the number of middle school CS teachers from underrepresented groups. By investigating and designing an effective and equitable model for preparing middle school CS teachers, this project will increase the number of middle school CS teachers, particularly those from underrepresented groups. Society as a whole will benefit from a more diverse CS workforce.     In this project, the project team will first work with participants in our CS teacher preparation program to identify factors responsible for the lower retention rate of underrepresented group participants and develop potential interventions to address these factors. The team will then integrate these interventions into three evidence-based components of a 1-year teacher preparation program: (1) a new teacher certification program to increase middle school teachers’ knowledge of CS content and culturally relevant pedagogy, (2) mentoring from experienced CS teachers from underrepresented groups, to provide CS content and pedagogical support for those teachers, and (3) professional learning communities to provide teachers in the program with a supportive community as they learn. The team will gather and analyze data throughout the program to determine which intervention components improve retention of underrepresented group teachers. This project will address the following research questions: (1) Which factors have contributed to lower retention rates for underrepresented group participants in CS teacher preparation programs? (2) What interventions can be implemented to address those factors and boost the retention rate of underrepresented group teachers in a middle school CS teacher preparation program? The project findings will contribute to the relatively scant evidence base on strategies to improve the retention rate of in-service teachers from underrepresented groups in CS teacher preparation programs, providing a foundation for creating more equitable CS learning environments for teachers and students. This project will reach 90 teachers during the grant period. The knowledge produced for retaining underrepresented group teachers in CS teacher preparation programs will be of wide interest, since school districts throughout the country are facing or will face CS teacher shortages.    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.",FALSE
2317714,Collaborative Research: SBP: Increasing Social Equality in STEM through Children's Structural Reasoning,2025-04-25,Occidental College,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA34,250200,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317714,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317714_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,900413314,DCQQX5TRCYN9,"There are major gender and racial inequalities in who pursues Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, and these disparities take root in early childhood. STEM inequalities are largely caused by structural factors, which are systemic societal barriers such as negative societal stereotypes and unequal educational opportunities. The present research addresses STEM inequalities by encouraging children to recognize structural constraints as a primary cause. A structural understanding may help children from disadvantaged groups realize that current inequalities do not reflect any deficiencies inherent about their groups and thus empower them to pursue STEM. Moreover, structural thinking may encourage children to include their marginalized peers in STEM activities. The proposed project thus tackles issues of STEM disparities by addressing three interrelated questions: (1) How to increase children’s structural reasoning about STEM inequalities? (2) Does structural reasoning increase children’s motivation to persist in STEM and to include marginalized children in STEM activities? (3) How can parents promote children’s structural reasoning and STEM motivation? Findings from this research will provide new insights on how to promote structural reasoning to increase STEM equality from early on, and will help to develop educational materials for educators and parents. The project also directly addresses STEM inequalities by including research training opportunities for students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM.     Using cognitive and behavioral experimental methods with 5- to 8-year-old children, the present research is a systematic investigation of structural reasoning in childhood and its behavioral consequences. Specifically, the research tests two approaches to promoting structural reasoning: (1) between-group comparisons that emphasize differential structural barriers between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, and (2) within-group comparisons that show that how the removal of structural barriers make a difference for the disadvantaged group. In addition, the research examines how increasing structural reasoning can have downstream consequences for children’s STEM motivation and inclusion of marginalized children. The project also informs the socialization of structural reasoning by examining the role of parents in transmitting structural information to children. The proposed research advances the field by applying theoretically-novel approaches to increase children’s structural reasoning about real-world inequalities. Additionally, by studying the effects of structural reasoning on STEM pursuits and inclusion, this research informs how structural reasoning can diversify STEM participation in childhood. Ultimately, this project can transform our understanding of the early-developing barriers underlying systemic inequalities in STEM.    This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU Racial Equity). This activity supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.    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.",TRUE
2046081,CAREER: SBP: Understanding how diversity exposure impacts social categorization,2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Barbara,SANTA BARBARA,CA,CA24,741659,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046081,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046081_4900,2021-06-01,2026-05-31,931060001,G9QBQDH39DF4,"People divide the social world into groups, based on attributes such as race, gender, and nationality. Beginning early in life, people use information about another person’s groups to form expectations about that person’s likely traits and behaviors. Even infants expect people in the same group to be similar. Expecting people within a group to be similar may lay the foundation for negative stereotypes and bias. One potential way to reduce bias is through positive interactions. Past research has shown that positive interactions with someone from an unfamiliar group improves attitudes towards other members of that group. But most communities do not include representation of people from every background. As a result, it is not feasible to have positive interactions with people from all groups. This project develops a new idea: that exposure to diversity more broadly (rather than to a specific group) may itself reduce stereotyping. This idea is tested by developing measures of the racial and linguistic diversity of infants’ and children’s neighborhoods and networks along with traditional measures of stereotyping.    The project develops novel measures of exposure to diversity, based on the principle of  entropy: networks that contain a greater number of groups and with more equal representation of groups are scored as more diverse. By pairing this novel measure with other validated measures of children’s stereotyping, the research will test whether differences in exposure to diversity are related to differences in stereotyping. This approach helps to address a number of fundamental questions.  One is whether exposure to racial diversity reduces race-based stereotyping. Another is whether the effects of diversity exposure are even broader, such that exposure to linguistic diversity can reduce race-based stereotyping. A third is how children’s stereotyping based on racial groups compares to linguistic groups. The broad aim is to better understand how  early exposure to diversity is related to stereotyping in infants and children. The laboratory-based research is a critical first step that can be leveraged for future interventions aimed at mitigating the negative impacts of stereotyping. The project also provides training in social psychology and developmental science for a diverse group of early-career researchers, and supports partnerships between the university and local museums aimed at increasing scientific literacy.    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.",FALSE
2348705,Rural Community Responses to Environmental Stewardship Plans and Government Action,2025-04-25,Hamilton College,CLINTON,NY,NY22,80955,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348705,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2348705_4900,2024-08-01,2029-07-31,133231218,Z6WLZ6RDFDM7,"This project investigates how and why local people come to either oppose or support changes happening through the implementation of environmental stewardship plans in multiple regions. Around the world, environmental and stewardship plans are increasingly initiating substantial changes to rural landscapes and to rural ways of life. These plans include construction of wind power, solar power and other forms of renewable energy, planting trees, and attempts to reduce the amount of livestock being raised because of their environmental impact. While many regions support these changes as they seek to address climate impacts, some responses in rural communities have been mixed. This research can advance understanding about how to make environmental and stewardship plans work better both for people living in rural communities and ultimately for everyone.    Relying on longitudinal interviews of local residents (including farmers and other agricultural producers, community and municipal leaders, activists and organizers, and Indigenous residents) and participant observation in community events, this study has three primary goals. First, it explores how rural residents in different regions support or resist environmental reforms, and if and how their responses are influenced by perceived threats to their sociodemographic and sociopolitical identities. Second, it investigates people’s understandings of environmental change, their responses, and their sense of what is possible for future environmental action over time. Third, it assesses if and how rural stakeholders connect and share responsibility of stewardship of the environment and environmental changes or not at the community level, and where barriers impede collective action.    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.",FALSE
2404708,Postdoctoral Fellowship: SPRF: Examining the Statistics of Children's Social World,2025-04-25,New York University,New York,CA,NY10,160000,Fellowship Award,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2404708,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2404708_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,94305,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"This award was provided as part of the NSF Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF), Sociology, and Law and Science programs. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Marjorie Rhodes at New York University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating children’s stereotyping. This project seeks to understand how children develop stereotypes about social groups, such as racial and gender groups, and how to disrupt such stereotypes. Specifically, this project investigates the idea that children could naturally develop stereotypes from growing up in social environments that, due to structural biases, do not present representative information about social groups. This project examines whether children might develop stereotypes from misrepresentations in who they do (and do not) see, and whether these stereotypes could be prevented if children are informed about the structural biases that affect who they see. This project will advance our understanding of how children develop stereotypes by examining how stereotypes might originate in the social structure of children’s early social experiences and contribute to our understanding of how to prevent such stereotypes from developing in the first place.     This project aims to identify how statistical reasoning might contribute to—and could be used to combat—the development of social stereotypes in early childhood. Here, we identify a potential novel source of stereotypes in children’s social environments: social structures (e.g., segregation, information bubbles, media biases) that skew who children see and meet, causing children to be exposed to a sample of group members that is not representative of social group populations as a whole. The proposed project will leverage experimental and computational methods to address whether children can identify skew in the information about group members that they observe, adjust their beliefs about groups accordingly, and recruit these mechanisms in real-world skewed social environments. Together, these studies will identify how children might develop stereotypes in skewed social environments, and how children’s reasoning might be harnessed to prevent the development of stereotypes.    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.",FALSE
2215138,BRITE Girls Online STEM Practices: Building Relevance and Identity to Transform Experiences,2025-04-25,Florida State University,TALLAHASSEE,FL,FL02,1902274,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215138,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215138_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,323060001,JF2BLNN4PJC3,"Despite decades of policies and programs meant to increase the representation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), girls and women of color still represent a much smaller percent of the STEM workforce than they do in the US population. This lack of representation is preventing the US STEM workforce from reaching its true potential. Intersecting inequalities of gender, race, ethnicity, and class, along with stereotypes associated with who is successful in STEM (i.e., White men), lead to perceptions that they do not belong and may not succeed in STEM. Ultimately, these issues hinder girls’ STEM identity development (i.e., sense of belonging and future success), lead to a crisis of representation for women of color and have compounding impacts on the STEM workforce. Research suggests there are positive impacts of in-person STEM learning after-school and out-of-school time programs on girls’ sense of belonging. The increasing need for online learning initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic means it is vital to investigate girls’ STEM identity development within an online community. Thus, the project will refine and test approaches in online learning communities to make a valuable impact on the STEM identity development of girls of color by 1) training educators and role models on exemplary approaches for STEM identity development;  2) implementing a collaborative, girl-focused Brite Online Learning Community that brings together 400 girls ages 13-16 from a minimum of 10 sites across the United States; and 3) researching the impact of the three core approaches -- community building, authentic and competence-demonstrating hands-on activities, and interactive learning with women role models -- on participating girls’ STEM identities in online settings.    The mixed methods study is guided by guided by Carlone & Johnson’s model of STEM identity involving four constructs: competence, performance, recognition, and sense of belonging. Data collection sources for the quantitative portion of the project include pre- and post-surveys, while qualitative data sources will be collected from six case study sites and will include observations, focus group interviews with girls, artifacts created by girls and educators, educator interviews, and open-ended survey responses. This approach will enable the research team to determine how and the extent to which the Brite Online Learning Community influences STEM identity constructs, interpreting which practices lead to meaningful outcomes that can be linked to the development of STEM identity for participating girls in an online environment. The products of this work will include research-based, tested Brite Practices and a toolkit for fostering girls’ interest, identification, and long-term participation in STEM. The resulting products will increase the reach of informal STEM education programming to girls of color across the nation as online spaces can reach more girls, potentially increasing the representation of women of color in the STEM workforce. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.    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.",TRUE
2343306,"Doctoral Dissertation Research: Health, Wellness, and Indigenous Knowledge: A Community-Based Participatory Research Study",2025-04-25,Case Western Reserve University,CLEVELAND,OH,OH11,30731,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cult Anthro DDRI,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343306,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343306_4900,2024-07-01,2025-06-30,441064901,HJMKEF7EJW69,"Indigenous communities in the U.S. experience significant and enduring health challenges. Research within these communities increasingly pays attention to factors that promote health in addition to those that produce illness among Indigenous peoples. However, research often focuses on health-promoting factors that originate from biomedical interventions or structures, rather than on those that come from Indigenous communities themselves. Given the historic mistrust of biomedicine within Indigenous communities, and renewed calls for the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge within health-delivery, there is a need to engage with sources of health and wellness that come directly from Indigenous communities and collaborations. This doctoral dissertation research seeks to do so by examining the wellness programs at an Indigenous-serving school and non-profit, investigating how staff and students understand, consume, and produce health and wellness. In addition to training a graduate student, this study has relevance to interventions focused on Indigenous health disparity and sovereignty, especially those that rely on collaboration with Indigenous communities. More directly, study findings will be used to inform the development and maintenance of school wellness programs.     This is a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project, meaning that the researcher and community collaborators share knowledge, decision-making power, and research products throughout the study process. This research collaboration will seek to answer several questions through interviews and the use of Photovoice: (1) How do Indigenous and non-Indigenous staff and students describe and differentiate between the concepts of ‘health’ and ‘wellness’?, (2) How does the co-existence of Indigenous and Western systems of knowledge impact conceptions of health and wellness?, (3) How do staff/students collaborate on health and wellness work, and how do these collaborations impact outcomes related to school and community health? The school’s wellness programs serve as the focal point for this research, reflecting the complex entangling of identity, history, power, and medicine that shapes the promotion of wellness and health among staff, students, and the surrounding community.    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.",TRUE
2201797,Collaborative Research: Investigating Gender Differences in Digital Learning Games with Educational Data Mining,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,68319,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201797,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201797_4900,2022-07-01,2025-06-30,275995023,D3LHU66KBLD5,"Despite evidence that gender differences in math achievement have narrowed or disappeared in recent decades, stereotypes about men being better than women at math emerge early in childhood and persist through adulthood. These perceptions appear to influence female students’ interest and performance in math, as well as their pursuit of STEM careers. Given the potential motivational benefits of digital learning games, games might provide a pathway for reducing math anxiety for female students while increasing their self-efficacy and interest in math. This project will explore whether digital learning games can lead to less math anxiety and better learning in female students, while not hurting male student learning. It will study learning with two existing digital learning games: Decimal Point, which teaches foundational math concepts (decimal numbers and operations) to 5th and 6th grade students; and Angle Jungle, which targets a similar age range (4th and 5th graders) and has a similar thematic design (i.e., a game map, cartoon characters), but with different game mechanics, content (angles), and instructional approach. The study will explore how and why Decimal Point has, over the course of several experiments spanning multiple years, consistently produced a learning advantage for female students. In doing so, investigators will identify principles regarding the relationship between gender and game features that can be shared with game developers and used in other games, starting with Angle Jungle.    This work will go beyond the traditional gender binary of male and female, analyzing multiple dimensions of gender, including gender identity (e.g., how much students feel like a boy, a girl, both, neither), gender typicality (e.g., How much students like to do the same things as other girls [boys], How much students feel they look like boys [girls]), and gender-typed interests, activities, and traits (e.g., how much a student feels affectionate or adventurous). The study will also investigate two pathways hypothesized to lead to gender differences: first, that the playful features of the games reduce the saliency of the math content, making it less likely to cue math stereotype threat (the stereotype threat hypothesis); and second, that the games’ thematic details are more appealing to learners who identify (more) as females, making the games more engaging for them compared to learners who identify (more) as boys (the engagement hypothesis). In Year 1, educational data mining will be used to infer students’ cognitive and affective processes while playing Decimal Point and compare data to the distinct processes predicted by these two pathways. In Year 2, investigators will assess whether the hypothesized pathways and gender differences replicate in the context of Angle Jungle. In Year 3, hypotheses will be further tested by manipulating Decimal Point’s emphasis on math content in one version of the game and enjoyment and playful features in another. The project will compare learning outcomes between the two versions to more deeply explore the stereotype threat and engagement hypotheses. The ultimate aim of this work is to provide insights into gender-based differences in learning from digital games, providing principles and guidance for other researchers and game designers in developing and revising digital learning games. Thus, the project has the potential to transfer Decimal Point’s success with girls’ learning outcomes to other digital learning games and advance knowledge on the multidimensionality of gender. Furthermore, findings will allow investigators to revise both games and make them available to thousands of late elementary and middle school students across the country. Even during this project, approximately 1,950 students—including many from districts with diverse populations and low math proficiency¬—will benefit from learning with Decimal Point and Angle Jungle.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2139096,Addressing Demographic Disparities in Students Choice of Engineering Disciplines (ADDS-CoED),2025-04-25,University of Arizona,TUCSON,AZ,AZ07,454335,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2139096,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2139096_4900,2022-04-01,2026-03-31,85721,ED44Y3W6P7B9,"One NSF strategic goal is increasing the diversity of engineering as a field, to enhance the profession, increase opportunities for all demographics, and make better use of America’s human resources. However, years of effort have had limited success: women and ethnic minority students remain severely underrepresented, starting with undergraduate engineering programs at universities. Most of the underrepresentation is due to chronic extremely low diversity in a few of the engineering disciplines (aerospace, mechanical, mining, electrical, and computer engineering in particular). In contrast, others (e.g. biomedical and environmental engineering) are roughly at gender parity. Ethnic diversity shows analogous patterns. Preliminary data from the University of Arizona suggest that this is due to female and minority students’ disproportionately low levels of interest in these disciplines. This project will pilot a new approach to increasing diversity in engineering, at the level of individual disciplines where diversity is lacking. We further hypothesize that female and minority interest in mining and aerospace engineering would increase if they were presented with a greater connection to social benefit. Initially, the investigative team will carry out surveys and interviews at the University of Arizona College of Engineering to measure preexisting demographic differences in students’ levels of interest in engineering disciplines. We will test these hypotheses with a mixed-methods intervention study focused on two specific non-diverse disciplines (mining and aerospace engineering) at the University of Arizona. Baseline data (surveys, interviews) will continue to be collected in Year 1. Then, a targeted intervention to two low-diversity majors (aerospace and mining engineering) will examine whether female and Hispanic students’ interest and representation increases when introductory courses and recruitment materials change to emphasize their socially beneficial aspects as well as abstract engineering. Interventions in Year 2 will reorient the introductory mining engineering course, and the recruitment materials given to students for both mining and aerospace engineering, to address more of the socially beneficial aspects of both disciplines. Surveys and interviews with students over the course of the project will evaluate changes in women and minority (mainly Hispanic) students’ interest in mining and aerospace engineering, compared to the non-intervention group (mechanical, electrical, computer engineering). Interventions will remain in place for Years 3-4 of the project while additional data are collected.  If successful, this project can point the way to improving diversity in engineering at the level of the specific engineering disciplines where it is most needed.    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.",FALSE
2122488,Counteracting Stereotypes to Boost Girls' Interest and Participation in Computer Science,2025-04-25,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,596969,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122488,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122488_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    The goal of this project is to identify and promote critical factors that facilitate the development of girls’ interest in pursuing computer science. This will help broaden girls’ participation in computer science courses, programs, and college majors. Young women currently earn only 19% of bachelor’s degrees in computer science. There is a pervasive societal stereotype that women and girls are less interested in computer science than men and boys. This can harm young girls’ sense of belonging and interest in computer science starting from an early age. This project will experimentally examine the causal impact of these gender-interest stereotypes on girls’ interest in pursuing computer science. It will also investigate the sources that communicate these stereotypes to students. Finally, this project will test an intervention to reduce the impact of stereotypes on girls’ interest in computer science. Ultimately, this project will create a foundation for disseminating best practices on effective methods for motivating girls to pursue computer science. The findings will have implications for computer science educators who aim to broaden participation in computer science and others conducting research that aims to reduce educational inequalities linked to stereotypes. Findings will be shared with stakeholders working to promote students’ motivation in computer science.    Four experimental studies will be conducted to examine how gender-interest stereotypes influence 12 to 14 year-old students’ motivation for computer science through laboratory studies and one field intervention. Experiment 1 will experimentally manipulate gender-interest stereotypes to assess causal effects on girls’ interest in pursuing computer science. Experiment 2 will explore the cues that communicate interest stereotypes to students, such as the proportion of girls and boys in a computer science class. Experiment 3 will test whether providing information that counteracts stereotypes can increase girls’ interest in pursuing computer science. Experiment 4 will test a real-world intervention designed to reduce the impact of gender-interest stereotypes on girls’ enrollment in introductory computer science courses. Together, these studies will deepen understanding of the causes and consequences of gender stereotypes, how they influence girls’ motivation to learn computer science, and how educators can help students resist stereotypes and start the pathway to computer science careers.    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.",FALSE
2347360,Beginnings: An Experiential On-ramp to Strengthen and Diversify the Open Source Workforce,2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Cruz,SANTA CRUZ,CA,CA19,999924,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ExLENT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347360,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347360_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,950641077,VXUFPE4MCZH5,"This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing a successful experiential learning program for computer science students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The experiential learning activities will be designed with the goal of strengthening and diversifying the open source workforce which is critical to shaping an equitable technological future. From security to infrastructure, open source is at the core of most modern technology. Recent years have seen increased investment from both the private and public sectors in supporting the creation of academic Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs), cultivation of academic open source ecosystems, and cross-sector collaborations with industry and nonprofit. This project specifically engages undergraduate students from underrepresented groups who have completed foundational computing coursework but are still evaluating STEM career prospects. A key outcome is for more HBCU graduates to have the skills, experience, and technical portfolio necessary to transition directly into open source roles; this means a workforce more reflective of the people its technology serves, and given the community-driven nature of open source, one where professionals can directly impact issues they care about.    This project aims to achieve the following primary goals; 1) expose HBCU students with foundational computer science skills to open source career opportunities, and 2) equip participants with workforce-preparatory skills not commonly found in undergraduate computing programs, and which especially benefit a career in open source. This project reflects a collaborative effort between a research university Open Source Program Office, an HBCU, and two industry partners in open source. The researchers have completed a pilot program serving four undergraduates from a single HBCU and seek to scale to serve up to 48 students from six HBCUs over three summers. Participants will learn about open source software career pathways by actually contributing to real world open source projects aligned with their interests. Contributor Catalyst combines in-person and remote modalities (mirroring real world employment conditions), situated learning through scaffolded activities, competitive compensation, and multiple layers of cohort support. Learning is further supported by a layered community of practice, including alumni, program, and industry/project mentors. The researchers plan to iteratively refine, assess, and document the program such that other institutions can adapt it to their own contexts in the future. Project results will be disseminated via publication, presentations and online repositories. The NSF ExLENT Program supports inclusive experiential learning opportunities that provide cohorts of diverse learners with the skills needed to succeed in emerging technology fields.    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.",FALSE
2415667,Integrating Environmental Data Systems and Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): A framework for (re)connecting Indigenous youth to traditional foods and modern growing practices,2025-04-25,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,1451207,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415667,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415667_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"Due to geographic barriers and higher rates of poverty, Indigenous youth living in rural communities have significantly fewer opportunities to engage in high-quality STEM experiences inside and outside of school. Concurrently, schools in both rural and urban settings approach STEM education from a western science perspective, thus limiting opportunities for youth to integrate Indigenous ways of knowing in STEM classrooms. The Intellectual Merit of this Integrating Research and Practice project lies in its aim to co-create a STEM-based informal learning framework that ties together Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with agroecology. Agroecology integrates ecological, economic, and social perspectives on food systems, and is focused on improving agricultural sustainability through practices including intercropping, organic farming, and soil conservation, all of which are founded in Indigenous agriculture methods. The project will investigate the degree to which the framework supports youth and communities reconnecting with traditional foods and growing practices and promotes their knowledge of sustainability. Food insecurity is experienced by 25% of Native Americans, so by working with Indigenous youth and their communities to rediscover and adopt sustainable agroecology practices this project offers the promise of greater food sovereignty, which can be transformative for Indigenous communities. The learning framework developed and tested by this project could be reused and revised by other researchers and Indigenous communities to engage youth in STEM learning experiences that combine TEK with technology and data science in the service of improving local sustainable food production in both rural and urban settings.    This project will iteratively develop an agroecology learning experience at teaching farms for one hundred and twenty Indigenous youth aged 10-18 years, accompanied by fifteen of their community elders, by working with two rural Navajo communities in Arizona and an urban intertribal community in Nebraska. Youth will create food plots with traditional foods and growing practices with the augmentation of networked environmental data sensors (for soil nutrients, light, temperature, relative humidity, and soil moisture) and programmable mechanical systems. In response to community needs and informed by the oral teachings of elders, the youth will design their own agroecology research projects, sharing data-driven growing practices with their communities and upholding traditional food sharing practices. By combining Indigenous research methodologies and community-based design research, the project will address the following research questions: (1) How and in what ways does the preliminary framework support and encourage youth and communities to reconnect with traditional foods and growing practices? (2) To what extent does the integration of TEK and western science promote youth knowledge of sustainability and sovereignty in food production? Evidence will be collected via multiple avenues: interviews, talking circles, documentation of co-design meetings, observations, and youth and community-produced artifacts. This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2055382,Collaborative Research: Latinx Families' Talk about Science in Stories with Young Children,2025-04-25,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,767844,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055382,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055382_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. It responds to continuing concerns about racial and social inequities in STEM fields that begin to emerge in the early childhood years. The overarching goal of the project is to identify cultural strengths that support early science learning opportunities among Spanish-speaking children from immigrant Latin American communities, a population that is traditionally underrepresented in STEM educational and career pursuits. Building on a growing interest in the ways stories can promote early engagement in and understanding of science, this project will investigate the role of oral and written stories as culturally relevant and potentially powerful tools for making scientific ideas and inquiry practices meaningful and accessible for young Latinx children. Findings will reveal ways that family storytelling practices can provide accessible entry points for Latinx children's early science learning, and recommend methods that parents and educators can use to foster learning about scientific practices that can, in turn, increase interest and participation in science education and fields.     The project will advance knowledge on the socio-cultural and familial experience of Latinx children that can contribute to their early science learning and skills. The project team will examine the oral story and reading practices of 330 Latinx families with 3- to 5-year-old children recruited from three geographic locations in the United States: New York, Chicago, and San Jose. Combining interviews and observations, the project team will investigate: (1) how conversations about science and nature occur in Latinx children's daily lives, and (2) whether and to what extent narrative and expository books, family personal narratives, and adivinanzas (riddles) engender family conversations about scientific ideas and science practices. Across- and within-site comparisons will allow the project team to consider the immediate ecology and broader factors that shape Latinx families’ science-related views and practices. Although developmental science has long acknowledged that early learning is culturally situated, most research on early STEM is still informed by mainstream experiences that largely exclude the lived experiences of children from groups underrepresented in STEM, especially those who speak languages other than English. The proposed work will advance understanding of stories as cultural resources to support early science engagement and learning among Latinx children and inform the development of high quality, equitable informal and formal science educational opportunities for young children.    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.",FALSE
2426971,Collaborative Research: AGEP ACA: Critical STEM Faculty Alliance (C-STEM Alliance),2025-04-25,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,240978,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426971,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426971_4900,2024-08-15,2026-07-31,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"New York University, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania form the Critical STEM Faculty Alliance (C-STEM).  Leveraging their combined strengths, they aim to develop an infrastructural technology system that provides more opportunities and lowers systemic risks for historically underrepresented groups. C-STEM will examine college and university functions, to understand how to train effective technology researchers and teachers from these groups. NSF emphasizes creating opportunities everywhere. Accordingly, C-STEM seeks to help new researchers from underrepresented backgrounds build strong professional networks, establish stable pathways that advance careers, and collaborate with other experts in academia, industry, and government. Also, C-STEM aims to help researchers build new projects and design innovative educational tools to improve people's lives. Its goal is to ensure that technology serves the public interest, especially those who have been most negatively affected by technology.    C-STEM aims to design and implement institutional self-assessments at the three C-STEM Alliance institutions. The alliance will prioritize collecting and analyzing data to identify inequities affecting underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty in STEM fields. To assess the need for the C-STEM Alliance, the project will collect data on the demographic representation (race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, first-generation status) of doctoral students and faculty in STEM and related fields. The project will also conduct curriculum surveys to understand demographic and socio-technical content representation in STEM courses, and review research production by minority and non-minority STEM students and faculty. Surveys will also evaluate existing mentorship and support structures, and collect data on minority STEM doctoral student outcomes, such as degree completion and post-degree hiring. Additionally, the alliance will gather qualitative data from minority STEM students and faculty about their experiences. This data will help identify institutional challenges and justify the alliance's activities, demonstrating how they address specific needs. To assess institutional readiness, the project will collect data that include reviews of diversity commitments by university leaders and progress towards diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. This will demonstrate C-STEM institutions’ commitment to increasing the representation, resilience, and success of minority doctoral students and faculty in STEM. The alliance intends for this work to help research communities better understand the incentives and affordances  institutional leaders’ encounter in their efforts to  create, continue, or expand key structures, such as postdoctoral programs and frameworks for transitioning postdoctoral scholars to tenure-track positions.    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.",FALSE
2414502,Collaborative Research: Roots and Wings: Developing Informal Learning Resources in Engineering with Black Families,2025-04-25,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,400000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2414502,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2414502_4900,2024-09-01,2028-08-31,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"This project will broaden participation in engineering by developing learning resources through which Black families have opportunities to engage in engineering practices and to see themselves as part of the engineering community.  The research team will co-develop informal learning resources with Black families in which children, ages six to ten, have opportunities to engage in biological, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, and mechanical engineering activities at home. Caregivers will support their children through engineering practices such as empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing, while also educating them about Black engineers and scientists who made significant advancements within each field. Research will explore whether and how the identity-affirming informal learning resources fostered the children’s engineering identities and interest. The resulting deliverables include video workshops for caregivers, to support them in using the resources, as well as a suite of easy-to-use engineering activities that will be disseminated via national homeschool networks, through public media, through high-traffic repositories with engineering lesson plans, and through professional networks of science and engineering educators.     Research will explore how identity-affirming engineering educational resources impact children’s engineering identities and interests.  To investigate whether and how these resources contribute to shifts in children’s engineering identities and interests, the research team will conduct a mixed-method study in which they generate and analyze the following data sources: pre- and post-engagement surveys with the caregivers; video-recordings of caregiver-child interactions as they engage with the informal learning resources; interviews with children and caregivers; caregiver reflective journals; and artifacts produced by the families, such as children’s sketches. The results from these analyses will provide insights into how informal educators can design at-home learning resources that build children’s interests in engineering pathways, as well as how families can use identity-affirming interactions in engineering to spark their children’s interest in this field. Findings will be disseminated widely via professional conferences, networks, and journals in educational research. Ultimately, this project is likely to broaden participation in engineering among Black people who remain underrepresented in engineering pathways and careers. This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of STEM learning in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2115621,Building on Latinx families' strengths to model and promote informal science learning through a culturally responsive telenovela series,2025-04-25,Education Development Center,WALTHAM,MA,MA05,2996309,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115621,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115621_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,024518778,WWH4L4GKKW58,"Families play a vital role in supporting children’s informal science learning. Yet multiple studies have shown that Latinx families, particularly in neighborhoods with a high poverty rate, face many barriers to accessing informal science experiences and environments. Telenovelas, a type of television serial drama watched by Spanish-speaking audiences around the world, may provide an entryway to reaching these families. Prior research has shown that telenovelas can be an effective means of changing adults’ behavior, with potential cascading impacts on children. Education Development Center, Literacy Partners, and Univision will use a culturally responsive approach to broaden participation of Latinx families in informal science learning using La Fuerza de Creer, a popular Spanish-language telenovela that reaches 7 million U.S. viewers. The five-episode telenovela series will model positive informal science interactions between caregivers and their children and provide positive role models of Latinx scientists. The project team will then use the telenovela as the foundation for a five-session workshop series for caregivers to further explore how to engage in these informal science learning opportunities with their children. The La Fuerza-STEM project will build on families’ strengths and interests and tap their power—la fuerza—to engage children in exploring science. This research will examine the relationship between the telenovela/workshops and caregivers’ practices and attitudes towards science. La Fuerza-STEM seeks to expand informal science learning using a culturally grounded strategy to engage an under-served population that is historically under-represented in STEM.    The project will use an iterative research and design process that is guided by the input of both parent and scientific advisory boards. Front-end formative research with approximately 30 Latinx caregivers from under-resourced communities will explore their informal science practices. These experiences will then inform script development for the telenovela. A pre-post comparison group study with 200 caregivers will investigate how caregivers’ attitudes toward science might change as a result of viewing the telenovela. The project will then build a 5-session workshop series around the telenovela and these research findings. Finally, 300 caregivers will participate in a randomized controlled trial to examine the efficacy of the La Fuerza-STEM workshops on changing caregivers’ informal science attitudes and practices. Throughout, the project will address the overarching research question, How can a culturally relevant telenovela be used to improve Latinx caregivers’ science self-efficacy, career awareness, and informal science practices? Project findings and products will be publicly disseminated through publications, conference presentations, and local partner organizations, with an eye toward open access and data sharing. The project will generate knowledge about the effectiveness of embedding informal science content in a culturally-grounded medium—the telenovela—in improving caregivers’ confidence and competence to engage in informal science learning experiences with their children. With an anticipated audience of 7 million, the potential impact of the telenovela on caregivers’ informal science attitudes and practices is enormous. By implementing workshops with local organizations, the project aims to be self-sustaining, building the capacity of community partners to provide families with services targeting informal science knowledge and skills long after the grant has ended.    This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2330910,Conference: Envisioning STEM Education for the Green and Blue Economies,2025-04-25,Education Development Center,WALTHAM,MA,MA05,99873,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330910,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2330910_4900,2023-09-15,2025-08-31,024518778,WWH4L4GKKW58,"Climate change is one of the most formidable challenges of our time. Countries are experiencing record heat, wildfires, drought, and powerful monsoons. These natural disasters have created an urgent need for a workforce that can build stronger green and blue economies. Green economies emit low levels of carbon, use resources efficiently, and advance social equity; blue economies use ocean resources sustainably and support the oceans' health. Unfortunately, K-12 education systems are not fully equipped to help young people develop the technological skills, types of knowledge, and human dispositions that green and blue economies require. Education Development Center (EDC) is organizing a conference that will convene a wide group of stakeholders to synthesize what is currently known and still needs to be known to help young people--particularly those from communities that have been historically marginalized and excluded from STEM--gain the STEM skills and competencies that they need to actively be part of green and blue economies. Through this conference, the project aims to develop a vision and launch a network of stakeholders to prepare young people for greener and bluer ways of living and working. By focusing in particular on needs and  opportunities for youth from historically marginalized groups, the conference also aims to benefit families and communities that are most vulnerable to climate change.    The conference will address three guiding questions: (1) What knowledge and skills from STEM and other disciplines do students need to learn to prepare them to join and contribute to the green and blue economies? (2) What types of partnerships among educators, industry, and other sectors already exist, and what can we learn from them about the opportunities and barriers that cross-sector collaborations face to prepare young people for green and blue occupations? (3) What strategies may be most effective in ensuring that young people from historically marginalized communities gain the knowledge and skills needed to join and help construct green and blue economies? To address these questions, the conference will involve two days of panel discussions and broader group conversations among conference participants. Panelists and participating stakeholders will include economists, industry leaders, K-12 educators in classroom and out-of-school settings, and community and public leaders who have been studying or working actively to prepare young people for more environmentally sustainable ways of life and work. Conference outcomes will include: (a) meeting proceedings that identify important skill sets, promising educational approaches, and priority research questions for building a diverse workforce for the green and blue economies; (b) a network of interested stakeholders who can share information and build partnerships to develop this workforce; (c) public commitments from conference participants to propel conference-generated ideas into concrete actions; and (d) a website for disseminating conference products and connecting stakeholders with parallel initiatives to support green and blue economies around the world.    This conference project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts, and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",TRUE
2316853,Collaborative Research: The Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences (IDEAS) Program,2025-04-25,University of Tennessee Knoxville,KNOXVILLE,TN,TN02,197978,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Biological Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2316853,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2316853_4900,2023-09-01,2027-08-31,379960001,FN2YCS2YAUW3,"Research shows that participation of the full spectrum of diverse talent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) brings unique perspectives and experiences that solve problems and promote creativity in basic and applied sciences. The Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences (IDEAS) program is a continuing initiative to build diverse talent in biological anthropology through research, training, mentorship and collaboration opportunities for students and faculty from groups underrepresented in STEM and anthropology. As a discipline that studies the variation and evolution of living humans, non-human primates and their extinct ancestors, and features researchers who provide insights on everything from forensic identification to human ergonomics to understanding climate influences on human systems, it is critical that biological anthropology attract researchers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. The current award builds and expands on previous NSF-supported IDEAS program activities, during which over 100 students and faculty mentors participated and new researchers were retained in the discipline.    The current project continues the IDEAS Program initiative through the successful student mentoring and outreach program that is held in conjunction with the American Association of Biological Anthropologists annual meeting. The project also expands the IDEAS Program initiative in two key ways: (1) adding an IDEAS Workshop at, or near, one Minority Serving Institution (MSI) annually, and (2) extending mentorship and community building into more advanced stages of the academic life cycle (i.e., post-PhD). The project also develops more sophisticated monitoring and evaluation strategies to understand this initiative’s longer-term impacts on the discipline. This project is jointly funded by the Biological Anthropology program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",TRUE
2334298,"Planning: CRISES: Southeast Center for Just, Resilient, and Sustainable Ecosystems (SECURE)",2025-04-25,University of Tennessee Knoxville,KNOXVILLE,TN,TN02,100000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,"CRISES-R&I in Sci, Env&Society",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334298,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334298_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,379960001,FN2YCS2YAUW3,"Extreme heat events are becoming more prevalent and severe in many regions. This project develops plans for a research center to investigate how extreme weather in the Southeast US disproportionately impacts disadvantaged communities. An interdisciplinary research team will examine how to improve public safety and resilience by building collaborations among community-based organizations, industry, and academics to address disaster preparedness, emergency response, technology adoption, and social-behavioral and policy aspects of climate-resilient systems serving urban and rural communities. The project seeks to strengthen infrastructure while serving social justice goals. This project develops research approaches to address critical community needs and solutions to improve crisis management strategies in the context of energy supply systems (e.g., power grid), built environment, transportation systems, and health infrastructures.      This project prepares for establishing the Southeast Center for Just, Resilient, and Sustainable Ecosystems (SECURE) to transform scientific knowledge and research products from cross-disciplinary programs for long-lasting benefits to the community through a wide range of stakeholder networks. The goal is to improve climate resilience and impacts through five research pillars: 1) multidimensional community vulnerability frameworks; 2) needs assessments to understand barriers to climate mitigation; 3) resilience and sustainability of interdependent energy, transportation, health, and building infrastructure; 4) community engagement to co-design solutions on climate preparation; and 5) workforce development opportunities for individuals with diverse backgrounds and experiences.  The resulting knowledge-to-action and socio-technological integration frameworks impact interdisciplinary fields and disadvantaged communities, including Indigenous and low-income households, for pre-disaster resilience, adaptation, and mitigation.  The workforce development plan includes creation of a diverse and inclusive environment for under-represented populations (i.e., people of color, women, veterans, and low-income residents, among others) and seeks to build a comprehensive talent pipeline and future climate-resilience leaders, especially for underserved communities in the Southeast and similar communities in the nation.    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.",TRUE
2125288,SCC-PG: Equitable and Ubiquitous Converged Data & Transportation Services for Underserved Communities,2025-04-25,University of Tennessee Knoxville,KNOXVILLE,TN,TN02,150000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2125288,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2125288_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,379960001,FN2YCS2YAUW3,"This project will plan a powerful research capacity. The research will be centered on data divide and transportation services. It will also plan development of a solution to infrastructure inequality. It will take advantage of strong, existing relationships between the University of Tennessee and its community partners. The planning project will occur in Knoxville, Tennessee. Knoxville is a low-density mid-size city in the southeast United States. The project is a collaboration among three institutions. (1) University of Tennessee is the state’s flagship and land grant university. (2) Knoxville Community Development Corporation builds and maintains affordable housing in Knox County. (3) United Way of Greater Knoxville funds and coordinates many poverty fighting initiatives. Knoxville is an ideal natural laboratory for designing and implementing innovative solutions based in the community. Knoxville deals with social and technological challenges. These challenges drive racial and ethnic health and wealth inequality. These challenges have been made worse by COVID-19. Racial and ethnic income inequality is high in Knoxville. Knoxville faces geographical and economic barriers to infrastructure development and maintenance. These have created a transportation system dominated by automobiles. There is a clear digital divide based on race, income, and rural vs. urban. The project will engage traditionally underrepresented populations. It will create a collaborative team structure and develop and deploy a working prototype.     The overall project investigates the viability of convergent systems for transportation and information technology infrastructure. The capacity for communities to use intelligent systems to bridge spatial and technical mismatches in the built environment and expand equitable access to resources is predicated on the ability to coordinate data systems efficiently and share information securely and easily. Moreover, this proposed planning project will demonstrate a process of engaging the community at the front-end and throughout such that a broader group of stakeholders is invested, and multiple perspectives are considered in the development, deployment, and scaling up of any prototype. Such methods increase likelihood of acceptance, adoption, and transferability of technologies and altered planning and service systems. This project will identify key components necessary to develop community-driven intelligent transportation systems. Replicated across other communities, this will lead to development of more relevant intelligent systems and successful uptake among communities. Over time, this will lead to greater technical capacity across communities which they can leverage emerging transportation data to make smarter, more resilient, and adaptable transportation and communications infrastructure-planning decisions. with equitable access to economic opportunities.    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.",FALSE
2338735,"CAREER: Identifying, Enabling, and Supporting Racial Justice in Science Teaching",2025-04-25,University of Nevada Las Vegas,LAS VEGAS,NV,NV01,455036,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2338735,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2338735_4900,2024-08-15,2029-07-31,891549900,DLUTVJJ15U66,"Despite years of research and interventions to address inequities that are largely related to race, science education continues to perpetuate these inequities in both participation and outcomes in science. This CAREER project will address the need to provide science teachers with a framework for considering race and racial dynamics in science teaching as well as  exemplars in science teaching and professional development to support teachers’ teaching identities and praxis. One way to address the ongoing exclusion of people of color from science is through approaches to science teaching that explicitly seek to meaningfully engage students from all backgorunds. While antiracism and antiracist pedagogy have been studied extensively in education generally, they are rarely explored in depth in science education. Significant challenges in supporting more equitable science instruction, identified by both teachers and researchers, include the lack of a clear teaching framework that details antiracist approaches to science education and aligned models of science teaching enacted in classrooms. As a result, even science teachers who are explicitly interested in addressing racism in and through their teaching often struggle to find ways to do so.     Using theoretical frameworks that explicitly address the impacts of race and identity, this project will: 1) develop a Framework for Antiracist Science Teaching; 2) develop and offer professional development to support the use of the framework; and 3) evaluate the impact of the professional development on teachers’ identities and praxis. In the first phase of this project, a critical ethnographic method will be used to investigate and describe science teaching that attends to race and racism. Using classroom observations and interviews of teachers, administrators, students, and families, data will be collected from up to twenty teachers and analyzed iteratively using a developmental research sequence methodology for ethnography in combination with discourse analysis. In the second phase of this project, the framework will be used to develop an observation protocol as well as professional development for in-service science teachers. Over three years, the professional development will be offered to up to sixty science teachers and the impact of the professional development on their teaching identities and praxis will be evaluated. The results of this project will build on existing research in equity in science education to explicitly address: (1) how teachers enact and gain recognition for science teaching identities that embrace antiracism; (2) the experiences and/or structures that support or constrain the development such science teaching identities; (3) how teacher educators can support those science teaching identities; and (4) how those identities develop over time.     This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2224594,Collaborative Research: Reimagining Educator Learning Pathways Through Storywork for Racial Equity in STEM,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,1106513,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224594,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224594_4900,2023-06-15,2025-04-18,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"There is a pressing need for STEM educator learning models to substantively consider the diversity of STEM practices and values across social and cultural contexts, as well as how STEM fields are adapting to this diversity. As educators seek more meaningful approaches to equity that integrate everyday pedagogies, there is a further need to address how these pedagogies often reproduce inequitable STEM structures. This collaborative project seeks to address these challenges by designing, implementing, and studying an educator learning model that helps educators recognize and transform the moment-to-moment learning interactions that perpetuate racial inequalities across a myriad of STEM contexts. The project therefore aims to achieve two primary outcomes. First, to deepen educators' capacity to mediate the moment-to-moment tensions that arise between STEM concepts and practices privileged in schools, and those that attend to students' cultural and intellectual lives; and second, to generate knowledge on how to systematically support educators as they wrestle with the conceptual and ethical complexities of unjust STEM teaching and learning.    This three-year study is structured around a series of modules grounded in storywork, an Indigenous knowledge-systems approach to centering minoritized learners' language, history, phenomenon-based storylines, and their racialized experiences of systemic racism when co-designing STEM learning opportunities. Through long-standing partnerships between project leaders and K-12 and higher education STEM educators serving Indigenous, Black, and Latinx youth and families, the iterative design of modules is informed by the analysis of educator learning trajectories when codesigning through storywork. In addition to incorporating modules into higher education programs (e.g., teacher education and various STEM disciplinary courses), broadly sharing resources and tools with communities, practitioners, and researchers through multimedia outlets as well as academic and practitioner-facing publications and presentations, the project has the potential to inform foundational theory on developing highly adaptable approaches for more racially- and educationally- just educator-student interactions in STEM spaces.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2346905,Collaborative Research: Beginnings: Experiential-learning-based Undergraduate Semiconductor Workforce Exploration,2025-04-25,University of South Alabama,MOBILE,AL,AL02,850000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ExLENT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2346905,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2346905_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,366083053,QB12VPNQQFE8,"This project will contribute to development of a diverse, globally and locally (central area of the Gulf Coast) competitive semiconductor workforce, including women and other underrepresented minorities. In particular, the project will (1) increase strong partnerships and collaborations (both domestic and international) between academia, industry, and others; (2) improve and impact education and training of the advanced semiconductor workforce of the future; (3) align and incorporate industrial, professional, and technical standards in teaching and learning, thereby enabling participating students to have clear and smooth career pathways; (4) integrate systematic approaches to advance inclusive and equitable semiconductor education practices; (5) build capacity for the University to respond rapidly to changes in the workforce needed by the semiconductor industry; and (6) investigate student success in academia and in the semiconductor industry and associated fields. In addition, this project will practice and apply experiential learning pedagogy in emerging technology workforce exploration and demonstrate the effectiveness of the experiential learning theory in promoting and enhancing semiconductor workforce development.    The Experiential-learning-based Undergraduate Semiconductor Workforce Exploration (E-USem) team will leverage strong industry-academic partnerships to advance and support the development of a skilled semiconductor workforce. Fundamental contributions and innovations to be developed by the team include: (1) Use of Kolb’s experiential learning theory to strengthen the workforce exploration and implement evidence-based instructional and inclusive practices. (2) Conducting seven unique experiential learning activities through collaboration between industry and academia. The E-USem team will first undertake core work such as development of the semiconductor course package; based on the course package, the team will create and develop a new Semiconductor Engineering concentration and Certificate program, a curriculum-sharing program, a summer program, and a Bridge Program. An Electronic Design Automation tool will be developed as well. (3) Systematically embedding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the proposed E-USem activities from student recruitment, educational program design, to course design. This project aligns with the NSF ExLENT Program, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.    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.",FALSE
2405217,Milwaukee Mathematics Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways,2025-04-25,WestEd,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,100000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2405217,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2405217_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,941071242,WNCAQMKJ7WZ9,"High school and first-year college mathematics courses sometimes act as gatekeepers, ‘weeding out’ students who struggle with the subject matter and narrowing students’ opportunities for advanced STEM education and employment. Acknowledging opportunity gaps for students of color and those experiencing poverty, this partnership development project brings together Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC), and WestEd to establish dual enrollment math courses that function as a lever for equity. Dual enrollment courses are high school courses that award students both high school and college credit, providing students with experience with rigorous college-level coursework, a sense of purpose and readiness for college, and reduced college tuition costs. Traditionally, dual enrollment courses have functioned as a “program of privilege,” providing advanced opportunities for college-track students. Yet, when designed and implemented to meet the needs and interests of all students, dual enrollment courses are a promising approach for making college and career opportunities more available to underrepresented groups. Centering the needs and voices of MPS students and teachers, this partnership will develop a strategy for dual enrollment implementation in mathematics that addresses significant disparities in math course achievement, graduation rates, and college enrollment in Milwaukee, particularly by race and ethnicity.    The partnership development process will draw upon principles and practices of inclusive research-practice partnership approaches to ensure power sharing, the balancing of practitioner and researcher priorities, and giving voice to all participants and partners. Project activities include needs-sensing and stakeholder engagement, co-construction of the research and development agenda, development of roles and processes across partners, and planning for future collaborations in developing, implementing, and examining dual enrollment math pathways in MPS high schools. While WestEd facilitates these activities, the MPS and MATC partners drive agenda setting, decision-making, sense-making of data, and strategy development. The primary outputs of this project are the establishment of an equity-focused, inclusive research-practice partnership grounded in the needs of Milwaukee’s students and in the Milwaukee educational context, and the development of concrete and actionable plans for designing and implementing mathematics dual enrollment in Milwaukee. This project is supported by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.     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.",FALSE
2224295,Transfer Advocacy Groups: Transforming Culture to Support Community College Transfer Students of Color in Undergraduate Physics,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,656544,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224295,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224295_4900,2023-05-01,2028-04-30,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"Over the past decade nearly half of all post-secondary students of color have attended community colleges. This project is a collaboration of two institutions, San Jose State University and Michigan State University. The project aims to address the urgent need to support community college transfer students of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields by transforming the receiving baccalaureate granting institutions. Changing this racialized transfer function requires understanding and transforming the institutional culture around transfer in STEM at both the sending and receiving institutions. By partnering with transfer students of color as design partners, the goal of this project is to craft support for new-to-campus transfer students of color in STEM by engaging in university institutional change efforts.    This project will create Transfer Advocacy Groups (TAGs) which are collaborations of faculty, students, and advisors working to implement interventions to support transfer students of color in STEM and promote a transfer receptive culture. The project focuses on transfer students of color majoring in physics as well as  students of color taking introductory physics classes at both institutions. The scope of the project includes documenting the experiences of transfer students of color, a population that is largely absent from the literature on racialized experiences in undergraduate STEM. The data collected will allow the lived experience and perspectives of transfer students of color to be centered in the work of the TAGs and provides an understanding of the extent to which institutional change addresses their needs and realities. Analyses of research conducted in collaboration with transfer students of color as well as research with respect to institutional policies and practices will inform the work of the TAGs at each institution. TAGS will collaborate with key stakeholders to implement changes in the universities. Through these activities, the project aims to transform culture at both departmental and college levels so it is more transfer-receptive and supportive others partnering with transfer students of color on institutional change efforts.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.      This collaborative project is co-funded through the Division of Physics. The Division of Physics (PHY) supports physics research and the preparation of future scientists in the nation’s colleges and universities across a broad range of physics disciplines that span scales of space and time from the largest to the smallest and the oldest to the youngest.    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.",FALSE
2150262,"REU Site: Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Cryospheric Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder",2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,524512,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences,Polar Special Initiatives,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150262,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150262_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"""REU Site: Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Cryospheric Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder"" aims to provide a diverse group of undergraduate students an authentic, engaging learning, and research training experience and professional growth opportunities in the broad areas of atmospheric, oceanic, and cryospheric science. The program will target recruiting women, underrepresented minorities, and first-generation college students building on existing relationships with minority-serving institutions. The REU program supports intellectual merit in that a diverse group of undergraduate students will be prepared to embark on their careers as future leading researchers, scientists, and ambassadors for atmospheric, oceanic, and cryospheric sciences. They will work one-on-one with faculty members in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences who are leaders in their fields and will benefit from a network of mentors. A professional program evaluator will collect data to quantify the effects of engaging underrepresented students in research experiences and subsequent pursuit of STEM careers. From a broader impact perspective, the educational outcome is a diverse group of talented U.S. students motivated and prepared to use the research and communication skills developed in this REU program to address important challenges in atmospheric, oceanic, and cryospheric sciences. Beyond the REU students, this program will advance the mentoring skills of early-career researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder who are likely to move into leadership positions at other universities and national laboratories. Therefore, this REU site will (i) contribute to sustaining the U.S. STEM workforce's competitiveness and diversity, (ii) enhance STEM education infrastructure at the University of Colorado Boulder, and (iii) train early career researchers (graduate student and postdoctoral mentors) in effectively supporting a diverse group of undergraduate students.      The REU site will utilize recruitment materials in Spanish and English.  The research projects represent some of the most pressing scientific topics within atmospheric, oceanic and cryospheric science, such as renewable energy, rapid ice loss events, ocean surface temperature variability impacts on biological processes, water clarity off the Alaska coast, role of asteroid impact emissions on the climate system, interaction between ice sheets and the jet stream, and understanding how the retreat of sea ice affects the upper ocean.   The REU site will support twelve undergraduate students for ten-week summer research consisting of: (i) a two-week python boot camp to provide and enhance student skills in data analytics, (ii) the formation of research cohorts to enhance student professional networks, (iii) weekly seminars for professional development, (iv) research communication/dissemination in a poster session and (v) the opportunity to present their research results at a professional conference.  The goals of the REU site are 1) to support students underrepresented in the atmospheric, oceanic and cryospheric sciences to develop a toolkit for success in a STEM program and beyond, 2) inspire and support student participants to choose a graduate school program or a professional career in a STEM field, and 3) engage faculty from the Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Department in REU mentoring and provide training to faculty around inclusive mentoring.    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.",TRUE
2436273,"Participation in the City: How Urban Participatory Innovations are Reshaping  Democracy, Governance and Trust",2025-04-25,Franklin and Marshall College,LANCASTER,PA,PA11,199060,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,T-AP-Trans-Atlantic Platform,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2436273,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2436273_4900,2024-09-15,2027-08-31,176032827,P4NXVGAJNQK3,"This award will fund a research project to study democratic innovations taking place in urban areas. Cities have been a key source of myriad urban participatory innovations (UPIs) that create new practices and institutions that allow citizens to inform and reshape democracy. Urban participatory innovations include both grassroots attempts to use physical and digital spaces to build trust and reshape democracy, as well as institutional reforms such as open government and participatory design of institutions even as they are also sites of political conflict and deep inequalities. This project (PAR-CITY) will examine how and why cities are responding to the democratic challenges by better understanding urban participatory institutions in seven cities. It builds on existing research and incorporates new empirical work using a variety of research methods, including qualitative and quantitative analyses. The research will shift disciplinary landscapes by centering the role of cities and UPIs in studies of democracy, governance, and trust (DGT), drawing new relations between disciplines and geographical contexts, producing a co-authored book, several journal articles and a digital platform.    An interdisciplinary set of 25 researchers working in three work streams will undertake a relational comparison of the seven cities to address three central research questions: 1) How are urban participatory innovations (UPIs) reshaping power, authority, and conflict? 2) How do UPIs confront marginalization and inequalities? And 3) How do concepts, understandings, and practices of UPIs relate across geographical differences? By exploring these questions, the team will achieve several goals, such as establishing the empirical significance of cities for responding to the global challenges of democracy, governance and trust. PAR-CITY examines how UPIs enhance democratic processes, improve governance and rebuild trust in cities. PAR-CITY will provide comparative and interdisciplinary data that help understand the significance of cities to the central themes of this T-AP call, beyond very localized and often outdated studies. PAR-CITY will also examine the role of digital media, tools and technologies in democracy, governance and trust in large cities. In particular PAR-CITY will examine UPIs through smart cities, social media, open government and the use of digital technology in participatory governance. Digital innovations have the potential to break down distance between citizens and institutions yet can also present negative externalities that exacerbate inequality, marginalization and conflict. PAR-CITY will also advance concepts, models and theories of DGT through the central notion of UPI.    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.",FALSE
2405120,Coherent Asynchronous Online Mathematics Teacher Professional Learning for Equitable Instruction,2025-04-25,WestEd,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,1502771,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2405120,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2405120_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,941071242,WNCAQMKJ7WZ9,"To provide equitable mathematics instruction to their students, middle grades mathematics teachers need easily accessible professional learning (PL), including opportunities to participate in discussions about both mathematics content and equity-based teaching practices. The project will help address this need by producing a refined version of the existing Video in the Middle design and development prototype. The team will also produce an asynchronous, collaborative online PL course comprising ten 2.5-hour sessions. These sessions interweave equitable mathematics teaching by incorporating the use of positioning into the classroom learning environment so that students' mathematical competence can be recognized and valued. An equitable mathematics approach will be integrated with a mathematical content thread that is central to middle grades mathematics such as representing and conceptualizing transformations-based similarity, slope, or linear functions.    In Years 1 and 2, the Math-Equity PL project will focus on iterative development and usability and feasibility testing. In Years 3 and 4, the team will conduct a pilot study with 100 middle grades mathematics teachers in order to determine its how it informs teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching related to transformations-based similarity, slope, or linear functions and their understanding of the equity-based teaching practice of positioning students as competent. Data collection will include observations and survey administration. The Math-Equity PL project will provide the field with a model for developing content-specific PL in which equity-based teaching practices are presented as inherently intertwined with and inseparable from issues of effective mathematics instruction, as well as a model for scaling rich, professional learning to make such PL readily accessible to more teachers.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2321946,Transforming STEM Education through Participatory and Community-Engaged Research:   An Incubator Project,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,499721,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Accelerating Discovery in Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321946,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321946_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"Community-engaged schooling focuses on assets, perspectives, questions, and solutions emerging from communities and is beneficial for a wide array of students not always included in STEM. Infrastructure is needed to build connections through which geographically distributed community-engaged educators can be supported as co-researchers in STEM education research.  This effort seeks to enact change in the research process itself including where research is undertaken, how research is conducted, and who holds power to initiate, enact, and use STEM education research. This Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure Incubator is enabling researchers, communities, and educators in co-developing and pilot testing infrastructure to increase the speed and scale of equitable STEM education research.    The network will bring together stakeholders from five core communities: STEM education research, formal education, informal education, participatory and community-engaged research, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) research. Through two in-person large meetings, multiple in-person small meetings, and virtual meetings, the network will plan the development and pilot testing of 1) a geographically distributed facility and field site infrastructure, and 2) a federated, interoperable digital infrastructure. Field sites are local, community-engaged STEM learning spaces and facilities are spaces that connect field sites together. The federated, interoperable digital infrastructure will enable individual Field Sites to connect to their facilities, and through those facilities, connect to a larger network. This design will provide shared communication protocols and common data standards while enabling local communities to shape the structure of their own field fite. The network will explore the scientific and technical requirements underlying the facilities, field fites, and digital infrastructure.    This project is supported through a partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Schmidt Futures, and the Walton Family Foundation. Funding is also provided by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program at NSF.    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.",TRUE
2128803,FW-HTF-R:  Collaborative Research: Virtual Meeting Support for Enhanced Well-Being and Equity for Game Developers,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,1188386,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,FW-HTF Futr Wrk Hum-Tech Frntr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128803,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2128803_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote work, highlighting barriers to well-being, equity, and inclusion. Virtual meeting fatigue, the exhaustion that occurs after long periods of videoconferencing, has been identified as especially harmful to women and people of color, compounding common face-to-face inequities like unequal talking time and interruptions in meetings. To develop more inclusive and equitable remote workspaces, this research asks: How can future virtual meeting platforms better support well-being and social equity? To address this question, the project focuses on a uniquely appropriate group: video game developers, who rely heavily on virtual meetings within teams with varied expertise (i.e., design, programming, and art), represent an estimated $160 billion industry (over $40 billion domestic), and grapple with issues of social equity in the workplace. The interdisciplinary research is using insights from these workers to identify general best practices for virtual meetings among diverse teams to minimize fatigue and improve well-being, equity, and inclusion.     The project uses a mixed-methodological approach to pinpoint and test virtual meeting-platform features that influence user welfare. Study 1 utilizes natural language processing of social media to develop a broad, inductive understanding of how virtual meeting elements relate to well-being and social equity. Study 2 utilizes a survey of remote workers in an exploratory analysis of how virtual meeting features statistically relate to user welfare. Study 3 uses targeted interviews to qualitatively interpret broader insights about virtual meetings within the context of video game developers. Study 4 uses an online experiment to test hypotheses about which specific virtual meeting features enhance video game-developer welfare. Study 5 prototypes and user tests a virtual reality meeting platform with game development teams to confirm which design features promote well-being and social equity. A public “Guide to Virtual Meetings for Well-Being and Equity” is being developed based on insights from these studies.    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.",FALSE
2055322,Collaborative Research: Developing Teacher Learning Theory with Teachers and Students Animating Mathematical Concepts,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,921604,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055322,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055322_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"This project will advance theory for understanding teacher learning as it relates to mathematics teacher knowledge and student knowledge. The research team theorizes that teacher knowledge and student knowledge are not distinct. Specifically, this work challenges the longstanding idea in teacher education that a knowledge base for teaching pre-exists as a static body of knowledge awaiting to be discovered by teachers. Instead, this project examines what happens when teacher and student knowledge bases are conceptualized as interdependent and capable of generating new knowledge in and for teacher learning. This project will build theory, grounded in feminist, Indigenous, and materialist perspectives, that explains how teacher knowledge and student knowledge interact to generate new knowledge that is relevant in and for racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse mathematics teaching contexts. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    This project will develop theory regarding a teacher learning approach that encourages teachers to teachers adopt and exchange flexible roles with their students as active observers and participants to contribute to teachers developing their teacher learning as a relational practice. Drawing on lesson study and Indigenous research design principles, researchers, teachers, and their students will collaborate to create animated concepts of mathematical ideas. Animated concepts include how students use mental images, material objects, and lived experiences that center Black, Native American, Latina, and newcomer knowledge bases related to mathematical concepts.  Researchers across three sites in Michigan, Virginia, and New Mexico will immerse two teachers per research location and their students in this process both during the school year and during a summer program where teachers and students will collaborate with local artists to produce multimedia projects representative of their animated concepts. This research has implications for how mathematical teacher knowledge is conceptualized and how it is addressed via professional development.    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.",FALSE
2115522,Intercultural Science Communication Research and Training to Broaden Participation Among Historically Minoritized Science Practitioners,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,969795,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115522,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115522_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"Among scientists, science communication is an increasingly important area of practice, scholarship, and research, especially with early career scientists. The growing interest in combating widespread disinformation and inaccurate public perception of science has increased demand for training in science communication; however, there is a significant gap in both research and training for scientists from diverse racial and ethnic cultural backgrounds. The project will address this knowledge and research gap by applying intercultural communication theory to the design, development, and testing of a new curriculum that will provide evidence-based methods to make science communication trainings inclusive and intersectional. The curriculum will be designed and evaluated to build capacity among science communication trainers and practitioners. Sixty pre-tenure environmental science faculty of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds will be trained in strategic science communication skills using cultural perspectives and academic goals in science communication. The project will gather research data in collaboration with the national SciComm Trainers Network. In addition to advancing science communication research, training, and practice, the project will implement a novel, peer-reviewed podcast for broader impact. The project Fellows will be prepared to engage in a wide range of science communication activities throughout their careers and lead related efforts at their home institutions. Following a final workshop to develop culturally responsive guidance for science communication trainers, the project team will share findings to the field to inform future practice and societal impacts from advancing culturally relevant science communication in training programs. This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    The project will address two significant gaps in science communication and intercultural communication research. First, despite the recognition that more research about race and ethnicity is needed in science communication, few studies have been conducted. Second, while findings on intercultural communication research are consistent across fields, such as health communication and business communication, the research has yet to examine how well-established theories in this area of study apply to the unique norms and processes of science. Investigators will test a novel theoretical framework grounded in two intercultural communication theories: identity negotiation theory and communication accommodation theory. The project will test the extent to which the professional norms and processes of STEM and academia relate to cultural norms and communication styles of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority scientists, and how these factors influence their science communication efforts. The project will use a mixed methods approach including in-depth interviews and surveys. The results of the study will be used to develop and adapt culturally tailored science communication training for 60 pre-tenure environmental science faculty from underrepresented groups. The results of the project will provide evidence to make science communication training and practice more inclusive and effective. The collaboration with the national SciComm Trainers Network will ensure broad dissemination and professional application of project findings. The project will increase representation of racial and ethnic minority scientists as science communicators, including in environmental news coverage; provide a new peer-reviewed podcast series for public audiences that will introduce listeners to environmental research through a culturally responsive lens; provide tested methods for designing inclusive and effective science communication training curricula; and will inform faculty efforts to incorporate science communication activities as part of career advancement.    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.",FALSE
2238446,"CAREER: Family Support, Pressure, Disengagement, and Marginalization: Facilitating or Hindering STEM Interest and Career Participation among Diverse Women",2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,501215,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2238446,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2238446_4900,2023-05-01,2028-04-30,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This CAREER project investigates how parental messages facilitate the resilience of girls and women from diverse ethnic/racial backgrounds in STEM career development. The project explores the idea that family support is critical for encouraging interest in STEM and sustaining career progress through adulthood. However, parents may also communicate messages (e.g., pressure, marginalization, disengagement) that make it difficult for girls and women to persist and thrive in STEM careers. The results of this study will be integrated with education goals to teach families about effective communication and STEM career options. The study will include a conversation-based card game that engages the family in discussion and stimulate learning about career trajectories, support, and messages in a workshop for parents of high school girls interested in pursuing STEM.    This project will consider intersectional identities and diverse lived experiences to understand how different types of family STEM communication influence STEM interests and persistence. Three mixed-methods studies will employ in-depth interview and survey methodologies to identify effective parental messages that facilitate STEM interest and support underrepresented women in STEM throughout their careers. Interviews with Black, Hispanic, and White STEM and non-STEM majors and a survey of parents will identify types and predictors of family STEM communication. The empirical findings and educational activities of this CAREER project will illuminate and disseminate how family dynamics influence the career trajectories of Black, Hispanic, and White women at multiple life stages. This project is funded by the Directorate for STEM Education Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",TRUE
2334059,Conference: Rustbelt RNA Meeting 2023-2025,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,50000,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Molecular and Cellular Biosciences,Genetic Mechanisms,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334059,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334059_4900,2023-08-01,2026-07-31,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"The Rustbelt RNA Meeting (RRM) is an annual conference that brings together scientists from the industrial Midwest and surrounding regions to present and discuss new developments in RNA-related research. This grant will support the 2023 (25th annual meeting), 2024, and 2025 meetings. A unique feature of the RRM is its emphasis on fostering the professional development of young scientists through both formal and informal mechanisms.  The meeting provides ample opportunities for multiple platform and poster sessions as well as social interactions, yet is short enough (roughly 1:00 p.m. Friday to 2:00 p.m. Saturday) to be convenient. Students and postdoctoral scholars typically comprise over 70% of attendees and deliver over 90% of the talks as well as the majority of the posters. To broaden participation and further encourage attendance by undergraduates and trainees from groups historically underrepresented in STEM, scholarships will be awarded to cover their registration fees.  The RRM serves to expose trainees (often for the first time) to an exciting meeting where the breadth and quality of the research presented rivals that at national meetings, yet the atmosphere is welcoming and supportive. NSF funding will be used predominantly for participant support at the RRM, focused on trainees, and will allow their accommodations to be provided free of charge.    The 2023 RRM will be held in East Lansing, Michigan, October 27-28, 2023. This represents the first year the conference will be held in Michigan, one of the major home states of Rustbelt attendees, and provides opportunities for outreach to numerous smaller public and liberal-arts schools in the state. The 2023 meeting will assemble researchers with diverse backgrounds and interests in RNA science and facilitate new learning experiences in emerging technology and career planning via optional workshops. The 2023 RRM program will include approximately 150 poster and 21 oral presentations by student and post-doctoral trainees, providing a high-caliber interdisciplinary experience for participants. The 2023 meeting will also feature a keynote lecture by Dr. Jeffrey Kieft (Director, New York Structural Biology Center), an accomplished and highly respected leader in the field, who has made numerous important contributions to our understanding of the structure and folding of RNAs, particularly viral RNAs.    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.",TRUE
2425735,CAIG: An AI-based Approach to Quantifying and Explaining Uncertainty and Inequity in Geoscience,2025-04-25,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,813628,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GEO CI - GEO Cyberinfrastrctre,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2425735,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2425735_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Uncertainty quantification—determining how much a prediction can be trusted—is a fundamental challenge in geoscience and is central to cost-effective decision-making, mitigation of extreme weather hazards, and adaptation to a changing climate. Similarly, inequity quantification—measuring how well a predictive model serves different populations—is critical to ensuring that historically marginalized communities, disproportionately vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change, are adequately served by weather and climate models. The growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) models in geoscience has made uncertainty and inequity quantification more important, and difficult, than ever. This project supports a partnership between geoscientists and computer scientists to co-develop novel AI-based approaches to quantify and explain uncertainty and inequity in geoscience. By considering social inequities in geoscience, this project will help shape the future of geoscience through a more interdisciplinary understanding of the Earth system. This project will also build capacity for cross-discipline collaboration and education between computer science and geoscience students, helping meet workforce demands for scientists with experience in both AI and geoscience.     Three algorithmic innovations will be developed as part of this project. The first innovation develops a computationally efficient framework capable of producing easily interpretable estimates of aleatoric and epistemic uncertainty in geoscience. The second innovation develops generalizable metrics that quantify inequities in Earth system model performance. The third innovation develops a novel AI-ready multimodal (text and image) geoscience dataset that will be used to fine-tune a large multimodal model, capable of describing geoscience imagery and associated uncertainties and inequities. Collectively, these innovations will enable the contextualization of several sources of uncertainty and inequity in geoscience.    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.",FALSE
2313869,Side by Side: Youth-Authored Art-Science Exhibits to Broaden Participation in Climate Communication,2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,1999998,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313869,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313869_4900,2023-09-01,2028-08-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"This project builds on an NSF-funded program which engaged youth in the creation of art-science experiences that use the biology and the experiences of migratory birds as a means for communicating the impact of a changing climate. The preliminary success of this program at increasing participants' science identity, connectedness to nature, and feelings of efficacy about environmental action inspired the current project's goal of studying the impact of this youth-led climate communication on other young learners. High school-aged youth in the Denver Metro Area will be engaged in a 10-day summer intensive program where they will be guided by near-peer mentors and domain scientists in studying migratory birds to better understand how bird biology intersects with changing local environmental characteristics, and in translating their STEM understanding into interdisciplinary art-science exhibits that will engage K-4th grade learners. The exhibits will contain a mix of youth-designed materials intended to give audiences a firsthand understanding of the impact of a changing climate on birds and their migrations. The youth-created interactive exhibits will be designed to fit into shippable trunks which, in partnership with the Environment for the Americas' World Migratory Bird Day events, will be sent to informal learning locations across the Americas where the migratory species travel, at times when the species will be in those locations. The traveling exhibits will help both the youth creators and the youth audiences perceive how local habitats and changes to them are part of larger, global scientific phenomena like migration and climate change.     The project engages undergraduate near-peer mentors, high school-aged students, and researchers in the design and implementation of a participatory action research study of the co-design process and the impact of the exhibits on target audiences (K-4th grade learners). The purpose of using this methodology is to ensure that the voices, interests, and perspectives of the diverse youth participants influence both the exhibits themselves as well as the research design. There is currently a lack of climate change messaging produced for, and by, non-dominant audiences, and so this project is deliberately working with Latine female-identifying youth and youth who do not identify with traditional gender roles. The youth creators will be engaged in co-designing the data collection approach that will be used with K-4th grade visitors to the Denver Botanic Gardens, pulling from mixed-methods qualitative approaches such as field observations, focus group discussions, and creative embedded data collection (e.g., interactive experiences built into the digital aspects of the exhibits). Data generated from this study will allow the mixed-generational team to gain insight into what aspects of the youth-designed exhibits impact the K-4th grade learners and how. Impact of the co-design work on the youth creators will be assessed via pre/post science identity surveys, observations made by research personnel, and focus group discussions. The intellectual merit of this work rests in both understanding how learners from non-dominant groups can be impacted by experiencing climate communication exhibits designed by near-peers, and in the participatory creation of a model for assessing that impact. Results will be disseminated via a range of science education, informal science education, and climate communication forums. Broader impacts on learners derive from the plans to exhibit the interactive trunks at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science as well as informal learning locations across the Americas.     This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",FALSE
2225209,Evaluating Letters of Reference to Engineering Doctoral Programs for Racial and Gender Bias,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,330423,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225209,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2225209_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Advanced training and education in STEM are of critical importance for the nation’s workforce and economic status. Equitable access to graduate level training reduces barriers for individuals from minoritized groups. Standardized graduate exams are becoming less important in the graduate admissions process, which places a higher weight on letters of recommendation for the selection of graduate students for a program. This project focuses on examining the language used by mentors in describing students in letters of recommendations and seeks to identify racial and gender bias in the application of key words or phrases that may perpetuate enrollment disparities. The professional development plan will build capacity in engineering education research through development of skills, methods, and text-based data analyses.    The goals of the project are to identify differences in the way an applicant’s potential for success in engineering is described in letters of recommendation based on their gender and race/ethnicity and develop a deeper understanding of disciplinary practices, values, and norms while building skills in text-based data analysis. Founded on role congruity theory and stereotype content model theory, the project will use qualitative methods, content analysis, and natural language processing techniques to identify and compare language used in letters of recommendation. The project aims to produce a model engineering graduate admissions landscape that is free of race and gender biases than can be used for similar investigations of other disciplines. The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR:BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.    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.",TRUE
2411953,Using Iterative Design to Develop a Visual Tool to Promote Inclusivity in STEM Environment,2025-04-25,University of Texas at El Paso,EL PASO,TX,TX16,623267,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411953,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411953_4900,2024-08-01,2027-07-31,799688900,C1DEGMMKC7W7,"Current research on STEM education shows that among the barriers to STEM participation and retention for underrepresented minority students is the interpersonal bias experienced in STEM settings where they are subject to stereotypes related to underachievement. Racial microaggressions refer to stereotype-based verbal, behavioral, or environmental negativity in interpersonal interactions that are often subtle yet detrimental, especially when encountered on a regular basis. Research shows that microaggressions are linked to decreased well-being, mental health, and physical health. Students experiencing racial stressors in academic environments, including microaggressions, experience lower rates of academic engagement, institutional belonging, persistence, and academic efficacy. The project objective is to use design-based research to develop a tool for countering racial microaggressions in STEM.     Through an iterative process, the project will generate a tool distinct from other anti-bias interventions and grounded in psychological theories on behavior change. Quantitative and qualitative data from STEM students and faculty will be collected and applied across several phases of a theory-driven design process. The STEM Educator Series on Student Interactions (SESSI) is an innovative approach to reducing racial microaggressions in STEM by illustrating students’ experiences and, importantly, alternative inclusive behaviors to be readily learned and applied by STEM educators. This project will generate a tool distinct from other anti-bias interventions, akin to public health messaging grounded in psychological theories on behavior change. The ultimate goals of the project are STEM educators’ behavior change and more inclusive STEM environments that support aspiring Hispanic and Black scientists and engineers.    This project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2417006,Measuring Integration in Affordable Housing with Location Data,2025-04-25,Cornell University,ITHACA,NY,NY19,400000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human-Envi & Geographical Scis,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417006,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417006_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,148502820,G56PUALJ3KT5,"Moving people to 'better' places underpins the rationale for over 42 billion dollars in federal spending on flagship programs in affordable housing and social policy. Yet remarkably little is known about how much and where integration actually occurs. This project deploys a national, large-scale, and mobility-based test of the major theories of how integration happens using cell phone location data. Case studies of metropolitan areas identify additional characteristics of places that correspond with more integration. Findings provide new evidence on the effects of housing policies, such as the social outcomes of vouchers and zoning incentives for mobility, as well as context-specific mechanisms and enabling conditions that may yield insights and inform place-based policies. The publicly available data products from this research enable scientific inquiries on mobilities across multiple spatial and temporal scales and set the stage for a wider range of work on related issues and their equity impacts.    This project makes a novel intellectual contribution to questions of 'people versus place' and the study of human mobility data in the geospatial and social sciences. The research tests the tension between theories on the power of proximity and opportunity for individual outcomes, which drive most affordable housing policies in the US, and those of case studies that show persistent patterns of experienced segregation and exclusion inside mixed-income areas. Geospatial, statistical, and qualitative methods examine segregation and access to opportunity to incorporate a wider range of experienced contexts through human mobility data in a granular and spatiotemporally contingent manner. Findings nuance localized heterogeneity and persistent 'microsegregation' dynamics of high relevance to social and housing policy and contribute new knowledge to current prominent debates on the role of socioeconomic and racial integration in promoting opportunity in affordable housing.    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.",FALSE
2101039,Collaborative Research: Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science Classes within and across Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,931058,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101039,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101039_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Currently, students who are white, affluent, and identify as male tend to develop a greater interest in and pursuit of science and computing-related careers compared to their Black, Latinx, Native American, and female-identifying peers. Yet, science, computing, and computational thinking drive societal decision-making and problem-solving. The lack of cultural and racial diversity in science and computing-related careers can lead to societal systems and decision-making structures that fail to consider a wide range of perspectives and expertise. Teachers play a critical role in preparing students to develop these skills and succeed in a technological and scientific world. For this reason, it is crucial to investigate how teachers can help culturally and linguistically diverse students develop a greater understanding of and interest in science and computers. This research project aims to enhance elementary teacher education in science and computational thinking pedagogy through the use of Culturally Relevant Teaching, i.e. teaching in ways that are relevant to students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds The project will support 60 elementary teachers in summer professional development and consistent learning opportunities during the school year to learn about and enact culturally relevant computational thinking into their science instruction. In doing so, the project aims to increase both the quantity and quality of computing experiences for all elementary students and support NSF’s commitment in broadening participation in the STEM workforce. The project will also produce resources, measures, and tools to support elementary teachers to do this kind of work, which will be shared with other STEM researchers and teacher educators.    The goal of this research project is to design and promote teaching practices that integrate computational thinking in the elementary science classroom in culturally relevant ways. This project will seek to empower practicing elementary teachers’ approaches to meaningfully and effectively integrate and adapt computational thinking into their regular science teaching practice so that all students can access the curriculum. It will also explore the impact of these approaches on student learning and self-efficacy. The scope of this project will include working with multiple highly distinct school settings in Maryland, Arizona, and Washington DC across three years, reaching approximately 60 elementary teachers and 1,200 students. To achieve the project objectives, the research team will leverage concurrent mixed methods approaches that include teacher and student interviews, reflections, observations, descriptive case study reports as well as regression and multilevel modeling. The project’s findings will inform the fields’ understanding of: (a) teachers’ conceptualization of computational thinking; (b) the barriers elementary teachers encounter when trying to integrate computational thinking with culturally relevant teaching practices; (c) the types of support that are effective in teacher professional development experiences  and throughout the school year; and (d) the development of a cohort of teachers that can maintain integration efforts in different districts.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM subjects by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2110604,Faculty Research and Education Development Program II,2025-04-25,American Society For Cell Biology,ROCKVILLE,MD,MD08,1534605,Continuing Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Molecular and Cellular Biosciences,Cellular Dynamics and Function,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2110604,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2110604_4900,2021-07-15,2026-06-30,208529842,G9D8ADENWJL8,"Over the past 40 years, there has been an expansion in our understanding of the world through a scientific lens; however, there is a recognition that we are not fully engaging our scientific talent pool. The Faculty Research and Educational Development (FRED) Program seeks to broaden participation through mentored relationships for postdoctoral scholars and junior faculty members, many of whom are from groups historically and currently underrepresented in the sciences. In addition, given the impact that minority-serving institutions (MSIs) have on broadening participation in the sciences, the FRED program also encourages the participation of faculty members at MSIs. FRED was developed by the Minorities Affairs Committee (MAC), a standing committee of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) tasked with addressing issues of historically underrepresented cell biologists. Specifically, the FRED program matches junior scientists with senior mentors who have demonstrated funding success at research-intensive institutions for a long-term mentoring relationship focused on the preparation and submission of a research or educational grant to an external funding agency. Over the past 7 years, 46 historically underrepresented scholars or junior faculty at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) have participated in the FRED Program with a funding success rate of 62% and 27% of them receiving more than one award. The FRED program is organized with participants attending a Career Development Workshop, participating in a mentored relationship to prepare a proposal, and a Mock Review Panel at the annual ASCB conference to review the proposal and provide the mentee comments before submission to a funding agency. The FRED-II program will continue with the mission of improving grant funding success and career development for junior faculty and will implement improved support pathways for FRED mentees who are not successful in their first proposal submission and will look to resubmit their proposal.  It will continue with the successful implementation of a summer workshop to be held primarily near or at MSIs.  In addition, in alignment with national imperatives in increasing diversity among faculty, the program will create a pre-FRED workshop designed to engage potential FRED mentees to develop an applicant pool for future FRED workshops. The FRED-II program will continue to support and develop the next generation of research scientists and leaders and broaden their participation in science.    The FRED-II program will support junior faculty and postdoctoral scholars through a structured mentored relationship with a senior faculty member.  The year-long program will include a summer career development workshop for all FRED mentees, monthly mentor-mentee meetings with in-person reciprocal visits to mentor-mentees campuses.  FRED mentees will develop a proposal with support from their selected mentor and participate in a winter mock review panel hosted at the annual ASCB meeting.  Meetings and reciprocal visits will continue until a proposal is submitted to a federal agency.  FRED-II will also include continued participation and additional support for FRED mentees who are unsuccessful in securing funding on their first attempt. The FRED-II program will also include evaluative efforts to inform the leadership of the effectiveness of the program and areas where improvements are needed.  Overall, the FRED-II program promotes the careers of underrepresented junior faculty and postdoctoral scholars at research institutions and MSIs through mentorship and grant success.    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.",FALSE
2418859,Collaborative Research: Prismatic Community of Practice Incubation Project,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,37460,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2418859,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2418859_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"This project will foster a network of collaborators, the Prismatic Community of Practice, to advance knowledge about ethical and responsible human subjects research with a focus on minoritized individuals and communities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). All research involving human participants necessarily includes people with, or requires considerations of, minoritized identities. The project focuses specifically on assembling STEM education researchers, education practitioners, educational professional societies, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) personnel to form a community of practice to understand pertinent ethical issues.  It will lead to the creation and piloting of a professional development module. The project will have far-reaching benefits by supporting professional development, the progress of social science methodology, and ethical STEM education research.     The project will expand knowledge about ethical and responsible human subjects research with a focus on minoritized individuals and communities in STEM. There are many ethical considerations in such research, from research design and confidentiality to participant recruitment, instrumentation, data collection, data storage, data analysis, and the sharing of findings.  The project will foster new collaborations and build a community of practice with STEM education researchers, practitioners, professional societies, and personnel from IRB offices. The community of practice will link research and minoritized identities to move the STEM education research field forward in ethical, responsible, and inclusive ways. Project activities will involve developing a pilot module with the community of practice and providing mentoring for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students as part of their involvement in conducting research. In the long run, project activities will provide benefits to education researchers at-large and research participants through a refined module.     This project is jointly funded through the ER2 program by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.    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.",FALSE
2448445,CAREER: CritComp Pop-Ups: A Research-Practice Partnership for Co-Designing and Implementing Critical Computing Elementary Education Curricula,2025-04-25,Vanderbilt University,NASHVILLE,TN,TN05,338290,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2448445,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2448445_4900,2024-10-01,2028-05-31,372032416,GTNBNWXJ12D5,"Elementary school-aged children use and have interest in technologies with integrated AI applications, yet they rarely critically investigate the sociopolitical contexts in which people consume and produce AI technology. Without engaging in this form of critical computing, elementary school students will not be prepared to participate ethically in a digitally reliant society and tackle the increasingly discriminatory affects of algorithmic decision-making as they continue their schooling and careers. Moreover, there is still a limited understanding on how elementary students apply critical lenses to computing and few computing education programs are available that focus on sociocultural issues.    This CAREER project proposal will address these research gaps by co-designing, implementing, and analyzing an innovative critical computing education curriculum, referred to as CritComp Pop-Ups. The research goals will be to (1) characterize co-design processes that involve teachers, researchers, and students; (2) measure elementary school students’ critical computing knowledge and practices using quantitative ethnography; and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of an AI critical computing curriculum on students’ interest and confidence in computer science. The education goals will be to 1) broaden participation in computing by engaging underserved students in rural areas; (2) foster children’s interest in computer science through culturally relevant instructional methods focused on AI; (3) provide elementary school teachers with strategies for integrating critical computing; (4) host critical computing community events; and (5) train undergraduate/graduate students in research competencies and critical computing. The potential contributions will be to (1) extend understanding of how elementary students construct knowledge through a critical sociopolitical lens; (2) provide researchers a framing for studies on critical computing education; and (3) inform the development of critical computer science educational standards and curriculum.    This CAREER project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2403846,Collaborative Research: Cultural Change in Geoscience (C-ChanGe): Transforming Departmental Culture through Faculty Agents of Change,2025-04-25,Bowdoin College,BRUNSWICK,ME,ME01,70343,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2403846,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2403846_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,040113343,JE5WBLZJUME7,"This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing practices to improve inclusivity in academic geoscience departments. Geoscience is a critical discipline for today’s world, integrating other physical and life sciences into a wholistic perspective with relevance to the most pressing challenges facing humanity today including climate change, energy resources, and natural hazards. However, the number of graduates and students pursuing geosciences is not sufficient to meet the demand for geoscience expertise in the economy.  While geoscience degrees can provide students with significant opportunities to learn and practice workforce-relevant skills, many systemic barriers prevent equal participation, exacerbating the gap in the geoscience workforce. Through intentional professional development, the Cultural Change in Geoscience (C-ChanGe) project will create a corps of faculty change agents empowered to make successive, incremental changes that will lead to positive cultural shifts within their home departments. This cultural change will foster an environment where all people experience academic geoscience as safe, welcoming, and supportive. C-ChanGe will also compile and leverage existing efforts focused on cultural change. This will create a network of leaders and resources that raises the visibility of all aspects of this important work and enhances opportunities for collaboration.    C-ChanGe will generate positive systemic change in the culture of academic geoscience departments and community through facilitating professional development for geoscience faculty that will a) foster high-quality discussion and sharing of evidence-based practices, b) develop web resources with geoscience-specific examples, c) promote change in participant attitudes and d) equip participants with resources to lead further change in their department and community. This project will provide faculty with concrete ways to implement inclusive strategies in their individual practice at many scales, professional development to overcome barriers to inclusion and belonging for students from marginalized identities, and training to help participants share what they learn with colleagues in their local program, department, and institution. The project will also leverage existing expertise to generate a national network of projects focused on making academic geoscience more inclusive, welcoming, and supportive of people from diverse backgrounds and identities. This network will elevate the national visibility of existing efforts within the geosciences and provide opportunities for collaboration among disparate programs. Through this network, we will create a cycle by which C-ChanGe participants learn from the cutting-edge research and implementation of impactful practices, are able to apply this learning in their local context, and then provide information to the project network about the efficacy and challenges of implementing those research-informed practices.    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.",FALSE
2105701,Collaborative Research: IGE: Graduate Education in Cyber-Physical Systems Engineering,2025-04-25,University of Massachusetts Lowell,LOWELL,MA,MA03,362835,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2105701,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2105701_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,018543573,LTNVSTJ3R6D5,"The future engineering workforce calls for a skill set that requires disciplinary knowledge and technology to be adapted and applied in solving complex problems with experts from diverse fields. This need also opens opportunities for women and students of color, traditionally underrepresented in engineering, to explore a broader range of research and career pathways that better identify with their interests and values. To support students in acquiring these skills, graduate curricula can benefit from a framework and process for designing educational modules that are accessible to students in different disciplines, that identifies how they contribute to their field, and integrates emerging business needs. This National Science Foundation Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) award to the University of Massachusetts Lowell (UML) and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth (UMD) will pilot a model for co-creation of cross-disciplinary educational content by teams of graduate students, research advisors, instructors, and practitioners from industry. The educational model is prototyped using a case study of cyber-physical systems applicable across a wide range of industries spanning the service, manufacturing, health-care, transportation, automation, and smart-system based environmental monitoring sectors. The project is innovative in its application of evidence-based practices from education research on how the curriculum can be inclusive in engaging and educating a diverse student body by involving graduate students in co-creating technical content.      The project involves two phases. The first phase addresses how graduate students learn by co-creating educational material with faculty and experts from industry. The second phase integrates the modules developed in phase one into courses offered at four different institutions (UML, UMD, University of the District of Columbia, and North Carolina A&T State University) and assesses how students learn and acquire transferable skills from co-created material. Both phases prioritize students’ voices in an iterative design and evaluation process through focus groups conducted in the framework of participatory action research. Through the co-creation in phase one, graduate students learn about: (a) Models and methods for integrating disciplinary approaches and avoiding common pitfalls; (b) Social science concepts (viz. intersectionality, microaggressions, and institutionalized racism) connected with underrepresentation of females and minorities in STEM fields, and (c) ways to address these issues through effective communication and practice. The educational modules support experiential learning on a testbed that emulates the stages of product life-cycle management (PLM) undertaken in industry and support the development of skills for transferring of discipline-specific information to stakeholders across the PLM stages ranging from ideation to product verification, validation, and usage. A tool kit will provide the templates and rubrics for participatory educational design and collection of common datasets to assess the projected learning outcomes from implementations by a broader graduate education community.     The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.    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.",FALSE
2321633,Pivots: Enabling Access for Historically Underserved and Underrepresented Groups to Experiential Learning and Credentials in Artificial Intelligence,2025-04-25,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,1000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321633,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321633_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"Diversity in the STEM workforce remains a challenge as evidenced by the historical underrepresentation of low-income, racial, ethnic, gender representation, and first-generation individuals in STEM education programs and in STEM careers such at data science and artificial intelligence (AI). The ExLENT-AI Externship project will provide experiential learning opportunities to people from historically underserved and underrepresented groups in the emerging technology fields of data science and AI to broaden access for diverse individuals to learn about and potentially work in careers in these areas. North Carolina State University will partner with Delta Air Lines, Lexmark, Charity Navigator, Randstad, and other industry organizations to collaborate on the design and implementation of the 40-week externship program. The externship is a combination of live, weekly workshop sessions and real-world, industry mentoring, job shadowing, and working on authentic tasks with partners. The objectives of ExLENT-AI are to: 1) leverage evidence-based best practices in experiential learning to attract diverse learners to emerging technology careers; 2) recruit individuals with from historically underserved and underrepresented groups to participate in the ExLENT-AI evidence-based externship program; 3) strengthen partnerships with appropriate stakeholders to develop an integrated, collaborative network to best support participants; 4) establish a community of learners for the cohorts through mentorship and other community-building activities; 5) prepare participants to gain relevant artificial intelligence competencies, knowledge, and skills; and 6) support participants through the job search process and placement into their new careers in artificial intelligence.     The ExLENT-AI Externship project will leverage the use of ten evidence-based best-practices found to be effective in delivery of experiential learning and attracting/retaining participants from historically underserved and underrepresented backgrounds. These ten key practices include: 1) establishment of a STEM ecosystem, 2) use of the Collective Impact Model; 3) coursework that has structured curricular activities; 4) inverted classroom models for coursework delivery; 5) teamwork and group/cohort engagement in discourse and application of knowledge; 6) sustained involvement in externships where individuals are engaged in authentic tasks with real-world industry context; 7) engagement of mentors; 8) clear articulation and assessment of learning objectives; 9) use of incentives and rewards (e.g., stipends and certificates); and 10) guidance through career coaching and job search support. This project will contribute broadly to the achievement of societally relevant outcomes including the development of a diverse, globally competitive emerging technology workforce in artificial intelligence. This program model will be fully developed and will prepare 33 new individuals historically underserved and underrepresented in emerging technology careers, including women, first-generation college students, veterans, persons with disabilities, and racial/ethnic minorities. Additionally, through strong partnerships with industry, the project team will have a mechanism to continue to provide access, opportunity, and empowerment to diverse groups to continue a sustained talent pipeline and direct connections to careers. This project fits well within the NSF ExLENT program, supported by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.    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.",FALSE
2405431,Socially Transformative Engineering Pedagogy for a Sustainable Future,2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,644957,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2405431,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2405431_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"As the nation tackles the challenges of energy transition, K-12 education must prepare a future STEM workforce that can not only apply STEM skills but also address reasoning through complex sociotechnical problems involving social justice. Conscientious engineering design can help youth develop these competencies. However, few secondary school programs or STEM curricula focus on promoting students’ reasoning fluency through conscientious engineering design. Aligned with the principles of socially transformative engineering and focused on students of color, this project involves the design and implementation of a novel STEM education curriculum. The curriculum will support the development of secondary students’ abilities to reason through ambiguous and ethical challenges through design projects and to transfer these competencies to everyday life and future workplaces. The project will empower youth as transformative agents with abilities to conscientiously negotiate risks and benefits as they scope and analyze complex problems, generate ideas and solutions, and reason through ethics. The project will contribute to the cultivation of a new generation of STEM professionals who are able to design engineering solutions for environmental sustainability and societal equity. The project meets NSF’s mission to catalyze research and development that enhances all students’ opportunities to engage in high quality education. The project’s partnerships with public school leaders, teachers, and informal educators will further support transformative learning over time with the implementation of the curriculum to future cohorts of students. The curricular products of the project will be published on publicly available websites and journals to promote easy access.    The framework for this project integrates three theories—the legitimation code theory, justice-based science education pedagogy, and futures-thinking literacy—to deliver fundamental insights into how secondary school students develop reasoning fluency and STEM knowledge through engagement in socially transformative engineering work. Four key tenets guide the curriculum design work for this project: multicultural ingenuity, ethical integrity, reasoning fluency, and transformative agency. Working with 50 secondary school educators in school contexts that primarily serve students of color, the project involves the design, implementation, and study of a curriculum that will support the development of approximately 600 students’ abilities to reason through ambiguous and ethical challenges through design projects. This project will advance research on transformative agency and reasoning capabilities of minoritized youth in particular as they engage in engineering design. The project has three objectives. First, it will refine curricular resources in alignment with Socially Transformative Engineering Pedagogy and offer professional development with a sociocultural perspective that privileges students’ cultural knowledge and discourse patterns. Second, it will promote futures reasoning and social justice by advancing the capabilities of educational technologies for sustainable infrastructure design using computer-aided design, including but not limited to AI applications such as generative design and personalized learning. And third, it will improve theory on how youth develop reasoning fluency and transformative agency through socially conscientious design. Engineering projects such as designing a self-sustaining microgrid community will foster students' learning and reasoning as they draw on their cultural funds of knowledge and deliberate the consequences of their design choices. Discourse and content analysis methods will be used to study the nature of fluency in student reasoning. Methods such as cluster analysis will be used to identify patterns of variations.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) is an applied research program that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers. 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 funded projects.    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.",FALSE
2349503,REU Site: The Data Justice Academy,2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,320822,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2349503,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2349503_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It has both scientific and societal benefits in addition to integrating research and education. The Data Justice Academy (DJA) is a ten-week summer program at the University of Virginia (UVA) that provides undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds with research experiences, technical training, and professional development. The program seeks to encourage students to see Data Science and Computational Social Science as avenues for helping their communities and making a difference in the world. Research teams are led by faculty trained in culturally responsive mentoring and with deep knowledge of experiential pedagogies. The DJA program continuously improves its curriculum for student development in data skills, sociotechnical knowledge, and research acumen but also emphasizes social and cultural capital. Mentoring is at the heart of the program, with rigorous training of faculty and graduate student mentors.     Overseen jointly by UVA’s Equity Center and School of Data Science, the DJA supports faculty-mentored projects in three broad areas: (1) employing the tools of data science to document, study and combat social inequalities, (2) advancing the development of ethical data science tools and data sets, and (3) studying data practices as socially constructed and contested spheres of human activity. With the proliferation of automated decision systems and artificial intelligence in everyday life, such research is vital to ensuring that the data and algorithmic practices that underly these tools are socially beneficial. Data Justice takes as its first and fundamental question, “For whom does this model fail?” (O’Neil, 2016, 2017). By centering vulnerability to harm, data justice advocates for better technologies, with better outcomes and lower risks for all.    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.",FALSE
2325090,"Student Poster Competition & Networking Breakfast at ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition (IMECE); New Orleans, Louisiana; 29 October to 2 November 2023",2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,50000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation","M3X - Mind, Machine, and Motor",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2325090,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2325090_4900,2023-08-01,2025-07-31,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"This grant provides funds to support travel for 40 students who are currently working with Principal Investigators through NSF funding from the Directorate for Engineering (ENG) or Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs to present at a special poster session at the 2023 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition (ASME-IMECE), to be held in New Orleans, Louisiana, from 29 October to 2 November 2023. These funds will also facilitate a breakfast networking event for rising researchers and junior faculty that is expected to be attended by 400 participants. The networking event will be open to all eligible conference attendees. Consideration in the poster travel award selection process will be given to the inclusion of members of underrepresented groups, diversity of institutions that the students represent, and diversity of programs within engineering. The award will benefit the nation through the education of a skilled and diverse engineering workforce better prepared to provide transformative solutions to the challenges of their chosen fields.     This participation support is expected to benefit students' professional, scientific, and technical development as they present their NSF funded research projects at the largest mechanical engineering conference in the nation. Attendance at the conference will provide the students a wonderful opportunity to learn about the engineering profession and state-of-the-art research in their fields via access to technical and professional development talks by domestic and international speakers. Students will enhance their communication skills through lively discussions of their work with the top researchers in their fields. The participants will also have an opportunity to attend many technical presentations, join the keynote and plenary sessions featuring technological pioneers, and network with potential mentors, colleagues, and employers. The breakfast networking event will provide an opportunity to students and faculty alike to delve into longer discussions about career opportunities and trajectories with senior faculty and industrial representatives, who will serve as facilitators and mentors.    This project is jointly funded by the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) and the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (CBET) in the Directorate for Engineering.    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.",FALSE
2047420,CAREER: Fair assessments: Examining Cultural Familiarity to Decrease Bias in Engineering Classroom Assessments,2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,513506,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047420,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2047420_4900,2021-03-01,2026-02-28,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"Test scores are used to inform who gets to pursue and stay in engineering education at every juncture, pre-college through graduate school. The persistent achievement discrepancies between students of Color and White undergraduate engineering students are commonly blamed on students or their previous education rather than acknowledging that the tests themselves or testing process could be biased against test takers. Factors such as differing cultures, educational access, and test taking strategies all contribute to the test taking experience and can result in tests that are inherently easier or harder for different groups of students. Very little is known about how biases contribute to the problem of discrepancies in achievement between students of Color and their White peers in engineering. The research on test fairness in engineering education has been limited by the low representation of students of Color in engineering. This CAREER project will apply an innovative research approach for small sample sizes that will advance understanding about the role of cultural familiarity within the context of concept inventories. By answering the research questions, this CAREER project will build a firm foundation for a life-long leadership position in research on fair assessment practices and educational activities to train instructors in increasing the fairness of their classroom tests.     This CAREER project will inform the field of engineering education by identifying how engineering education instructors and researchers can increase the fairness of assessments. Through its integrated research and education plans, the work will improve decision-making in engineering education and achievement for students of Color. Because there are so few students of Color in engineering, traditional approaches to studying assessment bias cannot be used. This project will use an explanatory sequential mixed-methods approach which integrates studies of item difficulty and discrimination for each group of students separately and then will conduct interviews to explain the quantitative findings and build theory. The new approaches and methods developed will lead to significant strides in solving the problem of unfair assessment in engineering education. The research questions will investigate: To what extent do items in these three assessments demonstrate adequate functioning for students of Color? To what extent do score discrepancies remain once inadequate items are removed? What are patterns of cultural familiarity and content of problematic items and items that show acceptable functioning? How do students of Color experience testing in concept inventories? In the education plan, findings will be applied to develop and disseminate educational materials for three primary groups of learners: (1) future engineering faculty, (2) current engineering faculty, and (3) minority- and women-in-engineering program staff. The findings will benefit society directly from the research outcomes, activities related to conducting the research in this project, and educational activities. The first research question provides important information concerning the extent to which unfairness in assessments contributes to disparities in achievement. The second and third research questions lead to principles for fair assessments that will be widely shared with engineering instructors and future faculty (via a graduate course and partnerships with national engineering education organizations); these will improve fairness for thousands of students across the country.    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.",FALSE
2027519,"Collaborative Research: Research: Intersections between Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Ethics in Engineering",2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,349516,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2027519,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2027519_4900,2021-03-01,2026-02-28,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"Efforts focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and ethics are often siloed in engineering. While generally pursued as separate lines of investigation, we hypothesize that the aims, objectives, and goals pertaining to ethics and DEI often overlap. By investigating this potential overlap, we hypothesize that we can help improve overall efforts at promoting DEI and ethics in engineering. Our primary research objective is to synthesize intersections between ethics and DEI among engineering academic and workforce communities. In this study, we begin with a systematic literature review that explores potential overlap in literature in ethics and DEI. Second, we will study how engineering academics view (consciously and subconsciously) ethics and DEI as related. Finally, we will study how industrial practitioners view (consciously and subconsciously) the potential overlap between ethics and DEI. Collectively, this study will enable us to compare how literature, academics, and practitioners view ethics and DEI as related. We will use findings to generate curricular and workforce training efforts to better integrate ethics and DEI in engineering. This study will benefit society by promoting the formation of engineers who can engage with different values and perspectives in ethical ways.    Despite various models, initiatives, and pockets of innovation by scholars and programs, we have not realized widespread changes in the diversification of the engineering workforce. We theorize that one barrier to change is the disjuncture between lines of scholarship from engineering education researchers in the intersecting spaces of DEI and engineering ethics. This study seeks to find ways for these communities to support one another by making explicit hidden structural issues that mask the intersections between ethics and DEI in the context of engineering. This study is comprised of three phases, addressing the following respective research questions: (1) How are engineering ethics and DEI related based on theoretical and empirical understandings of affective and cognitive development of students and practitioners within these communities?; (2) How are engineering ethics and DEI related based on mental models elicited from academics active in these two areas of research and scholarship?; and (3) How are engineering ethics and DEI related based on mental models elicited from a diverse cross-section of industrial practitioners? To address RQ1, we will use systematic literature review procedures to synthesize peer-reviewed scholarship on approaches to, and outcomes of, interventions centered around ethics and DEI. To address RQ2 and RQ3, academics (Phase 2) and industrial practitioners (Phase 3) will respond to an ethics/DEI challenge in multiple formats, including graphically, textually, and verbally. We will critically analyze the literature and mental models via a discourse analysis approach, guided by seven building tasks identified by Gee (significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems). We will triangulate Phase 1, 2, and 3 findings to identify how discourses vary across the academic and industrial contexts. This triangulation will enable us to generate actionable modalities for supporting educational efforts aimed at the intersection of ethics and DEI both in curricular and workforce contexts. We will adopt an activist-oriented approach to disseminate findings to the research community and professional organizations through multiple mechanisms. This will directly benefit society by facilitating the professional formation of engineers who are more ethically adept and capable of engaging with difference.    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.",FALSE
2308600,Reducing Racially-Biased Beliefs by Fostering a Complex Understanding of Human Genetics Research in High-School Biology Students,2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,336877,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308600,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2308600_4900,2023-04-01,2026-04-30,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"Genetic essentialism is the belief that people of the same race share genes that make them physically, cognitively, and behaviorally uniform, and thus different from other races. The project will refine a genetics education curriculum, called Humane Genome Literacy (HGL), in order to reduce belief in genetic essentialism. This research will provide curriculum writers and educators with knowledge about how to design a humane genetics education to maximize reductions in students’ genetic essentialist beliefs and minimize the threat of backfiring (unintentionally increasing belief in essentialism). The research findings will demonstrate how to support teachers who wish to reduce beliefs in genetic essentialism by teaching students about the complexity of human genetics research using the HGL learning materials.  Project research findings, learning materials, and professional development institutes will be made available to educators and researchers across the country who desire to teach genetics to reduce racial prejudice.     To prepare for the research, the project will revise and augment the project’s existing HGL curriculum and professional development institutes.  In year one, the project will develop new versions of the HGL interventions. Using these materials, the project will train teachers to implement new versions of the HGL interventions in their classrooms. Researchers will video and audio record a sample of teachers and students as they learn. These data will be analyzed qualitatively to: (1) examine how the conceptual change of genetic essentialism was promoted or impeded by interactions between teachers, students, and the materials; and (2) identify and corroborate general factors undergirding the backfiring effect.  Knowledge constructed through these studies will be used to revise the HGL interventions and PDIs.  In year three, using the revised versions of the HGL intervention, the project will conduct a cluster randomized trial (CRT). The CRT will compare the HGL interventions to a well-defined “business as usual” genetics curriculum, using a statistically powerful and geographically diverse sample (N = 135 teachers, N = 16,200 students, from 33 states). Using data from the CRT, the project will identify classrooms where the interventions reduced essentialism, had no effect on it, and where it backfired. Then, the project will use stimulated recall methods to interview the teachers and students in those classrooms to make sense of factors that contributed to these outcomes. The project will use this information to develop the final version of the HGL interventions and PDI materials. By the end of year four, the project will have trained an additional 90-100 teachers to use HGL interventions, reaching an additional 10,800-12,000 students, in at least 33 different states.     The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2315876,"Collaborative Research: Broadening Equitable, Affordable, and Health-Promoting Access to Energy Efficient Housing",2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,150968,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315876,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315876_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"Health disparities arising from inequities in the built environment, such as uneven exposure to heat risk, are exacerbated by the challenges faced in affording energy expenses. Nearly one-third (31%) of U.S. households struggle with paying energy bills and maintaining comfortable temperatures in their homes. The indoor environment plays a crucial role in shaping both physical and mental health outcomes, particularly in minority and low-income communities. The goal of this project is to develop affordable and efficient energy use strategies through simulation-based discovery, data analysis, and community engagement, and to cultivate an engineering mindset with social equity among STEM students. By investigating the impact of real-world energy usage on human health and well-being, this project addresses the societal and economic challenges associated with energy use and poverty in low-income households. Ultimately, it strives to shift from current static building control practices towards a sustainable and adaptable approach to the built environment.    Despite the existence of energy assistance programs such as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in the U.S., there remains a persistent lack of understanding regarding the impact of controlling indoor temperatures on energy bills and health. This knowledge gap hinders the provision of cost-effective and thermally comfortable indoor environments, which have the potential to address disparities in dwelling conditions. This project aims at filling this gap by establishing a comprehensive knowledge base for balancing energy demand reduction with thermal comfort thresholds across diverse residential building conditions by utilizing parametric building energy modeling and simulation methods in combination with empirical data analytics. Additionally, community-based participatory outreach is employed to collect actual measured data from low-income residential housing, ensuring the validation of the simulation results. The research outcomes are then disseminated to underrepresented groups in STEM through a sustainable partnership between Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) and non-MSI institutions to promote the ability to situate engineering discovery within social science contexts.    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.",TRUE
2450295,Effective Strategies to Recruit Underserved Students to Baccalaureate Engineering Success and Transition Programs (Recruit-BEST),2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,313182,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2450295,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2450295_4900,2024-06-15,2026-09-30,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"Baccalaureate Engineering student Success and Transition (BEST) programs are holistic student success programs at four-year undergraduate universities that provide evidence-based, well-structured activities to enhance engineering students' academic and professional success in the college transition and to increase their retention in the engineering major. These programs often struggle to attract diverse students, including women, students from underrepresented minority groups, first-generation students, low-income and rural students. This project aims to examine this issue by finding the most effective methods for reaching underserved students and recruiting them to BEST programs. The project seeks to identify strategies that are successful, impactful, and sustainable. This will strengthen BEST programs, allowing them to fulfill their goals and expand further. The project will contribute to our national understanding of efficient recruitment methods and effective communication channels. Additionally, it will promote diversity in engineering education and the workforce. By recruiting more engineering students from diverse backgrounds, we can address the nation's need for a diverse engineering workforce, which is critical for the advancement of society. By implementing strategic recruitment efforts, we can uplift underserved students, their families, and their communities, and these efforts have the potential to enhance the economic growth of rural areas.     The goal of this project is to build STEM education research skills in the PI through a project that broadens participation in engineering in the U.S. via assessing different strategies to recruit underserved students (women, minorities, first-generation, low-income, and rural students) into BEST programs at 4-year universities. The study is based on the Diffusion of Innovations framework and will examine students’ awareness of BEST programs and decision-making processes about whether or not to apply to these programs through surveys and interviews. Responses will be analyzed to study the effectiveness and alignment of different recruitment methods in use by BEST programs from the perspectives of both program organizers and students. The project is national in scope and aims to include 100 BEST programs across the U.S. and more than 2000 students via surveys and interviews with program leaders, and BEST program participants and prospective participants. Knowledge generated on effective recruitment strategies from this project will contribute to the literature base, broadening its impact and helping to tackle the challenges of low enrollment of underserved students in BEST programs, while supporting the creation and continuation of student success programs. This project also trains new STEM education researchers (PI and supported students) to enhance their capacity to conduct rigorous research in STEM education. The project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators' capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.    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.",FALSE
2333790,Proto-OKN Theme 1: A Knowledge Graph Warehouse for Neighborhood Information,2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,1500000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",OKN-Open Knowledge Networks,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333790,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333790_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"This project aims to establish a robust and sustainable data infrastructure to integrate neighborhood-level data to assist and inform various local stakeholders. Drawing on local records, census data and other neighborhood-level data the project will construct a unified database to capture crucial connections among the variety of neighborhood-level information sources. Project outcomes include integrated neighborhood-level data and software for constructing and operating a knowledge graph warehouse. The educational component of the project will integrate outcomes from this project into course content, foster student mentoring, and promote educational innovation with a focus on inclusivity and diversity within the associated STEM programs.     Working in partnership with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and other expert entities, this project addresses critical issues in unifying disparate data sources at the neighborhood-level, e.g., demographics, land use, local incidents and injuries, proximity to trauma centers, and the like by leveraging advanced data extraction and record linkage methods. The proposed knowledge graph warehouse is designed to organize and maintain pertinent neighborhood-level information, with data transformation achieved through zero-shot extraction techniques and key-phrase generation methods for free text data. The warehouse will support efficient querying and summarization with adaptable techniques for its unique structure, including novel pattern mining methods for trend detection, ensuring sustainability and extensibility with compatibility for other knowledge graphs, and incorporating incremental updates and extensions for new data and entity types. To ensure data accuracy, the project plans to integrate data from various local agencies, provide user feedback mechanisms, and uphold a robust metadata record. In order to mitigate biases and to provide a comprehensive view, the project will continuously update the infrastructure with new data sources, ensuring transparency through accessibility of metadata and recording of data provenance.    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.",TRUE
2341740,Collaborative Research: Effective Design of Institutions and Data Sharing Platforms in International Environmental Agreements,2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,86800,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341740,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2341740_4900,2024-08-01,2027-07-31,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"This project assesses information sharing rules and practices in four International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) that govern global biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. Information sharing is critical to building trust and cooperative action among diverse actors and IEA member states in order to reach jointly agreed-upon global conservation objectives. In practice, however, IEA member countries follow a range of strategies for the selective sharing of information in order to promote different economic, social, or political objectives. At the same time, national funding agencies, non-governmental conservation organizations, and businesses are investing heavily in emerging technologies for monitoring and sharing data about global biodiversity conditions. Nonetheless, little is known about the current design and effectiveness of IEA information sharing platforms, or how IEA parties interact with global scientific data infrastructures in the context of meeting treaty obligations. In response, the project will advance knowledge of the complex landscape of global information sharing in conservation by examining the formal IEA information sharing rules and how they are mediated and operationalized through digital infrastructures by a variety of actors, including IEA Secretariats, government representatives, researchers, and conservation organizations. It will also map the data and decision-making linkages and gaps within and across the IEA information sharing platforms. Project findings will provide a systematic and holistic understanding of information sharing’s role in environmental governance and inform improvement and innovation in biodiversity resource management.    The project uses a mixed-method approach to analyze the degree to which conservation-related data are exchanged on IEA platforms, how the level of exchange differs within and across IEA regimes, and how information sharing has been codified formally and in practice. This is accomplished by (i) using a standardized syntax called the Institutional Grammar to parse formal rules governing information sharing practices into core components and identify their rule type configurations by function (e.g., monitoring); (ii) examining the IEA platforms’ technical architectures and contents through a combination of IT staff interviews, data analytics, and database structure review; and (iii) interviewing key international and national decisionmakers to gain insights on information sharing perceptions and practices. The qualitative and quantitative data gained in steps (i) to (iii) will inform a Structural Equation Model designed to identify factors salient to the variation in actors’ information sharing propensities. IEA platforms offer a major opportunity to investigate long-standing assumptions about the importance of information sharing to effective resource governance. This project taps into that potential to investigate how the social and technical designs of IEA data infrastructures influence trust and transparency. Project results will include descriptive analyses of similarities and differences in the configuration of formal IEA information sharing rules, insights into IEA platform design, interconnectivity, and management of shared information, and the propensity of actors to engage with the rules and platform infrastructure and effectively share information. These results are also significant for recognizing and addressing equity and justice issues, e.g. for marginalized peoples and lower income nations.    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.",FALSE
2200990,Attributions of Mathematical Excellence in Teaching and Learning,2025-04-25,Indiana University,BLOOMINGTON,IN,IN09,2010846,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200990,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200990_4900,2022-07-01,2026-06-30,474057000,YH86RTW2YVJ4,"Teachers’ beliefs influence their instructional decisions and these decisions shape the mathematical learning opportunities for all students. This is particularly important when considering the learning opportunities for groups that have historically been marginalized in mathematics, including girls and students of color. There are few validated, mathematics-specific instruments that measure teachers’ beliefs about mathematics learning related to race, ethnicity, and gender. This project seeks to investigate teachers’ beliefs related to how they explain the systemic racial and gender differences in mathematics education outcomes by developing and validating a survey instrument and to explore how those beliefs might impact their teaching. The central hypothesis of the project is that teachers’ beliefs about attributions of mathematical excellence interact with students’ racial and gender identities to cause racial and gender inequity in the learning opportunities available to students in the same mathematics classrooms. The basis of these beliefs may be attributions to genetic, social, or personal characteristics that are based in biased and inaccurate conceptions of the sources of mathematical excellence.    In order to achieve the project's main aims, the project will conduct three interrelated studies. (1) The Attributions and Items study will use interviews with teachers, teacher educators, and researchers to write, pilot, and refine items to establish reliability and construct representation of the Attributions of Mathematical Excellence Scale (AMES). (2) The Structure & Relations Study will provide validity evidence of internal structure and relations with other variables, including established equity instruments, and a measure of implicit bias. Student test data linked with a subset of the sample will be used to compare AMES scores with race and gender equity in achievement. This study will be expanded to include samples of preservice and inservice teachers and use a variety of data sources including interviews, surveys and classroom observation. (3) The Classroom Study will compare AMES scores with direct observation of race and gender equity in classroom instruction. Through the development of the instrument and analysis of scores, the project team will be able to posit and design teacher professional learning opportunities that have the potential to address the sources of bias.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2118482,GP:IN:Fostering STEM Education and Career Opportunities in a Diverse Wisconsin Community,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,388639,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2118482,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2118482_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    Like many school districts in the United States, the School District of Beloit, Wisconsin struggles with pronounced racial and ethnic inequities and achievement gaps, particularly notable in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).  In order to confront these academic and societal challenges, the PIs propose to develop an informal network known as the Wisconsin Educational Leadership for Community Outreach and Mentoring for the Environment (WELCOME).  The School District of Beloit is an ideal setting for investigating the potential to enhance STEM literacy, self-confidence, and career interests among a diverse student population that has been largely excluded in the geosciences.  The broad challenges to be tackled by the WELCOME initiative are the persistent diversity crisis in the geosciences; STEM barriers for youth with disabilities; insufficient nature-based and community-focused active learning opportunities; and deficient knowledge base and confidence among geoscience teachers.  The proposal aims to introduce youth to the field of geosciences and contact with geoscientists early on, during middle school, as early exposure is a known indicator for later interest in the field, and aims to foster a STEM-literate public.      PIs will develop an informal network, WELCOME, aimed at enhancing STEM education for historically marginalized youth.  WELCOME combines collaborative learning and hands-on experiences among middle and high school students, pre-service undergraduate teachers, and in-service teachers that is focused on the coupled Earth climate system and benefits from the informal, community-based learning environment of the Welty Environmental Center. The key partners will include the Center for Climatic Research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Welty Center, School District of Beloit, Beloit College, Achieving Collaborative Treatment, Autism Society of South Central Wisconsin, and Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) program. The objectives are as follows: (1) Enhance the enthusiasm and perception of self-competency in STEM among youth across southern WI, while confronting barriers related to race, ethnicity, and disability status including stereotypes regarding geoscience professions. (2) Foster students’ skills in hypothesis building, scientific inquiry, instrument calibration and usage, and data collection and analysis, focused on Earth’s coupled system, through the implementation of GLOBE’s protocols, including special measurement protocols for student-designed local environmental investigations of high community relevance that effectively engage marginalized youth. (3) Broaden geoscience opportunities for youth on the autism spectrum through STEM summer camps that engage analytical inquisitiveness in a non-threatening, inclusive learning environment. (4) Support the professional development of pre- and in-service teachers through GLOBE training to meet the state teacher licensure requirements for proficiency in environmental education, and the development of active-learning units that engage all geoscience students.    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.",FALSE
2115730,"Youth-Directed Math Collaboratories and Mathematical Identity: African American Youth as Co-Learners, Co-Educators and Co-Researchers",2025-04-25,"Young People's Project, Inc.",CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA07,2997873,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115730,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115730_4900,2021-10-01,2026-07-31,021393428,JJMWGEMMLTM7,"Many Black youth in both urban and rural areas lack engaging opportunities to learn mathematics in a manner that leads to full participation in STEM. The Young People’s Project (YPP), the Baltimore Algebra Project (BAP), and the Education for Liberation Network (EdLib) each have over two decades of experience working on this issue. In the city of Baltimore, where 90% of youth in poverty are Black, and only 5% of these students meet or exceed expectations in math, BAP, a youth led organization, develops and employs high school and college age youth to provide after-school tutoring in Algebra 1, and to advocate for a more just education for themselves and their peers. YPP works in urban or rural low income communities that span the country developing Math Literacy Worker programs that employ young people ages 14-22 to create spaces to help their younger peers learn math. Building on these deep and rich experiences, this Innovations in Development project studies how Black students see themselves as mathematicians in the context of paid peer-to-peer math teaching--a combined social, pedagogical, and economic strategy. Focusing primarily in Baltimore, the project studies how young people grow into new self-definitions through their work in informal, student-determined math learning spaces, structured collaboratively with adults who are experts in both mathematics and youth development. The project seeks to demonstrate the benefits of investing in young people as learners, teachers, and educational collaborators as part of a core strategy to improve math learning outcomes for all students.     The project uses a mixed methods approach to describe how mathematical identity develops over time in young people employed in a Youth-Directed Mathematics Collaboratory. 60 high school aged students with varying mathematical backgrounds (first in Baltimore and later in Boston) will learn how to develop peer- and near-peer led math activities with local young people in informal settings, after-school programs, camps, and community centers, reaching approximately 600 youth/children. The high school aged youth employed in this project will develop their own math skills and their own pedagogical skills through the already existing YPP and BAP structures, made up largely of peers and near-peers just like themselves. They will also participate in on-going conversations within the Collaboratory and with the community about the cultural significance of doing mathematics, which for YPP and BAP is a part of the ongoing Civil Rights/Human Rights movement. Mathematical identity will be studied along four dimensions: (a) students’ sequencing and interpretation of past mathematical experiences (autobiographical identity); (b) other people’s talk to them and their talk about themselves as learners, doers, and teachers of mathematics (discoursal identity); (c) the development of their own voices in descriptions and uses of mathematical knowledge and ideas (authorial identity); and (d) their acceptance or rejection of available selfhoods (socio-culturally available identity). Intended outcomes from the project include a clear description of how mathematical identity develops in paid peer-teaching contexts, and growing recognition from both local communities and policy-makers that young people have a key role to play, not only as learners, but also as teachers and as co-researchers of mathematics education.     This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2417765,Conference: Ninth Biennial Conference on Social Dilemmas,2025-04-25,Indiana University,BLOOMINGTON,IN,IN09,49786,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417765,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417765_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,474057000,YH86RTW2YVJ4,"The Ninth Biennial Conference on Social Dilemmas builds upon a rich tradition of interdisciplinary collaboration initiated at Indiana University by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom. This conference series, initiated in 2003, aims to deepen the understanding of collective action in social dilemma settings such as public goods provision, natural resource extraction, and climate change. Social dilemmas are situations where individual incentives conflict with collective interests. Understanding their dynamics is essential for developing effective policies and strategies that promote cooperative behavior for the greater good. The conference promotes and disseminates state-of-the-art research on social dilemmas. Furthermore, the ninth conference seeks to identify scientific and political issues concerning social dilemmas, with emphasis on relatively under researched and highly relevant areas such as conflict resolution, environmental and climate change economics, revisited considering recent developments, and the increasing use of Artificial Intelligence in these contexts. The introduction of Artificial Intelligence's (AIs) role in solving social dilemmas to the workshop's agenda is a particularly timely and innovative addition. This event brings together leading scholars from diverse disciplines, to share their latest research and insights. Emphasizing mentoring, the conference includes dedicated sessions for young scholars, particularly those from underrepresented groups, to support their professional growth and inclusion in these crucial research fields. These efforts aim to facilitate the inclusion and exchange of diverse perspectives and enhance the effectiveness of self-organized collective action and policy initiatives addressing critical societal challenges.     The Ninth Biennial Conference on Social Dilemmas convenes a multidisciplinary group of researchers to discuss advanced topics in social dilemmas. The conference will feature sessions on a broad range of topics, featuring research that spans various methodologies, including theory, experimental methods, survey methods, and field data analysis. Specific sessions will be dedicated to pressing contemporary issues such as conflict resolution, environmental economics, and AI applications to social dilemmas. A significant component of the conference is its mentoring program, designed to support graduate students and junior faculty by providing them with high-quality feedback and fostering long-term professional relationships. This initiative aims to diversify the research community by prioritizing the inclusion of women, minorities, and researchers facing financial barriers. Mentoring activities include structured interactions between senior and junior researchers, dedicated mentoring lunch meetings, and a breakfast session focused on demystifying the publication process. These mentoring activities provide young scholars with the guidance and support necessary to advance their research careers. The conference builds on the success of previous social dilemma workshops, which have consistently promoted state-of-the-art research and generated new collaborations. Research presented at the conference will be disseminated through a special issue in a peer-reviewed journal, continuing the tradition of past publications. The conference represents a unique opportunity to advance the understanding of collective action problems and develop practical solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges.    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.",FALSE
2429338,Collaborative Research: ReDDDoT Phase 2: Inclusive American language technologies,2025-04-25,Indiana University,BLOOMINGTON,IN,IN09,448129,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ReDDDoT-Resp Des Dev & Dp Tech,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429338,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429338_4900,2024-10-01,2027-09-30,474057000,YH86RTW2YVJ4,"More than 350 languages and many additional variants and dialects are spoken in the United States and yet, voice technology recognizes only a handful. This research will create crucial training datasets, predominantly optimized for speech recognition (speech-to-text), for three underrepresented, American sociolinguistic contexts — a sociolect, a code-switching language context, and an Indigenous language. The methodology for co-creating these datasets with communities prioritizes building the agency, skills, and knowledge required for people to use and apply their dataset to serve their own social and economic context. Inclusive speech-to-text technology that recognizes more American language dialects means that more Americans can access critical information across citizen services, finance, education, health, and justice.    The project iterates a community-mobilizing, inherently capacity-building, applied methodology for creating crucial machine-learning datasets, predominantly optimized for speech recognition (speech-to-text). The data creation process (text and audio) for these datasets will be run, hosted, and released through an open-source platform and infrastructure to ensure public accessibility. Communities will co-create the datasets from design phase to quality assurance, with space to shape the governance framework, diversity criteria, and domain representation. This program will: (1) bridge critical gaps for innovative technological research on under-represented languages and variants; (2) evolve understanding of culturally-conscious, consent-centric modes of community participation in the building of artificial intelligence (AI); and (3) accelerate first-language language technology tooling in key economic domains such as health, education, justice, and agriculture, thereby accelerating pathways to societal and economic benefits. The project will also advance skills development in machine learning by actively involving individuals who speak these underrepresented language variants in the data collection process. The project methodology is applied pedagogy, through teaching communities about AI training datasets by involving them in their design and build. This skill-building approach can lead to improved community representation within STEM professions, as well as immediately mitigating dataset biases and potential harms.    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.",FALSE
2221922,An Ethnic Spring in the Food Desert? How State Policy Affects Food Environments and Business Entrepreneurship.,2025-04-25,Indiana University,BLOOMINGTON,IN,IN09,95327,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221922,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2221922_4900,2023-01-01,2025-12-31,474057000,YH86RTW2YVJ4,"This study examines how state-level policy ameliorates or exacerbates institutionalized inequality in food security, food access, and food business ownership in the United States. In 2018, an estimated 1 in 9 Americans were food insecure (37 million Americans, including more than 11 million children). The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity in the United States. Among African American, Latino, and immigrant communities’ food insecurity is higher leading to serious chronic disease prevalence in these communities. In 2019, 1 in 6 minority residents in the United States also lived in a community with limited availability and accessibility to retail grocery outlets. Nevertheless, as of 2020, nearly 1 in 5 U.S. businesses with employees were minority-owned, and a portion of these businesses were contributing to the food environment of communities by providing access to both retail grocery and dining services. The project examines two broad research questions related to the combination of food security, food access, and food business ownership that constitute a community’s food environment. The first question is: What is the role of state and local policy in the food environment in the United States? Further, how do state and local food policies affect individual food security and food access? The broader impacts of the study are numerous. The efforts will develop academic, institutional, and community partnerships connecting political science, public affairs, and applied economics research that allows for a reimagining of food systems research that does not keep diverse stakeholders on the fringe but incorporates them into existing political, economic, and food systems. Moreover, the research will shed light on the ongoing racial, ethnic, and nativity disparities embedded in U.S. state-level food policy.     The investigation will implement a two-part mixed methods approach to answer research questions related to the variation in food environments across states. Part I will compile data into a novel dataset to understand the influence of food policy on the food environment at state and county levels, as well as the influence of the food environment on individuals.  Part II involves a qualitative approach using research interviews in urban, suburban, and rural communities in California, Indiana, Maine, New York, and Texas, to solicit open-ended feedback on how immigrant communities and communities of color perceive their food environments, opportunities for food business entrepreneurship, and existing food policies. The project will work with community partners to co-create, disseminate, and analyze the interview instrument and its results across the five strategically chosen study sites. These in-depth research interviews will highlight how state policy shapes the individual attitudes and access. Lastly, this project will collect a county-level dataset informed by the findings from the qualitative interview instrument to investigate how residents and entrepreneurs interact with local and state bureaucracy and their local food environment. This investigation will explain how decisions at the state level (policies and expenditures) are significantly correlated with a change in the quality of individual and local food environments. Most importantly, the research brings politics, policy, and applied economic subfields into conversation regarding U.S. food policy, building an infrastructure among institutions to facilitate data collection and analysis that includes active collaboration with community research partners and MSI student researchers.    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.",TRUE
2332102,"Support for Student Teams to Participate in International Challenge at Annual Conference of American Society of Precision Engineering; Boston, Massachusetts; 13-18 November 2023",2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,31800,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation","Dynamics, Control and System D",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2332102,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2332102_4900,2023-07-01,2025-04-30,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"This award supports undergraduate and graduate students studying at US institutions, including at least two institutions serving historically under-represented populations, to participate in the 38th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Precision Engineering (ASPE); Boston, Massachusetts; 13-18 November 2023    This award will enable student teams to participate in an international precision engineering design challenge, and provide opportunities to meet, exchange ideas, and learn from students, faculty, researchers, and engineers, from international and domestic universities, industries, and government facilities. The Annual Meeting of the American Society for Precision Engineering is considered a globally-leading professional gathering in the precision engineering field; hence, in addition to nurturing a global manufacturing vision, participants will learn the latest results and innovations in these fields.    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.",FALSE
2401278,Collaborative Research: Assessing the bioethical impacts of an Indigenous scholars network in genomics,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,223494,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2401278,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2401278_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"Engagement of Indigenous communities by scientific researchers is riddled with examples of scientific misconduct and a lack of direct benefit to participants and their communities. The Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) short course offers training and tools for early career Indigenous scientists to engage in the research process and community members to guide their communities in making informed decisions about research. Alumni of SING and affiliated faculty have organized through the workshop to present ethical concerns around current frameworks of scientific engagement to the general scientific community and to raise the collective voice of Indigenous people in genomics research. However, the impact of SING in its mission to inform participants in genomics research in Indigenous communities and build out networks of collaborating Indigenous researchers have not been explicitly tested. This study defines the role and impact of SING in shaping views of research and incorporating  Indigenous researchers into scholarly networks among Indigenous alumni and faculty. Long-term assessment of training programs such as SING have not been investigated to any great extent such that this can serve as a model for determining the effectiveness of short course scientific training programs.    Recognizing that genomic research is inherent in future medical, scientific, and translational research, the inclusion and involvement of Indigenous people is important and the role of SING to facilitate this engagement is unparalleled. In this project, the investigators objectively measure the impact of the SING program by eliciting the perceptions and understandings of genome science and ethics engagement of past SING participants and faculty through focus groups surveys, and social network analysis. Specifically, the project engages SING alumni and participants by 1) elucidating Indigenous perspectives on genetic research and scholarship, 2) defining interactions and influences initiated by SING among Indigenous genomics scholars, and 3) developing and delivering topic specific training for the general public and SING alumni. Findings from this work will inform in-person training for the SING program and engagement of the general scientific community to impact research approaches, scholarship, and public policy.    This project was funded through the ER2 program by the BIO directorate.    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.",TRUE
2219604,SBP: Inequity and Mistrust of Scientific Information - Understanding Science Misinformation in Black Communities and Developing Community-Driven Science Communication Strategies,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,576061,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2219604,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2219604_4900,2022-08-15,2025-07-31,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"Black American experiences can pose particular challenges for effective communication on issues related to science and medicine, and recent misinformation campaigns have increasingly sought to capitalize on beliefs underlying mistrust within Black communities to spread misinformation. While phenomena related to the COVID-19 pandemic are most timely, there is a need to develop community-driven, effective strategies for public communications targeted toward Black Americans on a range of science-related issues, based on detailed findings about specific beliefs and attitudes relevant to the unique experiences Black Americans have with science. Developing a clearer understanding of how Black American experiences shape thinking about science-related topics, and the group-level dynamics that may lead to the uptake (or rejection) of misinformation and the formation (or avoidance) of misperceptions within these communities, holds great promise for advancing research on science communication in emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, genetics and genomics, and more. Such an approach would help guide more effective and inclusive public engagement efforts, and provide practitioners with new insights into how to responsibly address past and present inequities in messaging across a variety of scientific issues and policy areas, and to the development of appropriately targeted and tailored efforts to mitigate the negative effects of widespread misinformation about scientific topics, both in the short and long term.    To address these issues, our project takes an iterative approach to better understand the specific ways that underlying beliefs and worldviews about science and scientific institutions are related to scientific misperceptions among Black Americans, and then, in conjunction with Black American communities, develop and test communication strategies for more effective efforts to combat science-related misinformation and misperceptions. In the earlier phases of the project, we will use Black American focus groups and national surveys with oversamples of Black Americans to identify key topics and issues in which Black Americans encounter science-related misinformation, as well as to better understand specific beliefs and worldviews related to science within Black American communities. Based on these findings, as well as in-depth interviews with seasoned communication practitioners with a history of combatting misinformation in Black American communities, we will then develop a communications toolkit to guide other science communicators engaged in similar efforts across a range of science-related issues. Key strategies and messages from the toolkit will be evaluated in three national survey experiments administered to Black American samples. Throughout the project, a series of community conversations will support a rich dialogue between researchers and community members, ensuring that our insights and recommended communications strategies position Black Americans' lived experiences as integral to their engagement with scientific information, institutions, and careers.    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.",FALSE
2429717,IGE: Track 2: Cultivating an Indigenous Graduate Research Environment to Enhance Retention and Scientific Careers,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,999864,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Innovations in Grad Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429717,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429717_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"Indigenous communities have led scientific innovation by providing knowledge on medicinal plants, environmental impacts on health, and sustainable agriculture. Despite these important contributions that have been transformative to society, Indigenous scientists are under-represented in scientific research. In the US, Native Americans account for only 0.24% of master and doctoral students in the science, technology, engineering, and math fields even though Indigenous people make up 2.9% of the population. Of these Indigenous graduate students, only 25% will go on to complete their graduate degree. Several studies on the success of Native Graduate students have identified the critical factors for completion of a degree as mentorship, connection to community, and an emphasis on situatedness―the ability to connect self with environment, society, and culture. A major obstacle in the implementation of success-supporting factors is the lack of systemic infrastructure and studied interventions. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) Track 2 award supports the Center for Indigenous Research to Create Learning and Excellence (CIRCLE) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. CIRCLE’s goal is to increase the number of Native American students who complete graduate degrees in STEM fields by developing, implementing, and studying a model of Indigenous science support.     The development of CIRCLE has been led by Indigenous scientists and educators with a focus on Indigenous values of community, interdisciplinary approaches, and a strong sense of purpose. CIRCLE will focus first on mentorship training to create an environment that supports Indigenous graduate student development providing tools for conflict resolution and situatedness. The second focus of CIRCLE will be on developing a rigorous scientific community, that brings together Indigenous researchers and Tribal communities from different disciplines to cultivate innovation. Globally, the implementation of CIRCLE will provide a holistic approach for graduate student support that can be applied to all scientific training. A secondary impact of CIRCLE will be increasing the number of Indigenous scientists who will tackle challenges faced by Indigenous communities including the higher rates of exposure to environmental contaminants, metabolic disease, poverty, and a decreased lifespan of 20 years compared to the general population.    The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.    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.",FALSE
2416516,SBP: Collaborative Research: Journeys in World Politics A Mentoring Workshop for Junior Women in International Relations,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,115189,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416516,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416516_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"This project aims to serve the national need of mitigating the underrepresentation of women in science, and therefore contributes to scientific progress. Peer mentorship is one of the most effective avenues to increase the status of women in academia. By providing intense peer-mentorship to junior women scholars of international relations, the project will promote high-quality scholarship and contribute to an increased success of mentored women in academia. The project will promote these goals through the hosting of intense peer-mentorship workshops to foster networks, provide feedback and support, disseminate information, and encourage psychological resilience. The project also tracks the success of peer-mentorship programs through survey research and a collection of data on academic success.     Studies that have evaluated the status of women in international relations over the past 30 years reveal significant gender gaps on numerous dimensions. The continued under-representation of female scholars at top research institutions and high ranks harms scientific progress. Recent research demonstrates that active mentoring, especially through workshops that foster networks, provide feedback and support, disseminate information, and encourage psychological resilience, are among the most promising avenues for change. The Journeys in World Politics workshop program has mentored young women scholars of International Relations (IR) since 2004. The project hosts annual three-day workshops that support 18-20 participants and includes research presentations by junior scholars, feedback from discussants, oral autobiographies by senior scholars, and career and gender discussion sessions involving topics such as networking, work-life balance, and navigating classroom gender dynamics. Beyond the workshops, the project maintains an active website and other forms of communication, arranges meetings at conferences, and thereby builds a broad network of women in the entire political science discipline. To track the success of mentorship workshops, the project collects more systematic data to evaluate the mechanisms through which mentoring programs increase long-term success rates for female political scientists.    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.",FALSE
2343113,Collaborative Research: Incentivizing and Spotlighting Scientific Contributions in Legislative Studies,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,86291,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343113,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343113_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"To maximize scientific contributions in the field of legislative studies, this project creates a new initiative with the mission to engage, support, and promote the study of legislative politics across gender and sub-disciplinary divides. The initiative hosts virtual events monthly throughout the year, a professional development seminar, a research seminar, and a writing group, an in-person annual conference. The project also maintains a website and listserve with over 550 members and promotes women’s research via social media. Additionally, the initiative collects/analyzes data on women in legislative studies.     This project seeks to bring new research and perspectives to scholarship on legislative politics by promoting the study of legislative politics across gender and sub-disciplinary divides. The initiative focuses on the research being done by a diverse set of scholars studying legislatures around the world. One of the aims of the project is to bridge the gap across the study of individual legislatures and the study of legislatures in comparative perspective. Bringing together a diverse set of scholars of legislative politics will encourage intellectual contributions that bridge these subfields. The initiative hosts virtual events monthly throughout the year, a professional development seminar, a research seminar, and a writing group, an in-person annual conference. The project also maintains a website and listserve with over 550 members and promotes women’s research via social media. Additionally, the initiative collects/analyzes data on women in legislative studies.    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.",FALSE
2139125,"Conference in Geometry, Topology, and Dynamics: Celebrating the Work of Diverse Mathematicians",2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,7508,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2139125,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2139125_4900,2021-04-01,2025-06-30,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"The conference is to held at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan from June 10-June14, 2019 and it will highlight the pioneering works of junior and senior mathematicians in geometry, topology, and dynamics from diverse communities. The conference will also seed the development of a community, with particular emphasis on stimulating the growth of young mathematicians via networking, professional development opportunities, and exposure to state of the art scientific content. The scientific program is organized both to foster communication between mathematicians from a class of underrepresented groups and to bridge divides between adjacent subjects in and around the areas of geometry, topology and dynamics. There are strong ties between low-dimensional topology and both symplectic and hyperbolic geometry. These subjects are in turn tied to Teichmueller theory, dynamics, and algebra, and differential geometry and algebraic topology permeate all of these subfields. There are many deep relationships between these different fields, and the conference aims to explore these ties and create new connections.    The conference is devoted to new developments and interactions between low-dimensional topology, geometry, and dynamics. The program spans geometric and algebraic topology, hyperbolic and symplectic geometry, the geometry and topology of surfaces, Teichmueller theory, geometric group theory, and dynamics. Highlights of topics covered include: the relationship between the hyperbolic structures on 3-manifolds and the algebra of their fundamental groups; the relationship between 3- and 4-dimensional geometric topology and the algebra of cobordism and concordance; the influence of combinatorial structures such as the complex of curves on the geometry of Teichmueller space; the foundations and geometry of symplectic manifolds; the interaction of algebra, arithmetic, and analysis in dynamics. The conference web page is http://www.math.wisc.edu/~kent/LG&TBQ.html    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.",FALSE
2201545,Measuring the Social Networks and Community Cultural Wealth of Latina/o STEM Undergraduates,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,519141,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201545,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201545_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"This project is a collaboration between social scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and scientists within the University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) aimed at understanding the assets Latinx students bring to their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. Although Latinx undergraduates plan to enter STEM at rates equivalent to or exceeding those of their peers from other racial/ethnic groups, they are underrepresented in the STEM workforce and among degree recipients in STEM. As a counter to deficit-based studies that investigate these discrepancies by emphasizing what Latinx students lack, this study focuses on the community cultural resources Latinx students bring to their education and careers. By mapping Latinx students’ social networks, measuring their community cultural wealth (CCW), documenting their experiences with STEM research, and tracking changes in their professional identity as they move from their junior to senior year and then out into the work6force or into STEM graduate programs, this project will advance the ways eight LSAMP institutions can institutionalize supportive structures for undergraduate STEM education.      The project team will document the experiences and relationships of a group of Latina/o students each fall over the course of 3 years, and  will employ new quantitative techniques for assessing their CCW during their college-to-career transition. The longitudinal mixed method design is among the first to combine CCW with ego network analysis. This not only expands the epistemologies and methodologies available to STEM education researchers, but more broadly speaking, can inform institutions of higher education as they develop the CCW- and social network-based STEM programming that is critical to Latina/o undergraduate STEM education. Finally, this project illustrates the importance of diversifying the range of institutions and partnerships Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs can have, given they will continue to bear witness to the collective racialized experiences of Latinx students pursuing their post-secondary education.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2415767,Earth Partnership Indigenous Arts and Sciences (IAS): Centering Indigenous Land-based Learning in Youth and Family Engagement,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,1391175,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415767,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415767_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"Proportionally, Native Americans earn fewer undergraduate and advanced degrees in science and engineering than any American minoritized group, and they have the fewest doctoral scientists and engineers in the workforce. One contributing factor is the way STEM is typically taught, which can create a disconnect between home and school cultures, and a clash between identities and worldviews. This project proposes to build on a longstanding collaboration between Tribal and university partners in Wisconsin. The project addresses a need identified by Tribal partners: improving pathways for Native learners to enter Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields and careers to ultimately support the protection of land and water, as well as sustain Indigenous culture, in their regional communities. The partnership will address this disconnect by developing an intergenerational land-based learning plan that will combine Indigenous culture with STEM knowledge and land and water conservation activity. This plan will have components that engage (1) youth ages 12-18 in year-long experiential STEM learning experiences, (2) adult relatives in reclaiming connections to their culture and building an understanding of how their culture intersects with western STEM, and (3) families in seasonal shared learning experiences, like maple sugar making, wild rice harvesting, ice fishing, and foraging.     The research will address the questions (1) What is a model of Tribal-university partnership for community land-based learning, that connects TEK and STEM for land stewardship? (2) How do Indigenous language revitalization and cultural revitalization (and the stewardship instructions that they contain) inform land-based learning? (3) How does Indigenous STEM learning engage communities in land and water stewardship, and what are the roles of Tribal members and university allies in supporting this process? (4) What is the readiness, experience, and capacity of Tribal and university project partners to design and implement Tribally-Driven Participatory Research (TDPR) effectively, and what research methods and culturally specific methods are being developed via TDPR? The Intellectual Merit of this project lies in its use of Tribally-Driven Participatory Research to make contributions to creating and studying a culturally-sustaining STEM pedagogy that honors and upholds Tribal sovereignty across a number of project elements (e.g., building capacity, data sovereignty, and centering Indigenous leadership). This work will add to the body of literature on how to integrate ""Western"" science and Indigenous perspectives in informal STEM learning experiences, with a goal of both conveying STEM content and upholding and affirming local Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK). The Broader Impacts of this project lie in its potential to encourage Native youth to pursue STEM careers that can benefit the resource and environmental management of their own communities, the preparation it gives to adults and families for supporting their youth in pursuing STEM education and careers, the community-based activities that encourage Tribal partners to conserve and restore natural environments in alignment with Tribal priorities, and the way the project can serve as a model for how to establish or repair relationships between universities and Tribes who occupy the same regions.      This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2100017,Collaborative Research: An Evidence-Based Approach Towards Technology Workforce Expansion by Increasing Female Participation in STEM Entrepreneurship,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,983486,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100017,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100017_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"This is a collaborative project, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the lead institution and the University of Maryland as the partnering institution, to explore the entrepreneurial proclivity of undergraduate women majoring in STEM fields. The researchers propose a multi-method approach led by an interdisciplinary team to (1) identify factors that influence entrepreneurial proclivity and (2) develop and test interventions related to closing gender disparities in STEM entrepreneurship. The research includes the analysis of a comprehensive administrative database to identify mechanisms for potential interventions and field experiments to achieve greater gender parity in entrepreneurial career choices for STEM students. Results of the field experiments will be integrated with the database to produce outcome measures.  The project will produce empirical evidence to increase the understanding of student entrepreneurship and inform interventions that improve entrepreneurship participation for women in STEM.    The researchers will frame the research design and methods using the Individual-Opportunity Nexus theory that knowledge is a precursor to entrepreneurship.  There are four hypotheses: (1) Greater entrepreneurial proclivity will be found in women in STEM fields with higher curriculum diversity, who have taken at least one business class, who are enrolled in STEM courses with students with higher diversity in their courses, and who are enrolled in STEM courses with students who have taken one or more business classes. (2) Women STEM students demonstrate higher entrepreneurial proclivity when they are exposed to relatable role models in entrepreneurship. (3) Women STEM students demonstrate higher entrepreneurial proclivity when entrepreneurship is presented as a gender-neutral field. (4) Women STEM students demonstrate higher entrepreneurial proclivity when they are exposed to entrepreneurial success stories. The researchers will make causal inferences about factors that influence entrepreneurial proclivity of women in STEM by measuring self-reported activities, analyzing administrative data, and documenting student start-ups.  The core of the project is based on data drawn from a data infrastructure that combines administrative data with results of an annual survey. The researchers will use those data to evaluate the mechanisms that influence the underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship. They will augment the data infrastructure with a field experiment to test hypotheses informed by existing literature and findings from their data analysis.      This project is co-supported by the EHR Core Research program that funds fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development and by the Science of Science BPINNOVATE program.    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.",FALSE
2143993,CAREER: Designing teacher professional development to leverage the brilliance of learners of color,2025-04-25,University of California-San Diego,LA JOLLA,CA,CA50,500569,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143993,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2143993_4900,2022-07-01,2027-06-30,920930021,UYTTZT6G9DT1,"Students of color must have access to robust and meaningful opportunities to learn science in classrooms that center their assets and humanity.  This CAREER award aims to cultivate such spaces through designing and studying teacher professional learning focused on pedagogical practices that engage students of color meaningfully in science learning. These practices leverage students’ assets to foster growth in science and scientific habits of mind. This project will support pre-service and practicing teachers in developing tools for practice and reflection that focus on equity and highlighting the assets of students of color in secondary science. The project will also support graduate students in science education research as well as sharing findings with partner school districts as part of the educational integration plan. This CAREER award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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. This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.    This project is a 5-year research-practice partnership, collaborating with a school district that serves a 75% minoritized student body. The researcher will design and iterate on a secondary science teacher professional development that is focused on fostering Equity Schemas, which are schemata of interpretation that center students’ assets and pedagogical moves that advance equity through meaningful participation in science. Using design-based research this project will examine fundamental questions about teacher learning and development around equity in science, and how it contributes to shifts in equity-oriented schemas and practices in the teaching of science.  The project will investigate how teacher schemas and practices raise the rigor of science teaching and help to promote interest, engagement and learning of science for students of color.     This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    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.",TRUE
2417787,Generation and Evaluation of Culturally Relevant Computing Resources for Latines in Introductory Programming,2025-04-25,University of California-San Diego,LA JOLLA,CA,CA50,300000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417787,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417787_4900,2024-09-15,2026-08-31,920930021,UYTTZT6G9DT1,"The University of California, San Diego will generate and evaluate culturally relevant computing resources for Latine students in undergraduate Computer Science (CS) programs by creating a culturally relevant textbook for introductory programming and conducting controlled experiments to compare its effectiveness against traditional textbooks. Latin Americans (Latines) have historically been underrepresented in computing in the United States. To address challenges of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Culturally Relevant Computing (CRC) has been gaining popularity, showing increased student engagement, interest, and understanding, especially in K-12 education. However, there is limited research on CRC's effectiveness in higher education. One popular CRC method in higher education is bilingual education, where teaching is conducted in both the students' native language and English. Prior studies in bilingual education (in India and the United States) have shown that although bilingual teaching improves student engagement, there is no evidence on the effectiveness of bilingual education on student learning, if the study resources (e.g., textbooks) that students use are still in English. At the same time, a series of studies in bilingual education by Yogendra Pal et. al show that there is an improvement in student learning, if the study resources are culturally relevant (e.g., resources in students' native language). This Broadening Participation in Computing Demonstration Project seeks to address a critical gap in the research of CRC in higher education and contribute valuable insights into the effectiveness of CRC resources in attracting and retaining Latine students in the field of computing.    The project team will conduct these interventions at both a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and an emerging HSI to understand the impact of culturally relevant resources on Latines in majority- and minority-Latine classrooms, as well as on non-Latines. The control group will be students taking their CS1 course using their original, traditional textbook that has previously been used for that course. The experimental group will be students taking their CS1 course using our newly generated, culturally relevant textbook. Our culturally relevant textbook will cover all the topics that are typically covered in a CS1 course (e.g., functions, conditionals, loops, lists) taught at these institutions. The experiments will focus on evaluating the efficacy of CRC resources with respect to student learning, retention, sense of belonging, self-efficacy, attitudes towards the culturally relevant material, and attitudes towards computing in a CS1 course. The findings from this research can serve as a model for creating inclusive computing curricula that resonate with diverse student populations. By improving the learning experiences of Latine students in introductory programming, this project could positively impact retention rates and inspire more Latines to pursue advanced studies and careers in computing.    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.",FALSE
2416517,SBP: Collaborative Research: Journeys in World Politics A Mentoring Workshop for Junior Women in International Relations,2025-04-25,University of California-San Diego,LA JOLLA,CA,CA50,127124,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416517,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416517_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,920930021,UYTTZT6G9DT1,"This project aims to serve the national need of mitigating the underrepresentation of women in science, and therefore contributes to scientific progress. Peer mentorship is one of the most effective avenues to increase the status of women in academia. By providing intense peer-mentorship to junior women scholars of international relations, the project will promote high-quality scholarship and contribute to an increased success of mentored women in academia. The project will promote these goals through the hosting of intense peer-mentorship workshops to foster networks, provide feedback and support, disseminate information, and encourage psychological resilience. The project also tracks the success of peer-mentorship programs through survey research and a collection of data on academic success.     Studies that have evaluated the status of women in international relations over the past 30 years reveal significant gender gaps on numerous dimensions. The continued under-representation of female scholars at top research institutions and high ranks harms scientific progress. Recent research demonstrates that active mentoring, especially through workshops that foster networks, provide feedback and support, disseminate information, and encourage psychological resilience, are among the most promising avenues for change. The Journeys in World Politics workshop program has mentored young women scholars of International Relations (IR) since 2004. The project hosts annual three-day workshops that support 18-20 participants and includes research presentations by junior scholars, feedback from discussants, oral autobiographies by senior scholars, and career and gender discussion sessions involving topics such as networking, work-life balance, and navigating classroom gender dynamics. Beyond the workshops, the project maintains an active website and other forms of communication, arranges meetings at conferences, and thereby builds a broad network of women in the entire political science discipline. To track the success of mentorship workshops, the project collects more systematic data to evaluate the mechanisms through which mentoring programs increase long-term success rates for female political scientists.    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.",FALSE
2319810,Collaborative Research: Understanding Persistence through the Lens of Interruption: A Framework for Transformation (UPLIFT),2025-04-25,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,1144110,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2319810,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2319810_4900,2023-04-01,2027-09-30,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"This collaborative project will study the impact of interruptions on Black women’s collegiate STEM experiences and their persistence and matriculation in STEM majors. Interruptions are defined as overt and subtle external acts and internal dialogues and decisions that result in a loss of focus, momentum, and confidence and require time to rebound. Each interruption requires resources to rebound (e.g., time), but continual interruptions impact Black women’s ability to rebound and persist in STEM over time. Conducting research that centers the voices of Black women who experience these interruptions will generate new insights into redesigning institutional and other structural factors that often serve as barriers to persistence and success in STEM majors.    The research design entails a longitudinal, mixed-methods design wherein they follow 45 Black women who are STEM majors across three colleges in Georgia. Through interviews, focus groups, audio diaries, and the use of survey methods to collect quantitative data, the research team intends to develop a framework of interruption for Black women in STEM. The goals of the framework include: (a) to define interruption, (b) to identify constructs of interruption related to intent to persist, and (c) to determine the relationship between the domains of power and the experiences of interruption by undergraduate Black women in STEM. The creation of a clear definition of interruption and a robust conceptual framework has the potential to generate knowledge that will help address systemic racism across disciplines and settings.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2417387,"SBP: Political Geography, Electoral Institutions, and the Evolution of Women's Voting Patterns in Rich Democracies",2025-04-25,Johns Hopkins University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,249998,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417387,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417387_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,212182608,FTMTDMBR29C7,"This project aims to challenge established narratives about women's political behavior after suffrage by investigating the roles of electoral institutions and political geography in shaping gender gaps in voter turnout and preferences. The theoretical contribution lies in developing a new framework that explains how electoral systems and political geography drive variations in women's political participation across different regions and geographic space. Specifically, it posits that proportional representation and compulsory voting systems both diminish gender gaps in turnout, but that preference gaps at the national level depend on how local political geography combine with the demography of turnout.  Empirically, the project tests these propositions in cross-national and within-country investigations, focusing on places that enfranchised women from 1906-1945 and under-studied areas. These cases provide unique institutional variation vis-à-vis more highly studied cases. By integrating new political domains, the study can better test the theory that electoral competition and political geography significantly affect gender gaps after suffrage.     The methods involve collecting and digitizing historical electoral returns and census data, cross-nationally and then with a sub-national focus on polling-station-level data and state-level data. Advanced AI-assisted transcription techniques will be employed to process handwritten records. This approach will enable a comprehensive analysis of the gender turnout gap and preference gap across different electoral systems. By leveraging these unique datasets, the project will provide new insights into the effects of electoral institutions on women's political behavior, contributing to a broader understanding of political participation. The findings will have significant implications for political development theories and will support the education and training of underrepresented students in quantitative research methods.    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.",FALSE
2143934,CAREER: The Domestic and International Politics of Global Police,2025-04-25,Cornell University,ITHACA,NY,NY19,491535,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143934,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2143934_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,148502820,G56PUALJ3KT5,"Whether in the form of protest violence, gender-based violence, torture, extrajudicial killing, or daily abuse, excessive and/or illegitimate police violence presents a challenge in every country of the world. The negative impacts of excessive and/or illegitimate police violence on societies are numerous and consequential: it exacerbates health outcomes, diminishes the quality of governance, and increases the probability of civil conflict.  Moreover, donor countries and organizations, including the United States and United Nations, provide billions of dollars to police assistance abroad, thereby potentially affecting recipient country police forces’ ability to use force.  Yet, despite the global nature of the problem, most of the work on police violence has largely focused on case studies in the US, UK, and Latin American countries.  These single cases do not permit the development of an overarching theory for understanding the domestic and international political conditions under which the police in different countries engage in excessive and/or illegitimate violence.  There is also a dearth of cross-national data on global police violence, police institutions, police assistance, and police personnel.      This CAREER research and teaching agenda will achieve the following objectives: 1) develop an original political framework and theory on global police violence; 2) gather essential cross-national data on police violence, police autonomy, and international police assistance; 3) collect the largest, original survey data of police personnel around the world; and 4) implement a multi-faceted educational program that will train undergraduate students and masters students in evidence-based strategies for mitigating police violence.  This project provides two unique innovations from the current research on police violence.  First, it uses a political science framework to understand the complex dynamics of policing and police violence and uses multiple, original data sources to test these theories.  Treating the police as political actors uncovers the ways in which institutional and interest-based explanations affect the likelihood of police engaging in different forms of violence.  The extensive cross-national, time series data collection of police violence, police institutions, and police assistance enables comparative analysis about the conditions under which different forms of violence is more likely.  Moreover, the survey data of police personnel, collected through the already-established Gender and Security Sector Lab, allows the PI to explore how individual interests and beliefs, and unit cohesion affect the propensity of individual officers and groups of officers to abuse their authority.   Importantly, the project allows for the synthesis of evidence-based research with education through the development of an undergraduate “Politics of Policing” course and a master’s-level Civilian-Police (Civ-Pol) Certificate program for domestic and international police leadership and bureaucrats who oversee policing decisions. By integrating evidence-based research and research methods into these courses, the project trains the next generation of undergraduates to become public citizens by helping them develop original research, critical thought, and community-based solutions to police violence locally and it puts evidence-based research into the hands of those making decisions about policing globally.    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.",FALSE
2215167,A media project engaging girls in astrophysics during the 2024 total solar eclipse,2025-04-25,COSMIC PICTURE DISTRIBUTION LLC,SOMERS,NY,NY17,2999757,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,LIGO RESEARCH SUPPORT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215167,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215167_4900,2023-01-01,2025-12-31,105892603,ZKV2L32PQPS4,"The state of Americans’ STEM knowledge and competency is disappointingly low. “The Nation’s Report Card” reveals that the average scores of all tested students, in all science content areas, fall below proficiency levels (NAEP 2016). Countless programs aim to redress these deficiencies and prepare Americans, especially youth, for global competitiveness. However, few intentionally call out the importance of creativity in scientific investigation. Scientific creativity is a non-linear, divergent thinking process that explores many possible solutions to a problem or issue, as opposed to a convergent thinking process that follows a particular set of logical steps to arrive at one solution or one correct answer. Creativity is characterized by the ability to question phenomena and to imagine solutions, often by thinking outside the box. Scientific creativity is especially important in astrophysics, where it’s frequently impractical or even impossible to test one’s theories in the real world. In these cases, scientists rely on thought experiments, which allow them to hypothesize and visualize the logical progressions and ultimate outcomes of various scenarios, using only the “lab” in their head. This Project addresses the need to provide models of scientific creativity by highlighting the work of Einstein and contemporary astrophysicists using thought experiments to test ideas and imagine outcomes in their minds. It will leverage the large public interest in the back to back annular (2023) and total solar (2024 eclipse) with learning opportunities and resources that include 1) a 3D giant screen, dome, and planetarium film featuring the groundbreaking discoveries of Albert Einstein and contemporary astrophysicists Drs. Andrea Ghez and Nergis Mavalvala; 2) a collection of learning activities that connect to the themes of the film and prepare learners for the solar events; 3) a strategic engagement program for girls that will build the capacity of informal educators to lead young women in exploration of space science; 4) a citizen science capstone project which will engage young women in collecting data and contributing to our understanding of the workings of the universe, in collaboration with the Dynamic Eclipse Broadcast (DEB) Initiative. Project partners include Cosmic Pictures, the St. Louis Science Center, the University of Southern Illinois-Carbondale STEM and Education Research Center, and the National Girls Collaborative Project.     An evaluative-research agenda conducted by Rockman et al, will inform development of the project’s components, measure outcomes and impacts, and further knowledge for the informal science education field to advance gender equity in informal STEM learning. Formative studies will assess appeal of the film and engagement activities during development phases to provide feedback and make improvements. The studies will include measures related to increased comprehension of specific science concepts such as gravity, black holes, and gravitational waves. Studies will also measure impacts of the activities, such as recognizing of the contribution women have made to STEM pursuits. A comprehensive summative evaluation will study the impacts of project deliverables on giant screen film viewers, girl-group leaders, and engagement program participants, building knowledge for the informal STEM field about best practices for learning about space science and encouraging scientific pursuits. A connected research study utilizing novel data collection techniques will yield new information about how to encourage gender equity. Research questions include: 1) How does participation in the engagement program that emphasizes scientific curiosity, exposure to matched-gender role models, and participation in a citizen science project influence middle school girls’ empowerment to investigate space science and sense of belonging in a scientific community? 2) How do interactions with matched-gender adult scientists, near peers, and girl group leaders mediate girls’ experiences? Researchers will use a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis techniques appropriate for the data collected to document how, for whom, and under what conditions the project facilitates curiosity, empowerment, and a sense of belonging.     This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.   Co-funding was provided by the LIGO Research Support program that funds the detection of gravitational waves in the U. S.    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.",FALSE
2426487,Planning: CRISES: Planning for a Future Center on Sustainability and Governance in the Anthropocene (C-SAGA),2025-04-25,Rutgers University New Brunswick,NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ,NJ12,99470,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,"CRISES-R&I in Sci, Env&Society",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426487,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426487_4900,2023-12-15,2025-04-30,089018559,M1LVPE5GLSD9,"Current planetary crises, like climate change, biodiversity loss, and unsustainable development are accelerating rapidly due to human activity. These environmental problems are increasing in complexity and cannot be solved by simple technological fixes. Policies to address these interlinked challenges need to draw on the best available science while also ensuring that they do not create unintended consequences, especially for people who are already vulnerable. This planning grant will enable researchers at Rutgers University to work together with other scientists around the globe to explore possible solutions to these problems through case studies across fisheries, food systems, and biodiversity and invasive species that illuminate effective and innovative policies and identify key gaps in environmental governance. The team’s engagement with global partners contributes to the strengthening of international social science exchanges and partnerships on environmental challenges. Through these collaborations, the anticipated center will be a catalyst to activate social science insights and build a suite of techniques and technologies across cases that can be shared with partners in policy institutions, NGOs, local communities, and elsewhere.      This planning grant will allow the research team to design a future Center on Sustainability and Governance in the Anthropocene (C-SAGA). Barriers to governing include the increasing complexity and interdependence of ecological and socio-economic systems; spatially and temporally distant and diffuse environmental impacts; novel conditions of deep uncertainty; and the potential for irreversible tipping points, cascades and feedbacks. Ensuring that any response to these Anthropocene challenges is grounded in justice is crucial. The innovation of the center will be to coordinate and advance cutting-edge social science scholarship to identify innovative mechanisms, behaviors and structures that can facilitate new forms of governance. The proposed C-SAGA center will engage in transdisciplinary research on new forms of governance for our current environmental challenges, particularly policies and innovations that improve stakeholder participation, involve different knowledge systems, and help create more equitable outcomes for all through engaging with stakeholders and policymakers to design and implement new experiments in transformative policy. The future center will be designed around experiments in innovation, diffusion and learning, including developing incubators for governance actors to exchange and scale up models, and training to improve capacities in governing across knowledges and scales.   In exploring gaps in governance for sustainable socio-ecological transformations and opportunities for collaborations with other institutions and potential partners, the research team will create the foundations for a future proposal for a research center that meets local, national, and global needs.    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.",FALSE
2317832,Deepening Computational Thinking for English Learners by Integrating Community-Based Environmental Literacy,2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,1011031,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317832,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317832_4900,2023-10-01,2027-09-30,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"This project addresses two issues of critical importance to the nation's future: computational thinking, which is foundational to all areas of STEM, and environmental literacy, a set of knowledge, skills, and practices vital to supporting ecologically sound, economically prosperous, and equitable communities for present and future generations. In doing so, it focuses on reaching Hispanics and English learners, two of the fastest growing segments of the K-12 student population, but ones that are not yet fully represented in STEM. In this research project, UC Irvine and three local education agencies serving 95%+ Hispanic learners formed a Research-Practice-Partnership (RPP) to promote computational thinking among Hispanics and English learners. The partnership will develop and implement a two-year elementary school curriculum that integrates computational thinking with language and literacy instruction and culturally sustaining pedagogy. The curriculum leverages the unique cultural and linguistic assets of Hispanic learners to simultaneously develop computing and language skills. The project will develop, implement, and evaluate a third year of the computational thinking curriculum integrated with environmental literacy. This will allow students to deepen their understanding of local environmental phenomena, come to understand the value of computer science in addressing challenges affecting their local communities, and enhance their language and literacy skills through scientific collaboration and communication.    The project will address the following research questions: (1) What are the challenges faced in expanding an equity-oriented RPP to additional school districts and grade levels and to integration of new content, and how are those challenges best addressed; (2) What are the best practices for integrating computer science and community-based environmental literacy among fifth grade students with a high percentage of Hispanic English learners; and (3) How does engagement with the curriculum affect the learning processes and outcomes of the students in environmental literacy knowledge, science knowledge, computational thinking, computer science identity, and academic language proficiency? It will address these questions through design-based implementation research centered on teacher instruction, student learning, and problems of teaching practice as identified by practitioners, students, and researchers. The project team will collect and analyze a wide range of data, including field notes from curriculum design meetings and classroom observations; teacher and student interviews and surveys; and assessments of students' learning outcomes in computer science, environmental literacy, science knowledge, and language and literacy. The project will generate important new knowledge disseminated to educational researchers and practitioners about how computational thinking can best be integrated with other STEM content for diverse learners at the elementary level, especially in the area of environmental literacy. It will also produce and disseminate an open access curriculum, instructional resources for teachers and students, and professional development content that can be used and adapted by other school districts and educators across the country. This project is funded through the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.    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.",FALSE
2415882,Collaborative Research: Advancing Latino Children’s Science Learning through Community Co-Design of AI-Enhanced Bilingual E-Books,2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,1380596,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415882,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415882_4900,2024-08-01,2028-07-31,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Early childhood years are critical for developing the foundational knowledge, skills, and attitudes for later success in STEM. Young children learn science best when they actively engage with topics that are meaningful to their everyday lives. Artificial intelligence can help in developing science learning content and making it more interactive, but inherent social, racial, and linguistic biases in AI-generated materials make this undertaking risky. Our project involves direct participation from parents in under-resourced Latino families in co-designing AI-based educational materials. Their participation can help reduce potential biases in the produced materials. University and community partners will jointly work with AI to first create bilingual science stories rooted in Latino identity and then to make those stories interactive. This initiative leverages storytelling–a major form of cultural capital in the Latino community–to foster children’s scientific curiosity and engagement, while also helping build community members’ AI literacy skills. The project will contribute important knowledge about how AI can be effectively and equitably harnessed by and with diverse communities in support of their values and education, aligning with key National Science Foundation objectives.    The project utilizes participatory design with Latino families in California and Michigan to create 24 Spanish-English culturally relevant e-books for Latino children aged 4-7, employing generative AI for rapid, iterative content development. The e-books will feature a bilingual AI-powered conversational agent that allows children to dialogue directly with the story characters, as well as family discussion prompts to encourage parent-child interaction. After the 24 interactive e-books are piloted and iteratively improved, a randomized control trial will be carried out with 120 Latino families to evaluate the impact of e-book use on children's science knowledge and engagement and on parent-child science communication. Subsequent improvements will prepare the e-books for free national distribution, significantly broadening STEM learning opportunities for diverse children, particularly in Latino communities.    This Integrating Research and Practice Project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports research on the development and impact of STEM learning opportunities in informal educational environments. This project is also partially funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2400502,"STEM Graduate Pathways for Marginalized Groups: A Critical Meta-Analysis of Preparation, Enrollment, and Completion Research",2025-04-25,Family Health International,DURHAM,NC,NC04,607573,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2400502,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2400502_4900,2024-07-01,2026-12-31,277012477,VRAASTY11EA3,"Although graduate school participation is increasing in the United States overall, students from marginalized groups in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) do not attend graduate school as often as other groups. In particular, low participation in graduate school by women and students from certain races and ethnicities (i.e., Black, Hispanic, indigenous) continues to create disparities in the STEM workforce. Graduate preparation programs can help undergraduate students from marginalized groups enroll and succeed in STEM graduate degree programs. These programs can serve students in many ways, from providing mentorship, financial support, peer groups, or through combining multiple support structures. Understanding how students from these marginalized groups are supported in preparing for graduate programs in STEM fields is crucial to support and retain marginalized students in STEM fields, diversify the STEM workforce, and promote equity in STEM education and professions. This project will examine existing studies that focus on STEM graduate preparation programs to explore the approaches that help students apply for graduate school, enroll in a master's or doctoral program, and eventually graduate with an advanced degree.     Drawing from the theoretical foundations of intersectionality and critical capital theory, this project includes a systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative studies that examine graduate preparation program interventions to increase preparation for, enrollment in, and completion of STEM graduate-level degree programs among marginalized groups. The project will (1) determine the overall effect of participation in graduate preparation programs on marginalized students' STEM graduate school preparation, enrollment, or degree completion; (2) identify which program components best support marginalized students' STEM graduate school preparation, enrollment, or degree completion; and (3) uncover which student identity groups do and do not have research on their participation in a graduate school preparation program. Multivariate models with robust variance estimation will be employed. Findings from this project will help the field understand to what extent graduate preparation programs work and specific systemic change levers that are most effective in improving outcomes for students from marginalized groups.      This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2147011,Diversity and Networking in Law School: Are Law Students from Diverse Backgrounds Disadvantaged?,2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,511230,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147011,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147011_4900,2022-03-01,2026-02-28,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Interpersonal networks are an important, often invisible way through which hierarchies emerge and get reproduced. Particularly, in seemingly merit-based institutions, tracing these networks could reveal the unequal structures in which diverse populations experience systemic disparities. The American legal profession offers a useful site to track these processes of inequality because it remains unequal despite its increasing heterogeneity. Law students, like many professionals, are encouraged frequently to “network,” but students from a range of diverse backgrounds – including race, gender, sexual orientation, national status, and class – may have access to differentially resourced social networks, or social capital. These “network inequalities” may impact the value of legal education across differentially structured groups of students and ultimately shape differences in student experiences and career outcomes. Whereas research on the legal profession has highlighted the importance of social capital and relationships to promote careers, less attention has been paid to the nature of networks in early professional socialization. Particularly, while the research is rife with accounts about the racial, gendered, and nationality differences during law school and then, much later, during different career stages, not enough is known about the temporal experience of law school as it feeds into the transitional period between law school and the first years of professional careers. This period is important because it tracks the emergence of a path dependency that can serve diverse professionals differently and unequally even as it structurally seems equitable.    Following an earlier longitudinal network and interview study of a cohort of first-year law students across three law schools, the research aims to examine the same law students’ social networks with a range of actors to evaluate the importance of social ties for the school-to-work transition in the legal profession. The project will investigate whether observed network inequalities can account for differential job market outcomes across diverse categories of students, as well as different outcomes at the end of students’ law school careers. This innovative, longitudinal dataset will provide insight into the role that network inequalities play in shaping not only variation in experiences across different groups of students, but ultimately the role that these structural inequalities play in producing differential pathways into the legal profession. Further, given the timing of the data, it will also provide a unique opportunity to observe student experiences disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the focus of this project is inequality in law schools and early legal careers, the relevance of our findings may extend beyond the legal profession, as well, to organizations struggling with similar dynamics, including non-law professional organizations and educational organizations, for example. Specifically, these findings may provide opportunities to create meaningful interventions that may mitigate existing inequalities and facilitate more equal outcomes within the legal profession and beyond.    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.",TRUE
2317747,Strength Across Schools Partnership to Teach Empowering Computational Thinking and Computer Science in Middle School English Language Arts Classrooms,2025-04-25,University of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,621776,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317747,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317747_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,152600001,MKAGLD59JRL1,"The Strength Across Schools Research-to-Practice Partnership (RPP), expanding an existing CS for All Research-Practice Partnership (RPP) team of University of Pittsburgh, school districts, and regional educational organizations, is creating innovative curricula, instructional practices, and related teacher professional development for integrating computational thinking (CT) and computer science (CS) instruction into middle school English Language Arts (ELA). Middle school is a critical time for CT/CS development because students, particularly girls and Black and Latinx students, begin to opt out of STEM experiences by grade five, especially in CS education. Also, lack of funding, teacher shortages, and access to teacher professional development create challenges to schools for offering CT/CS instruction. Integrating CT/CS into other subject areas provides one solution to expanding CS instruction in under-resourced middle schools. Although ELA may not be viewed as the most likely subject for CS integration, literacy scholars have increasingly called for integrating CT/CS into ELA instruction in various ways. This project builds upon this research to collaboratively develop and iteratively refine a justice-focused (Smythe, 2011) curriculum that empowers students and integrates CT/CS and ELA learning goals within meaningful contexts. The project instructional materials will be developed with two objectives: (a) to build on and value students' diverse perspectives, interests, and identities and (b) to examine the social, cultural, and ethical aspects of CT/CS. The partnership also focuses on developing multiple forms of ELA teacher support for the classroom implementation of the CT/CS curriculum, including a regional Professional Learning Network of districts and teachers in Western Pennsylvania to provide ongoing professional development and classroom-based teacher supports. The project will investigate how the Professional Learning Network and classroom supports help ELA teachers enact the CT/CS curriculum successfully and how the curriculum shapes the CT/CS knowledge, computational identities, and digital empowerment of students historically underrepresented in CS.    This project investigates how CT and CS can be integrated into middle school ELA, the supports ELA teachers need to enact this instruction, and how this instruction shapes the CT/CS knowledge, computational identities, and digital empowerment of students historically underrepresented in CS. As an RPP, the investigation is conducted collaboratively with participating teachers and school districts. Both qualitative and quantitative data measure the impact of the CT/CS professional development on ELA teachers' integration of CT/CS in their classrooms and how justice-focused CT/CS curriculum shapes female, Black and Latinx students' CT/CS knowledge, computational identities and digital empowerment. Data analysis formatively contributes to iterative professional development and curriculum revisions and also contributes to scholarship in several ways. First, it investigates how various teacher instructional supports enhance the implementation of justice-focused CT/CS in middle school ELA classrooms. Second, the project informs culturally responsive approaches to CT/CS instruction, aiming to increase female, Black, and Latinx students' CS identity, engagement, and knowledge/skills. Third, it contributes to knowledge on making CS more inviting and accessible to underrepresented students. Finally, the project advances knowledge of strategies for forming regional and diverse research-practice partnerships, particularly in terms of substantial scaling. The project's ultimate goal is to provide research-based strategies for supporting literacy educators and curriculum developers across the US to integrate CT/CS into preK-12 ELA classes.     This project is funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.    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.",TRUE
2421459,"Support for Early Career Professionals to Broaden Participation at 2024 American Society of Biomechanics Annual Meeting; Madison, Wisconsin; 5-8 August 2024",2025-04-25,University of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,15000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation","M3X - Mind, Machine, and Motor",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2421459,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2421459_4900,2024-05-01,2025-04-30,152600001,MKAGLD59JRL1,"This grant provides funding Support for Early Career Professionals to Broaden Participation at 2024 American Society of Biomechanics Annual Meeting; Madison, Wisconsin; 5-8 August 2024. The new activities at the 2024 American Society of Biomechanics (ASB) Annual Meeting include: 1) Broadening Participation in Biomechanics Award among early-career professionals in priority groups (underrepresented minority groups, underrepresented geographical regions, undergraduate students, first-time ASB participants, non-research and emerging research institutions); 2) Supplement existing Diversity Travel Award to offset costs and enable early travel to participate in the pre-conference activities; and 3) Pre-conference webinars and workshops to enhance the value of the meeting to all meeting participants at no cost. Activities 2 and 3 above, specifically address pandemic-related deficits in developing conference skills among early-career professionals. The programs will be evaluated to assess their impact and inform future efforts to expand access and broaden the impact at this meeting.     Ten new “Broadening Participation in Biomechanics” activities created for the 2024 ASB Annual Meeting target priority groups that are currently underrepresented at the meeting. Nineteen supplemental awards provided to existing recipients of a diversity award would enable these attendees to participate in pre-conference workshops. Additionally, the planned webinars and workshops focus on presentation skills, designing a plan for meeting activities, and to enhance networking skills for award recipients and other attendees. Evaluations will be devised to target the impact of the awards at addressing barriers to attendance. The webinars and workshop will be evaluated to assess learning and impact. Feedback from these evaluations will be used to develop future awards and programming for the conference. Dissemination plans include an article in the ASB newsletter and a scientific abstract in the 2025 Annual ASB Meeting.    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.",FALSE
2100876,Reducing Racially-Biased Beliefs by Fostering a Complex Understanding of Human Genetics Research in High-School Biology Students,2025-04-25,Rutgers University New Brunswick,NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ,NJ12,645050,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100876,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100876_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,089018559,M1LVPE5GLSD9,"Genetic essentialism is the belief that people of the same race share genes that make them physically, cognitively, and behaviorally uniform, and thus different from other races. The project will refine a genetics education curriculum, called Humane Genome Literacy (HGL), in order to reduce belief in genetic essentialism. This research will provide curriculum writers and educators with knowledge about how to design a humane genetics education to maximize reductions in students’ genetic essentialist beliefs and minimize the threat of backfiring (unintentionally increasing belief in essentialism). The research findings will demonstrate how to support teachers who wish to reduce beliefs in genetic essentialism by teaching students about the complexity of human genetics research using the HGL learning materials.  Project research findings, learning materials, and professional development institutes will be made available to educators and researchers across the country who desire to teach genetics to reduce racial prejudice.     To prepare for the research, the project will revise and augment the project’s existing HGL curriculum and professional development institutes.  In year one, the project will develop new versions of the HGL interventions. Using these materials, the project will train teachers to implement new versions of the HGL interventions in their classrooms. Researchers will video and audio record a sample of teachers and students as they learn. These data will be analyzed qualitatively to: (1) examine how the conceptual change of genetic essentialism was promoted or impeded by interactions between teachers, students, and the materials; and (2) identify and corroborate general factors undergirding the backfiring effect.  Knowledge constructed through these studies will be used to revise the HGL interventions and PDIs.  In year three, using the revised versions of the HGL intervention, the project will conduct a cluster randomized trial (CRT). The CRT will compare the HGL interventions to a well-defined “business as usual” genetics curriculum, using a statistically powerful and geographically diverse sample (N = 135 teachers, N = 16,200 students, from 33 states). Using data from the CRT, the project will identify classrooms where the interventions reduced essentialism, had no effect on it, and where it backfired. Then, the project will use stimulated recall methods to interview the teachers and students in those classrooms to make sense of factors that contributed to these outcomes. The project will use this information to develop the final version of the HGL interventions and PDI materials. By the end of year four, the project will have trained an additional 90-100 teachers to use HGL interventions, reaching an additional 10,800-12,000 students, in at least 33 different states.     The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2418349,RCN-UBE Incubator: Expanding Epistemic Boundaries in Biology Education Research,2025-04-25,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,74971,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,UBE - Undergraduate Biology Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2418349,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2418349_4900,2024-08-01,2025-07-31,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"While biology education researchers strive to be inclusive and equitable, they can fall short of their goals due to the use of traditional research methods grounded on a historically Western perspective. These approaches fail to address the role of identity and culture in teaching and learning. This network will bring biology education researchers in dialogue with K-12 education and other social science researchers who have successfully expanded the research paradigms used in their own fields to support research and practices that consider these issues and support student learning and success. The intellectual merit of the project lies in the potential to generate innovative research, advance knowledge and design novel solutions to answer important and pressing questions of equity and inclusion in the field. Broader impacts include fostering systemic change in biology education research that will lead to practices that remove barriers and enhance the success of marginalized students. This will in turn, contribute to the recruitment and retention of scientists from diverse backgrounds that will themselves advance NSF's mission to foster scientific progress and advance national prosperity.    The overall goals of the network incubator are to: 1) Assess how current/dominant epistemology, ontology, and practices in Biology Education Research (BER) impact the field's ability to envision and enact equity and inclusion in biology education; 2) Identify which approaches create barriers for achieving equity and social justice in biology education; and 3) Propose new research approaches for BER that better align with inclusive frameworks. To accomplish these goals, the network will host a 3-day community building and planning meeting followed by multiple virtual meetings. Findings will be disseminated through publication and a web-based presence. These activities align with RCN-UBE's goal to ""catalyze positive changes in biology undergraduate education."" This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for STEM Education, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).    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.",FALSE
2201101,Collaborative Research: The Organizational Climate Challenge: Promoting the Retention of Students from Underrepresented Groups in Doctoral Engineering Programs,2025-04-25,University of Cincinnati Main Campus,CINCINNATI,OH,OH01,284914,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201101,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201101_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,452202872,DZ4YCZ3QSPR5,"The ongoing lack of diversity in the engineering doctoral workforce remains a significant problem with far-reaching implications for the US economy. The long-term vitality of the US workforce relies on the full range of engineering career pathways being available to all Americans. A diverse STEM workforce is more creative and innovative. While the number of women completing STEM doctorates has risen, the proportion of women earning engineering doctorates remains low. And, in 2019, while 24.1% of engineering doctorates were earned by women, only 1.4% were earned by Hispanic, Black, and Native American women (no Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander women). Doctoral engineering attrition rates reveal a disproportionately high loss of students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The problem is not students’ inability to complete the Ph.D. degree requirements, but rather that talented students leave engineering doctoral programs before completing their doctorates. Student attrition results in a loss of human talent to the national endeavor of research and discovery at universities fueling US economic growth. Unwelcoming organizational climates in engineering doctoral programs likely contribute to this attrition. This project aims to examine the organizational climates of engineering doctoral programs to guide efforts that promote the persistence and retention of doctoral students in engineering.     The goal of this mixed-methods project is to examine doctoral students’ perceptions of the factors that impact their persistence in degree completion and the differences in experiencing those factors based on intersecting social categories. This project adopts an explicitly intersectional approach to the meaning and relevance of students’ belonging to multiple social categories, including gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation, considered within the context of engineering doctoral education. Drawing on organizational climate research and intersectionality theory, the project’s multidisciplinary team aims to use a student-centered approach to shed light on multiple climate factors (e.g., climate for diversity, climate for inclusion, student sense of belonging, etc.) by engaging with students from diverse groups. To achieve a comprehensive picture of departmental climate and persistence, which may differ by intersectional group, major, and institution type, iterative and complementary cycles of project implementation are planned over the four-year project period. In Year 1, the researchers aim to use findings from the quantitative pilot climate survey approach to inform the qualitative design. The team aims to repeat this process in Year 2 to develop, refine, and validate the final survey instrument, including a climate scale which will be sensitive enough to assess intersectional phenomena unique to students from diverse groups. The scale will be grounded in measurement invariance, in that factors will be measured in the same way across different groups to reveal similarities and differences between engineering doctoral student populations. In Years 3 and 4, the researchers plan to administer the final survey nationally and incorporate follow-up interviews with a subsample of survey respondents, using a mixed-methods approach. In partnership with the American Society for Engineering Education, the team plans to deploy the climate survey nationally to engineering doctoral students and to share survey findings with engineering deans.       This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2326588,Validation of the Equity and Access Rubrics for Mathematics Instruction (VEAR-MI),2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,1283838,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2326588,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2326588_4900,2023-06-01,2026-04-30,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"High-quality mathematics instruction remains uncommon and opportunities for students to develop the mathematical understanding are not distributed equally. This is particularly true for students of color and students for whom English is not their first language. While educational research has made progress in identifying practices that are considered high-quality, little attention has been given to specific instructional practices that support historically marginalized groups of students particularly as they participate in more rigorous mathematics. The main goal is to validate a set of rubrics that attend to the existence and the quality of instructional practices that support equity and access in mathematics classes. In addition, the project team will clarify the relationships between the practices outlined in the rubrics and aspects of teachers' perspectives and knowledge as well as student learning outcomes.    This project will make use of two existing large-scale datasets focusing on mathematics teachers to develop rubrics on mathematics instructional quality.  The datasets include nearly 3,000 video-recorded mathematics lessons and student achievement records from students in Grades 3 through 8. The four phases of this research and development project include training material development, an observation and rubric generalizability study, a coder reliability study, and structural analysis. Data analysis plans involve case studies, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, and cognitive interviews.      The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2331010,BPE Track 1: Planning: Foundational Mathematics for Engineers at San Diego State University,2025-04-25,San Diego State University Foundation,SAN DIEGO,CA,CA51,99985,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331010,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331010_4900,2024-05-15,2025-04-30,921821901,H59JKGFZKHL7,"The persistent underrepresentation of Black, Hispanic, and female workers in the engineering workforce threatens the United States' global economic and technological competitiveness. Many factors contribute to this problem, including educational and socioeconomic equity gaps that fail to support aspiring but underprepared students entering college. Statistical analysis has identified engineering majors whose first mathematics course is college algebra at greatest risk of non-retention and seeks to understand and mitigate the challenges faced in foundational math courses. By conducting qualitative research through focus groups with first-year engineering students, the project aims to uncover the social and cultural factors influencing their experiences and attitudes towards continuation in the major. The data collected will inform the design of interventions aimed at improving early mathematics success for underrepresented engineering and STEM students, complementing existing academic support initiatives. This research not only benefits underrepresented students at SDSU but also contributes to broader efforts in STEM education nationwide and aligns with the NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering goals to foster a more diverse and inclusive engineering workforce essential for innovation in the global economy.    The project aims to investigate and address the challenges encountered by students from traditionally underrepresented backgrounds including Black, Hispanic, female and indigenous peoples in the engineering workforce, focusing on foundational mathematics courses, particularly college algebra, at San Diego State University (SDSU). Research questions will probe into the factors influencing the success and retention of underrepresented students including Black, Hispanic, female and Pell grant recipients in engineering majors, emphasizing academic, professional, and social strategies to bolster their performance. Utilizing qualitative data collection methods such as surveys and focus groups, the project will delve into the experiences and attitudes of students towards college algebra, thereby informing evidence-based interventions geared towards improving retention rates. Longitudinal data analysis and predictive modeling will deepen insights and facilitate the customization of interventions for diverse student cohorts. Through collaborative partnerships with SDSU, the California State University (CSU) system, and engagement with the NSF INCLUDES Coordination Hub, the project aims to disseminate findings, foster collaboration, and contribute to a more diverse and inclusive engineering workforce by enhancing the retention and graduation rates of underrepresented students in engineering and STEM disciplines. An interdisciplinary team, comprising faculty from mathematics, engineering, sociology, and student success domains, will collaborate to design, implement, and assess these interventions. The outcomes will result in tailored programs and strategies to meet the needs of underrepresented students, ultimately aiming to promote diversity and inclusivity in engineering education and cultivate a more representative engineering workforce. Furthermore, the research findings are anticipated to enrich broader conversations and initiatives in STEM education and diversity efforts nationally, advancing understanding and practices for supporting underrepresented minority students in engineering and other STEM fields.    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.",FALSE
2300927,Support Partnership for New Bilingual Science and Engineering Teachers,2025-04-25,San Diego State University Foundation,SAN DIEGO,CA,CA51,1202028,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300927,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2300927_4900,2023-10-01,2027-09-30,921821901,H59JKGFZKHL7,"This project examines how Latine, bilingual teachers' dispositions to teach science and engineering to bilingual learners change as they enter the teaching profession. Specifically, it explores bilingual teachers' transition from a period of strong social support to one of scarce social support, i.e., from being Bilingual Teacher Candidates to Novice Bilingual Teachers (NBTs) as they plan and teach bilingual science and engineering lessons. Given the isolation that many new teachers face, the project positions NBTs as teachers of science and engineering and provides them with a network of support including peer coaching, mentorship, and a professional learning community. This work is important because scarce social support may hinder NBTs' prioritization of science and engineering content, thus contributing to the historical underrepresentation of Latines in science and engineering. This exploratory research project represents a partnership between the largest bilingual teacher preparation program in California--the Department of Dual Language & English Learner Education (DLE) at San Diego State University--and local educational agencies including California's second largest school district.     The project's research questions are: 1. How does a community support network mediate NBTs' transition to the profession? 2. How does a professional support network influence NBTs' science and engineering instruction? and 3. How do NBTs' dispositions to teach equitable bilingual science and engineering change during their professional transition? To answer these questions, the project uses a mixed methods multiple-case study design using an inductive approach. A multiple-case study design permits the generation of cases for comparison and/ or examination. Illustrative cases will be essential for dissemination to district partners and for further professional development. Findings will be shared broadly at practitioner-oriented conferences (e.g., California Association for Bilingual Education) and national conferences (e.g., National Association for Bilingual Education, the American Educational Research Association). Findings will also be shared with audiences where bilingual education research is not often disseminated (e.g., National Science Teachers Association and the American Society of Engineering Education). The project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.     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.",FALSE
2127357,Heat and Inequality,2025-04-25,San Diego State University Foundation,SAN DIEGO,CA,CA51,200095,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127357,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127357_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,921821901,H59JKGFZKHL7,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). Coping with life-threatening heat is a shared daily experience by many around the globe. However, socioeconomic inequality makes the experience of climate change uneven, particularly in relation to excessive heat. This ethnographic research project will explore how heat is connected to social inequality in a comparative case study in two diverse cases. The research team, composed of social scientists working in collaboration with undergraduate students from San Diego State University’s Imperial Valley campus (SDSU-IV), will ask how, in both of these settings, differential exposure to high temperatures and access to technologies to cool down develop along diverse demographic lines. In addition, the project allows students from SDSU-IV to gain valuable methodological training and international research experience while also taking seriously a problem that affects their families and communities, showing them how scientific research offers potential solutions not only to individual experiences with inequality but also to ingrained problems of structural differences.      This comparative project addresses the broader societal goals of addressing human strategies for dealing with extreme heat as well as improving our understanding of the mechanisms that lead to climate-related injustice. A critical motivation of our ethnographic study is to explore how daily struggles to stay cool/weather the heat offer insight into deeply embedded societal beliefs which uphold inequality and that create barriers to change. Documenting the way in which inequality is related to exposure to heat is the first step towards achieving equity for people in the wake of heat-related environmental change.    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.",FALSE
2335901,"CAREER: Stress, Resilience, and Persistence Factors that Impact Success of LGBTQ Undergraduate Students in STEM",2025-04-25,The Texas A&M University System HSC,COLLEGE STATION,TX,TX10,200642,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335901,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2335901_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,778430001,HFT7XTHB6563,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This CAREER project examines the factors that influence LGBTQ undergraduate students’ decisions to continue in or leave STEM degree programs. Surveys of first-year STEM students are being conducted to enhance understanding of inhibiting factors to LGBTQ student success in STEM majors. Findings inform the development of resources to strengthen both LGBTQ STEM participation and the STEM infrastructure of the United States. An online cultural competency workshop is being developed for university STEM faculty and lab staff with the goal of increasing implementation of LGBTQ cultural competency practices in STEM classrooms and laboratories.    Annual longitudinal surveys over four years and assessment of changes in classroom and laboratory practices provide the basis for this project’s findings. Survey instrument design is informed by the minority stress theory, which posits that adverse outcomes are attributable to external and internal experiences of discrimination that can be prevented by resiliency factors and supportive resources. The PI, in collaboration with members of a student advisory board and an expert advisory board, is exploring minority stressors, resiliency factors, and their relationship to persistence and attrition. This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2115160,"STEM-based Making for Youth, Families, and Communities",2025-04-25,University of North Carolina Greensboro,GREENSBORO,NC,NC06,925733,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115160,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115160_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,274125068,C13DF16LC3H4,"For many youth, gaining access to quality STEM (science, technology,  engineering mathematics) experiences is a challenge. Inequity and underrepresentation of youth of color in STEM persist. The makerspace movement holds great promise in broadening participation in STEM among youth from underrepresented communities. Makerspaces are defined as collaborative workspaces inside a library, school, or other community location designed for creating, learning, exploring, and sharing with high- to low-tech tools. Despite the availability of making programs focused on STEM activities targeted towards youth of color, the field has few models for designing these programs in ways that build upon youths’ cultural assets and desires for making. Working collaboratively with youth, families, and maker educators in Lansing, Michigan, and Greensboro, North Carolina, this project aims to deepen the field’s understanding about the rich and deep ingenuity in STEM-based making that youth from underrepresented communities can engage. These insights will be leveraged towards advancing community-based maker programming across four community-based makerspaces. The project will also build capacity among STEM-oriented maker educators, researchers, and youth.  This model is important because the voices and perspectives of families and communities have been largely absent from the formative knowledge and theory-building processes of the field of makerspace education.     This project will build new knowledge about how and why youth and families make at home, in communities, and in STEM-based maker programs. Collaborators for the project include the University of Michigan, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and four STEM- and youth-oriented making spaces in Lansing, Michigan, and Greensboro, North Carolina. This project will take place in two phases, exploring two main research questions: 1) What are the learning results of making at home and in the community? And 2) How do youth organize community resources for sustained STEM making, and what facilitates or hinders such organization? Phase one investigates the community resources (people, tools, materials, knowledge, data, and spaces) youth leverage towards making and how they do so across time. The project will study how youth connect these resources to STEM-rich making and what youth and families learn in the process. In phase two, design-based research will be used to apply phase one insights to the design of community-based STEM-rich maker programs in four maker clubs in Michigan and North Carolina. This work will develop an understanding of youths’ family and community-based STEM-based making practices, including the community resources (people, tools, materials, knowledge, data, and spaces) that youth leverage.    This Research in Service to Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2209192,NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2022: The genetic and molecular rules of trait expression,2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,WA,CO02,207000,Fellowship Award,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,Biology Postdoctoral Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209192,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2209192_4900,2023-03-01,2026-02-28,98102,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2022, Integrative Research Investigating the Rules of Life Governing Interactions Between Genomes, Environment and Phenotypes. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will contribute to the area of Rules of Life in innovative ways. This research seeks to understand and identify the “rules” of male/female trait expression. Across the animal kingdom, the degree to which males and females differ from each other is profoundly variable. Despite this, the genetic and molecular processes by which these male/female differences are expressed remain largely mysterious. In this project, the fellow will study a fascinating species that is uniquely able to address these questions, the white-necked jacobin hummingbird (Florisuga mellivora). White-necked jacobin males have very different coloration from most females, yet 20% of females are male-like in coloration and are indistinguishable from males in the field. These differences are both expressed in the same species, allowing the fellow to detect the genetic factors underlying male/female difference while controlling for other factors. The project will take place in both the United States and Panama, aiming to build an international collaboration between scientists from diverse cultural backgrounds. By training the fellow in cutting-edge genomic and microscopy techniques, this fellowship will forge an integrative framework for understanding male/female diversity, coloration, and evolutionary biology.    To identify the evolutionary rules of male/female dimorphism the project will use an investigative framework that spans genomic, developmental, and phenotypic levels of biological organization.  First, the fellow will test whether the female polymorphism is linked to genetic variation by performing a genome-wide association study. Second, because gene expression and regulation are ultimately responsible for producing these phenotypes, transcriptomics will be used to identify genes associated with feather coloration. By collecting and analyzing feathers during their growth, the fellow will distinguish genes associated with color in male vs. female individuals. Third, organisms often use tiny structures invisible to the human eye to produce coloration, yet surprisingly little is known about the process by which genes regulate variation of these structures. The fellow will use electron microscopy techniques to identify the structures that vary across and within males and female feathers, thereby connecting genome to phenotype. Inspired by the white-necked jacobin, this project will also cultivate spaces to expand a welcoming place in science for people from a diversity of backgrounds.    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.",FALSE
2215592,"Expanding Activities for Outdoor, Nature Situated Making",2025-04-25,Science Museum of Minnesota,SAINT PAUL,MN,MN04,1451724,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215592,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215592_4900,2022-09-01,2027-02-28,551021202,FMBEN7W54M58,"The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) will collaborate with four community organizations serving Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) audiences to research and develop a novel outdoor makerspace that engages families in STEM learning. A makerspace is a place where people work together on creative, interest driven projects. In working with BIPOC families, the project addresses three forms of historical (and present day) exclusion of community participants, including participation in the design of informal learning experiences, participation in such activities, and overall engagement in STEM. The project aims to develop activities that foster STEM learning using natural materials in an outdoor makerspace, informed through robust collaboration with local communities. This project will result in an outdoor makerspace at SMM that will include 3-4 settings (approximately 2500 square feet total) that house and support multiple making activities in an outdoor context.  The proposed work will contribute to advancing knowledge through exploring how BIPOC families define learning in makerspaces and how younger children can be fully engaged in family learning. The project will share the inclusive design and community collaboration practices developed through this work with other museums, maker educators, and other community organizations that can develop or expand their own outdoor makerspaces in ways that will respect and reflect BIPOC families’ perspectives.     BIPOC families will join museum staff as contributors in the development and iteration of an outdoor makerspace and collaborators in the development of generalized design principles and dissemination of the research. Visitor-captured video of engagement in the outdoor makerspace, surveys, and memos from design meetings with community partners serve as the foundation for the process of aligning design and development of outdoor informal science education spaces with community needs and values. All research activities will be guided by a culturally responsive research framework and use strategies to ensure the multicultural validity such as video meaning-making with family research participants and member-checking instruments, data analyses, and findings with Design Partners. Project research will address three questions: (1) What are the characteristics of family learning in an outdoor nature-situated makerspace, including how BIPOC families identify and describe STEM learning and how outdoor spaces can be built to support BIPOC families’ perspectives? (2) How can the space be built to support multi-age families to engaged in making, including a focus on what design elements support preschool learner’s engagement and sustained participation by other family members? and (3) How do the design principles for making with widely available materials translate from indoor to outdoor spaces and materials? Research findings, design principles and community engagement guides will be widely disseminated to researchers, designers, program developers, informal science institutions and community organizations.     This research project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments    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.",FALSE
2049130,"A Networked Improvement Community Approach to School-wide Transformation, Teacher Agency, and Minoritized Students’ Climate Science Learning and Belonging",2025-04-25,"California State University, East Bay Foundation, Inc.",HAYWARD,CA,CA14,1496842,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049130,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2049130_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,945423000,GEXJV1ZLVDM8,"Incorporating urgent issues of social and environmental justice into environmental science teaching can harness youth’s real-world interests and improve their engagement, learning, sense of belonging, and career interests. This may be especially true for students who are directly experiencing the intertwined burdens of structural racism and environmental injustice. This project will adapt and extend successful Solar Suitcase curricula that explicitly link technology learning experiences to environmental science and social purpose. Examples include carbon-neutral energy technologies for electricity generation and transportation, off-grid solar power for disaster preparedness and response, and apps allowing for direct participation in science and supporting community outreach for local resilience projects. Situated in a largely Latinx community, this project explores the transformation of school-wide pedagogy for a high school and feeder middle school through Networked Improvement Community (NIC). The NIC, comprised of teachers, students, community-based organizations, and university faculty, will engage in co-development and improvement science research. If as successful as the focus groups that envisioned it, this project will offer an innovative approach to school-wide transformation. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.     Critical transformation learning (CTL) provides the theoretical framework for this project. CTL focuses on how people think, behave and relate to the natural environment, and to the local and global community. As such, CTL-driven educational practices directly address students’ lived socio-historical experience while also considering the climate crisis and its adverse impacts on students’ engagement in learning and connection to society. The team will develop and maintain an NIC that draws on partnerships between teachers, principals, students, community-based organizations, and university faculty. Research participation will include two schools and their principals, 28 teachers and 600 students. Using iterative improvement cycles the NIC will co-create, test, and improve an integrated climate-justice/climate-science curriculum to support student learning, including environmental content knowledge, STEM and ICT engagement and belonging, and related career interest. The curriculum development and implementation are a major activity of the NIC, and the curriculum will be shared widely. However, the primary outcome sought is school-wide transformation, including teacher and student identity as agents of change in the community based on STEM engagement and knowledge. The project will draw on surveys, interviews, audio recordings, classroom observations, field notes and hierarchical linear modeling to investigate whether and how co-creation through an NIC can lead to rapid educational innovation that optimizes whole school, teacher and student outcomes.    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.",FALSE
2402390,RAISE: CET: Changing our value system for clean-energy technologies,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,998995,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems",CET Strategic Investments,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2402390,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2402390_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE) award is made in response to Dear Colleague Letter 23-109, as part of the NSF-wide Clean Energy Technology initiative. Clean energy technologies provide opportunities to intentionally consider social justice impacts in ways that have not been addressed with legacy energy systems. While clean energy technologies target reducing greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change and should theoretically benefit marginalized and underserved communities, research indicates that clean energy technologies can follow the same path of social injustice unless intentional change is made in the way technologies are developed and deployed. We hypothesize that the application of social justice theory to energy systems–energy justice–can inform the development of clean energy technologies, increasing the distribution of benefits and limiting the negative impacts of clean energy technologies. The proposed research moves beyond applying energy justice as an evaluative lens on energy systems and instead uses the concept as a design lens to shape engineering research and development questions. The approach uniquely uses social science theory to inform the creation of engineering knowledge for just and sustainable futures, and the use of multiple-capitals accounting makes visible and values energy justice in the context of specific business models. This approach can generate qualitative and quantitative insights such as how energy justice increases the productive capacity and dynamic efficiency of clean energy businesses and the socioecological systems in which they are embedded. This work will enable energy justice to be applied more expansively, reliably, and systematically by integrating energy justice effects into the design of clean energy technologies, business models, and policies and processes that guide renewable energy research and development.    The approach of the proposed research is to (1) uniquely develop and apply the framework of energy justice to shape the research, development and design of a clean energy system, specifically focusing on a case study of hydrothermal liquefaction of waste streams; and (2) articulate the social, economic, and environmental value generated by application of the energy justice design framework. The project is highly interdisciplinary and synergistically leverages theoretical frameworks and approaches of energy justice, chemical processing, and community capitals. The use of a targeted chemical process—hydrothermal liquefaction to create usable chemicals and feedstocks from waste streams—allows specific demonstration of the approach and the associated results. Both the process and the outcomes are important deliverables from this project.    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.",FALSE
2343236,Collaborative Research: AGEP ACA: An HSI R2 Strategic Collaboration to Improve Advancement of Hispanic Students Into the Professoriate,2025-04-25,New Mexico State University,LAS CRUCES,NM,NM02,156529,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343236,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343236_4900,2024-03-01,2026-02-28,88003,J3M5GZAT8N85,"This NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance project addresses the important question of how to advance the role and increase the presence of members of traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM faculty positions. The particular focus of this project is to explore such challenges in the context of the often overlooked role played by institutions ranked Doctoral Universities – High research activity (R2) with strong research programs and holding a Minority Serving status. Composed of researchers and leaders from two Hispanic Serving R2 Institutions: Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) and New Mexico State University (NMSU), this NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance team is using their expertise in promoting diversity to expand knowledge about the shared and specific challenges facing doctoral students and early career faculty in STEM field and building best practices to catalyze equitable and inclusive institutional transformation.    The specific goals of the 2-year project are to identify the inequities in these institutions that prevent the advancement and success of faculty members from traditionally underrepresented groups and to establish a strategic alliance aimed at increasing the number of Hispanic and Native American faculty in STEM disciplines. This will be accomplished through a collection of coordinated efforts, inclusive of engagement of institutional leadership, collection and analysis of present and historical data, and development and deployment of pilot equity strategies. The project will culminate with the development of a comprehensive 5-year equity strategic plan to guide the foundation of a strong alliance working towards collective impact.    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.",TRUE
2101217,COVID Connects Us: Nurturing Novice Teachers’ Justice Science Teaching Identities,2025-04-25,University of Rochester,ROCHESTER,NY,NY25,1492218,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101217,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101217_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,146113847,F27KDXZMF9Y8,"This project relates to two contemporary concerns in the US: the devastation felt by racial and ethnic minoritized communities during the COVID-19 pandemic; and the challenges states face as they strategically navigate the adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards. These concerns necessitate a shift in the culture of science classrooms to align with the following findings from current research on learning. (a) Students are best motivated when they need to explain real world events and solve problems that are meaningful to them. (b) When students develop explanations of these real-world events or societal problems and are allowed to participate in creative ways, they can develop deep understandings of core science ideas similar to that of scientists and engineers. (c) Students need to develop a critical lens about what science is studied, how it is studied, and who is left out of what is studied to understand how science is impacted by issues of power and to engage in more just forms of participation. Realizing these cultural transformations in science classrooms will require teachers to develop professional identities that are justice-, student- and culture-centered.  In COVID Connects Us, the project team investigates the challenges of learning how to support justice-centered ambitious science teaching (JuST). The project team will partner with networks of secondary science teachers as they first implement a common unit aimed at engaging youth in science and engineering practices in ways that are culturally-sustaining, focused on explanation-construction and intentionally anti-oppressive. The teachers will then use their shared experiences to revise future instruction in ways that are justice-centered and that engage students in the ways research suggests is important for their learning.     The goals of this three-year project center on developing and understanding core culture-setting teaching routines that can serve as powerful footholds to realize cultural shifts in science classrooms. The project team will collect and analyze teacher narratives to study the impact of two core and focal teacher supports on participating teachers’ professional identity development as practitioners of JuST practices. The supports include 1) a culture setting unit that all teachers will implement on the science of COVID; and 2) teachers’ engagement in a network of learning communities.  During each of the first two academic years of the project, about 20 learning communities made up of four teachers in three different sites will engage in design-based implementation research cycles. These learning communities will collectively study videos of their teaching and samples of student-work to understand and address the challenges of JuST practices. Expected contributions of the study include: (a) a set of JuST routines that teachers find to be effective across curricular units; (b) exemplar JuST units including, but not limited to, the initial unit on the science of COVID; (c) research-based findings about how science educators develop critical consciousness related to disciplinary racism and practices that support students’ in developing the same; and d) vignettes and in-depth case studies of teachers’ development of JuST identities.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2215695,Collaborative Research: Investigating the Most Impactful Culturally-responsive Informal Pedagogical Practices for STEM Afterschool Programs Engaging Marginalized Youth,2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,1548342,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215695,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215695_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Growth in the US Latinx population has outpaced the Latinx growth in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees and occupation, further widening the ethnic gap in STEM. Mathematics has often identified as a bottleneck keeping many youth, especially minoritized youth, from pursuing STEM studies. Unequal opportunities to develop powerful math assets explain differences in math skills and understanding often experienced by minoritized youth. Implementing culturally responsive practices (CRP) in afterschool programs has the potential to promote math skills and motivation for youth from minoritized groups. However, extensive research is needed to understand which culturally responsive informal pedagogical practices (CIPPs) are most impactful and why. This project aims to identify and document such practices, shed light on the challenges faced by afterschool staff in implementing them, and develop training resources for afterschool staff to address these challenges. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.    The fundamental research questions addressed by the project focus on (1) which CIPPs matter most in the context of a STEM university-community partnership engaging Latinx youth, and (2) in what context(s) and under what conditions do these CIPPs relate to positive outcomes for both youth participants and college mentor/facilitator. A third aim is to build capacity of afterschool staff for implementing CIPPs in informal STEM afterschool programs. The first two aims are addressed through a mixed-methods research study which includes quantitative surveys and qualitative in-depth interviews with five cohorts of adolescent participants, parents, and undergraduate mentors. Each year, surveys will be collected from adolescents and mentors at four time points during the year; the in-depth interviews will be collected from adolescents, parents, and mentors in the spring. In total, 840 adolescents and 210 mentors will be surveyed; and 87 adolescents, 87 parents, and 87 mentors will be interviewed. The third aim will be addressed by leveraging the research findings and the collective knowledge developed by practitioners and researchers to create a public archive containing documentation of CIPPs for informal STEM afterschool programs and training modules for afterschool staff. The team will disseminate these resources extensively with informal afterschool practitioners in California and beyond. Ultimately, this project will lead to improved outcomes for minoritized youth in informal STEM afterschool programs across the nation, and increased representation of minoritized youth in STEM pursuits.    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.",FALSE
2345739,"NRT: Design for Equity in Policies, Products, Processes, Places and Pedagogy for People: A transdisciplinary approach to graduate research training",2025-04-25,University of Texas at El Paso,EL PASO,TX,TX16,2992878,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2345739,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2345739_4900,2024-09-01,2028-08-31,799688900,C1DEGMMKC7W7,"The products people use, the processes they follow, the policies that govern them, the places they go to, and the education they receive and provide are all designed experiences. Designers not only determine who can access, use, and benefit from a design, but they can also make the world a better place by: rooting out inequities; making all built environments, products, services and education accessible and inclusive; creating sustainable development practices; and designing policies that benefit everyone. For designs to benefit all and transform society, the design process must consider equity. The next generation of STEM graduate students can play a vital role in this transformation if they are trained to think about issues of equity in the design process. Equity is central to ensuring that all people, regardless of their backgrounds or individualized circumstances can access and use products, services, and systems. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of Texas at El Paso will create a new graduate certificate program in design equity and train graduate students to become Equity Design Influencers. The project anticipates training 200 graduate students over 4 years, including 34 M.S. and 7 Ph.D. students who will receive NRT stipends.    This NRT certificate will deliver a discipline-agnostic, transdisciplinary and convergent program to train students in equity-centered design and decision-making for policies, products, processes, places, and pedagogy. Students from any discipline will be able to pursue the certificate in preparation for their unique, tailored career paths. Program goals are to: (1) address complex societal inequities in design and decision making, and (2) develop a graduate research training paradigm to produce trainees strong in equitable design thinking and problem solving and nimble enough to adapt and respond to societal inequities. Research efforts are anchored to United Nations sustainable development goals and will converge disciplines, systematically study equity in different phases of design processes, and address inequities in different communities of need including low-resource, vulnerable communities. To promote integration of research, education and training, trainees will participate in community project experiences that align with the research themes in addition to coursework in design equity. Insights from this work will also contribute to understanding whether transdisciplinary and convergent training models cultivate students’ skills for thinking effectively about the interconnectedness of complex societal problems with their inherent global, cultural, and economic contexts.    The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.    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.",FALSE
2331874,Planning: FIRE-PLAN:Convergent Pyroscapes: Catalyzing Innovative and Inclusive Wildland Fire Science and Education in Western North Carolina,2025-04-25,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,196799,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331874,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331874_4900,2024-01-01,2025-12-31,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"Native people are significantly underrepresented in science, engineering, and math (STEM) fields. This poses a problem for equity, and it diminishes the contribution of Native worldviews and technologies used for problem-solving. One of the contributing factors to increasingly severe wildland fires and loss of forest ecosystem services has been the loss of Native American fire management practices. Indigenous-led fire stewardship can assist with this challenge while addressing the following three factors: existing conceptions within fire science, management and education that narrow the decision space within forest management; shifts in forest conditions under federal management that make it more difficult to restore Native forest values; and barriers to STEM education among Native youth. This project will support a newly emerging partnership between the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, the University of Georgia, the U.S. Forest Service, and TERC, a STEM education research organization, to integrate Native and Western scientific knowledge into both Native STEM education and wildland fire science, training and practice in western North Carolina. As services to the nation's health, welfare, and prosperity, this project's scientific advances will increase forest health and reduce wildfire risk, and its curricular innovations will promote social equity and the representation and career potential of future Native scientists.     Managed fires can be a critical tool to mitigate rapidly shifting landscape of forests . Approaching the solution from a deep convergence of Native and Western fire science, technology and management is therefore critical. This project will develop an innovative approach to that knowledge convergence, with an aim of incorporating Native fire management, knowledge, aspirations and technologies into STEM education and prescribed fire science and management. To achieve that, the project will use Indigenous-led, culturally responsive facilitated workshops and collaborative co-design methodologies to: broaden and build equitable partnerships; share and synthesize foundational knowledge and perspectives; and co-develop robust plans for a Phase 2 proposal. The resulting work plan will have three ultimate goals: (1) to reveal and dismantle the conceptual blinders that currently constrain Western fire science and hinder Native students' STEM engagement; (2) to generate innovative, inclusive fire science advances that expand the scope and predictive capacity of fire modeling, e.g. by simulating scenarios that both extend beyond conditions observed empirically under current fire regimes, and are based on Native science and technology; and (3) to enhance the participation of and career pathways for Native youth in forestry and natural resource management by integrating Native and Western scientific knowledge in convergent STEM curricula.     This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This planning project is also funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2333740,Proto-OKN Theme 1: A Dynamically-Updated Open Knowledge Network for Health: Integrating Biomedical Insights with Social Determinants of Health,2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,1500000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",OKN-Open Knowledge Networks,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333740,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333740_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"This project aims to expand current biomedical knowledge graphs by incorporating Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) data, which are typically underutilized despite their proven connection to health outcomes. The goal is to create a comprehensive health knowledge graph that combines biomedical facts and SDoH data from scientific literature and Electronic Health Records. Crucially, this model will allow for continuous updates from ongoing streams of biomedical and clinical text data, promoting swift distribution of new research findings and fostering collaboration in the ever-evolving biomedical and public health fields. Biomedical knowledge graphs (KGs), which organize, analyze, and apply biomedical information, rarely incorporate data related to non-clinical factors like socioeconomic status, education, and employment, that have proven correlations with several health outcomes. It is crucial to integrate SDoH into open knowledge repositories to enhance health improvement efforts and to reduce persistent disparities in healthcare resource accessibility. One outcome of this integration would be a comprehensive knowledge network for health that merges biomedical facts with SDoH data. This network could continually update itself with new data. Challenges to this endeavor include data integration, the dynamic nature of data streams, and the need to combine biomedical knowledge with SDoH data in an equitable and ethical manner. To address these challenges, the project will create a multi-dimensional knowledge network capable of supporting complex queries across various applications and automatically verifying information quality. The project will also link the KGs with electronic health records to uncover associations between social determinants and health outcomes, thereby improving healthcare outcomes and promoting health equity.     This project innovates by advancing semantic interoperability, improving knowledge representation, enabling adaptive knowledge acquisition, ensuring knowledge graph trustworthiness, and promoting ethical awareness. It aims to yield a comprehensive knowledge network, open-source algorithms, models, and tools that integrate SDoH facts and data. The accessibility of the tools created in this project will accelerate knowledge discovery, improving the understanding of human health and the wellbeing of vulnerable populations. Additionally, this project will significantly contribute to the education of students, particularly those from underrepresented groups, through special seminar courses and ongoing diversity initiatives.    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.",TRUE
2050922,"REU Site: Intersection of Linguistics, Language & Culture",2025-04-25,MOLLOY UNIVERSITY,ROCKVILLE CENTRE,NY,NY04,350745,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050922,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2050922_4900,2021-05-01,2026-03-31,115701135,PCUKYDN6M118,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate and is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program. It has both scientific and societal benefits, and integrates research and education. While STEM-based models in linguistics and speech-hearing-communication sciences aim to provide explanations that apply across languages and socio-cultural and ethnic groups, the bulk of research is still conducted on Mainstream American English and other majority languages. Moreover, research in the language sciences is largely conducted by professionals from majority language communities. This is problematic for two reasons: findings are not representative of the increasingly diverse US population and neither are researchers, clinicians and educators. This 26-week Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program addresses these two issues by equipping 18 undergraduate students per year from under-represented communities with both transferable STEM-based skills and knowledge specific to language sciences that will ensure student success in graduate programs focused on speech, language and communication sciences and in working with members of minoritized linguistic communities. The program will include six modules: (A) Establishment of a community of scholars, (B) Research ethics training, (C) Mentored scientific research, (D) Research dissemination, (E) Participation in workshops to prepare a graduate school application portfolio and promote well-being in graduate school, (F) Organization of a program translational conference.     Recruiting students who use lesser-studied languages and non-mainstream varieties of English, and having them conduct research with Mentoring Faculty who are experts in the various sub-fields of linguistics and speech-language-communication sciences (Theoretical Linguistics, Computational Linguistics, First and Second Language Acquisition and Processing, Bilingualism, Speech, Language-Hearing and Communication Sciences, Developmental and Acquired Disorders) and have a research track record that reflects their commitments to excellence and diversity, constitutes an important step toward redressing the current imbalance in the field and ensuring that the student projects will benefit from the scholarly study of the linguistic and cultural diversity found in New York City.  The program will benefit from the tremendous ethnic, linguistic, and cultural diversity of New York, in both the recruitment of student participants as well as project participants, and the mentors' state-of-the-art research facilities that include Molloy Speech Perception, Speech Production, Language Intervention and Processing and Brain Bases of Communication Laboratories, Brooklyn College Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Laboratories, CUNY Graduate Center Developmental Neurolinguistics Laboratory, LIU-Brooklyn Speech Language Hearing Clinic and Speech-Audiology Laboratory and the YVY Multilingual/dialectal Research Institute. This REU program thus serves two purposes: to involve undergraduates in research projects that can be expected to contribute publishable results and novel data sets that will be made available to the field through open-access websites, while simultaneously encouraging and preparing minoritized students to undertake graduate work on diverse languages and cultures. This REU site will prepare students to become accomplished researchers and practitioners in language sciences equipped with STEM-based knowledge and skills to work with minoritized languages and populations.    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.",FALSE
2411738,Collaborative Research: Building and Testing a Framework for Liberatory and Conceptual Mathematics Learning with Black Disabled Students,2025-04-25,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,409604,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411738,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411738_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"Black disabled students encounter systemic challenges in K-12 education such as being overrepresented in special education categories of behavioral and intellectual disabilities while facing harsher disciplinary consequences compared to other students. These challenges impact their opportunities for meaningful STEM learning. A key avenue to counter these disparities is through high school mathematics teacher coaching encompassing knowledge of the interactional nature of racism and ableism in teaching and decision making. Therefore, this project aims to develop and test a theoretical coaching framework that addresses challenges while advancing conceptual mathematics learning and high school mathematics instructional practices.    Using qualitative participatory methodology, this project will involve establishing and sustaining an authentic partnership with a cohort of Black disabled high school students. Their voices, knowledge, and experiences will be central in informing the development of this project’s coaching theoretical framework. The research team will support students’ learning, developing, and enacting ways to counter racism and ableism, advance conceptually oriented mathematics instructional practices, and impact instruction to improve students’ experiences and learning opportunities. Students will have opportunities to convene to share their experiences, and mathematics teachers will participate in professional development opportunities to support working with students as well as piloting and developing the coaching model. This project will contribute to both theory and practice in mathematics education as well as produce positive impact to the lives of Black disabled students.    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.",FALSE
2122213,"Building High-Quality K-12 Computer Science Education Research Across an Outcome Framework of Equitable Capacity, Access, Participation, and Experience",2025-04-25,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,202645,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122213,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122213_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    This project seeks to address the critical need for high-quality, equity-focused K-12 computing education research (CER) across the U.S. to meet the needs of finding promising practices for teaching computing to all students. The research will analyze existing and ongoing research and develop guidelines for conducting high-quality, equity-focused research. One goal is to identify barriers and gaps in equity-focused research across K-12 computing education using the Capacity, Access, Participation, and Experience (CAPE) framework as a lens for analysis. Those results will be used to develop workshops to build the capacity of researchers to include and focus on equity. The research questions ask:    1) How comprehensive is K-12 CER in explicitly addressing broadening participation in computing or equity goals?  2) What are the barriers that prevent K-12 computing education researchers from conducting research?  3) How effective are new resources, materials and workshops specifically created to address the gaps in and barriers to producing high-quality, equity-focused K-12 CER?    The project will first frame prior research against the CAPE framework to identify barriers researchers face when conducting high-quality research inequitable K-12 computing education. Using results from that effort and input from experts, the researchers will develop recommendations and resources for expanding coverage of equitable, high-quality K-12 computing education research. Finally, the research team will design and test workshops to train researchers in equitable K-12 CER methods and practices.  The project will directly impact the quality of computer science education research conducted. In turn, this will lead to better analysis and identification of programs, curricula, training, and interventions that improve participation and experiences of populations historically underserved and underrepresented in K-12 computing education.    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.",FALSE
2339619,CAREER: Eradicate the Gate: Empowering Learners and Equalizing Assessment in K12 Engineering Education,2025-04-25,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,338886,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2339619,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2339619_4900,2024-06-01,2029-05-31,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"Many youth have potential to be successful engineers, but there is an assessment gap. First, industry and university feedback reveal that K12 assessments do not measure all the things engineers do beyond math and science ability. Second, although the public, educators, and researchers perceive there is an achievement gap, current STEM assessments often have racial biases, creating a gatekeeping effect. These two realities combined keep many minoritized youth from becoming engineers. This CAREER project addresses the assessment gap by partnering with teenagers to create innovative, equitable assessments and technology that supports peer assessment. The study will provide information about how middle and high school students understand and identify engineering, show educators and researchers gaps between their interpretations and student interpretations of engineering, and help educators and researchers understand how to create a healthy culture of peer assessment. Overall, this CAREER project will provide tools for assessment in K12 engineering education that have the potential to create opportunities rather than restrict opportunities for minoritized youth to have future careers in engineering.     This five-year CAREER project will use a mixed methods, iterative distributed participatory design approach to investigate the following research questions: How do K12 learners co-create an equitable engineering epistemic frame that aligns with engineering professional activities? How does using peer assessment software affect learners’ engineering education experiences in informal robotics clubs in Black churches? The project intentionally engages the most marginalized students first in assessment development, responding to traditional bias in STEM assessment and learning from students how they assess. This project also increases minoritized groups’ participation in STEM and public engagement with science and technology through hosting FIRST robotics clubs in Black churches. The project employs and integrates innovative approaches to achieve its outcomes. Using epistemic frames as a foundation and the noticing framework (with students as lead) over three phases (Phase I-III), teenagers and minoritized communities act as user, tester, informant, and design partner to co-create: 1) an engineering epistemic frame and 2) a web-based, mobile-enabled peer assessment software. These outcomes will be achieved through Design Workshops, prototyping, and user studies during Phases I and II (Year 1 & 2, n=15). After the epistemic frame and software are developed, two robotics teams will pilot both to peer assess each other during two robotics seasons, offering feedback for refinement during Phase III (Year 3 & 4, n=30). Data analysis informs each iteration of epistemic frame and software during Phases I-III. Content analysis will be applied to data sources which include in situ videos, digital artifacts, interviews, and focus groups. In Phase IV (Year 5), researchers will analyze the peer assessment data using Epistemic Network Analysis. The integrated education plan involves training of rookie robotics coaches, developing STEM students into engineering education researchers, generating artifacts for professional development of teachers. Results will be disseminated through a Lessons Learned series which includes deployment of software, workshops for educators and researchers, a video archive for professional development, and a playbook for partnering with nontraditional sites.    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.",FALSE
2414503,Collaborative Research: Roots and Wings: Developing Informal Learning Resources in Engineering with Black Families,2025-04-25,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,503794,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2414503,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2414503_4900,2024-09-01,2028-08-31,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"This project will broaden participation in engineering by developing learning resources through which Black families have opportunities to engage in engineering practices and to see themselves as part of the engineering community.  The research team will co-develop informal learning resources with Black families in which children, ages six to ten, have opportunities to engage in biological, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, and mechanical engineering activities at home. Caregivers will support their children through engineering practices such as empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing, while also educating them about Black engineers and scientists who made significant advancements within each field. Research will explore whether and how the identity-affirming informal learning resources fostered the children’s engineering identities and interest. The resulting deliverables include video workshops for caregivers, to support them in using the resources, as well as a suite of easy-to-use engineering activities that will be disseminated via national homeschool networks, through public media, through high-traffic repositories with engineering lesson plans, and through professional networks of science and engineering educators.     Research will explore how identity-affirming engineering educational resources impact children’s engineering identities and interests.  To investigate whether and how these resources contribute to shifts in children’s engineering identities and interests, the research team will conduct a mixed-method study in which they generate and analyze the following data sources: pre- and post-engagement surveys with the caregivers; video-recordings of caregiver-child interactions as they engage with the informal learning resources; interviews with children and caregivers; caregiver reflective journals; and artifacts produced by the families, such as children’s sketches. The results from these analyses will provide insights into how informal educators can design at-home learning resources that build children’s interests in engineering pathways, as well as how families can use identity-affirming interactions in engineering to spark their children’s interest in this field. Findings will be disseminated widely via professional conferences, networks, and journals in educational research. Ultimately, this project is likely to broaden participation in engineering among Black people who remain underrepresented in engineering pathways and careers. This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of STEM learning in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2220536,Collaborative Research: Enacting Professional Ethics and Disciplinary Transformation through the Promotion of Evidence-based Training and Education Initiatives in Archaeology,2025-04-25,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,147018,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2220536,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2220536_4900,2023-01-01,2025-12-31,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"This project will advance knowledge on a scientific ethics training intervention known as Ethics Bowls, which employ competitive case study-based debate to immerse participants in ethical issues, frameworks, and problem-solving strategies in active-learning environments. Ethics Bowls, particularly the Society for American Archaeology Ethics Bowl (SAA EB), have been used to train students in the discipline of archaeology over the last 18 years, resulting in the participation of hundreds of individuals and establishing a baseline dataset for assessing long-term effects of this training activity. As archaeologists grapple with intersecting ethical crises, the SAA EB is one of the few formal ethics education opportunities in the field. Moreover, the SAA EB, in contrast to other discipline-specific Ethics Bowls, is designed to target graduate students preparing to enter archaeology professions as research scientists.    Using a combination of (1) quantitative and qualitative data from a mixed-methods survey, (2) interview data from former SAA EB participants and archaeologists with no Ethics Bowl exposure, and (3) consultations with diverse practitioners, relevant community partners, and Advisory Boards with expertise in archaeological ethics and interdisciplinary approaches to ethics and responsible conduct of research (RCR) trainings, the research team will: identify successful aspects of Ethics Bowl training; redesign and debut an improved Ethics Bowl model; and craft deliverables that contribute to establishing and maintaining a disciplinary culture of ethical research and practice within archaeology and other STEM fields. Specifically, this project’s broader contributions include (1) creating indexes of ethics case studies; (2) documenting challenges in disciplinary-centered, active-learning science ethics trainings; (3) emphasizing archaeologists’ responsibilities to the diverse publics they serve through effective, widespread ethics training; and (4) supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion goals by funding and mentoring early career scholars from minority-serving institutions. The research team anticipates that this intervention will lead to an increase in the retention and recruitment of students and early career professionals from backgrounds that have traditionally been underrepresented both in archaeology and other STEM fields. Overall, the transformation of ethical preparation amongst early career researchers will benefit society by preparing scientists to be aware of—and responsive to—changing social needs, values, and norms.    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.",TRUE
2147839,Employing Peer Mentoring to Empower Youth to Become 21st Century Energy Leaders,2025-04-25,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,1143464,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147839,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147839_4900,2022-07-01,2026-06-30,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"Cities and states, clean energy businesses, labor organizations and engaged citizens are increasingly addressing climate change by exploring how to transition to renewable energy. Those who do the least to cause climate change are often the most vulnerable to its impacts, so it is important to consider the needs of these populations to support a ""just transition"" to renewable energy. As a result, there is a need for a broader and more diverse ""STEM- and equity-literate workforce"" –  knowledgeable about STEM, possessing requisite thinking skills, and committed to diversity, equity and inclusion. This project proposes to make use of an existing energy transition/climate change simulation experience, En-ROADS, followed by student energy projects to help learners come to understand the issues involved in energy transition and its environmental justice implications. This intervention is intended to advance climate literacy, STEM efficacy, a solutions-focused mindset, and thinking skills. The innovation of this project lies in pairing undergraduates with high school (HS) students as near-peer mentors, with preference given to minority students during recruitment. The undergraduate near-peer mentors will assist the high school students with the simulation activities and with using the knowledge gained from the simulation to create a real-world energy transition project for their local setting. The project is a partnership between universities, local climate change organizations, and a local minority-owned clean energy business, to connect the learners with authentic challenges and career paths in their area. By impacting hundreds of students, the project aims to diversify STEM undergraduate education and the STEM and energy/climate professional and technical workforces in Minnesota, as well as to enhance citizen decision-making by increasing STEM knowledge about energy systems, climate impacts and policy implications.     The research questions interrogate the impact of near-peer mentoring on student outcomes (STEM efficacy, STEM knowledge, hope and urgency with regards to climate issues, knowledge and interest in STEM/ICT careers), on the mentors’ STEM/ICT career aspirations, and also explore the synergistic impact of project components on students’ ability to make connections across the learning opportunities. To address the research questions, 7 high school student-undergraduate teams where the university students provide near-peer mentoring will be compared to 7 high school student-undergraduate teams participating in the same simulation and energy project activities but without near-peer mentoring. The research questions will be addressed via pre/post survey data and via a Grounded Theory analysis of focus group and interview data. Focus groups and interviews will also be used to explore how mentors supported the learners. The contribution to the field arises from the fact that the research questions specifically probe how one strategy, near-peer mentoring, may enhance simulation-based and project-based learning. This project will increase our knowledge about how simulations can be used to prepare learners to engage in real-world projects of personal significance – in other words, it is a demonstration project to show how simulation-based learning can be situated within a larger real-world tapestry of community and career engagement, as opposed to a stand-alone activity intended to convey STEM knowledge alone. The project will produce a series of guides (a standards-aligned curriculum guide, student-led project facilitator guide, and an energy/climate career guide local to the state) that will be disseminated via a number of established networks to permit other educators to emulate the program. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",TRUE
2041294,"Annual REU Site Intersection of Linguistics, Language and Culture Conference",2025-04-25,MOLLOY UNIVERSITY,ROCKVILLE CENTRE,NY,NY04,58364,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2041294,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2041294_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,115701135,PCUKYDN6M118,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The NSF REU ILLC annual 2021 and 2022 conferences will coincide with and complement the 2nd Cycle of the NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates Site 'Intersection of Linguistics, Language and Culture' (ILLC)  housed by Molloy College, Long Island and CUNY Brooklyn College, both in New York.  The conferences aim at increasing diversity among emerging researchers and among the projects undertaken by future researchers and professionals in linguistics and speech-language-communication sciences.  They will involve five components: (i) undergraduate projects by members of cultural, ethnic and linguistic groups underrepresented in higher education, with a focus on novel findings in their language/language varieties, and on STEM-based innovative methodologies and explanations of broader impacts; (ii) participation of high school students so that they discover linguistics and the research areas and professions associated with linguistics, before they enter college; (iii) empowerment of  undergraduate and high school students, especially members of groups underrepresented in higher education, to become emergent scholars and valued members of higher education institutions in the process of the organization of the conference; (iv) dissemination of the conference oral and poster presentations during and beyond the conference through two complementary platforms: open-access publications of proceedings and video presentations; (v) recognition and valuing of college and high school participation and work through the competitive awarding of travel expenses and prizes. The proposed conferences will disseminate novel findings that reflect the U.S. and world cultural, ethnic and linguistic diversity and that are needed to advance the field.      The proposed conferences will have three sets of broader impacts including (i) the clinical, educational and technological implications of the findings that emerge from the projects conducted by the NSF REU ILLC site fellows and the poster presenters, (ii) the increase of diversity of the workforce among researchers and professionals in speech-language-hearing-communication sciences, (iii) the increase of knowledge in the general population of the significance of linguistics, the fact that it is a STEM-based discipline and that various professional sectors exhibiting rapid growth value both linguistic training and the ethnic, cultural and linguistic heritage of minority students from groups underrepresented in higher education    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.",FALSE
2149995,Collaborative Research: AGEP FC-PAM: Project ELEVATE (Equity-focused Launch to Empower and Value AGEP Faculty to Thrive in Engineering),2025-04-25,Carnegie-Mellon University,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,774777,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149995,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149995_4900,2022-06-15,2027-05-31,152133815,U3NKNFLNQ613,"Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and New York University will work as an Alliance team to develop a model to promote the equitable advancement of early career tenure-stream engineering faculty from underrepresented groups (African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders). Faculty who belong to these populations will be referred to as AGEP faculty in the context of the AGEP program. The goal of this AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FCPAM) is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a career pathway model, that can be adapted for use at other similar institutions, for advancing early career Engineering faculty from these populations of interest to the AGEP program. This AGEP FCPAM will provide a framework for institutional change at private, highly selective research institutions that will enable all faculty to be members of a collaborative community. Improving the experience of these faculty can lead to increased diversity in the Engineering faculty and ultimately result in graduating more Engineering students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the Engineering workforce.    Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing engineering faculty, educating America’s future engineering workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FCPAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP faculty, within similar institutions of higher education. FCPAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FCPAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP faculty.    The Alliance interventions will focus on three major areas, 1) equity-focused institutional change designed to make structural changes that support the advancement of AGEP faculty, 2) developing and sustaining an infrastructure that facilitates impactful mentorship of AGEP junior faculty in support of career advancement, 3) inclusive professional development that equips all Engineering faculty and institutional leaders with skills to implement inclusive practices and to support career advancement. Evidence-based practices from the Women in Engineering ProActive Network and the NSF INCLUDES ASPIRE Alliance's Inclusive Professional Framework, will be foundational for this AGEP FCPAM's activities. An internal evaluator will lead the self-study and formative assessment which will advance knowledge concerning the institutional barriers that negatively impact the advancement of AGEP faculty in academic Engineering careers. Attention will be given to the role cultural and intersectional identities play in the success of AGEP faculty. An external evaluator will provide a summative assessment using a culturally responsive framework to assess the implementation of project activities and the development of the Alliance model.    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.",TRUE
2126575,Collaborative Research: Build and Broaden 2.0: California Alliance for Hispanic-serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA),2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Barbara,SANTA BARBARA,CA,CA24,332963,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126575,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2126575_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,931060001,G9QBQDH39DF4,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     The California Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA) builds and broadens the low participation of social science faculty in extramurally funded research with an examination of systemic barriers and comprehensive professional development programming and policies. The partnership between three California universities will serve 28 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) of various sizes and representing unique regional factors in the California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC) systems. The outcomes of this project will serve as a model to advance research in wide-ranging disciplines that impact the health, prosperity, and welfare of the US public. CAHSSA implements a comparative content analysis of NSF social science proposal review comments at HSIs and non-HSIs to identify how social, behavioral, and economic research is constructed and practiced across institutional types as well as reveal any existing biases in the review process. Results will inform the project's interventions that include virtual grant writing webinars and workshops, writing groups, intensive writing retreats, and social science leader seminars for more than 700 CSU and UC social sciences faculty and leaders.     The California Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA) will pursue a greater understanding of the challenges faced by social scientists at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) in the extramural funding process at the micro-level within varied campus types and at the macro-level through the examination of NSF reviewer perceptions of social science proposals. From a pool of nearly 4500, the PIs recruit more than 700 social sciences researchers and leaders from 22 California State University (CSU) HSI campuses and six  University of California (UC) HSI campuses to participate in virtual webinars and workshops (N=500 researchers), writing groups (N=160 researchers), writing retreats (N=60 researchers), and seminars (N=100 leaders). Methods include CSU and UC annual systemwide surveys, pre- and post-intervention participant evaluation surveys, focus group interviews, and content analysis of grant reviewer comments on 500 proposals over the prior ten years. The results of this project will serve as a national model for advancing a new dialogue on faculty professional development and the science of broadening participation by studying institutional factors that shape social science grant success at HSIs/MSIs. The interventions will produce innovative grant proposals to enhance research in the social sciences as well as the revision of policies and procedures to strengthen practices that support social sciences grant and research activity at HSIs/MSIs.    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.",FALSE
2318841,Minnesota Partnership to Foster Native American Participation in Astrophysics,2025-04-25,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,247686,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Astronomical Sciences,WoU-Windows on the Universe: T,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318841,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318841_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"A new research and education partnership in astronomy will be developed between two University of Minnesota campuses, at Morris (UMM) and at the Twin Cities (UMTC), aimed at building a robust pathway for American Indian and Alaskan Native (AIAN) students to enter into the field of astrophysics.   The program will interweave the courses and research strengths at both UMM and UMTC campuses.  A series of frontier research projects in Multi-Messenger Astrophysics (MMA) will be pursued by UMM AIAN students, mentored by both UMM and UMTC faculty. The projects will be data-intensive, leveraging the UMTC astrophysics faculty’s access to the most modern astrophysics datasets and computing resources as well as UMM faculty’s expertise in data science. Both faculty and students will have opportunities for professional development, including workshops and other activities designed to develop communication skills, leadership and teamwork skills, management skills, gender and racial awareness, ethics, and others.  This partnership will have a profound positive impact on the participation of the AIAN minority in astrophysics, as well as providing a successful template that could be replicated in other programs and disciplines.    The past decade has witnessed remarkable advances in astrophysics, including the discovery of gravitational waves generated in mergers of binary systems of black holes and/or neutron stars, the first observations of the black hole event horizon, and the imaging of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way.  Students and faculty participating in the partnership will take part in research in these areas, with specific projects proposed to use MMA to refine the measurement of the expansion rate of the universe, to carry out rapid searches for astronomical merger events using the UMTC TURBO instrument, to measure correlations between gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation, and to better understand the space environment in our solar system.  In education, a new Astrophysics Area of Concentration at UMM will be established at the beginning of the partnership. UMM and UMTC faculty will take part in the UMM Gateway bridge program aimed at building college skills and reducing the achievement gap for AIAN students before they begin freshmen year.  The project will also leverage the UMM access to the AIAN students and communities to pursue a series of activities aimed at promoting astrophysics (and science, more broadly) to the AIAN communities.  Indigenous Astronomy workshops will be organized each semester, targeting the UMM, UMTC and AIAN communities.  Other activities will include Astrophysics Days at UMM each semester, which will involve public lectures by UMTC astrophysics faculty, technical workshops, portable planetarium shows, and public observing nights at the UMM telescope.  This award advances the goals of the Windows on the Universe Big Idea.    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.",FALSE
2314061,NGO-Prosecutorial Complex in Universal Jurisdiction Cases: Structure and Consequences for Justice and Public Knowledge about Human Rights Violations,2025-04-25,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,162123,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314061,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314061_4900,2024-02-01,2026-01-31,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"The project will advance knowledge on the structure and functioning of networks formed by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and prosecutorial agencies in criminal proceedings under universal jurisdiction (UJ). It will further show how these networks affect justice, court narratives, and public knowledge about massive violations of human rights. NGO-prosecutorial networks affect trials and knowledge about violations in two ways. They color charges and court proceedings by channeling evidence, witnesses, and private prosecutors—some constituted out of refugee populations—into trials. In addition, NGOs contribute to the spread of contextualized court narratives through trial observation and the publication of blogs and reports on websites. The nature of these causal processes will be explored. American interest in these experiences is substantial, especially considering the “Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act” that recently updated federal law to enable prosecution of alleged war criminals in the United States—regardless of the place of perpetration and the nationality of the perpetrator or the victim. During this project, graduate students will be trained, and knowledge gained will be incorporated into college and graduate instruction. Insights will be communicated through a public-facing paper, workshops with practitioners, and a symposium.    The project builds on scholarship that examines how criminal trials shape knowledge about and collective memory of mass atrocity crimes. This body of research shows that trials often affect public perceptions and collective memories of such crimes, even while constrained by the institutional logic of criminal law with its focus on individuals, disinterest in structural contexts and the longue durée, limiting evidentiary rules, and guilty-not guilty binaries. The proposed research looks beyond the confines of judicial institutions to examine their network ties with civil society in the form of NGOs, domestically and across national boundaries: a transnational NGO-prosecutorial complex. The project will enhance knowledge at the intersection of the sociology of law, knowledge, collective memory, and inter-organizational networks. The research includes in-depth interviews with prosecutors, investigators, and NGO representatives, in several countries engaging in UJ proceedings. Interviews explore organizational goals, the structure of exchange networks between organizations and the content of exchanges. An analysis of court documents will trace how NGO agendas, input, and networks are reflected in trial narratives. Analyzing NGO blogs and reports will identify additional network ties and examine the transmission of court narratives to the public. The project will add to sociology of knowledge insights into the link between network structures and the production of legal truths and everyday knowledge    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.",TRUE
2149053,"Environmental Stress, Political Institutions and Social Conflict",2025-04-25,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,407554,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149053,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149053_4900,2022-02-15,2026-01-31,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"The fast-expanding literature on the climate-conflict nexus has improved our understanding of the causes of political violence, but it falls short of identifying local contextual factors that may moderate the effects of environmental stress on social conflict. This project advances our scientific understanding of how environmental stress impacts social conflict. Focusing on conflicts organized around lineage- (caste-clan) and religion-based identities, this project highlights the importance of attenuated manifestation of social conflict, such as denial of access to community resources, asset appropriations and public humiliation, particularly against marginalized socioeconomic groups. These attenuated manifestations received little attention in the existing literature, which almost exclusively focuses on accentuated manifestations of social conflict, such as insurgencies and civil wars, even though localized attenuated incidents can engender major accentuated violence, fueling instability in a geopolitically volatile region that is of vital importance to US national security and global peace. In addition to generating theoretical and empirical insights, the project will train undergraduate and graduate students, especially from under-represented groups, in a critical area of social science research.       The PIs collect high resolution environmental stress and conflict data, leveraging discontinuities in historical and contemporary political institutions across carefully selected subdistrict, district and national boundaries, and deploying a range of methodological tools, including ethnographic work and a survey experiment to facilitate a strong causal inference. They will develop a theoretical framework that builds on the existing literature to offer a nuanced understanding of the role of historical and contemporary political institutions in moderating the effects of environmental stress and water access on social conflict. In theorizing a moderated and highly contextual relationship, this project challenges dominant narratives in both research and environmental stress and its impact on conflict and research on the role of colonial institutions while highlighting the importance of distinguishing between inter- and intra-ethnic divisions. The project develops an empirical framework that integrates three different levels of analysis – the district, sub-district and individual – within carefully controlled geographical settings. The sub-district level analysis focuses on selected clusters of geographically contiguous provinces in the two countries. For these analyses, the project will generate: a) large-scale, high-resolution data organized around religion- and lineage-based identities on the entire accentuated-attenuated social conflict spectrum; and, b) highly-localized longitudinal maps on water security and political institutions across the two countries. To validate the findings and clearly identify causal mechanisms, the PIs benchmark the results obtained from analyses of district and sub-district data against a forced-choice conjoint experiment deployed in 240 carefully selected primary census units in India combined with ethnographic work conducted in a subset of these communities.    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.",TRUE
2417813,Addressing Racial Disparities in Medical Education and Science: The Role of the Civil Rights Movement,2025-04-25,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,122717,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417813,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417813_4900,2024-08-01,2027-07-31,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"A potential cause of persistent racial disparities in health outcomes in the US may be a lack of representation in medical personnel and medical research. This Award will fund a research project that will investigate the effects of the Civil Rights Movement (CRM) on the supply of Black doctors and the conduct of medical research.  The research project will focus on two questions: (i) What effect did the Civil Rights Act of 1964 have on the representation of African Americans in medical education, and how did this affect the supply of Black physicians, especially in underserved communities? (ii) How did the CRM impact the focus of medical research on racial minorities? The researchers will build a large, detailed data set on historical racial composition of medical school admissions, racial composition of medical doctors, federal grants for medical research, and the racial composition of recruitment into biomedical research. This impressive data collection will allow the researchers to answer the questions they set out to investigate.  The results of this innovative research will help policy makers design efficient policies to reduce racial health disparities in the US.    This Award will fund a research project to answer two inter-related questions: The effects of the Civil Rights Movements on the supply of Black physicians and the inclusion of racial minorities in medical research.  The PIs do so by building a novel dataset that combines historical: (i) student records from medical universities, (ii) physician directories, (iii) scientific publications, (iv) population health outcomes, and (v) federal funding for medical research.  The core data on medical graduates between 1955 and 1980 will be collected from primary sources.  The PIs will use a continuous difference-in-differences strategy to identify the impact of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act on medical schools.  The exogenous nature of this policy change will allow the PI’s to establish causality.  This research will provide evidence of the lasting influence of the CRM on medical education, the supply of physicians to under-served groups, physician career trajectories, and medical research.  The results of this innovative research will help policy makers design efficient policies to reduce racial health disparities in the US.    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.",FALSE
2314089,Integrating Research and Practice: Reimagining Youth Community Science through Make-and-Take Data Sensing Kits,2025-04-25,"Teachers College, Columbia University",NEW YORK,NY,NY13,1737715,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314089,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314089_4900,2023-09-01,2026-02-28,100276605,DBM1C8MDJ5L3,"In dozens of ways, youths' lives are shaped by data. Yet, youth seldom have the opportunity to pull back the curtain on data science to experience how data are collected, prepared, analyzed, and presented into the final, neatly packaged statistics and figures they see every day. This lack of first-hand data science experience not only limits youths' data science skills - key to their educational and career pathways - but also limits their skills as civically engaged decision-makers capable of critically analyzing data-based claims. This project investigates how youth can use low-cost sensors to collect data from their communities and engage in data science practices to explore and tell stories about community-relevant phenomena (e.g., climate change, urban segregation, public transportation, pollution). These museum-based camps are week-long, immersive experiences that focus on question formulation, data collection, analysis, visualization, and interpretation. The informal camp setting offers a mix of both high-contact instructional time (i.e., working with other students and facilitators during the day) and independent exploration time (i.e., taking the hardware home each afternoon and evening) through which youth can both learn new skills and apply them in their homes and communities.     In this collaborative project, a university research lab and children's science museum work together to design, implement, study, and revise a week-long data science camp for middle school age students, data science learning assessment items and a facilitator training curriculum. Camps will be implemented during Winter, Spring, and Summer school breaks over a two year period. The project will investigate two primary questions: What data science knowledge and practices do learners gain in the course of designing, carrying out and interpreting a scientific data collection effort relevant to their community? And what ways can museums serve as springboards and touchstones for broader informal STEM learning experiences that expand into learners' homes and communities? Potential contributions include learning theory and design heuristics for informal STEM education programming that positions STEM inquiry and learning within participants' broader communities and sparks youth's recognition of the relevance of a data-oriented approach to understanding their day-to-day environments, spaces, and lives. As camp programming includes four diverse informal data contexts of increasing independence and complexity - (1) guided explorations; (2) 1-day projects; (3) multi-day projects; and (4) longitudinal, at-home, extension projects for a subset of participants (who take the hardware home) - anticipated contributions include comparisons of the varied settings in which informal data science learning occurs. The project uses a mixed-methods research approach that includes: 1) quantitative analyses of paired pre- and post-camp assessments to identify shifts in data science practices and perspectives; 2) qualitative thematic analyses of pre-, post-camp, and delayed interviews triangulated with interaction analysis of in-camp observations; and 3), and log file analyses identifying patterns in learners' data gathering behavior. Additionally, longitudinal analyses of assessment and interview data over the 2.5-year project timeframe will gauge the efficacy of camp curriculum and assessment revisions over the 6 implementations. The project centers equity and belonging in two primary ways: curriculum development efforts focus on inclusive and equitable informal science learning and a focus on Latine populations who are often underserved in STEM education.    This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.    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.",TRUE
2342438,Exploring Theory and Design Principles (ETD): Auditing Machine Learning Applications for Algorithmic Justice with Computer Science High School Students and Teachers,2025-04-25,University of Pennsylvania,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,499943,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342438,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342438_4900,2024-03-01,2027-02-28,191046205,GM1XX56LEP58,"There is an urgent need to develop and implement learning programs that can help teachers to prepare students to effectively interact with and critically evaluate machine learning applications. This project will work with a group of high school teachers across rural, suburban, and urban US communities in California, Delaware and Pennsylvania serving diverse high school students including Black, Latinx, and gender-marginalized young people to design and implement classroom activities that will support students in developing and “auditing” machine learning applications. The goal of algorithm auditing is to better understand the opaque inner workings of AI systems by repeatedly querying the AI system in order to interpret its external effects and impacts. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    In the three-year study, 210 high school students will directly participate in the learning of algorithm auditing. Researchers and computer science high school teachers will co-investigate students’ machine-learning-powered, sensor-based applications and integrate collaborative algorithm auditing practices to examine fairness, accountability, and justice. The research will be conducted in partnership with public high school teachers from the Exploring Computer Science community and address the following questions: (a) What are high school computer science  teachers’  values and considerations of algorithmic justice in machine learning applications?, (b) How do high school computer science teachers understand and develop new understandings of algorithmic justice in machine learning applications through auditing?, What implications do teachers find in algorithm auditing for their teaching and with their students?, (c) How do high school computer science teachers integrate and support students’ collaborative audits of machine learning applications in classrooms?, and (d) What are high school students’ approaches and perspectives when  auditing machine learning applications? How does this affect their interests in CS and STEM careers? To answer these research questions, researchers will use a combination of observational methods, interviews and surveys to gain insights into teachers’ understandings of algorithm audits, observe high school students designing and auditing machine learning applications, and examine student learning in classroom implementation of auditing activities. Previous research on algorithm auditing for non-experts, including both adults and youth, has only focused on informal settings. The insights gained about teaching and learning algorithm auditing in this school-based investigation can be extended to and inform numerous existing computing activities as well as K–12 computing curricula and teacher professional development.    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.",FALSE
2140891,Collaborative Research: Understanding Persistence through the Lens of Interruption: A Framework for Transformation (UPLIFT),2025-04-25,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,822120,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140891,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140891_4900,2022-08-15,2027-07-31,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"This collaborative project will study the impact of interruptions on Black women’s collegiate STEM experiences and their persistence and matriculation in STEM majors. Interruptions are defined as overt and subtle external acts and internal dialogues and decisions that result in a loss of focus, momentum, and confidence and require time to rebound. Each interruption requires resources to rebound (e.g., time), but continual interruptions impact Black women’s ability to rebound and persist in STEM over time. Conducting research that centers the voices of Black women who experience these interruptions will generate new insights into redesigning institutional and other structural factors that often serve as barriers to persistence and success in STEM majors.    The research design entails a longitudinal, mixed-methods design wherein they follow 45 Black women who are STEM majors across three colleges in Georgia. Through interviews, focus groups, audio diaries, and the use of survey methods to collect quantitative data, the research team intends to develop a framework of interruption for Black women in STEM. The goals of the framework include: (a) to define interruption, (b) to identify constructs of interruption related to intent to persist, and (c) to determine the relationship between the domains of power and the experiences of interruption by undergraduate Black women in STEM. The creation of a clear definition of interruption and a robust conceptual framework has the potential to generate knowledge that will help address systemic racism across disciplines and settings.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2149798,Collaborative Research: AGEP FC-PAM: Project ELEVATE (Equity-focused Launch to Empower and Value AGEP Faculty to Thrive in Engineering),2025-04-25,Johns Hopkins University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,499653,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149798,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149798_4900,2022-06-15,2027-05-31,212182608,FTMTDMBR29C7,"Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and New York University will work as an Alliance team to develop a model to promote the equitable advancement of early career tenure-stream engineering faculty from underrepresented groups (African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders). Faculty who belong to these populations will be referred to as AGEP faculty in the context of the AGEP program. The goal of this AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FCPAM) is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a career pathway model, that can be adapted for use at other similar institutions, for advancing early career Engineering faculty from these populations of interest to the AGEP program. This AGEP FCPAM will provide a framework for institutional change at private, highly selective research institutions that will enable all faculty to be members of a collaborative community. Improving the experience of these faculty can lead to increased diversity in the Engineering faculty and ultimately result in graduating more Engineering students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the Engineering workforce.    Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing engineering faculty, educating America’s future engineering workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FCPAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP faculty, within similar institutions of higher education. FCPAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FCPAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP faculty.    The Alliance interventions will focus on three major areas, 1) equity-focused institutional change designed to make structural changes that support the advancement of AGEP faculty, 2) developing and sustaining an infrastructure that facilitates impactful mentorship of AGEP junior faculty in support of career advancement, 3) inclusive professional development that equips all Engineering faculty and institutional leaders with skills to implement inclusive practices and to support career advancement. Evidence-based practices from the Women in Engineering ProActive Network and the NSF INCLUDES ASPIRE Alliance's Inclusive Professional Framework, will be foundational for this AGEP FCPAM's activities. An internal evaluator will lead the self-study and formative assessment which will advance knowledge concerning the institutional barriers that negatively impact the advancement of AGEP faculty in academic Engineering careers. Attention will be given to the role cultural and intersectional identities play in the success of AGEP faculty. An external evaluator will provide a summative assessment using a culturally responsive framework to assess the implementation of project activities and the development of the Alliance model.    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.",FALSE
2055419,Collaborative Research: Developing Teacher Learning Theory with Teachers and Students Animating Mathematical Concepts,2025-04-25,College of William and Mary,WILLIAMSBURG,VA,VA08,482348,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055419,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055419_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,23185,EVWJPCY6AD97,"This project will advance theory for understanding teacher learning as it relates to mathematics teacher knowledge and student knowledge. The research team theorizes that teacher knowledge and student knowledge are not distinct. Specifically, this work challenges the longstanding idea in teacher education that a knowledge base for teaching pre-exists as a static body of knowledge awaiting to be discovered by teachers. Instead, this project examines what happens when teacher and student knowledge bases are conceptualized as interdependent and capable of generating new knowledge in and for teacher learning. This project will build theory, grounded in feminist, Indigenous, and materialist perspectives, that explains how teacher knowledge and student knowledge interact to generate new knowledge that is relevant in and for racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse mathematics teaching contexts. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    This project will develop theory regarding a teacher learning approach that encourages teachers to teachers adopt and exchange flexible roles with their students as active observers and participants to contribute to teachers developing their teacher learning as a relational practice. Drawing on lesson study and Indigenous research design principles, researchers, teachers, and their students will collaborate to create animated concepts of mathematical ideas. Animated concepts include how students use mental images, material objects, and lived experiences that center Black, Native American, Latina, and newcomer knowledge bases related to mathematical concepts.  Researchers across three sites in Michigan, Virginia, and New Mexico will immerse two teachers per research location and their students in this process both during the school year and during a summer program where teachers and students will collaborate with local artists to produce multimedia projects representative of their animated concepts. This research has implications for how mathematical teacher knowledge is conceptualized and how it is addressed via professional development.    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.",FALSE
2348374,REU Site: Culturally Responsive Research in Developmental Science,2025-04-25,University of Texas at Dallas,RICHARDSON,TX,TX24,468821,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348374,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2348374_4900,2024-08-01,2027-07-31,750803021,EJCVPNN1WFS5,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It has both scientific and societal benefits in addition to integrating research and education. Currently, the majority of developmental research is conducted by and focused on monolingual individuals from middle-to-high income households. To address the critical need to expand developmental theories to incorporate underserved and underrepresented populations, this project will train students from these understudied populations to become researchers who can provide rich and needed perspectives on developmental science. Through participation in the University of Texas at Dallas’s year-long REU, 30 students (10 per year) will learn the necessary tools to conduct high-quality research with real-world applications with families that are challenging-to-study, vulnerable, and underrepresented in the developmental science literature. Thus, the project will advance the field of developmental science by increasing diversity in both the researchers and the children who are researched.    Students will be drawn primarily from the Dallas/Ft Worth area, which compared to other similarly large cities in the U.S., has few research intensive 4-year institutions of higher learning, and few opportunities for students to gain high quality, first-hand research experiences. At least 50% of the students will be enrolled at one of Dallas College system’s 7 community campuses, and the remaining students will be enrolled at The University of Texas at Dallas. A large number of diverse students attend the local community colleges and UTD. In the fall, students will acquire skills needed for culturally-responsive research by taking an active role in the Play With Me program. Play With Me, a unique and important aspect of this REU’s research experience, is a free 12-week parent/child (ages 0-3 years) community-based outreach program created by UTD developmental scientists and specialists based on playful-learning research and directed by developmental specialists of UTD’s Center for Children and Families. With mentorship from UTD faculty, students will formulate new theoretically-driven research questions within ongoing data sets influenced by their Play With Me experience. In the spring, a faculty mentor team will guide students as they collect and analyze data from families recruited from Play With Me. In the summer, students will learn to disseminate findings to academic (journals, conferences) and non-academic (newsletters, community outreach) audiences. Fellows will also participate in brownbag discussions on professional development, including how to identify and apply to graduate schools, prepare for the GRE, and identify academic career options.    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.",FALSE
2403844,Collaborative Research: Cultural Change in Geoscience (C-ChanGe): Transforming Departmental Culture through Faculty Agents of Change,2025-04-25,Carleton College,NORTHFIELD,MN,MN02,1265746,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2403844,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2403844_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,550574044,KALKKJL418Q7,"This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing practices to improve inclusivity in academic geoscience departments. Geoscience is a critical discipline for today’s world, integrating other physical and life sciences into a wholistic perspective with relevance to the most pressing challenges facing humanity today including climate change, energy resources, and natural hazards. However, the number of graduates and students pursuing geosciences is not sufficient to meet the demand for geoscience expertise in the economy.  While geoscience degrees can provide students with significant opportunities to learn and practice workforce-relevant skills, many systemic barriers prevent equal participation, exacerbating the gap in the geoscience workforce. Through intentional professional development, the Cultural Change in Geoscience (C-ChanGe) project will create a corps of faculty change agents empowered to make successive, incremental changes that will lead to positive cultural shifts within their home departments. This cultural change will foster an environment where all people experience academic geoscience as safe, welcoming, and supportive. C-ChanGe will also compile and leverage existing efforts focused on cultural change. This will create a network of leaders and resources that raises the visibility of all aspects of this important work and enhances opportunities for collaboration.    C-ChanGe will generate positive systemic change in the culture of academic geoscience departments and community through facilitating professional development for geoscience faculty that will a) foster high-quality discussion and sharing of evidence-based practices, b) develop web resources with geoscience-specific examples, c) promote change in participant attitudes and d) equip participants with resources to lead further change in their department and community. This project will provide faculty with concrete ways to implement inclusive strategies in their individual practice at many scales, professional development to overcome barriers to inclusion and belonging for students from marginalized identities, and training to help participants share what they learn with colleagues in their local program, department, and institution. The project will also leverage existing expertise to generate a national network of projects focused on making academic geoscience more inclusive, welcoming, and supportive of people from diverse backgrounds and identities. This network will elevate the national visibility of existing efforts within the geosciences and provide opportunities for collaboration among disparate programs. Through this network, we will create a cycle by which C-ChanGe participants learn from the cutting-edge research and implementation of impactful practices, are able to apply this learning in their local context, and then provide information to the project network about the efficacy and challenges of implementing those research-informed practices.    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.",FALSE
2411774,Collaborative Research: Racial Equity in STEM Starts with Teacher Education,2025-04-25,Western Washington University,BELLINGHAM,WA,WA02,169035,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411774,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411774_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,982255996,U3ZFA57417D4,"The racial and ethnic diversity of the K-12 student population far exceeds the diversity of the current teacher workforce and teacher candidate pipeline. To address this gap, systemic changes in the structural and cultural dimensions of university teacher preparation programs are required. This project will leverage an existing consortium of STEM teacher preparation programs in Washington State to: (1) identify community assets and systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting STEM teacher candidates from historically underrepresented populations; (2) develop strategies for preparing STEM teacher candidates to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies; and (3) advance understanding of how universities can develop authentic partnerships with historically marginalized communities to support STEM teacher preparation. The significance of this project is that it aims to establish authentic partnerships with individuals and groups typically underrepresented in STEM and elevate the knowledge and leadership from marginalized communities to collaboratively address barriers and obstacles to becoming STEM teachers.    This project will employ a descriptive multiple case study design to understand how institutes of higher education work with their local communities to dismantle systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM teacher preparation. Further, the project will investigate how these teacher preparation programs leverage the knowledge of leaders from marginalized communities to develop and share strategies for preparing future STEM teachers to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies. With sites spanning urban, suburban, and rural settings, this research will enhance our collective knowledge about contextual factors that support or constrain efforts to address inequities in STEM teacher preparation. The community-led work at each region is grounded in the principles of Targeted Universalism and will utilize tools and frameworks from the Equity-Driven Systems Change Model to center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities. Anticipated impacts include new recruitment and retention models for diversifying STEM teaching, revised curricula to infuse culturally sustaining pedagogy into STEM teacher preparation, and new equity-minded structures and policies to guide teacher education program decisions.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2048507,REU Site: Culturally Responsive Research in Developmental Science,2025-04-25,University of Texas at Dallas,RICHARDSON,TX,TX24,327848,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2048507,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2048507_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,750803021,EJCVPNN1WFS5,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate. It has both scientific and societal benefits in addition to integrating research and education. Currently, the majority of developmental research is conducted by and focused on monolingual, white individuals from middle-to-high income households. To address the critical need to expand developmental theories to incorporate underserved and underrepresented populations this project will train students from these understudied populations to become researchers who can provide rich and needed perspectives on developmental science. Through participation in the University of Texas at Dallas’s year-long REU, 30 students (10 per year) from historically underrepresented groups will learn the necessary tools to conduct high-quality research with real-world applications with families that are challenging-to-study, vulnerable, and underrepresented in the developmental science literature. Thus, the project will advance the field of developmental science by increasing diversity in both the researchers and the children who are researched.    Students will be drawn primarily from the Dallas/Ft Worth area, which compared to other similarly large cities in the U.S., has few research intensive 4-year institutions of higher learning, and few opportunities for students to gain high quality, first-hand research experiences. At least 50% of the students will be enrolled at one of Dallas College system’s 7 community campuses, and the remaining students will be enrolled at The University of Texas at Dallas . A large number of historically underrepresented college students attend the local community colleges and UTD. In the fall, students will acquire skills needed for culturally-responsive research by taking an active role in the Play With Me program. Play With Me, a unique and important aspect of this REU’s research experience, is a free 12-week parent/child (ages 0-3 years) community-based outreach program created by UTD developmental scientists and specialists based on playful-learning research and directed by developmental specialists of UTD’s Center for Children and Families. With mentorship from UTD faculty, students will formulate new theoretically-driven research questions within ongoing data sets influenced by their Play With Me experience. In the spring, a faculty mentor team will guide students as they collect and analyze data from families recruited from Play With Me. In the summer, students will learn to disseminate findings to academic (journals, conferences) and non-academic (newsletters, community outreach) audiences. Fellows will also participate in brownbag discussions on professional development, including how to identify and apply to graduate schools, prepare for the GRE, and identify academic career options.    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.",FALSE
2050803,REU Site: Summer Research Experiences in Interdisciplinary Mind & Brain Studies,2025-04-25,University of Pennsylvania,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,366619,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050803,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2050803_4900,2021-05-01,2025-04-30,191046205,GM1XX56LEP58,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate and is supported by the Department of Defense in partnership with the NSF REU program. It has both scientific and societal benefits, and integrates research and education. This REU site focuses on Interdisciplinary Mind and Brain Studies at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn), and is run by MindCORE, Penn’s hub for the integrative study of the mind. The program provides a ten-week summer research experience for students that combines the opportunity to work on a research project in an established research lab with an introductory workshop, and closes with a series of student project presentations. Student research will focus on various aspects of how the human mind works, integrating insights from multiple disciplinary approaches, from neurobiology to psychology and linguistics, to philosophy and computer science. The primary objective of the program is to provide a diverse set of students--from underrepresented groups in science and non-research colleges--an experience of in-depth and hands-on research. This, together with providing students with broader knowledge of the field, important technical and professional skills, and connections to cognitive science faculty and labs at the forefront of research, will prepare them for pursuing future graduate studies to become full-fledged members of the research community in this important area, and help progress the understanding of human behavior.    This REU site aims to work towards a more diverse and equitable future for the field of mind and brain studies, by providing an integrated research, learning, and mentoring opportunity for students from underrepresented backgrounds in the sciences. It aims to introduce students to a broad and interdisciplinary perspective in a way that leads them to see themselves as active contributors to a larger endeavor to understand the nature of human intelligence and behavior. During the lab internship, students explore their own research question, supported by a faculty mentor from a pool of select Penn MindCORE faculty whose work relates to topics in perception, learning, decision-making, communication and social behavior. By participating, students have the opportunity to explore interdisciplinary connections and perspectives in cognitive science in a collaborative and supportive environment. Programming will be designed according to principles of Inclusive Teaching, with students participating in themed seminars, professional development sessions, technical workshops, lab tours, and journal club meetings with a step-ahead mentor. By conducting in-depth research on a specific question with a MindCORE mentor in a key research area, along with extensive scaffolding through ongoing mentorship, support, and professional development and research skills training, the program aims to ensure that students have a positive research and learning experience that increases both their interest and ability in continuing in research careers and competing for admission to graduate programs.    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.",FALSE
2426973,Collaborative Research: AGEP ACA: Critical STEM Faculty Alliance (C-STEM Alliance),2025-04-25,University of Pennsylvania,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,129100,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426973,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426973_4900,2024-08-15,2026-07-31,191046205,GM1XX56LEP58,"New York University, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania form the Critical STEM Faculty Alliance (C-STEM).  Leveraging their combined strengths, they aim to develop an infrastructural technology system that provides more opportunities and lowers systemic risks for historically underrepresented groups. C-STEM will examine college and university functions, to understand how to train effective technology researchers and teachers from these groups. NSF emphasizes creating opportunities everywhere. Accordingly, C-STEM seeks to help new researchers from underrepresented backgrounds build strong professional networks, establish stable pathways that advance careers, and collaborate with other experts in academia, industry, and government. Also, C-STEM aims to help researchers build new projects and design innovative educational tools to improve people's lives. Its goal is to ensure that technology serves the public interest, especially those who have been most negatively affected by technology.    C-STEM aims to design and implement institutional self-assessments at the three C-STEM Alliance institutions. The alliance will prioritize collecting and analyzing data to identify inequities affecting underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty in STEM fields. To assess the need for the C-STEM Alliance, the project will collect data on the demographic representation (race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, first-generation status) of doctoral students and faculty in STEM and related fields. The project will also conduct curriculum surveys to understand demographic and socio-technical content representation in STEM courses, and review research production by minority and non-minority STEM students and faculty. Surveys will also evaluate existing mentorship and support structures, and collect data on minority STEM doctoral student outcomes, such as degree completion and post-degree hiring. Additionally, the alliance will gather qualitative data from minority STEM students and faculty about their experiences. This data will help identify institutional challenges and justify the alliance's activities, demonstrating how they address specific needs. To assess institutional readiness, the project will collect data that include reviews of diversity commitments by university leaders and progress towards diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. This will demonstrate C-STEM institutions’ commitment to increasing the representation, resilience, and success of minority doctoral students and faculty in STEM. The alliance intends for this work to help research communities better understand the incentives and affordances  institutional leaders’ encounter in their efforts to  create, continue, or expand key structures, such as postdoctoral programs and frameworks for transitioning postdoctoral scholars to tenure-track positions.    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.",FALSE
2200437,Collaborative Research: Adapted Measure of Math Engagement: Designing self-report measures of mathematics engagement for Black and Latina/o middle school students,2025-04-25,Child Trends Inc,ROCKVILLE,MD,MD08,1749723,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200437,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200437_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,208521609,GKL3GR9NQ3W5,"Mathematics is a critical gatekeeper for access and success in STEM; thus, failing to engage Black and Latina/o students in mathematics classes cascades into limited individual mobility and widened societal inequity. To date, research and measures of Black and Latina/o student engagement are often based on deficit-based perspectives, which fail to capture the many important ways that mathematics can be engaging for these students. For example, most measures of math engagement do not highlight how Black and Latina/o students often overcome racially/ethnically-rooted stereotypes and discrimination in mathematics, nor do the measures acknowledge Black and Latina/o students’ culturally-rooted funds of knowledge. To address these concerns, this project focuses on developing the Adapted Measure of Math Engagement (AM-ME), a culturally sustaining self-report measure of Black and Latina/o middle school students’ mathematics engagement. By developing a measure of mathematics engagement that centers Black and Latina/o students’ experiences, this project offers insight into creating inclusive mathematics learning environments and culturally sustaining understandings of what it means to be engaged in mathematics.       This project is guided by interdisciplinary, strengths-based and equity perspectives, and is being conducted in deep partnership with practitioners and Black and Latina/o students in six racially diverse, urban middle schools. The project will (1) qualitatively investigate the experiences of Black and Latina/o middle school students’ engagement in mathematics, and (2) develop and produce evidence of validity and reliability for a multi-dimensional measure of Black and Latina/o student mathematics engagement. It is anticipated that that the measure and results will have broader impact as they may transfer to other contexts, particularly other urban schools. Additionally, the critical participatory action research design has a direct impact on promoting diversity in the field of STEM research as Black and Latina/o students gain experience conducting research and practitioners grow in their capacity to authentically listen to and uplift Black and Latina/o voices. By prioritizing and uplifting the voices of Black and Latina/o students through collaborative meaning-making and using rigorous strategies from modern measurement theory, the project advances knowledge about equitable mathematics learning experiences for Black and Latina/o middle-school students.    This award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2119573,Transformative Computational Models of Narrative to Support Teaching Indigenous Perspectives in K-12 Classrooms,2025-04-25,Utah State University,LOGAN,UT,UT01,582983,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2119573,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2119573_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,843221000,SPE2YDWHDYU4,"This project will contribute to the national need for sharing Indigenous perspectives in US K-12 education. By providing accurate representations of Indigenous narratives within social studies curricula, this project will address misconceptions of Indigenous peoples and their communities. The project will mitigate potential impacts of misrepresentations such as cultural identity silencing, disconnection, and lower graduation rates for Indigenous students and lack of cultural competence for non-Indigenous students. Often, Tribal Knowledge Holders visit classrooms and share their histories and perspectives class by class, which has the potential to overburden Indigenous communities. Technology can support both teachers and Indigenous communities to develop sustainable processes and practices to appropriately preserve and share Indigenous knowledge, culture, and perspectives. To date, little work has examined the role of Indigenous representation in the creation of narrative technologies designed to mitigate the lack of Indigenous representation in the classroom. This project will develop emerging narrative technologies from an Indigenous perspective to support teachers and classroom learning. The broader impact of the work includes benefits for tribal communities, K-12 educators, and policymakers, and other community and education organizations that wish to expand representations of diverse knowledge, cultures, education, and computations.    The proposed work builds on existing efforts to address pressing issues of bias embedded in emerging technologies and expand current notions of how to design new forms of technology for more equitable futures. The proposed project will deconstruct and culturally reformulate the basis of emerging technologies: the underlying computational models, data, algorithms, and interfaces. The overarching research question is: What does a culturally sustaining/revitalizing computational model of Indigenous narrative(s) look like? Building on an existing partnership with the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation and K-12 teachers, the project team will use the social studies classroom as a design context to address issues of representation of Indigenous knowledge and culture via computational models. The proposed work seeks to empower Tribal members to (re)engage technologies that have historically perpetuated disparities and caused significant harm to their community to develop prototypes that represent their ways of being and knowing. The prototypes will be Tribally-created design experiences that preserve Indigenous history and effectively share it with students in fourth grade classrooms. This project will offer empirical insights for effective strategies and processes of how to engage Indigenous communities through a community-driven design methodological approach. The project has the potential to reimagine not only how models and algorithms are designed, but also who designs them. This project will inform and advance diverse fields including computer science, learning sciences, psychology, Indigenous education, teacher education, and social studies education.    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.",FALSE
2119630,Transformative Computational Models of Narrative to Support Teaching Indigenous Perspectives in K-12 Classrooms,2025-04-25,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,266888,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2119630,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2119630_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"This project will contribute to the national need for sharing Indigenous perspectives in US K-12 education. By providing accurate representations of Indigenous narratives within social studies curricula, this project will address misconceptions of Indigenous peoples and their communities. The project will mitigate potential impacts of misrepresentations such as cultural identity silencing, disconnection, and lower graduation rates for Indigenous students and lack of cultural competence for non-Indigenous students. Often, Tribal Knowledge Holders visit classrooms and share their histories and perspectives class by class, which has the potential to overburden Indigenous communities. Technology can support both teachers and Indigenous communities to develop sustainable processes and practices to appropriately preserve and share Indigenous knowledge, culture, and perspectives. To date, little work has examined the role of Indigenous representation in the creation of narrative technologies designed to mitigate the lack of Indigenous representation in the classroom. This project will develop emerging narrative technologies from an Indigenous perspective to support teachers and classroom learning. The broader impact of the work includes benefits for tribal communities, K-12 educators, and policymakers, and other community and education organizations that wish to expand representations of diverse knowledge, cultures, education, and computations.    The proposed work builds on existing efforts to address pressing issues of bias embedded in emerging technologies and expand current notions of how to design new forms of technology for more equitable futures. The proposed project will deconstruct and culturally reformulate the basis of emerging technologies: the underlying computational models, data, algorithms, and interfaces. The overarching research question is: What does a culturally sustaining/revitalizing computational model of Indigenous narrative(s) look like? Building on an existing partnership with the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation and K-12 teachers, the project team will use the social studies classroom as a design context to address issues of representation of Indigenous knowledge and culture via computational models. The proposed work seeks to empower Tribal members to (re)engage technologies that have historically perpetuated disparities and caused significant harm to their community to develop prototypes that represent their ways of being and knowing. The prototypes will be Tribally-created design experiences that preserve Indigenous history and effectively share it with students in fourth grade classrooms. This project will offer empirical insights for effective strategies and processes of how to engage Indigenous communities through a community-driven design methodological approach. The project has the potential to reimagine not only how models and algorithms are designed, but also who designs them. This project will inform and advance diverse fields including computer science, learning sciences, psychology, Indigenous education, teacher education, and social studies education.    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.",FALSE
2048985,Collaborative Research: Engaging Adolescents through Collaboration on Simulated STEM Career Scenarios and Mathematics Activities,2025-04-25,Horizon Research Inc,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,737186,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2048985,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2048985_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,275177803,TX4RB7DSL6M4,"Employment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and attainment in STEM education need to reflect better the diversity of US population demographics. This disparity is especially concerning given projected shortfalls in skilled workers for jobs in STEM fields. This project will lead to the creation of virtual simulations of peer collaboration in STEM fields, designed for use by adolescents. Practice with these simulations will help adolescents build collaborative skills and career interest in STEM fields, especially those that use mathematics and require strong teamwork.  By creating an innovative simulation to support mathematics collaborative skills development and STEM career identities, and grounding its use in informal learning environments that capitalize on youths’ cultural assets, this project will increase the likelihood that students historically underrepresented in STEM careers will persist in the STEM career pipeline. The project’s work will result in three simulation modules, program materials supporting their use in informal learning environments, and initial research evidence about their implementation and impacts.     The simulations will feature authentic performance settings of STEM career scenarios with opportunities for repeated application of mathematical knowledge and collaborative skills. Simulation players will interact with virtual partners, receiving feedback to improve performance and emphasize the value of mathematics and collaboration in STEM careers. Adapted from an artificial intelligence platform used in healthcare training, the simulations’ virtual partners and their dialog will be based on recordings of mathematics collaboration in secondary school classrooms. Simulation content and supports will be informed by staff from strategic partners, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center (MPSC) and LatinxEd, that provide STEM-focused programming to African American, Latinx, and future first-generation college students. Six African American and Latinx STEM Career Partners will ground the simulations in authentic mathematics and collaborative industry practices that appeal to student users. A total of 96 African American and Latinx adolescents, and adolescents who are potential first-generation college students will serve as play-testers. An additional 80 participants enrolled in the strategic partners’ programs will engage in field-testing: playing each of three simulations, generating user data, and completing a transfer task of collaborative skills in mathematics and self-report surveys about their STEM career interests and aspirations.  Field-test data will be analyzed using multi-level models for nested data and repeated measures. Qualitative data collection will include observations of play and field testing, and interviews with program staff and industry consultants. Thematic analysis will inform curricular supports and improve implementation utility and feasibility. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2432870,EAGER: PBI: Using machine learning to generate datasets and models to assess socio-economic impacts of place-based innovation,2025-04-25,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,299738,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",NSF Engines - Type 2,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2432870,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2432870_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"Understanding the impact of place-based innovations on socio-economic aspects is crucial for accurately measuring recent adaptation and mitigation efforts. Current methods and tools used to address the impact of such activities on communities are still not properly capturing the nuances associated with biases towards specific ethnic and racial communities or simply including socio-vulnerable populations. This project is focused on assessing the impact of the U.S. National Science Foundation's Regional Innovation Engines (NSF Engines) in New York and Louisiana. We will utilize advanced ML tools to analyze and quantify these impacts, ultimately applying, for the first time to our knowledge, AI tools to such socio-economic problems related to climate change and creating scalable models that can be applied to other regions and areas.      ML tools can be used to discover patterns and relationships among datasets and build new inference models that can connect changes among variables. In the case of this specific project, the project will use ML to discover relationships among socio-economic, climate and environmental datasets and model such relationships with a specific emphasis in identifying biases of historical models on socially-vulnerable populations. However, to counterbalance the potential “black-box” effects of ML-based approaches, the project will make use of Explanatory Artificial Intelligence (XAI). XAI tools help characterize the accuracy, transparency, fairness, and outcomes of AI-powered decision-making. Specifically, the project will make use of an XAI technique based on Shapley coefficients, which quantifies the relative role of each predictor on the model performances. This will allow us not only to understand the drivers of potential changes - eg. due to NSF investements in those areas - but also to better understand the “quality” of the ML outputs that will be required to fulfill basic rules based on the knowledge of the processes under study from a qualitative point of view. Convening workshops with experts will help identify the specific datasets and optimal approaches for creating a database that will unveil the impact of new activities on communities through ML models.    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.",FALSE
2313936,Advancing Latino Parents' Access and Engagement with Science-Based Strategies for Climate-Resilient Parenting through a National Media and Community Campaign,2025-04-25,Child Trends Inc,ROCKVILLE,MD,MD08,3498607,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313936,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313936_4900,2023-08-01,2026-07-31,208521609,GKL3GR9NQ3W5,"Climate change presents a significant challenge for parents worldwide as they navigate the task of preparing the next generation for a rapidly changing world. This interdisciplinary project aims to address this challenge by focusing on the needs of under-resourced Latino families, with a particular emphasis on Latino children who bear a disproportionate burden from climatic changes. By integrating insights from climate science, child development social sciences, climate change communication, and learning sciences, the project seeks to develop effective strategies that empower parents and promote positive parenting practices in the face of climate change. The project acknowledges the unique challenges faced by under-resourced Latino families who often lack access to the resources and information necessary to navigate the impacts of climate change. By centering their voices and concerns, the project aims to provide these families with the tools and knowledge needed to raise resilient children capable of coping, adapting, and contributing to sustainable solutions. Through the integration of knowledge from multiple disciplines and collaboration with trusted community-based organizations, the project aims to develop a Science-Based Roadmap for Parenting During Climate Change. This roadmap not only supports parents in addressing the specific challenges posed by climate change but also contributes to ongoing research in climate science, child development, and communication. The project has the potential to inform and advance related lines of inquiry and foster the integration of equity-centered approaches in future research and practice. Furthermore, the project recognizes the broader impact of its work on other fields and society as a whole. By developing effective communication strategies and engaging with communities in culturally responsive ways, the project seeks to bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and under-resourced communities. It strives to broaden access to new knowledge among low-income Latino families with lower educational attainment, ensuring that they have access to science-based parenting recommendations through trusted media channels and community organizations. The project also aims to enhance the capacity of parents as learners and STEM communicators, empowering them to play an active role in addressing the climate crisis and fostering a more inclusive and sustainable future.    The primary goal of the project is to advance access to and engagement with science-based parenting strategies for Latino parents during the climate crisis. The project aims to address several key research questions: (1) What is the current knowledge level of parents regarding climate change (CC), their existing parenting strategies related to CC, and the knowledge and skills they wish to acquire? (2) Which key messages effectively address parents' concerns and needs, leading to learning and adoption of science-based parenting behaviors? (3) What are the most effective communication approaches for parents to discuss climate change with their children? (4) What skills can children acquire to better cope and adapt to the impacts of climate change? (5) Which STEM career paths will be in higher demand as climate change advances, and how can parents expose their children to these opportunities? (6) How can scientists collaborate with communities in culturally responsive ways to foster parent learning and children's connections with life and ecological systems? To answer these questions, the project will employ a multidisciplinary approach, integrating expertise from child development, climate science, informal learning, communication, and Latino studies. The research methods will include participatory research, which involves actively involving parents in the research process, and the design and development of a Science-Based Roadmap for Parenting During Climate Change. The roadmap will provide evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for parents to support their children's ability to cope, adopt sustainable lifestyles, contribute to climate change mitigation, and thrive. To evaluate the effectiveness of the project, a rigorous evaluation framework will be implemented, assessing the impact of the Science-Based Roadmap and the public engagement campaign launched in collaboration with Televisa Foundation and the Inner Space Center. The evaluation will measure changes in parents' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to climate change, as well as the extent to which children acquire the necessary skills to adapt to climate impacts. Dissemination efforts will focus on ensuring broad access to the Roadmap's parenting recommendations through trusted media outlets and community organizations, with a particular emphasis on reaching low-income families of color who have limited access to scientific research. The broader impacts of this project are multifaceted. Firstly, it aims to advance equity and belonging by raising the voices of Latino parents and addressing the unique needs and concerns of under-resourced communities. By actively involving community organizations, the project ensures that communication products and recommendations are culturally relevant and accessible. Secondly, the project seeks to promote public engagement with STEM among under-resourced audiences, improve the well-being of individuals and society, foster partnerships between academia, industry, and communities, and increase participation in STEM careers. By expanding the capacity of parents as learners and STEM communicators, the project empowers them to play an active role in addressing the climate crisis and promotes a more inclusive and sustainable future for all. This Research in Support of Wide-reaching Public Engagement with STEM project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",FALSE
2422551,Engaging Black Youth Voices to Advance Knowledge and Conceptualization of Black Youth's STEM Identity to Promote Greater Equity in K-12 STEM Education,2025-04-25,Child Trends Inc,ROCKVILLE,MD,MD08,350000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2422551,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2422551_4900,2024-09-15,2027-08-31,208521609,GKL3GR9NQ3W5,"STEM fields lack adequate representation of Black persons, thereby limiting their contribution of unique perspectives and ideas and their access to associated social and economic benefits. Deficit perspectives emphasize individual skills and motivation yet fail to acknowledge systemic inequities that shape learning, opportunities, and endeavors. The extent to which a person identifies with STEM – such as envisioning a future career or having a sense of enjoyment – also plays a role. For Black youth, though, identity in STEM is intertwined with other aspects of identity like race and gender given experiences with inequity. In K-12 STEM education research and practice, the voices and perspectives of Black students are often absent from efforts to understand and strengthen their STEM engagement. This project will work to change this by expanding the capacity of the Principal Investigator to conduct impactful STEM education research and by conducting a pilot study that seeks to elevate Black youth voices through participatory research. With mentorship from STEM identity and engagement experts, the principal investigator will execute a professional development plan to strengthen knowledge and approaches for engaging youth in research and meaningfully partnering with communities. In turn, the pilot research study will allow engagement of Black youth in shaping narratives around their STEM experiences and identity development through photography and shared insights. The pilot study will focus particularly on math, given its critical role across STEM disciplines, but will also attend to other STEM disciplines. Engaging the voices of youth, who are in process of navigating inequitable systems, will advance research, theory, and practice intended to better support and help realize the aspirations of Black youth in STEM.    Through comprehensive professional development activities and a related pilot study, this project will use youth participatory and mixed-method approaches to further understanding of Black youth’s STEM identity development and its importance to STEM engagement. Strengthened engagement and persistence of Black youth in STEM fields are achievable through youth-informed understanding of their unique experiences and perspectives. The project’s professional development activities will support the principal investigator in expanding content area expertise around STEM identity and engagement and strengthening knowledge and execution of participatory and mixed-method approaches. The project’s research study will leverage youth voice in advancing the Black Student STEM Identity framework (BSSI), which centers the integral role of race/ethnicity and gender in STEM identity. The pilot study will focus particularly on STEM identity tied to mathematics learning, given its critical role across STEM disciplines, but will also attend to other STEM disciplines. Data will capture qualitative Photovoice images and captions, alongside quantitative measures of STEM identity, engagement, and plans to persist, including a measure that is being co-designed with and for Black youth. Alignment of youth perspectives with the BSSI will be examined. This project will elevate the lens of Black youth, who are in process of navigating inequitable systems, in shaping conceptualizations of their experiences and identities in STEM. Research and practice that better reflect salient aspects of Black students’ STEM identities will support their entry into and persistence along the STEM pathway. Findings will have implications for the ways in which STEM programming reflects and strengthens salient aspects of Black students’ STEM identities. A data story visualizing qualitative and quantitative findings will be shared with research and practice communities to better support Black students in STEM.    This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigator's capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.    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.",FALSE
2148889,Explaining Changes in Racial Identification across Time and Place,2025-04-25,Texas A&M University,COLLEGE STATION,TX,TX10,399943,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148889,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148889_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,778454375,JF6XLNB4CDJ5,"Racial and ethnic identity, and how people select into categories of race and ethnicity, can be fluid. This study investigates how racial and ethnic self-categorization changes across an individual’s life and is affected by time and place. The project links individuals and their offspring across 80 years of federal administrative and survey data, looking for shifts in racial and ethnic self-categorization. The researchers focus on categorization patterns of immigrants, children of immigrants, and people with more than one ethnic or racial background. The study also examines the effects of where people live and where they move on how individuals categorize their race and ethnicity. Linking individuals intergenerationally enables analysis of how racial and ethnic categorization is passed down through generations. This research contributes to a broader understanding of race and ethnicity in the United States and informs decision-making that relies on demographic data.    This study links the 1940, 2000, 2010 and 2020 decennial Censuses, all years of the American Community Survey, and Social Security Administration Data to produce a dataset of millions of individuals. Using these data, researchers investigate patterns of racial and ethnic self-categorization over time and place. The study estimates how many individuals change racial categorization and how this varies across time, demographic and socioeconomic status, and geography. Researchers investigate how the characteristics of a place, including racial and ethnic demographics and patterns of racial residential segregation, affect self-categorization, and whether and how moving within the United States generates change. For children of immigrants, the project investigates how racial categorization in adulthood varies by birth cohort, country of origin, and place of parental residence. Looking inter-generationally, the study also considers how a parent’s racial categorization shapes their children’s racial and ethnic categorization. Findings from this research inform how demographers and other social scientists use racial and ethnic data.    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.",TRUE
2403845,Collaborative Research: Cultural Change in Geoscience (C-ChanGe): Transforming Departmental Culture through Faculty Agents of Change,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,MILWAUKEE,WI,WI04,85587,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2403845,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2403845_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,532113153,JBQ9M3PLFDP5,"This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing practices to improve inclusivity in academic geoscience departments. Geoscience is a critical discipline for today’s world, integrating other physical and life sciences into a wholistic perspective with relevance to the most pressing challenges facing humanity today including climate change, energy resources, and natural hazards. However, the number of graduates and students pursuing geosciences is not sufficient to meet the demand for geoscience expertise in the economy.  While geoscience degrees can provide students with significant opportunities to learn and practice workforce-relevant skills, many systemic barriers prevent equal participation, exacerbating the gap in the geoscience workforce. Through intentional professional development, the Cultural Change in Geoscience (C-ChanGe) project will create a corps of faculty change agents empowered to make successive, incremental changes that will lead to positive cultural shifts within their home departments. This cultural change will foster an environment where all people experience academic geoscience as safe, welcoming, and supportive. C-ChanGe will also compile and leverage existing efforts focused on cultural change. This will create a network of leaders and resources that raises the visibility of all aspects of this important work and enhances opportunities for collaboration.    C-ChanGe will generate positive systemic change in the culture of academic geoscience departments and community through facilitating professional development for geoscience faculty that will a) foster high-quality discussion and sharing of evidence-based practices, b) develop web resources with geoscience-specific examples, c) promote change in participant attitudes and d) equip participants with resources to lead further change in their department and community. This project will provide faculty with concrete ways to implement inclusive strategies in their individual practice at many scales, professional development to overcome barriers to inclusion and belonging for students from marginalized identities, and training to help participants share what they learn with colleagues in their local program, department, and institution. The project will also leverage existing expertise to generate a national network of projects focused on making academic geoscience more inclusive, welcoming, and supportive of people from diverse backgrounds and identities. This network will elevate the national visibility of existing efforts within the geosciences and provide opportunities for collaboration among disparate programs. Through this network, we will create a cycle by which C-ChanGe participants learn from the cutting-edge research and implementation of impactful practices, are able to apply this learning in their local context, and then provide information to the project network about the efficacy and challenges of implementing those research-informed practices.    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.",FALSE
2417884,"Researching Equity, Access, & Learning in Computer Science Education (REAL-CS)",2025-04-25,University of Oregon Eugene,EUGENE,OR,OR04,2000000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417884,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417884_4900,2024-10-01,2026-09-30,974031905,Z3FGN9MF92U2,"The University of Oregon will expand the Researching Equity, Access, & Learning in Computer Science Education (REAL-CS) project that supports the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) program, an introductory high school course and teacher preparation program designed to broaden participation in computing. The ECS program offers evidence-based curricular and professional development and employs high-quality and innovative instructional strategies to include students from groups historically marginalized in computing. The REAL-CS partnership model has established a wide, national reach that impacts thousands of Black, Latiné, and Native American students and their teachers each year.     In this CS for All Research-Practice Partnership project in the High School strand, REAL-CS aims to work with school districts across the United States to create systemic change within high school computer science by iteratively designing, implementing, and studying generative efforts to broaden participation in computing in collaboration with teachers. Building on 15 years of development, research, and implementation in schools across the nation, this project focuses on the Exploring Computer Science (ECS) introductory course and associated curricular (co)-development and professional development. REAL-CS aims to make progress towards CS for All goals using four key strategies: 1. Leveraging national organizational partners to serve as hub in supporting ECS classes and teacher learning communities in diverse school communities nationwide; 2. Developing innovative and inquiry-based high school ECS curriculum and supplementary curricular materials that incorporate justice-oriented design tenets through a co-design process with a group of experienced ECS teachers; 3. Increasing CS educator knowledge, capacity, and preparation to integrate culturally responsive and sustaining CS teaching practices across different levels of teaching experiences; and 4. Conducting synergistic qualitative research across the US that investigates teacher support to practice justice-oriented computing teaching and to build a professional community around it. This project will continue to provide equitable learning experiences to thousands of students each year, expand ECS course availability in schools across the nation, and prepare dozens of new ECS teachers, and support hundreds of experienced ECS teachers. The research that emerges from this project will advance the field in understanding effective practices for broadening participation in high school CS.    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.",FALSE
2331066,CAREER: Cracking the Diversity Code: Understanding Computing Pathways of those Least Represented,2025-04-25,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,296209,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331066,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331066_4900,2023-01-01,2025-05-31,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"Florida International University proposes to explore the pathways and experiences of Black and Hispanic women in computer science (CS). Despite the growth in undergraduate CS enrollment nationally, the participation of women continues to be quite low. Research around their low participation has largely focused on the experiences of White women, and while its findings have resulted in a range of interventions aimed at increasing female participation in CS, those interventions have had little to no impact on engaging women of color. This research aims to develop an understanding of the experiences of Black and Hispanic women so that the CS community can begin to develop initiatives that are accessible and impactful for them.     Based on an existing pilot, this research will explore the experiences of Black and Hispanic women in computing using the following theoretical frameworks as guide posts: social identity theory, intersectionality, and community cultural wealth. The exploratory sequential mixed methods design expands the Principal Investigator's preliminary qualitative work, with a rigorous mixed-methods inquiry. The first phase will gather exploratory, qualitative narratives and the second will collect quantitative date from a broader sample in order to explain the relationships found in the first phase for more generalizable results.    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.",TRUE
2128746,FW-HTF-R:  Collaborative Research: Virtual Meeting Support for Enhanced Well-Being and Equity for Game Developers,2025-04-25,University of Oregon Eugene,EUGENE,OR,OR04,301994,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,FW-HTF Futr Wrk Hum-Tech Frntr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128746,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2128746_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,974031905,Z3FGN9MF92U2,"The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote work, highlighting barriers to well-being, equity, and inclusion. Virtual meeting fatigue, the exhaustion that occurs after long periods of videoconferencing, has been identified as especially harmful to women and people of color, compounding common face-to-face inequities like unequal talking time and interruptions in meetings. To develop more inclusive and equitable remote workspaces, this research asks: How can future virtual meeting platforms better support well-being and social equity? To address this question, the project focuses on a uniquely appropriate group: video game developers, who rely heavily on virtual meetings within teams with varied expertise (i.e., design, programming, and art), represent an estimated $160 billion industry (over $40 billion domestic), and grapple with issues of social equity in the workplace. The interdisciplinary research is using insights from these workers to identify general best practices for virtual meetings among diverse teams to minimize fatigue and improve well-being, equity, and inclusion.     The project uses a mixed-methodological approach to pinpoint and test virtual meeting-platform features that influence user welfare. Study 1 utilizes natural language processing of social media to develop a broad, inductive understanding of how virtual meeting elements relate to well-being and social equity. Study 2 utilizes a survey of remote workers in an exploratory analysis of how virtual meeting features statistically relate to user welfare. Study 3 uses targeted interviews to qualitatively interpret broader insights about virtual meetings within the context of video game developers. Study 4 uses an online experiment to test hypotheses about which specific virtual meeting features enhance video game-developer welfare. Study 5 prototypes and user tests a virtual reality meeting platform with game development teams to confirm which design features promote well-being and social equity. A public “Guide to Virtual Meetings for Well-Being and Equity” is being developed based on insights from these studies.    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.",FALSE
2404781,Postdoctoral Fellowship: SPRF: Examining the Role of Defaults in Faculty Recruitment,2025-04-25,University of Washington,Seattle,WA,WA07,160000,Fellowship Award,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,SPRF-Broadening Participation,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2404781,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2404781_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,981951525,HD1WMN6945W6,"This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Sapna Cheryan at The University of Washington, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating how to increase representation in tenure-track Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) faculty positions. Research on representation in STEM faculty positions has primarily focused on eliminating the differential treatment; but it is suggested that eliminating differential treatment is not enough to fully address the partiality that perpetuates underrepresentation in faculty STEM positions. Drawing on social and cultural psychology, a suggested first step in effectively increasing the representation amongst faculty is to directly examine and redefine the defaults that reinforce and reproduce bias in faculty recruitment. Defaults are the default beliefs of which attributes are rewarded, valued, and deemed important or necessary in a setting. This work will focus on defaults and examine whether the overemphasis on certain defaults (e.g., independence, competitiveness) in faculty job ads impacts applicants' motivations in pursuing those positions.    Using correlational and experimental methods, this work will investigate: (1) defaults in academic job ads reduce application rates for tenure-track faculty positions, and show that this is mediated by increased anticipated partiality; (2) whether faculty members are more likely to endorse heterogeneous default job ads than inclusive ads, and show that this is mediated by faculty member’s beliefs about the quality of the applicant pool; and (3) test and intervention to increase faculty members’ endorsement of inclusive job ads. This work will highlight one explanation to why some initiatives to improve representation do not always produce lasting outcomes. While these initiatives focus on reducing differential treatment, they often leave the defaults that perpetuate inequalities intact. This work will serve as evidence of the importance of broadening the defaults of what attributes are necessary for success to begin to create academic department change to increase representation within tenure-track faculty positions.    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.",FALSE
2114242,Collaborative Research: Audio for Inclusion: Uncovering Marginalized Student Narratives to Provide Insight to Faculty on the Known Unknowns of Inclusion,2025-04-25,Utah State University,LOGAN,UT,UT01,200982,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114242,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2114242_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,843221000,SPE2YDWHDYU4,"This project will bring the experiences of diverse engineering students directly to faculty through edited audio interviews. Undergraduate engineering education is a critical juncture in the diversification of the engineering workforce. However, engineering educational culture can marginalize many groups. Faculty are key change agents in this culture, and their empathy and understanding for diverse students are critical for enabling and promoting inclusive education. However, faculty may not be aware of diverse student perspectives, and even well-intentioned faculty may fall short of creating inclusive classroom environments. More resources are needed to help develop faculty empathy and understanding for a broad range of student populations in engineering education. Qualitative research presents a promising tool for centering the voices and experiences of students, but researchers’ typical long form journal publications for disseminating qualitative research are not an accessible and compelling medium. To increase collective impact, more accessible, innovative, and timely dissemination strategies are needed. Podcasts and YouTube clips can be used to disseminate research findings with more immediacy and personalization than written text. In this study, we will feature these audio formats as media to share diverse student experiences with faculty and to facilitate a broader impact on pedagogy and culture. Faculty who listen to the audio will have the potential to gain reflective awareness of student experiences that provoke the creation of more inclusive classrooms. This novel dissemination approach will be sustained through the creation of a widely distributed podcast called Audio for Inclusion, hosted by the PIs. This podcast will include the final versions of edited audio files generated in this study and will be located on the ASEE Diversity Committee’s web and YouTube pages, and incorporated into workshops.  We will conduct a nationwide recruitment of students with salient minoritized identities via email distributed through relevant organizations, campus support centers, and snowball recruitment. Twenty (20) students will be interviewed twice throughout the duration of the study using a semi-structured protocol that focuses on their experiences in engineering education. Interviews will be transcribed, de-identified, edited for conciseness, and re-recorded by student actors. Recorded interviews will be disseminated using a survey distributed to 100 faculty members who represent a range of familiarity with diversity and inclusion topics. This survey will prompt faculty participants to listen to embedded student narratives and provide feedback using Likert-type and open-ended response questions. Survey results will be used to observe the impact of the audio resources on faculty views of diversity, equity, and inclusion in engineering. This project will be informed by existing theoretical frameworks such as intersectionality, figured worlds, narrative, and critical theorizing. Findings from this work will contribute to the knowledge base on broadening participation in engineering in three ways: (1) by providing insights into the experiences of students belonging to minoritized identity groups; (2) by developing an accessible resource for improving faculty knowledge of and strategies for promoting the inclusion of students’ undisclosed identities and experiences in engineering education; 3) by establishing a novel research approach to broaden participation in engineering; (4) by employing innovative dissemination techniques that expand the impact of student participant voices; and (5)  by contributing to evidence-based foundations for the future development of faculty-centered support structures related to expanding concepts of diversity and inclusion.    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.",FALSE
2422009,Collaborative Research: Reconceptualizing Community Cultural Wealth in an engineering design context: Efforts towards curricular integration,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,249442,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2422009,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2422009_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Engineering design courses are a staple of the undergraduate engineering curriculum. These courses provide students with opportunities to tackle real-world problems before encountering them in the workplace. The courses require students to integrate their creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Design courses are crucial aspects of the professional formation of engineers and, therefore, are essential to the competitiveness of the nation’s scientific workforce. The research team will conduct interviews and then develop and deploy a survey focusing on assets that minoritized students bring to the engineering design process. This project provides a perspective that is currently missing from the professional formation of engineers and will help educators improve the engineering curriculum by making it more inclusive for all students, ultimately helping strengthen the workforce.    The project will use an exploratory sequential mixed-methods research design to expand community cultural wealth theory for application in engineering design courses. Recruiting through design-based course instructors, the researchers will conduct two ethnographic interviews with approximately 12-15 minoritized undergraduate students at varying stages of their undergraduate studies. The interview series will focus on students’ linguistic, resistant, navigational, familial, social, and aspirational capital and how design experiences allow them to practice these strengths. Researchers will employ inductive and deductive thematic analysis as well as critical counternarrative analysis. We will publish critical counternarratives to elevate the lived experiences of minoritized engineering students in design-based courses from an asset perspective. The thematically analyzed interview results will include a framework of design-based community cultural wealth working definitions. The researchers will seek feedback from 10-12 faculty experts who teach engineering design courses. The researchers will use critical quantitative methods to design and validate a design-based community cultural wealth survey instrument with students at partnering ABET-accredited institutions. First, the team will deploy the survey to a large and diverse sample of 500-800 engineering students and conduct exploratory factor analysis. The following year, they will relaunch the survey with an additional 500-800 engineering students and conduct a confirmatory factor analysis. The final survey instrument and its accompanying ethical-use manual will provide a way for design-based course instructors to understand the extent to which their students believe they have had the opportunities to practice their design-based forms of capital and the impact of these opportunities on their engineering self-efficacy and identity development. Workshops facilitated by the project team provide an opportunity for educators at partnering institutions and others around the country to collaboratively develop plans to use the instrument and address equity gaps in how design courses are taught. The project will help to promote the integration of asset-based approaches into students’ professional formation to combat disparities in engineering education, a necessary step in building a diverse engineering workforce equipped to tackle the complex challenges of the 21st century.    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.",FALSE
2411936,Collaborative Research: A Student Asset-based Approach to the Formation of Equitable Teams (SAFE Teams),2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,275745,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411936,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411936_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Teamwork is an integral part of engineering and computer science curricula. However, underrepresented students, particularly Black and Latinx students, especially those of lower socioeconomic status, tend to encounter adverse team experiences beyond those generally encountered by all students. A team-based learning environment that values each individual student’s assets can potentially decrease occurrences of negative team experiences rooted in racial bias, increase belongingness, and provide students with teamwork skills to succeed in the increasingly global job market. The goal of this collaborative project is to identify and understand pedagogical strategies that promote equity in team experiences for Black and Latinx students in engineering and computer science classrooms. The research team will use an asset-based approach drawing upon students’ cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets to inform team compositions that will foster cooperation, collaboration, and inclusion leading to equitable outcomes in team-based assignments. Additionally, the research team will couple this novel approach to team formation with training that educates faculty and students about conscious and unconscious bias, intercultural conflict, and culturally responsive communication to improve team dynamics. Enhancing the persistence of Black and Latinx students to degree completion and subsequent entrance into the STEM workforce can increase the diversity and global competitiveness of the STEM workforce in the U.S. which, in turn, promotes national economic prosperity.    The research team will perform a quasi-experimental, quantitatively driven, sequential, mixed methods design in three phases guided by a socioecological framework. The unit of analysis will focus on undergraduate teams formed in engineering and computer science courses that assign team-based assignments at the University of South Florida, Virginia Tech, and West Point. Undergraduate Black and Latinx students will partner with the PIs and co-PIs to make decisions about the research design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of research results. The intellectual merits of this study will provide insights regarding the use of cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets in the formation of equitable engineering and computer science student teams. By leveraging the new insights, the research impact will be to create more inclusive and equitable classroom environments to help alleviate challenges encountered in team-based undergraduate assignments. This project is a step toward transforming the STEM higher education system by illuminating the cultural assets that Black and Latinx students bring to the classroom and by providing inclusive team training to establish better team working environments and pedagogical strategies to improve overall learning experiences.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2419037,"Conference: Research, Mentorship, and Community for Current and Future Underrepresented Algebraists",2025-04-25,Benedictine University,LISLE,IL,IL11,19992,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419037,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2419037_4900,2024-12-15,2025-11-30,605322851,C2VYCKBGJBG1,"This award will support the conference ""Research, Mentorship, and Community for Current and Future Under-represented Algebraists"" to be held at Benedictine University on May 31 and June 1, 2025. Recent reports from the scientific and mathematics communities have highlighted a large gap between obtaining a bachelor's degree and a PhD for women and minoritized populations, especially in algebra and related fields. This conference aims to address this disparity by providing opportunities for potential researchers to engage with current algebra research. It will generate and share actionable ideas for meaningful mentorship and community-building, helping to build bridges to advanced study. Participants will strengthen their professional networks, enhance their scholarship, and build mentoring relationships across all levels: undergraduate, graduate, junior faculty, and senior faculty. The conference will serve as a catalyst for action, inspiring participants to become innovators, contributors, and impactful parties for others.    This conference has three major themes: Mentoring and Transitioning Across the Profession; Belongingness in Algebra, Opening the Community, and Supporting New Researchers; and Innovation and Impact for Future Researcher. To address these topics, the conference will feature current and future researchers in algebra and related fields from typically underrepresented groups by sharing research, providing networking opportunities, and highlighting mentoring across all levels through structured talks, round tables, and panels. In addition, the conference will create a model with tools and materials for similarly sized conferences to be hosted at other institutions to broaden impact and participation. More details can be found on the conference website https://sites.google.com/view/rmc-algebra-conference/home.    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.",FALSE
2404966,Professional Learning to Navigate Student Uncertainty for Productive Struggle around Equity-oriented Sensemaking,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,1012725,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2404966,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2404966_4900,2024-10-15,2028-09-30,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Progress in science is motivated and directed by uncertainties. Uncertainty is unavoidable in an endeavor that strives to match theoretical models of the natural world with empirical data. Yet even though uncertainty is a crucial fulcrum for scientific thought, school students are taught science within an overarching assumption about the opposite—that scientific knowledge is certain. This project explores the intellectual leverage of enabling middle school students to experience how scientific work grapples with uncertainty. The overall goal of this project is to understand how teachers can create equitable learning environments for culturally and linguistically diverse learners using Student Uncertainty for Productive Struggle as a pedagogical model in middle school science classrooms. The project has several goals. It is creating an evidence-based and equity-oriented professional learning program that includes teacher engagement to adapt lessons for equity-oriented sensemaking in their classrooms through curricular resources to foster productive struggle and practice. It is authoring reliable and valid measurements of student disposition toward uncertainty and its navigation, an observation protocol of classroom activities, and measures of engagement in learning and student achievement. Finally, it is making recommendations for implementation across a broad range of learning contexts and diversity of student populations, including a framework to guide teachers in designing uncertainty to support student struggle productively.    This four-year project directly involves 25 teachers and indirectly their students in middle schools serving historically underserved communities in Arizona. The pedagogical approach guides teachers in designing, developing, and implementing science classes activities where scientific uncertainties are purposefully incorporated so students experience productive struggle. The project uses a Professional Learning Program to meet this goal. Professional Learning Programs support middle school teachers in gaining the necessary experience, orientation, materials, and tools to utilize the pedagogical approach for productive struggle and to create an equity-oriented sensemaking environment. The science content of the Professional Learning Program includes thematic-focused, solar energy-related phenomena to help teachers develop core concepts and practices across different science subjects (e.g., physics, chemistry, life science, earth science) and understand their technical application. Each summer program begins with examination of a local, relevant phenomenon related to the students’ neighborhoods, identified with the help of an industrial or institutional partner. Then teachers reflect on and design three meaningful lessons so that students connect science content to their lives. The first sequential lessons pertain to the features, functions, and uses of photovoltaic panels. In the subsequent year, they focus on design of solar panels for generating electricity and electromagnetic force. Finally, the curriculum addresses application of semiconductors to the generation of solar power for students’ families and communities. Deliverables of the project include (a) an equity-oriented teaching approach so culturally and linguistically diverse learners become competent in understanding STEM, (b) evidence of changes in teaching perceptions and practices, and (c) an understanding of the impact of teacher pedagogical change on students’ equitable learning opportunities and learning outcomes. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) is an applied research program that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers. 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 funded projects.    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.",FALSE
2322496,Beginnings: Introducing Molecular Modeling Experiences to Underrepresented Students,2025-04-25,CUNY New York City College of Technology,BROOKLYN,NY,NY07,998665,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322496,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2322496_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,112011909,DD5KCJHVVCV7,"Molecular modeling plays a pivotal role in biotechnology and drug discovery. To foster innovation in this field, it is crucial for biotechnology companies to have a diverse and well-trained workforce. One way to expand access to this field is by equipping undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds with industry-level knowledge. Experiential learning opportunities, in which students learn-by-doing, is a particularly effective way to broaden participation of these groups because it provides technical skills needed by industry. A partnership between local public academia and industry will promote the progress of science by providing better training to future scientists and advance national health by broadening the pool of well-qualified biotechnology workforce members. This project aims to empower underrepresented minority students to actively participate in the biotechnology field and bring their unique perspectives to the table. By diversifying the STEM workforce, the goals are to enhance innovation, foster creativity, and develop more inclusive solutions to global problems.    The initiative Introducing Molecular Modeling Experiences to underRepresented StudEnts (IMMERSE) aims to promote a cross-sector partnership between LaGuardia Community College and the New York City College of Technology, both of the City University of New York (CUNY) system; and Schrödinger, a biotechnology industry leader in molecular modeling software, headquartered in New York City. The goal is to prepare undergraduate students for molecular modeling careers by incorporating industry-driven problems to the classroom, and subsequent participation in a Schrödinger internship program, that then leads to specialized careers. To achieve this goal, the project team will provide experiential learning in a multistage approach. First, in the classroom, students will be taught molecular modeling concepts relevant to biotechnology. Second, hands-on training will be provided to illustrate how to use the molecular modeling tools in a step-by-step format. Third, paid internship opportunities at Schrödinger will be provided, where students will learn-by-doing, while also working on industry-relevant problems that will make them more competitive in the job market. The expected outcome is highly trained and diverse students who are well-equipped for a career in computational biotechnology. This project aligns with the NSF ExLENT Program, funded by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.    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.",TRUE
2435089,CHIRRP RCN: Catalyzing Flood Justice in the USA,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,500000,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",CHIRRP: Hzrds & Resilient Plnt,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2435089,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2435089_4900,2025-01-01,2029-06-30,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Flooding is a significant challenge with impacts that are unevenly distributed across communities in the United States. This Research Coordination Network (RCN) addresses the urgent issue of flood injustice by examining the social, economic, and environmental factors that contribute to unequal flood risks and recovery outcomes. Communities of color and those of low socioeconomic status are often disproportionately affected by flooding due to historical inequities and inadequate infrastructure. This project aims to bring together researchers, policymakers, and community organizations to identify and address flood injustice through collaborative research and action. By focusing on interactions between the built environment, natural systems, and social vulnerability, the project seeks to inform public policy and create more equitable flood management strategies, benefiting communities nationwide. It also aims to enhance public understanding of flood risks and empower communities through education and engagement by creating educational opportunities and collaboration among students, researchers, and community members.     The network will synthesize data and insights, catalyze action, and advance knowledge on how flood injustice is shaped by interactions between social, natural, and engineered systems. The project will focus on two main research themes: (1) mechanisms of urban development and climate change that shape flood risk futures; and (2) broadening participation and co-production of place-based research to address flood justice. Key activities include hosting workshops that leverage the thematic expertise of steering committee members, fostering collaboration and knowledge sharing among participants. The network will engage diverse community perspectives by incorporating non-profit organizations and government representatives on the steering committee, facilitating workshops that develop strategies for flood justice. The network will also actively involve graduate students, providing opportunities to engage in convergence research and develop skills necessary for addressing complex social and environmental issues. By advancing the integration of justice into Earth System Science, this project will contribute to more equitable flood mitigation and recovery policies, promoting social equity and resilience in flood-prone communities across the United States. Additionally, by focusing on the role of natural infrastructure in mitigating flood risks and examining the financial and social dynamics of flood risk futures, the project will inform equitable urban planning and policy decisions.    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.",FALSE
2346166,"NSF POSE: Phase II: SceneryStack: Inclusive Interactive Media Open-Source Ecosystem (OSE) for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education",2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,769303,Continuing Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,POSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2346166,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2346166_4900,2024-06-15,2026-05-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Web-based educational content has evolved into rich, graphical, and highly interactive experiences, becoming an integral resource for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. While these advances result in more engaging, immersive, and usable content for some, they also establish barriers for a significant portion of the population, including learners and educators with sensory, mobility, or cognitive disabilities. A truly accessible interactive Web learning experience requires the expansion of input modalities (beyond the mouse or touch-based events) and output modalities (beyond visual representations and sound effects) to include a broad palette of multimodal features that match the full span of human diversity. In 2023, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder launched SceneryStack, an open-source solution for creating accessible Web-based interactive media, such as interactive graphics, simulations, and games. SceneryStack consists of powerful software code libraries and design patterns, with dynamic visual, auditory, and haptic displays and diverse input capabilities. Vast multimodal capabilities available in one coordinated software development framework create new pathways for unprecedented accessibility, creativity, and innovation through Web-based media.      This POSE Phase II project focuses on expanding the SceneryStack community, improving documentation and onboarding processes, and enacting inclusive governance practices. Through strategic partnerships, community events, and a focus on sustainability, this project fosters a robust ecosystem of developers, educators, and researchers. SceneryStack facilitates accessible implementation through a growing list of accessible design patterns, to support a more inclusive, interactive, online experience. This collaborative environment not only advances the accessibility and innovation potential of interactive media, but also serves as a model for inclusive design in educational technologies. By advancing an open-source ecosystem approach to invite and engage a global community of designers and developers, this project will impact the growing community of designers, developers, researchers, and content creators putting diversity at the center of educational technology design, and in-turn benefit a multitude of end-users with inclusive Web technologies.    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.",FALSE
2237986,CAREER: Affirming Bilingual Children’s Participation in Mathematics,2025-04-25,Texas State University - San Marcos,SAN MARCOS,TX,TX15,373409,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237986,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2237986_4900,2023-08-01,2028-07-31,786664684,HS5HWWK1AAU5,"This project will contribute new knowledge on two aspects of participation in mathematics education. First, this research aims to understand how perceptions of race influence how teachers, future teachers, and researchers assess how bilingual children use their languages and movement to participate in mathematical activity. Second, it will explore ways to counter deficit views that influence teachers’, preservice teachers’, and researchers’ perceptions of these multiple ways of participating as inferior to what is traditionally considered as meaningful participation. The project has the potential to improve bilingual children’s wellbeing by helping teachers to develop mathematics classrooms where children can participate on their own terms. This project will also equip teachers and preservice teachers with the research capacity to potentially transform their own classrooms beyond the duration of the project. These transformations may encourage more bilingual children to pursue careers in mathematics-related fields in the future.    This project seeks to answer the overarching research question: How can teachers and researchers affirm bilingual children’s non-normative participation in mathematics classrooms? Using a participatory design research methodology, the project will bring together a raciolinguistic perspective and embodied cognition to: (1) elicit children’s perspectives on participation, (2) co-design lessons with pre- and in-service teachers, and (3) co-analyze children’s linguistic and embodied ways of participating in these lessons. The PI will collaborate with children and teachers in second, third, and fourth grade, including one classroom per grade level in two schools (six teachers and approximately 250 children). The contrasting racial and linguistic backgrounds of children in the two participating schools offer a unique opportunity to learn about the how children’s linguistic and embodied participation is legitimized and delegitimized given their racialized and linguistic differences. Discourse analysis with a focus on translanguaging and qualitative social network analysis will highlight how students use linguistic and embodied participation to make mathematical meaning. Findings will support educators in affirming racially and linguistically diverse students’ unique ways of participating.     This CAREER proposal is funded by The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2408912,Equity Beyond the Algorithm: A Mathematical Quest for Fairer-ness in Machine Learning,2025-04-25,University of California-Los Angeles,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA36,275000,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2408912,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2408912_4900,2024-07-01,2027-06-30,900244200,RN64EPNH8JC6,"While machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) are seeing widespread and rapid use across the world, very little is understood about many of their underlying mechanisms, and especially those revolving around fairness and bias. More examples are being reported every day that range from racist outputs of ChatGPT to imaging AI that predicts former president Barack Obama's face to be white. The mathematical community has fallen behind the rush to use ML and AI, yet mathematics is at the heart of the algorithmic designs and mechanisms behind ML and AI. This project will study fairness in ML and AI from several angles. First, it will create a framework that identifies fairness metrics throughout the algorithmic pipelines. Second, it will develop technologies to mitigate biases and improve fairness. Third, it will develop mathematical foundations to help us understand the mechanisms at work inside of many of these so-called black-box methods. In addition, medical and social justice applications will be integrated throughout the project, helping many nonprofits with high data driven needs meet their goals. These include medical applications helping to understand manifestations of Lyme disease as well as tools to help Innocence projects that work to free innocent people from prison, make appeal decisions, and synthesize case files. This synergistic approach both serves the community while also allowing those applications to fuel motivation for new and better mathematics. In addition, students will be integrated within the research team as part of their training.     Although ML and AI methods have expanded by leaps and bounds, there are still critical issues around fairness and bias that remain unresolved. The focus of this project consists of two main goals. First, it will create a framework where ML and AI methods generate informative descriptions about fairness across population groups. Subsequently, a mechanism will be applied based on this assessment to promote fairness across the population. This direction will both establish a structured framework for researchers and practitioners to report fairness metrics and emphasize their significance, while also enabling algorithms to adjust for fairness. The majority of the first goal revolves around showcasing this framework in ML applications including dimension reduction, topic modeling, classification, clustering, data completion, and prediction modeling. Second, the project will provide foundational mathematical support for more complex, seemingly opaque techniques such as neural networks and large language models. This includes the investigation of mathematically tangible shallow networks to understand their behavior in benign and non-benign overfitting. The project will also analyze the geometry of embeddings derived from large language models using a linear algebraic topic modeling approach, which is tied to the first goal. Applications with nonprofit community partners will be included throughout the duration of the project, including those in medicine and criminal and social justice. In total, successful completion of the proposed work will provide a pivotal step towards creating a more equitable and mathematically grounded machine learning landscape.    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.",FALSE
2120673,RCN-UBE: An Inclusive Community Transforming the Assessment of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Learning in Undergraduate Programs,2025-04-25,Juniata College,HUNTINGDON,PA,PA13,499668,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,UBE - Undergraduate Biology Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120673,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2120673_4900,2021-10-01,2026-09-30,166522196,NLCUGE1K1C95,"This project aims to serve the national interest by building an inclusive community of educators committed to implementing best practices in the equitable assessment of student learning in college-level biochemistry and molecular biology courses and curricula. The last decade has seen an increasing awareness of the need for, and value of, systematic assessment of student learning outcomes. Assessment is used not only at the end of courses but throughout lessons, modules, courses, and curricula. The data generated in assessment are used by instructors, academic programs, and institutions for evaluating both student learning outcomes and teaching effectiveness, as well as for identifying areas of improvement. Furthermore, since assessment instruments are limited by the perspectives of the people who develop and use them, it is essential to bring a variety of perspectives into their design and interpretation. Despite its importance, few molecular life science instructors receive formal training in assessment. By delivering training in assessment, this project fills a gap, strengthening the nation’s higher education programs in the molecular life sciences. Moreover, by centering the project on issues of equity, the project builds an inclusive community of practitioners that more accurately reflects the demographics of the nation.    While many faculty understand and agree with the importance of assessment, putting it into practice can be challenging because of a lack of formal training, particularly in the molecular life sciences. Therefore, discipline-specific tools and training for faculty in biochemistry and molecular biology are necessary. To meet this need - and drawing upon a highly successful preliminary workshop - this project offers a series of assessment workshops over the course of five years. These workshops are rooted in evidence-based strategies and universal exam design with the goal of creating equitable assessment tools, processes, and practices. The workshop series focuses on three types of assessment:  summative, formative, and alternative assessment, which uses non-examination instruments to measure the acquisition and application of biochemistry and molecular biology knowledge and/or skills. Surveys and participant interviews will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the workshops, and social network analysis will evaluate the growth and diversification of the network. Participants will be given opportunities to reflect on the ways in which training and support is given to network participants, including the promotion of instructors from historically marginalized populations into positions of leadership within the national community of molecular life science educators. Discussions of the community’s inclusivity will be guided by two members on our Steering Committee with training on equity and inclusion in STEM.  The network’s activities will serve as a nexus for development of a larger community of biochemistry and molecular biology scientist-educators dedicated to the assessment of student outcomes in biochemistry and molecular biology. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).    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.",FALSE
2115637,WaterMarks: An art/science framework for community-engaged learning around water and water management in an urban area,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,MILWAUKEE,WI,WI04,2917641,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,XC-Crosscutting Activities Pro,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115637,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115637_4900,2021-09-01,2026-02-28,532113153,JBQ9M3PLFDP5,"Milwaukee has established itself as a leader in water management and technology, hosting a widely recognized cluster of industrial, governmental, nonprofit, and academic activity focused on freshwater. At the same time, Milwaukee faces a wide range of challenges with freshwater, some unique to the region and others common to cities throughout the country. These challenges include vulnerability to flooding and combined sewer overflows after heavy rainfall, biological and pharmaceutical contamination in surface water, lead in drinking water infrastructure, and inequity in access to beaches and other recreational water amenities. As do other cities, Milwaukee grapples with the challenges for urban water imposed by global climate change, including changing patterns of precipitation and drought. These problems are further complicated by Milwaukee’s acute racial and economic residential segregation. With a population of approximately 595,000, embedded within a metropolitan area of over 1.5 million, Milwaukee remains one of the country’s most segregated cities. There is increasing urgency to engage the public—and especially those who are most vulnerable to environmental impacts—more deeply in the stewardship of urban water and in the task of creating sustainable urban futures. The primary goal of this four-year project is to foster community-engaged learning and environmental stewardship by developing a framework that integrates art with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) experiences along with geography, water management, and social science. Synergies between STEM learning and the arts suggest that collaborations among artists, scientists, and communities can open up ways to bring informal learning about the science of sustainability to communities. Project activities include artist/scientist/community member-led Walks, which are designed to engage multi-generational participants both from the neighborhoods and from across the city, in considering the conditions, characteristics, histories, and ecosystems of neighborhoods. Walks are expanded upon in Workshops with local residents, scientists/experts, and other stakeholders, and include exploring current water-related environmental challenges and proposing solutions. The Workshops draw on diverse perspectives, including lived experience, scientific knowledge, and policy expertise. Art Projects created by local artists amplify community engagement with the topics, including programming for teens and young adults. A website, and free Wi-Fi integrated into various Marker sites around the city, encourage users to pursue self-guided learning to explore the water systems and issues facing surrounding neighborhoods. Programming focuses primarily in Milwaukee’s predominantly African American near North Side and the predominantly Latinx/Hispanic near South Side. Many neighborhoods in these sections are vulnerable to such problems as frequent flooding, lead contamination in drinking water, inequities in safety and maintenance of green space, and less access to Lake Michigan, the city’s primary natural resource and recreational amenity.    The WaterMarks project advances informal STEM learning in at least two ways. First, while the WaterMarks project is designed to fit Milwaukee, the project includes development of an adaptable implementation guide. The guide is designed so that other cities can modify and employ its inclusive structure, programming, and process of collaboration among artists, scientists, partner organizations, and residents to promote citywide civic engagement in urban sustainability through the combination of informal STEM learning and public art. Second, through evaluation and research, the project will build a theoretical model for the relationships among science learning, engagement with the arts, and the distinctive contexts of different neighborhoods within an urban social-ecological system. Evaluation foci include: How does the implementation of WaterMarks support positive outcomes for the project’s communities and the development of an adaptable model for city-scale informal science learning about urban environments? 2. To what extent do the type and degree of outcome-related change experienced by participating community residents vary across and/or between project sites? What factors, if any, appear to be linked to these changes? 3. To what extent and in what ways do the activities of the WaterMarks projects appear to have in situ effects related to the experience of place at project sites? The project’s research questions include: 1. How does participation in Walks focused on visual artistic activities affect outcomes and experiences of informal STEM learning about urban water systems? 2. How do outcomes and experiences of informal STEM learning vary across different urban water topics, participants from different demographic groups, and contrasting sociocultural and biophysical contexts?    This Innovations in Development project is led by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), in collaboration with City as Living Laboratory (CALL) and the COSI Center for Research and Evaluation.  The project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2122232,SCISIPBIO: Constructing Heterogeneous Scholarly Graphs to Examine Social Capital During Mentored K Awardees Transition to Research Independence: Explicating a Matthew Mechanism,2025-04-25,HEALTHPARTNERS Institute,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN03,995110,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122232,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122232_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,554254516,H65GNDPBTRY7,"Despite efforts at diversification, an outsized proportion of prestigious NIH R01 awards go to a circumscribed group of individuals and institutions. How and why does this happen? The Matthew Effect, whereby success begets success, is thought to be responsible: applicants with even small advantage at the outset may have their advantage multiplied many times over following initial success. Evidence is consistent with the presence of a Matthew Effect in R01 funding, yet no study has illuminated the specific nature of the advantage, nor detailed the means by which advantage is multiplied and accumulated. This project will answer questions about which aspects of social capital and scholarly achievement contribute most to R01 success, and whether gender or timing of scholarly events contribute, by examining the individual career trajectories of awardees of NIH Mentored Career Development Awards (MK awards). Project results will help design effective interventions to avert unintended funding disparities, while maintaining a rigorous peer review system.     This will be the first empirical test of a Matthew Mechanism during transition to research independence and the first to leverage heterogeneous scholarly graphs (HSGs). The first aim is to capture complex relationships between each MK awardee, their scholarly achievement and social capital, and R01 success during their quest for research independence. Existing bibliographic and NIH award data will be combined in the construction of a “global” HSG database - relating all MK awardees to their associated scholarly objects. The result will be a comprehensive graph structured database in which nodes represent all MK awardees and their associated scholarly objects (e.g., published articles, journals, primary academic institution, coauthors, coauthor’s scholarly objects), and edges represent relationships of various types (e.g., author of, cited by, affiliation, research topics). Relationship context will be captured for all scholarly objects in the HSG through global, local, and hyper-local graphical feature extraction to comprehensively characterize MK awardees’ scholarly profiles. Second, survival models will be developed to predict R01 success for MK awardees from latent and observed variables of scholarly achievement and social capital, and global, local, and hyper-local HSG features. The study offers a novel approach to studying complex social processes that marries social capital theory with heterogeneous scholarly graphs and network science methods. This study will go beyond previous studies in providing a multidimensional characterization of scholarly social capital (beyond coauthorship and citation) and will examine differential social capital accumulation as a mediator in MK to R01 transition. Empirically-grounded predictive models will be designed to probe existing theory and yield insights on social capital’s role in R01 funding success. This study will yield actionable knowledge to inform strategies aimed at improving efficiency awards and increasing the diversity of the awardee pool.    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.",FALSE
2246607,"Advancing, Supporting, and Sustaining Equity among Elementary Teachers of Science",2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,1181311,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2246607,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2246607_4900,2023-09-01,2027-08-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"There is an urgent need to expand antiracist and justice-oriented teaching that incorporates cultural and linguistic resources of learners in science classrooms. This project aims to move this orientation beyond multicultural or foundation courses in teacher education, to effectively address issues of (in)equity within education. This project focuses on science teaching at the elementary level. Science is a common challenge among elementary teachers, and it is frequently, and mistakenly, seen as ""neutral."" To address these needs, this project will develop and iteratively refine a practical framework and a suite of teacher education materials that support early career teachers--from preservice teacher education through their third year of classroom teaching--in teaching that recognizes and nurtures the scientific knowledge and practices of children and supports meaningful participation of historically marginalized children in science. Research within the project will work to explain connections among the framework and materials and their potential effects, longitudinally, on early career teachers' ideas, plans, and teaching practice, within their school and district contexts. Thus, the overarching aim of the project is to develop and research a practical framework to orient teacher education toward the preparation of well-started beginners capable of advancing racial, economic, and social justice within elementary science.     The four-year longitudinal project will use design-based research methods, drawing on mixed complementary methods and situated within (and after) an elementary teacher education program. Across three design cycles, the project will involve four cohorts of preservice elementary teachers, following them into their early years of classroom teaching. Drawing on data sources such as interviews, reflections, lesson plan analyses, video records of classroom enactments, and surveys, the project will answer research questions about participants' ideas about, planning for, and enactment of elementary science teaching that advances equitable practices. There has been limited research focused on tools to support justice-oriented work in elementary science, and even less that is longitudinal in nature. Thus, the project addresses crucial gaps in the literature. Beyond these contributions to better understanding teacher learning and development in this important arena, this project will enhance children's participation in science by helping early career teachers connect to their students' ideas, interests, identities, and family, cultural, and linguistic resources. In addition, the project's framework and teacher education materials will be made freely available to other teacher educators, allowing the materials to be useful across multiple contexts. The project will also provide professional learning experiences to build educator capacity locally and beyond. This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2418051,RCN-UBE: Community of Neighboring and National Entrepreneurial Centers and Trainees (CONNECT) Network,2025-04-25,St. Catherine University,SAINT PAUL,MN,MN04,499249,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,UBE - Undergraduate Biology Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2418051,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2418051_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,551051750,RQJ5KM1LQ935,"This project aims to create a vibrant and diverse network of bioscience educators and students called the ""Community of Neighboring and National Entrepreneurial Centers and Trainees (CONNECT)"" network. Guided by innovators, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders, this network will integrate an entrepreneurial mindset into undergraduate biology courses. A key focus is on including women and entrepreneurs of color, who remain underrepresented in entrepreneurship within the biosciences, despite achieving parity in science and engineering bachelor's degrees. In particular, the network addresses four common barriers disproportionately experienced by these groups: access to capital, racial and gender biases, mentorship opportunities, and opportunities for networking. The goal is to create a strong, inclusive network that supports training future bioscientists to understand how to turn their scientific discoveries into large-scale solutions for society.    The CONNECT network is strongly committed to empowering students, particularly those from groups commonly marginalized in science or business, in leadership roles and will prioritize the involvement of Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), ensuring that this focus on inclusion is embedded within the network's institutional framework. The project will achieve the following objectives: (1) expand the existing network of biology faculty to include student collaborators who will share expectations, experiences, and best practices in bioscience entrepreneurship; (2) establish local CONNECT hubs at each member campus to enhance professional development opportunities for both faculty and students and increase their interactions with biotechnology industry partners, with a particular emphasis on inclusive activities; and (3) organize and host quarterly virtual network meetings and an annual in-person CONNECT-ED conference. This initiative aims to create leaders in the field of biosciences entrepreneurship by actively promoting the participation of underrepresented groups in biology. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for STEM Education, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).    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.",FALSE
2126635,"The Impact of Relevance, Belonging, and Growth Mindset on Persistence in Economics",2025-04-25,St. Catherine University,SAINT PAUL,MN,MN04,289083,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126635,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2126635_4900,2022-01-01,2025-06-30,551051750,RQJ5KM1LQ935,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). This project aims to strengthen capacity in economics at MSIs through research on the impact of institutional setting on underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students and women in economics. The PIs investigate to what extent the past findings on relevance, belonging, and growth mindset generalize beyond a single institution and how the university context interacts with students' development of an identity as an economist. Lower relevance, belonging and growth mindset are linked to worse grades and lower persistence in economics majors. This project proposes an important addition to our understanding of relevance, belonging, growth mindset, and persistence in economics by increasing the institutional and demographic breadth of research. Broader representation in economics will lead to more inclusive businesses and policy and accelerate economic growth.    This project will increase understanding of the roles that relevance, belonging and growth mindset play as potential barriers or levers for change across diverse settings. The PIs use longitudinal surveys of students and faculty at 18 universities stratified by educational type to examine if releance, belonging and growth mindset develop differently in economics classes at MSIs and women's colleges than at non-MSIs and co-educational institutions. Collecting data on relevance, belonging, and growth mindset and persistence from approximately 1,800 students at different points in their educational trajectory at different points in time (a year apart) will facilitate distinguishing selection into institutions from the impact of experiences in those institutions. Understanding the role of MSIs and women’s colleges in promoting relevance, belonging, and growth mindset and persistence in economics will indicate important directions for interventions to promote diversity in economics.    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.",FALSE
2214516,Data Science Learning Experiences for Middle School-aged Girls in Informal Gaming Clubs,2025-04-25,Concord Consortium,CONCORD,MA,MA03,2499156,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214516,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214516_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,017422345,FY85DRNMJAM4,"Data is increasingly important in all aspects of people’s lives, from the day-to-day, to careers and to civic engagement. Preparing youth to use data to answer questions and solve problems empowers them to participate in society as informed citizens and opens doors to 21st century career opportunities. Ensuring equitable representation in data literacy and data science careers is critical.  For many girls underrepresented in STEM, developing a ""data science identity"" requires personally meaningful experiences working with data. This project aims to promote middle school-aged girls’ interest and aspirations in data science through an identity-aligned, social game-based learning approach. The goals are to create a more diverse and inclusive generation of data scientists who see data as a resource and who are equipped with the skills and dispositions necessary to work with data in order to solve practical problems. The research team will run 10 social clubs and 10 data science clubs mentored by women in data science recruited through the University of Miami’s Institute for Data Science and Computing. Participants will be 250 middle school-aged girls recruited in Miami, FL, and Yolo County, CA, through local and national girls’ organizations. Youth will participate in a data science club and will learn key data science concepts and skills, including data structures, storage, exploration, analysis, and visualization. These concepts will be learned from working with their own data collected in personally meaningful ways in addition to working with data collected by others in the same social game eco-system. The project will also develop facilitator materials to allow adult volunteers to create game-based informal data science learning experiences for youth in their areas. The project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments and is co-funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST), which seeks to engage underrepresented students in technology-rich learning environments, including skills in data literacy, and increase students’ knowledge and interest in information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    Researchers will focus on two primary research questions: 1) Across gameplay and club experiences, in what ways do participants engage with data to pursue personal or social goals? 2) How do gameplay and club experiences shape girls’ perceptions of data, data science, and their fit with data and data science? The project will use design-based research methods to iteratively design the game and social club experiences. To ensure that uses of data feel personally and socially meaningful to young girls, the virtual world’s goals, narratives, and activities will be co-designed with girls from groups underrepresented in data science. The project will research engagement with game data in two informal, game-based learning scenarios: organic, self-directed, social play club, and structured, adult-facilitated data science clubs. The research will use a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods including surveys, focus groups, interviews, and gameplay and club observations. Project evaluation will determine how gameplay and club experiences impact participants' attitudes toward and interest in data-rich futures. The project holds the potential for broadening participation and promoting interest in data science by blending game-based learning with the rich social and adult mentoring through club participation. The results will be disseminated through conference presentations, scholarly publications, and social media. The game and facilitator materials will be designed for dissemination and made freely available to the public.    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.",TRUE
2337293,CAREER: Equitable Access to Justice: Determinants of Engagement with the Civil Justice System,2025-04-25,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,446388,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2337293,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2337293_4900,2024-07-01,2029-06-30,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"The United States justice system faces a serious crisis known as the civil justice gap. Not only do more people need civil legal assistance than are able to obtain it but also evidence indicates that many people who need legal assistance do not seek help. Although little is known about why the civil justice gap exists, available research suggests that the barriers to legal assistance are complex and multi-faceted. As society grapples with reducing the civil justice gap, there is a growing need to understand (1) public perceptions of the legal system and civil justice problems and (2) when, why, and how people seek legal assistance or resolve civil justice problems on their own. This research offers a nuanced understanding of these aims that specifically considers group differences in public perceptions and legal assistance seeking. Of special concern are people whom the legal system has historically underserved, such as people of color and those in low-income households. The empirical foundation provided through this research is essential for developing much needed models of civil justice assistance-seeking behavior.     Through integrated research, education, and outreach activities, this CAREER project addresses several  objectives: (1) map community members’ perceptions of the legal system, civil justice problems, and legal self-efficacy to examine group differences in these perceptions; (2) identify predictors of legal assistance seeking for civil justice problems and successful problem-solving outside of the legal system; (3) develop, implement, and disseminate a community-based access-to-justice program using participatory action research methods; and (4) develop experiential learning opportunities that prepare students to work in diverse communities with cultural competence and cultural humility. The first two objectives center on a multi-part field study, including a large-scale, national community survey to assess community members’ perceptions and a longitudinal multi-method study examining civil justice problems and resolution pathways. The project also engages local communities collaboratively to develop a program aimed at addressing local needs related to civil justice problems, including the production of materials for nation-wide dissemination. Findings from this project provide an empirical foundation for models of civil justice decision-making that inform theory development in the field of access to justice and provide evidence needed to design effective initiatives to reduce the civil justice gap.     This project is jointly funded by Law and Science and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",TRUE
2435115,SBP: Collaborative Research: Improving Engagement with Professional Development Programs by Attending to Teachers' Psychosocial Experiences,2025-04-25,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,310199,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2435115,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2435115_4900,2024-01-01,2025-08-31,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"As the U.S. student population grows more diverse, longstanding disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes persist. Efforts to remedy these disparities often use focused professional development (PD) to support educators in more effectively teaching diverse students. PD covers a wide array of topics, such as culturally responsive instruction, inclusive practices for students, and strategies for engaging students who have experienced adversity. What unites these diverse PD approaches is an intentional and explicit focus on understanding the issues facing students with diverse experiences and needs, and on equipping educators with skills to overcome these challenges and support student success. While focused PD is in high demand, little is known about its effectiveness. Many focused PD programs have little to no effect, and some may be counterproductive. For example, these programs can create a sense of psychological threat among educators, leading to feelings of being excluded, judged, or disadvantaged. These outcomes can result in resistance and backlash that undermine program goals.    For focused PD to be successful, it needs to attend to educators' experiences. This project conducts studies that examine how three common sources of psychological threat in focused PDs (identity, culture, and pedagogy threats) shape how educators engage with and use focused PD content in their classrooms, and how this use improves students’ academic experiences and performance. Two studies use focus groups and survey designs to examine these issues among a national sample of educators who have participated in a wide variety of focused PD experiences. Three additional studies use randomized controlled experiments to test strategies for mitigating identity, culture, and pedagogy threats among educators. Together, this work provides insight for creating focused PD environments where all teachers feel valued, equipped to engage with challenging ideas, and capable of growing their classroom skills.    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.",FALSE
2433253,Collaborative Research: SBP: Understanding the Cultural and Psychological Roots of Inequality Maintenance: Omissions of Native Americans,2025-04-25,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,407145,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2433253,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2433253_4900,2024-01-01,2025-04-30,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"Compared to other racial groups, Native Americans (the Indigenous Peoples of the United States) face disproportionately negative outcomes across many consequential domains of life, including education, income, housing, and criminal justice. Social psychology helps to understand how biases such as stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination contribute to Native Americans’ disparate outcomes. This research team has identified another distinct form of bias that undermines Native Americans’ opportunities and wellbeing: biases of omission. Biases of omission refer to the ways in which Native Americans are written out of public consciousness. For example, research demonstrates that relative to other groups, mainstream television and news media rarely include Native People or discuss Native issues. Americans are also taught relatively little -- and largely inaccurate -- information about Native Americans. As one example, the majority of history curricula in American schools discuss Native Peoples only in pre-20th century contexts, rendering invisible the 5.2 million Native Americans currently living in the United States. The research in this project documents the scope and psychological impact of Native omissions, and explores how non-Native Americans justify those omissions. Studies also examine the motivational underpinnings of the relation between justifications of Native omissions and non-Natives’ national esteem, and test the efficacy of interventions that offer potential for improving Native peoples’ wellbeing.     This project explores both the scope of biases of omissions of Native Americans and the psychological processes that perpetuate these biases. The research is based on the observation that a core cultural narrative of the United States is that of an exceptional, morally superior, equitable, and meritocratic society. Yet Native Peoples’ historic and contemporary experiences in the United States, including state-sanctioned violence and discrimination arising from the country’s settler colonial origins, contradicts these core cultural narratives. It is therefore hypothesized that Native omissions arise from a desire among non-Native Americans to protect these core cultural narratives and to maintain national esteem -- a sense of attachment to and pride in one’s nation. Three lines of studies test the tenets of this theoretical framework using large samples of Native American participants coupled with samples of non-Native adults from across the United States. The first phase of research documents the scope and psychological impact of Native omissions, including assessments of how and in what domains Native People experience omissions in U.S. society and the effect of omissions on individual and community wellbeing. Additional studies explore how and to what extent non-Native Americans justify omissions documented by Native participants, and whether justifications of Native omissions play a culturally protective role for non-Natives. The final phase of research examines the efficacy of acknowledging Native omissions as a means of improving Native peoples’ wellbeing by examining whether acknowledgements (vs. justifications) of Native omissions by mainstream U.S. institutions can enhance Native Americans’ individual and collective wellbeing. The program of research aims to expand the psychological literature by laying the theoretical groundwork for understanding an understudied form of bias and by shedding light on the experiences of Native Americans -- people who are vastly underrepresented in psychological theory and research. The project also documents and helps to change the psychological processes that perpetuate social inequalities, particularly those experienced by Native Americans, thereby contributing to the science of broadening participation.    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.",FALSE
2201700,Collaborative Research: Researching Early Access to Computing and Higher Education (REACH): Understanding CS pathways with a focus on Black women,2025-04-25,"SageFox Consulting Group, LLC",AMHERST,MA,MA02,411214,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201700,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201700_4900,2022-07-01,2026-06-30,010022155,QLWEHRYSRL77,"This research project seeks to examine longstanding inequities in access to and participation in computer science (CS) education. Decades of research have shown that certain subgroups (e.g., women, students with disabilities, underrepresented minority students) tend to face substantial barriers to participating in CS courses and programs. As computing education continues to expand in K-12 education systems, it is important to understand how early experiences in computing education relate to enrollment in computing courses and programs in college. By combining quantitative analyses of large-scale enrollment data and student surveys with qualitative data from focus groups and interviews, this project aims to inform efforts to broaden and diversify participation in computing education. Specifically, this project seeks to systematically answer how K-12 computing experiences influence students as they pursue higher education and whether and how that influence differs for distinct subpopulations of students.    The goal of this mixed-methods project is to examine equity in computer science (CS) education by investigating the relationship between students’ computing experiences in K-12 and higher education with a focus on the experiences of Black women. The theoretical frameworks guiding this research are Black Feminist Thought, specifically intersectionality, and social capital theory. The project spans three levels of data collection and analysis: state, institution, and individual experience. These levels have reference not to the unit of analysis (all three levels utilize student-level data) but rather to the way the data are organized. Cluster analysis of statewide education data will be used to identify computer science course taking patterns in middle and high school. Multilevel modeling will then be employed to investigate how these course taking patterns are related to participation in computing courses and programs in college. Focus will be placed on understanding how these relationships differ for distinct groups of students. Findings from these analyses will be coupled with analyses of college student surveys to better understand how students’ experiences in K-12 influenced their opportunities, challenges, and decisions regarding computing education in college. Finally, Black women who are majoring in CS will be engaged in data interpretation, focus groups, and interviews to better understand their unique experiences within the CS ecosystem. These analyses will help conceptualize broadening participation in computing along the K-16 pathway in a way that supports students, particularly Black women, in applying computing skills and knowledge to solve problems in a variety of disciplines.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest interventions and innovations to address persistence.    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.",FALSE
2047346,CAREER: The Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative,2025-04-25,University of Denver,DENVER,CO,CO01,489162,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047346,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2047346_4900,2021-06-01,2026-05-31,802104711,WCUGNQQ8DZU1,"Women have played essential roles in social movements throughout history, though they have often been written out of history books. In recent years, women have been at the helm of many people-led movements for social change across the globe, including movements to oust dictators, challenge violence against women, and promote human rights. Despite the popular understanding of the importance of women’s leadership in these recent movements, there is a lack of micro-level data on how and why individual women engage in such movements, and to what extent their participation matters for movement success. This CAREER project encompasses a groundbreaking research and educational program on women’s engagement in social movements.    This project has two core components: (1) cutting edge research aimed at better understanding how strategies that prioritize the inclusion of women, ethnic and racial minorities, and other marginalized groups are associated with the success of social movements; and (2) education and training programs that seek to disseminate evidence-based research to graduate students, broader academic and policy communities, and movement activists across the globe. The unique strength of the Inclusive Global Leadership Initiative lies in the synergy between its different stakeholders—including activists, students, researchers, policymakers, and the general public. The research component focuses on gathering micro-level data from women-identified activists in 10 recent movements across the globe to produce a book, dataset, and training manual. Their stories will help us understand why women join social movements, how they participate (including the tactics, strategies, and gendered repertoires of contention they deploy), and whether their participation matters for the movement’s success or failure. Then, an innovative curricular program in Social Justice at the University of Denver will enable the dissemination of this information to both traditional students and movement activists, as well as create a structure for frontline activists to directly contribute to research findings.    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.",FALSE
2348326,CRII: SaTC: RUI: Understanding and Collectively Mitigating Harms from Deepfake Imagery,2025-04-25,Swarthmore College,SWARTHMORE,PA,PA05,173053,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348326,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2348326_4900,2024-06-01,2026-05-31,190811390,KPALJZQMJAX6,"This CRII research is taking an innovative approach to augment underserved communities’ cybersecurity and privacy. Although generative AI can support creative expression and boost worker productivity, it also enables the creation of seemingly-real images, video, and audio —known as deepfakes. Deepfakes are being used to silence, steal, extort, and defraud, manipulate stock prices and public opinion, and harm the reputation of people and organizations. These actions have a negative impact on national security, civic institutions, and people’s personal and professional lives. As generative AI technologies become increasingly sophisticated and accessible, anyone can create a deepfake with a single photo or audio clip. This research systematically documents how deepfakes harm underserved communities and devises novel, community-centric solutions to become more resilient to these harms. The project also supports the training of diverse students in advanced social computing and AI technologies to address urgent societal need.    This research transcends individualistic approaches to security and privacy by applying concepts from social computing, usable security, and community-based participatory research, and it uses a mixed-methods approach to synthesize the potentially prosocial as well as antisocial applications of deepfakes, and their impact on people’s personal and private lives. The findings could inform government and technology policy that addresses the needs of underserved groups, and the design of responsible generative AI tools. The research team is collaborating closely with two underserved groups in the Philadelphia area, Black communities and Asian immigrant/diaspora communities, to build a scalable platform to encourage and support community-level cybersecurity practices. The site will also enable deployment and evaluation studies, advancing foundational knowledge about harm, trust, and security and privacy.    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.",FALSE
2322026,SCC-CIVIC-FA Track B: Everyday Respect: Measuring & Improving Communication During Motor Vehicle Stops,2025-04-25,University of Southern California,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA34,1033993,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322026,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2322026_4900,2023-10-01,2026-06-30,90033,G88KLJR3KYT5,"Traffic stops carried out by law enforcement officers include routine encounters as well as situations that hold the potential for fatalities. This project aims to investigate the communication dynamics during traffic stops conducted using audio and video footage from body-worn cameras. The research builds on evidence that officers' initial communication influences the course of the interaction and whether it escalates or not. Additionally, the project will examine potential disparities in the treatment of community members based on demographic factors and other relevant variables. The project will also study the interplay among factors such as demographic characteristics, disability status, community context, and officer training in shaping officer and driver interactions. Collaboration with a training academy is integral to developing and implementing new training curricula based on the research findings.     This study takes a community-informed approach by incorporating footage from body-worn cameras, as well as complementary data on stops, personnel, driver behavior, and community context. The project includes input from the department studied and other community stakeholders to define the dimensions of effective communication that should be evaluated. Human annotators from diverse backgrounds are employed to code the identified dimensions of officer communication. Machine learning tools, trained on these human annotations, enable the project team to analyze communication patterns at scale. The project team conducts statistical analyses to investigate the causes and consequences of officer communication, including factors that may contribute to differential treatment of different groups within the community, and to develop new training tools that can be tested at the training academy.      The CIVIC Innovation Challenge is a collaboration with Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, and the National Science Foundation.    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.",FALSE
2045505,CAREER: Creating a model for teachers to bridge cultural divides and provide students with culturally relevant pedagogy,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,824665,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045505,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2045505_4900,2021-04-01,2026-03-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This project aims to increase the support students from non-dominant groups receive in schools by understanding better how teacher training and curricular resources can make curricula relevant and compelling to those students. Culturally relevant education makes visible the value of students’ diverse perspectives and experiences and may better support underserved students in STEM. While culturally relevant educational approaches are powerful, they rely on the teachers' competence in the culture of their students for implementation. The majority of those teaching in underserved communities are unlikely to share backgrounds and experiences with students from non-dominant groups. This means that teachers may be under-equipped to meaningfully implement culturally relevant practices or otherwise effectively teach students from non-dominant communities. This project aims to improve the field's understanding of how STEM teachers who come from cultural backgrounds that are different from their students, take up culturally responsive approaches. The strategy is to investigate in-service teachers’ use of the Iñupiaq Learning Framework—a framework developed by the Iñupiat community in Arctic Alaska and centered on Iñupiaq values and culture. The project is generalizing findings from this particular situation to provide a model for supporting teachers to provide culturally relevant pedagogy to students from non-dominant groups.  This is a Faculty Early Career Development Program project responsive to a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers the most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research program.    Project objectives will be accomplished through a series of teacher-focused professional development activities in the North Slope Borough School District in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, where teachers are familiar with the Iñupiaq Learning Framework. Because the majority of teachers in the district are not Native Alaskan and are from other parts of the U.S., the project is studying how they interpret, adapt, and use the framework in their classrooms. The project expands upon existing studies investigating teacher growth when Indigenous knowledge is the focus by capturing the experiences of 12 ""outsider"" teachers (defined as those who are not native Iñupiat) who participate in a community-based design process. By collaborating with Iñupiat community members to identify problems of interest to the community and resources to explore these problems, the project is developing place-based science inquiry activities that intersect Iñupiaq culture with Western science practices. Finally, to support the implementation of the designed activities in the classroom, the same teachers are working together with students and community members in a learning community to implement and adapt the modules in their classrooms. This project is providing an account of how participation in community-based design can be used to support ""outsider"" STEM teachers in taking up classroom practices that honor community culture and values. Products of this work include a culturally relevant curriculum for Iñupiat students that will be available in a curriculum repository that collects place-based materials. Other products include research results that answer questions about how ""outsiders"" come to understand ways of instructing students in culturally relevant ways.    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.",FALSE
2427641,Conference: ReDDDoT Phase 1: Workshop: Indigenous Approaches to Computational Futures,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,75000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ReDDDoT-Resp Des Dev & Dp Tech,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2427641,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2427641_4900,2024-10-01,2025-09-30,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"For many rural and indigenous locales, the conditions for technical innovation in university and industry labs are often unavailable or are out-of-step with everyday life. Nevertheless, despite the obstacles, technologists working for sovereign Native Nations and Indigenous communities worldwide apply meaningful and responsive design methods to sustain innovation. The challenge is that many of these technologists are far removed from each other, working across diverse urban, rural, and remote locales as field practitioners, artists, entrepreneurs, and lone scientists with small teams. Through a series of convenings over one year, Indigenous Approaches to Computational Futures will bring these local experts together to: 1) characterize common conditions for responsive innovation; 2) identify helpful institutions; and 3) publish insights and findings that have been otherwise sustained through small group conversations and niche conferences. The goal is to create trusted networks of senior scientists, entrepreneurs, policy-makers, and community-centered creatives to amplify scientific understanding of how to effectively leverage artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, advanced computational hardware and software, and telecommunications and immersive technologies toward compelling people-centered, environmentally-conscious futures, futures centered in the lived experiences of highly creative Indigenous peoples.    These convenings are guided by a set of questions: What are the conditions for infrastructural augmentation and innovation across Indigenous geographies? How do technologists ideate, pilot, and advance systems through such circumstances? How do experienced researchers, entrepreneurs, and seasoned tech practitioners frame productive and meaningful community-centered design in these contexts? What can infrastructures built on Indigenous community strengths teach us about new modalities for innovation and incubation in comparable contexts? Over the course of one hybrid four-day convening and two online convenings, over a hundred notable experts in indigenous technologies will contribute to a set of white papers, publications in high-ranking ACM journals, a directory of experts, and working lists of theoretical frameworks, recommended readings, and noteworthy labs and institutions. The practical goals are three-fold: 1) to generate a trustworthy network of support for junior technologists in the field; 2) to encourage collaboration between researchers and practitioners across many domains; and 3) to advance the state-of-knowledge in community-centered computational systems design fields, including from law and policy vantage points.    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.",FALSE
2333737,Proto-OKN Theme 1 CollabNext: A Person-Focused Metafabric for Open Knowledge Networks,2025-04-25,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,1365875,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",OKN-Open Knowledge Networks,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333737,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333737_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"This project aims to create a prototype knowledge graph concentrating on often-undervalued contributors within the science realm, such as individuals, research areas, and organizations affiliated with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and non-Carnegie R1 institutions. The primary objective of this project is to illuminate the expansive research landscape of the US, promote varied collaborations, and provide an open platform for budding research partnerships. The knowledge graph, named CollabNext, utilizes open data sources and infrastructure and integrates AI and machine learning for data processing, while emphasizing human-in-the-loop input to ensure data accuracy and sustainability. A collaborative effort between Georgia Tech, Morehouse, and Clark Atlanta University, CollabNext aims to boost research collaborations through effective data utilization.    The project involves a multi-university collaboration and draws upon computational thinking skills, data, and machine learning from various fields. Its focus is on democratizing data for broader societal benefit and the practical application of knowledge graphs. Collaborators range from academic institutions such as Fisk University and Morehouse College to industry and research partners like the Renaissance Computing Institute and TDP Data Systems. CollabNext's effectiveness lies in its integration of diverse knowledge graph entities and its commitment to an inclusive and standardized data infrastructure. By prioritizing feedback from underrepresented researchers, the tool is poised to increase visibility for emerging research institutions, boost research collaborations, and foster a more diverse research workforce. Its comprehensive database will be fully integrated into the Open Knowledge Network, thus establishing a robust data infrastructure for other use cases.    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.",TRUE
2406787,BPE Track 4: Phase I: Systemic Transformation to Foster Inclusion and Belonging in Engineering Recruitment and Retention (FIBERR): A Student-Centered Approach.,2025-04-25,Boise State University,BOISE,ID,ID02,672626,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EPSCoR Co-Funding,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2406787,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2406787_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,837250001,HYWTVM5HNFM3,"Systemic Transformation to Foster Inclusion and Belonging in Engineering Recruitment and Retention (FIBERR): A Student-Centered Approach, is multifaceted, placing students at the heart of transformation to increase the enrollment and academic success of historically underrepresented Engineering and Computer Science students in the College of Engineering (COEN) at Boise State University. A Track 4 Phase I project over two years, FIBERR initiatives will be centered within the recently opened Micron Student Success Center located in COEN. Aligned with the goals of the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program, the focus of this proposal is on filling the void in workforce needs by ensuring accessibility and success for our historically underserved populations. The proposal will build the needed capacity through an inclusivity and equity focus of its three objectives: 1) Develop and improve the system-wide curriculum and pathways for increased student recruitment through a user-experience lens; 2) Develop and improve inclusive teaching practices across the College of Engineering; and 3) Develop and improve students’ sense of belonging, identity, and mattering with centralized and collaborative equity approaches. FIBERR weaves together existing university and college efforts within these three objectives to form a strong, scalable center within the Micron Student Success Center.     FIBERR will advance knowledge of organizational development, the servingness framework, and its study and application to help emerging Hispanic Serving Institutions build an intentional organizational identity, rather than merely enrolling Hispanic students. The three objectives of FIBERR will leverage and accelerate existing work and collaborations. Our development of pathways and understanding of curriculum complexity, will inform the Idaho State Board of Education, our governing body, and other higher education institutions of how to effectively grow the pathways for our rural students. This, coupled with a more concentrated statewide effort, will be transformative for Idaho. FIBERR will add to the literature on developing student sense of belonging, identity, and mattering, with an important focus on student input - not a build it and they will come effort. Key elements of FIBERR are building identity through Story Collider, exploring career options through Career Discovery, cohort building, and an inclusive teaching certificate program for graduate students to help transform the next generation of faculty. This program will inform other programs on the efficacy of these efforts and the important design elements that helped our students. Potentially transformative features the team will examine include improving pathways and placement for students transferring from the Colleges of Southern Idaho and Western Idaho, intentional community building practices, and the cultural shifts required to educate and incentivize faculty to employ inclusive teaching practices. As this Phase I effort moves toward best practices, FIBERR can introduce practical solutions and strategies for other universities especially those in rural areas and those serving Hispanic/Latinx communities and those working in partnership with community colleges. The overall impact of the program will address the recently documented need for a growing ECS workforce by making it inclusive and providing better access and inclusion strategies to our rural, Pell Grant Eligible, Hispanic/Latinx, and first-generation students, the populations of focus at Boise State University.    This project is jointly funded by [managing program], the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",FALSE
2050613,REU Site:  Human Neuroscience Research and Techniques at Georgia Tech and Georgia State,2025-04-25,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,374699,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050613,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2050613_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The brain is critical for basic functions in life, such as movement, emotion, awareness, and regulation. Understanding how the brain functions is vital to questions scientists have about behavior and health. Research of the human brain is possible with sophisticated tools that are used to understand the function and health of our brains. Over the last several decades, great steps have been made to develop the tools to improve our ability to more accurately understand human brain function. It is critical to develop the next generation of brain scientists to use these tools to unlock new discoveries. However, some college-age aspiring brain scientists are unable to use these tools because they are not available to them. This Research Experience for Undergraduates seeks to provide hands-on exposure to the tools to understand human brain function. We will train women and/or under-represented minority college students in research laboratories at two universities that are leaders in brain research, Georgia Tech and Georgia State University in the city of Atlanta, GA. This experience will support engagement with techniques to study human brain function, enhance their knowledge of brain science, and support the next generation of scientists that can unlock the mysteries of the brain.    Neuroscience is a growing field. Knowledge about the brain and brain function is critical for our understanding of human behavior and many human diseases and disorders. The collaborative neuroscience community at Georgia Tech and Georgia State is uniquely suited to provide an undergraduate research experience in human neuroscience research and techniques that will achieve several goals. This REU program will train women and/or under-represented minority students, including 6 in a unique second summer research-mentorship experience that will: 1) provide exposure for students to human neuroscience research that do not have tools available at their institutions; 2) afford hands-on training on data acquisition and analysis in fMRI and EEG; 3) provide training on the importance of reliability and reproducibility in research; 4) engage in active research in PI labs; 5) increase the students' competitiveness when applying for post-graduate education or work in neuroscience-related fields, and 6)increase scientific knowledge and make neuroscientific discoveries by advancing the transformative research in faculty mentor laboratories. To achieve our goals of increasing neuroscience knowledge among trainees, we will engage them in transformative neuroscience research tailored to their interests through collaborative research with faculty mentors. The participants will advance neuroscientific knowledge by carrying out this transformative research with Georgia State or Georgia Tech faculty. Through group activities, the REU participants will gain a hands-on knowledge of neuroscience techniques that they would not otherwise have access to. The shared activities of the REU participants and faculty mentors will foster interaction across psychology, physics, neuroscience, biology, and biomedical engineering.    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.",FALSE
2124745,Broadening Participation in Computing Ethics Curriculum Development,2025-04-25,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,398288,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2124745,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2124745_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"There is an urgent need to bolster the presence of ethics within the computing curriculum, given the significant and sometimes negative impacts that computing is having on society. Computing professionals must seriously consider ethical and societal impacts of the technologies they create and deploy. Part of what is needed is to cultivate a genuine sense, within computing students, of their ethical responsibilities to society. While valuable efforts are underway to incorporate ethics into computing curricula, an often-overlooked concern is whether historically underrepresented voices have a meaningful opportunity to influence the creation of content that shapes student ethical development. Thus, the goal of this project is to better understand and amplify the diverse range of voices that may have been absent during the development of a traditional computing ethics curriculum. To broaden participation in computing curriculum development, the project will bring together a unique partnership across Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College, Georgia State University, and Florida International University. The work will be guided by a diverse and inclusive project leadership team and advisors.    To enhance the quality and relevance of computing ethics education, and the diversity of represented voices, this project will investigate: (1) identifying current practices in computing ethics curricula, such as which ethics and research ethics topics are being included, prioritized, and excluded; (2) assess expressed preferences for which topics should be featured in the computing ethics curriculum, primarily by involving computing faculty from groups that have been underrepresented in computing; (3) developing and disseminating sample computing ethics syllabi, guidelines, and supporting course materials, based on survey feedback and workshop discussions; and (4) determining experimentally if and how a more inclusive computing ethics curricula can alter underrepresented minority student attitudes, preferences, and behavior towards computing. The project will survey diverse stakeholders, focusing on students and faculty at minority-serving institutions and at other relevant organizations that serve groups that have been underrepresented in computing.    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.",FALSE
2343292,2024 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey,2025-04-25,University of California-Los Angeles,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA36,849995,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343292,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343292_4900,2024-07-01,2026-06-30,900244200,RN64EPNH8JC6,"The Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS) is a nonpartisan post-election survey developed by academic researchers in 2008. Starting in 2016, the CMPS adopted an innovative cooperative strategy which broadened the scope of access to high-quality national survey data with large samples of racial/ethnic and underrepresented groups in the United States. The 2024 CMPS will provide essential empirical information on the state of political inclusion, democratic participation, and policy support in an increasingly diverse U.S. The 2024 CMPS will further expand access to minority data collection for scholars in large research Universities as well as those scholars in smaller teaching colleges and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) with fewer resources. This study continues to create a space where scholars have access to and share sociopolitical data, as well as build a network of scholars with shared research interests. The results of the survey will advance our national interests in terms of enhancing our understanding of intra-and inter-group relations, policy support, and civic and political participation among understudied groups. The project will produce a dataset that will be made publicly available within one year following data collection.    The 2024 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS) is a cooperative, multiracial, multiethnic, multilingual, post-presidential election online survey in the United States. The sample will include an estimated total of 22,000 completed interviews among various demographics of the American population. The sample includes adult, registered and non-registered voters, including non-citizens. The survey (and invitation) may be available to respondents in English, Spanish, Chinese (simplified), Chinese (traditional), Korean, Vietnamese, Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and Haitian Creole.  The study will also include a sample of youth 16–17 years old (n=1,500). The CMPS employs a cooperative research model for designing the content of the survey. Questions included on the survey are generated through contributions from a national consortium of academic researchers from across multiple academic disciplines including the social sciences, psychology, public policy, public health, education, law, and other fields. The CMPS is changing the way data is collected and shared in the social sciences by collaboratively building a diverse and inclusive academic pipeline of scholars in political science and the social sciences more broadly.    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.",FALSE
2330963,Broadening Participation Research Project: The Development of a Multidimensional STEM Identity Measure to Increase the Retention and Success of African American Students at an HBCU,2025-04-25,Johnson C. Smith University,CHARLOTTE,NC,NC12,280944,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330963,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2330963_4900,2023-04-15,2025-08-31,282165302,M433AEBGYXP9,"The Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) through Broadening Participation Research (BPR) in STEM Education projects supports the development, implementation, and study of new theory-driven models and innovations related to the participation and success of underrepresented groups in STEM undergraduate education. It is expected that the award will further the faculty member's research capability, as well as improve the recruitment, retention, and success of underrepresented groups in STEM education and the workforce. The project at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University seeks to collect and analyze data for the purpose of developing a new measure of STEM identity.  Specifically, the instrument will be developed utilizing a critical race theory framework to ascertain the influences of racial identity and academic identity in African American students.     The goal of this project is to develop an instrument that conceptualizes the multidimensional nature of STEM identity in African American college students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). With a focus on social identity (race) and academic identity (STEM), the project also seeks to determine whether this instrument of STEM identity for African American students is effective in predicting participation in STEM-related activities or careers. This project will use an Exploratory Sequential Mixed Methods (qual->QUAN) design. This design will consist of two phases where qualitative data will be collected and analyzed to inform the development of items for the measurement. An expert panel will provide feedback throughout the qualitative aspect of the study to support content validity, as well as to solidify and refine items. Cognitive interviews will be conducted to investigate overt and covert processes that are not typically observable. The relationship between Multidimensional African American STEM Identity (MAASI) and STEM outcomes (i.e. STEM achievement and STEM participation) will be explored using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with latent variables in Mplus. A small pilot implementation study will be conducted in the last year of the study to explore how leveraging and targeting the information from the MASSI promotes the STEM achievement, identity, and involvement of African American students. Baseline scores on the MASSI will be captured for a small sample of students enrolled an eight-week African American STEM Identity development program to administer the MASSI at the conclusion of the program and assess changes in their STEM identity. This project has the potential to make a significant theoretical contribution, in that it will contribute to the development of a multidimensional Model of African American STEM Identity. The existing theories and models of STEM-related identities (specifically science, mathematics, and engineering) are based on Eurocentric frameworks and samples; however, using Critical Race Theory as a guiding framework will allow for a more culturally appropriate model. This instrument will be the first quantitative tool to measure the STEM identity of African American students while accounting for their racial identity. The project also aims to demonstrate that psychometric tools developed to measure the non-cognitive STEM attributes of African American students must account for their racial identity.    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.",FALSE
2347276,Explorations: ETA-ESW DCL: Recruiting Cohorts of Underrepresented High Schoolers to Advanced Manufacturing Careers (COHORT),2025-04-25,Northern Virginia Community College,ANNANDALE,VA,VA11,1000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347276,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347276_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,220033743,E5QRM5Y85LT8,"The semiconductor manufacturing and data center industries, both critical elements of computing infrastructure in the United States, has a growing unmet need for entry-level technician talent. In the Northern Virginia region specifically, these industries struggle with a lack of student awareness alongside underdeveloped pathways to technician careers. Northern Virginia Community College’s (NOVA) COHORT project addresses this need by developing a structured scholarship program for graduating high school seniors to earn credentials in Engineering Technology (ET). Participants in the COHORT program will complete a summer bridge program, receive targeted academic supports during coursework, and be placed in a guaranteed internship at semiconductor manufacturer Micron Technology or a regional data center partner. Over the course of the project duration, COHORT will recruit, train, and place 90 students into in-demand careers in ET.     COHORT is a coalition between NOVA, Micron Technology, the data center industry, regional school districts, and community organizations. Through a targeted outreach plan, the development of a culturally responsive suite of co-curricular supports, and guaranteed internship opportunities, COHORT will recruit graduating underrepresented minorities (URM) seniors to a structured block program to earn credentials in engineering technology. COHORT will advance understanding of the effectiveness of an intensive cohort structure at improving completion and career outcomes for URM students in an emerging technological field. Results from COHORT will be of interest to IHEs seeking to improve recruitment methods for broadening participation in career & technical education. COHORT will also advance understanding of the impacts of structured mentoring on URM persistence and completion. Finally, COHORT will document the impacts of access to internships in emerging technologies on career learning outcomes for URM students. This project is co-funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) and Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) programs.    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.",FALSE
2429624,IGE: Track 2: Mobilizing Community Cultural Wealth to Transform STEM Graduate Education,2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Cruz,SANTA CRUZ,CA,CA19,999985,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Innovations in Grad Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429624,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429624_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,950641077,VXUFPE4MCZH5,"Gaps in equity and inclusion within STEM graduate education in the U.S. persist. At stake is the loss of contributions toward scientific innovation and excellence from more racially and economically diverse scientists (e.g., low-income, first-generation, students of color). Indeed, these students bring various cultural strengths from their home communities that can transform learning spaces, known as community cultural wealth. However, the transformative power of their cultural wealth is only possible with institutional commitment to recognize its value, including the implementation of educational practices that take concrete steps to leverage these diverse strengths with a critical lens. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) Track 2 award to the University of California, Santa Cruz will conduct a multi-stage and multi-program intervention aimed at investigating how programs build structural opportunities and support for mobilizing marginalized doctoral students’ cultural strengths and ways of knowing. Using a multiple case study design to understand the mobilization process, this project will illuminate pathways for diversifying, strengthening, and transforming STEM graduate education to better represent and serve new generations of talented scientists.    The project will take inventory of a fellowship support program (Cota Robles Fellows program), an interdisciplinary research training program (New Gen Learning Consortium), and a mentoring training program (Equity-Minded Mentoring Certificate program). The goal is to redesign program elements to better mobilize marginalized students’ strengths for learning and make crucial connections to home departments to scale culture changes in STEM graduate education at the institutional level. In Stage 1, the project will connect to home departments and gather baseline data to examine the strengths and gaps of the three focal programs. Stage 2 will focus on relationship-building between programs and home departments, including learning about the specific cultures of support for graduate students and identifying potential target areas for collaboration. This step includes presenting the mobilization framework and findings from Stage 1 to develop re-design plans. Stage 3 will focus on implementing the re-design plans. The project will use a multiple case study design to examine the implementation process through focus groups with program staff and department contacts to examine their perspectives, challenges, and questions about the implementation as it unfolds and as it relates to the mobilization process, paying keen attention to concrete steps taken and resources used toward mobilization. In Stage 4, the project will study the impacts of the implementation on the culture, practices, and support structures of the programs and department spaces in the longer term, including a final focus group to have program staff and department contacts reflect on the implementation process, again paying keen attention to questions related to the mobilization process. Findings will be disseminated through conference presentations, brief reports, and publications on lessons learned  for universities, researchers, and practitioners to scale up the impacts of the project.    The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.    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.",FALSE
2341831,Critical developmental science: life course trajectories in the 1982 Pelotas birth cohort study,2025-04-25,Vanderbilt University,NASHVILLE,TN,TN05,115696,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341831,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2341831_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,372032416,GTNBNWXJ12D5,"The project explores how developmental norms presumed to be generalizable are reproduced, challenged, and sometimes disrupted within scientific and activist communities. Based on an ethnographic study, the project will elucidate how developmental diversity takes shape. The project will benefit diverse stakeholders, including the scientific community, policymakers, educators, healthcare practitioners, and community organizations. Beyond academic outputs, the project will generate a one-of-a-kind longitudinal ethnographic database, a white paper on interdisciplinary and participatory research methods, and an accessible infrastructure for scientists, especially early career researchers, to engage with ethnographically grounded science studies.    This project integrates perspectives from science and technology studies (STS), anthropology, developmental sciences, and a community advisory board to form a critical developmental science—an interdisciplinary, culturally sensitive, and socially responsible approach to studying human development. As the first cohort study with a focus on the Global South, it examines developmental diversity over 35 years, and innovates in three key areas. Firstly, it will generate new conceptual tools for understanding development in a non-Euro-American context, challenging the pathologization of difference. Secondly, it explores the reasons for the gap between awareness of the need for culturally sensitive developmental knowledge and its broader uptake, examining how values related to normal/abnormal distinctions and hierarchies of worthiness endure. Thirdly, to better theorize change, it builds on how local stakeholders use critical theory in mainstream science, policy, and public debate, studying how expert, activist, and vernacular forms of critique and reflexivity work in practice. By showcasing the collaborative making of critical developmental science with a focus on the Global South, this research will contribute to the flow of knowledge from South to North.    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.",FALSE
2415904,Deepening and Expanding a Research-Practice Collaborative to Identify Synergistic Research on Informal Emerging Technology Learning in Counterspaces,2025-04-25,Old Dominion University Research Foundation,NORFOLK,VA,VA03,149403,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415904,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415904_4900,2024-08-01,2025-11-30,235082561,DSLXBD7UWRV6,"Caregivers play an essential role in STEM identity development, interest, and persistence; however, more research is needed to deepen our understanding of multigenerational informal STEM learning and informal STEM learning alongside caregivers. This Partnership Development and Planning project brings together STEM educational researchers, STEM professionals, community organizers, and caregivers. Together they will work toward research that explores rightful presence for Black girls and their caregivers in the context of multigenerational informal STEM learning, particularly around emerging technologies. Educational researchers, from Old Dominion University and Indiana University-Indianapolis will deepen and extend an existing research-practice partnership to include Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), STEM professionals, and caregivers. Butterfly Village (Hampton Road, VA) and Girls STEM Institute (Indianapolis, IN) are CBOs that offer holistic programming intentionally designed to support Black girls' intersectional identities. These CBOs engage Black girls in the relevancy of STEM knowledge and skills and emphasize the importance of real-world applications via Connected Learning Theory. Both CBOs provide counterspaces—spaces that foster community and are created by and for people who experience oppression. In these counterspaces girls voluntarily work on collaborative projects, join in group discussions, and engage in STEM learning through social interaction. As community organizers, a future goal for these CBOs is to support the utilization of emerging technologies (e.g., AI, data science, cybersecurity) to connect learning activities to real issues. Based on this goal, STEM professionals from local organizations—Drone Force Indiana and Virginia Modeling, Analysis, and Simulation Center—with expertise in digital transformation technologies join this partnership to ensure their needs and perspectives are included in the framing of the future research project. Both CBOs were intentionally designed for the girl participants and are redesigning after noting the interest in STEM learning experiences among caregivers (via observations and direct feedback). By establishing a research-practice collaborative all partners will share in contributing to the framing of their future work together, including research questions, learning design, methodology design, intended goals, and outcomes of future multigenerational informal STEM counterspaces.        Partnership development processes are grounded in two theoretical frameworks: Rightful Presence and Community Cultural Wealth. The tenets of rightful presence will support partners in developing trust where each recognizes differences in cultural backgrounds, race, and power while also acknowledging possible tensions that may arise due to these differences. Using the Community Cultural Wealth framework, partners will explore the various forms of capital brought to the research practice collaborative, such aspirational capital where the collaborative envisions what this partnership can accomplish together for the future of Black girls and their caregivers. Key activities grounded in these frameworks include sharing personal perspectives and cultural artifacts while developing shared norms for working together; mind mapping and visualizing to identify goals, areas for collaboration, and milestones; meeting co-design and consensus building; roundtable discussions, feedback, and reflections; and closing commitment circles to commit to next steps, roles, and collaboration activities. Through these activities, the team will answer preliminary questions such as: How can a partnership between caregivers, community spaces, STEM experts, and researchers be effectively established? What are the barriers and facilitators to collaboration between partners? How can a research practice collaborative in partnership with researchers, caregivers, community members, and STEM professionals design a study of informal STEM learning spaces that facilitate positive change for Black girls and their caregivers? Culturally Responsive Evaluation will provide formative feedback on processes, strategy, and honoring of each partners’ community, capital, and perspectives. Summative evaluation will emerge though co-facilitated visioning sessions to establish anticipated and unanticipated outcomes of the partnership processes that will be shared with the broader informal STEM learning field.     This Partnership Development and Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2350008,Conference: Women+ and Mathematics Program,2025-04-25,Institute For Advanced Study,PRINCETON,NJ,NJ12,99730,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2350008,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2350008_4900,2024-01-01,2025-12-31,085404952,MNMJWSC5Z4H1,"This award supports two iterations of the Women+ and Mathematics (W+AM) Program at the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS). The program was created in 1994 with the support of the National Science Foundation, the Institute for Advanced Study, and Princeton University. The overarching mission of W+AM is to recruit and retain more women in mathematics in order to counter the initial imbalance in the numbers of men and women entering mathematics training as well as the higher attrition rate of female mathematicians compared to their male counterparts at every critical transition stage in mathematical careers. The most concentrated part of the W+AM program is the week-long annual program in May, which is organized around a mathematical topic of current research interest. For each of the upcoming two programs, there will be approximately 32 participants, ranging from undergraduates to postdoctoral scholars, in addition to senior mathematicians, such as lecturers and seminar speakers, who will spend a week as part of the IAS mathematical community surrounded by other mathematicians, many in nearby research areas.     In May 2024, the program will be on ""Symmetry and Arithmetic,"" and the two lecture series will be ""A glimpse into the Langlands program"" by Ana Caraiani of Imperial College London and ""Deligne-Lusztig theory: examples and applications"" by Charlotte Chan of the University of Michigan. The 2025 program will be in the area of algebraic and geometric combinatorics. In addition to the two lecture courses, the scientific program is rounded out by problem sessions for each course led by postdoctoral scholars, research seminars, and colloquia. There are also panel discussions and other meta-mathematical and social activities arranged for and by the participants. More information is available at the program webpage https://www.ias.edu/math/wam.    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.",FALSE
2335206,"STTR Phase II: Ultrasonic Product Release-Testing Equipment for the Design, Development, and Advanced Continuous Manufacturing of Pharmaceutical Tablets",2025-04-25,PHARMACOUSTICS TECHNOLOGIES LLC,POTSDAM,NY,NY21,997734,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,STTR Phase II,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335206,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2335206_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,136763202,Q3MXF165G6H9,"The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II project is potentially profound and could offer a transformative approach to quality assurance in pharmaceutical manufacturing that directly targets medicine supply chain vulnerabilities and cost structure in the United States. It aims to modernize the quality testing of the most widely used pharmaceutical dosage form—tablets—through rapid ultrasonic testing techniques and innovative automation/robotics. This advancement may reduce the risk of quality failures, drug shortages, and recalls, ensuring more reliable access to essential medications for the public. Nearly 70% of Americans rely on prescription drugs, with a significant portion of these medications currently produced overseas. The project’s commercial impact is in its potential to redefine quality assurance practices in the pharmaceutical industry, leading to improved efficiency, reduced costs, and enhanced product safety. Such improvements can contribute to national health security by reducing dependence on unreliable foreign drug manufacturing. Its societal benefits include improved healthcare outcomes through more dependable drug availability. Furthermore, the project offers significant educational benefits, providing hands-on training and research opportunities for students in advanced manufacturing technologies. The project focuses on inclusivity, attracting underrepresented groups into engineering, and fostering diversity in advanced research and innovation in pharmaceutical manufacturing.    The proposed project aims to address the critical gap in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry regarding the outdated quality assurance methods and equipment currently employed in producing compressed pharmaceutical tablets. The primary research objectives are to develop and validate innovative ultrasonic quality assurance and testing equipment that enables rapid, non-destructive, real-time release testing of pharmaceutical tablets. This NSF STTR II project seeks to overcome the limitations of existing manufacturing and quality assurance technologies by employing novel approaches and associated mathematical modeling techniques, including machine learning (ML), to analyze tablet microstructures for quality assurance. The research involves detailed mathematical modeling of the interactions between ultrasonic waves and the viscoelastic properties of tablet materials, leveraging both first-principles physics and ML-based modeling approaches. The anticipated technical results include the development of a reliable, cost-effective solution for the pharmaceutical industry, enhancing the quality assurance process for tablet manufacturing through improved accuracy, efficiency, and scalability. The project represents a significant advancement in the field, supporting the FDA’s initiatives towards continuous manufacturing, Quality by Design, and Process Analytical Technology.    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.",FALSE
2341434,"Re-presenting population science data in the context of shifting demographic dynamics, climate change and alternative epistemologies",2025-04-25,SUNY at Albany,ALBANY,NY,NY20,253965,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341434,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2341434_4900,2024-06-01,2027-05-31,122220100,NHH3T1Z96H29,"This award supports a study that centers on the data that is being used to support alternative theories, such as a theory about changing population demographics and political gains. Recent polls have documented the increasing popularization of such theories in the US. The results of this project will contribute to the development of a scholarly book, and to the production of curricular materials for undergraduate classrooms. These outputs are intended to help scientists and others to understand, and for some to address, the use and misuse of scientific data and to counter population misperceptions and increase public scientific literacy and awareness of alternative interpretations of demographic trends. The teaching tools will be slated for use in university courses in multiple disciplines, as well as in non-profit workshops and trainings.    Through a cross-sector partnership between a university and a national non-profit organization this qualitative study will look at how population science is translated into popular notions of population trends in the US. Messages about current population trends that appear in social, popular, news, and think tank media account for slowing birth rates, population aging, changing racial and ethnic population composition, and immigration rates among other data. The messages express anxieties about changes in population that contribute to climate change, a changing national electorate, or negative impacts on labor and economies. The study will analyze alternative theories and the science they re-interpret as well as debates among scientists who produce and use that data about its meaning. By convening a multi-disciplinary, cross-sector advisory board to provide expert feedback on project research and piloting resulting materials with students as end-users, the study will contribute to informed dialogue about what it means to be American in the context of the shifting racial, ethnic and age composition of the national population.    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.",TRUE
2101287,Collaborative Research: Understanding STEM Teaching through Integrated Contexts in Everyday Life,2025-04-25,Mercyhurst University,ERIE,PA,PA16,184478,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101287,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101287_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,165460002,MJLLQT82EDT1,"Increased focus on school accountability and teacher performance measures have resulted in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction that emphasizes content and procedural knowledge over critical thinking and real-world applications. Yet, critical thinking and application are essential in developing functional scientific literacy skills among students.  This need is perhaps most pressing in economically depressed urban settings. One strategy to promote STEM engagement and learning is to make clear and meaningful connections between STEM concepts, principles, and STEM-related issues relevant to the learner. Socioscientific issues (SSI) can provide a powerful avenue for promoting the desired kinds of engagement.  SSI are debatable and ill-defined problems that have a basis in science but necessarily include moral and ethical choices. SSI for economically disadvantaged, culturally diverse students in urban settings might include, for example, lead paint contamination, poor water or air quality, or the existence of “food deserts.” By integrating locally relevant SSI with the goals of social justice, the Social Justice STEM Pedagogies (SJSP) framework the project uses is intended to support students to use their scientific expertise to be agents of change. SJSP can be potentially transformative for teachers, students, schools, and the communities in which students live. For SJSP to effectively promote STEM learning, however, teachers must learn how to integrate STEM-concepts and practices into the various real-world SSI present in their students’ environment. This collaborative project is designed to implement and evaluate a comprehensive professional development plan for grades 7 –12 STEM teachers from economically disadvantaged school districts in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Teachers will develop ways to incorporate SSI into their instruction that are grounded in standards to foster students’ STEM engagement.  The instructional practices enacted by teachers will enhance students’ STEM literacy while utilizing their own knowledge and culture in solving complex and ethically challenging STEM issues, thus promoting students’ abilities to be change agents.    This collaborative research project involves Arcadia University, Mercyhurst University, LaSalle University, Villanova University, and St. Joseph’s University. It is designed to investigate the effectiveness of a professional development (PD) program for STEM teachers to develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teaching SSI and SJSP. Over four years, three cohorts of 25 grades 7-12 teachers will participate in about 200 hours of PD. The SSI and SJSP encompass authentic, complex real-world, STEM-based issues that are directly related to the inequities experienced by students and their communities that students can engage with in the classroom through the use of inquiry-based learning strategies. By promoting students’ engagement in and awareness of the relevance of STEM in everyday life, teacher participants in this PD will foster STEM learning, especially among students who have been historically marginalized from STEM disciplines, and who are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The research plan is designed to reveal elements of the PD program that are most effective in supporting teachers’ increased capacity to design and implement units of study that incorporate scientific, social, and discursive elements of SSI. Using predominantly qualitative methods, other outcomes include how teachers’ PCK change towards teaching with SSI/SJSP; what factors support and inhibit teacher’s abilities to promote SSI/SJSP; and how justice-centered STEM lessons help students to develop moral and ethical reasoning, scientific skepticism, STEM inquiry/modeling, and SSI discourse/argumentation.      The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM subjects by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2215236,Assessing the Impacts of Social Categorization on Person Perception and Behavior: A Formal Modeling Approach,2025-04-25,University of California-Davis,DAVIS,CA,CA04,500000,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215236,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215236_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,956186153,TX2DAGQPENZ5,"People categorize others according to the social groups to which they belong. This is a fundamental principle of social perception and judgment. Social categorization often has negative consequences when those categories are associated with group stereotypes and prejudices. It can affect the ways in which people think about, judge, and behave toward other people. It contributes significantly to discrimination, exclusion, and intergroup hostility. Theory and research in social psychology has provided many advances in understanding social stereotypes and person perception. One challenge in this area has been the difficulty in measuring the extent to which judgments and behavior are influenced by social categories versus other kinds of personal information. It is important to better distinguish among these sources of influence to understand the origins of group bias more fully. This project develops a model to measure the independent contributions of social categories and other personal attributes more directly. The larger aim is to better understand the nature of social bias that leads to discrimination, social exclusion, intergroup hostility, and health disparities.    This project advances the study of social categorization and stereotyping by developing and applying a Multinomial Processing Tree (MPT) model to more directly measure the independent contributions of social categories and other personal attributes. The model is used to test specific hypotheses about the conditions that increase or decrease the extent of social categorization and stereotyping. Foundational theories of person perception propose that social categories are most impactful when perceivers lack either the motivation or ability to pay careful attention to others. The model identifies the extent to which increased bias in those situations reflects greater use of stereotypes, diminished use of personal features, or both. These data are used to evaluate existing theories of person perception and to develop novel theories. The data also help to indicate when different bias reduction interventions may be most effective. Because the model offers a way of separately measuring the impacts of social categories and personal attributes, it permits a careful assessment of which strategies are most effective for reducing bias and in what contexts. The project also improves science infrastructure by developing and sharing a novel instrument for measuring and analyzing behavioral data.    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.",TRUE
2101244,"Collaborative Excellence in Research: Skill Acquisition, Technical Change and Differential Employment and Income Trajectories",2025-04-25,Howard University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,484679,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,HBCU-EiR - HBCU-Excellence in,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101244,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101244_4900,2021-09-15,2025-08-31,200590002,DYZNJGLTHMR9,"This research project will construct a unique historical data set to test how technological change interacts with group identity to affect employment and earning trajectories of groups differently. Testing economic models of differential labor market effects is difficult because of  lack of  appropriate data; a situation compounded by technological innovations. The researchers have access to historical data on post-military careers and wage trajectories between 1910 and 1940 of two groups of men who were trained and worked in the same unit performing the same military tasks during  World War I. This data will be merged with individual level data from decennial census to create a unique historical data set. The researchers will use this data set to identify whether the observed differential employment and wage trajectories of these groups is due to technical change or discrimination. At the heart of this research is the careful merging of historical data from personal records, census records, and military records to answer this important question. Apart from the policy implication of this research, the project will involve undergraduate researchers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, hence contribute to broadening participation in STEM education. The results of this research will shed light on differential labor market outcomes as well as provide inputs into policies to reduce earnings inequality.    This proposed research project will merge personal, employment, earnings trajectories, and census data to test how technological innovation interacts with discrimination to determine  differential labor outcomes of different groups.  The PIs will merge the post-military employment, earnings, and census records of two groups of people who received the same training and did the same jobs in signals during World War I. The data are for the period 1910 to 1940 and the project will use difference-in-difference estimation strategy to establish causal identification of how the interaction of technical change and group differences affect the dynamics and trajectories of employment and incomes of otherwise comparable workers. The major focus and importance of this project is the unique historical data set the PIs will create for this project that will also allow other  researchers to study differential labor market dynamics in the presence of technical change. Besides policy implication of this research, the project will involve undergraduate researchers from Historically Black Colleges and Universities, hence contribute to broadening participation in STEM education.    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.",FALSE
2041218,SBP: The Emergence of Social Biases in Infancy,2025-04-25,University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,765000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2041218,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2041218_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,606375418,ZUE9HKT2CLC9,"This project investigates the developmental origins of social bias. Before their first birthdays, infants prefer people from familiar racial groups and people who speak their native language. These biases are related to social experience: Infants who have more contact with social diversity are less biased against people from unfamiliar groups. The proposed studies will shed new light on the mechanisms that give rise to infants’ social biases by innovating methods to: (1) assess the emotional and cognitive aspects of infants’ biases, (2) investigate the neural systems involved, and (3) identify the aspects of social experience that may be important for establishing social bias. The findings will provide insights into how to mitigate the negative consequences of social biases, as well as developing new research tools for studying relations between behavior, brain and social experience during early development. A major goal of this project is to address the dearth of research with minority populations in cognitive development research. Studies will involve equal numbers of infants from minority and majority backgrounds in order to better understand how social biases emerge across the diversity of human experience.    Prior research indicates that infants’ visual preferences express social bias, but the cognitive and affective processes involved, and the associated social and neural mechanisms are poorly understood. This project addresses these open issues by bringing together an innovative set of behavioral, neural and social measures in research with 9-month-old infants. Across six studies, infants will be presented with people from different linguistic and racial groups and infants’ brain activity (EEG: frontal-temporal theta; mu rhythm; frontal alpha asymmetry) and behavioral responses (attention, learning, imitation, and approach-withdrawal tendencies) to members of familiar vs. unfamiliar social groups will be compared. The diversity in infants’ social environments will be assessed via neighborhood census data and a parent survey to assess infants’ close social networks. This research will provide fundamental new insights into the nature of infants’ social biases and the conditions that contribute to them. The multidisciplinary approach will inform scientific understanding of brain-behavior-environment relations during early development.    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.",FALSE
2124838,"Asking Different Questions in Climate Change Science, Impact, Mitigation and Adaptation",2025-04-25,University of California-Davis,DAVIS,CA,CA04,395261,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2124838,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2124838_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,956186153,TX2DAGQPENZ5,"Asking Different Questions in Climate Change Science, Impact, Mitigation and Adaptation examines how integrating cultural and social literacies into research training for climate and environmental scientists can produce more ethical, effective, and relevant research. The project will test the hypothesis that training in understanding the relationship between environmental change and culture will produce scholars capable of engaging in research that addresses the disproportionate environmental impact on vulnerable and historically marginalized communities. An expected outcome is that providing climate and environmental scientists with training in environmental justice, science & technology studies, indigenous studies, ethnic studies, and community-engaged research will elevate their capacities to be agents of ethical change. The result will be a diverse group of scientists engaged in research that addresses the challenges of climate change, mitigation and adaptation, while also producing greater social equity.    This project's objectives are to (1) create a customized training on equity and ethic challenges in climate science, (2) deliver these trainings in climate science graduate coursework across seven different departments, (3) engage in a comparative analysis to study their efficacy and (4) disseminate the training. A key measure of success for the program will be the achievement of learning objectives and students' level of engagement in questions of ethics and equity. The study will contribute to research on the ethics engagement by examining the efficacy of an equity-oriented ethics training. The proposed training is likely to spur projects that reduce the impacts of climate change on under-resourced communities. The training may also contribute to cultural changes within scientific communities, which may help with the retention of women and underrepresented populations in climate science.    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.",FALSE
2042870,CAREER: Towards Unbiased Long-Range Freight Planning Through Passive-Sensors and Workforce Diversity,2025-04-25,University of Arkansas,FAYETTEVILLE,AR,AR03,625367,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",CAREER: FACULTY EARLY CAR DEV,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2042870,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2042870_4900,2021-05-01,2026-04-30,727013124,MECEHTM8DB17,"This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant will produce freight-goods movement data at a resolution needed to make informed, data-driven, decisions about long-range transportation infrastructure investments and policies. Such decisions affect the health, safety, and prosperity of US citizens and the freight transportation industry.  Since the inception of nationwide shipment surveys in the 1990s, little has changed in how public agencies collect commodity flow data, despite the increasing complexity of freight operations and supply chains. With the 2017 federal mandates for electronic logbooks and widespread use of Global Positioning Systems, there is tremendous potential to reimagine how freight data is collected. The research objective of this grant is to derive unbiased spatial and temporally-continuous commodity and industry information from passively collected, anonymized freight movement data (specifically for truck and waterborne freight). The work will enable researchers and practitioners to advance 20-40 year forecast models of freight movement, as well as formulate solutions to critical industry issues such as driver shortages, Hours-of-Service regulations, and lack of safe and available parking. Additionally, diversity in the transportation workforce is critical for ensuring that investment and infrastructure decisions reflect the unique needs of diverse travelers. An innovative service-learning education plan is integrated into the project to improve job attraction and retention rates of female transportation professionals and students.    This research will yield positive societal impacts by enabling transportation agencies to leverage increasingly available samples of passively collected freight movement data for timely, unbiased decision-making regarding infrastructure investment, environmental policy, and economic development. The research will: 1) determine the extent to which activity patterns derived from passively collected mobile sensor data accurately predict commodity carried; 2) identify the extent to which vehicle body characteristics derived from roadway traffic sensors predict commodity carried; 3) establish and validate bias detection and quality measures for passively collected freight movement data. The project will promote women’s initial engagement and ongoing career satisfaction to help close the gender gap and ensure that diverse perspectives are routinely included in transportation planning processes. The three-tiered plan implements train-the-trainer sessions during annual professional conferences where college students (tier 1) teach practicing transportation engineers (tier 2) how to deliver traffic sensor-themed K-12 (tier 3) outreach. The broader educational impacts of this project support NSF societal outcomes by promoting: 1) full participation of women in STEM, 2) development of a more diverse, globally competitive STEM workforce, and 3) increased partnerships between academia and professional organizations.    The project is jointly funded by the Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",FALSE
2422606,CAREER: Black Feminist Epistemologies: Building a Sisterhood in Computing,2025-04-25,Emory University,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,772953,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2422606,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2422606_4900,2024-06-01,2028-07-31,303221061,S352L5PJLMP8,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This CAREER project explores the postsecondary experiences of Black women currently enrolled in undergraduate computing degree programs to draw attention to racial and gender inequalities that Black women in computing endure. Despite efforts to intentionally increase the recruitment and retention of women in the field of computing, Black women remain acutely underrepresented. Gender-focused efforts have fallen short of increasing the number of Black women in computing because they fail to acknowledge how the intersection of race and gender shape Black women’s experiences, including their retention in the field of computing.    Recent studies reveal that Black women enrolled in undergraduate computing degree programs at predominantly white institutions (PWIs) attest to the lack of support, mentorship, and resources that impede their ability to complete their degrees. Some choose to withdraw from these programs. Such results suggest that additional research explicitly focused on Black women enrolled at PWIs is essential for addressing the underrepresentation of Black women in computing. It aligns with the recent National Academies of Science Report, which recommends examining the experiences of women of color at critical junctures throughout their career. This project leverages Black feminist epistemologies and Black women’s ways of knowing, as critical frameworks of this research. The project utilizes the concept of sister circles to create counter spaces to build community and resist structural oppression. Sister circles amplify the voices of Black women as they engage in intimate conversations about experiences navigating their respective computing degree programs students. Additionally, Black women undergraduate computing students will share information about how structural oppression operates in the context of computing education and devise strategies to resist structural oppression. Results from this research will generate empirical, in-depth knowledge of Black women undergraduate students’ experiences in computing degree programs at PWIs, identifying critical inflection points during their progression that predict Black women’s ability to persist in computing. Additionally, a sister circle toolkit will be developed that enables PWIs to build an effective community of support for Black women in computing. This community includes access to near-peer mentors, resources, and information about career development opportunities as a countermeasure to the oppression and trauma that Black women experience in higher education. This project is funded by the Directorate for STEM Education Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2400839,Targeting parental language to reduce the development of gender stereotypes in early childhood,2025-04-25,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,1204058,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2400839,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2400839_4900,2024-08-15,2027-07-31,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"Gender stereotypes—including related to science, math, and intellectual potential more generally—take root in early childhood and contribute to immediate and long-term gender disparities in science engagement and achievement. The goal of this project is to reveal the processes underlying the development of such stereotypes in early childhood, while at the same time developing new approaches to reduce stereotype acquisition. The project tests the hypothesis that subtle but powerful features of how parents talk about gender with young children contribute to the development of a general, abstract belief that gender leads to fundamentally different kinds of people.  In this way, language that contributes to the abstract expectation that boys and girls are fundamentally different from one another facilitates stereotype acquisition, even if the language itself does not include any stereotypic content. The present project tests this conceptual model and compares it to theoretical alternatives via an intervention design that targets different aspects of parent language and knowledge. This project will test whether targeting the language that young children hear about gender can reduce the development of gender stereotypes over time, while also addressing fundamental questions about how beliefs are spread across communities through subtle features of language.     This project will conduct an experimental intervention study with longitudinal follow-up involving young children (ages 3-4) and their parents. The experiment involves unmoderated remote, intervention research that facilitates participation across broad and diverse populations of families. The intervention targets mechanisms in parent-child conversation that facilitates the acquisition of social stereotypes in early childhood. Families of approximately 450 children will be randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions, targeting either the (a) linguistic structure of parents’ references to gender, (b) parents’ knowledge about stereotype development, or (c) a control condition.  Then, the project will remotely document parent-child conversations referring to gender and code the conversations for features of content and linguistic structure using cutting-edge artificial intelligence methods. They will then chart the trajectory of children’s language related to gender stereotypes about science, math, and intellectual ability over eighteen months. This research will reveal how language contributes to the development of gender stereotypes over time, while at the same time identifying new intervention approaches for disrupting their acquisition.    This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2316852,Collaborative Research: The Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences (IDEAS) Program,2025-04-25,Dartmouth College,HANOVER,NH,NH02,161741,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Biological Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2316852,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2316852_4900,2023-09-01,2027-08-31,037552170,EB8ASJBCFER9,"Research shows that participation of the full spectrum of diverse talent in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) brings unique perspectives and experiences that solve problems and promote creativity in basic and applied sciences. The Increasing Diversity in Evolutionary Anthropological Sciences (IDEAS) program is a continuing initiative to build diverse talent in biological anthropology through research, training, mentorship and collaboration opportunities for students and faculty from groups underrepresented in STEM and anthropology. As a discipline that studies the variation and evolution of living humans, non-human primates and their extinct ancestors, and features researchers who provide insights on everything from forensic identification to human ergonomics to understanding climate influences on human systems, it is critical that biological anthropology attract researchers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives. The current award builds and expands on previous NSF-supported IDEAS program activities, during which over 100 students and faculty mentors participated and new researchers were retained in the discipline.    The current project continues the IDEAS Program initiative through the successful student mentoring and outreach program that is held in conjunction with the American Association of Biological Anthropologists annual meeting. The project also expands the IDEAS Program initiative in two key ways: (1) adding an IDEAS Workshop at, or near, one Minority Serving Institution (MSI) annually, and (2) extending mentorship and community building into more advanced stages of the academic life cycle (i.e., post-PhD). The project also develops more sophisticated monitoring and evaluation strategies to understand this initiative’s longer-term impacts on the discipline. This project is jointly funded by the Biological Anthropology program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",TRUE
2417948,"The Role of Narratives, Identity, and Collective Action in Entrepreneurship",2025-04-25,California State University San Marcos Corporation,SAN MARCOS,CA,CA50,300704,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417948,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417948_4900,2024-08-15,2027-07-31,920960001,EKHKFP33NN53,"The emergence of markets, organizations and collectives centered around socially and economically disadvantaged (SED) identities represents a growing trend in addressing systemic inequalities and fostering empowerment in the United States. These efforts can take many different forms- via mobile platforms, physical markets, educational spaces, and social events; but it is important to understand how collectives of socially and economically disadvantaged individuals are coming together to create opportunities and supports that help them overcome the negative impacts of social discrimination, so we can promote and support social mobility for all people. While there have been some studies that examine how SED individuals engage in entrepreneurship to overcome discrimination, we have less understanding about how marginalized communities are working together in collectives to change the entrepreneurial ecosystem and create opportunities for SED entrepreneurs at a larger scale.  Understanding how collectives of individuals, entrepreneurs, and organizations are engaging in collective action and leveraging collective identities is critical to creating more inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems and building pathways towards social mobility for SED entrepreneurs. This project will also produce opportunities for professional growth for faculty and students at minority-serving institutions as well as benefit local communities of entrepreneurs.     While initial research has opened up important questions about the psychological, socio-economic, as well as political roles entrepreneurship might play within marginalized communities, it has overwhelmingly focused on individual ventures. Interestingly, while economic theory predicts that growing economic challenges give rise to increasing competition, many marginalized communities have found cooperation to be an effective strategy for developing opportunities for social mobility. Our study seeks to understand how collectives of individuals and entrepreneurs as well as organizations engage in collective action and leverage collective identities to create inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems and build pathways towards social mobility for SED entrepreneurs. To do so, this project proposes to develop an interdisciplinary research collaboration between two minority serving institutions to determine how collectives are coming together to develop innovative entrepreneurial opportunities for SED individuals and how these efforts are impacting the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This project aims to generate theoretical understandings of the relationship between marginality and entrepreneurship, as well as social movements and collective action. This project will generate a host of broader impacts by creating opportunities for collaborations within and between minority-serving institutions, providing opportunities for minority students to receive training and experience, as well as lifting up examples of the exceptional creativity and agency of collectives who are organizing to overcome social exclusion and forge new pathways for SED entrepreneurs. Examples of community solidarity and collective organization need to be explored so that we can bolster critical supports to these innovative initiatives that facilitate resilience and the ability to overcome structural barriers. In order to shed new light on the ways that collectives of marginalized communities are forming to grow solidarity and create opportunities for entrepreneurs, we will employ a comprehensive set of community-informed and participatory qualitative methods, including ethnographic observations, focus groups, and interviews.    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.",FALSE
2243020,"AGEP FC-PAM: The University of Texas System Alliance: An Inclusive Model of Mentoring, Sponsorship, and Systemic Change for Diversity in STEM Faculty Career Paths",2025-04-25,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,103224,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243020,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243020_4900,2023-08-15,2028-07-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"The AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FC-PAM) “The University of Texas System Alliance” (UT System Alliance) promotes equity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education. The goal of the AGEP UT System Alliance is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a University of Texas System AGEP career pathway model that provides (1) systemic change around policies and procedures for recruitment and hiring of, and (2) collaborative mentoring and sponsorship for the success of Black and African American, Latine and Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander STEM doctoral candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty members at the University of Texas campuses at Arlington, Austin, Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio. The AGEP UT System Alliance provides inclusive mentoring and sponsorship for AGEP UT System Alliance participants around tools for success, and it promotes changes in culture and policy at each Alliance institution to create an ecosystem supportive of the professional development. Alliance activities are addressing non-inclusive practices and creating welcoming spaces for members of these groups as they ascend to careers in academia. The Alliance is working to improve the understanding of intersecting identities around ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, economic background, first generation status, faculty role and discipline, and family and community roles, as intersectional identities inform professional development activities for doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members, as well as professional development for university leaders as part of systemic change strategies. The AGEP UT System Alliance is also adopting faculty hiring best practices for early career faculty hiring policies and practices.     Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty members, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FC-PAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FC-PAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FC-PAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.     The Alliance has internal and external advisory boards with members who routinely review the AGEP UT System Alliance’s progress and strategize on future steps. An internal evaluator is leading the project’s self-study and formative assessment of the development and implementation of effective programming, institutional integration, and impacts. An external evaluator is providing summative assessment using a theory-based framework to assess the effectiveness of the AGEP UT System Alliance in recruiting, supporting, and retaining STEM doctoral candidates, postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty members; the Alliance’s creation of career and  academic pathways; and the project’s impact on institutional integration for sustainability. The AGEP UT System Alliance team is disseminating the AGEP FC-PAM Model and project results through peer-reviewed and professional publications, an AGEP UT System Alliance website, and presentations at scientific and professional meetings.    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.",TRUE
2215050,"Instrument Development: Racially & Ethnically Minoritized Youths’ Varied Out-Of-School-Time Experiences and Their Effects on STEM Attitudes, Identity, and Career Interest",2025-04-25,Harvard University,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,950262,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215050,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215050_4900,2022-09-01,2025-06-30,021385366,LN53LCFJFL45,"Increasing the diversity of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) workforce hinges on understanding the impact of the many related, pre-college experiences of the nation’s youth. While formal preparation, such as high school course-taking, has a major influence, research has shown that out-of-school-time activities have a much larger role in shaping the attitudes, identity, and career interests of students, particularly those who are members of groups historically underrepresented in STEM fields (Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and/or Pacific Islander). A wide range of both innovative adult-led (science clubs, internships, museum-going, competitions, summer camps) and personal-choice (hobbies, family talk, games, simulations, social media, online courses) options exist. This project studies the variety and availability such experiences to pre-college students. The project is particularly interested in how community cultural capital is leveraged through informal activities and experiences, drawing upon the “funds of knowledge” that culturally diverse students bring to their STEM experiences (e.g., high aspirations, multilingual facility, building of sustaining social networks, and the capacity to challenge negative stereotyping). This study has the capability to begin to reveal evidence-based measures of the absolute and relative effectiveness of promising informal educational practices, including many developed and disseminated by NSF-funded programs. Understanding the ecology of precollege influencers and the hypotheses on which they are based, along with providing initial measures of the efficacy of multiple pathways attempting to broaden participation of students from underrepresented groups in STEM majors and careers, will aid decision-making that will maximize the strategic impact of federal and local efforts.    The project first collects hypotheses from the wide variety of stakeholders (educators, researchers, and students) about the kinds of experiences that make a difference in increasing students’ STEM identity and career interest. Identifying the descriptive attributes that characterize opportunities across individual programs and validating a multi-part instrument to ascertain student experiences will be carried out through a review of relevant literature, surveying stakeholders using crowdsourced platforms, and through in-depth interviews with 50 providers. A sample of 1,000 students from 2- and 4-year college and universities, drawn from minority-serving institutions, such as Historically Black Colleges, Hispanic Serving Institutions, and Tribal Colleges and Universities will serve to establish the validity and reliability of the derived instrument and provide estimates of the availability and frequency of involvement. Psychometric methods and factor analysis will guide us in combining related variables into indices that reflect underlying constructs. Propensity score weighting will be employed for estimating effects when exposure to certain OST activities is confounded with other factors (e.g., parental education, SES). Path models and structural equation models (SEM) will be employed to build models that use causal or time related variables, for instance, students’ career interests at different times in their pre-college experience. The study goes beyond evaluation of individual experiences in addressing important questions that will help policy makers, educators, parents, and students understand which OST opportunities serve the diverse values and goals of members of underrepresented groups, boosting their likelihood of pursuing STEM careers. This project is co-funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) and EHR CORE Research (ECR) programs. The ECR program supports a wide range of fundamental STEM education research activities, aimed at learners of all groups and ages in formal and informal settings. The AISL program supports work that advances new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2314179,Promoting Intraminority Solidarity Through Intergroup Relations Framings,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,618465,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314179,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314179_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"Decades of research and theory development in Social Psychology has focused on the causes and consequences of racism, with most of this research focusing on Black-White relations. However, little attention has been devoted to understanding minority groups’ attitudes toward other minority groups. This issue is important to understand because social equality and progress depends on solidarity between minority groups, and research that limits itself to only Black-White relations limits the understanding of attitudes and behavior toward minority groups. This project focuses on the role of framing in intergroup bias. Indeed, how people view members of other groups is a fundamental aspect of human social cognition, and how much racial minority groups support each other is expected to depend on how racism is framed. Advancing this understanding informs policies and strategies that bring all groups together in the fight against discrimination.    This project builds on the observation that racism directed by White Americans toward Black Americans can be framed in two distinct ways: as anti-Black or as pro-White. This difference in framing is expected to influence another minority group’s sense of solidarity or allyship with Black Americans. Specifically, this research focuses on Asian American allyship with Black Americans. It is hypothesized that framing racism against Black Americans as the result of anti-Black rather than pro-White attitudes will increase Asian Americans’ intraminority solidarity with Black Americans. One set of studies examines whether Asian Americans and White Americans think about these framings as different from each other or different from other framings of intergroup bias. Additional experiments examine whether an anti-Black framing leads Asian Americans to experience a greater sense of responsibility for racism and results in stronger solidarity with Black Americans. A final experiment explores the effect of framing on Asian Americans support for intergroup causes. Understanding how different framings for intergroup conflict affect allyship from members of other minority groups is important for building a more comprehensive understanding of intergroup relations.    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.",TRUE
2428802,"Conference: Uncertainty Quantification for Machine Learning Integrated Physics Modeling (UQ-MLIP 2024); Arlington, Virginia; 12-14 August 2024",2025-04-25,Duke University,DURHAM,NC,NC04,16800,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",Mechanics of Materials and Str,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2428802,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2428802_4900,2024-08-01,2025-07-31,277054640,TP7EK8DZV6N5,"This award provides travel support for 14 early career researchers to attend the 2024 Thematic Conference on Uncertainty Quantification for Machine Learning Integrated Physics Modeling (UQ-MLIP 2024), to be held in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia, 12-14 August 2024. This thematic conference will provide an interdisciplinary coverage of uncertainty quantification for scientific machine learning and physics modeling. It will bring together leading experts, scientists, and young researchers from both academia and industry, with the goal of exchanging the latest developments on these topics and identifying challenges and opportunities to push this interdisciplinary research effort forward. The conference will feature technical presentations by invited speakers, a poster contest, and two panel sessions addressing challenges and future directions. This award will broaden the participation of a diverse set of participants, including women and underrepresented minorities, early career researchers and students, mid-career and senior faculty, as well as representatives from federal agencies and private companies. Dissemination will be achieved through workshop proceedings. A detailed summary about challenges and opportunities will be made available to the community at large.    Computational models of real-world systems are increasingly integrating data-driven models from the field of machine learning with physics-based models derived on, or informed by, first-principles. It is thus of greatest importance to carefully characterize and quantify the uncertainties associated with each model class under realistic scenarios where data can be scarce and limited. Furthermore, the propagation of parametric and model-form uncertainties to the outcomes of the integrated models demands for the construction of novel approaches or extensions of existing methodologies. Other topics that would benefit from such developments include digital twinning, model reduction, large scale integrated computations, and decision making in computational science and engineering. Applications of these methods hold the promise to push the boundaries of modeling, inverse identification, and simulation and experimental characterization in mechanics of materials and structures across scales. This thematic conference will facilitate the exchange of information on these topics, providing interdisciplinary collaboration and networking opportunities to a broad and diverse audience including early career researchers, faculty, students, stakeholders, and industrial partners.    This project is jointly funded by the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) in the Engineering (ENG) directorate and the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC) in the Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) directorate.    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.",FALSE
2319512,Conference: Increasing Underrepresented Minorities in STEM: The NOBCChE Annual Conference,2025-04-25,Louisiana State University,BATON ROUGE,LA,LA06,188800,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Chemistry,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2319512,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2319512_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,708030001,ECQEYCHRNKJ4,"This award, jointly funded by the Divisions of Chemistry, Division of Material Science, Division of Equity for Excellence in STEM HBCU-UP, and the Systems and Synthetic Biology Programs, supports Professor Tyrslai Williams-Carter and Professor Renã AS Robinson on behalf of the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers (NOBCChE) to support students in chemistry, chemical engineering, or related disciplines to attend the organization’s annual conferences. Diversifying the chemical enterprise is a national challenge and priority to strengthen the nation’s workforce and for the US to remain globally competitive. The NOBCChE annual conference provides opportunities for underrepresented students in chemistry, chemical engineering, and related disciplines to be exposed to career opportunities, share their research progress and findings, access a network of professional mentors and training, and learn the latest cutting-edge research in their disciplinary areas.    This project addresses questions around the importance of an organization such as NOBCChE, and its annual conference on providing support for underrepresented groups to matriculate in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The project will evaluate over three years how effective its annual conference is on the scientific identities of undergraduate and graduate students that participate in conference activities. Additionally, the project will evaluate the impact of the conference sense of belonging in STEM for the students and will measure outcomes of the proposed activities on STEM employment and education. The project team and NOBCChE organization are committed to diversifying the STEM workforce and ensuring underrepresented groups have the necessary resources to be successful in STEM.    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.",TRUE
2420344,"DISES: Multi-scale modeling of interactions between climate change, air quality, and social inequalities",2025-04-25,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,1028137,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",DYN COUPLED NATURAL-HUMAN,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420344,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420344_4900,2023-10-01,2026-04-30,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"Air pollutants and greenhouse gases share emission sources, including through the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas). Therefore, climate policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gases will produce the ‘co-benefit’ of also reducing air pollution, which is responsible for millions of deaths per year globally. However, little is known about how these co-benefits in air quality are likely to be distributed across populations, and how this distribution depends on choices between leading climate policy options. As one example, electrifying the transport sector will likely have much different implications for populations living near major roads – often disproportionately minorities and people of lower socioeconomic status – compared to a policy focusing on power plants. No systematic research has yet quantified these relationships and it is unclear which ways of pursuing climate policy will best achieve society’s health and equity objectives. This project will investigate these complex socio-environmental dynamics through a two-step process. First, the co-benefits of different climate policies as related to air quality will be estimated, along with how those policies will differentially impact health across socioeconomic subpopulations. Then that information will be used to examine how climate policy decisions may be optimized using models that include other aspects of the broader system, such as economic and demographic change, as well as the impacts of climate change itself.       The human system and the atmospheric system are inextricably linked. Humans produce emissions, emissions alter the atmosphere, and the atmosphere in turn affects society, for example through exposure to air or water pollution, property damage from storms and wildfires, and impacts on agricultural yields and ecosystems. The level of anthropogenic emissions is modifiable through policy choices, which are themselves a complex output of interactions between social and ethical subsystems. This project will model the dynamics of this highly integrated system, with a focus on feedbacks between climate policy, air quality, and equity. The air quality ‘co-benefits’ of climate policy are important because of their policy relevance, given that these benefits are large, begin immediately, and occur locally. These impacts will not be uniform across regions in space or time, and so it is important to determine how climate action might alleviate or exacerbate existing inequalities in air pollution exposure. These relationships will be examined through novel air quality modeling and improvements to leading cost-benefit climate policy models. The goals are to : [1] Conduct multi-scale modeling to determine how air quality will change as a result of different climate policies, and how those changes will differentially impact socioeconomic subpopulations within cities, regions and countries; [2] Incorporate the newly estimated relationships into leading climate policy models; [3] Analyze optimal policy relative to different objectives that society might endorse. These objectives have numerous broader impacts that include reducing income inequality, alleviating health disparities, ensuring equitable burden sharing between nations, and intergenerational justice.    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.",FALSE
2114660,BCSER: Investigating Factors that Influence African American Students’ Selection of Computational Internships and Careers,2025-04-25,Fisk University,NASHVILLE,TN,TN05,304761,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114660,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2114660_4900,2021-08-15,2026-07-31,372083051,DRC6S9KLNLH1,"The project is designed to enable the principal investigator to conduct an exploratory research project while acquiring skills and competencies to conduct robust STEM education research. The research component will examine factors and experiences that impact African American students’ decision to pursue careers that require quantitative and computational skills. The mentored professional development component will provide the investigator with expertise in qualitative research design and methods and with the design of an experimental intervention. The project will be implemented in three phases: (1) building capacity in qualitative research methods, design-based research, and analytic techniques of qualitative data; (2) collecting interview and qualitative data with the guidance of mentors; and (3) framing a pilot intervention to increase African American students’ interest in majors and careers that emphasize competencies in quantitative and computational sciences.  In addition to expanding the base of scholars from Historically Black Colleges and Universities conducting STEM education research, the project will advance the understanding of the experiences and career decision-making process of African American students seeking computational careers and internships.    The hypothesis guiding the research is that a structured college curriculum, extra-curricular programs and activities, African American role models and peer influence, sense of belonging and self-efficacy, faculty advising, and effective recruiting strategies are  the variables that positively impact African American students’ awareness of and interest in computationally related majors and careers. The investigator will use a triangulation of perspectives to examine the factors that influence African American students’ career trajectories from the perspectives of students, STEM faculty at Fisk University, and industry recruiters. The qualitative data analysis will examine what and how social, cultural, and contextual factors impact African American students’ career selection in computing and math-related careers. The investigator will analyze data from interviews and focus groups and apply a design-based methodology to frame the proposed intervention - a Computational Career Alliance that will serve as an infrastructure to build internal capacity to conduct STEM education research at a Historically Black College and University. The intervention also can potentially broaden the participation of African American students in STEM majors and careers.    The project is supported by the ECR: Building Capacity in STEM Education Research competition of the EHR Core Research (ECR) program. ECR funds fundamental STEM education research projects that address STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2411775,Collaborative Research: Racial Equity in STEM Starts with Teacher Education,2025-04-25,Eastern Washington University,CHENEY,WA,WA05,105673,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411775,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411775_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,990042445,QL3XATN9H6L1,"The racial and ethnic diversity of the K-12 student population far exceeds the diversity of the current teacher workforce and teacher candidate pipeline. To address this gap, systemic changes in the structural and cultural dimensions of university teacher preparation programs are required. This project will leverage an existing consortium of STEM teacher preparation programs in Washington State to: (1) identify community assets and systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting STEM teacher candidates from historically underrepresented populations; (2) develop strategies for preparing STEM teacher candidates to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies; and (3) advance understanding of how universities can develop authentic partnerships with historically marginalized communities to support STEM teacher preparation. The significance of this project is that it aims to establish authentic partnerships with individuals and groups typically underrepresented in STEM and elevate the knowledge and leadership from marginalized communities to collaboratively address barriers and obstacles to becoming STEM teachers.    This project will employ a descriptive multiple case study design to understand how institutes of higher education work with their local communities to dismantle systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM teacher preparation. Further, the project will investigate how these teacher preparation programs leverage the knowledge of leaders from marginalized communities to develop and share strategies for preparing future STEM teachers to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies. With sites spanning urban, suburban, and rural settings, this research will enhance our collective knowledge about contextual factors that support or constrain efforts to address inequities in STEM teacher preparation. The community-led work at each region is grounded in the principles of Targeted Universalism and will utilize tools and frameworks from the Equity-Driven Systems Change Model to center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities. Anticipated impacts include new recruitment and retention models for diversifying STEM teaching, revised curricula to infuse culturally sustaining pedagogy into STEM teacher preparation, and new equity-minded structures and policies to guide teacher education program decisions.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2204125,ADVANCE Adaptation: American University Creating Gender and Racial Equity Among STEM Faculty,2025-04-25,American University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,1000000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204125,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2204125_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,200168003,H4VNDUN2VWU5,"The American University (AU) ADVANCE Adaptation project will improve the professional and academic environment for all faculty with a focus on the retention of women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minority (URM) faculty in STEM fields. This focus is informed by prior work done with an ADVANCE Catalyst grant, which showed that changes to faculty hiring practices were achieving increased diversity in new faculty, but departures of diverse faculty, particularly URM women was a major issue.  The Catalyst work also found inequitable experiences and support for faculty on term and tenure-track career pathways. Thus, the ADVANCE AU project focuses on improving the overall academic climate for women and URM faculty in STEM including tenure track, tenured, and term faculty. The goals of the project are to: 1. Enhance faculty mentoring through training for both mentors and mentees; 2. Review and revise department level policies with “Boyer-inspired” tenure, promotion, and reappointment reforms; 3. Elevate, recognize, and reward the diversity, equity, and inclusion work done by AU faculty through various strategies; and 4. Create an institutional administrative position with responsibilities for faculty diversity and equity in the provost office.    The ADVANCE AU project will clarify existing policies and develop and execute new tenure, promotion, and reappointment guidelines that integrate inclusive and antiracist principles.  This and other aspects of the project are expected to increase STEM faculty feelings of belongingness in their departments and at AU.  The Boyer-inspired framework, selected to combat the “teaching versus research” dichotomy, categorizes faculty work into four distinct but overlapping functions: 1) the scholarship of discovery; 2) the scholarship of integration; 3) the scholarship of application; and 4) the scholarship of teaching. The utilization of the framework is expected to increase the visibility of non-traditional faculty work and to expand the definition of faculty work as related to tenure and promotion. Findings from the project are expected to shed light on how to engage academic leaders in important and “difficult conversations” about the perpetuation of racial and gender inequities via policies and practices in programs and departments.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Adaptation"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",FALSE
2314693,Law and Social Science Fellowship and Mentoring Program on Law & Inequality,2025-04-25,American Bar Foundation,CHICAGO,IL,IL05,241262,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314693,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314693_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,606113152,F7UYJCNMJGA5,"Law and social science scholars are studying important questions that highlight the difference between what the law says and how it works, particularly those differences that worsen established inequalities within society. However, while the work is critical, there are obstacles that discourage new scholars from entering this relatively small field. One such obstacle is that entering the field of law and social science requires crossing traditional disciplinary boundaries. But because the field is relatively small, there are only a few research institutions with a concentration of specialists. This can make it risky if not impossible for graduate students or recent Ph.D. holders who are not at institutions with established interdisciplinary programs to pursue this kind of work. They often lack either the training or support to undergo this critical work.    The Law and Social Science Fellowship and Mentoring Program on Law & Inequality aims to develop a small cohort of two carefully chosen doctoral scholars and one postdoctoral scholar focused on law and inequality through critically important and specialized support from a robust intellectual community within the American Bar Foundation in Chicago, IL. Applications will be open broadly and across disciplines to any advanced Ph.D. student or those who have recently completed their Ph.Ds. Selections will be based on candidate’s scholarly potential in the field of law and social science, commitment to conducting research on law and inequality, academic achievement, and contribution to diversity of the field. During this time, they will be able to focus on their research and professional development. Members of both the American Bar Foundation and the Law and Society Association research communities will provide advice and guidance to these young scholars as they navigate academic spaces and challenges. Effective mentoring and being part of an interdisciplinary academic community can broaden the perspectives of graduate students and recent Ph.D. holders and provide them with the necessary training and support to succeed as scholars. A package of financial support permits fellows to take full advantage of the education, training, and mentoring at the heart of this program. Once established, these fellows will soon not only make significant contributions to the field, but they will also become mentors to their own students.    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.",FALSE
2437775,Planning: CRISES: Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Stewardship (CIKS),2025-04-25,University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus,FAIRBANKS,AK,AK00,100000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,"CRISES-R&I in Sci, Env&Society",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2437775,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2437775_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,997750001,FDLEQSJ8FF63,"Addressing national and global crises taking place at the intersection of society and environmental relations requires innovation and transformative approaches. Current approaches from US research have focused exclusively on western scientific disciplines – what is missing is the breadth and depth of Indigenous knowledge systems. This planning grant convenes a group of university researchers (Indigenous and non-Indigenous scientists) and Tribal leaders and partners to generate a new vision of how universities and Tribal Nations can work together to develop new research protocols and projects to address the social and environmental crises facing not just Tribes, but all communities all across our nation. This Indigenous-led convening uplifts Tribal leadership together with western science expertise to collaboratively vision and co-develop a proposal for the Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Stewardship (CIKS).     As Indigenous scholars, social scientists, natural scientists, and Tribal leaders, our team has worked across cultural and disciplinary boundaries over years of collaboration to build relationships and trust necessary to advance the goals of this work in effective and culturally appropriate ways. Our evidence-based approach to transforming research processes includes an elevation of Indigenous epistemologies and ontologies, Indigenous rights and values, Indigenous knowledge, language, stories, protocols, and practices. The Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Stewardship generates a new vision of how universities and Tribes can work together to address the social and environmental crises of our time. There is a growing need for scientists trained in knowledge co-production and for inclusive science to correct the systematic exclusion of Indigenous peoples and knowledge systems from conventional western science research approaches. Our convening and collaboration to co-develop a full proposal for CIKS will itself generate and advance scholarship on knowledge co-production and expand environmental sciences and governance processes to better include western social sciences, Indigenous knowledge systems, and One Health frameworks. CIKS would be a national model for training and research that bridges Indigenous and western sciences to address seemingly intractable social-environmental crises. CIKS’s focus on addressing critical crises facing Indigenous and all communities across the nation will improve health and wellbeing of people and environments.    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.",FALSE
2411934,Collaborative Research: A Student Asset-based Approach to the Formation of Equitable Teams (SAFE Teams),2025-04-25,United States Military Academy,WEST POINT,NY,NY18,NA,Interagency Agreement,NA,NA,NA,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411934,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411934_4900,2024-09-01,2029-09-30,109961942,VYWRKA47TFY8,NA,FALSE
2149899,Collaborative Research: AGEP FC-PAM: Project ELEVATE (Equity-focused Launch to Empower and Value AGEP Faculty to Thrive in Engineering),2025-04-25,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,463266,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149899,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149899_4900,2022-06-15,2027-05-31,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"Carnegie Mellon University, Johns Hopkins University, and New York University will work as an Alliance team to develop a model to promote the equitable advancement of early career tenure-stream engineering faculty from underrepresented groups (African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders). Faculty who belong to these populations will be referred to as AGEP faculty in the context of the AGEP program. The goal of this AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FCPAM) is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a career pathway model, that can be adapted for use at other similar institutions, for advancing early career Engineering faculty from these populations of interest to the AGEP program. This AGEP FCPAM will provide a framework for institutional change at private, highly selective research institutions that will enable all faculty to be members of a collaborative community. Improving the experience of these faculty can lead to increased diversity in the Engineering faculty and ultimately result in graduating more Engineering students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the Engineering workforce.    Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing engineering faculty, educating America’s future engineering workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FCPAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP faculty, within similar institutions of higher education. FCPAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FCPAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP faculty.    The Alliance interventions will focus on three major areas, 1) equity-focused institutional change designed to make structural changes that support the advancement of AGEP faculty, 2) developing and sustaining an infrastructure that facilitates impactful mentorship of AGEP junior faculty in support of career advancement, 3) inclusive professional development that equips all Engineering faculty and institutional leaders with skills to implement inclusive practices and to support career advancement. Evidence-based practices from the Women in Engineering ProActive Network and the NSF INCLUDES ASPIRE Alliance's Inclusive Professional Framework, will be foundational for this AGEP FCPAM's activities. An internal evaluator will lead the self-study and formative assessment which will advance knowledge concerning the institutional barriers that negatively impact the advancement of AGEP faculty in academic Engineering careers. Attention will be given to the role cultural and intersectional identities play in the success of AGEP faculty. An external evaluator will provide a summative assessment using a culturally responsive framework to assess the implementation of project activities and the development of the Alliance model.    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.",TRUE
2342625,Collaborative Research: Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity,2025-04-25,Bowling Green State University,BOWLING GREEN,OH,OH05,302718,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342625,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342625_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,434034401,SLT3EB6G3FA9,"Data literacy plays a pivotal role in understanding real-world problems, making it an increasingly important topic in mathematics education. Preparing young learners to use data to answer questions and solve problems empowers them to participate in society as informed citizens and opens doors to 21st-century career opportunities. For many learners underrepresented in STEM, developing data literacy through innovative technologies requires personally meaningful experiences working with data. The Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity (FIT for Equity) is a Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI) project that will engage 24 teachers in co-designing technology-enhanced data literacy lessons and including students and community members as co-authors. This inclusive lesson study approach advances equity in math classes by supporting the critical data literacies necessary to participate in today’s workforce as informed citizens. FIT for Equity will cultivate design principles that bring together teachers, students, and community members in this innovative capacity building effort that may lead to more equitable learning opportunities. The project team will also produce a collection of data literacy mathematics lessons featuring transformative technologies to address community-based challenges, co-authored by elementary teachers, students, and community members in four distinct geographic locales in Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.    Through equity frameworks in mathematics education, this project will develop and test design principles for planning, observing, and reflecting on technology-integrated mathematics lessons. Researchers will use a design-based research approach to answer three research questions: 1. How do technology-enhanced data literacy lessons develop students' data literacy, understanding of community issues, and attitudes towards STEM? 2. How do the project’s design principles for technology-enhanced data literacy lessons promote teachers’ practices for culturally responsive mathematics teaching? 3. What are the affordances and constraints of Inclusive Lesson Study in expanding the integration of technology for data literacy towards equity? Iterative implementation cycles will be used to develop and test the inclusive lesson study cycles. Data will be collected through inventories and document analysis of lesson study artifacts, including student work, annotated classroom lessons, and lesson study meeting recordings. Additionally, data will be gathered using the Culturally Relevant Mathematics Teaching (CRMT2) Classroom Observation Tool, the Equity-centered Transformative Technology Lesson Analysis Tool, and interviews with participating teachers, students, and community members. Pre- and post-surveys will be administered to measure changes in students' STEM self-efficacy and career interests. Deliverables will include a repository of research lessons and video vignettes highlighting FIT for Equity lessons. Research findings will be disseminated through a project website, conference presentations, and journal publications. All program materials will be made free and publicly accessible, allowing other educators, designers, and researchers to replicate or modify them to foster innovative approaches to promoting inquiry topics that are both meaningful and applicable to underrepresented learners’ real-world contexts.    This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that increase students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2150423,HSI Pilot Project: Including others in the teaching and practice of STEM disciplines,2025-04-25,CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice,NEW YORK,NY,NY12,199982,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150423,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150423_4900,2022-08-01,2025-07-31,100191007,NGK8GHNABTB8,"With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Track 1 project aims to promote systemic change in the teaching of STEM disciplines in order to close the gap between learners, educators, and the pedagogical material used in the classroom. The expected outcomes of this work are to increase faculty expertise through training in anti-racist and inclusive approaches that promote diversity in the STEM classroom, to have STEM students engaged with the faculty-created culturally affirming and anti-racist materials and activities, and to share the newly created resources in an open resource repository to support STEM faculty across the university and improve their pedagogical skills regarding culturally affirming teaching practices. This project proposes to promote institutional transformation in the teaching of STEM disciplines that better represents the student populations at Hispanic Serving Institutions by applying this approach to seven STEM courses at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice.     The first objective of the project is to conduct an incentivized 1-year STEM faculty seminar in which faculty will learn about anti-racist and inclusive pedagogies, as well as discuss their role and determine actions to undertake to diversify the students’ voices in the classroom. The seminar outcomes include classroom materials and activities aligned with the course content and developed with a culturally affirming, anti-racist lens. The second objective is the implementation of these materials and activities in the first and second year STEM courses to effect change in their epistemological perspectives to reflect the diversity of the classrooms and to empower the students. The third objective is to carry out a robust evaluation that assesses the impact of these activities in relation to students’ sense of belonging to STEM and science identity. The fourth and final objective is to develop an open-resource platform that will house the created resources and tools to make them accessible to other STEM faculty members. Ultimately, this will promote widespread curricular change, enhance faculty engagement and equitable student outcomes. The research plan will include a mixed-method approach to analyze students’ experiences and outcomes after participating in this program. The project seeks to generate new knowledge about inclusive pedagogical practices to increase the connection of students with classroom materials, and shed light into new strategies to impact students’ persistence in STEM majors that promote the retention of marginalized and historically underrepresented minority students in STEM. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.    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.",FALSE
2046642,CAREER: Mortgage and Healthcare Discrimination During COVID19 Pandemic and Use of Text Data in Economics,2025-04-25,Tulane University,NEW ORLEANS,LA,LA01,400000,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046642,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046642_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,701185665,XNY5ULPU8EN6,"Economic studies of discrimination against under-represented groups have focused almost exclusively on labor market, and in rare cases, on housing markets.  Yet there are several areas in which under-represented groups face discrimination that are equally harmful society as a whole.  This CAREER research will use four projects and modern economic approaches to study discrimination against under-represented groups in broad areas of economic activity.  The first project investigates discrimination against under-represented groups in access to metal health services, the second project investigates whether discrimination in mental health care has been exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic, while the third project investigates discrimination against under-represented groups in mortgage markets.  The researchers develop new analytical tools to deal with economics research that uses text data in the fourth project.  This research will develop a large scale mentoring program for under-represented graduate and undergraduate students in economics.  The research project provides a broader understanding of the causes and consequences of discrimination in several areas than has been studied before and therefore provide inputs into policies to reduce discrimination against under-represented groups.  This research will therefore help to establish the USA as the global leader in the fight against discrimination.        This five-year CAREER development project is a comprehensive research and education program on quantifying, understanding, and mitigating discrimination against under-represented groups.  The project includes two audit field experiments to study access to mental health care, based on under-represented minority status and mortgage loans, based on a sub-set of under-represented groups. These audit field experiments use the experimental method to isolate discrimination from other factors and observing discriminatory behavior in actual scenarios. The audit field experiments also make important scientific  contributions since little is known about discrimination in access to healthcare or discrimination against under-represented people in broad areas of social and economic interactions. Both projects extend the methodology of audit field experiments by using computational linguistics and machine learning methodologies to detect subtle discrimination in language. The audit field experiment of access to mental health care also includes a timely extension to quantify access to mental health care during the COVID-19 pandemic, by exploring how the intensity of the pandemic and pandemic-related policies, such as shelter-in-place ordinances, affect access to counseling and therapy appointments. These research projects are paired with educational plans that seek to increase research and mentorship opportunities for under-represented minorities.  The results of this research project will provide inputs into policies to reduce discrimination against under-represented groups.  This research will therefore help establish the USA as the global leader in the fight against discrimination.    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.",FALSE
2345121,Investigating the Impact of Preparation in Racial Equity and Language Equity Practices on STEM Secondary Teacher Effectiveness and Retention,2025-04-25,Santa Clara University,SANTA CLARA,CA,CA17,450523,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2345121,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2345121_4900,2024-06-01,2028-05-31,950504776,YE8LRJWSY3K9,"The project aims to serve the national need of preparing highly effective STEM teachers who can address the STEM learning needs of increasingly racially and linguistically diverse student populations. Little is known about how novice secondary STEM teachers integrate equitable teaching practices into their STEM teaching as they begin their careers. This research will investigate how continued implementation of racial equity and language equity practices in STEM teaching may influence STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need schools. The project has the potential to produce new insights that could influence secondary STEM teacher preparation programs broadly.    This research effort from Santa Clara University (SCU), University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), and Education Northwest – in partnership with and East Side Union High School and Salinas Union High School districts – aims to investigate conceptualization and implementation of racial equity and language equity practices among 45 secondary STEM teachers during their teacher education program through their first two years of teaching. Participating teachers will be drawn from Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce) Scholars at SCU (n=15), Noyce Scholars at UCSC (n=15), and graduates of the National Professional Development in which STEM teachers attain their bilingual authorization as part of their preparation (n=15). Over the course of this four-year study, the project aims to investigate relations between continued implementation of racial equity and language equity practices in STEM teaching and STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need schools among this participant population. Direct observations of secondary STEM teaching, as well as survey measures of teacher self-efficacy and equitable teaching practices, will be used to assess STEM teacher effectiveness. Surveys of teacher intentions to remain in the profession and the relation to teachers’ experiences with equitable teaching practices will be used to evaluate potential impacts on STEM teacher retention. Additionally, the project will conduct interviews with a purposeful, stratified sub-sample of participants (n=10) at multiple time points to probe how STEM teacher preparation activities focused on racial equity and language equity practices influence teaching and retention in the profession. External feedback to the project will be provided by an advisory board and by education researchers from Education Northwest. The project has the potential to address gaps in the literature about how secondary STEM teacher preparation focused on racial equity and language equity pedagogies influences STEM teacher effectiveness and retention in high-need schools. This Track 4: Noyce Research is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.    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.",FALSE
2429337,Collaborative Research: ReDDDoT Phase 2: Inclusive American language technologies,2025-04-25,Mozilla Foundation,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,1051622,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ReDDDoT-Resp Des Dev & Dp Tech,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429337,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429337_4900,2024-10-01,2027-09-30,48377,NKMBPAQ23N69,"More than 350 languages and many additional variants and dialects are spoken in the United States and yet, voice technology recognizes only a handful. This research will create crucial training datasets, predominantly optimized for speech recognition (speech-to-text), for three underrepresented, American sociolinguistic contexts — a sociolect, a code-switching language context, and an Indigenous language. The methodology for co-creating these datasets with communities prioritizes building the agency, skills, and knowledge required for people to use and apply their dataset to serve their own social and economic context. Inclusive speech-to-text technology that recognizes more American language dialects means that more Americans can access critical information across citizen services, finance, education, health, and justice.    The project iterates a community-mobilizing, inherently capacity-building, applied methodology for creating crucial machine-learning datasets, predominantly optimized for speech recognition (speech-to-text). The data creation process (text and audio) for these datasets will be run, hosted, and released through an open-source platform and infrastructure to ensure public accessibility. Communities will co-create the datasets from design phase to quality assurance, with space to shape the governance framework, diversity criteria, and domain representation. This program will: (1) bridge critical gaps for innovative technological research on under-represented languages and variants; (2) evolve understanding of culturally-conscious, consent-centric modes of community participation in the building of artificial intelligence (AI); and (3) accelerate first-language language technology tooling in key economic domains such as health, education, justice, and agriculture, thereby accelerating pathways to societal and economic benefits. The project will also advance skills development in machine learning by actively involving individuals who speak these underrepresented language variants in the data collection process. The project methodology is applied pedagogy, through teaching communities about AI training datasets by involving them in their design and build. This skill-building approach can lead to improved community representation within STEM professions, as well as immediately mitigating dataset biases and potential harms.    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.",FALSE
2415840,Co-Design for Climate Justice: Youth expression through Science-rich Public Art,2025-04-25,Pratt Institute,BROOKLYN,NY,NY07,1994610,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415840,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415840_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,112053899,LUE9B6MDL4N5,"Broadening access to STEM for members of the public can be challenging, as many STEM-focused media channels and recreational venues primarily cater to those with a pre-existing interest in STEM. This is especially problematic when learning about climate change because it is the most disenfranchised members of society who will likely bear the heaviest burden of its effects. Public festivals, in particular cultural festivals and public art exhibits, are an under-explored venue for informal STEM learning, as they draw a diverse range of attendees from a local region who may or may not have experience with or interest in STEM. This project builds on prior work that developed a “Guerilla Science” model for expanding public engagement with STEM topics via “pop up” multisensory arts-based exhibits and events presented in public settings like festivals, and an accompanying communication training for scientists to help them translate their knowledge into these pop-up experiences. The current work will explore how local youth from non-dominant racial backgrounds can be integrated into an intergenerational co-design process with scientists and artists, bringing to the table their social positionality, local community knowledge, and diverse cultural expertise to produce public facing art events focused on climate literacy and climate justice. These events will be integrated into festivals and public programs on Governor’s Island in New York City, directly impacting up to ten thousand visitors.    The project will use a Design-Based Research approach to study three alternate methods for how Black, Indigenous, and Other People of Color (BIPOC) youth participants, working with the Beam Center organization, can be engaged in the Guerilla Science participatory design experience. Drawing on participatory design, climate communication, and climate justice scholarship, the research will investigate:(1) What forms of novel and authentic contributions can BIPOC youth make to the design of ISL experiences focused on climate literacy? What assets do they draw on to make these contributions?; (2) How can intergenerational collaborative design processes between BIPOC youth, scientists, and artists be effectively structured to produce informal climate literacy experiences?; and (3) What kinds of shifts in orientations to future climate engagement do BIPOC youth, artists and scientists experience through engaging in intergenerational collaborative design of climate literacy ISL experiences? To systematically explore these questions, the project will test three different literature-derived roles for the youth to play in the design process—as informants and co-researchers, as ideation catalysts and testers, and as full design partners—across two iterations. Through collection and analysis of a range of data—field observation notes and design documents, participant interviews, participant pre/post surveys, and the designed pop-up experiences themselves—the project will refine hypotheses that can advance the literature on participatory design and further explore the design space for arts-based informal STEM education. It will also develop a body of evidence-based research that can inform the educational programming and community engagement strategies of the New York Climate Exchange (NYCE), a new large-scale cross-sector nonprofit climate education and research initiative based on Governor’s Island.      This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences    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.",FALSE
2417879,Collaborative Research: A Multi-faceted Analysis of Small Business Lending Dynamics,2025-04-25,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,253449,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417879,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417879_4900,2024-08-15,2027-07-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"Small businesses form the backbone of the U.S. economy, yet significant disparities exist in access to capital and entrepreneurial opportunities for various demographic groups. This project seeks to advance national prosperity and welfare by dismantling systemic obstacles that prevent equitable participation in entrepreneurial activities. By developing novel research tools to examine underlying market frictions and facilitate inclusive funding opportunities, the project holds promise for empowering underserved communities, unlocking untapped economic potential, and creating a more level playing field for all aspiring entrepreneurs nationwide.     The project establishes two interconnected research infrastructures with a cross-country scope: (1) The Small Business Lender Preference and Perception (SBLPP) database, consolidating survey data on nearly 9,300 U.S. community banks and credit unions regarding their lending preferences, market perceptions, and institutional strengths and (2) FundMatch, an online platform using SBLPP data to match entrepreneurs with lenders aligned to their financing needs and preferences, reducing search frictions. FundMatch enables field experiments identifying and addressing demand-side barriers like borrower discouragement. This researcher-entrepreneur-lender nexus yields actionable insights to foster inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems and drive equitable economic development across regions.    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.",FALSE
2437340,Collaborative Research: SBP: Scientific topics and careers at the intersection: an algorithmic approach,2025-04-25,George Mason University,FAIRFAX,VA,VA11,209204,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2437340,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2437340_4900,2024-06-01,2026-03-31,220304422,EADLFP7Z72E5,"The goal of this project is to investigate the direct harms to science wrought by structural racism and the benefits derived by the inclusion of people of color and other historically marginalized groups in the scientific workforce. Specifically, this work seeks to (a) quantify the participation of people of color and members of historically marginalized populations in the production of science, (b) elucidate their role in propelling intellectual innovations, and (c) understand how the distribution of labor and composition of scientific teams creates barriers and pathways to their scientific success. The project will support the mission of open science, by making the algorithms and publications openly available to propel this area of research. Finally, the PI team will recruit a cohort of a dozen student Fellows from a variety of disciplines and countries to discuss the ways in which they incorporate their lived experiences into research design and the challenges and barriers to this process. Priority will be given to doctoral students of color, or who identify as a member of a historically marginalized population within their country of affiliation. The goal of the fellowship is to empower students to navigate academic spaces by suggesting new topical directions with advisors, to cultivate change in terms of how authors are distributed in scientific publications, and to examine what and how science is conducted. Our research aims to empirically examine the degree to which diversity in the scientific workforce creates a more innovative and robust scientific system. The research has strong implications for all sectors of society.    This research builds upon previous quantitative analyses to construct more robust and equitable algorithms that take into consideration contextual factors that influence the performance of the algorithm.  To address our primary aim we use articles’ abstract, title, and keywords to train a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model to infer the topics within a corpus of papers and the distribution of topics within each article. Data sources include millions of articles and distinct authors indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database.  To address our primary aim we will use articles’ abstract, title, and keywords to train a Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model and to extend our work on intersecting race, ethnicity, and gender inequalities in the US research landscape to citation and collaboration patterns, the role of institutional affiliation and changes over time; infer the topics within a corpus of papers, and the distribution of topics within each article.  Our second aim is to determine if variation by race, ethnicity and gender identified in the US context translates to other national contexts. To address this second aim we will replicate and expand our methodology to two other scientifically productive, diverse societies. Comparison across all three nation states will allow for the identification of potentially generalizable characteristics, mechanisms that can be used to improve equity in science across the globe, and knowledge of how topicality of research in different countries is affected by the racial composition of teams. This research will provide a scalable methodological contribution that extends beyond the confines of this single research project and will allow other researchers to analyze race, ethnicity, and gender in any dataset that includes individual names.    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.",FALSE
2224615,Expanding Mathematical Futures Through Multimedia Storytelling,2025-04-25,"Teachers College, Columbia University",NEW YORK,NY,NY13,1300000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224615,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224615_4900,2023-06-15,2026-05-31,100276605,DBM1C8MDJ5L3,"Despite evidence that shows Black students' positive attitudes towards math at young ages, many of these students become less interested in math due to both the pedagogy and content to which they are exposed, as well as the dominant meta-narrative of a limited conception of their ability and interest as learners. This project seeks to broaden the mathematical imagination and aspirations of Black and other underserved mathematics students in both in-school and out-of-school environments. Building on prior work that supported the collection and curation of a set of digital mathematics stories shared by Black mathematicians, this project aims to design a digital platform featuring these stories and supplementing them with interactive activities and learning resources aligned with math content topics, and explore the impact of these resources on the math learning and engagement of children and adolescents, as well as the adults in their lives who engage with these resources. The project aims to achieve two primary outcomes. First, to explore how storytelling disseminated in in-school and out-of-school spaces through digital media influences intergenerational math practices and perceptions among children, older adolescents, and the adults in their lives. Second, to further disrupt racial inequities in mathematics education by developing culturally responsive and inclusive instructional practices and systematically disseminating them to partners across a variety of social and cultural institutions and media platforms    This project leverages the work of authentic partnerships as a means to systematically foster innovative pedagogy in multiple environments while building Black learners’ mathematical identity and a sense of belongingness in mathematics. The research team will conduct a mixed-methods study to gain insight into the impact of media-enhanced storytelling and societal engagement across media platforms. After reviewing the existing collection of video narratives and conducting exploratory screenings with resource toolkits to collect feedback, the project team will design the interactive database that will house the multimedia stories and supplementary media materials that include interactive web elements (e.g. video annotation, multimodal responses). Next, a second round of screenings with cross-sections of community partners will take place, followed finally by a focus on community engagement by widely disseminating across multiple social institutions and media platforms including but not limited to the National Urban League, the NAACP, the Mathematicians of the African Diaspora website, Mathematically Gifted and Black website, as well as schools, museums, libraries, and other existing STEM and math initiatives. This applied study seeks to advance racial equity by harnessing the power of rich storytelling traditions through a multimedia platform. The dissemination of this database and the findings about its impact will contribute to building new spaces for mathematics education that serve to deepen understanding of mathematics by students and others in their networks of support, and influence commonly held perceptions of mathematics by young people and of themselves as mathematical doers in order to empower underserved students to activate and pursue their interests in mathematics.    This Racial Equity award is co-funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is also funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2215696,Collaborative Research: Investigating the Most Impactful Culturally-responsive Informal Pedagogical Practices for STEM Afterschool Programs Engaging Marginalized Youth,2025-04-25,California State University-Dominguez Hills Foundation,CARSON,CA,CA44,250134,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215696,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215696_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,907470001,MWEPWP3T6XL5,"Growth in the US Latinx population has outpaced the Latinx growth in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees and occupation, further widening the ethnic gap in STEM. Mathematics has often identified as a bottleneck keeping many youth, especially minoritized youth, from pursuing STEM studies. Unequal opportunities to develop powerful math assets explain differences in math skills and understanding often experienced by minoritized youth. Implementing culturally responsive practices (CRP) in afterschool programs has the potential to promote math skills and motivation for youth from minoritized groups. However, extensive research is needed to understand which culturally responsive informal pedagogical practices (CIPPs) are most impactful and why. This project aims to identify and document such practices, shed light on the challenges faced by afterschool staff in implementing them, and develop training resources for afterschool staff to address these challenges. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) Program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.    The fundamental research questions addressed by the project focus on (1) which CIPPs matter most in the context of a STEM university-community partnership engaging Latinx youth, and (2) in what context(s) and under what conditions do these CIPPs relate to positive outcomes for both youth participants and college mentor/facilitator. A third aim is to build capacity of afterschool staff for implementing CIPPs in informal STEM afterschool programs. The first two aims are addressed through a mixed-methods research study which includes quantitative surveys and qualitative in-depth interviews with five cohorts of adolescent participants, parents, and undergraduate mentors. Each year, surveys will be collected from adolescents and mentors at four time points during the year; the in-depth interviews will be collected from adolescents, parents, and mentors in the spring. In total, 840 adolescents and 210 mentors will be surveyed; and 87 adolescents, 87 parents, and 87 mentors will be interviewed. The third aim will be addressed by leveraging the research findings and the collective knowledge developed by practitioners and researchers to create a public archive containing documentation of CIPPs for informal STEM afterschool programs and training modules for afterschool staff. The team will disseminate these resources extensively with informal afterschool practitioners in California and beyond. Ultimately, this project will lead to improved outcomes for minoritized youth in informal STEM afterschool programs across the nation, and increased representation of minoritized youth in STEM pursuits.    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.",TRUE
2127208,"Collaborative Research: The Effects of Information, Mentoring and Time on Economic Faculty at MSIs",2025-04-25,National Bureau of Economic Research Inc,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,110500,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127208,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127208_4900,2021-09-01,2025-11-30,021385359,GT28BRBA2Q49,"Faculty at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) make considerable contributions to educating and training science leaders.  Yet, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has received few proposals from MSI faculty over time.  This project will implement an intervention that will support MSI faculty in two ways.  First,  MSI faculty will be granted time to write and submit proposals to the NSF.  Second, faculty will be mentored through the proposal preparation process.  The project will evaluate the impacts of the intervention by collecting and analyzing data from mentees, i.e., MSI faculty participants.  The intervention is expected to increase NSF proposal submissions by MSI faculty, improve their proposal preparation skills, and in the long run, contribute to greater inclusion of faculty at MSIs in STEM.  Undergraduate students at will support the research process by assisting with data collection and analysis.      Prior initiatives suggest that a proposal mentoring intervention such is likely to change behavior through several channels, e.g., information awareness and feedback, role models and networks, cognitive load theory, and metacognitive awareness.  Underlying these different theories of change, is a factor that seems to have been taken for granted: faculty’s time availability.  This research will directly tackle time constraints by offering MSI faculty mentees a course release to write proposals and address other constraints through intensive mentoring, workshops, and debriefing.  Findings will be derived from a mixed-methods approach that combines quantitative and qualitative data analyses (i.e., surveys and focus groups).  Impacts will be assessed by comparing different outcomes, in particular proposal submissions to NSF, before and after participating in the intervention across a treatment group of mentees and a control group of those who applied but were not admitted.  Findings will be disseminated at academic conferences, meetings with federal agencies such as NSF, and by means of a final report to be posted on the National Bureau of Economic Research.    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.",FALSE
2342770,Collaborative Research: SEI: Creating a Lasting LEGACY - Scaling a Peer-learning Community Model to Provide AP CS Preparation and Career Awareness for Black Young Women,2025-04-25,Jackson State University,JACKSON,MS,MS02,129542,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342770,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342770_4900,2024-05-15,2028-04-30,392170002,WFVHMSF6BU45,"Careers in Computer Science (CS) related areas represent many of the best-paid jobs in the nation. However, Black women comprise less than 1% of the workforce at the most popular U.S. software companies. Low participation of Black students in CS areas is often attributed to a lack of “preparatory privilege,” encompassing the unavailability of resources and experiences that build content knowledge and associated skills, and few role models. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations project will scale up a successful project that engaged Black young women in high schools throughout the state of Alabama in a year-long peer-learning community to prepare them for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. Called LEGACY++, the project will expand the focus to 500 students, adding two other states - Mississippi and Ohio. To do so, it will create a partnership among (1) post-secondary institutions in diverse cultural settings (urban and rural); (2) collaborators that specialize in analyzing programmatic outcomes and identifying factors that promote student success in CS; and (3) industry partners to connect students with new learning experiences from the automotive, wireless, and health sector domains. Eighteen Black CS Teacher Leaders will receive training across the tri-State partnership to facilitate an immersive summer institute experience to initiate the preparation of students for the AP CSP course at their school. Interactions will continue during the school year to promote students’ AP exam readiness through curriculum workshops focused on AP CSP topics and interactions with multiple mentors who are all Black women. Students will also be provided with resources to mitigate the barriers to CS access often faced by low-income families, such as access to a peer learning community with scheduled meetings over the academic year.     The LEGACY++ Scholars will represent Black young women from three states to imbue CS content knowledge and an awareness of opportunities in CS-related occupations. LEGACY++ Scholars will learn AP CSP concepts through culturally responsive instruction and project-based learning facilitated by tools to support remote student collaborations to highlight the nature of virtual work, while connecting with new learning experiences from industry partners, their own life situations, and career aspirations. The synergy among these strategies is a promising approach to stimulate the learning of CS for this population; thus, the project’s activities will explore creative and transformative approaches targeted at enabling the participation of groups historically underrepresented in CS careers. Specifically, the research questions addressed in this project include investigating how LEGACY++ activities foster a perception of CS as a communal endeavor, how creating a community of learners can strengthen participants’ identity with CS/technical careers and reduce the effects of stereotype threat, and whether LEGACY++ participation can increase awareness and understanding of CS careers. The LEGACY++ evaluation plan will continuously assess activities and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback by identifying promising practices and evidence of success that stimulate CS interest among Black young women. Data collection and evaluation of the implementation of the program activities will include observations of the Summer Institutes, semi-annual interviews of teacher leaders, annual interviews of program leaders and mentoring board members, and student projects. These data will be analyzed qualitatively in terms of pre-defined program success criteria. Measurable program outcomes will include changes in Scholars’ content knowledge and attitudes towards CS, and Scholars’ career plans. The knowledge-generation component will investigate how creating a community of learners increases identification, belonging, and persistence in CS among Black women. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2127913,"Collaborative Research: The Role of Elites, Organizations, and Movements in Reshaping Politics and Policymaking",2025-04-25,Emory University,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,238500,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127913,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127913_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,303221061,S352L5PJLMP8,"Arguably, the current political climate is the function of three seemingly distinct, yet interrelated, ongoing phenomena: (1) a contentious, problem-laden political environment, (2) grassroots organizations driving unprecedented levels of engagement and turnout, and (3) national movements driving discourse, preferences, and reform around long-held policy grievances. The combination of contentious politics and an energized electorate can result in record turnout despite a raging pandemic. The PIs examine how these features of the American polity shape public and institutional political behaviors. The project aims to build a network, and supportive infrastructure, to better understand how political elites, organizations, and movements in key political locations work to drive participation, preferences, and policymaking.      The project examines two broad research questions. The first question is: How do organizations and social movements mediate political preferences and policy agendas amongst the mass public? Second, it is interested in the collaboration between organizations and social movements and how these interactions shape traditional and untraditional forms of political participation. The study draws on a comprehensive mixture of quantitative (surveys, survey experiments, voter data analysis, social media analysis, and social network analysis) and qualitative (ethnographic observations, content analysis, elite interviews, and focus groups) methodological approaches to answer these questions. This study examines political activities during two electoral periods in several transformative states and municipalities. The broader impacts of the study are numerous. First, it connects a network of scholars from a diverse set of institutions. The project builds critical infrastructure at partner institutions to facilitate data collection and analysis. Namely, it (1) builds mobile research labs designed to conduct rapid response surveys during protests and organizational rallies, and (2) establishes data analysis centers at two minority serving institutions, and (3) provides cutting-edge training, tools, and professional resources to students from marginalized and underserved groups.    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.",FALSE
2200648,Multigenerational Persistence of Environmental Exposure,2025-04-25,North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University,GREENSBORO,NC,NC06,443186,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,HBCU-EiR - HBCU-Excellence in,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200648,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200648_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,27411,SKH5GMBR9GL3,"Air quality in the United States has improved substantially over time, yet there remains a systematic pattern where the most polluted neighborhoods are racial minority or low-income neighborhoods.  This differential exposure to pollution persists from one generation to another.  Using four decades of individual-level data and modern economic theory, this project will: document the persistence of racial gaps in exposure to air pollution, examine whether and to what extent the disproportionate exposure of socio-economically disadvantaged populations transmits across generations, and analyze the sources of this intergenerational differences in pollution exposure and how these differences affect racial differences in adulthood economic decisions and outcomes. In addition, the study will also collect oral histories from those who have lived in polluted neighborhoods to document their experiences.  The results of this study will inform public policy and suggest a way out of the low environmental quality trap that underprivileged communities face.  The results of this research project will also provide important inputs into environmental policy generally, thus improving the health of U.S. citizens, especially those at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder.    This project extends the canonical spatial sorting model to study the observed intergenerational persistence of differences in racial exposure to environment pollution.  As an extension of the theoretical and empirical analysis, the project will collect oral history of people in African American communities with lived experiences in areas of environmental pollution and how these experiences have affected their lives.   This part of the project will be implemented in 14 North Carolina counties that are associated with the 1982 North Carolina Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Protest. The PIs will qualitatively analyze these oral histories to inform the empirical specification of the model as well as to motivate alternative policy simulations. This project contributes to the extensive literature on intergenerational mobility, as several economic and epidemiological studies have suggested that elevated pollution exposure can translate into health, educational, and eventually income inequality.  The results of this research project will provide important inputs into environmental policy, thus improving the health of U.S. citizens, especially those at the lower end of the socio-economic ladder.    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.",TRUE
2116771,Collaborative Research: A Spatial Analysis of the Distribution and Consequences of Health Care Policy Implementation in a Federal System,2025-04-25,Duke University,DURHAM,NC,NC04,346165,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116771,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116771_4900,2021-07-15,2025-06-30,277054640,TP7EK8DZV6N5,"The federal government works alongside states as well as Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), private sector entities, and non-profit organizations to implement policies aimed to promote the health and well-being of Americans. By shifting resources from the federal government to the states as well as local organizations, those who are closest to the public can tailor health policy to the needs of its residents. However, there is variation in the types of barriers the public may face in accessing these resources. This is especially true in low-Income rural and urban localities. This collaborative project examines how various factors influence the allocation of public resources by using the case of Title X, a unique program whose resources are allocated in many ways across the 50 U.S. states. The project also assesses the link between efficient and equitable resource allocation and local health outcomes. The project provides insights for policymakers to ensure that the American residents who are most in need of support are able to obtain the resources intended to enhance healthy public outcomes.      Insights and methodological advances from a wide array of disciplines—public policy, geography, city and regional planning, and health policy—contribute to the project’s development of a nuanced, accurate measurement of access to specialized healthcare resources to ascertain the extent to which state and local governments allocate federal resources in efficient and equitable ways and examine how public health outcomes respond to various modes of policy implementation. The project incorporates geographic information systems (GIS) and statistical/spatial analysis—specifically the integrated two-step floating catchment area (I2SFCA) method—as well as regression and factor analysis to gain leverage over multiple forms of data (e.g. U.S. Census data, demographic variables of state legislatures, public health measures). These analyses highlight the determinants of equitable access to federally-approved reproductive healthcare resources across United States as well as the consequences for those who live within spaces where high-quality resources are not accessible.    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.",FALSE
2411776,Collaborative Research: Racial Equity in STEM Starts with Teacher Education,2025-04-25,Central Washington University,ELLENSBURG,WA,WA08,74648,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411776,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411776_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,989267500,SESUYWJGE3Y3,"The racial and ethnic diversity of the K-12 student population far exceeds the diversity of the current teacher workforce and teacher candidate pipeline. To address this gap, systemic changes in the structural and cultural dimensions of university teacher preparation programs are required. This project will leverage an existing consortium of STEM teacher preparation programs in Washington State to: (1) identify community assets and systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting STEM teacher candidates from historically underrepresented populations; (2) develop strategies for preparing STEM teacher candidates to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies; and (3) advance understanding of how universities can develop authentic partnerships with historically marginalized communities to support STEM teacher preparation. The significance of this project is that it aims to establish authentic partnerships with individuals and groups typically underrepresented in STEM and elevate the knowledge and leadership from marginalized communities to collaboratively address barriers and obstacles to becoming STEM teachers.    This project will employ a descriptive multiple case study design to understand how institutes of higher education work with their local communities to dismantle systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM teacher preparation. Further, the project will investigate how these teacher preparation programs leverage the knowledge of leaders from marginalized communities to develop and share strategies for preparing future STEM teachers to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies. With sites spanning urban, suburban, and rural settings, this research will enhance our collective knowledge about contextual factors that support or constrain efforts to address inequities in STEM teacher preparation. The community-led work at each region is grounded in the principles of Targeted Universalism and will utilize tools and frameworks from the Equity-Driven Systems Change Model to center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities. Anticipated impacts include new recruitment and retention models for diversifying STEM teaching, revised curricula to infuse culturally sustaining pedagogy into STEM teacher preparation, and new equity-minded structures and policies to guide teacher education program decisions.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2401545,CLIMA/Collaborative Research: Equitable Adaptive Strategies for Flood Protection Infrastructure under Current and Future Compound Hazards,2025-04-25,Tufts University,MEDFORD,MA,MA05,490573,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",ECI-Engineering for Civil Infr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2401545,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2401545_4900,2023-11-01,2027-01-31,021555519,WL9FLBRVPJJ7,"Over two-thirds of the American population lives in counties protected against flooding by the levee system. Historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities (HUSVCs) are particularly at risk due to their high exposure and barriers to mitigation. This award supports a transdisciplinary research project to explore climate-informed strategies for equitable adaptation of levees under compound hazards to address these challenges. The research project aims to ensure the resilience of the nation's aging levees while meeting the needs of HUSVCs. The findings will contribute to levee safety and durability subject to the current and future climate conditions. The project translates advances in climate science and modeling into easily understandable information for engineers and decision-makers.    The project has three main objectives: identifying vulnerabilities and disparities within leveed communities; developing theoretical frameworks integrating compound hazards into engineering design and risk assessment, and determining equitable climate adaptation strategies based on technical, socioeconomic, and policy factors. The researchers hypothesize that neglecting the compounding effects of multiple hazards in a changing climate underestimates the risk of levee failure and its disproportionate effect on HUSVCs. The goal is to inform both soft and hard levee adaptation measures that are technically sound, socially just, and economically feasible. The team engages local HUSVCs to understand their needs, priorities, and perceived risks, while also promoting flood risk awareness and preparation. In the pilot communities, stakeholders and community leaders provide important feedback to refine these measures.     This project is supported by the Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment (HDBE) Program and the Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) Program of the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) of the Directorate for Engineering (ENG).    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.",FALSE
2429498,Conference: Research Results by Mathematicians from the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Program,2025-04-25,Texas Woman's University,DENTON,TX,TX13,25000,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429498,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429498_4900,2025-01-01,2025-12-31,76204,DGE6L9T3CW25,"This award supports the participation of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and early-career faculty in the special session titled ""Research Results by Mathematicians from the Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education (EDGE) Program"" at the 2025 Joint Mathematics Meetings (JMM). The 2025 JMM will be held January 8-11, 2025 in Seattle, Washington. The EDGE program was founded in 1998 to improve retention and completion rates for women and minorities in graduate programs and increase diversity in the mathematics community. The 2025 session will showcase the research of individuals affiliated with the EDGE program.      The session provides a platform for those in all areas of mathematics and statistics to present their research findings and generate ideas for new research techniques and directions. Opportunities to strengthen participants' network of mathematicians and establish new mentoring relationships with others affiliated with the EDGE program are provided. The session benefits the larger mathematics community by increasing the visibility of women and minorities in mathematics by highlighting their research work, thereby creating opportunities for recruitment and retention of more people into mathematics. Further information can be found here: https://www.edgeforwomen.org/edge-session-jmm/    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.",FALSE
2444087,Collaborative Research: Build and Broaden 2.0: California Alliance for Hispanic-serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA),2025-04-25,California State University-Dominguez Hills Foundation,CARSON,CA,CA44,131614,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2444087,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2444087_4900,2024-07-15,2025-09-30,907470001,MWEPWP3T6XL5,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     The California Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA) builds and broadens the low participation of social science faculty in extramurally funded research with an examination of systemic barriers and comprehensive professional development programming and policies. The partnership between three California universities will serve 28 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) of various sizes and representing unique regional factors in the California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC) systems. The outcomes of this project will serve as a model to advance research in wide-ranging disciplines that impact the health, prosperity, and welfare of the US public. CAHSSA implements a comparative content analysis of NSF social science proposal review comments at HSIs and non-HSIs to identify how social, behavioral, and economic research is constructed and practiced across institutional types as well as reveal any existing biases in the review process. Results will inform the project's interventions that include virtual grant writing webinars and workshops, writing groups, intensive writing retreats, and social science leader seminars for more than 700 CSU and UC social sciences faculty and leaders.     The California Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA) will pursue a greater understanding of the challenges faced by social scientists at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) in the extramural funding process at the micro-level within varied campus types and at the macro-level through the examination of NSF reviewer perceptions of social science proposals. From a pool of nearly 4500, the PIs recruit more than 700 social sciences researchers and leaders from 22 California State University (CSU) HSI campuses and six  University of California (UC) HSI campuses to participate in virtual webinars and workshops (N=500 researchers), writing groups (N=160 researchers), writing retreats (N=60 researchers), and seminars (N=100 leaders). Methods include CSU and UC annual systemwide surveys, pre- and post-intervention participant evaluation surveys, focus group interviews, and content analysis of grant reviewer comments on 500 proposals over the prior ten years. The results of this project will serve as a national model for advancing a new dialogue on faculty professional development and the science of broadening participation by studying institutional factors that shape social science grant success at HSIs/MSIs. The interventions will produce innovative grant proposals to enhance research in the social sciences as well as the revision of policies and procedures to strengthen practices that support social sciences grant and research activity at HSIs/MSIs.    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.",FALSE
2423277,Conference: 10th International Conference on Spectroscopic Ellipsometry,2025-04-25,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,20000,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Materials Research,AM-Advanced Manufacturing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2423277,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2423277_4900,2024-05-15,2025-12-31,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"This award supports the participation of students and early career professionals from underrepresented groups in the 10th International Conference on Spectroscopic Ellipsometry (ICSE-10), with the aim to broaden participation, and to develop the future workforce. ICSE-10 will take place in Boulder, Colorado from June 8-15, 2025. The conference will benefit both the advancement of science and national prosperity. ICSE regularly takes place every three years, and ICSE-10 is the first meeting in the U.S.A. in 15 years. The conference attracts more than 300 experts and non-experts from all over the world to share knowledge and learn about the latest advances and applications of optical techniques which utilize polarized light. These techniques play a key role in electronic device technology, and in transforming the manufacturing landscape driven by the latest advancement in machine learning and artificial intelligence. Both are areas at the forefront of innovation with an impact on the economic stability of the US and therefore they are important to the whole society. Other fields which will be addressed at the conference include developments of optical instrumentation, and general aspects of chemical, physical, biological material science. ICSE-10 is committed to an inclusive, non-discriminating and collaborative environment for learning and networking. The conference includes sessions on workforce development and invites active involvement from graduate students and early career professionals. These activities include the selection of speakers for a student-run session and the selection of graduate student award winners. ICSE-10 provides an international venue which supports the training and education of an engineering workforce.     ICSE is a conference series which was founded in 1993 and is held every three years to share new ideas related to material characterization, real-time process analysis, and instrumentation development utilizing the polarization properties of electromagnetic waves in the spectral regions from Terahertz to soft-X-ray wavelengths. Typically, ICSE brings together an international cohort of more than 300 participants including experienced scientists and leaders of the community, as well as many graduate students, Postdocs, and other early career professionals. The technical program covers all aspects in the fields of ellipsometry and polarimetry, and their applications that use polarization properties of light. The topics range broadly from artificial intelligence, machine learning, biological, chemical, physical, and material sciences to life sciences as well as applications in manufacturing and metrology. ICSE-10 is committed to the development of a collaborative, inclusive, and internationally conscious workforce, and is seeking opportunities to increase participation of a diverse population especially from undergraduate and graduate students, Postdocs, and other early career professionals. The conference encourages students to be actively involved in the program selection. They are invited to create their own best-abstract based session, chaired by students and/or early career professionals. Life-time achievement awards will bring remembrance to early pioneers in the field and highlight the importance of historical developments. ICSE-10 dedicates a special session to aspects of workforce development for students and early career professionals. Experts from leading semiconductor and metrology companies educate conference attendees about workforce related topics as the industry moves into “extreme ultraviolet” device manufacturing utilizing new venues provided by artificial intelligence and machine learning.    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.",FALSE
2243107,AGEP FC-PAM: Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineering Researchers (ARISE) to Increase the Diversity of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty,2025-04-25,Yale University,NEW HAVEN,CT,CT03,253213,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243107,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243107_4900,2023-07-01,2028-06-30,065113572,FL6GV84CKN57,"The AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FC-PAM) “Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineers” (ARISE) promotes equity and inclusion in engineering higher education. The goal of the AGEP ARISE Alliance is to apply discipline-relevant, inclusive, and intersectional sponsorship and systemic change in hiring practices to increase the visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success of Black and African American, Latine and Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander biomedical engineering doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members at Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Yale University. This AGEP FC-PAM is building effective and professional sponsorship relationships outside the home institutions of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members. Sponsorship is differentiated from mentorship as it is concerned less with the transfer of knowledge between individuals and more with the transfer of power through the promotion of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members within professional networks. The doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’, and early career faculty members’ intersecting identities around race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and caregiver status informs pairings with sponsors, who are participating in training on the importance of intersectionality in sponsorship. The AGEP ARISE Alliance is also adapting faculty hiring best practices from the University of Michigan’s ADVANCE program to both postdoctoral research scholar and early career faculty hiring policies and practices.     Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty members, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FC-PAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FC-PAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FC-PAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.    The intermediate outcomes of the project are increases in the visibility, networks, opportunities, and collaborations of AGEP ARISE Alliance doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members and improved cultural and diversity awareness among sponsors. Longer term these advances translate into more diverse faculty in the AGEP ARISE Alliance academic departments. Internal and external advisory boards routinely review the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s progress, strategize on future steps, and engage with sponsors and sponsees. An internal evaluator is leading the project’s self-study and formative assessment of implementation, changes in hiring practices, and changes in doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’ and early career faculty members’ knowledge, aspirations, values, and professional activities resulting from Alliance activities. An external evaluator is providing summative assessment using a theory-based framework to assess the effectiveness of the AGEP ARISE Alliance in developing inclusive, nurturing networks of diverse doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members in biomedical engineering; the ways those individuals have increased their visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success; the impact of the project on fostering institutional climates that promote equity and inclusion; and the advancement of AGEP populations pursuing faculty positions in biomedical engineering. The AGEP ARISE Alliance team is developing and disseminating sponsorship and hiring guides, and project results, that are shared through peer-reviewed and general publications, an AGEP ASPIRE Alliance website, and presentations at scientific and professional meetings.    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.",TRUE
2426567,WORKSHOP: Doctoral Consortium at Interaction Design and Children (IDC) 2024,2025-04-25,Boise State University,BOISE,ID,ID02,27036,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426567,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426567_4900,2024-06-01,2026-05-31,837250001,HYWTVM5HNFM3,"This is funding to partially support participation by approximately 10 graduate students from United States institutions along with four distinguished faculty mentors, in a Doctoral Consortium (workshop) that will take place in conjunction with the 23rd Annual Interaction Design and Children conference (IDC 2024), which will be held June 17-20 in Delft, the Netherlands, and which is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). IDC is the premier international conference for researchers, educators, and practitioners to share the latest research findings, innovative methodologies, and new technologies in the areas of inclusive child-centered design, learning, and interaction. The theme of this year's conference is ""Inclusive Happiness."" More information is available online at https://idc.acm.org/2024/. The IDC doctoral consortium is a forum where students and mentors create a safe space for constructive refinement of the research endeavors of the doctoral students within this important research area. Underrepresented groups and those from smaller schools or with smaller research programs will be given preference. Participants in the workshop create a network that strengthens the overall research community while at the same time advancing their own research through valuable interactions with peers and mentors with diverse perspectives. Additional broad impacts will derive from planting the seeds to a better understanding of how children interact with technology, the impact that technology has on children, and how to design, develop, evaluate, and improve technology for children.     The IDC doctoral consortium is a full-day event that will take place on Monday, June 17, the day before the main conference. Workshop participants will present their research questions, approach and agenda, and receive constructive yet critical feedback from faculty mentors and peers, which will enrich their research by enabling them to better articulate their focus and to refine their research methods and approach. Participants will also present a poster about their research during the main conference, in order to give them further opportunities to connect to a larger scholarly network. Abstracts of the students' doctoral work and progress will be included in the IDC conference proceedings, which are published in the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Digital Library.    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.",FALSE
2315029,Collaborative Research: Energy Efficiency and Energy Justice: Understanding Distributional Impacts of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs and the Underlying Mechanisms,2025-04-25,Carnegie-Mellon University,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,200000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,EnvS-Environmtl Sustainability,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315029,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315029_4900,2023-08-15,2026-07-31,152133815,U3NKNFLNQ613,"The adoption of energy efficiency technologies and conservation behaviors has the potential to significantly reduce energy demand and improve people's physical and financial well-being. This is particularly important for households facing energy poverty, who may forgo basic needs or engage in risky behaviors to meet their energy needs. U.S. electric utilities currently offer over 900 energy efficiency and conservation programs that aim to reduce household energy consumption and improve living conditions. These programs either provide information to help individuals change their energy consumption habits or offer financial incentives such as rebates and loans to lower the costs of adopting energy-efficient technologies. There is mixed evidence, however, regarding the cost-effectiveness of these programs, as their impacts depend on factors including income levels, rebound effects, and energy consumption behaviors. Unfortunately, many energy efficiency and conservation programs are not effectively reaching disadvantaged communities, and the equity of their impacts is under-studied. There is a need to investigate how these programs can effectively change energy consumption behavior and address instances of energy poverty in households.    This project examines the heterogeneous impacts of multiple energy efficiency and conservation programs and the underlying mechanisms that contribute to inequitable program impacts. This project has three parts: 1) evaluating the heterogeneous impacts of four different energy efficiency and conservation programs using quasi-experimental designs, 2) examining how the heterogeneous impacts are related to multi-dimensional energy poverty, and 3) modeling energy behaviors to uncover the mechanisms behind inequitable program impacts. The data include actual consumption information provided by a Tallahassee energy provider as well as survey and experimental results. This project not only provides a fundamental scientific contribution to uncovering the distributional impacts of energy programs and their underlying mechanisms, but also has direct societal benefits by helping develop more effective and better-targeted programs to improve consumers’ financial and physical well-being, particularly in disadvantaged communities.    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.",FALSE
2421373,Planning: Pathways to Transforming Arctic Science Programs,2025-04-25,"Woodwell Climate Research Center, Inc.",FALMOUTH,MA,MA09,99403,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Polar Programs,Polar Special Initiatives,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2421373,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2421373_4900,2024-04-15,2026-03-31,025401644,F5HBB1KH19N4,"The main objective of this one-year planning proposal is to understand how students from rural Arctic communities can discover, engage with, and remain involved in, Polar science and polar educational opportunities. The project team will collaborate with two Arctic Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) programs to gather and co-create knowledge and insights obtained from a collaborative network of field educators, community members and Arctic scientists. With collaborators from multiple programs, they aim to develop frameworks for effective Arctic STEM field experiences. This effort is focused on achieving a common understanding of the challenges related to recruiting and retaining students from Historically Excluded Groups (HEGs) in Arctic STEM, and it aims to propose key best practices to address these challenges. The proposed project has the potential to significantly impact Arctic STEM programs and increase the participation of students from rural communities in these programs.     The project goal is to foster a community-of-practice that will make Arctic undergraduate research programs more engaging and accessible to a diverse range of participants. The effort will focus on understanding how to better serve the needs of students from Alaska Native and other Arctic communities. The proposed work acknowledges the intersectionality and complexity of Indigenous experiences and knowledge, contributing to a nuanced understanding of Arctic challenges. By engaging with Indigenous epistemologies, it expands the boundaries of knowledge creation in Arctic research and policy, and challenges traditional research paradigms. Emphasizing the interconnectedness of knowledge systems, this work fosters a more holistic and integrated approach to intellectual inquiry within Arctic STEM, enriching the field’s intellectual foundation and advancing its capacity for innovative problem-solving. This approach is an important step to support the evolution of Arctic STEM education programs. This effort also supports the goals of the Interagency Arctic Research Policy Committee (IARPC) Education Team, which is working to increase participation of Alaska Native youth in Federally-funded STEM programs in the Arctic and understand what innovations are necessary to better engage students from Arctic communities.    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.",FALSE
2317971,PFI (MCA):  Embodied Carbon Emission and Environmental Impact from Built Environment,2025-04-25,University of Notre Dame,NOTRE DAME,IN,IN02,348722,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,PFI-Partnrships for Innovation,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317971,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317971_4900,2024-01-15,2026-12-31,465565708,FPU6XGFXMBE9,"The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation – Mid Career Advancement (PFI-MCA) project addresses societal and educational aspects related to the Environmental Impact and Carbon Footprint of Buildings. At the societal level, the proposed integrated framework addresses the need for built environment embodied carbon and environmental impact assessments. By integrating different models to assess mitigation effectiveness of embodied carbon / environmental impact reduction, the approach enables the engineering analysis of public policies and socio-economic impacts. At the educational level, the project will support both underrepresented undergraduate and graduate team members. The knowledge generated in the project will be translated into experiential education modules that will be integrated into the core courses offered at The Keough School of Global Affairs Integration Lab at the University of Notre Dame. The modules aim to teach, train, and inspire the next generation’s design leaders who are engaged in sustainable design and construction.     The proposed project is to develop an integrated ecological-technological framework and create a dashboard (BUILT4CLIMATE) to visualize the embodied carbon emission and related environmental impact from the building stock in the United States at the zip code level. By linking two detailed assessments—building information modeling (BIM) and life cycle assessment (LCA)—at the individual building level, we can scale up the results to model the dynamic of the entire building stock. In the United States, the lack of knowledge regarding a building’s embodied carbon impact exists at the whole-building level due to the lack of methodology, building-level data and benchmarks. To address this knowledge gap, our project offers several intellectual merits. Firstly, the proposed integrated framework will provide a comprehensive, quantitative approach to focus on embodied carbon and its associated environmental impacts. Secondly, the creation of a national building stock database will significantly enhance the quality and quantity of empirical data available. Thirdly, mapping carbon emissions from the national building stock at a more granular county level will offer policymakers and regulators reliable insights into hot spots and aid in comparing different development strategies. Additionally, this project will establish benchmarks for life cycle embodied performance across various building types at a national scale. Lastly, automating the BIM and LCA processes will improve the accuracy and speed of benchmarking.    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.",FALSE
2115620,"Collaborative Research: Intergenerational Learning, Deliberation, and Decision Making for Changing Lands and Waters",2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,438361,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115620,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115620_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"Creating science education that can contribute to cultivating just, culturally thriving, and sustainable worlds is an important issue of our time. Indigenous peoples have persistently been under-represented in science reproducing inequalities in a myriad of ways from educational attainment, participation in and contributing to innovations in foundational knowledge, to effective policy making that upholds and respects Indigenous sovereignty. The development of models of science education that attend to intersections of knowledge and development, socio-scientific decision-making and civic leadership, and the complexities and contradictions of these realities, is imperative. This five-year Innovations in Development project broadens participation and strengthens infrastructure and capacity for Indigenous learners to meet, adapt to, and lead change in relation to the socio-ecological challenges of the 21st century. The project engages multi-sited community-based design studies to develop and research the impacts of Indigenous informal field-based science education with three Indigenous leadership communities from the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes. This project will have broader impacts through model development, building infrastructure to transform the capacity of informal field-based science education, and will produce cutting edge foundational knowledge about pressing 21st century issues with a particular focus on Indigenous communities. The project increases Indigenous participation in research through 1) engagement of Indigenous community members as research assistants, 2) training of Indigenous graduate fellows, and post-doctoral fellows, and 3) supporting the careers of more junior Indigenous scholars.     This research seeks to identify key design features of an Indigenous field (land/water) based model of science education and to understand how learners’ and educators’ reasoning, deliberation, decision-making, and leadership about complex socio-ecological systems and community change evolve in such learning environments. The project also examines key aspects of co-design and partnership with Tribal communities and how these methods of co-production of new science enable new capacities for systems transformation. This multi-layered project is organized through 3 panels of studies including: Panel 1) community-based design experiments to develop and refine a model of Indigenous informal science education; Panel 2) co-design and implementation of professional learning programs for Indigenous informal science education; and Panel 3) foundational studies in cognition and learning with respect to socio-ecological systems thinking and the impact on learning and instructional practices. Of particular importance in this research is the rigorous development and articulation of effective pedagogical practices and orientations. More broadly, findings will have clear implications for theories of cognitive development, deliberation and environmental decision making and especially those pertaining to how knowledge is shaped by culture and experience.     This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.    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.",FALSE
2049558,Networks of Influence and Support in Peace Operations,2025-04-25,American University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,336506,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049558,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2049558_4900,2021-04-01,2025-09-30,200168003,H4VNDUN2VWU5,"United Nations (UN) peace operations are deployed to some of the most difficult environments in the world, charged with transforming war-torn states into countries that can sustain peace. Focusing on the effect of military peacekeepers, international peacekeeping scholarship has produced relatively consistent findings: the deployment of international peacekeepers, particularly in contexts where there is a comprehensive peace agreement, reduces the likelihood of civil war recurrence. To examine the effect of this organizational diversity within peacebuilding operations on peace and security outcomes, the PIs create a new dataset of peacebuilding actors and their networks with one another. They also complement the dataset with in-depth case studies in three countries. The project has several broader impacts: (1) it contributes to an improved understanding of the aid-conflict relationship, supporting better aid policy and having an important impact on US national security policy, (2) it increases diversity in international relations scholarship by including graduate and undergraduate research assistants from underrepresented populations, and (3) it disseminates findings through two workshops to a network of international donors and intergovernmental organizations.       The PIs identify the intervening international actors involved in contemporary UN peace operations, as well as the connections between these actors that are likely shape the success and failure of peace operation objectives. The PIs use these ""networks of influence and support"" to examine how the broader set of actors involved in peacebuilding activities affects important outcomes for human security in conflict-affected states. Using a mixed methods approach (qualitative case studies, social network and large-N quantitative analysis) the PIs create a new dataset on the presence and formal connections between UN entities, INGOs, bilateral and multilateral donors, perform three detailed case studies with semi-structured interviews donors and INGO, and analyze secondary source information. The findings from this research contributes to the literature on civil war interventions, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding by accounting for the heterogeneity of actors involved in international peacekeeping and peacebuilding efforts. Furthermore, the PIs contributes to how these networks among them and with domestic actors in the host country influence peace and security outcomes. This fine-grained, actor-focused analysis will enable the peacekeeping and peacebuilding literature to engage with the increasingly actor-centric scholarship on dynamics of civil wars.    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.",FALSE
2220322,MPS-ASCEND EM: A Postdoc Community of Mentoring and Networking,2025-04-25,Carnegie-Mellon University,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,1196064,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,MPS Multidisciplinary Activities,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2220322,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2220322_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,152133815,U3NKNFLNQ613,"With support of the Directorate of Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS) Drs. Michael Young of Carnegie Mellon University, Pamela Harris of Williams College, Jennifer Ross and Moses Ntam of Tuskegee University and Tera Jordan of the Iowa State University form the core leadership team that will provide mentorship and other support to the first two cohorts of the MPS-Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellows. The MPS-Ascend funding mechanism (NSF 21-573 and NSF 22-501) is intended to recognize beginning investigators of significant potential and provide them with experience in research that will broaden perspectives, facilitate interdisciplinary interactions, and help broadening participation within MPS fields. The purpose of the MPS-Ascend External Mentorship program is to support these postdoctoral Fellows who will broaden the participation of groups that are underrepresented in MPS fields in the U.S. including Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Native Pacific Islanders. This team will develop a network of mentors and sponsors who will enhance the Fellows’ professional preparation and equip them for leadership roles as equity-focused scholars. The community will function using a layered mentor approach that connects the fellows with one-on-one, peer, and volunteer expert mentors. Through professional development and learning activities, as well as interaction with mentors, the Fellows will be prepared for career success.    This effort will bring together a diverse group of educators with experience in math and physical sciences (MPS) as well as social sciences to provide MPS postdoctoral fellows with mentoring experiences that will strengthen their career preparation. The knowledge gained through this project will help to contribute to higher education and science literature regarding promising practices related to preparing postdoctoral fellows for successful professional experiences and seamless transition into the academic arena. This project will develop future faculty and industry leaders who will understand the importance of providing holistic mentoring to support postdoctoral fellows. The planned professional experiences of the postdoctoral fellows will equip them to interact with people from all backgrounds and contribute to broadening the participation of individuals from historically underrepresented groups.    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.",TRUE
2116116,Leveraging community-based organizations to develop and study Native Hawaiian ethos-driven ('Āina-based) environmental science activities,2025-04-25,University of Hawaii,HONOLULU,HI,HI01,2419814,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116116,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116116_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,968222247,NSCKLFSSABF2,"This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. Specifically, this project connects Native Hawaiian youth ages 12-17 and their family members to STEM by channeling their cultural relationship with ʻāina, the sustaining elements of the natural world including the land, sea, and air. This project seeks to: broaden participation of Native Hawaiian youth who have been historically underrepresented in STEM; actively uphold Native Hawaiian ways of knowing and traditional knowledge; articulate the science rooted in cultural wisdom; and bring STEM into the lives of participants as they connect to the ʻāina. In partnership with six ʻāina-based community organizations across Hawaiʻi, this project will develop, implement, and study ʻāina-centered environmental education activities that explore solutions to local environmental problems. For example, in one module youth and their families will explore of a section of a nearby stream; identify and discuss the native, non-native, and invasive species; remove invasive species from a small section of the stream and make observations leading to discussions of unintended consequences and systemic impacts; ultimately, learners will meet at additional local waterways to engage in similar explorations and discussions, transferring their knowledge to understanding the impacts of construction on local streams and coral reefs. To this effort, the community-based organizations bring their expertise in preserving Hawaiian culture and sustainable island lifestyle, including rural and urban systems such as farming and irrigation traditions and the restoration of cultural sites. University of Hawai’i faculty and staff bring expertise in Environmental Science, Biology, Hawaiian Studies and Problem-Based Learning Curriculum Development. This project further supports organizational learning and sharing among the six community-based organizations. Grounded in Hawaiian ʻAʻo, where learning and teaching are the same interaction, community-based organizations will create a Community of Practice that will co-learn Problem-Based Learning pedagogy; co-learn and engage in research and evaluation methods; and share experiential and traditional knowledge to co-develop the ʻāina-based environmental education activities.    This project is uniquely situated to study the impact of community-led culturally relevant pedagogy on Hawaiian learners’ interests and connections to environmental science, and to understand ʻāina-based learning through empirical research. Research methods draw on Community-Based Participatory Research and Indigenous Research Methods to develop a collaborative research design process incorporated into the project’s key components. Community members, researchers, and evaluators will work together to examine the following research questions: 1) How does environmental Problem-Based Learning situate within ʻāina-based informal contexts?; 2) What are the environmental education learning impacts of ʻāina-based activities on youth and family participants?; and 3) How does the ʻāina-centered Problem-Based Learning approach to informal STEM education support STEM knowledge, interest and awareness? The evaluation will employ a mixed-methods participatory design to explore program efficacy, fidelity, and implementation more broadly across community-based sites, as well as program sustainability within each community-based site. Anticipated project outcomes are a 15-week organizational learning and sharing program with six ʻāina-based community organizations and 72 staff; the design and implementation of 18 activities to reach 360 youth and at least one of their family members; and the launch of an ʻāina-based STEM Community of Practice. The project’s research and development process for ʻāina-centered environmental education activities will be shared broadly and provide a useful example for other organizations locally and nationally working in informal settings with Native or Indigenous populations.    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.",FALSE
2427457,"Fostering Aptitudes, Attitudes and Aspirations of Girls in STEM Through 4D Printing of Robotic Materials",2025-04-25,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,217373,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2427457,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2427457_4900,2024-01-01,2026-03-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"To support national needs for the future of work, schools and informal learning institutions integrate STEM topics, such as robotics and programming, into curricula. However, current STEM activities that appeal to girls are limited. Women remain underrepresented in STEM fields, such as computer science, engineering, and the physical sciences. By fostering interests of young girls in STEM areas, this project seeks to teach and engage, and so promote their aspiration towards STEM-related careers and becoming leaders. This project brings hands-on, interest-driven learning to girls through activities involving cutting edge 4D printed robotic material technologies. 4D printing is a research area involving digital fabrication of dynamic forms, such as printing processes that produce flat objects capable of self-folding into 3D shapes when triggered by heat or other physical stimuli. Robotic materials, in this context, refer to substances, which have dynamic behaviors, and can sense, respond and act. This project will develop and study a new computational design environment centered on 4D printing of robotic materials to foster curiosity and confidence among girls through interdisciplinary design areas, including shape-changing food, dynamic fashion, and self-folding decor. Examples of materials to be modeled include pasta cooking and a jacket folding. The project will develop the new robotic materials design tool through educational and fun work with young women, in community centers, in socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods.    This research uses technology innovation to work for inclusiveness and equity in STEM education through hands-on, interdisciplinary making, with implications for educational research, computational design, and the development of robotic materials. It will work to advance inclusive STEM education for girls through contextualized development of a 4D robotic materials design environment and associated curriculum. Iterative design will be performed through studies conducted via workshops in informal learning environments. The project will engage middle and high school girls in a combination of creative play and structured tasks, with 4D robotic morphing materials, to investigate three research questions. (1) How to support their learning STEM concepts and skills? (2) How to challenge their preconceived attitudes about their own abilities in STEM, narrow the pre-existing knowledge gap between genders, and decrease stereotype threats? (3) How to contribute to girls gaining new confidence and STEM career aspirations? The investigation will combine constructivist learning through doing with design-based approaches of ethnographic action research, open portfolio, and artifact-based interviews.    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.",FALSE
2046079,CAREER: Effects of Community Cultural Wealth on Persistence of Black and Hispanic Women in the P-20 Computing Workforce Pipeline in Texas,2025-04-25,Texas State University - San Marcos,SAN MARCOS,TX,TX15,1062412,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046079,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046079_4900,2021-02-01,2026-01-31,786664684,HS5HWWK1AAU5,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This project will examine the effects of community cultural wealth on the persistence of Black and Hispanic women in computing education and the workforce. Participants in the study include a national cohort of students enrolled in computer science coursework and degree programs from eighth grade through undergraduate study.  A post-graduate component includes continued study of persistence into graduate study or the workforce. Project goals include contributions to the knowledge base on the influence of community cultural wealth on persistence in computing education and the workforce in the United States and a robust compilation of quantitative and qualitative data that can be used to study educational and career trajectories for women in computing.     The integrated research and education plan applies methods from cultural anthropology to investigate the lived experiences of women of color in computing and combines longitudinal, mixed-methods approaches with the ACCEYSS (Association of Collaborative Communities Equipping Youth for STEM Success) integrative conceptual framework, developed by the principal investigator in previous work. Few studies have considered the role of community cultural wealth on the persistence of Black and Hispanic women and girls in computing. Not only will findings from this study contribute to fundamental research in STEM education, but products, professional development workshops, and an annual conference will build capacity for K-16 educators, researchers, policymakers, and industry leaders in formal and informal settings to positively impact the persistence of Black and Hispanic youth in STEM and computing. This award is supported by the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) and EHR Core Research (ECR) Programs. The HSI program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. ECR emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field.    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.",FALSE
2415563,Fostering Partnerships Between Community Leaders and Informal STEM Learning Institutions: Co-Constructing Research on Films for Racial Equity Dialogue,2025-04-25,University of Rhode Island,KINGSTON,RI,RI02,149433,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415563,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415563_4900,2024-09-15,2025-08-31,028811974,CJDNG9D14MW7,"This project seeks to use films that speak directly to anti-racism, science, and environmental justice in ways that support reflection, thoughtful dialogues, behavior change, and approaches to mend and develop relationships between informal STEM learning institutions and local communities of color. In this first phase, a Partnership Development and Planning project, the team will cultivate partnerships between community leaders and informal learning institutions in two cities along the Mississippi River (New Orleans, LA and St. Louis, MO). Each partnership includes multiple community leaders, based on an evolution of collaborations. In prior work, needs, interests, and blind spots emerged through in-depth interviews with informal STEM learning professionals and community leaders. Community leaders, who have worked with a variety of local groups, noted that collaborations with anchoring institutions, such as science museums and zoos, would be beneficial in supporting STEM identities and career pathways for local youth. The project will engage in and evaluate an ethical equitable partnership framework that forefronts community needs and values, as they work toward building partnerships between science museums and their communities. Together, partners will screen excerpts and consider the potential of film to engage their community in difficult conversations connected to local and complex racial dynamics and environmental justice issues. They will explore film’s potential to expand understanding of varied epistemologies, lived experiences, and perspectives that affect people’s sense of belonging in spaces intended for STEM learning. Partners will also consider how films can offer shared vocabularies to discuss values, principles, and decisions across various historically marginalized diverse communities. Ultimately, this partnership will work to identify a future AISL research and development project(s) that benefit all partners, co-determining the research focus, purpose, audience, timing, venue, and accompanying programming for films that serve as a catalyst for difficult conversations on around race, anti-racism, and inclusion in STEM.       Throughout the project the team will employ and document an ethical equitable partnership framework, informed by cross-cultural engagement practices that forefront the community that has been marginalized. They will use dialogic theory to better understand the use of critical conversations to support individual’s and organization’s growth toward change that addresses injustices. Two principles, grounded in the project’s conceptualization of equity, belonging, and broadening participation, will guide decision-making throughout. Each partnership will be cultivated through conversations, convenings, and workshops with a team of difficult conversations facilitators, educators, and an evaluator with expertise in social justice and communication. The series of initial conversations will result in separate needs statements and rules of engagement for the community leaders and the informal STEM institutions. Convening meetings will bring the community partners and informal STEM learning institutions together; leading with the needs of the community, partners will work on building trust and deepening their relationships partly through screening film excerpts and engaging in critical dialogue. Convenings will, over time, turn to designing screenings and accompanying programming while the partners work through dialogic approaches. Near the end of the project, day-long retreats in each city will engage with the broader questions of future project research foci, desired outcomes and indicators, and consideration of methods. As part of knowledge building, these processes will be documented to allow the project team to become better able to articulate the rules of reciprocity and power redistribution for current and future partnership projects. Culturally responsive evaluation will be employed to investigate, understand, improve, and describe the ethical equitable partnership development processes in a report to be shared with partners, their communities, and the broader informal STEM learning field.    This Partnership Development and Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2244231,NSF REU Site: Research in Social Inequality and Social Problems,2025-04-25,Texas A&M University,COLLEGE STATION,TX,TX10,366046,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2244231,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2244231_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,778454375,JF6XLNB4CDJ5,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). The Department of Sociology at Texas A&M University will immerse 8 students each year in an 8-week summer social science research experience. The site will recruit undergraduates from groups underrepresented in STEM. Participants will conduct research with faculty at Texas A&M, joining a faculty mentor's ongoing research program. The primary objectives of the program are to: (1) increase the social science research opportunities available to undergraduates from underrepresented groups; (2) prepare a future workforce to engage in sophisticated evidence-based analyses of social inequality; (3) increase the scientific literacy of participants; and (4) prepare students for academic or non-academic careers with a research focus through both education and intensive mentoring. The intended impact is to increase students' understanding of research and increase the number of students from underrepresented groups pursuing graduate education and professional careers in science. Providing students with hands-on experience in research, intensive mentoring, and research skills, the benefit to society is to expand the pipeline of underrepresented groups into advanced social science research and increase the ability of participants to conduct independent research.     The most important intellectual merit of the program rests not on the students' individual contributions to social science knowledge in one summer, but on increasing the pipeline of talented students with meaningful social science research experiences and interest in research. Activities for each REU participant include: participating in a summer research seminar that will focus on practical instruction in social science theory, methods, and practices; learning about graduate educational opportunities and careers in science; completing a research project with a faculty mentor; writing a research paper; and presenting their research findings at a professional academic conference. This REU program is designed to interest students from underrepresented groups in the possibility of research-based careers and prepare them with the skills necessary to succeed.    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.",TRUE
2415857,A Public-Private Partnership Between a Research Institute and City Library System to Engage Marginalized in STEM,2025-04-25,Donald Danforth Plant Science Center,SAINT LOUIS,MO,MO01,149636,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415857,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415857_4900,2024-09-01,2026-01-31,631322918,MVRJYL6A9VF1,"Black residents of North St. Louis have historically experienced significant social, economic, and educational, and economic disparities, including a lack of access to due high quality STEM education resources. A public-private partnership between a science research center and city libraries will co-develop a community-focused game, designed to meet the interests and needs of the community’s Black and economically disadvantaged adults. The partnership will use surveys, town hall meetings, and feedback forms to seek input from the North St. Louis community. Over a two-month period, the game will provide zero-risk opportunities for community members to practice their problem-solving skills, while connecting with STEM disciplines that are strengths in St. Louis (e.g., bioscience, geospatial science, and advanced manufacturing). The project partners are the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center (DDPSC), a non-profit research center, and the St. Louis County Library (SLCL), a public library system. DDPSC will contribute its extensive science research expertise and educational outreach to the project. Through town hall meetings, the partnership will identify grassroots organizations with similar interests and values that can join or support the partnership as it looks to expand the game beyond its pilot season.    This public-private partnership will integrate the region’s primary public library system with SCLS’ innovative research and education outreach center. By identifying effective policies, community outcomes, and best practices for decision-making and operations, the partnership will provide an evidence-based foundation for future public-private partnerships established for informal STEM education. By collecting input and feedback from the community and local stakeholders, the project will identify incentives and interests that most effectively engage the North St. Louis Black community and proactively address physical, societal, and psychological barriers to their participation. Participation data indicating who engaged in the game and which activities they selected will reveal if partnership efforts to foster a sense of belonging by situating informal learning in a familiar public space, the library, was effective. It will also reveal which activities are most accessible to library patrons who live in historically marginalized neighborhoods.     This Partnership Development and Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2314980,Doctoral Dissertation Research: Indigenous Resilience and Grassroots Ecotourism Development,2025-04-25,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,31736,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cult Anthro DDRI,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314980,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314980_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"Indigenous communities are increasingly turning toward cultural and environmental tourism as a development and economic alternative to resource extraction. Ecotourism is particularly promising to historically marginalized communities who possess deep cultural knowledge and unique ecological features and seek avenues of community development that honor that cultural knowledge and preserve those resources. How do community members involved with ecotourism development make choices about the elements of their culture and environment they emphasize to visitors? Are ecotourism programs reflective of broader community ideals and identity, and how do these perspectives vary within the community? This doctoral dissertation research explores the intersection between ecotourism development and socio-environmental resilience in a North American Indigenous community. The research tests the applicability of theories on socio-environmental resilience used across disciplines dealing with human-environment relations to Indigenous contexts. It also trains a doctoral dissertation student in theory and methods in cultural anthropology and the work will be distributed broadly to academic audiences, community stakeholders, and the public.     This project has three main objectives; 1) to investigate how indigenous ecotourism coordinators and affiliates develop ecotourism infrastructure in relation to their ideas of what should be made resilient in their communities; 2) to examine the traditional subsistence and land-based practices of community members both in and outside of ecotourism programming and the degree to which they reflect community ideals and identity; and 3) to explore how different generations of community members construct their identities and futures in the face of community change both ecotourism-driven and otherwise. The research involves ethnographic methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and community based participatory workshops. The research advances understanding about the role of Indigenous knowledge in ecosystem science, ecotourism development, and sustainability. This project also tests whether theories about frequently used to characterize the resilience of socio-ecological systems have efficacy within Indigenous socio-ecological systems and the perspectives of Indigenous system participants.    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.",TRUE
2127228,Collaborative Research: How do histories of violence shape affect and experience?,2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,262687,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127228,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127228_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"Violence affects individual and community health in both subtle and obvious ways, acutely and over the long term. Even in areas that are no longer impacted by direct violence, historical legacies of violence can cause lingering trauma among those who experienced it. These traumas can be transmitted to individuals who were not otherwise affected by violence. This research project addresses the question of how regional and temporal histories of violence affect emotional responses and ongoing experiences of individuals affected -directly or indirectly - by violence. Using theory from cultural anthropology and geography, the project will contribute to more innovative science by considering how violence over time and space continues to elicit emotional responses in affected communities. The project widens the pipeline of highly qualified minority students into leading graduate programs. It will build scientific infrastructure at a minority-serving institution and increase public literacy of science by making findings publicly accessible.      The investigators seek to answer the following questions: 1) How does variation in the history of violence affect perceptions of danger and safety embedded in associated landscapes? How are legacies and ongoing dynamics of violence reflected in the human body and in geographic space? How can public histories be re-constructed to account for these legacies and ongoing dynamics? The Co-PIs and their teams of student researchers will conduct ethnographic research over a three-year period in fourteen communities with variable histories of violence. The team will identify, collect, and aggregate existing spatial data and maps related to violence; affected communities, and their dynamics over time. For comparative perspective, the researchers will conduct a range of interviews with people across study sites. The results will provide insights relevant to decreasing the burden of violence on human societies.    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.",FALSE
2117009,Multimodal Signaling and Communication Analysis of World Leaders,2025-04-25,University of Memphis,MEMPHIS,TN,TN09,450000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117009,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2117009_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,381520001,F2VSMAKDH8Z7,"This project examines multimodal communication among world leaders from a multicultural, interdisciplinary perspective using the Embodied Cognition (EC) framework. This framework demonstrates how multimodal processes, such as discourse, the acoustic production of speech, and nonverbal signals such as gestures and facial expressions, are integrated into human communication. The EC approach will be especially beneficial for understanding politics in opaque environments, like authoritarian regimes, where it is difficult to observe true preferences and priorities of leaders. The PIs' proposed research represents a novel combination of computational linguistic analysis, multimodal signals derived from audio and video analysis, and biometric audience data. To date, multimodal analyses have not been deployed comprehensively on a representative international corpus and extant research relies primarily on corpora from the English-speaking world. Given seismic changes in the international system, this analysis provides a way for scholars to better understand problems like state stability, conflict processes, and regime transition. A multimodal approach to analyzing the international system will help us know more than what leaders’ words alone convey.      This project facilitates the understanding of the importance of multimodal signals by providing a data set, pedagogical materials, and academic publications to translate the meaning of multimodal inputs through the Security and Preparedness program. Differences in culture and language may lead to misunderstandings that can escalate to security crises. By evaluating different communication channels, the PIs propose a clearer picture of countries’ motivations and deeper insight into their preferences and beliefs. Using biophysical indicators alongside language, this project substantially improves the scientific community’s understanding of how multimodal channels work in concert with language to convey meaning, especially in international and multicultural contexts. To accomplish this work the collaborators in this project prioritize hiring and training women and minorities in social and computational social sciences, and STEM fields.    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.",FALSE
2415989,Cultivating STEM Synergies: Partnership for Re-Imagining Informal Environmental Science Learning,2025-04-25,Sierra Streams Institute,NEVADA CITY,CA,CA03,149588,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415989,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415989_4900,2024-09-01,2026-02-28,959593227,CZL5B7UK8H48,"Urgent socio-ecological challenges, such as extreme droughts, wildfires, and cultural and environmental destruction, draw attention to the interconnectedness of the natural environment and historical injustices in these places, and the need for transformative educational approaches rooted in community engagement and equity. This Partnership Development and Planning project is a collaborative effort between four organizations in California's Sierra Nevada region that strive to cultivate a trusting and mutually beneficial partnership to do this work. The goal of this partnership is to generate ideas for informal STEM learning experiences that (1) focus on socio-ecological issues, such as human-caused climate change and its local impacts and (2) integrate Indigenous knowledge and Western environmental science. The STEM learning experiences conceptualized by the team will focus on developing place-based, intergenerational, and intercultural learning activities that are accessible to the broader community.    The Sierra Streams Institute, California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, Bear Yuba Land Trust, and SRI Education explore how to forge an equitable partnership and attend to power dynamics using the Six Rs of Indigenous Research framework (Relationships, Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity, Responsibility, and Representation) across all project phases. The primary objectives of the partnership are to: a) establish a generative and community-based partnership based on mutual benefit, trust, responsibility, power-sharing, equity, and shared understanding of core issues and concepts; b) engage in exploration and idea generation for future informal environmental science learning experiences that are embodied, place-based, intergenerational, and inclusive of diverse cultures, populations and contexts; and c) document and synthesize ideas and questions related to the partnership (challenges, resolutions, and key takeaways); and d) create a roadmap for implementing future informal learning experiences that can be proposed for AISL implementation and other funding programs. The project will investigate: 1. Are the Six Rs of Indigenous Research principles authentically guiding project activities and documentation? 2. Do project structures and processes facilitate power sharing, equity, and effective collaboration? 3. Is the partnership meeting its stated goals for each of the project phases?    This Partnership Development and Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2147450,"Residential Segregation, Health-Promoting Organizations, and Health Outcomes",2025-04-25,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,191062,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147450,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147450_4900,2022-07-15,2025-06-30,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"People who live in segregated neighborhoods are often sicker and die younger. Yet, the reasons for these poor health outcomes are not well understood. This study examines the relationships among neighborhood segregation, the presence of health-promoting organizations, and the health outcomes of residents. Health care providers, supermarkets, gyms, and other health-promoting organizations play an important role in community vitality, and the health and well-being of residents. This project traces the spread of these types of organizations across different types of urban areas over time. The research also examines how the availability of health-promoting organizations affect families’ use of and satisfaction with health care services. The study advances understanding of the relationship between segregation and public health, informing decision-making and interventions in public health and city planning.    This two-part study examines: 1) the distribution of community organizations and service providers across urban neighborhoods; and 2) how that distribution affects residents’ health-related outcomes. First, using restricted micro-data from the United States Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), researchers examine the distribution of health-promoting community organizations over time across neighborhoods in metropolitan areas in the U.S. from 1990 to 2020. A longitudinal approach enables analysis of how changes in neighborhood composition relate to the number of health-promoting organizations over time. Second, the study uses restricted survey data from the National Survey of Children’s Health paired with neighborhood-level contextual data to analyze how families use health care services, how that is patterned by what is available to them in their communities, and how this impacts satisfaction with their health provider and overall health.    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.",FALSE
2121899,"ADVANCE Partnership: Faculty Online Learning Communities for Gender Equity, Targeting Department Level Change in STEM",2025-04-25,Eureka Scientific Inc,OAKLAND,CA,CA12,781552,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121899,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121899_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,946023017,FMPGW7JS2SK3,"The Faculty Online Learning Communities for Gender Equity: Targeting Departmental Level Change in STEM (FOLC-E) project offers a unique and valuable opportunity to understand department level structures and culture related to STEM faculty gender inequity. This project addresses the critical need to improve the cultures, practices, and structures of STEM departments by investigating features of the departmental setting. This project will engage teams of faculty representing 5-7 departments per FOLC-E group. As a direct result of this project, twenty-five to forty-five departments, across multiple STEM disciplines, will make a significant department level change addressing inequity, potentially impacting thousands of students and faculty. The potential of this project to promote increased equity within STEM departments will substantially improve the educational places where many of the students that identify as being from groups that are underrepresented in STEM study and work.  Partners include the Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) a national alliance of over 4,000 STEM faculty from over 150 institutions of higher education to disseminate information from the grant and PULSE (Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education) which was initially funded by NSF, HHMI and NIGMS/NIH and is now an educational non-profit organization.     The project will inform intersectional gender equity reform efforts in STEM by implementing and studying five FOLC-Es. FOLC-E is a mechanism for increasing intersectional gender equity that leverages social learning and support. It is grounded in the concepts of faculty learning communities (FLC), communities of practice (CoP), and departmental action teams (DATs).  In a community of practice, people with a common interest come together to fulfill both individual and group goals in a spirit of learning, knowledge generation and sharing, and collaboration. Teams of faculty will work with FOLC-E facilitators, intersectional gender equity experts, and administrative mentors to engage in a process of deeply understanding the power dynamics of inequity. They will engage structures that contribute to inequity that can be leveraged to enact reforms within their departments. Teams will create an action plan for change, utilizing established theories of organizational change, and enact their plans with the support and encouragement of the FOLC-E. The FOLC-E groups will use data to assess the impact and success of their efforts and refine future plans for action. A study of the FOLC-E intervention will result in new knowledge about the organizational and cultural factors that create both barriers to and opportunities for systemic change.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.    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.",FALSE
2411935,Collaborative Research: A Student Asset-based Approach to the Formation of Equitable Teams (SAFE Teams),2025-04-25,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,712744,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411935,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411935_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"Teamwork is an integral part of engineering and computer science curricula. However, underrepresented students, particularly Black and Latinx students, especially those of lower socioeconomic status, tend to encounter adverse team experiences beyond those generally encountered by all students. A team-based learning environment that values each individual student’s assets can potentially decrease occurrences of negative team experiences rooted in racial bias, increase belongingness, and provide students with teamwork skills to succeed in the increasingly global job market. The goal of this collaborative project is to identify and understand pedagogical strategies that promote equity in team experiences for Black and Latinx students in engineering and computer science classrooms. The research team will use an asset-based approach drawing upon students’ cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets to inform team compositions that will foster cooperation, collaboration, and inclusion leading to equitable outcomes in team-based assignments. Additionally, the research team will couple this novel approach to team formation with training that educates faculty and students about conscious and unconscious bias, intercultural conflict, and culturally responsive communication to improve team dynamics. Enhancing the persistence of Black and Latinx students to degree completion and subsequent entrance into the STEM workforce can increase the diversity and global competitiveness of the STEM workforce in the U.S. which, in turn, promotes national economic prosperity.    The research team will perform a quasi-experimental, quantitatively driven, sequential, mixed methods design in three phases guided by a socioecological framework. The unit of analysis will focus on undergraduate teams formed in engineering and computer science courses that assign team-based assignments at the University of South Florida, Virginia Tech, and West Point. Undergraduate Black and Latinx students will partner with the PIs and co-PIs to make decisions about the research design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of research results. The intellectual merits of this study will provide insights regarding the use of cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets in the formation of equitable engineering and computer science student teams. By leveraging the new insights, the research impact will be to create more inclusive and equitable classroom environments to help alleviate challenges encountered in team-based undergraduate assignments. This project is a step toward transforming the STEM higher education system by illuminating the cultural assets that Black and Latinx students bring to the classroom and by providing inclusive team training to establish better team working environments and pedagogical strategies to improve overall learning experiences.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2120039,"GP-IN: Inclusive Learning through Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (ILEEPS)",2025-04-25,William Marsh Rice University,Houston,TX,TX09,314904,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120039,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2120039_4900,2022-01-01,2025-12-31,770051827,K51LECU1G8N3,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     The goal of the Inclusive Learning through Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (ILEEPS) project is to enhance understanding of how to introduce pre-college students to geoscience content in an inclusive environment. Black, Hispanic, and Native American populations continue to be underrepresented in the geoscience and environmental science fields, and the geosciences are among those Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines with the lowest levels of representation amongst these marginalized student groups. Through ILEEPS, in-service public high school teachers will learn to use Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) for engagement with students in a geoscience context. This theory fosters the development of student cultural identity as a means of both supporting student academic success and encouraging students to critically engage in the classroom. During the study, 11 teachers will learn and incorporate CSP practices focusing on student connectedness, asset-building, and reflection for use in their earth science classrooms. Earth science lessons will be collaboratively developed with Rice University geoscience research faculty, curriculum development experts, experts in culturally sustaining pedagogy, high school earth science teachers from diverse Houston schools, and professionals from societies including the National Association of Black Geoscientists (NABG).     The goal of the GP-IN: Inclusive Learning through Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences (ILEEPS) project is to understand how Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy (CSP) can enhance high school Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teachers' cultural awareness and create inclusive, equitable teaching environments that broaden the participation of women, African Americans, Hispanics, and Native Americans in the geosciences. This collaboration between the Rice Office of STEM Engagement (R-STEM), faculty in the Rice Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences, and partners from the Houston Independent School District and GeoFORCE Texas, will realize this overarching goal through three co-current objectives: 1) identifying how teachers develop CSP within geoscience concepts; 2) investigating how teachers' use of CSP affects students' sense of belonging, and 3) determining whether using CSP in the geosciences impacts teachers' culturally responsive self-efficacy.    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.",FALSE
2314144,Kaulele (To Take Flight) - Creating a Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Indigenous-led Design Framework for STEM Exhibits,2025-04-25,INSTITUTE FOR NATIVE PACIFIC EDUCATION AND CULTURE,KAPOLEI,HI,HI02,1440795,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314144,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314144_4900,2023-09-01,2029-02-28,96707,G576JJJLA9E9,"Over the past few decades, the science museum field has been working toward better understanding of and approaches to designing exhibits that reflect more diverse ways of learning and knowing, and support broader participation in STEM and informal STEM learning. This project, led by the local Hawaiian community organization Institute for Native Pacific Education and Culture (INPEACE), will develop and study a Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (NHPI) Indigenous-led exhibit design framework. The project team recognizes that developing Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander trust in the scientific enterprise requires building connections that bridge the values and concepts of 'ike kupuna (traditional knowledge) with scientific knowledge systems and contemporary technology. This project stems from pilot and feasibility studies that resulted in three pop-up science exhibitions and laid the groundwork for an initial framework. In collaboration with Kamehameha Schools, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), Discovery Children's Museum-Las Vegas, Honolulu City and County Parks and Recreation, and others, the team will follow the initial framework to develop two exhibitions that are grounded in Indigenous Hawaiian epistemologies and cultural connections to STEM. Responsive to local needs and interests, the exhibits will be designed and delivered as pop-up experiences reaching multiple rural Hawaiian communities and may cover Indigenous systems of star navigation for ocean voyaging, systems of netting for food and water containers, or systems of home design with local and natural materials. Throughout the iterative development of the exhibitions, the project will employ Indigenous Hawaiian and Western research and evaluation methods to study and refine the NHPI Indigenous-led design framework.    The culture-first approach of the NHPI Indigenous-led design framework has strong potential to transform the ways that the science museum field is thinking about and doing exhibit design. This project will focus on two research questions: 1) What are the critical elements of an NHPI Indigenous-led design process for culture-based STEM exhibits that are necessary to retain the Indigenous foundation and characteristics of the culture?; and 2) Can an NHPI Indigenous-led exhibition design framework and process result in consistent replication of results in engagement, increased interest, and relational relevance in STEM topics for Native Hawaiians? To answer the first question, the team will prioritize Indigenous epistemologies, participatory approaches, and the integration of Hawaiian and Pacific Islander cultural research and evaluation practices. Data collection and analyses will honor the cultural concepts of mo'oku'auhau (genealogy) and ho'oilina (inheritance), and include traditional assessment models such as ho'ike and 'uniki, which assess learners' acquisition and understanding of knowledge and skills and their ability to demonstrate and communicate such knowledge and skills. Qualitative methods such as interviews, observations, and document analysis will be employed to capture the holistic experiences, contextual understandings, and interconnections within. Practices such as wala'au (talk story) create spaces for open dialogue, where the voices and perspectives of the community, educators, and learners ensure inclusivity, agency, and alignment with Indigenous perspectives. Nune Maila (reflection) exercises will foster self-awareness and critical examination of cultural biases within the research and evaluation teams. These reflection processes align with ancestral methods used to make meaning of acquired knowledge and skills. To answer the second question, the team will use results from summative visitor experience data (n = 40-50 per pop-up exhibition) to understand whether the framework can be consistently applied across multiple exhibits, STEM content areas, and various cultural topics to effectively engage Indigenous Hawaiian and Pacific Islander populations through informal STEM exhibits. Results from this work will be disseminated locally though annual presentations to community interest groups, newsletters and media spotlights, and publications such as Hulili: Multidisciplinary Research on Hawaiian Well-Being. Results will also be shared broadly at national and regional conferences and through practitioner-focused publications, such as ASTC Dimensions Magazine.    This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",FALSE
2417833,BPC-AE: Institute for African Americans in Computing Sciences (iAAMCS) National Network,2025-04-25,Morehouse College,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,750000,Cooperative Agreement,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417833,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417833_4900,2025-01-01,2029-12-31,303143773,KTE2MFWTKAE5,"This award extends the BPC Alliance Diversifying Leadership in the Professoriate (LEAP). LEAP is led by the University of Chicago and addresses the critical challenge of increasing the diversity of computing faculty at research universities as a way to increase diversity across the field. To meet this goal, LEAP supports institutional cohorts strategically designed to build community among similar institution types and identify key practices in supporting students underrepresented in computing across different organizational contexts. This extension will build upon lessons learned by these cohorts and continue to refine strategies for increasing diversity in the computing professoriate. The extension will also establish an Affiliates Program to share best practices and lessons learned across LEAP cohorts and new affiliate member institutions.     The problem the LEAP Alliance addresses is stark and straight-forward: only 5.3% of the faculty (tenured, tenure track, teaching, research, instructors, and postdocs) at PhD-granting universities are from the following underrepresented communities: Black or African-American, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. This extension builds upon the initial accomplishments and lessons learned and entails two main activities: (1) the continuation and refinement of the LEAP Alliance strategies for increasing diversity in the computing professoriate and (2) the establishment of an Affiliates Program for strong cross-dissemination of good practices and lessons learned between the four cohorts and the affiliate member institutions. The shared purpose and broad vision of the LEAP Alliance entails three main approaches: (1) increase the diversity of PhD graduates from the Institutions that are the top producers of computing faculty; (2) increase the exposure of academic careers at the institutions that already have good diversity in their PhD graduates; and (3) increase the retention of undergraduate students from underrepresented communities at the institutions that send students to doctoral programs.    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.",FALSE
2310558,Collaborative Research: Military Service as a Gendered Pathway into STEM,2025-04-25,University of Connecticut,STORRS,CT,CT02,210506,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310558,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2310558_4900,2023-09-01,2025-10-31,062699018,WNTPS995QBM7,"The project investigates how gender and military service shape decisions to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees and occupations. Research shows that military service is a pathway into STEM fields. The project examines how the timing of educational and occupational experiences shape STEM-related outcomes. It also focuses on how the influence of military service on STEM trajectories varies by gender ad across demographic groups. Thus, the project addresses the national need to increase the number of STEM professionals, diversify the STEM workforce, and optimize the recruitment of military personnel. Findings from this project assist decision-makers in how to finetune military recruitment and assignment strategies to optimize strategic growth and inclusion goals in the Armed Forces. Findings are also important to federal agencies committed to broadening participation in STEM, and to employers interested in recruiting and retaining a diverse STEM workforce. Identifying how military service influences subsequent STEM trajectories presents a timely and unique opportunity to strengthen both private- and public-sector institutions.      The project pursues a two-pronged approach. First, large-sample analyses involve integrating multiple restricted-use data sources available via the U.S. Census Bureau’s Federal Statistical Research Data Centers/FSRDC to construct a longitudinal database spanning more than two decades: Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Department of Veterans’ Affairs U.S. Veterans File, National Survey of College Graduates; plus publicly-available data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. These analyses involve sophisticated statistical models on large samples based on millions of respondents in the FSRDC databases. Methodological contributions involve creating new population estimates sought by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies, plus conducting essential robustness checks that test several distinct STEM definitions used by federal agencies. Second, to examine the mechanisms that shape such trajectories of civilian and veteran students, the project relies on original survey data for a representative sample of current students at a major US university. This original survey compensates for limitations in the FSRDC data by homing in on the impact of specific skills and experiences, including those of student veterans. The survey data are made publicly available via a data repository, to enhance social science data infrastructure, dissemination, and transparency. This project is jointly funded by the Sociology Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Science of Broadening Participation Program.    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.",TRUE
2411772,Collaborative Research: Racial Equity in STEM Starts with Teacher Education,2025-04-25,Seattle University,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,88020,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411772,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411772_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,981224411,LCYLGVGSEQE3,"The racial and ethnic diversity of the K-12 student population far exceeds the diversity of the current teacher workforce and teacher candidate pipeline. To address this gap, systemic changes in the structural and cultural dimensions of university teacher preparation programs are required. This project will leverage an existing consortium of STEM teacher preparation programs in Washington State to: (1) identify community assets and systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting STEM teacher candidates from historically underrepresented populations; (2) develop strategies for preparing STEM teacher candidates to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies; and (3) advance understanding of how universities can develop authentic partnerships with historically marginalized communities to support STEM teacher preparation. The significance of this project is that it aims to establish authentic partnerships with individuals and groups typically underrepresented in STEM and elevate the knowledge and leadership from marginalized communities to collaboratively address barriers and obstacles to becoming STEM teachers.    This project will employ a descriptive multiple case study design to understand how institutes of higher education work with their local communities to dismantle systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM teacher preparation. Further, the project will investigate how these teacher preparation programs leverage the knowledge of leaders from marginalized communities to develop and share strategies for preparing future STEM teachers to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies. With sites spanning urban, suburban, and rural settings, this research will enhance our collective knowledge about contextual factors that support or constrain efforts to address inequities in STEM teacher preparation. The community-led work at each region is grounded in the principles of Targeted Universalism and will utilize tools and frameworks from the Equity-Driven Systems Change Model to center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities. Anticipated impacts include new recruitment and retention models for diversifying STEM teaching, revised curricula to infuse culturally sustaining pedagogy into STEM teacher preparation, and new equity-minded structures and policies to guide teacher education program decisions.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2222018,Research on Educational Equity and Diversity in STEM,2025-04-25,University of Arizona,TUCSON,AZ,AZ07,1250671,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222018,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222018_4900,2022-07-01,2025-06-30,85721,ED44Y3W6P7B9,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    This project will provide opportunities for postdoctoral fellows to engage with STEM educational practices within the context of a research-intensive Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). The project team will create research opportunities for a diverse cohort of fellows, foster research on diversity and equity in STEM undergraduate education, support inclusive and equitable research environments for the fellows, and develop the postdoctoral researchers’ capacity to utilize and advance equitable practices as early-career STEM educators. The project will advance the scholarship about broadening participation in STEM and contribute to the professional development of a community of scholars and practitioners who are committed to improving educational practices in STEM.    The cohort of postdoctoral fellows will develop a research agenda exploring the relationship between culturally responsive practices and several critical outcomes, including i) the impact of culturally responsive practices on early STEM interest, success, and persistence; ii) STEM transfer rates; iii) STEM identity; and iv) sense of belonging in STEM. Rich data from already established research projects will afford fellows the opportunity for project leadership experiences with mentor support, enabling analysis and dissemination of results through presentations and publications. Under the leadership of each mentor, four research projects will ground the fellows’ work and serve to frame their independent research agendas. Attention to the professional development of the fellows will be woven throughout their experience such that learning and development will be a spiraling process of growth through reflection and enhancement. In particular, each fellow will create an individual development plan that will serve as a framework to assess their skills, interests, and abilities, to communicate with mentors, and to implement activities to achieve academic and professional goals.    This project was submitted in response to the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) competition. The STEM Ed PRF program is designed to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM Education, and related disciplines to enhance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research in STEM education.    This project is being supported with co-funding by the HSI Program which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs. Achieving these aims, given the diverse nature and context of the HSIs, requires innovative approaches that incentivize institutional and community transformation and promote fundamental research (i) on engaged student learning, (ii) about what it takes to diversify and increase participation in STEM effectively, and (iii) that improves our understanding of how to build institutional capacity at HSIs.    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.",FALSE
2415333,Scientists in the Family: Engaging Black Communities in STEM Through Accessible and Inclusive Science Stories,2025-04-25,New York Hall of Science,CORONA,NY,NY06,3269924,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415333,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415333_4900,2025-01-01,2028-06-30,113682950,UQ7FBRE34HS5,"It is crucial for everyone to participate in the STEM enterprise to assure the continued technological and scientific advances. This project is unique because of its use of film and other visual assets to explore STEM identity, participation, and aspiration through a multigenerational approach featuring a Black mother, her family, and her community. The project consists of four components: a feature-length documentary, a community engagement experience (Scientists in the Family), a companion digital project (30 short-form videos), and an integrated research project.  Family narratives and artifacts will be used to provide a window into the aspirations, challenges, and opportunities associated with choosing to participate in the STEM enterprise and their impact on individuals, families, and communities. This project is potentially transformative because it causes people to re-think how science is represented in individuals, their families, and their communities. It is important for all children and families to understand that historically underrepresented people have always been an integral part of science. Consistent with NSF’s pillar of accessibility and inclusivity and core values of diversity and inclusion, this project seeks to increase STEM engagement, curiosity, and belonging for multigenerational families historically underrepresented in STEM.    The project addresses the following research questions: 1) To what extent and how does participating in SiTF increase science center partners’ experience and confidence in engaging Black family members and integrating culturally relevant pedagogy into their STEM-based activities and community programming? 2) To what extent and how do Black families participate in the SiTF community engagement experiences, and is the envisioned “call and response” from screening to community events realized? 3) What is the impact of SiTF on participating youths’ interest, beliefs, and behavioral intent toward STEM and STEM-related careers? and 4) Does involvement in SiTF impact participating adult caregivers’ awareness of STEM opportunities and careers and their intention to encourage their children to further explore or pursue them? Audience outcomes are assessed through retrospective pre/post surveys, post screening and observational surveys, and creative artifacts. A culturally relevant theoretical framework is used to explore issues of STEM identity, belonging, and engagement by building knowledge through a two-part summative study consisting of cross-site and case study evaluations. By engaging students to discover their hidden scientist, the project will help underrepresented youth see themselves, their families, and communities as part of the STEM enterprise. This Type 5, Research in Support of Wide-reaching Public Engagement with STEM, project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2417796,BPC-DP: HSI (R)evolution: Building Authenticity at Institutions Emerging to Serve Latine' Students,2025-04-25,Florida State University,TALLAHASSEE,FL,FL02,299659,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417796,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417796_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,323060001,JF2BLNN4PJC3,"Despite comprising the largest racial/minority group in the U.S., Latiné students are marginalized in STEM, and are especially structurally disadvantaged in pathways to computing degrees.  Despite the growth of the Latiné population, institutional leaders often lack access to effective strategies for authentically serving this growing demographic's needs for recruitment, retention, engagement, and advancement. This BPC Demonstration project at Florida State University will  integrate evidence-based servingness criteria, effective transition strategies, tools, and methods to transform how the nation's 401 emerging Hispanic Serving Institutions (HIS) actively engage in their HSI transitions. As a result, this study aims to deepen Latinos' sense of belongingness on their campuses. The dissemination efforts will (1) leverage accessible formats and authentic Hispanic marketing to share insights on (how servingness is experienced at Hispanic Serving Institutions and (2) how emerging HSIs can establish context-specific benchmarking and implement associated strategies to best serve the Latiné STEM and computing communities.       This demonstration project is a collaboration led by Florida State University (FSU), an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution (eHSI), and in partnership with fellow eHSI University of South Florida, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Excelencia Seal HSIs such as University of Texas at El Paso, University of Central Florida, and Florida International University, with the advice of BPC Centers including the Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI) and STARS Computing Alliance and experts from the Center for Hispanic Marketing Communication (CHMC). Using a mixed method multiple case study approach with a focus on Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) majors, the team will conduct secondary data analysis and applied ethnography of HSI and eHSI, grounded in theories of authenticity and servingness, to accomplish four goals: 1) improved eHSI servingness to Latinos by documenting HSI's effective policies, processes, and practices eHSI's identified challenges to employing these strategies across organizational units (e.g., Student Affairs, Office of Research, Faculty Affairs, Admissions, Human Resources); 2) enhanced predominantly White institution (PWI) preparedness to serve Latinos using rigorous Seal of Excelencia requirements for data gathering and demonstration of the review process; 3) eHSI empowered to better serve Latinos with an HSI (R)evolution assessment rubric and toolkit; and 4) eHSIs supported in their transitions by disseminating project findings through traditional, bilingual, and multicultural multimedia academic channels.  By using a multiple case study approach with a testbed eHSI PWI, this novel study will develop critical subject-matter knowledge on higher education institutions' evolution from eHSI to HSI.    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.",FALSE
2402468,SBIR Phase II: Video Game Tool for Navigating the College Admission Process,2025-04-25,"LEARNING NETWORK, LLC, THE",ALLEN,TX,TX03,989117,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,SBIR Phase II,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2402468,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2402468_4900,2024-06-15,2026-05-31,750134873,SW6LSA3HY843,"The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will address the critical issue of low college enrollment rates among underserved high school students. With limited access to guidance counselors, particularly in schools serving large minority populations, students often struggle to navigate the complex college preparation, admissions, and financial aid processes. By leveraging the power of gaming technology, this project aims to engage and educate youth about college-going habits and persistence strategies during their recreational gaming time. The innovative gaming system will provide a cost-effective solution to supplement the limited resources available for college counseling at under-resourced middle and high schools. The technology has the potential to become a key factor in the commercial success of the company, with school districts being the initial target market. This initiative not only enhances scientific and technological understanding but also addresses a significant societal challenge by promoting educational equity and increasing access to higher education for underserved communities. Ultimately, this project aligns with NSF's mission to advance national prosperity and welfare by empowering students with the knowledge and skills necessary to pursue post-secondary education and contribute to the nation's workforce.    This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project aims to shift the college-going culture at under-resourced middle and high schools by developing an innovative video game that educates and prepares students for the college application process. The research objectives are to measure students' knowledge acquisition about college admissions criteria, deadlines, acceptance and enrollment processes, and financial aid options as they progress through the game's levels. The proposed research involves validating and refining the instruments and measures developed during the pilot phase to assess students' readiness based on their performance at each level. The anticipated technical results include a comprehensive set of reliable and valid measures that will enable schools and stakeholders to identify and address students' knowledge gaps, ultimately strengthening their pathways to college. This project is particularly crucial for underrepresented students who often face significant barriers during the college application process. By leveraging the engaging nature of video games, this project offers a unique and transformative approach to democratizing college access. The outcome of this research has the potential to set a new standard for learning solutions and progressive practices in the field of college preparation, providing a scalable and effective model for empowering all students to navigate the complex college admissions landscape successfully.    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.",FALSE
2324987,Conference: Field of Dreams Conference 2023-25,2025-04-25,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,300000,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2324987,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2324987_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"This award will fund participation in the Field of Dreams Conference from 2023-25. This meeting brings together approximately 200 undergraduate and terminal MS students, about 85% of whom belong to underrepresented minority groups as defined by NSF. The awarded funds will support the participation of approximately 150 of these student attendees each year, and many are participants in the Math Alliance’s Facilitated Graduate Admissions Procedure (F-GAP), which helps students navigate the graduate school application process. F-GAP has been placing an average of 70 students in graduate programs per year since 2013-14. The meeting also attracts about 150 faculty members, most of whom are Math Alliance Mentors, about 50 doctoral students (many former attendees to Field of Dreams as undergraduates), as well as representatives of industry, government, professional organizations, scientific institutes, and other quantitative science professionals. The Field of DreamsConference is the capstone event for the National Alliance for Doctoral Studies in the Mathematical Sciences (Math Alliance) and serves many important community building roles. A major focus of the conference is preparing students for entry into and success within graduate programs, and this goal is addressed in part by a series of panels focusing on important information for students as they consider their path forward. There are also sessions for mentors to exchange best practices, meetings of affiliated regional alliances, plenary addresses, and an REU & Internship Fair. A major conference event is the Graduate Program Fair, where students meet representatives and students from many graduate programs. Panels prepare the students to maximize their success in gathering information at this fair. In recent years there have been as many as 70 tables at this event.    The Math Alliance is a national mentoring community consisting of Mentors (faculty) and Scholars (students) focusing on broadening participation in the quantitative science professions. The primary goal is to increase the number and proportion of students from historically underrepresented minority groups who enroll in and graduate from doctoral programs in the broad STEM disciplines which depend strongly on mathematics and computational science. Our community seeks to support these scientists as they make their way through their undergraduate education, the graduate application process, graduate programs, and into the quantitative science professions. The Math Alliance provides a national supportive community, and builds a national cohort of peers from similar backgrounds who are advancing through graduate programs and careers.    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.",TRUE
2201102,Collaborative Research: The Organizational Climate Challenge: Promoting the Retention of Students from Underrepresented Groups in Doctoral Engineering Programs,2025-04-25,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,713128,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201102,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201102_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"The ongoing lack of diversity in the engineering doctoral workforce remains a significant problem with far-reaching implications for the US economy. The long-term vitality of the US workforce relies on the full range of engineering career pathways being available to all Americans. A diverse STEM workforce is more creative and innovative. While the number of women completing STEM doctorates has risen, the proportion of women earning engineering doctorates remains low. And, in 2019, while 24.1% of engineering doctorates were earned by women, only 1.4% were earned by Hispanic, Black, and Native American women (no Native Hawaiian/ Pacific Islander women). Doctoral engineering attrition rates reveal a disproportionately high loss of students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The problem is not students’ inability to complete the Ph.D. degree requirements, but rather that talented students leave engineering doctoral programs before completing their doctorates. Student attrition results in a loss of human talent to the national endeavor of research and discovery at universities fueling US economic growth. Unwelcoming organizational climates in engineering doctoral programs likely contribute to this attrition. This project aims to examine the organizational climates of engineering doctoral programs to guide efforts that promote the persistence and retention of doctoral students in engineering.     The goal of this mixed-methods project is to examine doctoral students’ perceptions of the factors that impact their persistence in degree completion and the differences in experiencing those factors based on intersecting social categories. This project adopts an explicitly intersectional approach to the meaning and relevance of students’ belonging to multiple social categories, including gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation, considered within the context of engineering doctoral education. Drawing on organizational climate research and intersectionality theory, the project’s multidisciplinary team aims to use a student-centered approach to shed light on multiple climate factors (e.g., climate for diversity, climate for inclusion, student sense of belonging, etc.) by engaging with students from diverse groups. To achieve a comprehensive picture of departmental climate and persistence, which may differ by intersectional group, major, and institution type, iterative and complementary cycles of project implementation are planned over the four-year project period. In Year 1, the researchers aim to use findings from the quantitative pilot climate survey approach to inform the qualitative design. The team aims to repeat this process in Year 2 to develop, refine, and validate the final survey instrument, including a climate scale which will be sensitive enough to assess intersectional phenomena unique to students from diverse groups. The scale will be grounded in measurement invariance, in that factors will be measured in the same way across different groups to reveal similarities and differences between engineering doctoral student populations. In Years 3 and 4, the researchers plan to administer the final survey nationally and incorporate follow-up interviews with a subsample of survey respondents, using a mixed-methods approach. In partnership with the American Society for Engineering Education, the team plans to deploy the climate survey nationally to engineering doctoral students and to share survey findings with engineering deans.       This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2417751,Collaborative Research: Texas Alliance for Research on Sociological Issues,2025-04-25,Texas A&M University-San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX23,204082,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417751,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417751_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,782243134,JS4YHZJ695Z3,"HSIs are substantially underfunded compared to other institutions of higher education due to relatively low endowment revenue and tuition fees. Chronic underfunding leads to infrastructural and technological disparities that disadvantage students as they pursue advanced educational and professional opportunities. This project creates an alliance between four Texas HSIs to improve institutional competitiveness  through: 1) research focused on and directly relevant to creating opportunities across demographic and socio-economic groups; 2) the establishment of physical lab spaces with state-of-the-art computing resources and statistical analysis software; 3) the creation of a virtual lab across all four campuses to facilitate student and faculty mentorship and collaboration; and 4) preparation of students from HSIs to enter graduate programs.     The project brings students and faculty together from R1, R2, and M1 classified HSIs to conduct research relevant to creating opportunities across all demographics and socio-economic groups through two interconnected studies. Applying multi-method comparative designs, these studies will advance a deeper understanding of attitudes, experiences, attitudes on immigration, and other thematic areas to address core questions on inequality and opportunity. The creation of physical and virtual lab spaces for these studies will foster equal participation in scientific innovation at each of the collaborating universities by allocating infrastructural resources in proportion to need. These labs will facilitate the development of research and the dissemination of important findings through yearly mini-conferences showcasing student and faculty work, academic publications targeting traditional disciplinary outlets, and white papers designed to make the research accessible to the general public. Collectively, the alliance of four universities will address four objectives: (1) the theoretical and methodological development of sociological research, (2) promoting research opportunities for students and faculty at under-resourced HSIs, (3) conducting meaningful research on critical sociological issues important to the Texas and national social context, and (4) creating a pipeline for students from HSIs into scientific training and doctoral graduate programs.    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.",FALSE
2121858,"ADVANCE Partnership: Faculty Online Learning Communities for Gender Equity, Targeting Department Level Change in STEM",2025-04-25,Association of American Colleges and Universities,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,210626,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121858,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121858_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,200091692,C2WXUGQMZJ23,"The Faculty Online Learning Communities for Gender Equity: Targeting Departmental Level Change in STEM (FOLC-E) project offers a unique and valuable opportunity to understand department level structures and culture related to STEM faculty gender inequity. This project addresses the critical need to improve the cultures, practices, and structures of STEM departments by investigating features of the departmental setting. This project will engage teams of faculty representing 5-7 departments per FOLC-E group. As a direct result of this project, twenty-five to forty-five departments, across multiple STEM disciplines, will make a significant department level change addressing inequity, potentially impacting thousands of students and faculty. The potential of this project to promote increased equity within STEM departments will substantially improve the educational places where many of the students that identify as being from groups that are underrepresented in STEM study and work.  Partners include the Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) a national alliance of over 4,000 STEM faculty from over 150 institutions of higher education to disseminate information from the grant and PULSE (Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education) which was initially funded by NSF, HHMI and NIGMS/NIH and is now an educational non-profit organization.     The project will inform intersectional gender equity reform efforts in STEM by implementing and studying five FOLC-Es. FOLC-E is a mechanism for increasing intersectional gender equity that leverages social learning and support. It is grounded in the concepts of faculty learning communities (FLC), communities of practice (CoP), and departmental action teams (DATs).  In a community of practice, people with a common interest come together to fulfill both individual and group goals in a spirit of learning, knowledge generation and sharing, and collaboration. Teams of faculty will work with FOLC-E facilitators, intersectional gender equity experts, and administrative mentors to engage in a process of deeply understanding the power dynamics of inequity. They will engage structures that contribute to inequity that can be leveraged to enact reforms within their departments. Teams will create an action plan for change, utilizing established theories of organizational change, and enact their plans with the support and encouragement of the FOLC-E. The FOLC-E groups will use data to assess the impact and success of their efforts and refine future plans for action. A study of the FOLC-E intervention will result in new knowledge about the organizational and cultural factors that create both barriers to and opportunities for systemic change.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.    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.",FALSE
2218547,Collaborative Research: Human Infrastructure for a National Geochronology Consortium: Micro-Funding an Inclusive Community Grassroot Effort to Better Understand the Earth System,2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,528702,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Earth Sciences,FRES-Frontier Rsrch Earth Sci,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218547,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2218547_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"This project supports the Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems (AGeS-cubed or AGeS3) initiative to: (1) increase access to geochronology data and geochronology expertise to further our understanding of unified Earth systems, (2) implement a platform attracting underrepresented minorities to the geosciences, and (3) test grassroots ideas at a frontier of inclusive and collaborative science. Geochronology data provide the temporal information required for synergistic science spanning the deep Earth to surface processes. Yet National Academy reports have repeatedly highlighted challenges for geochronology data access, technical innovation, and training. This project addresses these needs through a trio of strategic micro-award programs. The mature AGeS-Grad program supports high-impact collaborative science projects between graduate students, labs, and home institution mentors. The prototype AGeS-DiG (Diversity in Geochronology) program funds pilot initiatives to increase access to geochronology for those underrepresented in the Earth sciences. The new AGeS-TRaCE (Training and Community Engagement) program supports community-led efforts to address emerging challenges in geochronology. The micro-awards of this program powers the human infrastructure engine, enabling important scientific advances that may not happen within the silo of more classic grants.    The Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems (AGeS-cubed or AGeS3) project builds on the success and cooperative spirit of the AGeS-Grad subprogram through the launch of micro-grant opportunities to crowd-source solutions for self-identified geochronology needs. The program harnesses expertise and creativity across the Earth sciences by enabling collaborative science and evaluating grassroots community-led solutions to current challenges in geochronology and geosciences more broadly. The project activities propagate a web of new relationships that position the greater geoscience community to make transformative scientific advances on the dynamics and complexity of Earth processes and systems. This project funds over 150 strategic micro-awards across three subprograms to engage hundreds across the Earth sciences in collaborative science, training, review, and governance activities. Still broader engagement and integration will be achieved through annual, virtual, fully open AGeS community meetings, a website that will host project blogs and deliverables, and a formalized governance model that includes steering and review committees with rotating members designed to balance experience with new engagement. Assessment and evaluation activities will provide formative feedback to shape the initiative over its arc. Belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity are infused throughout all activities, and outcomes of diverse participation will be sought via inclusive and accessible practices that also promote a sense of connection and belonging in the community.    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.",TRUE
2342768,Collaborative Research: SEI: Creating a Lasting LEGACY - Scaling a Peer-learning Community Model to Provide AP CS Preparation and Career Awareness for Black Young Women,2025-04-25,Tuskegee University,TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE,AL,AL02,146347,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342768,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342768_4900,2024-05-15,2028-04-30,360881923,U9JCYEXFEEU4,"Careers in Computer Science (CS) related areas represent many of the best-paid jobs in the nation. However, Black women comprise less than 1% of the workforce at the most popular U.S. software companies. Low participation of Black students in CS areas is often attributed to a lack of “preparatory privilege,” encompassing the unavailability of resources and experiences that build content knowledge and associated skills, and few role models. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations project will scale up a successful project that engaged Black young women in high schools throughout the state of Alabama in a year-long peer-learning community to prepare them for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. Called LEGACY++, the project will expand the focus to 500 students, adding two other states - Mississippi and Ohio. To do so, it will create a partnership among (1) post-secondary institutions in diverse cultural settings (urban and rural); (2) collaborators that specialize in analyzing programmatic outcomes and identifying factors that promote student success in CS; and (3) industry partners to connect students with new learning experiences from the automotive, wireless, and health sector domains. Eighteen Black CS Teacher Leaders will receive training across the tri-State partnership to facilitate an immersive summer institute experience to initiate the preparation of students for the AP CSP course at their school. Interactions will continue during the school year to promote students’ AP exam readiness through curriculum workshops focused on AP CSP topics and interactions with multiple mentors who are all Black women. Students will also be provided with resources to mitigate the barriers to CS access often faced by low-income families, such as access to a peer learning community with scheduled meetings over the academic year.     The LEGACY++ Scholars will represent Black young women from three states to imbue CS content knowledge and an awareness of opportunities in CS-related occupations. LEGACY++ Scholars will learn AP CSP concepts through culturally responsive instruction and project-based learning facilitated by tools to support remote student collaborations to highlight the nature of virtual work, while connecting with new learning experiences from industry partners, their own life situations, and career aspirations. The synergy among these strategies is a promising approach to stimulate the learning of CS for this population; thus, the project’s activities will explore creative and transformative approaches targeted at enabling the participation of groups historically underrepresented in CS careers. Specifically, the research questions addressed in this project include investigating how LEGACY++ activities foster a perception of CS as a communal endeavor, how creating a community of learners can strengthen participants’ identity with CS/technical careers and reduce the effects of stereotype threat, and whether LEGACY++ participation can increase awareness and understanding of CS careers. The LEGACY++ evaluation plan will continuously assess activities and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback by identifying promising practices and evidence of success that stimulate CS interest among Black young women. Data collection and evaluation of the implementation of the program activities will include observations of the Summer Institutes, semi-annual interviews of teacher leaders, annual interviews of program leaders and mentoring board members, and student projects. These data will be analyzed qualitatively in terms of pre-defined program success criteria. Measurable program outcomes will include changes in Scholars’ content knowledge and attitudes towards CS, and Scholars’ career plans. The knowledge-generation component will investigate how creating a community of learners increases identification, belonging, and persistence in CS among Black women. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2242654,CAREER: Partnering with Teachers and Students to Engage in Mathematical Inquiry about Relevant Social Issues,2025-04-25,University of Nevada Las Vegas,LAS VEGAS,NV,NV01,719417,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2242654,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2242654_4900,2022-11-15,2026-08-31,891549900,DLUTVJJ15U66,"Despite efforts to address racial, gender, income-level and other kinds of inequities, disparities persist throughout society in educational, occupational, financial, and healthcare services and opportunities. To work toward societal equity, mathematics teachers have shown increased interest in both improving students’ achievement and supporting students’ ability to use mathematics to analyze these inequities to create change. For instance, a mathematics task may use rate, ratio, and proportion to explore the gender wage gap, and then use functions to explore disparities in earnings over time.  Few resources, such as textbooks, coaching protocols, or video examples of classroom teaching, however, exist to support mathematics teachers’ efforts to teach the mathematics content while investigating relevant social issues. In addition, research indicates several dilemmas teachers face in maintaining the cognitive demand of the task, addressing state standards, and improving student agency through such investigations. Research is needed to understand how teachers learn to adapt and implement mathematics tasks that facilitate students’ mathematics learning and investigation of social issues. This project team partners with the mathematics department of one urban public charter high school that serves 65% students of color (most of whom identify as African American). At the school, 70% of all students qualify for free or reduced lunch, and 25% of the students have Individualized Education Plans. This project investigates: 1) how mathematics teachers learn to teach the mathematics content through investigation of relevant social issues, 2) how teachers negotiate classroom dilemmas related to this approach, and 3) how students feel about mathematics and their ability to enact change toward an equitable society. The professional development will be co-designed with mathematics teacher leaders from the school and the research team and will last three years. Teachers will invite students to become advisory board members to center students’ voices and solicit feedback about the relevance of the social issues embedded in the tasks. Classroom videos will be captured to share on a project website for use by mathematics teacher educators and professional development providers. The website will also host mathematics tasks designed through this project for teachers’ use in their own classrooms. This is a Faculty Early Career Development Program project responsive to a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers the most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education. It is funded by the Discovery Research K-12 program, which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics by preK-12 students and teachers through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools.     This qualitative, participatory design study partners with the mathematics department to investigate the following research questions: (1) How do teachers learn to adapt mathematics tasks to make them cognitively demanding and socially relevant for their students? How do contextual factors (e.g., specific school context/location/history, student backgrounds, teacher backgrounds, such as race and class) influence teacher learning? (2) What dilemmas become salient and how do teachers negotiate them while implementing the tasks? (3) How do these tasks improve students’ attitudes about mathematics and feelings of empowerment?  In the first year, the research team and two mathematics teacher leaders from the school will co-design the professional development experience focused on designing and implementing mathematics tasks grounded in issues that are socially relevant to students. In years 2-4, the mathematics department will engage in this professional development, with continual input from teacher participants. Participants will create student advisory boards who will offer feedback to teachers about the relevance of the mathematics tasks. Participants will video tape their own classrooms to share brief vignettes (5-8 minutes long) that highlight dilemmas and/or successes for video club sessions as part of the professional development series. Video club sessions offer opportunities to discuss challenges and successes with colleagues and offer peer support. These video clips will also become video case studies, along with the mathematics task and teacher reflections, for use by mathematics teacher educators and professional development providers through a project website. In addition, years 3-4 the project team will develop four detailed classroom case studies, accompanied with coaching support from the research team. To answer research questions 1 and 2 regarding teacher learning and dilemmas, teachers’ perspectives will be captured through professional development artifacts, coaching debriefs, teachers’ written reflections, and one-on-one semi structured interviews. To answer research question 3 regarding student agency and attitudes about mathematics, student sentiments will be explored through student work, open-ended surveys, and focus group interviews with eight focal students per classroom case study. A project website will share mathematics tasks and video cases with the broader community of mathematics educators. Through distribution of such materials, the project aims to offer much-needed resources and supports for mathematics teachers to use cognitively demanding and socially relevant mathematics tasks with their students. The project will also publish peer-reviewed research articles to share findings with the field.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2404263,Collaborative Research: ADVANCE Partnership: Golden Compass Onward: Geospatial sciences Alliance for International women faculty Advancement (GAIA),2025-04-25,University of Northern Colorado,GREELEY,CO,CO08,87067,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2404263,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2404263_4900,2024-09-01,2028-08-31,806396900,TYJEPW6N1W98,"The Geospatial sciences Alliance for International women faculty Advancement (GAIA) project brings the University of Northern Colorado and two STEM professional societies, the American Association of Geographers and the University Consortium of Geographic Information Science, into a partnership to identify and address systemic inequities in academic workplaces in Geography and Geospatial Sciences. The research literature indicates that professional societies are well positioned to effect positive change in academic departments in their disciplines. Informed by a mixed-methods assessment of departmental climates and barriers, the GAIA project will support department leaders to engender more welcoming environments and develop more equitable policies and practices that lead to success for all faculty.     The GAIA project will gather and synthesize intersectional qualitative and quantitative data on barriers and lived experiences to inform equity systemic change toolkits for deployment in Geography and Geospatial Sciences departments. The project team will support a cohort of department leaders in their implementation and evaluation of the toolkits and will sustain the effort in long-term collaboration with the cohort. The team will disperse the toolkits and disseminate results throughout the profession, impacting approximately 10,000 individual faculty members. This partnership will be evaluated formatively and summatively by an external evaluator and will be supported by internal and external advisory boards.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",FALSE
2331217,Collaborative Research: EPIIC: Expanding Team Capacity for High Impact and New Growth (ETCHING) Cohort,2025-04-25,SUNY Onondaga Community College,SYRACUSE,NY,NY22,400000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",NSF Engines - Type 1,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331217,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331217_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,132154580,SJHAGXNEXB51,"This is a collaborative project across the following institutions: Columbus State Community College (CSCC) and Onondaga Community College (OCC).  The two colleges share regional environments that have seen a revitalization of former industrial regions through new emerging industries, with specific synergy currently underway in high-volume advanced manufacturing and recent developments in the semiconductor industry. The growth of emerging industries in both regions will be a workforce catalyst, and CSCC and OCC aim to increase research and training opportunities to address industry needs and better serve their communities. CSCC and OCC share gaps in finding qualified and available faculty, in collaborating with other four- and two-year institutions, in the need to engage employer partners more deeply, and in a desire to increase capacity for resource development aligned to emerging technologies.    The cohort goals will grow partnerships for the regional innovation ecosystem to create a more diverse workforce to meet the talent demand. The cohort will expand the research development capacity of each college and help other institutions with similar goals to pursue new opportunities and better engage in large-scale collaborations. Activities include creating an expanded partnership model for engaging industry, developing a benchmark partnership model for instructor sharing, creating in-residence models for industry instructor sharing, and increasing capacity to engage in grant initiatives for larger scale partnerships. The cohort will become a resource for grant development partnerships that focus on increasing underserved participation in emerging pathways. Equity-focused strategies will be incorporated throughout the design and guide how diverse populations are engaged. Through this project, the cohort will develop a blueprint for other institutions with similar challenges and needs to effectively engage with their regional innovation ecosystem to in emerging technology.    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.",FALSE
2409524,Collaborative Research: Known Rivers: Creating Justice-Centered Water Literacy along the Lower Mississippi River,2025-04-25,"GRANTED ADVISORS, LLC",NEW ORLEANS,LA,LA02,82739,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2409524,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2409524_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,701262254,F6XBSQJ6QN41,"Marginalized communities disproportionately experience the effects of environmental degradation such as sinking infrastructure, urban flooding, and coastal land loss as a result of legacies of segregation and lack of access to resources. To support youth in Black and Afro-Indigenous communities in Southeast Louisiana, the research team will work collaboratively with local community organizations to develop and enact a justice-centered framework for water literacy that responds to children’s experiences and concerns about the environmental water issues that impact their everyday lives. The project will contribute to knowledge of how community-engaged science curriculum and teaching projects build relationships between communities and schools and how students and teachers grapple with the justice dimensions of issues that have disciplinary and social implications.     In partnership with a network of public charter schools in New Orleans, Louisiana, the research team will engage in four years of design-based research that centers community knowledge and lived experience. Guided by a steering committee of local water-focused community leaders and organizations, the team will work with approximately 16 teachers and 640 students in grades 3–8 to develop and study the implementation of the justice-centered water literacy curriculum units. Additional products will include professional development tools designed to amplify the community’s experiential and historical knowledge as central to science learning.     This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2127911,"Collaborative Research: The Role of Elites, Organizations, and Movements in Reshaping Politics and Policymaking",2025-04-25,North Carolina Central University,DURHAM,NC,NC04,243709,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127911,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127911_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,277073129,L1DXXP1KGP77,"Arguably, the current political climate is the function of three seemingly distinct, yet interrelated, ongoing phenomena: (1) a contentious, problem-laden political environment, (2) grassroots organizations driving unprecedented levels of engagement and turnout, and (3) national movements driving discourse, preferences, and reform around long-held policy grievances. The combination of contentious politics and an energized electorate can result in record turnout despite a raging pandemic. The PIs examine how these features of the American polity shape public and institutional political behaviors. The project aims to build a network, and supportive infrastructure, to better understand how political elites, organizations, and movements in key political locations work to drive participation, preferences, and policymaking.      The project examines two broad research questions. The first question is: How do organizations and social movements mediate political preferences and policy agendas amongst the mass public? Second, it is interested in the collaboration between organizations and social movements and how these interactions shape traditional and untraditional forms of political participation. The study draws on a comprehensive mixture of quantitative (surveys, survey experiments, voter data analysis, social media analysis, and social network analysis) and qualitative (ethnographic observations, content analysis, elite interviews, and focus groups) methodological approaches to answer these questions. This study examines political activities during two electoral periods in several transformative states and municipalities. The broader impacts of the study are numerous. First, it connects a network of scholars from a diverse set of institutions. The project builds critical infrastructure at partner institutions to facilitate data collection and analysis. Namely, it (1) builds mobile research labs designed to conduct rapid response surveys during protests and organizational rallies, and (2) establishes data analysis centers at two minority serving institutions, and (3) provides cutting-edge training, tools, and professional resources to students from marginalized and underserved groups.    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.",FALSE
2411883,Collaborative Research: Developing a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice to Build Equitable Pathways to Graduate STEM Education,2025-04-25,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,679917,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411883,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411883_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Various disparities in STEM higher education have been the focus of many programs for decades.  Practices typically emphasize preparing historically excluded populations and overlook or minimize preparing the institutional environment to be inclusive.  The Bowie State (BSU)/University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)/University of Maryland (UMD) Network proposes the development of a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice to facilitate the adaptation of culturally responsive practices in graduate education and mentoring.   Culturally relevant practices have recently begun to be incorporated into secondary education; however, these practices may also be effective in addressing the gaps observed in STEM graduate education.   Previously funded work by the BSU/UMES/UMD Network evaluated how historically excluded populations at the Network institutions viewed the graduate school at UMD. The survey results from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and administration informed the focus and approach to be utilized in this project. The Community of Practice is designed to provide faculty who have expressed interest in working with the Network with an opportunity to adapt culturally relevant methods to teach and mentor historically excluded populations. Additionally, the proposed project intends to help student participants become familiar with graduate school opportunities at the various institutions, especially UMD, and engage them in necessary research training to ease their transition into graduate education in STEM fields.  This novel approach addresses disparities for historically excluded populations in STEM graduate education and has the potential to be adopted by other schools in Maryland and the nation.     Culturally relevant pedagogy in STEM refers to approaches that incorporate diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives into teaching.  Culturally relevant pedagogy is supported by cultural awareness, cultural competence and cultural responsiveness of the educator.  This pedagogy has been introduced to secondary educators, postdoctoral students, and graduate students; however, graduate STEM faculty have had limited exposure. The goal of this proposal is to conduct four trainings in culturally relevant pedagogy for STEM faculty and implement an online mentor training program.  The training and mentoring program are intended vehicles in developing a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice.  The intended structure of the Culturally Responsive Community of Practice is to allow participants to share culturally responsive research opportunities and instructional strategies as well as facilitate continuous engagement among regional colleagues in similar fields.  The aim is to implement the culturally relevant practices in a 10-week summer research program held at the three partnering institutions for undergraduate students from historically excluded populations.  In addition to the 10-week summer research program, plans include each Network institution hosting professional development workshops for students, which will culminate in a joint symposium and students having the opportunity to travel and present their research, extending their connection with mentors and lab mates beyond the summer.  Project activities, including an instrumental case study approach employing mixed methods, are also designed to address the following research questions: 1) What is the impact of a cross-institutional culturally responsive Community of Practice on  cultural awareness, responsiveness, and competency among STEM faculty; and 2) What is the impact of a cross-institutional culturally responsive Community of Practice on interest in STEM research among undergraduate students from historically excluded populations.     This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2417749,Collaborative Research: Texas Alliance for Research on Sociological Issues,2025-04-25,The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,EDINBURG,TX,TX15,219315,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417749,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417749_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,785392909,L3ATVUT2KNK7,"HSIs are substantially underfunded compared to other institutions of higher education due to relatively low endowment revenue and tuition fees. Chronic underfunding leads to infrastructural and technological disparities that disadvantage students as they pursue advanced educational and professional opportunities. This project creates an alliance between four Texas HSIs to improve institutional competitiveness  through: 1) research focused on and directly relevant to creating opportunities across demographic and socio-economic groups; 2) the establishment of physical lab spaces with state-of-the-art computing resources and statistical analysis software; 3) the creation of a virtual lab across all four campuses to facilitate student and faculty mentorship and collaboration; and 4) preparation of students from HSIs to enter graduate programs.     The project brings students and faculty together from R1, R2, and M1 classified HSIs to conduct research relevant to creating opportunities across all demographics and socio-economic groups through two interconnected studies. Applying multi-method comparative designs, these studies will advance a deeper understanding of attitudes, experiences, attitudes on immigration, and other thematic areas to address core questions on inequality and opportunity. The creation of physical and virtual lab spaces for these studies will foster equal participation in scientific innovation at each of the collaborating universities by allocating infrastructural resources in proportion to need. These labs will facilitate the development of research and the dissemination of important findings through yearly mini-conferences showcasing student and faculty work, academic publications targeting traditional disciplinary outlets, and white papers designed to make the research accessible to the general public. Collectively, the alliance of four universities will address four objectives: (1) the theoretical and methodological development of sociological research, (2) promoting research opportunities for students and faculty at under-resourced HSIs, (3) conducting meaningful research on critical sociological issues important to the Texas and national social context, and (4) creating a pipeline for students from HSIs into scientific training and doctoral graduate programs.    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.",FALSE
2148560,Collaborative Research: Enhancing Underrepresented Student Engagement in STEM through Mentoring and Family Involvement,2025-04-25,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,739486,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148560,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148560_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"This collaborative project is an informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) intervention that will uniquely combine partnerships between STEM and education faculty at the University of Houston (UH) with mentorship from the participants’ families and UH STEM undergraduate mentors to provide hands-on STEM experiences to fourth- and fifth-grade Students of Color. The project aims to increase awareness of and interest in STEM careers as a way to broaden participation in STEM careers. Key program components will include weekly hands-on activities that engage the students with technology through the engineering design process led by undergraduate STEM mentors who also are from groups underrepresented in STEM careers; the Scientist of the Week, which exposes students either to a STEM pioneer from underrepresented groups or a current STEM professional from an industry partner; the math problem of the day, which is aligned to state standards for fourth and fifth grades; and an end-of-year interactive STEM fair, during which students demonstrate their knowledge to larger audiences from their schools and communities.    The research questions that will guide this mixed-methods project will include: 1) What strategies help conceptualize STEM knowledge in a manner that affirms students' racial identity and cultural ways of knowing? 2) How do students' STEM identity and awareness of and interest in STEM change over time? 3) How do families engage in their children’s STEM learning in out-of-school STEM communities, and 4) how does family participation shape students' interest in STEM and their STEM identity? Data from interviews, observations, and questionnaires on Engineering Identity and Career Aspirations will be gathered and analyzed to study possible changes over time. The project's research will contribute to the knowledge-base on family engagement in STEM learning and the STEM identities of racially and ethnically diverse students. Specifically, the team will build upon their prior research on students' STEM identity and program implementation by studying students' STEM identity longitudinally, the racial dimensions of STEM identity, and variability in program implementation across school sites. This project will also have an explicit focus on broadening participation in STEM studies and careers among Students of Color. Within two years, the project will expand to four elementary schools in the Houston region. During the timeline of this award, the project will directly impact 140 fourth and fifth grade Students of Color and an additional 50 students and families per site, per year through the annual interactive STEM fair. This project will also directly engage 50 racially and ethnically diverse STEM mentors who lead project activities. A final product of this work will be a program model guided by principled adaptation that positions the project for large-scale implementation. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",TRUE
2317250,The Infrastructure and Labor Dynamics of Digital Media Piracy,2025-04-25,Tulane University,NEW ORLEANS,LA,LA01,88870,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cultural Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317250,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317250_4900,2023-09-01,2026-12-31,701185665,XNY5ULPU8EN6,"Media piracy, or the unauthorized use, reproduction, or circulation of copyrighted material, has long been the dominant means through which most populations gain access to media. Despite the critical role that women are known to play in the dynamics of this informal sector, the relationship between gender and media piracy has not been substantively examined. This study addresses this gap through an ethnographic study of media piracy. In addition to providing training for undergraduate and graduate students in methods of anthropological data collection and analysis, this project broadens the participation of underrepresented groups in scientific research. Findings are being disseminated broadly to stakeholders and organizations who explore the ethical, legal, and social implications of digital piracy, intellectual property rights, and media use and circulation. This project is jointly funded by Cultural Anthropology and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    This project asks how gender shapes the infrastructure and labor of media piracy and how media piracy is shaping the livelihoods and economic activities of women, who are the most significant clients of media piracy, during periods of socioeconomic stress. Research combines participant observation and semi-structured interviews with pirate media distributors, vendors, and consumers, as well as state and copyright collections agency officials, and focuses on how gender shapes: 1) media piracy infrastructure and labor; 2) the acquisition of media technologies and their management in the home; and 3) the reception of transnational entertainment genres. This project provides the first study of the role that gender plays in shaping media piracy and what impact media distribution has in social and economic transformation.    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.",TRUE
2409521,Collaborative Research: Known Rivers: Creating Justice-Centered Water Literacy along the Lower Mississippi River,2025-04-25,RIPPLE EFFECT WATER LITERACY PROJECT,NEW ORLEANS,LA,LA02,703675,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2409521,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2409521_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,701151160,FKFQMB8S6A38,"Marginalized communities disproportionately experience the effects of environmental degradation such as sinking infrastructure, urban flooding, and coastal land loss as a result of legacies of segregation and lack of access to resources. To support youth in Black and Afro-Indigenous communities in Southeast Louisiana, the research team will work collaboratively with local community organizations to develop and enact a justice-centered framework for water literacy that responds to children’s experiences and concerns about the environmental water issues that impact their everyday lives. The project will contribute to knowledge of how community-engaged science curriculum and teaching projects build relationships between communities and schools and how students and teachers grapple with the justice dimensions of issues that have disciplinary and social implications.     In partnership with a network of public charter schools in New Orleans, Louisiana, the research team will engage in four years of design-based research that centers community knowledge and lived experience. Guided by a steering committee of local water-focused community leaders and organizations, the team will work with approximately 16 teachers and 640 students in grades 3–8 to develop and study the implementation of the justice-centered water literacy curriculum units. Additional products will include professional development tools designed to amplify the community’s experiential and historical knowledge as central to science learning.     This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2145105,CAREER Exploring the Role of STEM Faculty Beliefs & Classroom Culture on Undergraduate Minoritized Students Experiences Achievement and Persistence in STEM,2025-04-25,University of the District of Columbia,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,934418,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145105,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2145105_4900,2022-04-01,2027-03-31,200081122,NLULJV36KE96,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This CAREER project seeks to generate new knowledge about the approaches and strategies of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and how they successfully cultivate growth mindset classroom cultures, as experienced by their students, to create more equitable learning environments for minoritized students. Negative stereotypes about who can and cannot succeed in STEM adversely affect progress toward the U.S. goal of developing a high quality, diverse STEM workforce. STEM interest and persistence amongst minoritized students (e.g., Black, Latinx, Native American), in particular, are alarmingly lower when students encounter negative stereotypes and inequitable educational environments. Higher education faculty have the power and autonomy to directly influence STEM learning environments and bring about the changes necessary to support students’ participation and persistence in STEM fields, but little is known about how professors’ beliefs are communicated and how they can cultivate a growth mindset classroom culture. Furthermore, there is a need for exploration of how Black students experience mindsets in STEM classrooms where they are not the racial minority.       Growth mindset is belief in the malleability of intelligence and abilities. This CAREER inquiry uses a sequential explanatory mixed-methods approach to examine the relationships between STEM faculty beliefs, classroom culture, and the experiences, achievement, and persistence of Black students at HBCUs. The project studies HBCU professors of STEM introductory courses and their students to investigate beliefs and pedagogical practices, perceptions of classroom culture, and STEM engagement, persistence, and achievement. Classroom observations will enable investigation of the presence of mindset messages and climate. This work integrates research and education to generate new knowledge and explanations about how to cultivate growth mindset classroom cultures and the associated impact on minoritized students in STEM. Findings will inform the development of a workshop for STEM faculty, the creation and implementation of a graduate colloquium to support and prepare future STEM faculty and the development of course modules, case studies and presentations for broad impact. This project is funded by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities – Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), which is committed to enhancing the quality of undergraduate STEM education and research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in order to broaden participation in the nation's STEM workforce and in part by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    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.",TRUE
2429961,WORKSHOP: WiGRAPH - Women in Graphics Research 2024,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,49639,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429961,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429961_4900,2024-07-01,2025-06-30,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"WiGRAPH is an ACM SIGGRAPH Community Group that aims to broaden the network of women researchers in Computer Graphics.  Its mission is to increase the number of women pursuing cutting-edge research in the field by creating supportive environments where women researchers can interact with each other and seek role models, mentorship, and encouragement.  WiGRAPH offers a range of opportunities, including research panels, networking spaces, and an online article series that highlights the journeys and accomplishments of inspiring women researchers.  The Rising Stars program is a series of workshops designed to empower women who are finishing their PhD and about to enter the job market, providing them with resources that can help them pursue research careers in the field and achieve their goals, thereby creating a more inclusive and diverse research community that can drive innovation and progress in the field.    The program is designed to empower and inspire young women in Computer Graphics research.  Through a series of workshops and panels, it provides practical advice on how to pick research topics, pursue research questions, and navigate the industry/academic markets. This is particularly important for women researchers, especially those from underrepresented groups, who face unique challenges and obstacles in their careers. The program includes a range of workshops covering topics such as networking, negotiation, and career development, all of which are relevant to women researchers.  Participants also have the opportunity to network with each other and build relationships with potential mentors and sponsors, creating a supportive community that can help women researchers thrive.  Overall, the program provides women researchers with the tools they need to succeed, whether in industry or academia.    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.",FALSE
2415398,From Stories to Solutions: Engaging Latinx Families as Design Partners to Advance Equitable Informal Engineering Learning Opportunities for Young Children,2025-04-25,Loyola University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL05,733043,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415398,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415398_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,606112147,CVNBL4GDUKF3,"Many point to the potentially transformative role early engineering education can play in broadening participation in STEM among individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Moreover, this idea has driven the dramatic expansion of tinkering and making spaces and programs that provide engineering learning opportunities for children and their families in the early years. To fully unlock the promise of these kinds of early learning opportunities for advancing equity in engineering, however, it is necessary to do more than increase access. This project addresses the further need to understand how to design these engineering activities and programs to connect with and build upon cultural and familial strengths and practices for supporting children's learning. The project takes as a starting point that many families, and particularly those from cultural communities with rich oral storytelling traditions such as families of Latin American heritages, rely frequently on oral storytelling to communicate knowledge to young children. The project focuses on how Latinx families' everyday practices around engineering and oral storytelling can form the basis for the design of new engineering learning opportunities that recognize and value the assets of individuals and communities. An emphasis on why and how oral storytelling can underpin promising engineering educational practices is in keeping with efforts to engage cultural and familial resources for STEM learning, as well as work in developmental psychology and learning sciences demonstrating that oral stories offer powerful mechanisms for constructing knowledge and making memorable learning. Sharing stories in the context of engineering activities may also foster a sense of belonging, for example, by highlighting the human side of engineering and how it can help others and make things better.    The project reflects a collaboration among community leaders at Palenque LSNA, educators at Chicago Children’s Museum (CCM), and researchers at Loyola University Chicago. With a community-engaged process and design-based research methods, 90 Latinx caregivers and their 5- to 8-year-old children will participate as design partners to create playful, hands-on early engineering activities that are relatable and meaningful. Palenque and CCM facilitators will explore strategies for centering oral storytelling as a potentially powerful tool for empowering family design partners. In turn, the resulting activities from the co-design sessions will form community-based informal engineering programs offered to more than 100 community members annually, and during summertime family programming at the museum when the number of visitors can exceed 200 per day. In the community- and museum-based programs, the project will research whether and to what extent the co-designed programs impact family engineering learning in community- and museum-based settings. Additionally, the project will identify practices for effectively sharing the co-design process and first-person voices of family co-design partners, and study how doing so might impact the engineering engagement and stories of connection and belonging expressed by other families participating in the programs. The project will yield a design narrative and a toolkit of resources reflecting what is learned about co-creating engineering learning opportunities for and with community members in ways that reflect families' cultural resources and everyday practices. The project will also contribute practices that support other families in community- and museum-based programs to connect their own stories to hands-on engineering activities in ways that can advance engineering engagement and expressions of belonging. The work will provide robust training and professional development opportunities across the three-way institutional partnership. Practice resources and other products of the work will be created collaboratively and disseminated broadly with contributions of all involved acknowledged. This Integrating Research and Practice collaborative project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2335532,SBIR Phase II: Artificial Intelligence Tool for Analysis of Legal Documents,2025-04-25,CLAUDIUS LEGAL INTELLIGENCE INC,MIAMI,FL,FL27,947862,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,SBIR Phase II,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335532,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2335532_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,331554772,LUDSBVELMPR3,"The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to reduce the need for attorney-driven expertise and an extended discovery period, and instead shift reliance to data-driven expertise to enhance and democratize outcomes in civil cases. The proposed AI platform will allow for the computational prediction of case outcomes, helping to better inform case decisions and address existing inefficiencies within the legal industry. Adoption of this technology will allow attorneys to bypass the time-intensive process involved in case value prediction, allowing for more time to focus on discovery and strategy, as well as allow for better informed decision-making. Notably, the platform will have built-in anti-bias algorithms that will actively work to correct discriminatory past outcomes when making data-driven computations moving forward. Therefore, this technology is not only the first to unlock access to the wealth of informative yet disparate data to support personal injury attorneys in quickly making reliable decisions but is also alone in delivering anti-bias tools that improve fairness and access to justice for clients from all backgrounds, most notably among demographics that have not historically received equal or fair compensation.    This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to improve the likelihood of a positive outcome for attorneys’ clients, while also freeing up time for attorneys to take on greater caseloads, resulting in social justice gains. In virtually every business sector, data analysis has become a driving force behind decision-making, yet the legal services sector has largely lagged, with many law firms instead relying on conventional wisdom and time-intensive research. To address this issue, the preceding Phase I project leveraged an innovative learning technique to enable algorithm training across multiple decentralized databases without exchanging data samples, thus keeping information private and confidential. This Phase II project seeks to 1) Build out the artificial intelligence (AI) model to return predictions on value and outcomes over case lifetime and improve accuracy of trial predictions; 2) Expand platform features to support case management and improve usability; and 3) Build a novel dataset compiling demographic information on 50,000 case outcomes to quantify the racial component of case bias and develop bias-correcting models. This project will significantly expand the applicability of the AI-driven platform to deliver reliable, equitable, and interpretable outputs on case value prediction for diverse case types.    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.",FALSE
2437479,Planning: CRISES: A Center on Clean Energy and Society,2025-04-25,Brown University,PROVIDENCE,RI,RI01,100000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,"CRISES-R&I in Sci, Env&Society",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2437479,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2437479_4900,2024-09-15,2026-08-31,029129100,E3FDXZ6TBHW3,"This project supports planning for a new Center on Clean Energy and Society (CES). The goal of the project is to investigate the social, political, and behavioral processes relevant to scaling up clean energy infrastructure in the United States and around the world. The planning grant supports organizational activities over a two-year period including interdisciplinary meetings to identify key research on the societal aspects of clean energy development; a synthesis of existing research on clean energy and society; and an outreach meeting with relevant stakeholders. The approval of solar and wind energy projects is a complicated process involving numerous actors and stakeholders at a range of spatial scales. Institutional factors play an especially key role in energy infrastructure development. This planning project supports the development of a human-centered approach to the reliable, affordable, equitable, and effective solutions needed for clean energy development.     This project investigates the social and institutional processes of clean energy development. The research project particularly investigates under what conditions does support for a clean energy economy materialize, and whether clean energy development boosts community resilience, energy reliability, and national security. The benefits and the costs of rolling out clean energy fall unequally to different people along lines of income and racial diversity. The proposed CES Center addresses these challenges, and the organizational activities supported by this planning grant lay the groundwork for a broader research program tackling these questions. Ultimately, the goal of this work is to generate knowledge to understand the complex mechanisms grounding the societal dimensions of clean energy development. This involves identifying various social, political, and institutional barriers to clean energy and assessing the effectiveness of various strategies to surmount those barriers.    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.",FALSE
2314239,Partnerships for Indigenous Climate Journalism,2025-04-25,Greater Washington Educational Telecommunications Association,ARLINGTON,VA,VA08,1287634,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314239,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314239_4900,2023-09-01,2028-08-31,222063440,Z3X2G8N28DN3,"Although Indigenous communities are among the hardest hit by the effects of climate change, national news coverage of how these communities are using technology and engineering to tackle the problem is usually done from non-Indigenous perspective. In a unique collaboration between PBS NewsHour and Indij Public Media (the parent company of ICT, formerly known as Indian Country Today), this project will put the perspectives and the reporting of Indigenous communities front and center through their co-creation of digital and broadcast segments. This work will appear on the NewsHour's nightly broadcast and in the websites and social media spaces of both ICT and the NewsHour. This project also will create the first Indigenous climate reporting desk in the US within an Indigenous-led newsroom. It will allow Indigenous journalists to challenge existing narratives about climate change and its impact on Indigenous communities, replacing a narrative of loss with one that is rooted in lived experience and much richer and reflective of multiple perspectives. The collaborative research led by Knology will examine what different publics (Indigenous and non-Indigenous) know about (1) climate problems (the differential effects on different places and peoples), (2) climate problem-solvers (the different peoples who offer their expertise on solving climate problems), and (3) climate solutions (different interventions for preventing, mitigating, or reversing those effects).    One of the project's key goals is to interrupt negative social stereotypes which can hinder progress on important issues such as climate change. By uncovering the culturally dominant as well as Indigenous understandings of climate science, climate reporting can be crafted to open publics' eyes to a greater range of engineering and technology solutions. The team will apply the social scientific framework of ""moral motives"" (Janoff-Bulman & Carnes, 2018), which refers to the basic human need to protect and nurture others. The team will use this framework to systematically study and experiment with different ways of framing climate journalism through three phases: Phase 1 focuses on analyzing existing news reports to reveal how climate engineering is covered by contemporary journalism. Phase 2 will reveal the stereotyped knowledge shared within both Indigenous and non-Indigenous publics on three topics: climate problems, problem-solvers, and the solutions that flow from these framings. Phase 3 will deploy experimental interventions to test the effectiveness of different reporting strategies for helping public audiences see beyond their stereotypes, and to expand their STEM vocabularies and understandings of paths to climate empowerment. The research process is fully participatory, with journalists involved in research design and implementation at all stages, and cross-pollination among all teams through a regular series of focused meetings.    This Research in Support of Wide-reaching Public Engagement with STEM project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2411884,Collaborative Research: Developing a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice to Build Equitable Pathways to Graduate STEM Education,2025-04-25,University of Maryland Eastern Shore,PRINCESS ANNE,MD,MD01,396210,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411884,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411884_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,218531295,LNUBJQ26R2M5,"Various disparities in STEM higher education have been the focus of many programs for decades.  Practices typically emphasize preparing historically excluded populations and overlook or minimize preparing the institutional environment to be inclusive.  The Bowie State (BSU)/University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)/University of Maryland (UMD) Network proposes the development of a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice to facilitate the adaptation of culturally responsive practices in graduate education and mentoring.   Culturally relevant practices have recently begun to be incorporated into secondary education; however, these practices may also be effective in addressing the gaps observed in STEM graduate education.   Previously funded work by the BSU/UMES/UMD Network evaluated how historically excluded populations at the Network institutions viewed the graduate school at UMD. The survey results from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and administration informed the focus and approach to be utilized in this project. The Community of Practice is designed to provide faculty who have expressed interest in working with the Network with an opportunity to adapt culturally relevant methods to teach and mentor historically excluded populations. Additionally, the proposed project intends to help student participants become familiar with graduate school opportunities at the various institutions, especially UMD, and engage them in necessary research training to ease their transition into graduate education in STEM fields.  This novel approach addresses disparities for historically excluded populations in STEM graduate education and has the potential to be adopted by other schools in Maryland and the nation.     Culturally relevant pedagogy in STEM refers to approaches that incorporate diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives into teaching.  Culturally relevant pedagogy is supported by cultural awareness, cultural competence and cultural responsiveness of the educator.  This pedagogy has been introduced to secondary educators, postdoctoral students, and graduate students; however, graduate STEM faculty have had limited exposure. The goal of this proposal is to conduct four trainings in culturally relevant pedagogy for STEM faculty and implement an online mentor training program.  The training and mentoring program are intended vehicles in developing a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice.  The intended structure of the Culturally Responsive Community of Practice is to allow participants to share culturally responsive research opportunities and instructional strategies as well as facilitate continuous engagement among regional colleagues in similar fields.  The aim is to implement the culturally relevant practices in a 10-week summer research program held at the three partnering institutions for undergraduate students from historically excluded populations.  In addition to the 10-week summer research program, plans include each Network institution hosting professional development workshops for students, which will culminate in a joint symposium and students having the opportunity to travel and present their research, extending their connection with mentors and lab mates beyond the summer.  Project activities, including an instrumental case study approach employing mixed methods, are also designed to address the following research questions: 1) What is the impact of a cross-institutional culturally responsive Community of Practice on  cultural awareness, responsiveness, and competency among STEM faculty; and 2) What is the impact of a cross-institutional culturally responsive Community of Practice on interest in STEM research among undergraduate students from historically excluded populations.     This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2301114,Collaborative Research: Examining the Longitudinal Development of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Equitable Noticing of Children’s Mathematical Thinking,2025-04-25,University of Kentucky Research Foundation,LEXINGTON,KY,KY06,406865,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301114,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2301114_4900,2023-08-15,2027-07-31,405260001,H1HYA8Z1NTM5,"Preparing teachers to create equitable mathematics classrooms is an ongoing challenge for teacher education. This begins with helping teachers focus on children's strengths and identities as mathematics learners. Then, teachers need to be able to respond to children's experiences, knowledge, and mathematical reasoning when planning and teaching. This is particularly important for groups that have been historically marginalized in mathematics (e.g., Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American Pacific Islander). Teachers also need to consider how they can create change in their schools and districts for equitable mathematics teaching and learning. There is a need for resources for teacher education programs to help pre-service teachers learn about equitable mathematics approaches to teaching and learning. The project will also develop modules, resources, and tools for exploring how teachers' understanding of equity changes from their last year of the preparation program into their first year of teaching. The tools and resources can be shared with other teacher education programs.     The project builds upon prior research about the use and development of micromodules to help preservice teachers develop positive attitudes towards mathematics, practice equitable noticing of mathematics and understand the sociopolitical influences on teaching and learning. An important component of equitable noticing is helping teachers recognize how children's identities, language and mathematical reasoning are central to learning. The research questions examine how instructional experiences for preservice teachers influence their equitable professional noticing and how teaching practices continue once they are first-year teachers. The longitudinal study uses an embedded mixed methods approach that collects data in mathematics teaching methods courses, student teaching and the first year of teaching. The research will incorporate the following data sources: an assessment suite called Multiple Assessments for Noticing Equitably (MANE), a video-based think-aloud protocol, semi-structured interviews, and other artifacts of the teacher education experience.    This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) Program and the Discovery Research preK-12 Program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2409905,CAREER: Valuing the Social in Engineering and Computer Science,2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,146999,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2409905,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2409905_4900,2023-10-01,2026-05-31,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"Engineering and Computer Science (ECS) shapes our social, political and economic environments, yet struggles to attract and retain a diversity of practitioners. Why does ECS remain stubbornly segregated when it comes to gender parity? The goal of this CAREER project is to use ethnography to compare subfields of ECS in which women have different levels of participation. It investigates the relationship between cultural values, norms and practices that 1) presume practitioners from dominant groups are more competent than practitioners from underrepresented groups; and 2) privilege the technical dimensions of computing over the social ones. The uneven participation of women across ECS subfields suggests that subfield cultural values and norms vary. To examine this variation, this project focuses primarily on the experiences of female faculty members because they are a critical population that shape the next generation of ECS practitioners, have a long-standing relationships with their disciplinary subfields, and may have experiences that could lend critical insights into the social/technical divide. The project's findings articulate and forge pathways toward broadening participation in ECS because they inform learning modules and course curricula to educate students, faculty, and leaders in academia about the benefits of diversity and transformations required to foster welcoming environments for women to participate in ECS with equal opportunities, resources and regard. Due to the prominence and impact of ECS, identifying gender inequities in the field and interrupting them will help welcome and retain more talented women from a range of intersectional identities. Harnessing the power of diversity in this way will positively contribute to all domains on which computing impinges.    This CAREER project is a comparative analysis of the impact of subfield culture on women's representation in ECS. It deconstructs theoretical assumptions undergirding ECS practices to understand how complex, intersectional biases disenfranchise women from the field. To yield new knowledge useful in efforts to broaden participation, this CAREER project systematically conceptualizes how labor segregation may relate to an ideological hierarchy between the social and technical dimensions of computing and influence cultural exclusions along intersecting vectors of gender and race. Using a theory-driven, interdisciplinary research approach that integrates gender and racial equity research, anthropology and science and technology studies, this CAREER project works to: 1) Develop and refine a theoretical model of change in ECS to combat the covert and overt mechanisms that marginalize women; 2) Describe and analyze epistemic bias emerging from ideologies that consider empirical data superior to qualitative data and trivialize socially applied research in ECS; 3) Identify and assess elements of culture in ECS that reproduce or challenge inequitable power relations; 4) Describe women's differential experiences in ECS subfields along vectors of race, ethnicity, and gender identity; 5) Develop and analyze educational interventions into ECS culture that spring from an original method integrating ethnography and case study methods to both interrupt the reproduction of dominant class rule and to study the beliefs and power relations of computing communities. Not only does this project contribute a novel qualitative theory of cultural change in ECS, it also tests innovative methods to better elucidate who and what counts in the field and why. Further, it creates highly adaptable and sustainable techniques that provide opportunities for engineers to practice recognizing and responding to bias in social dynamics and articulating means of institutional change in communion with their peers. Finally, this project provides much needed anthropological theory to the problem of women's underrepresentation in ECS to advance inclusive educational practices that support and capitalize on the aptitudes of underrepresented groups.    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.",FALSE
2100139,Collaborative Research: An Evidence-Based Approach Towards Technology Workforce Expansion by Increasing Female Participation in STEM Entrepreneurship,2025-04-25,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,351259,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100139,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100139_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"This is a collaborative project, with the University of Wisconsin-Madison as the lead institution and the University of Maryland as the partnering institution, to explore the entrepreneurial proclivity of undergraduate women majoring in STEM fields. The researchers propose a multi-method approach led by an interdisciplinary team to (1) identify factors that influence entrepreneurial proclivity and (2) develop and test interventions related to closing gender disparities in STEM entrepreneurship. The research includes the analysis of a comprehensive administrative database to identify mechanisms for potential interventions and field experiments to achieve greater gender parity in entrepreneurial career choices for STEM students. Results of the field experiments will be integrated with the database to produce outcome measures.  The project will produce empirical evidence to increase the understanding of student entrepreneurship and inform interventions that improve entrepreneurship participation for women in STEM.    The researchers will frame the research design and methods using the Individual-Opportunity Nexus theory that knowledge is a precursor to entrepreneurship.  There are four hypotheses: (1) Greater entrepreneurial proclivity will be found in women in STEM fields with higher curriculum diversity, who have taken at least one business class, who are enrolled in STEM courses with students with higher diversity in their courses, and who are enrolled in STEM courses with students who have taken one or more business classes. (2) Women STEM students demonstrate higher entrepreneurial proclivity when they are exposed to relatable role models in entrepreneurship. (3) Women STEM students demonstrate higher entrepreneurial proclivity when entrepreneurship is presented as a gender-neutral field. (4) Women STEM students demonstrate higher entrepreneurial proclivity when they are exposed to entrepreneurial success stories. The researchers will make causal inferences about factors that influence entrepreneurial proclivity of women in STEM by measuring self-reported activities, analyzing administrative data, and documenting student start-ups.  The core of the project is based on data drawn from a data infrastructure that combines administrative data with results of an annual survey. The researchers will use those data to evaluate the mechanisms that influence the underrepresentation of women in entrepreneurship. They will augment the data infrastructure with a field experiment to test hypotheses informed by existing literature and findings from their data analysis.      This project is co-supported by the EHR Core Research program that funds fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM workforce development and by the Science of Science BPINNOVATE program.    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.",FALSE
2120881,Collaborative Research: Emerging Engagements of Energy Democracy,2025-04-25,SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry,SYRACUSE,NY,NY22,267321,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120881,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2120881_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,132102712,LVVEB3CF8MB8,"On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The category five hurricane disconnected the island’s aging fossil fuel-based electricity grid and uncovered the shortcomings of Puerto Rico’s energy system in the context of ongoing economic crisis, energy transition, natural disasters, and climate change. As a result, Puerto Rico is at an energy crossroads: continue with status quo reliance on imported fossil fuels or make a transition to renewable energies, such as solar. The goal of this project is to analyze the post-disaster energy transition in Puerto Rico as a case study for understanding the ways people communicate about energy democracy. Energy democracy is both a social movement that seeks to make decisions about energy technology as democratic as possible. This project collects data from fieldwork in Puerto Rico, interviews and focus groups with stakeholders involved in energy decision-making in Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rican media sources (TV, radio, and print) that report on and influence communication about energy transition and democracy. Analysis of how different groups of people communicate about and justify competing visions for Puerto Rico’s future energy system will contribute to understanding current and future controversies over energy transition in the midst of the climate change, natural disasters, and other crisis events. The project’s findings will contribute to developing more democratic and just energy decision-making in a range of contexts.     Using qualitative fieldwork and news media analysis methods, this research will answer the research question: What are the forms of communication used by stakeholders (industry, citizens, government officials, activists, regulatory bodies, and scientists) in Puerto Rico to describe and justify energy transition in relation to democracy? This project will contribute to the emerging area of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) research on energy democracy. The Justice-Participation-Power-Technology (JPPT) framework developed by the Co-PIs explains how energy democracy relies on the intersections of these four elements in each particular context. This research tests the JPPT framework’s applicability in the case of Puerto Rico’s post-disaster energy transition. Furthermore, the project supports ongoing efforts by researchers to study how energy transitions relate to democracy; Puerto Rico’s evolving energy system; and the social, political, and cultural influences on implementation of energy technologies. Findings can be applied to other energy technology controversies with stakeholders in similar geopolitical contexts towards designing energy systems that are democratic, culturally appropriate, and equitable. Through collaboration with energy democracy practitioners in Puerto Rico, the project includes hosting community workshops, conducting research for grassroots energy organizations, and developing research-informed best practices for promoting energy democracy.    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.",FALSE
2321390,Collaborative Research: Supporting the Whole Student: Identifying and Mitigating Barriers to Persistence for Underserved Post-Traditional Engineering Students,2025-04-25,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,409743,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321390,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321390_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"While there has been important research on improving retention for Black, Latinx, and economically disadvantaged students in engineering, these studies typically do not account for factors associated with being a post-traditional student. Traditional students are 18-24, First Time in College, enrolled full-time, and reside on campus. On the other hand, post-traditional students can be identified with one or more of the following factors: being 25 years of age or older, enrolled part-time, working to support oneself or family, and/or a commuter student. Consideration of these factors is important both because they add significant complexities for a population that is already underserved in engineering (i.e., Black, Latinx, and economically disadvantaged learners), and because post-traditional undergraduates now comprise the majority of students in colleges and universities. This population shift has given rise to a new term in higher education literature for this group: “Post-traditional” students.  “Post-traditional” instead of “non-traditional” acknowledges that this population now represents a new normal and that these undergraduates are no longer an aberration. Aligned with the NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering goals and target demographics, along with these population changes in higher education, a shift is needed to understand how post-traditional factors impact Black, Latinx, and economically disadvantaged students. This project will collect and analyze data on underserved post-traditional engineering undergraduates from three racially and ethnically contrasting institutions. The project will have wide implications; post-traditional students are in all institutions and need creative support, and their needs are known if no one asks. This research will take a transformative approach to not only understand those needs but also position faculty and staff to partner with students to find solutions. This should lead to novel programs and policies that the engineering community can implement as well as evaluate in future studies. Resources and findings will be disseminated with institutional partners such as American Society for Engineering Education and American Council on Education to ensure findings are both widely understood and implemented.    The goals of this transformative cyclical mixed methods research study will be two-fold. First, seek to understand factors that impact the retention and persistence of underserved post-traditional undergraduates in engineering. Second, aim to identify strategies that engineering programs can implement to be more inclusive of and responsive to these students’ needs. Motivated by these goals, the following research questions will be answered: 1) What factors impact underserved post-traditional students’ retention in engineering? (Quantitative); and 2) What are underserved post-traditional students’ experiences and perspectives regarding their persistence in pursuit of four-year engineering degrees? (Qualitative). The study is informed by the Model of Co-Curricular Support (MCCS) in engineering education, the students-as-partners conceptual model, and intersectionality. This three-year study will be conducted across three racially and ethnically different institutions: 1) A large public Hispanic-Serving Institution; 2) A small private Historically Black College/University; 3) A large public predominately White institution. A quantitative approach will assemble institutional data sets and collect survey responses from both students and faculty/staff. The multi-phase qualitative research design will consist of focus groups with students to understand their perspectives. It will also involve stakeholder action meetings in which students and faculty/staff work together to collaboratively generate recommendations for policy and practice. A key outcome from this study will be a large dataset on post-traditional learners from these institutions, which will include several more post-traditional variables than are available through the MIDFIELD engineering data file. The dataset will also allow the team and future projects to illuminate differences across student populations depending on the number of post-traditional variables that apply to them.    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.",TRUE
2433239,Collaborative Research: EPIIC: Workforce and Innovation Collaborative for Regional Partnerships (WICRP),2025-04-25,Georgia Piedmont Technical College,CLARKSTON,GA,GA04,399696,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",EPIIC-Enbl Part Incr Innov Cap,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2433239,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2433239_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,300212359,FVCJFYYLJT13,"This collaborative proposal between Hampton University (HU) and Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC) aims to enhance the ability of both institutions to form external partnerships that boost academic and innovative growth. By working together, the institutions plan to create a structure for developing regional innovation ecosystems. Successful completion of the grant will lead to the development of a toolkit to help formalize partnership processes, which can serve as a model for other resource-limited institutions, particularly Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Over the grant period, three symposiums will immerse participants in partnership development, focusing on monetizing research and formalizing workforce partnerships. The project goals include establishing a partnership ecosystem, strengthening partnership capacities, and enhancing program scalability and reproducibility, with a focus on supporting underrepresented populations, particularly women in STEM.     The intellectual merit of this project, Workforce and Innovation Collaborative for Regional Partnerships (WICRP), lies in its efforts to build partnerships that support emerging technology fields and regional innovation for underrepresented groups. The project addresses challenges identified in previous research, such as inequities faced by HBCUs in forming research partnerships with non-HBCUs. By using data and feedback, the team aims to understand and overcome these challenges, sharing their findings to improve capacity-building efforts at HBCUs and MSIs. The broader impacts include aligning economic goals, faculty development, and student opportunities with strategic objectives, fostering beneficial industry relationships, and enhancing research and workforce development at both HU and GPTC.    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.",FALSE
2114241,Collaborative Research: Audio for Inclusion: Uncovering Marginalized Student Narratives to Provide Insight to Faculty on the Known Unknowns of Inclusion,2025-04-25,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,320642,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2114241,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2114241_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"This project will bring the experiences of diverse engineering students directly to faculty through edited audio interviews. Undergraduate engineering education is a critical juncture in the diversification of the engineering workforce. However, engineering educational culture can marginalize many groups. Faculty are key change agents in this culture, and their empathy and understanding for diverse students are critical for enabling and promoting inclusive education. However, faculty may not be aware of diverse student perspectives, and even well-intentioned faculty may fall short of creating inclusive classroom environments. More resources are needed to help develop faculty empathy and understanding for a broad range of student populations in engineering education. Qualitative research presents a promising tool for centering the voices and experiences of students, but researchers’ typical long form journal publications for disseminating qualitative research are not an accessible and compelling medium. To increase collective impact, more accessible, innovative, and timely dissemination strategies are needed. Podcasts and YouTube clips can be used to disseminate research findings with more immediacy and personalization than written text. This study will feature these audio formats as media to share diverse student experiences with faculty and to facilitate a broader impact on pedagogy and culture. Faculty who listen to the audio will have the potential to gain reflective awareness of student experiences that provoke the creation of more inclusive classrooms. This novel dissemination approach will be sustained through the creation of a widely distributed podcast called Audio for Inclusion, hosted by the PIs. This podcast will include the final versions of edited audio files generated in this study and will be located on the ASEE Diversity Committee’s web and YouTube pages, and incorporated into workshops.    The project will conduct a nationwide recruitment of students with salient minoritized identities via email distributed through relevant organizations, campus support centers, and snowball recruitment. Twenty (20) students will be interviewed twice throughout the duration of the study using a semi-structured protocol that focuses on their experiences in engineering education. Interviews will be transcribed, de-identified, edited for conciseness, and re-recorded by student actors. Recorded interviews will be disseminated using a survey distributed to 100 faculty members who represent a range of familiarity with diversity and inclusion topics. This survey will prompt faculty participants to listen to embedded student narratives and provide feedback using Likert-type and open-ended response questions. Survey results will be used to observe the impact of the audio resources on faculty views of diversity, equity, and inclusion in engineering. This project will be informed by existing theoretical frameworks such as intersectionality, figured worlds, narrative, and critical theorizing. Findings from this work will contribute to the knowledge base on broadening participation in engineering in three ways: (1) by providing insights into the experiences of students belonging to minoritized identity groups; (2) by developing an accessible resource for improving faculty knowledge of and strategies for promoting the inclusion of students’ undisclosed identities and experiences in engineering education; 3) by establishing a novel research approach to broaden participation in engineering; (4) by employing innovative dissemination techniques that expand the impact of student participant voices; and (5)  by contributing to evidence-based foundations for the future development of faculty-centered support structures related to expanding concepts of diversity and inclusion.    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.",FALSE
2236618,CAREER: Tools for User and Community-Led Social Media Curation,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,246746,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236618,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2236618_4900,2023-09-01,2028-08-31,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"This research will develop tools that can empower everyday users and communities to customize the algorithms and interfaces underpinning their online social environments. A large fraction of our society now engages in social activity online on a regular basis, but the current centralization and homogenization of social activity onto platforms that provide only a small number of possible configurations is counter to enabling an inclusive society. People who do not conform to the majority must struggle against configurations that were not built with them in mind. For instance, users from marginalized backgrounds must contend with platform-wide content filters that cannot discriminate between harassing and non-harassing content targeted at them, while neurodiverse users have trouble retaining control over their social media usage. This research will have a significant impact on the social computing industry, and consequently, it will benefit millions of users on these platforms. The education and outreach plan will help future computer scientists to realize the social ramifications of the applications they build and engage students and the public in imagining alternative social media designs that improve society.    To achieve the goal of furthering inclusivity on these social platforms, this research will focus on learning from and designing for those who face the greatest challenges and barriers from current social media designs, such as journalists and content creators, neurodiverse users, and marginalized individuals who often face harassment. It will then develop new strategies to lower barriers for users to participate in social curation, so that anyone who does not have technical skills or lots of time to dedicate can still benefit. Empirically, this research will use a mixed-methods approach to gather a large dataset of curations that marginalized users would like to have for their social environment. It will make technical contributions through the building of novel techniques and collaborative systems that implement ways for users to perform desired curations using minimal effort or technical skills. In particular, it will investigate novel user affordances that embed small curation tasks into a user's everyday experience on social media, as well as collaborative models that allow groups of people to share or collectively build up custom configurations. Finally, it will build and release a flexible research toolkit that embeds the findings from the empirical work.    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.",TRUE
2055309,A Collaborative Approach to Work-Based Learning in Biotechnology: Building Inclusive Lab Environments,2025-04-25,City College of San Francisco,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,275596,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Advanced Tech Education Prog,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055309,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055309_4900,2021-05-15,2025-06-30,941121821,DKALSBYGYDU4,"There is a renewed sense of urgency to develop a more diverse workforce in STEM-related fields. This project focuses on community college students from groups that are not yet equitably represented in STEM.  These communities have also been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Most workforce interventions to prepare students for technical positions have been based on the premise that the students simply need targeted skill training and tips on behavioral norms to be successful in these workplace cultures. This “student deficit” model puts the burden on the newcomer to navigate a work environment that is often inherently biased against people of color, women, and individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences. However, as leading-edge organizations are recognizing the value of diversity, they are also realizing that they have a role to play in establishing an inclusive workplace culture. This project aims to foster the professional development of students, faculty, industry managers, and academic researchers in inclusive workplace practices.  The project expects that these practices can seed true cultural change and prepare a more diverse, inclusive, and productive United States biotechnology workforce.    This project at City College of San Francisco is a collaboration with the Office of Career and Professional Development at the University of California, San Francisco.  Its overall goal is to build more inclusive workplace environments for community college students pursuing biotechnology education and careers. The project plans to address issues of diversity in the scientific workforce by 1) teaching industry managers and academic researchers practical ways to supervise, mentor and train future scientists inclusively and effectively, and 2) helping community college students and their instructors navigate the scientific workplace to identify inclusive workplaces and navigate barriers to inclusivity. It builds on prior work that has led to the development of a published framework for inclusive workplace practices in research laboratories, a comprehensive inclusive academic mentor and intern training, and a guided internship program that includes formative assessments and coaching. In collaboration with the California Life Sciences Institute, an organization representing hundreds of biotechnology companies, the project will invest significant resources in developing new frameworks, tools, and curriculum tailored to the needs of the biotechnology industry. Additionally, the project seeks to disseminate the trainings to other community colleges and academic research institutions. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.     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.",FALSE
2152456,The Racial Gap in Entrepreneurship and Business Ownership,2025-04-25,George Mason University,FAIRFAX,VA,VA11,350000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2152456,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2152456_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,220304422,EADLFP7Z72E5,"Why are there so few Black-owned businesses in the U.S.? This project first documents this racial gap with much more recent and comprehensive data than have been studied previously. Using longitudinal business data, the project will study firm dynamics, decomposing the gap into differences in start-up and exit rates by owner race. An important focus will be understanding the lower survival rates in Black-owned businesses, especially in their early, vulnerable years. The project will analyze causes of racial differences, including owner human capital and firm characteristics, with the key hypothesis that tougher financial constraints faced by Black entrepreneurs reduce the survival rate of their firms. The project will estimate the causal effects on firm survival of credit programs that may increase financial access for Black business owners. In these ways, the project will contribute to understanding the racial gap in entrepreneurship and business ownership, which is a crucial, but little studied component of the broader issue of racial inequality.    The project brings new data and methods to analyzing the racial gap. The use of Census Bureau micro-data represents an advance over previous work, as much better data at the firm-level have gradually become available, and the project will knit them together into a new longitudinal database with a rich set of variables on owners and firms. The analysis of differences in firm dynamics by race using a panel dataset has little precedent and allows the research to focus on the key outcome of survival in a way that is difficult if not impossible with only a cross-section. The rich data enable an assessment of the roles of characteristics of entrepreneurs, including their motivations and choices, impacting survival outcomes. The project also develops innovative identification strategies, based on panel regression, matching, instrumental variable, and regression discontinuity methods, for assessing the role of financial constraints in firm survival, exploiting plausibly exogenous variation using data from two programs: the Small Business Administration’s 7(a) loan program and the Community Reinvestment Act.    This project was jointly supported by the Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) and Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact Programs (SOS:DCI).    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.",TRUE
2148606,"Engaging Underrepresented Populations in Environmental Action through Mentoring, Geospatial Technology and Digital Media Storytelling",2025-04-25,University of Connecticut,STORRS,CT,CT02,1350000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148606,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148606_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,062699018,WNTPS995QBM7,"This project seeks to address several challenges simultaneously: there is a need to improve the diversity of learners and workers in environmentally-focused STEAM (i.e., science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics) careers and educational programs, a need to broaden participation in community environmental action, and a need to train future environmentally-focused STEAM workers in effective science communication. This project builds on an existing program that engages teens in intergenerational community conservation projects via geospatial technology so that it can better engage underrepresented youth. The innovation of the project is the inclusion of near-peer mentoring of high school students by undergraduate students, along with other culturally sustaining revisions to the existing program like the inclusion of other digital media forms to better support narrative storytelling, and the integration of a career guidance panel led by professionals engaged in relevant environmental, geospatial, and digital media careers. To prepare the undergraduates as near-peer mentors, they will be engaged in an Environmental Action through Storytelling and Mentoring course. The program will engage school pods (each with about 5 teens and 1 teacher) in both short-term workshops and long-term environmental action projects, guided by the near-peer mentors, university faculty, and community conservation partners. The digital storytelling products of these projects will be shared with the general public via radio, television, and digital platforms.    The research questions are framed around the concept of “identity authoring,” which entails three dimensions of engagement: developing competence with a domain’s content, engaging in performances of domain-specific practices, and being recognized (by oneself and by others) for one’s competence and performance. The project will (RQ1) investigate how the learners’ career interests and identity authoring are influenced by the digital media-supported science communication, the near-peer mentoring, and engagement in community environmental action. The project will also (RQ2) characterize how identity authoring takes place within the school pods. The project will engage up to 270 underrepresented teens, 60 undergraduates, and 54 educators, all of whom will complete pre-, post- and delayed-surveys to measure participants’ identity authoring. To address the second research question, purposive sampling will be used to select 4-10 participants for a longitudinal case study and an additional 4-10 participants for focus groups. The contribution to the field lies in the project’s exploration of how different program elements may encourage identity authoring among underrepresented youth. The broader impacts of the project include exposing learners to the constellation of STEAM careers associated with exploring and communicating environmental issues, as well as the impacts the youth projects may have on local community environmental issues. To facilitate adoption of the program model by others, the approach will be shared via a variety of dissemination strategies with community members, peers, and environmentally-focused STEAM professionals. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers    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.",TRUE
2317713,Collaborative Research: SBP: Increasing Social Equality in STEM through Children's Structural Reasoning,2025-04-25,University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,271699,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317713,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317713_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,606375418,ZUE9HKT2CLC9,"There are major gender and racial inequalities in who pursues Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers, and these disparities take root in early childhood. STEM inequalities are largely caused by structural factors, which are systemic societal barriers such as negative societal stereotypes and unequal educational opportunities. The present research addresses STEM inequalities by encouraging children to recognize structural constraints as a primary cause. A structural understanding may help children from disadvantaged groups realize that current inequalities do not reflect any deficiencies inherent about their groups and thus empower them to pursue STEM. Moreover, structural thinking may encourage children to include their marginalized peers in STEM activities. The proposed project thus tackles issues of STEM disparities by addressing three interrelated questions: (1) How to increase children’s structural reasoning about STEM inequalities? (2) Does structural reasoning increase children’s motivation to persist in STEM and to include marginalized children in STEM activities? (3) How can parents promote children’s structural reasoning and STEM motivation? Findings from this research will provide new insights on how to promote structural reasoning to increase STEM equality from early on, and will help to develop educational materials for educators and parents. The project also directly addresses STEM inequalities by including research training opportunities for students from underrepresented backgrounds in STEM.     Using cognitive and behavioral experimental methods with 5- to 8-year-old children, the present research is a systematic investigation of structural reasoning in childhood and its behavioral consequences. Specifically, the research tests two approaches to promoting structural reasoning: (1) between-group comparisons that emphasize differential structural barriers between advantaged and disadvantaged groups, and (2) within-group comparisons that show that how the removal of structural barriers make a difference for the disadvantaged group. In addition, the research examines how increasing structural reasoning can have downstream consequences for children’s STEM motivation and inclusion of marginalized children. The project also informs the socialization of structural reasoning by examining the role of parents in transmitting structural information to children. The proposed research advances the field by applying theoretically-novel approaches to increase children’s structural reasoning about real-world inequalities. Additionally, by studying the effects of structural reasoning on STEM pursuits and inclusion, this research informs how structural reasoning can diversify STEM participation in childhood. Ultimately, this project can transform our understanding of the early-developing barriers underlying systemic inequalities in STEM.    This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity in the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU Racial Equity). This activity supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.    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.",TRUE
2427386,UNCW Advance Catalyst: : UNC-by-the-S.E.A. (STEM Equity Access),2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Wilmington,WILMINGTON,NC,NC07,299497,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2427386,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2427386_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,284033201,L1GPHS96MUE1,"The University of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW) will undertake an institutional self-assessment to identify potential organizational inequities in culture and policy that result in differential professional outcomes for some STEM faculty. The ADVANCE Catalyst project will result in a five-year STEM faculty equity plan tailored to the UNCW context and institutional data that will guide institutional actions to address any issues identified during the grant. This project will examine how culture, policy, and other factors interact across levels of an institution and affect different faculty in STEM.    The institutional self-assessment and five-year strategic plan will set a foundation to improve equity for STEM faculty at the institution. This work will benefit STEM disciplines as well as non-STEM disciplines due to the interconnected nature of institutional policy. Results of the Catalyst project will be regularly communicated with the UNCW community and other institutions. The project is expected to add to our understanding of STEM faculty equity issues at regional, medium-sized, Carnegie R2 universities.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education.    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.",FALSE
2120880,Collaborative Research: Emerging Engagements of Energy Democracy,2025-04-25,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,321896,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120880,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2120880_4900,2021-08-15,2026-07-31,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. The category five hurricane disconnected the island’s aging fossil fuel-based electricity grid and uncovered the shortcomings of Puerto Rico’s energy system in the context of ongoing economic crisis, energy transition, natural disasters, and climate change. As a result, Puerto Rico is at an energy crossroads: continue with status quo reliance on imported fossil fuels or make a transition to renewable energies, such as solar. The goal of this project is to analyze the post-disaster energy transition in Puerto Rico as a case study for understanding the ways people communicate about energy democracy. Energy democracy is both a social movement that seeks to make decisions about energy technology as democratic as possible. This project collects data from fieldwork in Puerto Rico, interviews and focus groups with stakeholders involved in energy decision-making in Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rican media sources (TV, radio, and print) that report on and influence communication about energy transition and democracy. Analysis of how different groups of people communicate about and justify competing visions for Puerto Rico’s future energy system will contribute to understanding current and future controversies over energy transition in the midst of the climate change, natural disasters, and other crisis events. The project’s findings will contribute to developing more democratic and just energy decision-making in a range of contexts.     Using qualitative fieldwork and news media analysis methods, this research will answer the research question: What are the forms of communication used by stakeholders (industry, citizens, government officials, activists, regulatory bodies, and scientists) in Puerto Rico to describe and justify energy transition in relation to democracy? This project will contribute to the emerging area of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) research on energy democracy. The Justice-Participation-Power-Technology (JPPT) framework developed by the Co-PIs explains how energy democracy relies on the intersections of these four elements in each particular context. This research tests the JPPT framework’s applicability in the case of Puerto Rico’s post-disaster energy transition. Furthermore, the project supports ongoing efforts by researchers to study how energy transitions relate to democracy; Puerto Rico’s evolving energy system; and the social, political, and cultural influences on implementation of energy technologies. Findings can be applied to other energy technology controversies with stakeholders in similar geopolitical contexts towards designing energy systems that are democratic, culturally appropriate, and equitable. Through collaboration with energy democracy practitioners in Puerto Rico, the project includes hosting community workshops, conducting research for grassroots energy organizations, and developing research-informed best practices for promoting energy democracy.    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.",FALSE
2420364,"Collaborative Research: Gender, Politics, and Environmental Concern",2025-04-25,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,166274,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420364,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420364_4900,2023-10-01,2025-05-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"This project investigates gender differences in how individuals form attitudes about climate policy across countries. The research helps us understand how societies manage environmental risks. Climatic shifts have been shown to increase both interpersonal and inter-group conflict in every world region, meaning that mitigating climate change is a matter of national security. Understanding how to gain support among those most skeptical in high carbon-emitting economies is key to forming effective policy. This project identifies the material and psychological sources of public support for and resistance to climate mitigation policies around the world. It will develop three new public datasets and associated qualitative materials, encouraging replication and extensions, and contributes to education and research infrastructure.     In wealthy nations, women tend to express more concern about climate change than men. Yet the gender gap in climate attitudes does not exist in poorer countries. This project develops a new theory to explain how political elites shape citizens' perceptions of the costs and benefits of climate action in ways that vary across countries (by economic development) and by gender within countries. We test this theory by collecting and analyzing four data sets: (1) a 60-country dataset on major parties' climate policies; (2) a 60-country dataset on media references to the winners and losers of climate action; (3) qualitative case studies in seven countries to investigate the development of climate policy frames; and (4) a survey experiment in five countries to gauge how policies that lessen the perceived costs of climate action differently affect policy support among men and women.     This project is co-funded by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) and the Security and Preparedness (SAP) programs.    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.",TRUE
2409522,Collaborative Research: Known Rivers: Creating Justice-Centered Water Literacy along the Lower Mississippi River,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,315618,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2409522,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2409522_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Marginalized communities disproportionately experience the effects of environmental degradation such as sinking infrastructure, urban flooding, and coastal land loss as a result of legacies of segregation and lack of access to resources. To support youth in Black and Afro-Indigenous communities in Southeast Louisiana, the research team will work collaboratively with local community organizations to develop and enact a justice-centered framework for water literacy that responds to children’s experiences and concerns about the environmental water issues that impact their everyday lives. The project will contribute to knowledge of how community-engaged science curriculum and teaching projects build relationships between communities and schools and how students and teachers grapple with the justice dimensions of issues that have disciplinary and social implications.     In partnership with a network of public charter schools in New Orleans, Louisiana, the research team will engage in four years of design-based research that centers community knowledge and lived experience. Guided by a steering committee of local water-focused community leaders and organizations, the team will work with approximately 16 teachers and 640 students in grades 3–8 to develop and study the implementation of the justice-centered water literacy curriculum units. Additional products will include professional development tools designed to amplify the community’s experiential and historical knowledge as central to science learning.     This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2100034,External Review Letters in Promotion and Tenure Decision Making: Validity and Fairness,2025-04-25,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,2000005,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100034,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100034_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"Promotion and tenure decisions at universities are of critical significance to the integrity of the research enterprise because they determine the career progression of scholars and scientists.  Despite significant investments in pipeline interventions to diversify academia, faculty of color and women are underrepresented in tenured and tenure track positions. Underrepresentation has important implications for the nation's prospects of developing a diverse STEM workforce. For undergraduate and graduate students of color, having access to faculty members who share and understand their lived experiences and backgrounds has profound benefits. These include developing science identities and persisting in science careers. Therefore, novel ways to examine gatekeeping mechanisms such as the promotion and tenure (P&T) processes are needed. Despite the widely recognized importance of P&T processes, minimal research has examined whether and how P&T processes' most critical elements contribute to outcomes for women and faculty of color. This project examines the validity and fairness of external review letters (ERL) provided by arm's length reviewers as part of promotion and tenure decision making. Academic administrators often view ERLs as the most impartial and critical components of tenure and promotion portfolios, providing qualitative, independent evaluations of candidates' past accomplishments, reputation, potential, and the prospect of continued, sustainable contribution levels. Despite their sensitive nature, given the criticality of ERLs in academic promotion and tenure decisions, the limited research on validity and bias in ERLs is stunning. This project closes this gap by analyzing the linguistic characteristics of ERLs and examining the relationship between ERL linguistic characteristics, promotion candidate characteristics, letter writer characteristics, and promotion and tenure voting outcomes at the department, college, and university-level committees. The project examines ERLs through theoretical work on the social psychology of language use, social comparison processes, and social role theory. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    The project's goals are to investigate the validity of ERLs, determine possible bias in ERLs based on candidate and letter writer characteristics, and identify possible ways to remediate limited validity and bias. Leveraging a partnership between nine universities (University of Houston, Hampton University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Lehigh University, University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, Rice University, Texas A&M University, and University of Texas Rio Grande Valley), and by examining more than 9000 ERLs, this project aims to contribute to the validity of P&T processes, understand barriers to P&T for women and faculty of color and ultimately increase the P&T rates for women and faculty of color.    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.",FALSE
2206181,Collaborative Research: EAGER: Using allies to expand your network: Implementing a psychological methodology to attract and retain underrepresented (UR) students in geoscience,2025-04-25,Texas Tech University,LUBBOCK,TX,TX19,14715,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206181,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2206181_4900,2021-12-15,2025-08-31,79409,EGLKRQ5JBCZ7,"Geoscience maintains a base-rate problem with respect to diversity: ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are highly underrepresented. This has been traced to a variety of barriers for underrepresented (UR) ethnic scholars including: a lack of geoscience majors at HBCUs and primarily Hispanic-serving institutions, a lack of experience with, and time spent in, nature (e.g., < 3% of visitors to U.S. national parks are Black and Hispanic), and negative attitudes about career prospects. For people with disabilities, the main challenge is accessibility and the provision of appropriate accommodations. UR individuals may self-select out of geoscience programs due to these perceptions and barriers. This project will test the idea that allies, or members of dominant social identities, are best situated to positively influence these statistics. Academic allies, whether faculty or graduate student teaching assistants, have tremendous impact on their students’ academic engagement and can serve as linchpins for improving the future trajectories of UR students. PIs will train individuals in effective allyship behaviors, and incentivize them to recruit UR students into their academic field trips. The PIs plan to target allies who engage in field research and education, as geoscience is a unique STEM field insofar as much of the data collection and skill development are practiced out in nature at locations around the world. The PIs propose testing a strategy to overcome barriers in this context for UR students, as positive (or negative) experiences in field settings have profound impacts on recruitment and retention.    This project will facilitate training and assessment of approximately 80 academic allies and measure the effect of that training on allies as well as hundreds of majority and UR students. The expectation is that the training will produce a secondary effect: academic allies role model effective behaviors to all of their students and faculty networks, creating a “train-the-trainer” ripple effect. The PIs will use academic field trips as a vehicle for measurement, including multisource ratings, applying 360-degree-type ratings typically collected in performance appraisals to this setting. Deliverables include an experimental, longitudinal (over time), and multisource analysis of the allyship program and its improvement of allyship-related attitudes and behaviors, as well as its impact on the performance of UR students. These results will inform research efforts regarding the effectiveness of implemented strategies, and the materials and procedure will be made open-source for maximum replicability. A capstone conference will be used to disseminate findings to all participating allies and UR students, inform about methodologies that improve attraction and retention of UR groups in the geosciences, and expand UR networks.    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.",FALSE
2227705,Conference: Women-in-Theory Workshop,2025-04-25,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,50000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computing and Communication Foundations,Algorithmic Foundations,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2227705,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2227705_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"This award supports the 7th Women-in-Theory Workshop at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing in June 2022. The intended audience of the workshop is graduate students in the field of theoretical computer science (TCS). Motivated by the low overall number of female faculty members, researchers, and students in TCS world-wide, the workshop has two goals. The first is to deliver an invigorating educational program to the student participants by inviting leading female researchers to present tutorials of their research topics. The second is to provide an outstanding opportunity to bring together women students from different institutions across the country and internationally, so as to foster a sense of kinship and camaraderie, and to provide access to role models in this area by having senior and junior faculty members and industrial researchers present.    The format of this workshop consists of technical tutorials, a non-technical talk, a student rump session, and a panel discussion, following the model of the first six workshops in this series. The first six Women-in-Theory workshops were greeted with great enthusiasm both from the participants and from the TCS research community at large. Since the first workshop in 2008, the organizers have received overwhelmingly positive feedback and many participants have matured to be successful researchers. These serve as testimonials that the workshop is accomplishing its primary goal of helping women become more successful in TCS.    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.",FALSE
2300609,Collaborative Research: Mobilizing Physics Teachers to Promote Inclusive and Communal Classroom Cultures through Everyday Actions,2025-04-25,American Association of Physics Teachers,COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,249966,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300609,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2300609_4900,2023-09-15,2027-08-31,207403841,YRLVBH8FJ9L6,"The project addresses the historic marginalization of women and minoritized racial/ethnic (MRE) groups in physics. The aim of the project is to co-design, test, and disseminate professional learning (PL) for high school physics teachers, specifically targeting the implementation of inclusive and equitable practices that support physics identity development and persistence of women and MRE groups. The project leverages the existing national network of over 1,800 high school physics teachers established by the project, which is called STEP UP.  Teachers play a crucial role in students' transition to college and their decisions regarding what to study. STEP UP challenges prevailing narratives about who can do physics and what constitutes physics, along with the Everyday Actions Guide (EAG) for inclusion and equity, Research has shown positive effects on the physics identity of women and MRE. However, teachers have expressed a continuous need for additional professional learning (PL) to effectively implement the EAG. In response, the project will co-design a PL program with teachers, testing its impact on teacher and student outcomes through design-based research (DBR) and an experimental study, and propagating the evidence-based PL program to hundreds of high school physics teachers. Overall, the project aims to support high school physics teachers across the nation in implementing and enhancing their inclusive practices. The project will ultimately impact over 10,000 students.     The project aims to deepen physics teachers' engagement with inclusive and equitable practices, foster communal classroom cultures, and promote physics identity development for women and MRE. It also seeks to understand how the propagation of these practices can be effectively implemented at a larger scale to support positive teacher and student outcomes. After collaborating with teachers in the co-design of the PL program, the project will implement an experimental design involving 120 physics teachers, with treatment groups receiving the PL facilitated by trained teachers, and control groups not receiving the PL. The effects of the PL on teacher and student outcomes will be examined. In the final phase, the PL program will be implemented on a larger scale, involving 400 in-service and 100 pre-service physics teachers. using a train-the-trainer model. The impact of the PL will be assessed through a survey study. The use of an evidence-based model and a community-engaged train-the-trainer approach will have broader implications for other professional learning projects, as well as the ongoing success of the STEP UP program.  The commitment of two national societies, which will continue the professional learning for via their extensive teacher networks, ensuring the project's sustainability and long-term impact.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.     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.",FALSE
2128813,FW-HTF-R:  Collaborative Research: Virtual Meeting Support for Enhanced Well-Being and Equity for Game Developers,2025-04-25,Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville,EDWARDSVILLE,IL,IL13,70458,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,FW-HTF Futr Wrk Hum-Tech Frntr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128813,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2128813_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,620260001,HQ5NMP5HLL53,"The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote work, highlighting barriers to well-being, equity, and inclusion. Virtual meeting fatigue, the exhaustion that occurs after long periods of videoconferencing, has been identified as especially harmful to women and people of color, compounding common face-to-face inequities like unequal talking time and interruptions in meetings. To develop more inclusive and equitable remote workspaces, this research asks: How can future virtual meeting platforms better support well-being and social equity? To address this question, the project focuses on a uniquely appropriate group: video game developers, who rely heavily on virtual meetings within teams with varied expertise (i.e., design, programming, and art), represent an estimated $160 billion industry (over $40 billion domestic), and grapple with issues of social equity in the workplace. The interdisciplinary research is using insights from these workers to identify general best practices for virtual meetings among diverse teams to minimize fatigue and improve well-being, equity, and inclusion.     The project uses a mixed-methodological approach to pinpoint and test virtual meeting-platform features that influence user welfare. Study 1 utilizes natural language processing of social media to develop a broad, inductive understanding of how virtual meeting elements relate to well-being and social equity. Study 2 utilizes a survey of remote workers in an exploratory analysis of how virtual meeting features statistically relate to user welfare. Study 3 uses targeted interviews to qualitatively interpret broader insights about virtual meetings within the context of video game developers. Study 4 uses an online experiment to test hypotheses about which specific virtual meeting features enhance video game-developer welfare. Study 5 prototypes and user tests a virtual reality meeting platform with game development teams to confirm which design features promote well-being and social equity. A public “Guide to Virtual Meetings for Well-Being and Equity” is being developed based on insights from these studies.    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.",FALSE
2046233,CAREER: Exploring the Participation of LGBTQ Undergraduates in STEM,2025-04-25,Montana State University,BOZEMAN,MT,MT01,695121,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046233,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046233_4900,2021-02-01,2026-01-31,59717,EJ3UF7TK8RT5,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education, and the integration of education and research within the context of the mission of their organizations. This project awarded to a CAREER scholar has the goal to examine the participation of LGBTQ students in undergraduate STEM programs to understand how their experiences as LGBTQ students in STEM affect their decision-making regarding STEM career goals. The research will provide STEM students, educators, administrators, and policymakers the tools to create LGBTQ-inclusive learning environments. This award is supported by the EHR Core Research program which supports fundamental STEM education research initiatives.     This study will achieve the research goal through three research aims. The first aim uses social network analysis to measure characteristics of LGBTQ STEM students' social networks, relate these characteristics to other STEM outcomes like STEM identity, and compare these characteristics with their heterosexual and cisgender peers. The second aim is to compare STEM degree completion rates between LGBTQ STEM students and their peers through regression analysis of a national dataset of college students. The third research aim is then to explore the discipline-based STEM identities of LGBTQ STEM students through narrative interviews. The research produced from this project will contribute by highlighting the potential consequences of hiding LGBTQ identity in STEM on students' social networks, the difference in STEM degree completion rates by sexual orientation and gender identity, and how the LGBTQ climate in STEM affects discipline-based STEM identities. The educational aims of the project are to develop a course on social network analysis in education research; create training resources for STEM faculty to ensure more LGBTQ-inclusive classrooms; and conduct training seminars on LGBTQ data for administrators and policymakers.    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.",FALSE
2237151,CAREER: Preparing Middle and High School Pre-service Teachers for Critical Mathematics Education,2025-04-25,James Madison University,HARRISONBURG,VA,VA06,322800,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237151,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2237151_4900,2023-06-01,2028-05-31,228013104,MVTKSCN6NMH3,"Promoting equity-focused mathematics education requires models that will prepare and support mathematics pre-service teachers (PSTs) who will question existing norms and advocate for all their students. This project will develop a model of support for middle and high school mathematics PSTs to support them in becoming critical mathematics teachers (CMTs), teachers who address the needs of diverse students, are mindful of achievement disparities, and aware of their own biases. The main objective of the project is to develop a cohesive system of support for middle and high school PSTs to become CMTs. The objective will be achieved by supporting PSTs in their methods courses and their fieldwork. Support in fieldwork will be provided in collaboration with cooperating teachers and university supervisors through extended professional development focused on critical mathematics education, including supporting PSTs in creating lessons relevant to students' lives and introducing the cultural and historical origins of mathematical ideas. This project is supported by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.        Research activities include developing instructional materials for PSTs in their methods courses to help PSTs develop the habits of CMTs. Additionally, cooperating teachers and university supervisors will attend monthly extended professional development meetings focused on critical mathematics education. The influence of these activities will be examined via qualitative methods including interviews, observations, and artifact analysis, to understand factors needed to develop CMTs. The project adds to the current body of research on mathematics teacher education in two ways. First, it extends existing work on critical mathematics education for PreK-8 PSTs by creating instructional materials specifically designed for middle and high school methods courses, an area of need barely explored in existing research. Second, it develops an integrative model for preparing middle and high school PSTs through extended professional development. This provides dual support for tackling the problem of discrepancies between PSTs’ classroom and fieldwork experience, specific to critical mathematics education.    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.",FALSE
2238389,CAREER: Inclusive Cybersecurity Through the Lens of Accessible Identity and Access Management,2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,271190,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2238389,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2238389_4900,2023-07-01,2028-06-30,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------    This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project increases the cybersecurity awareness of individuals identifying as members of racial and ethnic groups historically excluded in Science and Engineering (S&E). Such underrepresentation could lead to reduced opportunities in S&E in which cybersecurity skills are developed. Thus, this research focuses on cybersecurity awareness concerning the appropriate use and management of identity credentials for user authentication. This focus is important as credential-related account compromises are among the most common types of cyberattacks, while members of historically excluded racial and ethnic groups are more frequently targeted by cyberattacks. Further, while research on inclusive authentication is growing, inclusive user authentication schemes for historically excluded racial and ethnic groups are understudied. Through integrated research and education activities, this project develops novel, inclusive user authentication systems to reduce cybersecurity risk, with race and ethnicity central foci. Outcomes of this project also provide cybersecurity-focused education material for K-12 and university students and the broader population, thereby expanding the nation's cybersecurity defense.    This project engages individuals from historically excluded racial and ethnic groups in S&E to inform the design, implementation, and appropriate use of inclusive authentication systems. The research team is conducting a series of focus groups to identify current use and perceptions of existing authentication systems, how various cybersecurity practices are applied in everyday life, and how various factors, including racial equity and cultural values, shape perceptions of computing and cybersecurity. Performance of authentication systems, including knowledge-based and AI-derived biometric systems, is also investigated to identify data-driven and algorithmic biases. This performance analysis is facilitated through a multi-session data collection, through which mock credentials and physical and behavioral biometric cues are gathered from volunteering research participants. With these insights and data, novel authentication systems that address poor generalization, failure trends, and authentication errors associated with subgroups of users, the authentication type, or the authentication model are developed using a variety of approaches, including soft biometric classification, feature selection, and multimodal fusion. This CAREER project informs the design and implementation of authentication systems that contribute to inclusive and accessible cybersecurity solutions, transforms state-of-the-art authentication systems by exposing when and how they isolate certain groups and identifying biases in knowledge and biometric-based authentication systems, contributes a novel, diverse dataset for cybersecurity research, and informs future directions for inclusive identity and access management.    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.",TRUE
2342766,Collaborative Research: Creating a Lasting LEGACY - Scaling a Peer-learning Community Model to Provide AP CS Preparation and Career Awareness for Black Young Women,2025-04-25,University of Alabama Tuscaloosa,TUSCALOOSA,AL,AL07,583488,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342766,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342766_4900,2024-05-15,2028-04-30,354012029,RCNJEHZ83EV6,"Careers in Computer Science (CS) related areas represent many of the best-paid jobs in the nation. However, Black women comprise less than 1% of the workforce at the most popular U.S. software companies. Low participation of Black students in CS areas is often attributed to a lack of “preparatory privilege,” encompassing the unavailability of resources and experiences that build content knowledge and associated skills, and few role models. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations project will scale up a successful project that engaged Black young women in high schools throughout the state of Alabama in a year-long peer-learning community to prepare them for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. Called LEGACY++, the project will expand the focus to 500 students, adding two other states - Mississippi and Ohio. To do so, it will create a partnership among (1) post-secondary institutions in diverse cultural settings (urban and rural); (2) collaborators that specialize in analyzing programmatic outcomes and identifying factors that promote student success in CS; and (3) industry partners to connect students with new learning experiences from the automotive, wireless, and health sector domains. Eighteen Black CS Teacher Leaders will receive training across the tri-State partnership to facilitate an immersive summer institute experience to initiate the preparation of students for the AP CSP course at their school. Interactions will continue during the school year to promote students’ AP exam readiness through curriculum workshops focused on AP CSP topics and interactions with multiple mentors who are all Black women. Students will also be provided with resources to mitigate the barriers to CS access often faced by low-income families, such as access to a peer learning community with scheduled meetings over the academic year.     The LEGACY++ Scholars will represent Black young women from three states to imbue CS content knowledge and an awareness of opportunities in CS-related occupations. LEGACY++ Scholars will learn AP CSP concepts through culturally responsive instruction and project-based learning facilitated by tools to support remote student collaborations to highlight the nature of virtual work, while connecting with new learning experiences from industry partners, their own life situations, and career aspirations. The synergy among these strategies is a promising approach to stimulate the learning of CS for this population; thus, the project’s activities will explore creative and transformative approaches targeted at enabling the participation of groups historically underrepresented in CS careers. Specifically, the research questions addressed in this project include investigating how LEGACY++ activities foster a perception of CS as a communal endeavor, how creating a community of learners can strengthen participants’ identity with CS/technical careers and reduce the effects of stereotype threat, and whether LEGACY++ participation can increase awareness and understanding of CS careers. The LEGACY++ evaluation plan will continuously assess activities and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback by identifying promising practices and evidence of success that stimulate CS interest among Black young women. Data collection and evaluation of the implementation of the program activities will include observations of the Summer Institutes, semi-annual interviews of teacher leaders, annual interviews of program leaders and mentoring board members, and student projects. These data will be analyzed qualitatively in terms of pre-defined program success criteria. Measurable program outcomes will include changes in Scholars’ content knowledge and attitudes towards CS, and Scholars’ career plans. The knowledge-generation component will investigate how creating a community of learners increases identification, belonging, and persistence in CS among Black women. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2415575,Culturally Situated STEM Podcasts for Kids,2025-04-25,"Associated Universities, Inc.",VIENNA,VA,VA11,1117913,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415575,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415575_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,221807300,NZBMKZMW68N3,"Afterschool programs, science camps, and museums are a great way to engage children with STEM and begin to cultivate their identities as scientists. However, these activities can be costly and difficult to access for certain families, such as those in which English is not their first language. Podcasts, on the other hand, offer a promising, free option for families to talk about and engage with STEM at home and on the go, such as in the car and other locales where they spend time together. As past research has shown “science talk” to be strongly associated with the STEM identity of children (Cian & Dou, 2022), this project will design and produce 34 Spanish and English language podcast episodes for Latine families with children ages 5 through 9 that ground family participation in STEM activities. This approach does not rely on prompts or instructions that alter or modify family norms; rather it leverages and complements existing family routines, practices, and values, which should encourage adoption and uptake. Once created, researchers will study whether and how the culturally and linguistically relevant podcasts support family STEM conversations and activity and the development of children’s STEM identities. The podcast series ¡OYE Tumble! is expected to reach over one million downloads over the project’s duration, as it will leverage the listenership of the existing Tumble Science Podcast for Kids series, which consistently ranks in the top 5 U.S. education podcasts in the “Kids & Family” category. All episodes will be free, widely available on podcast platforms, and shared with Latine audiences through a targeted communications plan.    Children's STEM podcasts offer an opportunity to build science identity through family science talk (Dou and Cian, 2021; Dou et al., 2019). However, there is a dearth of information on U.S. Latine youth podcast listenership in general, and in relation to STEM podcasts. Research conducted as part of this project will (1) generate information about current youth and family podcast listenership from a national sample of Latine families, (2) co-construct knowledge alongside Latine families about how to best integrate culture, interests, and values in the production of children's STEM podcasts, (3) establish a foundation for understanding how culturally sustaining STEM podcasts support youth STEM identity development through family conversations, and (4) increase understanding of how family interactions prompted by STEM podcasts support Latine children's participation in subsequent STEM related activities. Quantitative and qualitative methods will be employed, including surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The project will work closely with cultural advisors and community partners to navigate the nuances of cultural relevance, sensitivity, and authenticity. Over 100 Latine families representing the regional and cultural diversity of Latine communities in the United States will participate as designers, shaping the project’s model of culturally sustaining podcast episode production. A Roadmap for Culturally Sustaining Podcast Production will be published to share lessons learned from the podcast development process and shared with other producers of culturally situated educational podcasts. This Research on Wide-reaching Public Engagement with STEM project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2416484,Sources and Implications of Race and Ethnicity (Mis)measurement in the U.S. Criminal Justice System,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,174864,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416484,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416484_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This award funds a research project that will study the effects of measurement error regarding race and ethnicity in criminal justice data, its implications for research, and how it might be used to advance understanding of racial disparities in the U.S. judicial system.  Researchers using administrative data collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics assume the quality of data collected for operational purposes is of high quality for research use. In contrast with many data collections by the government where race is self-reported, racial and ethnic information in the justice system is often populated by justice agency personnel, reflecting their perceptions of race and ethnicity. As a result, measurement error is likely to exist in statistical reporting on the demographics of individuals that come into contact with the justice system, as well as in research examining the extent and implications of racial disparities. Such measurement errors could have significant implications for individuals who come into contact with the judicial system in the U.S. This research will not only attempt to correct these errors but also study the effects of these errors on the judicial system. The results of this research will help policy makers develop better policies to reduce racial disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system and help to establish the U.S. a global leader in the provision of a fair and efficient judicial system.    This award will support a research project that will study why criminal justice data may misclassify the race/ethnicity of people who come in contact with the system and the consequences of such misclassification for such individuals. The PIs will address three inter-related issues: (i) measure the extent of discordance between survey and administratively recorded racial and ethnic information on justice involved individuals, (ii) document what factors increase the rate of mismeasurement in the justice population, and (iii) investigate how misclassification impacts individual trajectories. The PIs will do this by leveraging an individual-level linkage between agency-recorded race and ethnicity contained in data from the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System (CJARS) and a wealth of self-reported micro-level race and ethnicity data from various surveys and administrative data sets held by the U.S. Census Bureau. Using these data resources, the PIs will measure the degree of racial or ethnic mismeasurement in the criminal justice system, pinpoint the stage(s) of the justice system where this mismeasurement occurs, explore local and temporal correlates with mismeasurement error variation, and evaluate the causal impact that mismeasurement has on individuals whose race/ethnicity was inaccurately recorded on their justice outcomes and life trajectories. The results of this research will help policy makers develop policies to reduce racial disparities in the U.S. criminal justice system and help to establish the U.S. a global leader in the provision of a fair and efficient judicial system.    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.",FALSE
2420981,Collaborative Research: Examining the effects of gender composition on disruptive science,2025-04-25,University of Notre Dame,NOTRE DAME,IN,IN02,199995,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420981,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420981_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,465565708,FPU6XGFXMBE9,"Scientific teams are increasingly disrupting science by making pivotal discoveries and breakthroughs. These disruptive teams reshape established scientific paradigms and forge new ones, eclipsing established theories, methods, and research directions. Consequently, understanding the factors that foster disruptive scientific teams is essential for promoting new scientific paradigms, theories, methods, and avenues for future research. Previous research has documented the effects of team size, hierarchies, and distance among members on scientific disruption. However, the influence of gender composition on teams’ abilities to make disruptive discoveries and create new inventions remains underexplored. Drawing on previous research in gender composition and scientific disruption, the researchers aim to investigate the effects of gender composition on disruption and examine the causal mechanisms that could explain differences in its impact.    This project encompasses three research goals. First, the project analyzes the impact of gender composition on disruption by examining more than 49 million papers and 4 million patents across different scientific fields over the last 50 years. The results yield empirical evidence of the impact of different gender compositions on scientific disruption. Second, the project conducts a laboratory experiment with 320 participants to understand the causal mechanisms that drive these effects. This experiment, which controls for gender composition, requires three-person teams to complete a disruption task that is designed for this experience and based on disruption research. Third, the project involves a massive survey and follow-up interviews with female scientists who have been part of disruptive teams to learn about their experiences and insights. This research promises to enhance understanding of the effects of different gender compositions on teams’ disruptiveness and contributions to science. The project highlights the theoretical and practical implications of specific team combinations in scientific research, giving institutions and funders information they can use as they reflect on the role of gender composition in scientific teams.    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.",FALSE
2325683,GP-IN: Girls* On Rock: Building an inclusive outdoor STEAM research and mentorship experience,2025-04-25,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,445606,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2325683,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2325683_4900,2024-05-01,2027-04-30,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"Increasing the diversity in the Geosciences with respect to gender, race and ethnicity is critical to ensure broad participation and to stimulate innovation and problem solving. The Girls* on Rock (GOR) program seeks to inspire a next generation of diverse Geoscientists by providing 16-18-year-old girls and nonbinary individuals with immersive, hands-on experiences in the Geosciences, combined with elements of artistic expression and technical rock climbing in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado. By doing so, GOR endeavors to inspire these young participants to explore and consider careers in STEM fields, thereby advancing the national goal of a diverse and skilled workforce. The program’s significance extends beyond diversity initiatives. It pioneers a space of learning that blends science, art, research, and leadership skills development. GOR's curriculum, focused on hands-on learning, sets a precedent for future programs, fostering well-rounded individuals equipped to tackle complex, transdisciplinary challenges in the Geosciences. Moreover, GOR's commitment to inclusivity ensures accessibility for diverse youth across emotional, socioeconomic, and physical spectrums.     Girls* On Rock (GOR) is a comprehensive pre-college Geoscience Learning Ecosystem (GLE) that is designed to address the underrepresentation of girls* in the Geosciences and related fields. GOR builds on a foundation of successful pilot programs, with a focus on scalability and long-term impact. The program consists of in-person backcountry and rock-climbing expeditions in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado and virtual experiences, complemented by post-expedition cohort support and career development activities. The goals of the project include: 1) Increase the representation of people with marginalized identities pursuing and attaining careers in Geosciences, field sciences, and outdoor recreation. 2) Foster participants’ sense of self-worth and confidence in their physical, intellectual, and leadership abilities, and knowledge so that they can thrive in a Geoscience career. 3) Create lifelong advocates for Earth science and environmental stewardship. 4) Support a network of early-career scientists, artists, and mountain guides through continuing development opportunities and collaboration to support a career in the Geosciences. Rigorous program evaluation will iteratively refine the program and study program impacts, such as science identity, sense of belonging, career aspiration, and skill building among participants. Throughout the funding period, GOR will support 27 diverse female and nonbinary youth through in-person field expeditions, with an additional 36 youth participating in virtual expeditions. The program also enriches the experiences of 32 peer mentors and graduate students who serve as instructors. By moving away from the traditional ""pipeline"" model and adopting a more flexible ""pathway"" framework, GOR aims to increase the retention of underrepresented groups in STEM fields and to inspire a new generation of creative, diverse, and confident Geoscientists and science professionals.    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.",FALSE
2147848,"The Law and Reproductive Health, 2010-2020",2025-04-25,University of Arizona,TUCSON,AZ,AZ07,432912,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147848,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147848_4900,2022-07-15,2025-06-30,85721,ED44Y3W6P7B9,"This project analyzes the relationship between laws and reproductive health outcomes. Between 2010 and 2020, state laws that regulate contraception, abortion, and midwifery care, alongside national health care rules and regulations, changed dramatically. The project builds a new database of state laws focused on reproductive health and investigates the effect of laws on women’s and infants’ health and well-being. The project also collects and analyzes qualitative data from hospital obstetric departments and from birth-rights lawyers to better understand the human and organizational experiences of health care reform. Understanding how the legal environment contributes to maternal and infant health is critical for informing decision-making, reducing social inequalities in the quality of health care, and developing interventions that improve public health and save lives.     This mixed-methods study investigates the relationships between the state and federal legal environment and birth and infant outcomes between 2010 and 2020. The proposed research analyzes the relationships between laws and birth outcomes in three ways. First, the project uses multi-level models to understand how state laws – those that govern contraception, abortion, midwifery, prenatal substance use, health insurance, and adverse medical events – together with the changing federal legal environment, affect infant and maternal health and mortality. The study also analyzes effects of laws on racial-ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. Second, the study draws from existing qualitative data to better understand, through the eyes of hospital administrators, how the legal environment affects hospitals. Third, in-depth interviews with birth-rights lawyers provide data on how state laws influence legal cases involving pregnant women. Findings from the project contributes to sociological theory and research on the law and on maternal and infant health.    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.",TRUE
2116118,Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) Girls in a Robotics Leadership Project,2025-04-25,University of California-Davis,DAVIS,CA,CA04,2400000,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116118,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116118_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,956186153,TX2DAGQPENZ5,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     Research shows that Black girls and women, regardless of their academic achievements and STEM interests, often encounter academic under-preparation, social isolation, exclusion, and race-gender discrimination that negatively impacts their ongoing engagement and retention in STEM.  This project will provide innovative, culturally relevant learning environments to middle and high school Black girls to counter these negative trends. Using hands-on coding and robotics activities, project participants will develop positive attitudes toward science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project emphasizes peer-mentoring by providing opportunities for Black female high school (assistant coaches) and Black college students (coaches) to serve as counselors and mentors to participants. Additionally, engineers, scientists, and executives from STEM industries will serve as mentors and share their experiences to broaden participants’ STEM career aspirations. The project is a three-year collaborative effort between the University of California Davis C-STEM Center, the Umoja Community Education Foundation, and the 66 affiliated California community colleges, industry partners, and school districts in California. Over three years, nearly 2,000 females will participate in the project.      Learning environments for Black girls and women led by other Black girls and women are referred to as “counterspaces” where they are free to engage in STEM in ways that value their identities while promoting STEM engagement, interests, and career aspirations. The project’s curriculum will follow a research-based, culturally relevant multi-tiered mentoring approach. The curriculum is designed to develop participants’ STEM content knowledge, critical thinking, and logical reasoning capabilities through meaningful connections to real-life applications using hands-on coding and robotics. A mixed-method longitudinal study will examine the impact on participants’ STEM outcomes, emphasizing contributing new knowledge on the viability of multi-tiered, culturally relevant mentoring for increasing equity in informal STEM learning (ISL).  The program's effectiveness will be evaluated using longitudinal assessments of mathematics standards, computer science and robotics conceptual knowledge, logical and critical thinking skills, STEM school achievements, interests and attitudes toward STEM subjects, advanced STEM course-taking, involvement in other ISL opportunities, and leadership in STEM in one’s school/university and community. The project will test a locally based informal learning model with projects hosted by other K-12 and college partners.    This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2120047,GP-UP: Strengthening Pathways to Geoscience Degrees for Underrepresented Pre-College and Introductory Students Through Experiential Learning and Career-informed Research,2025-04-25,San Jose State University Foundation,SAN JOSE,CA,CA18,204041,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120047,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2120047_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,951125569,LJBXV5VF2BT9,"The geosciences remain the least racially diverse of all the sciences with only a fraction of PhDs awarded to individuals from historically excluded racial and ethnic groups compared to their representation in the United States population. This project will recruit and support racially diverse student cohorts entering undergraduate geoscience degree programs through peer and faculty mentoring, career education, and impactful research and outreach opportunities structured to prepare students for successful application to advanced degree programs (MS, PhD) and geoscience careers. Student research topics will contribute to improving understanding of our dynamic and ever-changing Earth. Faculty serving as mentors to the diverse student cohorts will be trained in best practices to create environments of inclusivity in the geosciences. Additionally, student participants will work with local high school teachers to develop geoscience lesson plans that feature local geology and climate to continue to inspire and recruit the next generation of geoscience professionals.    The Experiential Pathways to SJSU Geosciences Program will focus on recruiting diverse student groups from two 2-year colleges in the Bay Area (San Jose City College, De Anza College) to enter geoscience programs at SJSU (Geology, Earth Systems Science, Meteorology and Climate Science) with the following goals in mind:  1. increase high school, college, and university students' knowledge and personal/cultural connections to geoscience and meteorology/climate science;  2. recruit diverse students, particularly those from historically excluded groups, to participate in geosciences through “place- and problem-based” in-class assignments, personal reflections, peer mentoring, and off-campus geoscience experiences that focus on solving problems in geosciences and are focused on Bay Area regional geology and climate issues;  3. support students as they enroll in or transfer to geology or meteorology and climate science degree programs at SJSU and prepare them for geoscience careers through authentic research and outreach opportunities;  4. strategically expand and develop low-cost strategies to sustain ongoing communication and collaboration among high school teachers, community college faculty, geoscience faculty at SJSU, geoscience alumni, Bay Area geoscience government and industry partners and other community stakeholders.  Overall, the program will strengthen the science identities of student participants and emphasize the importance of applying scientific concepts for societal benefit - especially in their own communities.    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.",FALSE
2413236,"Conference: Promoting Equity through Localization and High-Quality Instructional Materials: Bringing Together Practitioners, Researchers, and Designers     ",2025-04-25,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,199995,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2413236,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2413236_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"Over the last decade, K-12 science education has seen the development and surge in comprehensive high-quality instructional materials designed to address standards aligned with the Framework for K-12 Science Education. Meanwhile, localization—organizing instruction around local phenomena and incorporating students’ social, cultural, and linguistic resources—has been proposed as a way to better connect science instruction to students’ interests and the priorities of their local communities. Both localization and high-quality instructional materials have been found to support equitable learning opportunities and outcomes in K-12 science education. However, there are many unresolved questions in science education about how to best leverage the advantages of localization in the context of high-quality instructional materials, which are typically developed at a national scale. This project will support a conference series, including an in-person gathering and virtual follow-up meetings, that will bring together teachers, researchers, education leaders, and instructional material designers to investigate these questions. Participants will come together to build a shared understanding of how to integrate the use of high-quality instructional materials with the benefits of localizing these materials to better address students’ contexts and backgrounds. By fostering dialogue, sharing models, and setting priorities for future research and design, the project seeks to build knowledge about inclusive, effective and culturally responsive approaches to science instruction that will advance equitable science education in K–12 classrooms.    This one-year conference project primarily focuses on the promise and challenges involved in integrating localization with comprehensive high-quality instructional materials to enhance equitable learning outcomes in K-12 science education. The project will organize an in-person conference followed by a series of four follow-up virtual meetings involving a diverse group of fifty participants, including teachers, district leaders, state education agency leaders, researchers, and instructional materials designers. Methods will include collaborative discussions, presentations of existing models, and evidence-based analyses to clarify definitions and identify priorities for future research and design efforts. The outcomes will be a proposed research and design agenda for the localization of high-quality instructional materials, along with practical examples and models of current approaches. These outcomes will be disseminated beyond the conference, targeting practitioners, designers, and researchers through co-authored conference presentations and publications, as well as shared via teacher social media, newsletters, and professional learning communities. By addressing the inherent tension between national-scale usability of high-quality instructional materials and the need for culturally and locally relevant instruction, this project aims to spur innovation and contribute to the development of truly equitable science instructional materials, ultimately advancing the field of science education.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2347076,Explorations: Syracuse University Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High school Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP),2025-04-25,Syracuse University,SYRACUSE,NY,NY22,993869,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347076,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347076_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,13244,C4BXLBC11LC6,"The high-tech industries of the future need trained workers who are excited about science and technology. Syracuse is a city that is ripe for opportunities, and recent economic developments in the technology sector locally indicate that the city needs a well-trained technological workforce to meet the future demand. The Physics Department at Syracuse University has an epic goal to become a touchstone for historically excluded groups in physics, focusing on Black, Latino, Indigenous, and women students. To achieve that goal, the proposed Syracuse University Physics Emerging Research Technologies Summer High school Internship Program (SUPER-Tech SHIP) will connect students to the exposure, knowledge, and skills they need for the quantum, semiconductor, and biotech opportunities that are growing locally. SUPER-Tech SHIP is a paid summer high school research internship program for students from local area high schools in the city of Syracuse and surrounding areas of Central New York. The program will meet students where they are and invite and welcome them into our research community to help them see themselves in these roles. The SUPER-Tech SHIP program is an essential component for facilitating students’ first step from high school into technological careers through direct exposure to several emergent technology fields. The Syracuse area has a rapidly expanding industrial footprint for these emerging fields, and these high-tech sectors will need a workforce that understands technology. Syracuse Physics is uniquely positioned to build a diverse workforce for emerging technologies because our region has a high population of historically excluded groups, there is an outstanding research university with excellent scientists working in emerging technological fields, there is a wonderful town-gown relationship, and there are local industries and research labs in need of many technical workers. Leveraging all this, SUPER-Tech SHIP will create the pipeline for a diverse future workforce to the benefit of the industries and the local community.    This is an ExLENT Explorations proposal to expose high school students to the skills and concepts of emerging technology fields found in the Syracuse University Physics Department including: quantum information, semiconductors, and biotechnology. This project is a major partnership with Syracuse City School District (SCSD), an inner-city district with high numbers of students from groups historically excluded from physics. The new program, SUPER-Tech SHIP, will have the following elements (1) recruitment by Syracuse Physics faculty visiting all Syracuse City School District science classrooms, (2) an application process focused on student persistence, (3) initial bootcamps to orient and ready the students for all the internships in research labs, (4) a longer-term research experience in a lab, and (5) an end of the program poster session and celebration with friends, family, and teachers. The SUPER-Tech SHIP will include bringing back prior participants to serve as near-peer mentors to the high school participants. New partners from industry and national labs are being incorporated to give more role-models with whom student participants will network. Extensive cohort building, assertive mentoring, and belonging interventions will be implemented through the SUPER-Tech SHIP. In labs, participants will work in pairs to have a local peer mentor. Student pairs will mix during orientation bootcamps to expand their peer network. Near-peer mentors (undergrads and prior cohort participants) will be involved in research with the participants. Weekly fun activities will explore the campus to acclimate high school participants. Within the Syracuse Physics Department, a dedicated space will be created for these students for the duration of the 6-week program. A SCSD teacher will check in with students weekly and give feedback to the department on real-time changes. Students will also have weekly science seminars and lunch with speakers from the faculty, industry, and a local Air Force Research Lab.  Finally, the program will have a dedicated graduate student administrative staff member from the same neighborhoods as the high school participants to serve as a resource and mentor. Systemic barriers to internships exist for Syracuse City students. To recruit students and eliminate barriers, the internship provides each student with a significant stipend, daily transportation to and front the university, and daily breakfast and lunch at a dining hall on campus. These mechanisms are needed to (1) entice students to this opportunity, (2) make it worth their while financially compared to other jobs in the summer, (3) reduce barriers of transportation in the city, and (4) increase food security of the students while in our program.    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.",FALSE
2336572,Doctoral Dissertation Research: Determinants of social meaning,2025-04-25,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,18760,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DDRI Linguistics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336572,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2336572_4900,2024-03-01,2025-08-31,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"In recent years, the language used to describe social identities has expanded, but little is known within the field of linguistics about how individuals with marginalized identities mark identity in their speech or how identity is perceived through their speech. In addition, some individuals hold multiple marginalized identities. This doctoral dissertation project investigates how marginalized individuals use language as part of their identities and how identities are perceived in social settings. Along with training of a doctoral student, this project will engage underrepresented individuals in scientific research and will disseminate research findings through community organizations.    Language is a primary way through which people express their identities, but little is known about how people minoritized in multiple ways use language as part of their identities or how others perceive their use of language in social settings. The researchers are conducting two studies that identify the linguistic elements used by such speakers and how those elements are perceived by various groups of people. The first part of this project examines how people who are minoritized in multiple ways describe different ways that people discuss identity. They determine a set of language features that these speakers use to express their identities and acoustically analyze them using phonetic software. They also conduct an experiment where listeners with varying degrees of shared identities with the speakers hear sentences that have been phonetically manipulated to shift listeners’ social perceptions. In this experiment, listeners hear each sentence and rate the speaker on various social dimensions. This research adds needed breadth within linguistic studies of identity and how language influences social perceptions in new communities. Findings from this project are shared with the communities that are being studied, expanding the reach of scientific research.    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.",FALSE
2411739,Collaborative Research: Building and Testing a Framework for Liberatory and Conceptual Mathematics Learning with Black Disabled Students,2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,559632,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411739,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411739_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"Black disabled students encounter systemic challenges in K-12 education such as being overrepresented in special education categories of behavioral and intellectual disabilities while facing harsher disciplinary consequences compared to other students. These challenges impact their opportunities for meaningful STEM learning. A key avenue to counter these disparities is through high school mathematics teacher coaching encompassing knowledge of the interactional nature of racism and ableism in teaching and decision making. Therefore, this project aims to develop and test a theoretical coaching framework that addresses challenges while advancing conceptual mathematics learning and high school mathematics instructional practices.    Using qualitative participatory methodology, this project will involve establishing and sustaining an authentic partnership with a cohort of Black disabled high school students. Their voices, knowledge, and experiences will be central in informing the development of this project’s coaching theoretical framework. The research team will support students’ learning, developing, and enacting ways to counter racism and ableism, advance conceptually oriented mathematics instructional practices, and impact instruction to improve students’ experiences and learning opportunities. Students will have opportunities to convene to share their experiences, and mathematics teachers will participate in professional development opportunities to support working with students as well as piloting and developing the coaching model. This project will contribute to both theory and practice in mathematics education as well as produce positive impact to the lives of Black disabled students.    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.",FALSE
2116467,"Collaborative Research:  Varieties of Crises, Elite Responses, and Executive Approval",2025-04-25,"Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.",ATLANTA,GA,GA05,510490,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116467,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116467_4900,2022-01-01,2025-06-30,303032921,MNS7B9CVKDN7,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2. This project examines four major types of crises -- economic, security, natural disaster, and public health crises – and how they influence public support for political leaders in contemporary democracies. This is important to understand because leader approval is a key barometer of policymaker accountability and democratic stability, both of which can be undermined by crises. This project analyzes the interplay of four factors  which vary systematically across these different types of crises and how, in turn, these shape public evaluations of political executives: (1) the ability of citizens to assign responsibility for policy decisions and outcomes; (2) the degree of expert consensus on effective policy response; (3) how much a given crisis in one area generates acute challenges or crises in other areas; and (4) the extent to which an effective response depends on citizens acting collectively.  Several data sets including (quarterly) measures of executive approval and crises; the tone and salience of leader messaging about the crises; the media’s treatment of leader messaging; and (monthly) leader approval for a smaller number of countries for which such data is available; and survey-based experiments in three countries are collected and made publicly available. The award supports education and diversity by building the research capacity of a student project lab at Georgia State University, a Minority Serving Institution, in coordination with PIs at four other universities who will also engage graduate and undergraduate students in this work.     Puzzling divergences across countries in public reactions to leader responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis have revealed major gaps in our understanding of how crisis events translate into public assessments of leaders. To resolve these puzzles, this project advances a unifying theoretical framework that identifies four major types of crises: economic, security, natural disaster, and public health. It then locates these crises on four key dimensions which should condition public support of top officials: the institutional and political context and other factors that impact attribution of responsibility, degree of expert consensus and incentives for politicians to follow expert recommendations, the likelihood and nature of spill-over to other crisis types, and the degree to which citizen action is required for an effective response. The project collects data to test theoretically-motivated hypotheses using: 1) a macro time-series cross-national data set to study the effects of crisis type on public approval for political executives for 48 countries, 2) a high-frequency time-series data set appropriate to test how approval dynamics reflect leader responses, as well as messaging choices and media effects for 18 countries for which this data is available, and 3) conjoint experiments in France, Italy, and Mexico, countries with different political and institutional settings, to assess the validity of the links between crisis types and dimensions as well as to validate proposed individual-level mechanisms.    This project is supported by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior Program and the SBE Build and Broaden Program.    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.",FALSE
2421409,"Collaborative Research: Judgment, Identity, and Participatory Praxis of Black Men in Engineering Student Teams",2025-04-25,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,300619,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2421409,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2421409_4900,2024-09-15,2027-08-31,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"Despite ongoing efforts to broaden participation in engineering in the United States, Black men remain significantly underrepresented, with only 2.8% of engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to them in 2020. These statistics indicate that there is a disconnect between cultural, institutional, or academic factors in engineering education settings and the expectations and experiences of Black men resulting in this lack of representation. Moreover, within both engineering education and professional engineering work contexts, complex projects are formulated and executed by teams. Given the critical role of teamwork in engineering in both industrial and academic settings, understanding the social interactions between Black men and their peers within these teams is vital. Consequently, this project will investigate the experience of Black men in undergraduate engineering student teams. The project aims to produce results that will be used broadly to support Black men’s sense of belonging and enhance their academic and professional success in engineering. To address these issues, this project focuses on two research questions: 1) What are the experiences of Black men on student project teams? and, 2) How do Black men perceive their participation in decision-making processes within these teams? This project will expand the research available to instructors, researchers, decision makers, and policy makers to support Black men in engineering from an asset-based perspective.    To achieve the goals of this project, this mixed-methods qualitative study will use Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Photovoice methods. These phenomenological and participatory methods enable the prioritization of the voice of Black male engineering students in constructing study findings and co-constructing future scholarly work with student-driven strategies for increasing a sense of belonging and academic success. This project will address three key gaps in the current literature. First, in the past 5 years only one research study has explored the experiences of Black men on student project teams. Second, there is a lack of research on how Black men participate in decision-making processes on student led teams. This is critical because researchers have suggested there is a strong connection between identity production processes and the construction of engineering judgments among team members. By cross-fertilizing these literatures, the research team will investigate the ways that Black male experiences illustrate how identity processes directly impact engineering work practices among undergraduates. Third, this study will adopt an assets-based approach, focusing on the positive aspects of Black men's experiences in engineering rather than individual deficiencies. The participatory aspect of the photovoice methods will facilitate the development of student-driven strategies that have the potential to foster positive cultural change at the institutional level. The research may result in tangible recommendations for supporting and retaining Black men in engineering fields nationwide. To broadly share the student-driven strategies co-created with study participants, the project will include co-creation of a photovoice exhibit to share participants’ strategies, resources, and experiences. Disseminating project findings through this photovoice exhibit will make the research accessible to a wider audience, including community stakeholders, students from other institutions and disciplines, university researchers, administrators, and the general public.    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.",FALSE
2127910,"Collaborative Research: The Role of Elites, Organizations, and Movements in Reshaping Politics and Policymaking",2025-04-25,University of Arkansas,FAYETTEVILLE,AR,AR03,269860,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127910,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127910_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,727013124,MECEHTM8DB17,"Arguably, the current political climate is the function of three seemingly distinct, yet interrelated, ongoing phenomena: (1) a contentious, problem-laden political environment, (2) grassroots organizations driving unprecedented levels of engagement and turnout, and (3) national movements driving discourse, preferences, and reform around long-held policy grievances. The combination of contentious politics and an energized electorate can result in record turnout despite a raging pandemic. The PIs examine how these features of the American polity shape public and institutional political behaviors. The project aims to build a network, and supportive infrastructure, to better understand how political elites, organizations, and movements in key political locations work to drive participation, preferences, and policymaking.      The project examines two broad research questions. The first question is: How do organizations and social movements mediate political preferences and policy agendas amongst the mass public? Second, it is interested in the collaboration between organizations and social movements and how these interactions shape traditional and untraditional forms of political participation. The study draws on a comprehensive mixture of quantitative (surveys, survey experiments, voter data analysis, social media analysis, and social network analysis) and qualitative (ethnographic observations, content analysis, elite interviews, and focus groups) methodological approaches to answer these questions. This study examines political activities during two electoral periods in several transformative states and municipalities. The broader impacts of the study are numerous. First, it connects a network of scholars from a diverse set of institutions. The project builds critical infrastructure at partner institutions to facilitate data collection and analysis. Namely, it (1) builds mobile research labs designed to conduct rapid response surveys during protests and organizational rallies, and (2) establishes data analysis centers at two minority serving institutions, and (3) provides cutting-edge training, tools, and professional resources to students from marginalized and underserved groups.    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.",FALSE
2411594,Collaborative Research: Integrating a culturally relevant digital curriculum into U.S. science dual language immersion programs,2025-04-25,"Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.",ATLANTA,GA,GA05,725836,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411594,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411594_4900,2024-08-15,2027-07-31,303032921,MNS7B9CVKDN7,"Today’s schools are experiencing increasing cultural and linguistic diversity and facing the challenge of meeting the learning needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children, such as Latinx learners in dual language immersion programs. This project will support bilingual students by recognizing and incorporating their cultural heritage into science education. Further, it will advance the understanding of how integrating Indigenous knowledge with Western science in dual language immersion programs can improve science identity and education for Latinx youth in middle schools, many of whom are also of Indigenous heritage.  The project will also evaluate the impact of this curriculum on students and teachers, fostering a more inclusive and holistic approach to learning. Digital media and curricular materials developed through this collaboration will be widely available, making this innovative curriculum accessible to dual language classrooms across the U.S. Ultimately, this work seeks to enhance science education accessibility for marginalized students, particularly Latinx youth, and support their representation and engagement in STEM fields.    The project team will support 11 middle school teachers and 2,500 students across southern states providing them with resources that acknowledge and incorporate multiple epistemologies of indigenous communities. The research team will employ qualitative methods, including thematic, content, and ethnographic analyses of meetings with Indigenous collaborators, the curricular development process, professional learning for teachers, teaching practices, and student artifacts. Assessment and evaluation plans to involve examining how teachers adapt their instruction to include Indigenous knowledge and measuring the curriculum's impact on student engagement and achievement in STEM. Further dissemination of the digital curriculum can increase the impact of this project. Through the weaving of indigenous forms of scientific knowledge and Western science, the project team anticipates providing more spaces for participation in STEM and developing additional interest among historically marginalized Latinx youth toward STEM employment pathways.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2347281,Explorations: Preparing Youth for Careers in AI through Experiential Learning (AI for Youth),2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,1000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347281,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347281_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"The AI for Youth ExLent Explorations project aims to democratize access to cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) education, providing students from diverse backgrounds and educational profiles with the opportunity to learn vital AI topics. In a world where AI technologies are increasingly ubiquitous, ensuring inclusivity in AI education is paramount for building future technologies on principles of equity and fairness. Despite this imperative, challenges such as the lack of teacher training in AI and a comprehensive pedagogical framework impede the integration of AI into K-12 curricula, specifically in under-represented schools. AI for Youth aims to prepare the next generation of AI innovators irrespective of gender, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. By targeting underrepresented minority and low-income high school students, the project aims to demystify AI career pathways and empower students to address social issues through AI-powered solutions.    AI for Youth also empowers high school teachers to implement an innovative AI curriculum, thereby inspiring and motivating high school students, particularly those from underserved groups, to pursue careers in AI. Through a multifaceted approach, the initiative equips teachers with essential AI skills, offers transformative learning experiences for students, and fosters proficiencies in communication, leadership, and teamwork necessary for success in higher education and AI-related careers. The initiative includes a comprehensive paid internship program for high school students and a mentorship model pairing faculty members and graduate students with teachers and students. The project encourages leadership, problem-solving, and critical thinking by engaging students in action-oriented, team-based activities. Overall, AI for Youth seeks to cultivate a diverse, creative, and ethical AI workforce while empowering students to address real-world challenges through AI innovation. This initiative is in accordance with the NSF ExLENT Program, which is supported by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates.    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.",FALSE
2319989,ADVANCE IT: University of Utah Institutional Change Studios—Systemic Institutional Change Through Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation,2025-04-25,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,1061863,Cooperative Agreement,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2319989,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2319989_4900,2023-10-01,2028-09-30,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"The University of Utah (UU) ADVANCE Institutional Transformation (IT) project will adapt and develop the use of “problem driven iterative adaptation” (PDIA) and “Institutional Change Studios” (IC Studios) to an institution of higher education. PDIA comes from the field of international development and will be applied in the IC Studios to create a dynamic “learn-by-doing” process involving several steps: 1) analyze root causes of a specific problem that local stakeholders have identified as a priority, 2) identify starting points to address the problem, 3) take action, 4) reflect on results, 5) adapt and iterate as needed based on outcomes and lessons learned. The UU ADVANCE IT project will establish IC Studios that will focus on three key themes of institutional need: 1) faculty support and community, 2) faculty workload equity, and 3) collaborative structures for ongoing systemic change. The IC Studios are intended to cultivate a culture of continuous improvement to address on-going and emerging systemic equity issues for all tenure and career-line faculty and institutionalize the structures required to nourish and sustain this culture.     The University of Utah is a decentralized university that is home to several STEM colleges, each with its own history, culture, disciplinary lens, programs, and policies. One-size-fits all solutions have historically not worked well at UU. PDIA is well suited to this context as it allows for different approaches to problem solving and solutions. The IC Studios will be supported by the ADVANCE Intersectional Data Core team that will leverage existing institutional data sources, develop and pilot test new data collection methods, and compile needed additional data. The original research associated with the project will advance understandings of the ways racism, sexism, cisheterogenderism, ableism, and other modes of domination coalesce in STEM spaces to impact the career trajectories of STEM faculty and how faculty members use their social networks to navigate professional climates. This work is novel in the area of social network analysis and will offer rich data and results not only applicable to the University of Utah, but also communities at other large research-intensive Universities across the U.S. The findings from the research will also inform the work of the IC Studios and will advance understanding of how the diversity of faculty networks lead to successful careers and happy faculty who are committed to their institutions and communities.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Institutional Transformation"" awards provide support for the development and testing of new systemic change strategies for gender equity in institution of higher education.    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.",FALSE
2420601,"SBIR Phase I:  Integrating deep learning algorithms for UAS-based infrastructure inspection: Path to fully automated, commercially viable and scalable monitoring",2025-04-25,CHANGEAERIAL LLC,SAN DIEGO,CA,CA51,274727,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,SBIR Phase I,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420601,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420601_4900,2024-07-15,2025-12-31,921101552,K1EZDVCZHSN7,"The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will be improving the lives of US residents by increasing electric power grid resilience through increased effectiveness and efficiency with automated electric infrastructure monitoring based on imaging with uncrewed autonomous system (UAS) (i.e., drones). Automated UAS monitoring approaches incorporating novel AI algorithms will disrupt conventional approaches, increasing the spatial extent and temporal frequency of infrastructure inspections, and will accelerate identification of all types of defects and reduce operating expenses. Such tools and technology will also support programs for integration of large-scale renewable-based power projects and electric vehicles to help meet sustainability targets. They will also reduce wildfire risks and duration of weather-related power shutoffs. While electric utility infrastructure is the primary focus, inspection and monitoring of myriad infrastructure types such as telecommunication towers, pipelines, and bridges, both in construction and operational phases, will benefit from this technology. Step-change productivity gains through adoption of digital workflow automation will require workforce role evolution and drive new job creation. A diverse and skilled company team will be built by emulating the culture of diversity and inclusion of the co-founders’ university roots.      This project will facilitate a major leap towards exploiting highly detailed imagery captured by uncrewed autonomous system (UAS) to achieve greater performance and automation for infrastructure inspection. The goal is to integrate time-sequential UAS imagery captured from the same location in the sky, with multiple AI algorithms to achieve both detection and identification of damage to overhead electric infrastructure (and ultimately many types of infrastructure). The centerpiece of the integrated AI model framework is a model that exploits temporal changes in conditions of electric utility apparatus to detect defects requiring maintenance. Another AI algorithm will simulate apparatus damages in images used to train AI routines, since actual damage is a relatively rare occurrence within the thousands of inspection images captured by UAS. A riskier but transformative research element will involve integrating the novel damage detection model with AI models that identify specific damage types from single-time images. This hybrid modeling approach will restrict the image domain for which damage is identified, to focus the attention of infrastructure inspectors on changes confirmed to be associated with damage. Temporal image sequences will ultimately feed predictive analytic models that forecast the likelihood of damage or failure and prioritize the timing of inspections.    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.",FALSE
2417559,"How Demographics, Place, and Rules Impact Portfolio Composition: Data from the Historical Survey of Consumer Finances and Implications for the Distribution of Wealth",2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,472000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417559,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417559_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"This project digitizes and disseminates the historical Survey of Consumer Finances (h-SCF) from 1947-1977 and complementary data on household insurance holdings that fills an important gap in the data collected by the h-SCF. The h-SCF includes data on household demographics, location, income, assets, debts, purchase intentions, and even financial beliefs, sophistication, and expectations, among other topics. These data are unique for including information on household geography (crucial, e.g., for studying exposure to local rules or regional economic conditions) and economic expectations (important, e.g., to understanding the wedge between beliefs and behavior) that are lacking in existing data sets. Life insurance was a then-prevalent and biased savings vehicle that is poorly covered in the SCF and understudied generally. This newly digitized data can serve as an empirical foundation for models of inflation, portfolio choice, consumption, and other matters critical to rule design. This project illustrates the utility of the data by using it as the basis for a series of research papers on the causes and consequences of heterogeneity as they relate to financial decision-making and household wellbeing.    This project makes several contributions. The first set of contributions pertains to data. The novel data the project generates will provide new answers about America’s past that resonate in the present. Specifically, these data will allow researchers to chart the evolution of financial behavior, wealth, and heterogeneity over a period that both is historically significant (encompassing major demographic, economic, and rule change) and offers a clean setting for causal identification. The data will also allow critical but hitherto largely ignored spatial considerations to inform future research on long-run wealth accumulation, heterogeneity, and intergenerational mobility; and enable more rigorous and micro-founded long-run analysis and rule design, increasing the timespan for testing macro models relying on household data. By filling gaps in the data available to study household finance and the evolution of American wealth and heterogeneity, this data contribution relieves a major constraint both to historical and economic knowledge, and to equitable, evidence-based rule design. The second set of contributions pertain to economic theory. The project advances knowledge on portfolio composition in the past and the causes and consequences of portfolio-choice differences, among other phenomena. Associated papers will illuminate, among other things, the extent to which practical barriers to financial access shape portfolios; whether the initial exclusion of Black households from Social Security can help explain their persistently higher participation in life insurance today, despite the decline in its returns; and the demographically redistributive effects of inflation. These papers explicitly consider the role of group identity at the intersection of macro and household finance and generate new evidence to inform policies that have substantive implications for economic justice and equality of opportunity.    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.",FALSE
2342771,Collaborative Research: SEI: Creating a Lasting LEGACY - Scaling a Peer-learning Community Model to Provide AP CS Preparation and Career Awareness for Black Young Women,2025-04-25,Mississippi State University,MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS,MS03,266541,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342771,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342771_4900,2024-05-15,2028-04-30,39762,NTXJM52SHKS7,"Careers in Computer Science (CS) related areas represent many of the best-paid jobs in the nation. However, Black women comprise less than 1% of the workforce at the most popular U.S. software companies. Low participation of Black students in CS areas is often attributed to a lack of “preparatory privilege,” encompassing the unavailability of resources and experiences that build content knowledge and associated skills, and few role models. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations project will scale up a successful project that engaged Black young women in high schools throughout the state of Alabama in a year-long peer-learning community to prepare them for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. Called LEGACY++, the project will expand the focus to 500 students, adding two other states - Mississippi and Ohio. To do so, it will create a partnership among (1) post-secondary institutions in diverse cultural settings (urban and rural); (2) collaborators that specialize in analyzing programmatic outcomes and identifying factors that promote student success in CS; and (3) industry partners to connect students with new learning experiences from the automotive, wireless, and health sector domains. Eighteen Black CS Teacher Leaders will receive training across the tri-State partnership to facilitate an immersive summer institute experience to initiate the preparation of students for the AP CSP course at their school. Interactions will continue during the school year to promote students’ AP exam readiness through curriculum workshops focused on AP CSP topics and interactions with multiple mentors who are all Black women. Students will also be provided with resources to mitigate the barriers to CS access often faced by low-income families, such as access to a peer learning community with scheduled meetings over the academic year.     The LEGACY++ Scholars will represent Black young women from three states to imbue CS content knowledge and an awareness of opportunities in CS-related occupations. LEGACY++ Scholars will learn AP CSP concepts through culturally responsive instruction and project-based learning facilitated by tools to support remote student collaborations to highlight the nature of virtual work, while connecting with new learning experiences from industry partners, their own life situations, and career aspirations. The synergy among these strategies is a promising approach to stimulate the learning of CS for this population; thus, the project’s activities will explore creative and transformative approaches targeted at enabling the participation of groups historically underrepresented in CS careers. Specifically, the research questions addressed in this project include investigating how LEGACY++ activities foster a perception of CS as a communal endeavor, how creating a community of learners can strengthen participants’ identity with CS/technical careers and reduce the effects of stereotype threat, and whether LEGACY++ participation can increase awareness and understanding of CS careers. The LEGACY++ evaluation plan will continuously assess activities and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback by identifying promising practices and evidence of success that stimulate CS interest among Black young women. Data collection and evaluation of the implementation of the program activities will include observations of the Summer Institutes, semi-annual interviews of teacher leaders, annual interviews of program leaders and mentoring board members, and student projects. These data will be analyzed qualitatively in terms of pre-defined program success criteria. Measurable program outcomes will include changes in Scholars’ content knowledge and attitudes towards CS, and Scholars’ career plans. The knowledge-generation component will investigate how creating a community of learners increases identification, belonging, and persistence in CS among Black women. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2100693,ASBMB Interactive Mentoring Activities for Grantsmanship Enhancement (IMAGE 2.0),2025-04-25,American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology,ROCKVILLE,MD,MD08,579976,Continuing Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Molecular and Cellular Biosciences,Molecular Biophysics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100693,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100693_4900,2022-06-15,2027-05-31,208529849,VFT8TXT2BN43,"While data from the National Science Foundation (NSF) have demonstrated a doubling in the number of underrepresented minorities (URM) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields over the past three decades, the numbers of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans in these fields remain woefully below their representation in the US population. In 2018, only ~12% of doctoral degrees in STEM fields were conferred to URM, although they constitute ~30% of the US population. Similarly, over the past 20-years, the number of URM professors in chemistry or biology has hovered around 4%, despite myriad programs aimed at diversifying the STEM workforce. These data highlight the need for additional and novel strategies that target multiple points in the STEM pipeline. As one intervention to impact on the persistence of URM professors within the STEM, the American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) Minority Affairs Committee (MAC) has organized an annual workshop for early-career faculty and postdoctoral fellows that provides intensive mentoring on grant writing and career and professional development. The workshops, conducted yearly since 2013, have been well received among participants and participating mentors, and assessment metrics indicate that participants are two-fold more likely to obtain federal funding than closely matched comparison-group subjects who do not participate in the program.    Strengthened by the experience gained over the past almost 10 years, an enhanced five-year Interactive Mentoring Activities for Grantsmanship Enhancement (IMAGE) Program – called IMAGE 2.0 – will serve a total of 120-150 participants. IMAGE 2.0 also includes, for the first time, activities for mid-career faculty from underrepresented ethnic groups, especially those who have encountered a persistent roadblock in their ability to maintain federal funding. Moreover, the program will conduct a longitudinal analysis of the effect of IMAGE by tracking previous participants through tenure and into their mid-careers. This tracking will inform on the impact of IMAGE in obtaining and sustaining funding and in acquiring tenure. Although the workshop will be the core of IMAGE 2.0, participants will be provided with year-long mentoring through communities of grant-writers. These communities will consist of participants and grant-writing mentors or participants and grant-writing coaches, and will convene virtually on a monthly basis. Grant-writing mentors will be content-competent and will provide periodic feedback on proposal development. Grant-writing coaches will be trained in culturally sensitive career coaching, and will motivate participants, help them develop and maintain a strong science identity, and coach them as they make major career decisions. These efforts will create a sense of belonging and accountability that will encourage participants to continue forward with their proposals through ultimate submission and also facilitate their persistence in their fields.    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.",TRUE
2347101,"Beginnings: Building Educational Growth for Industry (BEGIN) Learning—Quantum Literacy, Quantum AI, and Quantum Machine Learning",2025-04-25,INA SOLUTIONS INC.,FAIRFAX,VA,VA11,998332,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ExLENT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347101,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347101_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,220332586,T4M9RTKST2H9,"Currently, quantum computation is becoming essential in new and emerging technologies, science, and business. To build a broad base of quantum literacy, knowledge, and confidence, the Beginnings: Building Educational Growth for Industry (BEGIN) Learning—Quantum Literacy, Quantum AI, and Quantum Machine Learning project will engage women and other historically underrepresented students in learning the importance of quantum applications. This accelerated, 6-week experiential learning will include quantum machine learning, quantum AI, and quantum literacy through hands-on experience, mentoring, and building community of quantum trained technicians. Through cross-sector partnerships with non-profits, minority business enterprises, and HBCUs—and building connections into industry, government, and academia—the project will enhance student skill sets in this emerging and novel technology, thereby strengthening community engagement, identity, and belonging. Building career path, enhancing technical skills, and expanding networking opportunities, this project serves to anchor and increase diverse participation in the next generation of quantum literate workforce.     The Beginnings: Building Educational Growth for Industry (BEGIN) Learning—Quantum Literacy, Quantum AI, and Quantum Machine Learning is an accelerated, 6-week experiential learning project that focuses on training women and historically underrepresented groups to become skilled technicians at an entry level, thereby enhancing their workforce skills. This project serves as a micro-credential certification whereby participants gain hands-on skills through an online virtual classroom. Specifically, our expected outcomes will comprise successfully completing training in technical course materials including exploration of quantum mechanics, quantum circuits, introduction to Python coding, classic machine learning versus quantum machine learning, and quantum generative adversarial networks, among other topics. Through this comprehensive student-training approach, the project will develop a unique, national model to train populations previously excluded from or unaware of opportunities in emerging technologies. Taking a whole-student approach, the project employs the convergence of technical skills with community engagement through a peer-to-peer cohort model. The students will further benefit by being introduced to networking skill-building exercises through virtual and in-person opportunities.    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.",FALSE
2301247,Collaborative Research: The Smart Playground: Computational Thinking through Robotics in Early Childhood,2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,1199793,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301247,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2301247_4900,2023-08-01,2027-07-31,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Technology and computing are increasingly central in the lives of children, and building foundational skills in computational thinking in the early years is a national imperative. Young children can learn best through play and in educational environments that sustain their cultural practices and identities. This Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) project will co-create and study an outdoor robotic-augmented playground called the “Smart Playground” and a corresponding series of classroom lessons. The Smart Playground will be co-designed with Latinx families and educators to engage young children (kindergarten) in developing computational thinking skills and learning about robotics in a physical environment using a culturally sustaining approach. The project will retrofit existing playgrounds in a low-income, predominantly Latinx school district with circuit boards, sensors, and actuators. These boards will allow young children to program their playground to interact with them in different ways. By programming activities that use the playground structures, children will learn foundational computational thinking skills. Further, through co-designing with Latinx families and educators the project will center the technology and activities in families’ routines, values, and cultural funds of knowledge. Research and evaluation will examine whether exposure to the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities have an impact on the development of computational thinking in young children. This project will contribute to the emerging field of robotics in early childhood education by addressing the need for new approaches to teach with and about technology in a developmentally appropriate and culturally sustaining way. This work will increase awareness of early robotics, develop children’s computational thinking skills and STEM identities, and integrate learning opportunities throughout children’s experiences in playgrounds, classrooms, and public spaces. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    This project aims to create and test an innovative educational approach for bringing STEM learning experiences to underserved youth. Using a culturally sustaining approach, this project will co-design, augment, and evaluate the Smart Playground to promote computational thinking with approximately 500 Latinx kindergarten students and their teachers and families from Santa Ana, CA. Using a Design Based Implementation Research approach and a variety of participatory design techniques, this project will create several prototypes of the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities. This work is guided by the following research questions: 1.) What is the impact of engaging with the Smart Playground on children’s computational thinking? 2.) How do varied design elements in the Smart Playground support the development of different aspects of computational thinking among children? 3.) In what ways do Latinx children, teachers, and families in Santa Ana propose to integrate local, cultural, and learning practices into the Smart Playground during co-design activities? A wide range of quantitative and qualitative data governing student gains in computational thinking during baseline, implementation, and follow-up phases will inform the iterative process of design-test-redesign. The project will also collect, transcribe, and analyze observations, interviews, and meeting records to develop thematic insights into culturally sustaining designs and re-design of the Smart Playground elements. Ultimately, this project will result in an evidenced based set of prototypes and lessons that promote computational thinking and build from the cultural strengths of Latinx children. Designs and lessons will prioritize usable and scalable materials to create playful computational thinking opportunities in classrooms and playgrounds across the country and the world.    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.",FALSE
2218504,Collaborative Research: Human Infrastructure for a National Geochronology Consortium: Micro-funding an inclusive community grassroot effort to better understand the earth system,2025-04-25,"The Geological Society of America, Inc.",BOULDER,CO,CO02,128930,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Earth Sciences,FRES-Frontier Rsrch Earth Sci,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218504,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2218504_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,803011806,TKBVGF4WK5N5,"This project supports the Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems (AGeS-cubed or AGeS3) initiative to: (1) increase access to geochronology data and geochronology expertise to further our understanding of unified Earth systems, (2) implement a platform attracting underrepresented minorities to the geosciences, and (3) test grassroots ideas at a frontier of inclusive and collaborative science. Geochronology data provide the temporal information required for synergistic science spanning the deep Earth to surface processes. Yet National Academy reports have repeatedly highlighted challenges for geochronology data access, technical innovation, and training. This project addresses these needs through a trio of strategic micro-award programs. The mature AGeS-Grad program supports high-impact collaborative science projects between graduate students, labs, and home institution mentors. The prototype AGeS-DiG (Diversity in Geochronology) program funds pilot initiatives to increase access to geochronology for those underrepresented in the Earth sciences. The new AGeS-TRaCE (Training and Community Engagement) program supports community-led efforts to address emerging challenges in geochronology. The micro-awards of this program powers the human infrastructure engine, enabling important scientific advances that may not happen within the silo of more classic grants.    The Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems (AGeS-cubed or AGeS3) project builds on the success and cooperative spirit of the AGeS-Grad subprogram through the launch of micro-grant opportunities to crowd-source solutions for self-identified geochronology needs. The program harnesses expertise and creativity across the Earth sciences by enabling collaborative science and evaluating grassroots community-led solutions to current challenges in geochronology and geosciences more broadly. The project activities propagate a web of new relationships that position the greater geoscience community to make transformative scientific advances on the dynamics and complexity of Earth processes and systems. This project funds over 150 strategic micro-awards across three subprograms to engage hundreds across the Earth sciences in collaborative science, training, review, and governance activities. Still broader engagement and integration will be achieved through annual, virtual, fully open AGeS community meetings, a website that will host project blogs and deliverables, and a formalized governance model that includes steering and review committees with rotating members designed to balance experience with new engagement. Assessment and evaluation activities will provide formative feedback to shape the initiative over its arc. Belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity are infused throughout all activities, and outcomes of diverse participation will be sought via inclusive and accessible practices that also promote a sense of connection and belonging in the community.    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.",FALSE
2201576,Measuring the Social Networks and Community Cultural Wealth of Latina/o STEM Undergraduates,2025-04-25,University of Texas at El Paso,EL PASO,TX,TX16,259739,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201576,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201576_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,799688900,C1DEGMMKC7W7,"This project is a collaboration between social scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and scientists within the University of Texas System Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) aimed at understanding the assets Latinx students bring to their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. Although Latinx undergraduates plan to enter STEM at rates equivalent to or exceeding those of their peers from other racial/ethnic groups, they are underrepresented in the STEM workforce and among degree recipients in STEM. As a counter to deficit-based studies that investigate these discrepancies by emphasizing what Latinx students lack, this study focuses on the community cultural resources Latinx students bring to their education and careers. By mapping Latinx students’ social networks, measuring their community cultural wealth (CCW), documenting their experiences with STEM research, and tracking changes in their professional identity as they move from their junior to senior year and then out into the work6force or into STEM graduate programs, this project will advance the ways eight LSAMP institutions can institutionalize supportive structures for undergraduate STEM education.      The project team will document the experiences and relationships of a group of Latina/o students each fall over the course of 3 years, and  will employ new quantitative techniques for assessing their CCW during their college-to-career transition. The longitudinal mixed method design is among the first to combine CCW with ego network analysis. This not only expands the epistemologies and methodologies available to STEM education researchers, but more broadly speaking, can inform institutions of higher education as they develop the CCW- and social network-based STEM programming that is critical to Latina/o undergraduate STEM education. Finally, this project illustrates the importance of diversifying the range of institutions and partnerships Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) and emerging HSIs can have, given they will continue to bear witness to the collective racialized experiences of Latinx students pursuing their post-secondary education.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2401036,RAISE: CET: Design and operation of community-informed equity-based virtual power plants for achieving impact in Philadelphia,2025-04-25,Pennsylvania State Univ University Park,UNIVERSITY PARK,PA,PA15,999790,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems",CET Strategic Investments,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2401036,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2401036_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,168021503,NPM2J7MSCF61,"This Research Advanced by Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering (RAISE) award is made in response to Dear Colleague Letter 23-109, as part of the NSF-wide Clean Energy Technology initiative. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) are collections of distributed energy resources, such as batteries, and rooftop solar, which can be intelligently coordinated to improve the reliability, affordability, and sustainability of the electric grid. Traditional VPP models and programs are afflicted by both barriers and disproportionate risks to participants in disadvantaged communities (DACs). This is, in part, due to insufficient data for understanding how socio-technical factors influence energy flexibility and how providing opportunities for community input can improve the VPP design process. Further, algorithms and computational models for making technology and control decisions have neglected fairness and equity. To address these gaps, this project works directly with DACs in Philadelphia to design and evaluate new approaches to VPP participation that consider the unique conditions within a community along with issues of preference and fairness.      The goal of this project is to construct new models for equity-based design and control of VPPs from the ground up, considering the unique conditions and priorities in DACs. It adopts an interdisciplinary fusion of methods and data to solve the challenging problem of characterizing the needs and preferences of potential VPP participants in a way that facilitates new computational methods for design and control. The project uniquely focuses on services-based approaches, rather than considering electricity as a mere commodity, which enables new perspectives on what it means to deliver energy justice and equity within engineered systems. New equity-promoting and privacy-aware algorithms, with the ability to seamlessly resolve misspecification in model parameters by utilizing a learning layer, are studied, which will have broader application to other domains. Further, DAC participation in VPPs can potentially broaden the beneficial impacts of VPPs by monetizing behavioral flexibilities in access to energy services, a novel consideration for the basic science of VPP optimization.    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.",FALSE
2342627,Collaborative Research: Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity,2025-04-25,Middle Tennessee State University,MURFREESBORO,TN,TN04,305225,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342627,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342627_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,371320001,VMWUDBTMF4C9,"Data literacy plays a pivotal role in understanding real-world problems, making it an increasingly important topic in mathematics education. Preparing young learners to use data to answer questions and solve problems empowers them to participate in society as informed citizens and opens doors to 21st-century career opportunities. For many learners underrepresented in STEM, developing data literacy through innovative technologies requires personally meaningful experiences working with data. The Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity (FIT for Equity) is a Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI) project that will engage 24 teachers in co-designing technology-enhanced data literacy lessons and including students and community members as co-authors. This inclusive lesson study approach advances equity in math classes by supporting the critical data literacies necessary to participate in today’s workforce as informed citizens. FIT for Equity will cultivate design principles that bring together teachers, students, and community members in this innovative capacity building effort that may lead to more equitable learning opportunities. The project team will also produce a collection of data literacy mathematics lessons featuring transformative technologies to address community-based challenges, co-authored by elementary teachers, students, and community members in four distinct geographic locales in Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.    Through equity frameworks in mathematics education, this project will develop and test design principles for planning, observing, and reflecting on technology-integrated mathematics lessons. Researchers will use a design-based research approach to answer three research questions: 1. How do technology-enhanced data literacy lessons develop students' data literacy, understanding of community issues, and attitudes towards STEM? 2. How do the project’s design principles for technology-enhanced data literacy lessons promote teachers’ practices for culturally responsive mathematics teaching? 3. What are the affordances and constraints of Inclusive Lesson Study in expanding the integration of technology for data literacy towards equity? Iterative implementation cycles will be used to develop and test the inclusive lesson study cycles. Data will be collected through inventories and document analysis of lesson study artifacts, including student work, annotated classroom lessons, and lesson study meeting recordings. Additionally, data will be gathered using the Culturally Relevant Mathematics Teaching (CRMT2) Classroom Observation Tool, the Equity-centered Transformative Technology Lesson Analysis Tool, and interviews with participating teachers, students, and community members. Pre- and post-surveys will be administered to measure changes in students' STEM self-efficacy and career interests. Deliverables will include a repository of research lessons and video vignettes highlighting FIT for Equity lessons. Research findings will be disseminated through a project website, conference presentations, and journal publications. All program materials will be made free and publicly accessible, allowing other educators, designers, and researchers to replicate or modify them to foster innovative approaches to promoting inquiry topics that are both meaningful and applicable to underrepresented learners’ real-world contexts.    This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that increase students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2347034,"Participant Support for 2024 American Control Conference (ACC); Toronto, Ontario, Canada; 8-12 July 2024",2025-04-25,Louisiana State University,BATON ROUGE,LA,LA06,49430,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation","Dynamics, Control and System D",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347034,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347034_4900,2024-05-15,2025-04-30,708030001,ECQEYCHRNKJ4,"The American Control Conference (ACC) is a highly regarded international conference that brings together the international controls community to discuss the latest advancements in systems and controls across various application area while offering attendees educational and networking opportunities. ACC also provides a unique chance for students and researchers to interact with industry professionals and national lab researchers in a stimulating environment, allowing them to exchange ideas and learn from a broad group of colleagues. The conference provides a range of workshops before the event, making it an excellent opportunity for additional training, learning, and networking. Unfortunately, financial constraints have traditionally limited the participation of disadvantaged students from underrepresented groups in engineering, including women, minorities, persons with disabilities, veterans, and first-generation students. Therefore, this award will provide travel support to enable the involvement of those students who are typically unable to attend professional conferences. The travel support program also targets students from non-R1 institutions. These accessibility efforts are expected to promote inclusion in these networking and professional development opportunities.     The systems theoretic approach has played a vital role in developing many technologies that impact everyday life, including power, traffic, manufacturing, energy, environment, health, biotechnology, and pharmaceutics. The annual American Control Conference covers a broad range of topics, reflecting the varied applications of systems and control theory. The 2024 conference will comprise regular and invited sessions, tutorial sessions, poster sessions, special sessions, and workshops and exhibits, providing an exceptional opportunity for students, researchers, and industrial professionals to discuss emerging technologies and applications.    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.",FALSE
2116473,"Collaborative Research:  Varieties of Crises, Elite Responses, and Executive Approval",2025-04-25,University of Connecticut,STORRS,CT,CT02,16739,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116473,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116473_4900,2022-01-01,2025-06-30,062699018,WNTPS995QBM7,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2. This project examines four major types of crises -- economic, security, natural disaster, and public health crises – and how they influence public support for political leaders in contemporary democracies. This is important to understand because leader approval is a key barometer of policymaker accountability and democratic stability, both of which can be undermined by crises. This project analyzes the interplay of four factors  which vary systematically across these different types of crises and how, in turn, these shape public evaluations of political executives: (1) the ability of citizens to assign responsibility for policy decisions and outcomes; (2) the degree of expert consensus on effective policy response; (3) how much a given crisis in one area generates acute challenges or crises in other areas; and (4) the extent to which an effective response depends on citizens acting collectively.  Several data sets including (quarterly) measures of executive approval and crises; the tone and salience of leader messaging about the crises; the media’s treatment of leader messaging; and (monthly) leader approval for a smaller number of countries for which such data is available; and survey-based experiments in three countries are collected and made publicly available. The award supports education and diversity by building the research capacity of a student project lab at Georgia State University, a Minority Serving Institution, in coordination with PIs at four other universities who will also engage graduate and undergraduate students in this work.     Puzzling divergences across countries in public reactions to leader responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis have revealed major gaps in our understanding of how crisis events translate into public assessments of leaders. To resolve these puzzles, this project advances a unifying theoretical framework that identifies four major types of crises: economic, security, natural disaster, and public health. It then locates these crises on four key dimensions which should condition public support of top officials: the institutional and political context and other factors that impact attribution of responsibility, degree of expert consensus and incentives for politicians to follow expert recommendations, the likelihood and nature of spill-over to other crisis types, and the degree to which citizen action is required for an effective response. The project collects data to test theoretically-motivated hypotheses using: 1) a macro time-series cross-national data set to study the effects of crisis type on public approval for political executives for 48 countries, 2) a high-frequency time-series data set appropriate to test how approval dynamics reflect leader responses, as well as messaging choices and media effects for 18 countries for which this data is available, and 3) conjoint experiments in France, Italy, and Mexico, countries with different political and institutional settings, to assess the validity of the links between crisis types and dimensions as well as to validate proposed individual-level mechanisms.    This project is supported by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior Program and the SBE Build and Broaden Program.    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.",FALSE
2411632,Support for Biennial African School of Fundamental Physics 2024,2025-04-25,University of Texas at Arlington,ARLINGTON,TX,TX25,14000,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Physics,HEP-High Energy Physics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411632,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411632_4900,2024-05-01,2025-10-31,760199800,LMLUKUPJJ9N3,"This award will partially support U.S. lecturers at the Biennial School on Fundamental Physics and its Applications taking place in Marrakesh, Morocco, July 7 – July 21, 2024. This biennial ASP series has been ongoing since 2010 and has solidly established itself within the African continent and worldwide. Each school in the ASP series is located in the region of sub-Saharan Africa and strategically select participating students throughout the entire continent of Africa with the focus on ethnic and gender balance. In this regard, ASP contributes significantly to the ethnic and gender diversifications in the field of physics and is an excellent example of a successful capacity building program. The knowledge of fundamental physics and the associated necessary technical skills are excellent motivations for students of science. In this regard, ASP is an essential avenue for DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in the field of physics in general, which is dominated by non-African ethnic groups and by males. The goals of ASP are to build capacity to harvest, interpret and exploit the results of current and future physics experiments and to increase proficiency in related applications. ASP program is based on a close interplay between theoretical, experimental and applied physics. The participating students are selected from the entire African continent to ensure benefits to diverse group of students in all genders.    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.",FALSE
2046454,CAREER: Using network analysis to assess confidence in research synthesis,2025-04-25,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,URBANA,IL,IL13,599963,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046454,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046454_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,618013620,Y8CWNJRCNN91,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    The best available science is an important factor that informs policy in areas such as conservation, energy, healthcare, and sustainable. Determining the best available science requires synthesizing multiple scientific results to gauge both the level of scientific consensus and the reliability of the research. However, on some policy-relevant topics, different syntheses come to incompatible conclusions. Such inconsistency in the synthesis of evidence wastes money, generates misleading results, and can lead to poor decisions impacting large numbers of people. Through research, education, and outreach, this CAREER project aims to develop and test a novel framework of tools and workflows that will reveal potential sources of bias in expert literature. The framework will enable stakeholders to quickly understand which individuals, institutions and funders contributed to the creation of the evidence. It will assess other factors that create risk of bias as well as the degree of confidence an expert community has in the evidence presented. Research outcomes could facilitate data-driven decision-making in a broad range of areas. Examples include topics in energy and environmental sciences and health sciences, like the carbon footprint of various forms of food production, herd immunity, and vaccine effectiveness. This project will also help diversify the science workforce by employing student assistants from underserved populations and by developing two policy-relevant STEM university courses and a middle school career video to attract underrepresented students.    This project explores how to improve the assessment of confidence in research at scale. It will enable evidence-seekers to quickly understand the level of consensus within a body of literature, along with risk factors that might impact reliability of research, providing a key resource for robustness and reproducibility. This framework can be applied to any bibliography, including manuscripts under peer review, published articles, and database search results. Project outputs will be beneficial for identifying risks in literature reviews, such as sponsor bias or the avoidance of citation of contradictory evidence, which will help reduce the spread of misinformation. This project is made possible by recent advances in network science and text mining methods, as well as the availability of abstracts, affiliation, citations, and funding data  under suitable licenses for data science. The work is novel in bringing together complementary approaches that have not previously been combined: argumentation theory and the study of controversies; approaches for synthesizing evidence; and bibliometric and scientometric approaches for looking structurally at a field.    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.",FALSE
2411988,"Positioning Engineering Faculty to Support Black Engineering Graduate Students through Awareness, Knowledge, Capacity Building, and Community",2025-04-25,George Mason University,FAIRFAX,VA,VA11,1188830,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411988,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411988_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,220304422,EADLFP7Z72E5,"This project aims to address racial equity in engineering education by enhancing the awareness and knowledge of engineering faculty to support Black engineering graduate students. Black students in engineering programs often experience microaggressions, lack of support, and systemic barriers, which impede their academic success and well-being. This initiative aims to disrupt these cycles by equipping faculty with the tools and understanding necessary to be positioned to be actionable in cultivating a more inclusive and supportive environment. By focusing on the three phases of awareness, knowledge, capacity building, and community, the project will provide faculty with empirical data on the lived experiences of Black students, engage them in professional development to build cultural competence, and establish a supportive community of practice. This comprehensive approach not only seeks to improve the academic outcomes and mental health of Black engineering students but also serves as a model for fostering antiracist educational environments across disciplines and institutions. The anticipated outcomes include greater faculty awareness of racial inequities experienced by Black students, improved faculty-student rapport and relationship, and a reduction in the harm done to Black engineering graduate students. This project has the potential to advance social justice, contribute to a more equitable academic landscape, and inspire similar initiatives in other fields and institutions.    To address systemic racial inequities faced by Black engineering graduate students, this research is situated in the theory of racialized organizations and seeks to develop a comprehensive professional development program that increases faculty awareness of the unique challenges faced by Black scholars. Using a multimodal, mixed-method approach, the project will compare three educational modalities (e.g., case study, 2D-video, and immersive virtual reality simulations) to determine the most effective method for fostering faculty awareness and resonance of the lived experience of Black graduate scholars in engineering. Conducted with engineering faculty at Arizona State University (ASU) and George Mason University (GMU), cohorts will participate in the Positioning Faculty for Antiracist Orientations (PFAO) program anchored in the High Impact Cultural Competency framework. This program is designed to build cultural competency while establishing a supportive, longitudinal community of practice of Engineering faculty committed to racial equity. The project will leverage previous NSF funded work centering Black students as experts of their own experiences in applying their insights to inform the development of educational content. Over five years, the project will directly impact 90 engineering faculty, a novel and significant effort focused on the gatekeepers of engineering culture. The study's findings have potential implications for higher education, providing a model for capacity building and positioning antiracist orientations that can be adapted to support other minoritized groups. This work is supported by an interdisciplinary team and aims to contribute significantly to the fields of Engineering, Education, Psychology, and Computing.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2315042,Collaborative Research: Black Girls as Creators: an intersectional learning ecosystem toward gendered racial equity in Artificial Intelligence education,2025-04-25,University of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,804650,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315042,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315042_4900,2023-10-01,2028-09-30,152600001,MKAGLD59JRL1,"This project will work with artificial intelligence (AI) creators and Black girls, aged 9-14, to expand the range of perspectives and voices that are a part of AI technology. The project will include after school and summer camps for both Black girls and the AI creators to work together on the design and creation of AI projects.      This project examines two research questions. One is theoretical: What are design principles for an intersectional AI learning ecosystem? With this question the PIs explore Black girls' experiences with AI learning ecosystems, and how they can enact the constructs of intersectionality (critical reflection, action, accountability). Findings related to question 1 will help them develop a framework for intersectional professional development for AI professionals that is specific to how racial equity can be realized in AI learning; and, help them create new curricula that integrates AI; and, develop a framework for how to integrate PD, with curricula and technologies in AI spaces in order to create a more cohesive learning ecosystem. Research question 2 focuses on implementation: What are practical implementation guidelines for community organizations to integrate curricula and professional development into an intersectional AI learning ecosystem? The findings from this question will facilitate the development of resources for AI educators and community organizations. The findings from this project will be of interest to technology educators, AI professionals, the broader STEM education field, and community organizations that provide STEM education.      This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2100349,Collaborative Research: What Black Doctoral Students in STEM Want and What Their Faculty are Giving: How the Differences Impact Students’ Mental Health and Career Trajectory Decisi,2025-04-25,University of Massachusetts Boston,DORCHESTER,MA,MA08,445301,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100349,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100349_4900,2021-06-15,2026-05-31,021253300,CGCDJ24JJLZ1,"To increase the diversity of the PhD-prepared workforce, understanding underlying issues affecting retention and completion of doctoral degrees is essential. Researchers at Arizona State University and University of Massachusetts Boston propose to study the expressed needs of Black doctoral students in relation to faculty perceptions of what they are providing during advising relationships. Understanding the mental health impacts of cumulative experiences that marginalize Black graduate students will advance knowledge by providing recommendations for developing inclusive environments and mentoring strategies that are effective at supporting Black students. Through a two-phase design, the project aims to use detailed interviews regarding the experiences of marginalization, mental health, and career trajectory decisions of graduate students and faculty perceptions of supports and contributors and deterrents to providing supports. The project is aligned with the EHR Core Research program’s goal of addressing challenges in STEM interest, learning, and participation.     The research design is framed by extending Role Strain Theory to include the tension that Black students may feel in relationships during graduate programs. The central hypothesis is that intersectional experiences of marginalization and the STEM environment among Black doctoral students impacts mental health and career trajectory decisions. The project aims to understand the contributors and deterrents for faculty to address systemic barriers. A nationwide sampling strategy will include representation from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Predominately White Institutions (PWIs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). The project aims to match critical identity aspects in the interviewer-interviewee pairing within each phase of the project. Phenomenological principles grounded in a social constructivist paradigm will guide the interpretation of individual interviews. The research responds to the need for understanding barriers to success in graduate programs for Black students by a novel coordination and expansion of traditional educational research strategies with strategies typically utilized by counseling psychologists. The creation of a tip sheet on promising practices for supporting Black students and an online repository aims to inform faculty advisors who seek to improve communication and mentoring for their students.     The project is funded by the EHR Core Research program that supports fundamental research focused on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM professional workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2246079,CUE-M: LEVEL UP: Charting a Pathway toward Inclusive Computing,2025-04-25,Northeastern University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,1000000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2246079,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2246079_4900,2023-04-01,2025-09-30,021155005,HLTMVS2JZBS6,"This project aims to serve the national interest by building consensus for a united vision of undergraduate computing education around the areas of inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessible learning. The goal of this project is to move the needle on several of computing’s biggest challenges in undergraduate programs. Examples of challenges include how to manage booming enrollments in computing without damaging diversity efforts and how to widen a domestic path to PhD programs. Computing education continues to face challenges around inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessible learning. While several departments and colleges are achieving major successes in these areas, many others are lagging. Change is possible with a coordinated effort among computing department leaders and faculty. All universities and colleges need to “LEVEL UP” and implement the best practices that broaden participation in computing.     To achieve the goal of developing consensus on a shared vision of change, a series of regional workshops will be held where faculty across the country will meet and build consensus around inclusive computing education. The project will utilize an equity lens and involve several NSF BPC Alliances and BPC community members. The results of the workshops will be compiled, summarized, and disseminated nationwide in an evidence-based report of best practices towards inclusive computing. This project will involve faculty from diverse institutions, representatives of the NSF Broadening Participation in Computing Alliances, and an advisory board of highly respected computing educators and professionals. The advisory board will coordinate the creation of the final report.    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.",TRUE
2115971,Intercultural Science Communication Research and Training to Broaden Participation Among Historically Minoritized Science Practitioners,2025-04-25,University of Rhode Island,KINGSTON,RI,RI02,1488961,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115971,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115971_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,028811974,CJDNG9D14MW7,"Among scientists, science communication is an increasingly important area of practice, scholarship, and research, especially with early career scientists. The growing interest in combating widespread disinformation and inaccurate public perception of science has increased demand for training in science communication; however, there is a significant gap in both research and training for scientists from diverse racial and ethnic cultural backgrounds. The project will address this knowledge and research gap by applying intercultural communication theory to the design, development, and testing of a new curriculum that will provide evidence-based methods to make science communication trainings inclusive and intersectional. The curriculum will be designed and evaluated to build capacity among science communication trainers and practitioners. Sixty pre-tenure environmental science faculty of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds will be trained in strategic science communication skills using cultural perspectives and academic goals in science communication. The project will gather research data in collaboration with the national SciComm Trainers Network. In addition to advancing science communication research, training, and practice, the project will implement a novel, peer-reviewed podcast for broader impact. The project Fellows will be prepared to engage in a wide range of science communication activities throughout their careers and lead related efforts at their home institutions. Following a final workshop to develop culturally responsive guidance for science communication trainers, the project team will share findings to the field to inform future practice and societal impacts from advancing culturally relevant science communication in training programs. This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    The project will address two significant gaps in science communication and intercultural communication research. First, despite the recognition that more research about race and ethnicity is needed in science communication, few studies have been conducted. Second, while findings on intercultural communication research are consistent across fields, such as health communication and business communication, the research has yet to examine how well-established theories in this area of study apply to the unique norms and processes of science. Investigators will test a novel theoretical framework grounded in two intercultural communication theories: identity negotiation theory and communication accommodation theory. The project will test the extent to which the professional norms and processes of STEM and academia relate to cultural norms and communication styles of underrepresented racial and ethnic minority scientists, and how these factors influence their science communication efforts. The project will use a mixed methods approach including in-depth interviews and surveys. The results of the study will be used to develop and adapt culturally tailored science communication training for 60 pre-tenure environmental science faculty from underrepresented groups. The results of the project will provide evidence to make science communication training and practice more inclusive and effective. The collaboration with the national SciComm Trainers Network will ensure broad dissemination and professional application of project findings. The project will increase representation of racial and ethnic minority scientists as science communicators, including in environmental news coverage; provide a new peer-reviewed podcast series for public audiences that will introduce listeners to environmental research through a culturally responsive lens; provide tested methods for designing inclusive and effective science communication training curricula; and will inform faculty efforts to incorporate science communication activities as part of career advancement.    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.",FALSE
2326704,Conference: Equity and Inclusion in Research Failure Disclosure,2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,200000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2326704,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2326704_4900,2023-10-01,2025-09-30,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"The University of Virginia (UVA) ADVANCE conference project will support a convening on the issue of failure disclosure in the sciences, with particular attention given to inequalities of failure as experienced by women faculty in STEM. Potential topics for the convening include, equitable approaches to failure and failure disclosure at the institutional level; unexpected outcomes: reporting/publishing failed research; and ethical dimensions of failure disclosure for women in STEM. The in-person conference is planned for 2024 and includes pre and post conference components to support outreach and communication of findings from the conference. Conference participants will come from across the US and include different STEM disciplines, faculty ranks and appointment types, and institution types. UVA will strategically partner with the Society of STEM Women of Color (SSWOC) and the Women in Research group (WinR).      The existing literature on research failure reporting in STEM and the potential benefits of increasing reporting research failure does not sufficiently examine the different consequences of failure disclosure based on the underrepresented status of the person doing the disclosing. This work rarely considers what can occur when failure disclosure is done uncritically, especially when it ignores questions of power, gender, race, and the competitive context in which academic science is practiced. The conference thus will seek to ensure relevant questions are raised about the equity of failure reporting by consulting with STEM faculty women of color such as: Who is permitted to fail, for whom is failure safe, and why? Who has gained the institutional credibility to publicly engage with failure? Whose failure stories inspire, and whose invite blame and negative evaluation?    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.",TRUE
2206125,Collaborative Research: EAGER: Using allies to expand your network: Implementing a psychological methodology to attract and retain underrepresented (UR) students in geoscience,2025-04-25,Texas Tech University,LUBBOCK,TX,TX19,273404,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206125,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2206125_4900,2021-12-15,2025-08-31,79409,EGLKRQ5JBCZ7,"Geoscience maintains a base-rate problem with respect to diversity: ethnic minorities and people with disabilities are highly underrepresented. This has been traced to a variety of barriers for underrepresented (UR) ethnic scholars including: a lack of geoscience majors at HBCUs and primarily Hispanic-serving institutions, a lack of experience with, and time spent in, nature (e.g., < 3% of visitors to U.S. national parks are Black and Hispanic), and negative attitudes about career prospects. For people with disabilities, the main challenge is accessibility and the provision of appropriate accommodations. UR individuals may self-select out of geoscience programs due to these perceptions and barriers. This project will test the idea that allies, or members of dominant social identities, are best situated to positively influence these statistics. Academic allies, whether faculty or graduate student teaching assistants, have tremendous impact on their students’ academic engagement and can serve as linchpins for improving the future trajectories of UR students. PIs will train individuals in effective allyship behaviors, and incentivize them to recruit UR students into their academic field trips. The PIs plan to target allies who engage in field research and education, as geoscience is a unique STEM field insofar as much of the data collection and skill development are practiced out in nature at locations around the world. The PIs propose testing a strategy to overcome barriers in this context for UR students, as positive (or negative) experiences in field settings have profound impacts on recruitment and retention.    This project will facilitate training and assessment of approximately 80 academic allies and measure the effect of that training on allies as well as hundreds of majority and UR students. The expectation is that the training will produce a secondary effect: academic allies role model effective behaviors to all of their students and faculty networks, creating a “train-the-trainer” ripple effect. The PIs will use academic field trips as a vehicle for measurement, including multisource ratings, applying 360-degree-type ratings typically collected in performance appraisals to this setting. Deliverables include an experimental, longitudinal (over time), and multisource analysis of the allyship program and its improvement of allyship-related attitudes and behaviors, as well as its impact on the performance of UR students. These results will inform research efforts regarding the effectiveness of implemented strategies, and the materials and procedure will be made open-source for maximum replicability. A capstone conference will be used to disseminate findings to all participating allies and UR students, inform about methodologies that improve attraction and retention of UR groups in the geosciences, and expand UR networks.    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.",FALSE
2043192,"Influences of State Policies and Racialized Parental Incarceration on Youth Justice System Contact and Conflict, Emotional Estrangement and Intergenerational Life Outcomes",2025-04-25,American Bar Foundation,CHICAGO,IL,IL05,318536,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2043192,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2043192_4900,2021-03-15,2026-02-28,606113152,F7UYJCNMJGA5,"From about 1970 to 2010, police profiling and mass incarceration increased at historically unprecedented rates in America.  Since 2010, there have been variable reductions, especially among African-American parents and youth who have been disproportionately imprisoned for minor drug offenses punished as serious crimes. The economist Glen Loury has observed that ‘blackness’ had led to “misattributions detrimental to blacks,” while the sociologists Becky Pettit and Bruce Western has shown that this has made the abnormality of going to prison disproportionately “normal” for many African-American parents and their children. The present study focuses on the results of disparities in parental incarceration on children. The focus is on children from ages of about 15 to 35, using data from five waves of the National Longitudinal of Study Adolescent and Adult Health [Add Heath]. The analysis concentrates on (a) how state variation in parental incarceration and resulting family trajectories affects their children, (b) the unfolding life experiences of child transitions from youth to adulthood, and (c) the later life course educational and occupational consequences of differences in these parental and youth experiences.     The Add Health data set offers unique possibilities for assessing unfolding life events of parents and children who have experienced variation in profiling and punishment across American states during the recent era of mass incarceration. This study will analyze this mass incarceration era sample of youth from adolescence into adulthood.  Understanding variable consequences of state level policies requires analysis of these states alongside data also collected on the affected individuals, and the Add Health data allow both.  In the past, Add Health has worked with this research team to add new measures of youth and adult crime and the return of parents, as well as their adolescent and young adult children, from prison. The current research will extend this work and uniquely develop new measures with Add Health of the policing and punishment of traffic violations. Traffic violations are uniquely important, for example, when they are disputed as resulting from “driving while Black.” Analysis of these measures will be of special importance because they can be embedded within the larger multiple wave and national framework of Add Health. The measurement and analysis will further examine how the variable accumulation across states and the sampled individuals of fines and court costs may have damaging consequences for life outcomes that last into and through middle adulthood.  The above additions to the national Add Health data set will be made publicly available for other researchers to analyze as well.    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.",FALSE
2433352,"Materials-Manufacturing-Machine Learning Nexus (M3X) Conference: Athens, Georgia; 18-20 May 2025",2025-04-25,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,30000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",AM-Advanced Manufacturing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2433352,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2433352_4900,2024-10-01,2025-09-30,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"This award provides participant support for students and young researchers to attend the Materials-Manufacturing-Machine Learning Nexus (M3X) Conference at the University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, 18-20 May 2025. Priority is given to participation by women and underrepresented minority groups, which promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion. The M3X conference explores research at the intersection of materials science, manufacturing technologies, and machine learning. U.S. and international researchers, faculty and scholars present their research results on advanced materials, manufacturing and machine learning. The conference impacts the materials, manufacturing and data science communities through discussions of cutting-edge research. This project benefits the nation through the education of a skilled science and engineering workforce, which is better prepared to provide transformative solutions to the challenges in their chosen fields. The conference plays an important role in supporting and sustaining machine learning-enabled advanced material discovery and advanced manufacturing, which have various important applications in many industrial sectors such as microelectronics, energy, healthcare, automotive and aerospace.    This participant support is expected to benefit the students’ and young researchers’ professional, scientific, and technical development. Attendance at the conference gives the students and young faculty a broader view of advanced materials, manufacturing and machine learning technologies, their fundamentals and practical applications. The conference provides a venue for presentations and discussions on the integration of advanced computational methods with materials science and manufacturing engineering. Specifically, the discussions focus on using machine learning algorithms to optimize material properties, enhance manufacturing efficiencies, and streamline production processes. At the conference, concepts and challenges at the intersection of advanced materials, manufacturing and machine learning are identified and presented, and attendees chart new paths forward in the field and rally a new generation of researchers toward them. The conference is attended by U.S. and international researchers, which provides an opportunity for a variety of perspectives to be presented and discussed. The conference is an opportunity for participants to showcase their scientific accomplishments and interact with peers and colleagues in academia, government laboratories and industry.    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.",FALSE
2416708,"Conference: 5th Council of Chairs Biomedical Engineering Education Summit; Newark, New Jersey; 29-31 May 2024",2025-04-25,New Jersey Institute of Technology,NEWARK,NJ,NJ10,10000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",Engineering of Biomed Systems,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416708,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416708_4900,2024-05-01,2025-04-30,071021824,SGBMHQ7VXNH5,"The Biomedical Engineering Society Council of Chairs (BMES CoC) - a body of 140 department chairs - shares a mission to improve access and outcomes for all engineering students interested in biomedical engineering or bioengineering and holds an Education Summit every three years. Funding will support the next summit will, held in Newark, New Jersey, 29-31 May 2024. The summit intends to develop approaches to address an evolving student population with different teaching, motivational and support needs. Building diversity in the biomedical engineering workforce will also be a focus and will be integrated throughout the program.     The 2024 Summit focuses on including undergraduate participation in research, hands on preparation of students for graduate study and biomedical workforce development - major foci of BME programs. Topics will include teaching and learning approaches, including use of high impact practices and inclusive pedagogies in BME education, uses of AI-based learning tools, the future of coding, and the role of BME research in student outcomes and industry preparedness. Summit data collected from all partners will be shared through publicly accessible journal articles. Participants include stakeholders from broad learning environments, from residential college campuses to primarily commuter-serving educational institutions and industry. The summit will foster the generation of new ideas, guidelines and best practices among educators, broadly benefit learners, and promote inclusion of those under-represented in the BME discipline. Interactions across institutions and with industry partners will further enhance learning that strengthens student competitiveness for emerging engineering disciplines.    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.",FALSE
2342547,Doctoral Dissertation Research: Factors Influencing Disproportionality in Land Dispossession,2025-04-25,Stanford University,STANFORD,CA,CA16,31950,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cult Anthro DDRI,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342547,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342547_4900,2024-02-01,2025-10-31,943052004,HJD6G4D6TJY5,"This doctoral dissertation research project contributes to understandings of the relationship between title, property, and land dispossession in anthropological science and sociolegal studies. The research centers on the dynamic interplay between bureaucratic institutions, legal advocates, and landowners in defining and redefining the legal boundaries of property ownership. Land dispossession is contributing significantly to vast economic inequity and instability, particularly for marginalized landowners. The project aims to expand understandings of how socioeconomic inequalities and property are intertwined with socio-political and economic mobility. In addition to training a graduate student in scientific data collection and analysis, this research sheds light on contemporary legal and political challenges landowners face in the United States and broadens studies on the phenomena of land grabbing in diverse social contexts. Findings and data from this project are being disseminated to academic and non-academic audiences.     The research questions are: (1) What are the categories of property ownership? (2) Do specific forms of property ownership create an increased risk of dispossession for marginalized landowners? (3) In what ways are state and local bureaucratic systems intertwined with local private and public infrastructure projects that may facilitate land loss (4) What strategies do vulnerable landowners engage in to avoid dispossession and reclaim lands lost to dispossession? and (5) How do land and property ownership factor into understandings of citizenship and belonging? The project specifically explores the layers of complexity surrounding land dispossession through a range of ethnographic and sociolegal research methods, including participant observation, legal archival searches of land deeds, sociohistorical analyses of legal terminology, and the tracking of legal disputes. The project contributes to broader discussions on citizenship, rights, and belonging. Examining legal classifications may reveal contributing factors that disproportionately contribute to an increase in land loss for some landowners.    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.",TRUE
2419970,IRES: Research to Support Energy Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples,2025-04-25,University of North Dakota Main Campus,GRAND FORKS,ND,ND00,450000,Standard Grant,OD,Office of the Director,International Science and Engineering,Intl Rsrch Exp for Stds (IRES),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419970,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2419970_4900,2025-01-01,2027-12-31,582028371,RSWNKK6J8CF3,"The University of North Dakota (UND) in collaboration with Kansas State University (KSU), North Dakota State University (NDSU) and the University of Adelaide (UoAd), Australia have established an International Research Experience for Students (IRES) Site as part of a larger initiative to form a global center focused on Energy Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples (ESIP, NSF Awards 2316355 and 2330387). Each year, a cohort of six U.S. students, conduct year-long collaborative research projects that integrate activities from their home institutions with a 10-week summer research experience at UoAd.  They are mentored by a team of research advisors from UoAd and the participating US institutions. The objectives of this IRES are to: 1) engage US students who are interested in pursuing research in ESIP technology areas, with an emphasis on engaging US students from Indigenous backgrounds including Native American students, 2) conduct preliminary/seed data-focused research in four ESIP technology areas, and 3) establish deep research partnerships between the center’s US researchers and partners at UoAd. The theme of this IRES transcends national boundaries, providing a compelling example of the globalization and cultural awareness needed in STEM research in general and energy research in particular.     A suite of research projects is being conducted to work towards providing sustainable, reliable and efficient engineering infrastructures and solutions for Indigenous energy sovereignty around the globe. Projects are in the following ESIP technology areas: 1) power, heat and fuel generation, 2) power, heat and fuel distribution, and 3) supply resiliency. This topic is important to Indigenous peoples who have been disproportionally affected by climate change. As such, highly qualified US students will be motivated to pursue research and studies in this critical area.  The projects introduce students to STEM research in a collaborative global context emphasizing the need for cultural connections within STEM research. Involvement in hands-on research experiences at a world-class Australian facility with expert mentorship enhances participant awareness of the international facets of their STEM disciplines and improves recruitment of US STEM students for graduate studies.  In addition to UND, KSU and NDSU, students are being recruited from TCUs participating in ESIP plus regional rural non-doctoral institutions. This facilitates the inclusion of students from under-represented groups. The program is also designed to develop and foster international research collaborations between the US faculty mentors and their Australian counterparts to strengthen the global aspects of ESIP. Assessment with both summative and qualitative measures, coordinated by an external evaluator, facilitates annual program improvements.    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.",FALSE
2333270,"Workshop on Engineering Innovation for Health; Houston, Texas; 2024",2025-04-25,William Marsh Rice University,Houston,TX,TX09,10000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",BMMB-Biomech & Mechanobiology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333270,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333270_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,770051827,K51LECU1G8N3,"This grant will support early-career investigator participation at a workshop on Engineering Innovation for Health in Houston, Texas, in 2024.  With recent development of new technologies including molecular imaging, genome editing and artificial intelligence, the field of medicine is on the verge of a paradigm shift to have unprecedented engineering-driven precision in disease diagnosis treatment. To further develop engineering innovation for health, and better train the next-generation of leaders in this field, this workshop will bring together national and international academic experts, industry practitioners, and clinicians to discuss the cutting-edge research in developing biotechnologies and the unprecedented  opportunities to revolutionize medicine and healthcare, elucidate major issues and challenges in this interdisciplinary field, and identify future research directions that will significantly benefit our society. It is expected that this workshop will help develop novel ideas and transformative research projects that integrate engineering and life sciences, address fundamental biological issues, and solve biomedical problems that significantly improve human health.      The specific objective of this grant is to support the travel of 20 junior investigators, especially females and underrepresented minorities, to attend the Engineering Innovation for Health Workshop, to be held in 2024 in Houston, Texas.  This 2-day workshop will cover a broad range of topics, with a strong focus on revolutionary technologies for better disease diagnosis and therapies. The presentations and discussions at this Workshop will advance our understanding of the underlying scientific and technological issues and challenges in further developing innovative technologies for health, and facilitating interdisciplinary studies that may lead to a broader range of applications of engineering innovation to medicine, from revolutionary technologies for disease therapies, to advanced molecular imaging methods, to new computational and AI based approaches, to new devices for biosensing and disease diagnostics, to new methods using synthetic biology and mechanobiology. The results of the workshop will be disseminated broadly to enhance scientific and technological understanding and impact.    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.",FALSE
2411987,"Positioning Engineering Faculty to Support Black Engineering Graduate Students through Awareness, Knowledge, Capacity Building, and Community",2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,733633,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411987,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411987_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project aims to address racial equity in engineering education by enhancing the awareness and knowledge of engineering faculty to support Black engineering graduate students. Black students in engineering programs often experience microaggressions, lack of support, and systemic barriers, which impede their academic success and well-being. This initiative aims to disrupt these cycles by equipping faculty with the tools and understanding necessary to be positioned to be actionable in cultivating a more inclusive and supportive environment. By focusing on the three phases of awareness, knowledge, capacity building, and community, the project will provide faculty with empirical data on the lived experiences of Black students, engage them in professional development to build cultural competence, and establish a supportive community of practice. This comprehensive approach not only seeks to improve the academic outcomes and mental health of Black engineering students but also serves as a model for fostering antiracist educational environments across disciplines and institutions. The anticipated outcomes include greater faculty awareness of racial inequities experienced by Black students, improved faculty-student rapport and relationship, and a reduction in the harm done to Black engineering graduate students. This project has the potential to advance social justice, contribute to a more equitable academic landscape, and inspire similar initiatives in other fields and institutions.    To address systemic racial inequities faced by Black engineering graduate students, this research is situated in the theory of racialized organizations and seeks to develop a comprehensive professional development program that increases faculty awareness of the unique challenges faced by Black scholars. Using a multimodal, mixed-method approach, the project will compare three educational modalities (e.g., case study, 2D-video, and immersive virtual reality simulations) to determine the most effective method for fostering faculty awareness and resonance of the lived experience of Black graduate scholars in engineering. Conducted with engineering faculty at Arizona State University (ASU) and George Mason University (GMU), cohorts will participate in the Positioning Faculty for Antiracist Orientations (PFAO) program anchored in the High Impact Cultural Competency framework. This program is designed to build cultural competency while establishing a supportive, longitudinal community of practice of Engineering faculty committed to racial equity. The project will leverage previous NSF funded work centering Black students as experts of their own experiences in applying their insights to inform the development of educational content. Over five years, the project will directly impact 90 engineering faculty, a novel and significant effort focused on the gatekeepers of engineering culture. The study's findings have potential implications for higher education, providing a model for capacity building and positioning antiracist orientations that can be adapted to support other minoritized groups. This work is supported by an interdisciplinary team and aims to contribute significantly to the fields of Engineering, Education, Psychology, and Computing.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2428232,"Travel Support for 2024 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Annual Conference and Expo; Montreal, Canada; 18-21 May 2024",2025-04-25,University of Arizona,TUCSON,AZ,AZ07,30000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",MSI-Manufacturing Systms Integ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2428232,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2428232_4900,2024-05-01,2025-04-30,85721,ED44Y3W6P7B9,"This grant provides support for students to participate in the 2024 Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) Annual Conference and Expo to be held 18-21 May 2024, in Montreal, Canada. The IISE Conference and Expo is a unique venue for advancing discovery and understanding systems-level thinking in manufacturing. The 2024 IISE Annual Conference offers 1120 oral research presentations on topics across the Industrial and Systems Engineering research spectrum. Of those, the manufacturing systems’ most closely related divisions, Manufacturing & Design and Quality Control and Reliability Engineering, offer 195 oral presentations and access to 80 accepted papers for publication in the conference proceedings. These presentations cover state-of-the-art research in manufacturing topics such as Additive and Hybrid Manufacturing, Digital Manufacturing and Industry 4.0, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence in Manufacturing, Bioprinting and Healthcare Manufacturing, and Manufacturing Cybersecurity.  The conference’s location in Montreal presents a barrier, as some students will not have sufficient funds from their institutions or advisors to attend. By reducing the financial barrier for attending the conference, this award will help more students to benefit from attending the conference, helping to make the conference more accessible to a more diverse range of students. The award will support the recruitment and education of graduate and undergraduate students to engage in manufacturing systems integration research, contributing directly to broadening participation, training, and strengthening the U.S. manufacturing workforce development.     This grant will support students' conference registration and travel costs with the goal of promoting student participation at the conference, especially among students from groups often underrepresented in engineering. The selection process of the awardees will prioritize students who do not otherwise have sufficient funds from other sources (e.g., advisor, department, other travel awards) to attend the conference. Through this award, a special professional development plan will be developed for students to ensure they benefit from their participation in the conference. The main objectives of this plan are to: 1) expose more students as future workforce for Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, 2) support researchers to learn more about funding opportunities in this field, 3) support students as future faculty through networking and facilitating new collaborations, 4) expand participation in IISE to include a broader audience, and 5) promote diversity and inclusion in manufacturing and design.    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.",FALSE
2049799,Broadening Participation in Economics: The AEA Summer Program with Inclusive Mentoring,2025-04-25,Howard University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,2750000,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049799,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2049799_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,200590002,DYZNJGLTHMR9,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    This award funds Howard University as the host of the American Economic Association Summer Training Program. The goal of the AEASTP is to help talented undergraduate students advance their technical skills and conduct research in economics in preparation for studies at the doctoral level. Organizers make special efforts to recruit students from groups under-represented in the economics profession. The program combines research experience with intensive coursework and career mentoring in a residential experience. Instructors in the program include both leading economists and a cohort of Summer Fellows, graduate students in economics who serve as mentors for the students. Fellows get training in inclusive teaching methods and benefit from access to the faculty instructors, who work with both students and fellows as research mentors. AEASTP students will participate in research experiences at a number of federal agencies and non-profit organizations in the Washington DC area, and the instructional staff will include economists employed by the Federal Reserve Bank Board of Governors. The awardee institution will partner with the Women’s Institute on Science, Equity, and Race (WISER) to provide year-around mentoring for AEASTP participants.    The road to successful Ph.D. study in economics can be a rocky one, especially for students coming from minority-serving institutions and institutions that do not have a strong research focus. Obstacles include undergraduate economics curricula that are often oriented towards the most popular student career goal - business - than Ph.D. study, a lack of familiarity with the application process, and financial limitations. One consequence is that several important demographic groups are under-represented on economics faculties in the U.S. Over the course of this award, a strong cohortof students will be able to successfully advance to become mature researchers in economics and related social sciences. Their experiences will be instrumental in their later careers in allowing them to use a strong professional network to help them foster a more inclusive environment in their own teaching and research efforts. By broadening participation in the economics profession, the program will have a positive and lasting impact on shaping professional research agendas in economics and related fields to the benefit of the United States.    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.",FALSE
2322329,SCC-CIVIC-FA Track B:Placekeeping: a Co-designed Model for Intergenerational Co-housing and Coalition Building in a University-Adjacent Community,2025-04-25,Drexel University,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,1000000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322329,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2322329_4900,2023-10-01,2025-09-30,191042875,XF3XM9642N96,"The US housing crisis has severely impacted underserved communities of color. Rising rents and home prices put homeownership further out of reach. In 2021, 74% of white Americans owned a home, compared with 43% of Black Americans. Due to systemic racism, these disparities have persisted over decades. Existing housing stock needs reinvestment to meet the demands of an aging population. These challenges have been exacerbated due to residual impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and surging prices of food, gas, and other necessities. This project addresses these issues through the co-development of Second Story Collective (2SC), a novel multi-generational co-housing model that centers the arts to cohere diverse communities. This homesharing strategy aims to preserve homeownership for long-term residents, create affordable opportunities for new homebuyers, and reduce student housing costs. By utilizing a co-design process informed by community input as well as multi-modal data, the 2SC co-housing model will address the need for affordable housing and aging-in-place options while increasing access to services, reducing isolation, and building social cohesion. Findings from this project will contribute to knowledge in the fields of comprehensive urban community development, creative placemaking/placekeeping, and participatory research and design.     The main objective of this project is to develop, implement, and evaluate the 2SC model for intergenerational co-housing as an anti-displacement and aging-in-place strategy. The transdisciplinary team will work with an established cross-sector partner network to address urgent housing needs in the West Philadelphia Promise Zone neighborhood of Mantua, a rapidly gentrifying community that is also one of the nation’s most impoverished. The project will utilize a community-driven participatory action research (CPAR) design, examining community development efforts from a systems perspective while centering existing community assets. During Stage 1, the project team co-designed the 2SC co-housing model for Village Square on Haverford, a new multi-use development in Mantua. Using heterogenous data, we created an asset map of the relevant resources and developed a plan for establishing and coalescing the pilot community. In Stage 2, the project team will implement the 2SC pilot community and collect and analyze multi-modal data to evaluate the success of the pilot. The 2SC model has the potential to be implemented in similar communities throughout the US, and results from this pilot could serve as a model for equitable development through community-driven anti-displacement and co-housing solutions, particularly for historically marginalized Black communities.    This project is in response to Track B - CIVIC Innovation Challenge - Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs.    The CIVIC Innovation Challenge is a collaboration with Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, and the National Science Foundation.    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.",TRUE
2407374,Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Investigating the Impact of Mentorship Structures on Women's Persistence in Engineering,2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,181785,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2407374,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2407374_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"This project aligns with the National Science Foundation’s mission for “the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century”. The research project aims to address the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to study the effects of mentorship on persistence and success in STEMM. This study will examine the correlation and impact between mentorship outcomes and persistence in engineering for First-Time In College (FTIC) undergraduate women. A non-dyad mentoring network involving the pairing of mentees with an assembled number of mentors will be established based on deep-level similarities in sociocultural identities. Mentees will be paired with near-peer mentors in the upper-level division, an academic advisor/coach, faculty, and an industry mentor. Training modules for mentors will be developed to enhance effective and inclusive mentorship. Resource guides on mentoring best practices, mentoring tools, and training will be provided to all mentors to prepare and support their mentoring activities. Both mentors and mentees will be prompted with discussion topics. For example, prompt questions could include, “Tell me about a time when you struggled in a course and what you did to pass?” Mentees are expected to engage in formalized group activities that facilitate academic awareness, provide college survival tips, and support talent development and student success skills. Also, they are expected to participate in journal entries, focus group studies, and regular one-on-one meetings with their four mentors at different stages of their academic pursuits. A set of instruments, including reflection prompts, interviews, an inclusive demographics questionnaire, a Sense of Belonging, and Academic Self-Efficacy Scales, will be administered to respective participants in this mentorship structure.     This research project will be used to understand the impact of sociocultural contexts on mentoring structures, their processes, and their outcomes in the persistence of FTIC women in engineering. Specifically, to (1) determine the impact of traditional mentorship on FTIC women and their attrition rate in engineering at the University of South Florida; (2) investigate the effect of a structured mentorship model on FTIC women and their decision-making to continue pursuing engineering; (3) determine the effects of similar social and cultural perspectives of mentor and mentee relationships on the sense of belonging from their first year and beyond; (4) determine the impact of different social and cultural identities between mentors and mentees from their first year and beyond; and (5) examine and identify competency for sociocultural awareness relevancy to mentorship. Badura’s self-efficacy theory and Tinto’s theoretical framework will be employed to educate, motivate, prepare, and engage mentees. Statistical analysis and a coding software designed for qualitative and mixed-method assessment will be used to evaluate data, media, and text to decipher the outcomes between traditional and non-traditional mentoring structures and to examine the impact of similar sociocultural identities. The research will be conducted through a collaboration between engineering faculty at the University of South Florida and an engineering education faculty mentor at the University of Cincinnati. Results from this study will help expand the current knowledge base for creating and integrating a mentoring support system that intentionally targets engineering identity, persistence, and retention rates for students from populations underrecognized and underserved in STEM. The research outcome can potentially reveal, validate, and address the academic disparities in STEM education in the select population.    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.",FALSE
2148971,Prison Proliferation Project,2025-04-25,Urban Institute,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,400000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148971,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148971_4900,2023-09-15,2026-08-31,200242131,VNAYDLRGSKU3,"Mass incarceration has been made possible by the prison boom, a tripling in the number of prison facilities since 1970. This project examines both the causes and consequences of the prison boom. It considers where and why prisons are built, how these places are changed by a prison, and the impact of prison closures. Communities where prisons are built tend to be more rural, have higher rates of poverty, and have disproportionate shares of certain demographic groups. This research considers how closing prisons affects poverty in such communities. The project produces a comprehensive data file spanning over 100 years that links data on prison construction to communities. This research provides data and insights to support decision making on key issues in criminal justice reform.    This project has three research aims. First, the study explores how historical regimes affect the building of prison facilities between 1970 and 2010. Second, the project investigates the political economy of places where new prison facilities are built, including the presence of manufacturing and poverty rates. Third, the study investigates the impact of the prison booms and busts on employment, poverty, economic inequality, and health disparities. Determinants of prison building are tested using rare event logistic regression. The project trains young researchers from groups underrepresented in STEM. The findings inform efforts to support rural communities that are affected by the building and closing of prisons.    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.",TRUE
2055422,Identifying and Reducing Gender Bias in STEM: Systematically Synthesizing the Experimental Evidence,2025-04-25,American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences,ARLINGTON,VA,VA08,1167066,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055422,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055422_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,222023289,MCN6J5L6M3T4,"This project will integrate high-quality experimental evidence on the existence of, and strategies to reduce, gender bias in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, including how gender bias may intersect with other identities such as race and ethnicity. Biases favoring men could thwart women’s training and careers in STEM fields in many ways, but research also suggests promising interventions for changing biased cultures and structures. This project will synthesize four decades of research to understand the postsecondary and workforce contexts in which bias against women in STEM remains especially pernicious and the interventions that can most effectively reduce such biases. The results will inform scholarly debates such as whether biases against women in STEM have reduced over time, persist in nearly all training and career contexts, or vary in more nuanced ways across contexts and STEM fields. The work ultimately aims to help organizations (a) disrupt the culture of peer and mentor discrimination that could directly block women’s entry into STEM fields and (b) mitigate the accumulated experiences of discrimination and exclusion that could drive women out of STEM. Dissemination of project findings will especially focus on actionable insights for higher education institutions, such as bias reduction strategies that male and female STEM faculty can adopt in their teaching, mentoring, and service activities. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    The synthesis will include two sets of studies: (a) studies testing for the existence of gender bias in STEM fields (bias identification studies) and (b) studies evaluating interventions to reduce such biases (bias reduction studies). For both, the synthesis will focus on randomized experimental designs, such as changing the name on a résumé from John to Jennifer (bias identification study) or assigning some individuals to receive diversity training or not (bias reduction study). Focusing on experimental designs maximizes the rigor of the evidence to be synthesized because they help rule out potential confounds when testing for bias and evaluating intervention efficacy. All STEM fields will be eligible for review, spanning undergraduate education to the academic and nonacademic workforce, to provide a robust and thorough understanding of where gender biases exist and how interventions can reduce them. Contrasting with traditional literature reviews, the team will use rigorous systematic review and meta-analysis methods to improve transparency of the review process, reduce reviewer bias, and ensure the project’s findings are robust and comprehensive of existing high-quality evidence. Statistical analyses will focus on understanding how specific contextual features (e.g., formal accountability, disciplinary field, intervention design) can explain mixed findings on identifying and reducing gender bias in STEM. This knowledge can help universities, companies, and other organizations pinpoint where targeted intervention is most needed and which strategies will be most effective for mitigating bias.    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.",FALSE
2411933,Collaborative Research: A Student Asset-based Approach to the Formation of Equitable Teams (SAFE Teams),2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,741554,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411933,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411933_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"Teamwork is an integral part of engineering and computer science curricula. However, underrepresented students, particularly Black and Latinx students, especially those of lower socioeconomic status, tend to encounter adverse team experiences beyond those generally encountered by all students. A team-based learning environment that values each individual student’s assets can potentially decrease occurrences of negative team experiences rooted in racial bias, increase belongingness, and provide students with teamwork skills to succeed in the increasingly global job market. The goal of this collaborative project is to identify and understand pedagogical strategies that promote equity in team experiences for Black and Latinx students in engineering and computer science classrooms. The research team will use an asset-based approach drawing upon students’ cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets to inform team compositions that will foster cooperation, collaboration, and inclusion leading to equitable outcomes in team-based assignments. Additionally, the research team will couple this novel approach to team formation with training that educates faculty and students about conscious and unconscious bias, intercultural conflict, and culturally responsive communication to improve team dynamics. Enhancing the persistence of Black and Latinx students to degree completion and subsequent entrance into the STEM workforce can increase the diversity and global competitiveness of the STEM workforce in the U.S. which, in turn, promotes national economic prosperity.    The research team will perform a quasi-experimental, quantitatively driven, sequential, mixed methods design in three phases guided by a socioecological framework. The unit of analysis will focus on undergraduate teams formed in engineering and computer science courses that assign team-based assignments at the University of South Florida, Virginia Tech, and West Point. Undergraduate Black and Latinx students will partner with the PIs and co-PIs to make decisions about the research design, data collection and analysis, and dissemination of research results. The intellectual merits of this study will provide insights regarding the use of cultural, behavioral, and cognitive assets in the formation of equitable engineering and computer science student teams. By leveraging the new insights, the research impact will be to create more inclusive and equitable classroom environments to help alleviate challenges encountered in team-based undergraduate assignments. This project is a step toward transforming the STEM higher education system by illuminating the cultural assets that Black and Latinx students bring to the classroom and by providing inclusive team training to establish better team working environments and pedagogical strategies to improve overall learning experiences.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2243105,AGEP FC-PAM: Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineering Researchers (ARISE) to Increase the Diversity of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty,2025-04-25,Brown University,PROVIDENCE,RI,RI01,810124,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243105,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243105_4900,2023-07-01,2028-06-30,029129100,E3FDXZ6TBHW3,"The AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FC-PAM) “Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineers” (ARISE) promotes equity and inclusion in engineering higher education. The goal of the AGEP ARISE Alliance is to apply discipline-relevant, inclusive, and intersectional sponsorship and systemic change in hiring practices to increase the visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success of Black and African American, Latine and Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander biomedical engineering doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members at Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Yale University. This AGEP FC-PAM is building effective and professional sponsorship relationships outside the home institutions of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members. Sponsorship is differentiated from mentorship as it is concerned less with the transfer of knowledge between individuals and more with the transfer of power through the promotion of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members within professional networks. The doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’, and early career faculty members’ intersecting identities around race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and caregiver status informs pairings with sponsors, who are participating in training on the importance of intersectionality in sponsorship. The AGEP ARISE Alliance is also adapting faculty hiring best practices from the University of Michigan’s ADVANCE program to both postdoctoral research scholar and early career faculty hiring policies and practices.     Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty members, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FC-PAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FC-PAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FC-PAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.    The intermediate outcomes of the project are increases in the visibility, networks, opportunities, and collaborations of AGEP ARISE Alliance doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members and improved cultural and diversity awareness among sponsors. Longer term these advances translate into more diverse faculty in the AGEP ARISE Alliance academic departments. Internal and external advisory boards routinely review the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s progress, strategize on future steps, and engage with sponsors and sponsees. An internal evaluator is leading the project’s self-study and formative assessment of implementation, changes in hiring practices, and changes in doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’ and early career faculty members’ knowledge, aspirations, values, and professional activities resulting from Alliance activities. An external evaluator is providing summative assessment using a theory-based framework to assess the effectiveness of the AGEP ARISE Alliance in developing inclusive, nurturing networks of diverse doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members in biomedical engineering; the ways those individuals have increased their visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success; the impact of the project on fostering institutional climates that promote equity and inclusion; and the advancement of AGEP populations pursuing faculty positions in biomedical engineering. The AGEP ARISE Alliance team is developing and disseminating sponsorship and hiring guides, and project results, that are shared through peer-reviewed and general publications, an AGEP ARISE Alliance website, and presentations at scientific and professional meetings.    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.",TRUE
2341739,Collaborative Research: Effective Design of Institutions and Data Sharing Platforms in International Environmental Agreements,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,109723,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341739,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2341739_4900,2024-08-01,2027-07-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project assesses information sharing rules and practices in four International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) that govern global biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. Information sharing is critical to building trust and cooperative action among diverse actors and IEA member states in order to reach jointly agreed-upon global conservation objectives. In practice, however, IEA member countries follow a range of strategies for the selective sharing of information in order to promote different economic, social, or political objectives. At the same time, national funding agencies, non-governmental conservation organizations, and businesses are investing heavily in emerging technologies for monitoring and sharing data about global biodiversity conditions. Nonetheless, little is known about the current design and effectiveness of IEA information sharing platforms, or how IEA parties interact with global scientific data infrastructures in the context of meeting treaty obligations. In response, the project will advance knowledge of the complex landscape of global information sharing in conservation by examining the formal IEA information sharing rules and how they are mediated and operationalized through digital infrastructures by a variety of actors, including IEA Secretariats, government representatives, researchers, and conservation organizations. It will also map the data and decision-making linkages and gaps within and across the IEA information sharing platforms. Project findings will provide a systematic and holistic understanding of information sharing’s role in environmental governance and inform improvement and innovation in biodiversity resource management.    The project uses a mixed-method approach to analyze the degree to which conservation-related data are exchanged on IEA platforms, how the level of exchange differs within and across IEA regimes, and how information sharing has been codified formally and in practice. This is accomplished by (i) using a standardized syntax called the Institutional Grammar to parse formal rules governing information sharing practices into core components and identify their rule type configurations by function (e.g., monitoring); (ii) examining the IEA platforms’ technical architectures and contents through a combination of IT staff interviews, data analytics, and database structure review; and (iii) interviewing key international and national decisionmakers to gain insights on information sharing perceptions and practices. The qualitative and quantitative data gained in steps (i) to (iii) will inform a Structural Equation Model designed to identify factors salient to the variation in actors’ information sharing propensities. IEA platforms offer a major opportunity to investigate long-standing assumptions about the importance of information sharing to effective resource governance. This project taps into that potential to investigate how the social and technical designs of IEA data infrastructures influence trust and transparency. Project results will include descriptive analyses of similarities and differences in the configuration of formal IEA information sharing rules, insights into IEA platform design, interconnectivity, and management of shared information, and the propensity of actors to engage with the rules and platform infrastructure and effectively share information. These results are also significant for recognizing and addressing equity and justice issues, e.g. for marginalized peoples and lower income nations.    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.",FALSE
2333959,CAREER: Equity Focused Elementary Mathematics:  Creating Virtual Mathematics Communities in Rural Georgia,2025-04-25,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,346897,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333959,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333959_4900,2023-06-01,2028-01-31,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"Access to high quality STEM education is highly variable depending on where one lives. In addition, early career teachers need support during their first years of teaching to be successful and help them stay in the profession. This project aims to provide in-service and beginning elementary school teachers increased opportunities to refine their mathematics teaching to support minoritized youth in racially diverse rural communities in Georgia that have less access to elementary mathematics specialists. This project follows and supports both beginning teachers (BTs) and elementary mathematics coaches (EMCs) over 5 years to develop and refine their mathematics teaching and coaching, respectively, using equity-based tools to guide reflection and conversations about both the BTs’ instructional practices and the EMCs’ coaching practices. The tools provide data to uncover biases and aspirational pedagogical targets for equitable discourse and task design. The goals of the project include: a) establishing a virtual distance learning community to support equity focused elementary mathematics coaches across rural counties in Georgia, b) developing and refining a fully online elementary mathematics and coaching graduate coursework sequence to prepare EMCs, and c) implementing an innovative model of university supervision and induction for BTs.    Over the 5-year period, ten EMCs will engage in coursework, and be supported through a virtual community to develop elementary mathematics teaching and learning in their schools and districts. The coaches will support at least ten beginning teachers to develop equitable mathematics learning communities as they enter the field during their first years of teaching. This approach is important because formalized induction support is rare in most districts in Georgia, and teachers are leaving the field in record numbers because they feel unprepared. Data sources will include videos of teaching episodes, teacher reflections, narrative interviews, and document analysis. The study will employ case study and narrative methodologies in analyzing the varied and rich data collected with BTs and EMCs. The project’s goal of preparing and supporting EMCs has potential to dramatically shift the professional development of BTs, and to re-professionalize teacher education and provide more equitable mathematics education for all students. This proposed study could serve as a model to build additional networks of STEM coaches across rural areas.    The award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2305598,Collaborative Research: ADVANCE PARTNERSHIP: STEM Intersectional Equity in Departments (SIEDS): A Partnership for Inclusive Work Cultures,2025-04-25,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,185834,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305598,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305598_4900,2023-10-15,2028-09-30,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"The STEM Intersectional Equity in Departments (SIEDS) project brings three universities, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, and Wayne State University into a partnership to develop, implement, and assess a Toolkit for Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Departmental Culture. The research literature indicates that all faculty thrive when they work in environments that support the “whole person.” The toolkit will help department leaders create and sustain positive departmental environments that lead to success for all faculty.  The project will empower department leaders so that they can, create assessments that credit faculty for their work in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) (Inclusive Assessment), promote a “whole person” approach to recognizing and supporting faculty needs (Support across the Faculty Lifecycle), and cultivate future leaders with DEIJ-focused skills and strategies (Diversifying Leadership).    The SIEDS toolkit will 1) identify and address biases during promotion, tenure, and other evaluation processes to create inclusive assessment; 2) recognize the ways that work- and life- tasks interact to build healthy department cultures; 3) expand conceptualizations and measurements of hidden and low-promotable work tasks to increase the recognition and valuing of these time-consuming tasks; and 4) create materials to support leadership development. The toolkit and lessons learned will be shared at the Great Lakes Consortium Convening annually. In project year four, the toolkit is expected to be adapted by the consortium members, reaching all the R1 and R2 universities in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. This adaptation will be evaluated in the final year of the project, which will help improve the toolkit for other institutions and identify implementation issues that may need to be addressed.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",FALSE
2220535,Collaborative Research: Enacting Professional Ethics and Disciplinary Transformation through the Promotion of Evidence-based Training and Education Initiatives in Archaeology,2025-04-25,University of Alabama Tuscaloosa,TUSCALOOSA,AL,AL07,171258,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2220535,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2220535_4900,2023-01-01,2025-12-31,354012029,RCNJEHZ83EV6,"This project will advance knowledge on a scientific ethics training intervention known as Ethics Bowls, which employ competitive case study-based debate to immerse participants in ethical issues, frameworks, and problem-solving strategies in active-learning environments. Ethics Bowls, particularly the Society for American Archaeology Ethics Bowl (SAA EB), have been used to train students in the discipline of archaeology over the last 18 years, resulting in the participation of hundreds of individuals and establishing a baseline dataset for assessing long-term effects of this training activity. As archaeologists grapple with intersecting ethical crises, the SAA EB is one of the few formal ethics education opportunities in the field. Moreover, the SAA EB, in contrast to other discipline-specific Ethics Bowls, is designed to target graduate students preparing to enter archaeology professions as research scientists.    Using a combination of (1) quantitative and qualitative data from a mixed-methods survey, (2) interview data from former SAA EB participants and archaeologists with no Ethics Bowl exposure, and (3) consultations with diverse practitioners, relevant community partners, and Advisory Boards with expertise in archaeological ethics and interdisciplinary approaches to ethics and responsible conduct of research (RCR) trainings, the research team will: identify successful aspects of Ethics Bowl training; redesign and debut an improved Ethics Bowl model; and craft deliverables that contribute to establishing and maintaining a disciplinary culture of ethical research and practice within archaeology and other STEM fields. Specifically, this project’s broader contributions include (1) creating indexes of ethics case studies; (2) documenting challenges in disciplinary-centered, active-learning science ethics trainings; (3) emphasizing archaeologists’ responsibilities to the diverse publics they serve through effective, widespread ethics training; and (4) supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion goals by funding and mentoring early career scholars from minority-serving institutions. The research team anticipates that this intervention will lead to an increase in the retention and recruitment of students and early career professionals from backgrounds that have traditionally been underrepresented both in archaeology and other STEM fields. Overall, the transformation of ethical preparation amongst early career researchers will benefit society by preparing scientists to be aware of—and responsive to—changing social needs, values, and norms.    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.",TRUE
2412719,Conference: Supporting Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure Readiness for STEM Education Research Teams,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,99509,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2412719,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2412719_4900,2024-02-15,2026-01-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) will host a workshop that brings together NSF-funded teams working on midscale research infrastructure incubator projects for STEM education research with a focus on education equity (see NSF 22-085). ICPSR will share information, resources, and support incubator teams in developing and managing mid-scale infrastructure projects. These incubator projects have identified research infrastructure gaps related to assessments, teacher practices, and digital tools to support student learning and have proposed pilot tools, cyberinfrastructure, large-scale datasets, etc., for filling these gaps. To scale these pilots, the teams will need to successfully develop proposals to create mid-scale research infrastructure (Midscale RI). However, Midscale RI proposals require specialized knowledge that is not common within the STEM education research community and thus may limit the community’s ability to develop competitive Midscale RI proposals.    The goal of the workshop is to advance the work of researchers and staff from projects funded under the effort described in the DCL: Mid-Scale Research Infrastructure (Midscale RI) Incubators and Conferences for STEM Education Research with a Focus on Education Equity. ICPSR faculty and staff are deeply involved in supporting the STEM education research community through the PEERS STEM education research hub and are experienced with the NSF Midscale RI program through Research Data Ecosystem, a Midscale RI project building software to support a transparent and reproducible research data lifecycle. The workshop will draw on these experiences to build the capacity of the incubator teams to conceive and implement Midscale RI projects by providing training in project management, the development of and use of project execution plans, work breakdown structures, risk registers, contingency planning, human-centered design, and the implementation and reporting necessary for successful projects. ICPSR will provide a structured forum in which the incubator teams can learn from one another, establish common points of interest, and establish an ongoing community of practice to foster collaborative efforts going forward. As a result of the workshop, incubator teams will be more likely to realize the visions of their incubator projects, leading to promising new advancements in STEM education research that are developed specifically with a focus on education equity.    This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program and NSF’s Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12). The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.  The DRK-12 program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.     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.",FALSE
2219389,Beyond Access and Participation in CSforAll: Measuring Equitable CS Learning Environments.,2025-04-25,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,615800,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2219389,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2219389_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"There is a need to broaden participation and engagement in computer science, particularly for students who are underrepresented including girls, students who are Black or Latinx, students with disabilities, low-income students, English language learners, and students living in rural communities.  As schools, districts, and researchers work toward this goal, they need tools to measure how new approaches to teaching and learning computer science are supporting the success of all students. The goal of this project is to develop tools that would gather information about teachers’ and students’ experiences in computer science learning. The project has a particular focus on approaches to teaching that address systemic and structural barriers in computer science and empower students by engaging them in learning that is relevant to their experiences and identities.     This project will create and validate instruments to measure culturally responsive-sustaining education for computer science in middle and high school classrooms. Culturally responsive and sustaining educational experiences should affirm students’ multiple identities, empower students as users and creators of technology, and support their learning, growth, and achievement in computer science. The instruments to be developed include a teacher survey, a student survey, and a classroom observation tool. They will be designed in collaboration with a community-based working group of teachers, students, and parents and guided by an advisory board of experts in culturally responsive pedagogy and education research. The project will build on previously designed instruments to create tools specific to computer science education, which will then be tested through expert review, cognitive interviews, and a pilot in a small number of classrooms. Based on those findings, the instruments will be refined and field-tested to explore whether the implementation of culturally responsive-sustaining education is associated with improved student outcomes in computer science.    This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers. This project is also funded through the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.    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.",TRUE
2244734,WTG: Diffusion of Research on Supporting Mathematics Achievement for Youth with Disabilities through Twitter Translational Visual Abstracts,2025-04-25,University of Missouri-Columbia,COLUMBIA,MO,MO03,311844,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2244734,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2244734_4900,2023-03-01,2026-02-28,652113020,SZPJL5ZRCLF4,"All students have the potential for mathematics success and deserve access to high-quality mathematics instruction. Yet students with disabilities tend to have lower mathematics achievement than peers without disabilities and are vastly underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in the United States. Furthermore, the gap between research and practice means that mathematics strategies that could benefit students with disabilities are not consistently reaching the classroom. Such barriers to mathematics learning may limit students’ career opportunities and deprive society of an inclusive STEM workforce. This project seeks to develop effective strategies for sharing mathematics-focused research with a teacher audience, which may help to reduce inequality in mathematics and STEM outcomes for youth with disabilities. The project will explore (a) current and innovative strategies for communicating research focused on supporting mathematics learning for students with disabilities and (b) the diffusion of research via social media (i.e., Twitter) to a teacher audience. The project supports a diverse STEM workforce through its research activities and by providing funded, STEM-related research experiences to undergraduate students with disabilities who continue to be underrepresented in STEM occupations.     The research plan involves a robust intervention mixed methods design. Phase 1 entails analysis of practitioner journals using Altmetrics and qualitative content analyses to describe whether, how, and by whom mathematics-focused articles for supporting students with disabilities have been shared on Twitter in recent years. Phase 2 leverages a partnership with the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). A randomized controlled trial will compare diffusion of 90 articles focused on mathematics learning for youth with disabilities (a) without CEC Twitter promotion, (b) with text-based CEC Twitter promotion, and (c) with innovative CEC Twitter promotion using translational visual abstracts (TVAs; concise, infographic-type overviews of practitioner journal articles). Project findings will inform the development of guidelines for both the design and sharing of TVAs—which will be shared via training webinars and other accessible materials—to empower researchers, journals, and professional organizations with novel approaches for improving research communication efforts and mitigating the persistent research-practice gap.    The project is is co-funded by the Science of Science: Discovery, Communications, and Impact program and the EDU Core Research programs.    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.",TRUE
2122701,Computational Thinking Funds of Knowledge: A Culturally-Relevant Assessment for Early Elementary Students,2025-04-25,University of Massachusetts Amherst,AMHERST,MA,MA02,499999,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122701,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122701_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,010039252,VGJHK59NMPK9,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). It is developing equitable computational thinking (CT) assessments for historically marginalized Black and Hispanic students in the early grades. Children and their families engage in CT in their everyday lives, with such experiences serving as potentially powerful learning and assessment opportunities. The everyday knowledge of Black and Hispanic families and communities, in particular, must be interwoven with instructional and assessment opportunities, as too often they are not reflected in standard instruction and assessment. Given the lack of diversity in computer science, uncovering the rich CT resources of Black and Hispanic families through research will aid in the development of culturally sustaining assessments tools (CSAT) for CT. This will help educators leverage what students know in order to find ways to support these underrepresented students. This knowledge will subsequently provide a foundation for development of more equitable CT assessment materials.  This approach is transformative, in that it puts family and community knowledge at the heart of assessment development. It addresses concerns related to the problem of cultural bias in standardized measures of achievement. While focusing on the lived experiences of Black and Hispanic families in Springfield, Massachusetts, the team anticipates that the CSAT for CT will be useful for Black and Hispanic families in mid-sized cities similar to Springfield, and will, therefore, have a broad national impact.    Computational Thinking Funds of Knowledge (CTFoK) is a research project focused on the development of CSAT for CT for students from kindergarten to second grade. It seeks to broaden participation in computer science (CS) by explicitly focusing on the rich resources of Black and Hispanic families as regards their CTFoK enacted through activities of daily living and by creating valid assessments that reflect that knowledge and cultural context. Through classroom observations, family interviews, and teacher interviews, research in this project will focus on: identifying family and community CTFoK with which children enter school; the effectiveness of the CSAT for measuring CT; young students’ conceptual understanding of CT (grades K-2); teachers’ experience on the project, especially as reflected in knowledge of and valuing of strengths-based approaches to working with Black and Hispanic families and students, and in integrating CS/CT concepts into these teachers’ instructional practices. Traditional assessments have been shown to embed cultural bias, thus perpetuating disadvantage for children of color. Therefore, it is vitally important that the CS educational research community develop assessment methods that are equitable. The work is transformative on two levels: first it centers family and community knowledge as foundational to children’s prior and future knowledge; and second, it uses this information to create equitable assessment materials. This work will have a broad impact in providing the results of research to the CSEd community at large. This project is supported through the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.    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.",FALSE
2055345,Collaborative Research: Latinx Families' Talk about Science in Stories with Young Children,2025-04-25,Loyola University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL05,815531,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055345,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055345_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,606112147,CVNBL4GDUKF3,"This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. It responds to continuing concerns about racial and social inequities in STEM fields that begin to emerge in the early childhood years. The overarching goal of the project is to identify cultural strengths that support early science learning opportunities among Spanish-speaking children from immigrant Latin American communities, a population that is traditionally underrepresented in STEM educational and career pursuits. Building on a growing interest in the ways stories can promote early engagement in and understanding of science, this project will investigate the role of oral and written stories as culturally relevant and potentially powerful tools for making scientific ideas and inquiry practices meaningful and accessible for young Latinx children. Findings will reveal ways that family storytelling practices can provide accessible entry points for Latinx children's early science learning, and recommend methods that parents and educators can use to foster learning about scientific practices that can, in turn, increase interest and participation in science education and fields.     The project will advance knowledge on the socio-cultural and familial experience of Latinx children that can contribute to their early science learning and skills. The project team will examine the oral story and reading practices of 330 Latinx families with 3- to 5-year-old children recruited from three geographic locations in the United States: New York, Chicago, and San Jose. Combining interviews and observations, the project team will investigate: (1) how conversations about science and nature occur in Latinx children's daily lives, and (2) whether and to what extent narrative and expository books, family personal narratives, and adivinanzas (riddles) engender family conversations about scientific ideas and science practices. Across- and within-site comparisons will allow the project team to consider the immediate ecology and broader factors that shape Latinx families’ science-related views and practices. Although developmental science has long acknowledged that early learning is culturally situated, most research on early STEM is still informed by mainstream experiences that largely exclude the lived experiences of children from groups underrepresented in STEM, especially those who speak languages other than English. The proposed work will advance understanding of stories as cultural resources to support early science engagement and learning among Latinx children and inform the development of high quality, equitable informal and formal science educational opportunities for young children.    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.",FALSE
2218904,Collaborative Research: Learning In and From the Environment through Multiple Ways of Knowing (LIFEways),2025-04-25,Indigenous Education Institute,FRIDAY HARBOR,WA,WA02,419774,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218904,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2218904_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,982508493,TVFTZHL6JLN7,"Many urgent environmental challenges, from soil degradation and water pollution to global climate change, have deep roots in how complex systems impact human well-being, and how humans relate to nature and to each other. Learning In and From the Environment through Multiple Ways of Knowing (LIFEways) is based on the premise that Indigenous stewardship has sustained communities on these lands since time immemorial. This project is collaboratively led by the Indigenous Education Institute and Oregon State University’s STEM Research Center, in partnership with Native Pathways and the Reimagine Research Group, Swinomish Indian Tribal Community, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, World Forestry Center, and a national park network in the Pacific Northwest. The aim of this partnership is to deepen the informal learning field’s understanding of how Indigenous ways of knowing are currently or can be included in outdoor learning environments such as parks, nature preserves, and tribal lands. The project will share practices that center Indigenous worldviews to build awareness of their value and enhance STEM learning in outdoor settings. These approaches engage Native community members in continuing their traditional knowledge and practices, and help non-Native audiences learn from the dynamic interrelationships of the environment in authentic, respectful ways.     Conventional outdoor education is mostly grounded in Western concepts of “conservation” and “preservation” that position humans as acting separately from nature. This Research in Service to Practice project will identify “wise practices” that honor Indigenous ways of knowing, and investigate current capacities, barriers and opportunities for amplifying Indigenous voices in outdoor education. A team of Native and non-Native researchers and practitioners will draw upon Indigenous and Western research paradigms. Methods include Talk Story dialogues, a landscape study using national surveys, case studies, and a Circle of Relations to interpret and disseminate research findings. LIFEways will also document partnership processes to continue to build on the Collaboration with Integrity framework between tribal and non-tribal organizations (Maryboy and Begay, 2012). Findings from the LIFEways project will be shared broadly through a series of webinars, local and national meetings, conferences, and publications.     This project is co-funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. With co-funding from the Directorate of Geosciences’ (GEO), Research, Innovation, Synergies, & Education (RISE) Program, this project will further advance efforts related to the application of traditional ecological knowledge to the geosciences.    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.",TRUE
2416797,"Participant Support for Students to Attend the International Conference and Workshop on Mxenes; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 5-7 August 2024",2025-04-25,Drexel University,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,29700,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",AM-Advanced Manufacturing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416797,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416797_4900,2024-06-01,2025-05-31,191042875,XF3XM9642N96,"This award provides participant support for attendees of the International Conference and Workshop on MXenes: Changing the World to be held at Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA, USA, from August 5-7, 2024. The workshop focuses on the latest research and development activities in MXenes, a relatively novel 2D nanomaterial. Through oral and poster sessions, selected students, faculty, and prominent researchers present their latest research results in the areas of materials science, materials chemistry, materials processing, and advanced manufacturing of MXenes. To ensure diversity in participation at the conference, priority is given to women and underrepresented minority students. This award benefits the nation through the education of a skilled nanomaterials and manufacturing workforce, which is better prepared to provide transformative solutions to the challenges in their chosen fields. The conference plays a significant role in supporting and sustaining the important field of MXenes, a technology that is pervasive and impacts all industrial sectors with benefits to society. This conference is timely because of strong interest in the U.S in fostering the research and development of this family of technologically important novel nanomaterials that exhibit many useful and unique properties and potentially useful applications.    This participant support is expected to benefit the students' professional, scientific, and technical development. Attendance at the conference gives the students a broader view of nanomaterials chemistry, ceramics, advanced manufacturing, their fundamentals, and applications. Workshop topics include contextualization of major MXene discoveries, identification of basic research areas, diversified education in novel 2D nanomaterials, and promotion of technological potential. Attendees learn about state-of-the-art research in their technical areas via access to several technical and professional development talks by leading domestic and international speakers. The broader impact activities include education outreach, knowledge transfer and skill development, diversity, equity and inclusion, industrial collaboration, global collaboration and leadership, and public engagement. Students enhance their communication skills through oral and poster presentations and in-depth discussions of their work with peers in their technical areas. This interactive experience significantly broadens student education, increases their enthusiasm for their research topic, acquaints them with expectations for scientific careers, and exposes them to novel approaches for innovative research. The conference also offers a foundational course on MXene synthesis.    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.",FALSE
2310990,"Collaborative Research: HSI-Hubs: Intersectionality as Inquiry & Praxis: Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity for Student Success in STEM",2025-04-25,University of New Mexico,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,NM01,510597,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310990,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2310990_4900,2023-08-01,2028-07-31,871310001,F6XLTRUQJEN4,"With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this HUB Project aims to convene The University of New Mexico (UNM), New Mexico State University (NMSU), Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), City College, The City University of New York (CCNY-CUNY), Lehman College (Lehman-CUNY), Hostos Community College (Hostos-CUNY) to re-envision data and equity metrics, convene communities of practice and transform narratives about advancing equity in STEM. Institutions of higher education define underserved students using one-dimensional status metrics (e.g., first-generation college, PELL, gender, Native American, African-American and Hispanic/Latinx, etc.). Yet, research shows this is insufficient for documenting and eliminating inequities (McCall 2001; Irizarry 2015; López, Erwin, Binder & Chavez 2018). There is an urgent need to operationalize intersectionality as a new angle of vision for strategic planning and equitable distribution of resources (e.g., admissions, degrees earned, department/institutional culture shift, state-level funding formulas/distribution of resources, federal data collection and accountability metrics/IPEDS, etc.). Intersectionality (attention to the mutual constitution of race, gender, class, ethnicity and other axes of inequality as analytically distinct and simultaneous systems of power, oppression, resistance in a given sociohistorical and institutional context) is a powerful tool for making inequities visible and helping institutions of higher education create effective actions for advancing undergraduate student success in STEM and beyond.     Our HSI-hub is a multi-faceted resource, connector and catalyst for enduring system-wide equity transformations that incubate the promise of intersectionality for knowledge production and policy for equity impact. Our synergistic and phased deliverables include: 1.) HSI STEM Data and Policy Network for Action; 2.) HSI STEM Communities of Practice: Faculty Fellows and Stakeholders Advancing Equity Through Intersectionality; and 3.) HSI STEM Centering Intersectionality as Equity through Narrative Change, Communication Strategies and Publications. Our deliverables include a dedicated website, policy briefs, and academic papers. Project products will be archived in the UNM digital repository, tagged under the following subjects: “Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs),” “Intersectionality,” “Equity,” “Higher Education,” “Student Success,” and “Metrics.” The repository is accessible to anyone with internet access. In order to increase visibility and impact, select data and project materials, will be converted to a format suitable for upload to JSTOR-FORUM and OMEKA databases and catalogued in WorldCat. Acknowledging the importance of intersectionality for advancing equity, without a strategic plan to remove barriers and redistribute resources for advancing student success, is a missed opportunity. “Taking a truly intersectional approach will enable us to think and act differently to remove systemic barriers to education” (Harpur, Szucs & Willox 2022:14). The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.    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.",TRUE
2137393,Collaborative Research: BPC-AE: STARS: Catalyzing Action-Oriented Academic Communities for Broadening Participation in Computing,2025-04-25,Florida State University,TALLAHASSEE,FL,FL02,57000,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2137393,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2137393_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,323060001,JF2BLNN4PJC3,"It is critical to address the longstanding issue of underrepresentation of women, Black, and Hispanic students in computing degree programs to provide an equitable foundation for all to participate in our society and the global economy as controllers and creators of technology, and to advance the preparation of a diverse, innovative, and competitive tech workforce. Building on the prior success of the STARS Computing Corps Alliance for Broadening Participation in Computing, the goal of the STARS Catalyst project is to: 1) increase the number of women, Black, and Hispanic students that persist in computing degree programs, and 2) advance the careers of students and faculty from groups that have been historically underrepresented in computing. Through research and evaluation around STARS Catalyst activities, this project will advance knowledge about practices designed to increase persistence and support career advancement in computing for college computing students and faculty, particularly for those from underrepresented and intersectional groups in computing. The STARS Catalyst Alliance is a collaborative effort across Temple University, North Carolina State, Kent State, Florida State University, Morgan State, and University of North Carolina Charlotte.      The STARS Computing Corps Alliance for Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) engages computing faculty and students at colleges, universities, and community colleges in a community of practice with a shared commitment to take action to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in computing. STARS Computing Corps conferences, communities, and networks create significant institutional and human resources that can expand BPC research to a larger audience of researchers, educators, administrators, CS departments, and K-20 students, and can dramatically increase the number of people taking action in BPC efforts. Prior results show that the STARS Computing Corps alliance increases intentions to persist in computing among STARS students and faculty, with enhanced outcomes for Black students and faculty. This project will significantly extend the STARS alliance to expand upon those impacts, by 1) including new partners that expand the reach of STARS and that emphasize participation of Black and Hispanic students and faculty, particularly from emerging Hispanic Serving Institutions and community colleges, 2) creating new program elements that test new and propagate evidence-based BPC practices within computing departments, and 3) leveraging partnerships to support identity-focused affinity groups, and 4) developing STARS Alumni groups employed in industry positions to promote transition to and retention within the tech workforce. Extensions to the STARS Leadership Corps program, STARS Launch program, and the STARS Celebration conference will serve to develop and propagate evidence-based approaches aimed at improving the teaching and learning of computing for Black and Hispanic students and build evidence of their effectiveness, and the RESPECT research conference will continue to advance peer-reviewed BPC scholarship.    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.",FALSE
2411524,Community-Focused Research to Improve School Climate for Underrepresented Students in STEM,2025-04-25,University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras,SAN JUAN,PR,PR00,495183,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411524,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411524_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,00931,Q3LLLDFHPNL3,"The longstanding challenge of low participation in Afro-Latinos' participation in STEM education and their historically disproportionate representation in STEM fields continues to persist. This project will address this issue by examining how school curriculum and instruction may limit Afro-Puerto Rican students' learning experiences in math and science classrooms. Project activities include exploring perceptions and beliefs about race and student potential in STEM within a regional and cultural context where national identity often takes precedence over racial identity. By leveraging authentic partnerships between education scholars at the University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras and middle school leaders in the Loiza Municipality, Puerto Rico's largest majority Black community, this applied study seeks to advance foundational knowledge on how racism and colorism are intertwined in STEM education in Puerto Rico. Additionally, the study aims to provide a nuanced analysis of how school systems can collaborate to ameliorate racial inequities within the Latinx population.    Using a case study research design, a mixed-methods approach will gather insights into how the intersectional underpinnings of racism and colorism in schools impact Afro-Puerto Rican students' classroom experiences. Methods include semi-structured interviews and focus groups with school principals, in-service teachers, students, parents, and community members to gather their experiences and perceptions of school climate. Classroom observations and document analysis will complement these interviews, providing a comprehensive view of teaching practices and the school’s racial climate. The qualitative data collected will inform the development of a questionnaire, which will allow for the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data from students, in-service teachers, and parents. Ultimately, this work will contribute to a deeper understanding of school climate and racial dynamics within the educational setting, as well as the barriers to student engagement in school science and mathematics. The team will identify actionable recommendations for fostering an inclusive and supportive school climate, offering valuable contributions to the broader discourse on educational equity and informing policy and practice to better support multi-racial marginalized communities.    This project is jointly funded by the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). EDU Racial Equity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2429009,Collaborative Research: NSF-NFRF: The Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON): The Climate-Food-Health Nexus,2025-04-25,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,424251,Standard Grant,OD,Office of the Director,International Science and Engineering,GVF - Global Venture Fund,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429009,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429009_4900,2024-06-01,2027-05-31,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"Climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation are profound threats to Indigenous Peoples globally. These threats are rooted in discrimination, land dispossession, and colonization. The convergence and interaction of these stresses that affect health and well-being are primarily through the nexus with Indigenous food systems. Government policies often overlook and undermine Indigenous knowledge and practices, which underpin resilience across the nexus of food systems, health, and well-being. The Indigenous Peoples’ Observatory Network (IPON) transforms and rethinks our understanding of this nexus from the bottom up. It builds on multiple ways of knowing, including Indigenous knowledge and science, to strengthen community resilience to multiple stresses and support actions that benefit Indigenous Peoples. The project promotes the progress of science through transdisciplinary approaches that investigate the links among food, climate, and health.     This project will establish Indigenous observatories that include community leaders, Elders, and youth, along with decision makers and researchers from Indigenous communities worldwide, covering the United Nation's seven social cultural regions. The observatories will document, monitor, and examine how climate stressors interact with food systems, health, and well-being across partner regions and communities as they play out in real-time and across seasons. This will be done by recording the lived experiences, stories, responses, and observations of the affected people. The teams will work together to create knowledge and capacity that can be used to develop policies and actions that build on community strengths and address potential vulnerabilities. The observatories strengthen the capacity of Indigenous communities to document their knowledge about the links between climate, food, and health, and provide a space for dialogue with decision makers at regional, national, and global levels to determine necessary actions to build resilience. IPON's global scope provides a foundation for developing scalable insights that inform decision making and advocacy for our partners in United Nations and Indigenous organizations.    This is a project jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as funding agencies from Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom via the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Competition. This Competition allowed a single joint international proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by Canada. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries.    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.",FALSE
2149883,Collaborative Research: The AGEP Massachusetts State University System Equity-Minded Model for Recruiting and Advancing Early Career Faculty in the STEM Professoriate,2025-04-25,Worcester State University,WORCESTER,MA,MA02,387200,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149883,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149883_4900,2022-07-01,2027-06-30,016022597,W1EJJYFJEN59,"Three collaborating institutions in the Massachusetts Public Higher Education System, Framingham State University, Bridgewater State University and Worcester State University, are working together to develop and implement an equity-minded model for advancing early career STEM faculty who are members of AGEP populations: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. This AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model’s (FCPAM) goal is to develop, implement, evaluate and institutionalize a FCPAM for transforming institutions to be more supportive and culturally sensitive such that the faculty successfully advance through recruitment and retention along early career pathways to tenure in teaching intensive comprehensive universities. This FCPAM is improving the success of early-career faculty such that faculty demographics will mirror student demographics at the three collaborating institutions. This change in faculty demographics will ultimately result in graduating more STEM students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the STEM workforce. Enhancing diversity within the STEM workforce will contribute to mitigating systemic racism, boosting innovation in the workplace, and enhancing the economy and prosperity within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our Nation.    Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FCPAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FCPAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FCPAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.    The foundation of this FCPAM includes a cluster hiring strategy to recruit diverse faculty who will have a shared learning experience and support system across the universities, including a joint faculty development initiative, a faculty mentorship program, common events and shared resources. In addition, the Alliance has a collaborative plan focusing on equity to examine, change, and align institutional policies and procedures in support of a welcoming and supportive academic climate for a diverse faculty. The Alliance will use formative and summative evaluations to document results and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the model throughout the life of the project. The self-study of the FCPAM development and activities will advance knowledge concerning how socio-cultural, economic, structural, and institutional variables impact the development and success of the Alliance model and the institutional culture changes. An intersectional lens will be used to examine the impact of the FCPAM activities on the success of recruited faculty in relation to their identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, immigration status or national origin, abilities, and being a caregiver or a parent.    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.",TRUE
2331458,ART: Illinois Tech Forward Initiative,2025-04-25,Illinois Institute of Technology,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,6000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331458,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331458_4900,2024-02-01,2028-01-31,606163717,E2NDENMDUEG8,"The project supports the TechForward initiative at Illinois Tech to foster market-focused research and develop a more diverse workforce in high growth technology sectors. By encouraging faculty members to collaborate closely with industry professionals in Chicago’s tech ecosystem and building the infrastructure, culture and processes to support this, TechForward aims to inspire faculty to direct their research activities towards addressing critical societal challenges. Having faculty paired with industry professionals to translate their research should also enhance the speed and efficiency of technology transfer, ultimately benefiting society by bringing innovations to market faster. TechForward will also address the issue of underrepresentation in the tech sector. Recognizing that diversity and inclusivity are critical drivers of innovation and progress, TechForward will expose underrepresented populations, including first-generation college students and other learners from diverse backgrounds in the Chicago Metropolitan Region, to practical experiences in commercialization within high-growth technology sectors. TechForward's focus on the racial diversity of Chicago's population is of particular importance. The fact that Black and Latino founders represent only 6% of tech founders in the city highlights a disparity that not only limits economic opportunities for underrepresented groups but also hinders the tech sector from benefiting from a wider range of perspectives and talents. Illinois Tech's location in Bronzeville, where 86.6% of residents are Black, places it in a unique position to address this issue directly.    This project aims to accelerate the translation of Illinois Tech’s use-inspired research by leveraging the experience of industry professionals from Chicago’s tech ecosystem and the programs and commercialization resources at Illinois Tech’s entrepreneurship and innovation hub to the technology transfer process. These resources will build the capacity to develop a market-driven process to identify, assess and advance seed translational research projects. TechForward targets converting at least 40% of the seed translational research projects into commercial opportunities as measured by negotiated licenses within 2 years after projects are selected for acceleration. The project will cultivate a diverse pool of talent within Chicago's high growth technology sector by creating experiential training programs in research commercialization, designed for both degree-seeking students and non-degree seeking underrepresented individuals from the Chicago Metropolitan region. All learners will be trained through a commercialization training program, delivered physically or online, then solicited to apply to work with faculty and experienced industry professionals to advance seed translational research projects. By the end of the project duration, TechForward will have provided commercialization training to at least 150 degree seeking students and 100 under-represented non-degree seeking learners.    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.",FALSE
2116484,"Collaborative Research:  Varieties of Crises, Elite Responses, and Executive Approval",2025-04-25,University of Mississippi,UNIVERSITY,MS,MS01,70176,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116484,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116484_4900,2022-01-01,2025-06-30,386779704,G1THVER8BNL4,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2. This project examines four major types of crises -- economic, security, natural disaster, and public health crises – and how they influence public support for political leaders in contemporary democracies. This is important to understand because leader approval is a key barometer of policymaker accountability and democratic stability, both of which can be undermined by crises. This project analyzes the interplay of four factors  which vary systematically across these different types of crises and how, in turn, these shape public evaluations of political executives: (1) the ability of citizens to assign responsibility for policy decisions and outcomes; (2) the degree of expert consensus on effective policy response; (3) how much a given crisis in one area generates acute challenges or crises in other areas; and (4) the extent to which an effective response depends on citizens acting collectively.  Several data sets including (quarterly) measures of executive approval and crises; the tone and salience of leader messaging about the crises; the media’s treatment of leader messaging; and (monthly) leader approval for a smaller number of countries for which such data is available; and survey-based experiments in three countries are collected and made publicly available. The award supports education and diversity by building the research capacity of a student project lab at Georgia State University, a Minority Serving Institution, in coordination with PIs at four other universities who will also engage graduate and undergraduate students in this work.     Puzzling divergences across countries in public reactions to leader responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis have revealed major gaps in our understanding of how crisis events translate into public assessments of leaders. To resolve these puzzles, this project advances a unifying theoretical framework that identifies four major types of crises: economic, security, natural disaster, and public health. It then locates these crises on four key dimensions which should condition public support of top officials: the institutional and political context and other factors that impact attribution of responsibility, degree of expert consensus and incentives for politicians to follow expert recommendations, the likelihood and nature of spill-over to other crisis types, and the degree to which citizen action is required for an effective response. The project collects data to test theoretically-motivated hypotheses using: 1) a macro time-series cross-national data set to study the effects of crisis type on public approval for political executives for 48 countries, 2) a high-frequency time-series data set appropriate to test how approval dynamics reflect leader responses, as well as messaging choices and media effects for 18 countries for which this data is available, and 3) conjoint experiments in France, Italy, and Mexico, countries with different political and institutional settings, to assess the validity of the links between crisis types and dimensions as well as to validate proposed individual-level mechanisms.    This project is supported by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior Program and the SBE Build and Broaden Program.    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.",FALSE
2347361,Beginnings: Diverse Internships for Semiconductor Careers in the Portland Metro Area,2025-04-25,Portland State University,PORTLAND,OR,OR01,995075,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ExLENT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347361,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347361_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,972015508,H4CAHK2RD945,"The Diverse Internships for Semiconductor Careers (DISC) project seeks to address a projected shortage of highly skilled workers prepared for semiconductor-microelectronics technology careers in the US. To accomplish this, this project aims to recruit local undergraduate science students and provide training opportunities for careers in semiconductor-microelectronics research, development, and manufacturing sectors in the Portland Metro Area. Specifically, the DISC project plans to establish 56 competitively compensated, 9-month internships within the well-established sites of industry partners in the region. The DISC program will also raise critically needed awareness of career opportunities in emergent technology fields and facilitate career pathways for groups historically underrepresented in STEM. Project activities have the potential to lead directly to jobs and other professional opportunities for participants, improving socioeconomic equality via the social mobility that comes with a career in high-tech industries. Ultimately the project will contribute to developing a diverse, competitive emerging technology workforce that supports regional economic growth.     This project seeks to recruit students, who will: (1) engage in internship projects that build critical skills, (2) receive cohort-style professional development training, with support from the campus Center for Internships, Mentoring, and Research, (3) receive comprehensive mentoring from industry, faculty, and near-peer mentors, and (4) develop a professional network and knowledge of the semiconductor-microelectronics employment landscape. This project provides a framework for engaged, ongoing collaboration between academic and industry partners to recruit and educate a diverse semiconductor-microelectronics workforce. Project outcomes include: (1) improvement in self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and science identity, (2) enhanced degree persistence, completion, and retention, and (3) robust relationships with industry partners. Project results will be disseminated via website, industry-specific educational partners, publications, and presentations. This project aligns with the NSF ExLENT Program, funded by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.    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.",FALSE
2212146,Renewal: Overcoming Energy Loss in Organic Bulk Heterojunctions,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,666555,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Materials Research,ELECTRONIC/PHOTONIC MATERIALS,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2212146,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2212146_4900,2022-07-01,2025-06-30,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Non-technical Description. Solar technologies are increasingly providing energy across the US at costs well below even that of fossil fuels. In short, solar energy is delivering on its promise as a source of low cost, clean and renewable energy. However, solar solutions have largely been based on silicon, which is far from an optimal solution. New solutions must have the objective of making solar power ubiquitous, helping to fulfill our ever-expanding energy needs. These include solar power generating windows and building-integrated photovoltaics as well as devices that operate at very low light levels to scavenge waste illumination power. This is an urgent and fundamental technological challenge. Recently, there have been dramatic increases in the efficiency of potentially low-cost organic solar cells to over 19%, approaching that of silicon cells. This project is directed at determining the ultimate power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells. The investigators will study new organic materials with state-of-the-art optical spectroscopy to understand the power generating mechanisms that limit the efficiency of organic solar cells. The principles derived from these studies can provide molecular design rules and guide the improvement of organic solar cells towards their theoretical limit of ~25% efficiency. The project supports training of a diverse workforce through the education of graduate and undergraduate students in materials design, synthesis, and characterization, coupled with device engineering and scientific communication. The PIs will recruit and retain a diverse next generation of students in STEM fields through diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at the University of Michigan, including outreach to underrepresented groups and hosting a Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics.    Technical Description. The primary goal of this project is to understand and improve organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices through improved materials and device design strategies based on quantum mechanical models. Dramatically reduced energy losses in the charge photogeneration process may ultimately provide a pathway towards ultralow cost solar power in situations where established, mature solar technologies are less effective. Beyond solar energy harvesting, these systems open new avenues for engineering materials for charge and energy transport at the atomistic level, and for their exploitation in applications as light emission, energy and charge transfer over exceptional distances, and may even result in extending electronic technology well beyond its current limits. This project combines the investigators’ extensive expertise in OPV materials, design and characterization with state-of-the-art and emerging multidimensional spectroscopies to understand the energy loss mechanisms that currently limit single junction organic solar cell device efficiencies. The principles derived from these fundamental studies provide molecular design rules to guide the improvement of cell efficiencies towards their thermodynamic limit of ~25%. The work significantly expands the spectroscopic toolbox for probing OPVs, providing transformative opportunities for understanding the mechanisms of charge generation and concomitant energy losses. The research has the following primary goals: (i) Gain a fundamental understanding of the mechanisms governing charge generation and energy loss at organic heterojunctions (HJs) to increase the solar-to-electrical power conversion efficiency to near the thermodynamic limit; (ii) Map the complete HJ charge photogeneration process using multidimensional spectroscopy to probe the mechanisms of charge generation and the origins of energy loss; (iii) Exploit ultrastrong coupling in unique light harvesting architectures to realize exciton-polariton transfer with near-zero energy loss.    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.",TRUE
2343966,The Evolution of Discriminatory Norms: Field Evidence,2025-04-25,University of Southern California,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA34,234038,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343966,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343966_4900,2024-07-01,2025-06-30,90033,G88KLJR3KYT5,"Identity-based discrimination is a global problem that reduces opportunities for people from disadvantaged groups; yet its sources, evolution, consequences, and what can be done about it are little studied by economists. This award funds research that collects large survey data over long periods of time to study the causes of identity-based discrimination, how it has changed over time, consequences, how it is affected by policies designed to reduce it.  It will conduct interviews to collect information about current and historical discriminatory practices, policies to combat such practices, and the responses of discriminatory practices to these policies across many jurisdictions and make this data set available to researchers.  The dataset will allow researchers to study many aspects of identity-based discrimination and how to combat it.  The research will use the data to study political, social, and economic factors that have reduced identity-based discrimination.  While providing large data set and evidence on the causes and changing nature of identity-based discrimination, results of the research will provide guidance on policies to reduce identity-based discrimination.  The results could lead to improved fairness and efficiency in labor markets, better use of resources, increase productivity and economic growth, and establish the US as a global leader in reducing identity-based discrimination.      This award will fund research that collects a large-scale dataset on the causes and evolution of identity-based discrimination.  The research will survey individuals on the contemporary presence of 15 forms of discrimination in their area, as well as any changes in these practices over their lifetimes in thousands of locations and use the information to construct a panel data on prevalence of discriminatory practices over the past 50 years.  Besides making this data available to other researchers, the PI will use the data to test which political, economic, and social factors have reduced discriminatory practices.  The research results together with those of scholars who will utilize this data, have the potential to advance understanding of effective discrimination reduction strategies.  In addition, this research results will provide guidance on policies to reduce identity-based discrimination and improve the lives of marginalized people around the world as well as establish the US as the global leader in reducing discrimination and providing equal opportunity for all.    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.",FALSE
2436663,CAREER: Disrupting the Status Quo Regarding Who Gets to be an Engineer,2025-04-25,Vanderbilt University,NASHVILLE,TN,TN05,189153,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,GOALI-Grnt Opp Acad Lia wIndus,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2436663,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2436663_4900,2024-06-01,2026-02-28,372032416,GTNBNWXJ12D5,"While there has been extensive research on the barriers Black and brown students face as they strive to participate in engineering education and the workforce, there is less scholarship on solutions for addressing this complex challenge. One reason for this is because the scholarship on how change happens in engineering education tends to focus on course content and classroom instruction. Unfortunately, such findings do not easily lend themselves to value-laden, systemic issues like diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Fortunately, some Colleges of Engineering (COEs) throughout the U.S. have adopted change strategies that have resulted in consistently being named among the top-ten producers of Black and brown engineers. This project is motivated by a desire to learn from and follow their example. This CAREER project will disrupt the status quo regarding who gets to be an engineer by investigating five COEs that have significantly changed the face of engineering over the last 20 years. This project will: (1) Advance our understanding of the change strategies that exemplary COEs have used to improve Black and brown students’ access to engineering education and careers; (2) Identify evidence-based models for broadening participation of underrepresented racial/ethnic groups in engineering; and (3) Set COEs on a path to parity, such that the student body demographics in COEs across the country reflect the racial/ethnic makeup of the nation.    Using Kotter’s Leading Change Model and Acker’s Inequality Regimes as a framework, this multi-case study will investigate how exemplary COEs envisioned, implemented, and institutionalized changes that influenced Black and brown students’ access to engineering. The five COEs that will be investigated are: Florida International University, Morgan State University, University of Central Florida, University of Maryland-Baltimore County, and University of Maryland-College Park. Given variations in the types of universities included in the research design, comparing and contrasting insights that emerge from each case will enable the PI to understand the conditions for change. The use of a research study design that relies on both qualitative and quantitative data will produce complementary forms of evidence on what promotes and impedes progress in this context. The research outcomes will include: (1) impact narratives that document concrete examples of how to expand who gets to be an engineer; and (2) a model for broadening participation informed by a cross-case analysis of these exemplars. Furthermore, this timely work focuses on the need to leverage talent from every demographic to diversify the engineering workforce and improve the lived experiences of minoritized groups. The educational outcomes will include: an Impact Playbook that translates the research into actionable strategies; a graduate course for future engineering faculty designed around each of the cases; a townhall discussion among associate professors; sharing insights with ASEE’s Engineering Deans Council; and a partnership with Virginia Tech’s (VT) College of Engineering and College of Science to build capacity among its leaders to envision and enact sustainable changes that promote DEI on VT’s campus. This CAREER project has the potential to reshape how COEs approach their DEI efforts, and increase the likelihood of long-term success. The proposed activities are designed to foster a network of STEM leaders motivated to envision and enact sustainable, scalable changes that expand who gets to be an engineer at their institution.    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.",FALSE
2050937,ASLO Multicultural Program,2025-04-25,Hampton University,HAMPTON,VA,VA03,1025287,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Ocean Sciences,"EDUCATION/HUMAN RESOURCES,OCE",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050937,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2050937_4900,2021-07-15,2025-06-30,236694561,KSJKE3KVNBB4,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    Hampton University and the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) will continue to manage a program with the goal of increasing the numbers of under-represented minorities and under-served students who choose to pursue careers in aquatic sciences. This program is known as the Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography Multicultural Program (ASLOMP), and organizers seek to select diverse cohorts of students and match these students with professionals who act as mentors. Participants receive a free membership in ASLO and support to attend the annual ASLO Winter meeting as well as special pre-meeting workshops. This award provides three years of support (2022-2024) for ASLOMP.     ASLOMP objectives are to:  1. Expose students who are from a wide spectrum of ethnicities and backgrounds to cutting edge aquatic science through fully supporting their active participation in ASLO meetings where they also present their own research work.  2. Link diverse cohorts of students to opportunities for internships, advanced studies, special programs, and potential employment through interactions at ASLO meetings.   3. Continue to support new cohorts of students from under-represented groups and to support their participation in the networks of aquatic scientists.  4. Support the participation of scientists from under-represented groups to serve as mentors for the program and to serve in ASLO leadership positions.  The program uses an expansive understanding of multiculturalism and allocates about thirty of the sixty-five slots for students associated with the NSF-funded Ocean Sciences Research Experience for Undergraduate (REU) sites. This allows all involved to increase cross-cultural competencies. ASLOMP uses a suite of special activities to enrich participant’s experiences, including keynote addresses, opening dinners, field-trips, a student symposium, and systematic support through a system of meeting-mentors.    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.",FALSE
2215554,"Investigating the impact of youth's inductive exploration of local technologies featured in Indigenous stories on their engagement, self-efficacy, and persistence in STEM",2025-04-25,Pacific Resources for Education and Learning,HONOLULU,HI,HI01,2683413,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215554,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215554_4900,2022-10-01,2027-03-31,968134418,Z4UZBWED7954,"This project provides opportunities for Indigenous youth to transform and be transformed by opportunities for STEAM innovation and knowledge building. This project will create opportunities outside of the classroom to invest in youths’ engagement, and interest, and self-efficacy in STEAM by supporting explorations in community settings that value multiple languages and ways of knowing. Through this project, youth can engage in pressing community needs—such as climate change impacts, food and water security, chronic health crises, and out-migration— with community experts, elders, and knowledge holders. The project will expand the picture of what Informal STEAM learning and meaningful engagement in STEAM looks like in Pacific Island contexts. It will employ a collaborative research framework to investigate how Informal STEAM learning activities that foster intergenerational learning—particularly the exploration of traditional stories and the creation of prototypes, storytelling packages, and hands-on models that illustrate Indigenous STEAM practices—impact youths’ engagement and interest in STEAM and self-efficacy over time. By building the capacity of participants—particularly Pacific Islander youth—to become co-researchers, -evaluators and -designers, the project will cultivate spaces for participants to advocate for their interests, perspectives, and needs. This research within the Pacific region is important for fostering science literacy and broadening participation in STEAM fields since early interest in science is a potential indicator of future STEAM interest and career choices.     The goal of the project is to investigate how youth’s inductive exploration of local technologies featured in Indigenous stories impact their engagement and interest in STEAM, Informal STEAM learning, and future decision making that affect youth participation in STEAM pathways. The project will be implemented in Guam, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Federated States of Micronesia (comprising the four states of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap) and will address the core research question: To what extent does youths’ participation in STEAM-based storytelling and story exploration lead to increases in youths’ engagement and interest in STEAM and self-efficacy over time? The project approaches story exploration as a cultural and metalinguistic process to investigate a story not solely as an artifact or a process, but as a doorway to investigations of history, Indigenous STEAM, and local innovation. Two cohorts of youth participants will engage in summer and spring out-of-school programs led by elders, partner organizations, and project staff through which youth investigate storytelling, design, research practice, and service learning. Each cohort will also create digital storytelling packages and/or model kits to share with audiences through participant-designed community-level and cross-region sharing events. The project is expected to reach 140 youth and 30 elders. To measure learning outcomes, the project builds upon extant tools to gauge Informal STEAM learning engagement. Lessons about the application of these tools will contribute to the Informal STEAM learning knowledge base—especially regarding underrepresented communities in STEAM. Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is the overarching theoretical and methodological framework for the project and will engage participants as co-researchers through multiple methods of observation, data gathering, and analysis. The project will also create community-driven research opportunities that advances the generation of knowledge on topics that are often left unexplored because: (1) Micronesians as underrepresented minorities are not usually at the table during research design; (2) non-Micronesian/Indigenous epistemologies are usually privileged throughout the research; and (3) there is a lack of trust when any outsider asks to look in, especially when racialized colonial histories still leave daily impacts. This project encourages all participants to consider and develop answers to this question: Stewards of whose knowledge? Research findings and educational materials and resources will be disseminated to researchers, program developers, informal science institutions, partner organizations, formal and informal educators, and communities.      This research project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2230616,NSF Convergence Accelerator Track F: Co-designing for Trust: Reimagining Online Information Literacies with Underserved Communities,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,5000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",Convergence Accelerator Resrch,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230616,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230616_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"Misinformation – inaccurate or misleading information – has emerged as a growing threat to American democracy since it undermines citizen trust in public information and institutions. It often does so by exploiting personal beliefs, emotions, and identity, thereby triggering responses that expand social divides and encourage individuals to actively resist competing claims. Solutions must not only provide the public with skills for determining the truthfulness of claims, but must also provide resources for addressing the social and emotional impacts of misinformation. This requires a fundamental reimagining of our approach to digital literacy, so that it is better grounded in the everyday realities of the communities most impacted by misinformation. This is particularly true for underserved communities, who are disproportionately targeted by misinformation. The project will address this need by creating local solutions alongside digital literacy interventionists – the community organizations, librarians, teachers, and others already focused on providing formal and informal education to address misinformation within their communities.     The project will build community-oriented infrastructure that enables underserved communities to design, collaborate on, and share educational resources that address misinformation. It will leverage participatory design with digital literacy interventionists to create locally-contextualized digital literacy resources for rural communities and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. It will also design and implement a socio-technical platform that supports digital literacy interventionists to engage in the ongoing design of educational resources as a Community of Practice (CoP). This platform will allow us to scale and sustain the work to generate an enduring impact on how the nation addresses misinformation. Ultimately, this project will generate knowledge of how participatory design processes can be developed to scale local interventions. It will also advance our understanding of how sociocultural contexts and knowledge systems can shape digital literacy interventions, so that these interventions are better able to motivate and support diverse communities as they resist misinformation.    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.",TRUE
2146613,"Using drone technology, communal motivation, and strength-based approaches to engage middle school female students from rural areas in STEM",2025-04-25,"CAST, Inc.",LYNNFIELD,MA,MA06,1500000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2146613,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2146613_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,019402600,JCCCG1N4R7P6,"The project uses drones in middle school science and career and technical education classrooms as a mechanism to increase female students’ awareness of STEM occupations, knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines, and motivation to pursue STEM careers. This project confronts society’s messaging and students’ own perceptions of “who can be, should be, and is good at STEM” which is often reinforced by the notion of there being a single path into STEM. The project will encourage female students from rural areas in New Hampshire and Maine to develop their own STEM career goals by establishing a clear link between communal goals (those that are collaborative or altruistic) and success in STEM. The project adds to knowledge about drone-based projects by explicitly linking STEM and Career and Technical Education in middle school classes and by studying the alignment between the multidisciplinary and communal characteristics of drones and female students’ strengths and interests. It also advances knowledge about how to optimize motivation through an intervention that both increases the approach of STEM goals by highlighting their communal nature and decreases the avoidance of STEM goals due to stereotype threat by applying the Universal Design for Learning framework to the design of the curriculum materials and classroom activities.    The project will develop and research a model that uses strength-based strategies and communal motivation to reduce stereotype threat and increase motivation to pursue STEM goals. The project is guided by the following research questions: (1) To what extent will female middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their motivation to pursue STEM goals compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(a) Will female middle-school students in intervention classrooms reduce their susceptibility to stereotype threat for pursuing STEM goals compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(b) To what extent are decreases in stereotype threat associated with increases in the motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals? (1)(c) To what extent is the relationship between program participation and increased motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals mediated by susceptibility to stereotype threat? (1)(d) Will middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their awareness of communal (collaborative or altruistic) goals in STEM fields compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (1)(e) To what extent are increases in the awareness of communal STEM goals associated with increases in the motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals? (1)(f) To what extent is the relationship between program participation and increased motivation of female students to pursue STEM goals mediated by increases in their awareness of communal STEM goals? (2) To what extent do increases in the motivation of female students in intervention classrooms to pursue STEM goals predict increases in their choice of elective STEM classes in high school? (3) To what extent will middle-school students in intervention classrooms increase their knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines compared to their peers in comparison classrooms? (4) To what extent do increases in students’ knowledge and skills in multiple STEM disciplines predict increases in their choice of elective STEM classes in high school? The plan for carrying out research activities includes pilot testing, the use of impact instruments based on established sources, and triangulation with qualitative data from the external evaluator. In Phase 1, the curriculum will be co-developed with 4 teachers, and impact instruments will be adapted. In Phase 2, the team will conduct a pilot test with 7 teachers and 175 students and develop the professional development program and fidelity of implementation measure. Phase 3 will comprise a quasi-experimental field test with 50 teachers and 1250 students (625 girls), plus follow up with pilot study students on their 10th grade STEM enrollment. Deliverables include a Playbook (curriculum, professional development program, recruitment strategies, and videos), constituting a scalable model. This research adds critical insights and much-needed research into effective strategies for supporting career exploration in middle school and is one of the first R&D projects to explicitly study the combination of approach and avoidance motivational pathways in the context of broadening STEM participation. The project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts, and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2137338,Collaborative Research: BPC-AE: STARS: Catalyzing Action-Oriented Academic Communities for Broadening Participation in Computing,2025-04-25,Temple University,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA02,2237296,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2137338,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2137338_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,191226104,QD4MGHFDJKU1,"It is critical to address the longstanding issue of underrepresentation of women, Black, and Hispanic students in computing degree programs to provide an equitable foundation for all to participate in our society and the global economy as controllers and creators of technology, and to advance the preparation of a diverse, innovative, and competitive tech workforce. Building on the prior success of the STARS Computing Corps Alliance for Broadening Participation in Computing, the goal of the STARS Catalyst project is to: 1) increase the number of women, Black, and Hispanic students that persist in computing degree programs, and 2) advance the careers of students and faculty from groups that have been historically underrepresented in computing. Through research and evaluation around STARS Catalyst activities, this project will advance knowledge about practices designed to increase persistence and support career advancement in computing for college computing students and faculty, particularly for those from underrepresented and intersectional groups in computing. The STARS Catalyst Alliance is a collaborative effort across Temple University, North Carolina State, Kent State, Florida State University, Morgan State, and University of North Carolina Charlotte.      The STARS Computing Corps Alliance for Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) engages computing faculty and students at colleges, universities, and community colleges in a community of practice with a shared commitment to take action to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion in computing. STARS Computing Corps conferences, communities, and networks create significant institutional and human resources that can expand BPC research to a larger audience of researchers, educators, administrators, CS departments, and K-20 students, and can dramatically increase the number of people taking action in BPC efforts. Prior results show that the STARS Computing Corps alliance increases intentions to persist in computing among STARS students and faculty, with enhanced outcomes for Black students and faculty. This project will significantly extend the STARS alliance to expand upon those impacts, by 1) including new partners that expand the reach of STARS and that emphasize participation of Black and Hispanic students and faculty, particularly from emerging Hispanic Serving Institutions and community colleges, 2) creating new program elements that test new and propagate evidence-based BPC practices within computing departments, and 3) leveraging partnerships to support identity-focused affinity groups, and 4) developing STARS Alumni groups employed in industry positions to promote transition to and retention within the tech workforce. Extensions to the STARS Leadership Corps program, STARS Launch program, and the STARS Celebration conference will serve to develop and propagate evidence-based approaches aimed at improving the teaching and learning of computing for Black and Hispanic students and build evidence of their effectiveness, and the RESPECT research conference will continue to advance peer-reviewed BPC scholarship.    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.",FALSE
2227624,Conference:  Judicial Independence and Rule of Law Across the Globe,2025-04-25,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,21950,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2227624,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2227624_4900,2022-07-15,2025-06-30,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"Judicial independence and rule of law are pillars of liberal democracy. Constitutional democracies around the world face powerful political forces exerted by populist and nationalist movements and the authoritarian leaders that these movements catapult into power. These same forces also target systems of international governance, inducing governments to undermine the operation and legitimacy of international tribunals if not withdraw altogether from the treaties that give rise to these systems. Courts are expected to serve as bulwarks against authoritarian and illiberal impulses, defend the rule of law, and uphold constitutional and international rules-based orders. Understanding how they can perform these essential functions even as courts, themselves, become sites of populist, political contestation and targets of well-orchestrated attacks is critical to protecting legal orders against populist subversion. The international scope of the threat demands a scholarly effort that transcends the context of any single country and also considers how the erosion of judicial independence and rule of law at the national level affects the future of a rules-based, international order that rests on the existence of functioning liberal democracies. This effort requires the sort of robust exchange that can only occur through in-person dialogue among a diverse array of researchers who come from all parts of the world and that includes the perspectives of early-career scholars and scholars from traditionally-underrepresented groups as well as internationally renowned experts.    The populist threats posed to judicial independence and rule of law in both the developed and developing world offers an opportunity to examine the vulnerabilities and resilience of judicial institutions in a wide variety of political systems. Scholars will convene under the auspices of the International Political Science Association’s Research Committee on Comparative Judicial Studies to examine how authoritarian and populist pressures are challenging, transforming, and reinforcing judicial independence and rule of law. Using law and social science approaches, participants will examine these phenomena across a range of jurisdictions. They will bring detailed, locally-informed knowledge to bear upon a set of core questions concerning the nature of the populist threats, forms of attack, and conditions under which these attacks succeed or fail. How do populist political dynamics compare across countries, and what are the implications of these differences for courts? Under what conditions do populists target courts and the rule of law? What factors shape the forms of these attacks and the abilities of courts to withstand them? And, how well do existing concepts, theories, and research methods serve these lines of inquiry? This gathering provides a unique opportunity to engage these questions from a distinctly comparative perspective and generate insights into how judicial independence and the rule of law are institutionalized, how they are threatened, and what can be done to counter the threats. This collaborative effort will advance scholarly debates on how courts respond to populist assaults and democratic backsliding as well as inform efforts of court reformers, bar associations, and policymakers to institute the changes needed to re-empower courts whose independence has been breached.    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.",FALSE
2343112,Collaborative Research: Incentivizing and Spotlighting Scientific Contributions in Legislative Studies,2025-04-25,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,URBANA,IL,IL13,96253,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343112,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343112_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,618013620,Y8CWNJRCNN91,"To maximize scientific contributions in the field of legislative studies, this project creates a new initiative with the mission to engage, support, and promote the study of legislative politics across gender and sub-disciplinary divides. The initiative hosts virtual events monthly throughout the year, a professional development seminar, a research seminar, and a writing group, an in-person annual conference. The project also maintains a website and listserve with over 550 members and promotes women’s research via social media. Additionally, the initiative collects/analyzes data on women in legislative studies.     This project seeks to bring new research and perspectives to scholarship on legislative politics by promoting the study of legislative politics across gender and sub-disciplinary divides. The initiative focuses on the research being done by a diverse set of scholars studying legislatures around the world. One of the aims of the project is to bridge the gap across the study of individual legislatures and the study of legislatures in comparative perspective. Bringing together a diverse set of scholars of legislative politics will encourage intellectual contributions that bridge these subfields. The initiative hosts virtual events monthly throughout the year, a professional development seminar, a research seminar, and a writing group, an in-person annual conference. The project also maintains a website and listserve with over 550 members and promotes women’s research via social media. Additionally, the initiative collects/analyzes data on women in legislative studies.    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.",FALSE
2149858,Collaborative Research: The AGEP Massachusetts State University System Equity-Minded Model for Recruiting and Advancing Early Career Faculty in the STEM Professoriate,2025-04-25,BRIDGEWATER STATE UNIVERSITY,BRIDGEWATER,MA,MA09,366925,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149858,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149858_4900,2022-07-01,2027-06-30,023250002,LKA6VHCCK9B4,"Three collaborating institutions in the Massachusetts Public Higher Education System, Framingham State University, Bridgewater State University and Worcester State University, are working together to develop and implement an equity-minded model for advancing early career STEM faculty who are members of AGEP populations: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. This AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model’s (FCPAM) goal is to develop, implement, evaluate and institutionalize a FCPAM for transforming institutions to be more supportive and culturally sensitive such that the faculty successfully advance through recruitment and retention along early career pathways to tenure in teaching intensive comprehensive universities. This FCPAM is improving the success of early-career faculty such that faculty demographics will mirror student demographics at the three collaborating institutions. This change in faculty demographics will ultimately result in graduating more STEM students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the STEM workforce. Enhancing diversity within the STEM workforce will contribute to mitigating systemic racism, boosting innovation in the workplace, and enhancing the economy and prosperity within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our Nation.    Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FCPAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FCPAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FCPAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.    The foundation of this FCPAM includes a cluster hiring strategy to recruit diverse faculty who will have a shared learning experience and support system across the universities, including a joint faculty development initiative, a faculty mentorship program, common events and shared resources. In addition, the Alliance has a collaborative plan focusing on equity to examine, change, and align institutional policies and procedures in support of a welcoming and supportive academic climate for a diverse faculty. The Alliance will use formative and summative evaluations to document results and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the model throughout the life of the project. The self-study of the FCPAM development and activities will advance knowledge concerning how socio-cultural, economic, structural, and institutional variables impact the development and success of the Alliance model and the institutional culture changes. An intersectional lens will be used to examine the impact of the FCPAM activities on the success of recruited faculty in relation to their identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, immigration status or national origin, abilities, and being a caregiver or a parent.    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.",TRUE
2341036,Student Engagement in Mathematics: A Longitudinal Study of Classroom and Psychosocial Processes,2025-04-25,University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,845762,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341036,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2341036_4900,2023-07-01,2025-12-31,606375418,ZUE9HKT2CLC9,"Increasing student engagement is an explicit goal of many reform efforts that address problems of student boredom, alienation, and low achievement. To better understand the processes linked to math engagement, it is important to study the trajectories and patterns of student math engagement and differences by race and gender, the associated motivational and classroom factors, and the impact of engagement on achievement. Understanding the conditions under which classroom characteristics are most effective and for whom can lead to the development and refinement of contextually-relevant interventions and optimal teaching practices that enhance student engagement and achievement in math. The study aims to investigate the classroom and psychosocial processes linked to mathematics engagement from 6th to 8th grade with a racially diverse sample. Understanding these processes among historically underrepresented groups of students is particularly important because it will enhance our ability to broaden participation in STEM and increase the access and involvement of underrepresented groups in STEM learning. The findings can help to identify groups of students who are at greater risk for disengaging from math and potentially turning away from STEM careers and to develop classroom-based interventions that reflect specific contexts, instructional practices, and motivational beliefs.     The study has three specific aims: 1. Identify differential trajectory patterns of student engagement in math classes and examine how these trajectory patterns differ by gender and race; 2. Examine how and what instructional and social characteristics predict student engagement in math classes, which in turn predict math achievement; 3. Examine how and what psychological beliefs of teachers and students moderate the associations between classroom characteristics and student engagement in math classes. To meet these goals, the researchers employ both longitudinal quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative study will investigate this complex system of interrelations between classroom and motivational factors and the development over time of these dynamics, while the qualitative study will investigate the different meanings and purposes that students ascribe to their math experiences and self-perceptions about math identity. By examining the reciprocal relationship between classroom characteristics and student engagement in math and variations through collection of classroom observation data, coupled with survey and interview data, the project will identify which classroom and psychosocial predictors are prime targets for raising math engagement. In addition, this project relies on longitudinal, person-centered quantitative and qualitative data to track changes in students' engagement over time, identify engagement trajectories in specific subgroups, and address questions about the desirability of various patterns of engagement and synergy among dimensions of engagement.    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.",TRUE
2128198,Exposure to Trauma and Political Behavior,2025-04-25,Jackson State University,JACKSON,MS,MS02,571727,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128198,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2128198_4900,2021-08-15,2026-01-31,392170002,WFVHMSF6BU45,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     People undergo mental distress when they are exposed to multiple traumatic events. For example, individuals indirectly exposed via the media or via personally witnessing events such as the September 11 attacks or the Boston Bombings are psychologically impacted.  The impact of witnessing negative interactions with the police on political attitudes and behavior has not been studied adequately. The PI proposes that the inclusion of such events in political analyses will help to determine if the interaction between trauma and demographic characteristics affect political attitudes and behavior. Furthermore, the PI examines the degree to which living in an urban area versus a rural area conditions the manner in which citizens from different demographic groups respond to trauma.  The PIs uses surveys and focus groups to collect data from hard-to-reach groups in rural and urban areas. By examining these various groups and communities, the research offer greater understanding of how trauma manifest differently in citizens from various groups to influence political behavior.       The bulk of the research related to mental health and exposure to traumatic events fails to  distinguish among various demographic groups concerning the effects of cumulative traumas. A typical study employs controls for race and ethnicity by including dummy variables in statistical models. The current literature fails to explore whether the unique predispositions of certain demographic groups exacerbate their emotional response to cumulative traumatic events. In this study, the PI conceptualizes negative interactions with law enforcement as racially traumatic stressful stimuli (RTSS) and includes RTSS in models to analyze cumulative stress and political behavior. Survey methods and focus groups are used to collect data from hard-to-reach groups such as rural people in minority demographics. In addition to the survey, the PI conducts four community-level case studies that draw on interviews with community historians, communities where truth and reconciliation initiatives were present, interviews with mental health professionals in the area, and focus groups. Through these various data gathering efforts, the PI examines how the inclusion of RTSS in political analyses will help to determine if the interaction between trauma and demographic characteristics affect political attitudes and behavior.    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.",FALSE
2418043,Black Social and Personality Psychologists Network (BSPN),2025-04-25,Society for Personality and Social Psychology,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,368822,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2418043,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2418043_4900,2024-08-01,2027-07-31,200363902,HHJ7JW5MDEC4,"Within the scientific disciplines of Personality and Social Psychology, a very small proportion of scholars identify as Black. The Society for Personality and Social Psychology is the largest professional organization representing these disciplines. As of 2021, only 5% of the SPSP membership identified as Black. As a result, Black graduate students and early career scholars are less likely than their White peers (who make up 58% of the SPSP membership) to have ingroup role models and mentors. Many Black graduate students are the only one in their cohort, and sometimes, the only one in the entire academic department. Decades of social psychological research emphasizes that being a numerical minority can have negative consequences for performance, persistence, and general well-being. Creating community and providing exposure to ingroup mentors and role models are crucial interventions that can mitigate these negative effects. This project develops such community resources.    The Black Social & Personality Psychologists Network (BSPN) provides community and resources for pre-doctoral, doctoral, and postdoctoral Black social and personality psychologists. The network runs an annual two-and-a-half-day Black Social & Personality Psychologists’ Retreat (BlaSPR) in connection with SPSP, an annual two-and-a-half-day writing retreat in connection with the Society for the Psychological Study for Social Issues (SPSSI), an annual job market bootcamp, monthly virtual lab meetings, and virtual writing sessions. Impact is measured through annual surveys that assess the programming participants attend, their sense of belonging and efficacy, and development of their academic accomplishments. BSPN produces a strong pipeline of scholars who will fill tenure-track faculty positions and serve as role models for future scientists, produce research that better and more accurately reflects the experiences of minority groups, and create more inclusive climates in higher education and the sciences.    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.",FALSE
2340108,CAREER: Dynamics of Women's Political and Economic Empowerment: An Open Database Project,2025-04-25,Trustees of Boston University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,87683,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2340108,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2340108_4900,2024-07-01,2029-06-30,022151703,THL6A6JLE1S7,"Many countries, including the United States, are simultaneously experiencing two contradictory trends: increasing opportunities for women that result from economic growth and increasing barriers that limit women’s voice and agency. Such barriers are growing across work, social, and political settings in both the Global North and Global South, alongside growth in women’s contributions to economic and political innovation. In some instances, however, political, economic, and social systems effectively foster women’s agency and voice toward gender equality. This project explores the conditions under which gender equality becomes more likely and identifies women’s solidarity as playing a key role. The project seeks answers to these and related questions: When do political, economic, and social systems support women’s solidarity? How, if at all, can women’s solidarity facilitate gender equality and universal societal improvements? This CAREER project advances a path-breaking research and educational program that leverages scientific innovation to facilitate inclusive development, social welfare, and gender equality.    This project advances the theoretical and analytic bases for understanding the dynamics of women’s empowerment. The project aims to: 1) harness multi-method data generation to document the scope of gendered agency and women’s solidarity across space and time; 2) develop a theoretical of the dynamics of gendered agency and women’s solidarity to explain global variation in gender equality; 3) leverage “as-if random” changes in women’s rights and initiate field experiments to test theories of gendered agency, solidarity, and levels of equality; and 4) implement a multi-faceted educational program to establish an Open Database Project. The database element includes a replicable system of data collection, processing, digital infrastructure construction, and data analysis that is based on four core study cases. With the aim of deploying data science to analyze geospatial patterns of gendered agency in relation to rights, resources, networks, and power, the Open Database Project coincides with an interdisciplinary educational program that involves students from multiple disciplines (e.g., social science, law, gender studies, and computing and data science) in hands-on research. Through theory-driven data collection and analysis the project both supports and produces path-breaking research on gender and agency to enable welfare-enhancing equality in the United States and globally.    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.",FALSE
2221894,An Ethnic Spring in the Food Desert? How State Policy Affects Food Environments and Business Entrepreneurship.,2025-04-25,University of North Texas,DENTON,TX,TX13,158068,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221894,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2221894_4900,2023-01-01,2025-12-31,762051132,G47WN1XZNWX9,"This study examines how state-level policy ameliorates or exacerbates institutionalized inequality in food security, food access, and food business ownership in the United States. In 2018, an estimated 1 in 9 Americans were food insecure (37 million Americans, including more than 11 million children). The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity in the United States. Among African American, Latino, and immigrant communities’ food insecurity is higher leading to serious chronic disease prevalence in these communities. In 2019, 1 in 6 minority residents in the United States also lived in a community with limited availability and accessibility to retail grocery outlets. Nevertheless, as of 2020, nearly 1 in 5 U.S. businesses with employees were minority-owned, and a portion of these businesses were contributing to the food environment of communities by providing access to both retail grocery and dining services. The project examines two broad research questions related to the combination of food security, food access, and food business ownership that constitute a community’s food environment. The first question is: What is the role of state and local policy in the food environment in the United States? Further, how do state and local food policies affect individual food security and food access? The broader impacts of the study are numerous. The efforts will develop academic, institutional, and community partnerships connecting political science, public affairs, and applied economics research that allows for a reimagining of food systems research that does not keep diverse stakeholders on the fringe but incorporates them into existing political, economic, and food systems. Moreover, the research will shed light on the ongoing racial, ethnic, and nativity disparities embedded in U.S. state-level food policy.     The investigation will implement a two-part mixed methods approach to answer research questions related to the variation in food environments across states. Part I will compile data into a novel dataset to understand the influence of food policy on the food environment at state and county levels, as well as the influence of the food environment on individuals.  Part II involves a qualitative approach using research interviews in urban, suburban, and rural communities in California, Indiana, Maine, New York, and Texas, to solicit open-ended feedback on how immigrant communities and communities of color perceive their food environments, opportunities for food business entrepreneurship, and existing food policies. The project will work with community partners to co-create, disseminate, and analyze the interview instrument and its results across the five strategically chosen study sites. These in-depth research interviews will highlight how state policy shapes the individual attitudes and access. Lastly, this project will collect a county-level dataset informed by the findings from the qualitative interview instrument to investigate how residents and entrepreneurs interact with local and state bureaucracy and their local food environment. This investigation will explain how decisions at the state level (policies and expenditures) are significantly correlated with a change in the quality of individual and local food environments. Most importantly, the research brings politics, policy, and applied economic subfields into conversation regarding U.S. food policy, building an infrastructure among institutions to facilitate data collection and analysis that includes active collaboration with community research partners and MSI student researchers.    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.",TRUE
2115712,Community Collaboration as a Culturally-Relevant Approach to Climate Change Programming and Mitigation,2025-04-25,Washington State University,PULLMAN,WA,WA05,300000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115712,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115712_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,991640001,XRJSGX384TD6,"Communities with the highest risk of climate change impacts may also be least able to respond and adapt to climate change, which highlights a specific need for inclusive Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) strategies. This Pilot and Feasibility project builds on the success of US Cooperative Extension Service programs that empower volunteers to conduct outreach in their own communities. It focuses on climate change, and seeks to co-design an informal STEM climate science curriculum, called Climate Stewards, in collaboration with community members from groups often underrepresented in STEM, including indigenous and Latinx communities, as well as rural women. The project is designed to strengthen community awareness as well as prioritize community voices in climate change conversations. The knowledge and skills obtained by Climate Stewards and their communities will allow for more involvement in decisions related to climate adaptation and mitigation in their communities and beyond. After establishing a proof of concept, the project seeks to expand this work to more rural and urban communities, other communities of color, and additional socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.     Grounded in the theory of diffusion of innovation as a means for volunteers to communicate information to members of a social system, this project seeks co-create a retooled Climate Stewards curriculum using inclusive and adaptive strategies. Community collaboration and involvement through new and existing partnerships, focus groups, and meetings will determine what each community needs. During the program design phase, community members can share their concerns regarding climate change as well as the unique characteristics and cultural perspectives that should be addressed. The collaboration between extension and education leverage resources that are important for developing a robust implementation and evaluation process. This project is expected to have a significant influence on local and national programs that are looking to incorporate climate change topics into their programming and/or broaden their reach to underrepresented communities. The hypotheses tested in this project describe how inclusion-based approaches may influence competencies in STEM topics and their impact on communities, specifically willingness to take action. Hypothesis 1: STEM competencies in climate issues increase with interactive and peer learning  approaches. Hypothesis 2: Community participation in the co-creation of knowledge about climate change, by integrating their values and objectives into the climate change education program, increases people's motivation to become engaged in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.    This Pilot and Feasibility project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2327593,BPE-Track 2: Collaborative: Supporting Engineering Faculty Gender Equity by Understanding the Experiences and Career Trajectories of Women in Non-tenure Track Faculty Roles,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,315325,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327593,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327593_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"The broader impact of this Broadening Participation for Engineering Track 2 (BPE- Track-2) project will be to enhance knowledge about how to increase the number of women in higher-power (tenure-track) engineering faculty and leadership positions. Though many stakeholders prioritize increasing gender equity for academic faculty, statistics show that women are over-represented in lower-power faculty positions (non-tenure track). These lower-power faculty roles are often not eligible for higher career advancement, including campus leadership positions. Without gender equity in higher positions of power, the benefits of a diverse workforce cannot be fully realized. We are researching why and how women are positioned in lower- or higher-powered faculty roles in academia. To do this, we will learn from people along this career path, including women graduate engineering students, women in lower-power engineering faculty positions, and women engineering faculty in higher-power positions. By interviewing these people and studying their experiences, we will be able to more deeply understand the underlying mechanisms that result in these power imbalances for women, including women of color. This understanding will then inform changes that institutions can make to support women faculty advancing toward leadership positions in academia.    The proposed project leverages a qualitative approach to answer the unexplored research question: How can institutions support the advancement of women faculty in non-tenure track (NTT) ranks? Our study will explore women graduate student and faculty experiences through the lenses of intra-occupational gender segregation and social cognitive career theory to identify key mechanisms that influence women’s career decisions in academia and the factors that support women’s transitions from NTT to tenure-track (TT) roles.  The project will leverage our prior research to determine: 1) how trainee perceptions of TT and NTT roles develop and influence career decisions; 2) how NTT women faculty experience their roles and seek career advancement; and 3) what are the pathways, including barriers and supports, of advancement of women from NTT to TT ranks. We will interview 40-50 participants, including (1) women engineering graduate students, (2) women NTT faculty in engineering, and (3) women TT faculty in engineering. Interview collection will include semi-structured, quantitative comparative, and critical incident techniques and analysis will include thematic analysis and corresponding quantitative comparative, and critical incident analysis. We will leverage our results to inform research-based practices to support career development and institutional policies that support gender equity.    This project was partially supported by the NSF ADVANCE program which is designed to foster STEM faculty equity by identifying and eliminating organizational barriers to the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.    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.",FALSE
2201701,Collaborative Research: Researching Early Access to Computing and Higher Education (REACH): Understanding CS pathways with a focus on Black women,2025-04-25,Spelman College,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,232154,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201701,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201701_4900,2022-07-01,2026-06-30,303144399,ES69D58DJPE7,"This research project seeks to examine longstanding inequities in access to and participation in computer science (CS) education. Decades of research have shown that certain subgroups (e.g., women, students with disabilities, underrepresented minority students) tend to face substantial barriers to participating in CS courses and programs. As computing education continues to expand in K-12 education systems, it is important to understand how early experiences in computing education relate to enrollment in computing courses and programs in college. By combining quantitative analyses of large-scale enrollment data and student surveys with qualitative data from focus groups and interviews, this project aims to inform efforts to broaden and diversify participation in computing education. Specifically, this project seeks to systematically answer how K-12 computing experiences influence students as they pursue higher education and whether and how that influence differs for distinct subpopulations of students.    The goal of this mixed-methods project is to examine equity in computer science (CS) education by investigating the relationship between students’ computing experiences in K-12 and higher education with a focus on the experiences of Black women. The theoretical frameworks guiding this research are Black Feminist Thought, specifically intersectionality, and social capital theory. The project spans three levels of data collection and analysis: state, institution, and individual experience. These levels have reference not to the unit of analysis (all three levels utilize student-level data) but rather to the way the data are organized. Cluster analysis of statewide education data will be used to identify computer science course taking patterns in middle and high school. Multilevel modeling will then be employed to investigate how these course taking patterns are related to participation in computing courses and programs in college. Focus will be placed on understanding how these relationships differ for distinct groups of students. Findings from these analyses will be coupled with analyses of college student surveys to better understand how students’ experiences in K-12 influenced their opportunities, challenges, and decisions regarding computing education in college. Finally, Black women who are majoring in CS will be engaged in data interpretation, focus groups, and interviews to better understand their unique experiences within the CS ecosystem. These analyses will help conceptualize broadening participation in computing along the K-16 pathway in a way that supports students, particularly Black women, in applying computing skills and knowledge to solve problems in a variety of disciplines.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest interventions and innovations to address persistence.    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.",FALSE
2429071,Collaborative Research: Conference on Research on New Populations and its Applications,2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,24833,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429071,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429071_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"To advance the science on social factors associated with the well-being – defined broadly to include social, economic, physical, psychological, and relational dimensions – of new populations, in this project social scientists are convened to present their research on new populations in the United States and influences on their well-being. With sustained levels of new populations to the country, it is crucial to promote scientific knowledge on their well-being as their population is critical for the sustenance, prosperity, and health of the nation. Representing advances in this area across a variety of disciplines – including anthropology, education, criminal justice, sociology, and economics – the scholarship presented at this convening will be published in peer-reviewed journals to enhance public knowledge on the barriers and promoters to the well-being of new populations, thereby benefiting US society. Specific efforts will be undertaken to recruit scholars from under-represented backgrounds and institutions of varying research capacities, to add a diversity of perspectives to the field.    Making sound decisions rooted in empirical evidence concerning new populations requires that we create spaces that amplify academic work on the subject, while also creating opportunities for the public to engage with this scholarship in consumable forms. In this conference, a collaborative effort between the George Washington University and the University of South Florida, participants present high-impact research on the well-being of new populations and take part in applied workshops on best practices for communicating that research to decision makers and the public-at-large. The intellectual merit of the conference includes its interdisciplinary and translational orientation to the application of empirical research. The translational workshops prepare a cohort of scholars with the knowledge and skills to bring empirical insights on publicly engaged scholarship on the well-being of new populations beyond the academy into decision making spaces.    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.",FALSE
2136141,EAGER: Collaborative Research: Enhancing Asian American and Pacific Islander Participation and Belonging in the Geosciences,2025-04-25,Brown University,PROVIDENCE,RI,RI01,209243,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2136141,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2136141_4900,2022-01-01,2025-12-31,029129100,E3FDXZ6TBHW3,"Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) represent one of the fastest growing demographics in the U.S. today and yet lag in participation and representation in geoscience graduate programs compared to other STEM fields. Thus, new programs are needed that specifically recruit AAPI STEM undergraduates to geoscience graduate programs and enhance belonging of AAPI geoscientists as a whole. The proposed activities will focus on Minority Serving institutions (MSIs) that serve AAPI. This project will expose as many as 1,000 undergraduates from MSIs in geoscience-adjacent STEM fields to geoscience research and careers, provide a new research internship opportunity and create national cross-career stage connections between AAPI geoscientists to produce a cohort of geoscience leaders from a group often left out of diversity discussions. AAPI scientists desire to relate their work to local populations and problems relevant to their communities; therefore, diversifying geoscience graduate programs with those identifying as AAPI will have a direct impact on communities facing important geoscience problems of the 21st century such as climate change, natural hazards, and resource scarcity.    This project supports pilot programs to enhance participation and belonging for Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities in geosciences. The proposed activities include: 1) Establishing a researcher visit program to recruit undergraduate AAPI into geosciences via visits to AAPI-serving MSIs from geoscience researchers; 2) A pilot research internship program for undergraduates at these institutions to carry out research with AAPI mentors; 3) Organizing virtual and in-person events and a career development workshop to enhance belonging, identity, and leadership within the AAPI geoscience community across career stages and sectors. The outcomes of this combination of the proposed activities will help to develop geoscience programs, and create a cohort and community of Belonging, Access, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (BAJEDI) leaders of AAPI geoscientists.    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.",FALSE
2304093,"NSF INCLUDES DDLP: WiSEN - Supporting Minoritized Women Students in STEM, Cultivating Pathways Using Mentoring Networks",2025-04-25,Rochester Institute of Tech,ROCHESTER,NY,NY25,599994,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304093,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2304093_4900,2023-07-01,2026-06-30,146235603,J6TWTRKC1X14,"The Women in STEM Education Network (WiSEN) is a co-mentoring network for historically underrepresented and marginalized graduate and undergraduate women students in STEM. This INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot project engages students in structured conversations, identifies mentoring needs, and explores the systemic barriers that hinder women’s participation in STEM. The project goal is to expand upon best practices in STEM mentoring, while building a national networked community for minoritized women students. The initial phase of the project is design, development, and launch of the WiSEN project among four higher education institutions- Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Montana, Washington State University, and Gonzaga University.    The WiSEN project functions as a Networked Improvement Community (NIC). NIC models have demonstrated effectiveness when researchers, students, and institutional leaders collaborate to develop solutions for institutional and systemic change. This NIC model provides the basis for the WiSEN co-mentoring infrastructure, which operates in virtual and in-person hybrid spaces. WiSEN participants engage in critical and courageous dialogue centering on: 1) Understanding Institutional Power and Navigating Systemic Barriers; 2) Leveraging Cultural Wealth and Intersectional Identities; 3) Networking for Systemic Change; and 4) Co-mentoring Future Leaders. Research insights fill important knowledge gaps regarding best practices for mentoring women and provide a platform for this scalable network that can be implemented beyond the initial four university partners. This project is funded by NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, which seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance and sustain systemic change to broaden participation in STEM at scale.    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.",TRUE
2437382,Collaborative Research: Planning: CRISES: Center for Neurodiversity Development and Advancement,2025-04-25,Louisiana State University,BATON ROUGE,LA,LA06,6774,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,"CRISES-R&I in Sci, Env&Society",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2437382,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2437382_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,708030001,ECQEYCHRNKJ4,"About 15-20% of the adult population identifies as neurodivergent. These individuals offer immense unrealized potential as employees; however, they are a vulnerable community subject to extreme social and systemic inequities in jobs and higher education. Neurodivergent adults experience chronic unemployment and underemployment. When employed, they are underrepresented in management and leadership roles within organizations. Solving this complex problem goes far beyond the reach of any single discipline, but requires theories, methodologies, and approaches that encompass policy, organizational, group, individual and technological insights as well as meaningful involvement of neurodivergent individuals. The objective of this planning proposal is to assemble a team of researchers, employers, educators, advocates, and neurodiverse individuals to study, develop and disseminate organizational and technological evidence-based practices to better support the advancement of neurodivergent individuals in meaningful, productive work and increase worker productivity, job satisfaction, and career advancement.     This project brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers with expertise in artificial intelligence, behavioral science, data science, game design, organizational psychology, physical therapy, rehabilitation science and special education, to collaborate with advocates, educators, employers, and neurodivergent individuals to transform the current state of employment for adults who identify as neurodivergent. Building on previous NSF funded research, the work described in this planning proposal will create a muti-university, multidisciplinary Center for Neurodiversity Development and Advancement that includes both researchers and key stakeholders collaboratively designing research questions and developing solutions. Integrating scientific knowledge from educational, organizational, technological, and psychological research, each participating university capitalizes on its unique strengths and builds a collaborative team with neurodivergent individuals and advocates included as partners. Products of the center will include research to solidify factors underlying lack of employment opportunities, development of supports to enhance access to higher education and job training in collaboration with the neurodivergent community, development of strategies to facilitate meaningful employment and career advancement, and education to organizations and other key stakeholders within the broader community to promote employment equity.    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.",FALSE
2120031,GP-IN: Families and University Together as a Unit for Research and Education (FUTURE): Connecting Hispanic Families to Geosciences Through Community Informal Learning Network,2025-04-25,The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,EDINBURG,TX,TX15,419996,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOALI-Grnt Opp Acad Lia wIndus,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120031,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2120031_4900,2021-11-01,2025-10-31,785392909,L3ATVUT2KNK7,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     A strong and diversified next generation geoscience workforce will play a critical role in solving crucial global threats (water, energy, natural hazards, and food) under climate stresses in the coming decades. In the U.S., the geoscience workforce has the least ethnic diversity compared to other STEM fields (e.g., ~3% Hispanics). National Academies Press states that minority serving institutions are America's under-utilized resource for strengthening the STEM workforce for the near future. The University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), as the nation’s second largest Hispanic serving institution (with ~32,000 students and ~90% Hispanic), and its location at the U.S.-Mexico border, make it an ideal hub for training the future Hispanic Geoscience workforce. The FUTURE project integrates the Hispanic culture into an informal Geoscience and STEM learning pathway through a family-centered model to address the challenge of enhancing Hispanic participation in STEM. A family-centered learning framework will help families understand one of the most critical elements in their lives – “water supply/resources” and its relationship to the geoscience/Earth environment. With the experience gained in a previous GEOPATHS project, the project team aims to expand and scale up the established platform and infrastructure of its existing program transforming the traditional Geoscience Learning Ecosystems (GLEs) while nurturing the Hispanic Geoscience workforce in a way that can be expanded to other minority serving institutions.    The FUTURE project will explore how the family can be placed at the center of informal STEM learning and be the basis for understanding a geoscience issue – how water “works;” i.e., the water cycle with humans at the center, and the activities/link to Earth environment (i.e., mining and agriculture in Texas). The FUTURE project has four objectives: (1) Establish an Informal Learning Network with a water and Earth-Environmental Science theme at communities; (2) Change Hispanic families' (parents and children) perspectives towards geosciences careers; (3) Recruit students into geoscience through a developed network and (4) Provide a channel into geoscience education and career paths for local junior/senior high school and 2-year college students. The project offers activities focused on water, soil, rocks and minerals, geoscience and their relationship to Rio Grande Valley’s history and economics (oil/gas mining and agriculture). FUTURE’s innovative approach will test how Informal Learning Networks between the local community and educational institutions can transform GLE for individuals from groups that have historically been underrepresented in STEM.    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.",FALSE
2121787,ADVANCE Partnership: Promoting Equity and Inclusion to Facilitate Retention of Faculty through Evidence- and Place-Based Intervention Training,2025-04-25,University of California-Riverside,RIVERSIDE,CA,CA39,802538,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121787,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121787_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,925210001,MR5QC5FCAVH5,"The University of California, Riverside (UCR) Collaborative NSF ADVANCE Partnership project (COE ADVANCE) aims at developing an organizational culture and climate that better promotes equity and inclusion for engineering faculty. This will be achieved by building awareness and understanding of exclusionary behaviors and implementing bystander training. This project will affect individual and organizational change in Colleges of Engineering (COEs) across the University of California (UC) system, starting in the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) at UCR and expanding to all other UC COEs, through a partnership with the UC Engineering Deans’ Council.  The project objectives include: (1) Increase individual and organizational awareness and understanding of the culture and climate within COEs across the UC system, particularly as they affect women and in the context of intersectionality; (2) Develop organizational leaders, allies, and coconspirators from the departments and colleges to provide bystander intervention training for all faculty and to model behaviors that promote equity and inclusion; (3) Empower faculty to apply bystander intervention strategies that promote positive organizational culture and climate, encourage equitable attitudes, and facilitate systemic change; and (4) Elucidate the intersectional experiences of underrepresented faculty and resistance to change among overrepresented faculty.  This project is in partnership with the ADVANCEGeo: From the Classroom to the Field: Improving the Workplace in the Geosciences (#1725879) and NSF INCLUDES: Leveraging Field- Campaign Networks for Collaborative Change (#1835055) projects.    The COE ADVANCE project will result in: (1) An increased understanding and adoption of strategies by engineering faculty across the UC system for identifying and addressing exclusionary practices; (2) An intervention model that can be used in multiple higher education contexts to promote equity and inclusion of STEM faculty, staff, and students; (3) A network of organizational leaders from departments within COEs across the UC system who are committed to modeling equity and inclusion, and who are connected to the AdvanceGEO and INCLUDES partners and their networks; and (4) An improved culture and climate for COE faculty across the UC system. Important elements in this project for supporting systemic and sustainable change include: engagement of leadership at the College, University, and UC System levels; development of organizational leaders within departments as allies and co-conspirators; and faculty empowerment through department-centralized training (train-the-trainer model). Training materials and research methods will be developed through the partnerships with the AdvanceGEO and NSF INCLUDES projects. These project partners bring experience in applying such approaches in a place-based context.  The COE ADVANCE research methods, data, deliverables, and outcomes will contribute to a growing body of knowledge and published literature on bystander intervention programs, as well as on efforts to promote equity and inclusion in academia. Although COE ADVANCE focuses on inclusion for STEM faculty, systemic shifts in organizational culture and climate will also positively affect students and staff.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.  This project is also supported by the NSF Directorate for Engineering's Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) program.    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.",FALSE
2411773,Collaborative Research: Racial Equity in STEM Starts with Teacher Education,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,151662,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411773,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411773_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"The racial and ethnic diversity of the K-12 student population far exceeds the diversity of the current teacher workforce and teacher candidate pipeline. To address this gap, systemic changes in the structural and cultural dimensions of university teacher preparation programs are required. This project will leverage an existing consortium of STEM teacher preparation programs in Washington State to: (1) identify community assets and systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting STEM teacher candidates from historically underrepresented populations; (2) develop strategies for preparing STEM teacher candidates to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies; and (3) advance understanding of how universities can develop authentic partnerships with historically marginalized communities to support STEM teacher preparation. The significance of this project is that it aims to establish authentic partnerships with individuals and groups typically underrepresented in STEM and elevate the knowledge and leadership from marginalized communities to collaboratively address barriers and obstacles to becoming STEM teachers.    This project will employ a descriptive multiple case study design to understand how institutes of higher education work with their local communities to dismantle systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM teacher preparation. Further, the project will investigate how these teacher preparation programs leverage the knowledge of leaders from marginalized communities to develop and share strategies for preparing future STEM teachers to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies. With sites spanning urban, suburban, and rural settings, this research will enhance our collective knowledge about contextual factors that support or constrain efforts to address inequities in STEM teacher preparation. The community-led work at each region is grounded in the principles of Targeted Universalism and will utilize tools and frameworks from the Equity-Driven Systems Change Model to center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities. Anticipated impacts include new recruitment and retention models for diversifying STEM teaching, revised curricula to infuse culturally sustaining pedagogy into STEM teacher preparation, and new equity-minded structures and policies to guide teacher education program decisions.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2435274,Collaborative Research: Conference: GA6 Geosciences and Environmental Justice for Indigenous Communities,2025-04-25,University of Notre Dame,NOTRE DAME,IN,IN02,93016,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Earth Sciences,EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2435274,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2435274_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,465565708,FPU6XGFXMBE9,"The 6th Geoscience Alliance (GA-6) conference builds on a successful series of national conferences aiming to broaden the participation of Native Americans in geoscience and environmental sciences. The first five Geoscience Alliance conferences brought together a total of more than 500 graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 students, educators, Elders, community members, and professionals representing 40 Tribes, Bands, and Native Villages. The GA-6 conference will take place in North Carolina and is expected to increase participation from the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, regions that have been underrepresented at prior Geoscience Alliance conferences.  The conference theme, Geoscience and Environmental Justice in Indigenous Communities, considers the distributions of environmental benefits and burdens along with the environmental policies, practices, and power dynamics that influence these distributions. Noting that Indigenous communities regularly shoulder disproportionately large environmental burdens from pollution, resource extraction, and climate change, conference participants will learn about, share, and discuss some of the ways that Indigenous and western knowledges can be used to address these problems and promote environmental justice. By increasing the involvement of Native American communities underrepresented in geoscience and environmental science, the conference will help enhance human capacity in these fields at a national level.    Despite growing recognition that Indigenous knowledge systems have much to offer the geoscience and environmental sciences, Indigenous peoples themselves are among the most underrepresented groups in careers and degree programs in these fields. This underrepresentation has implications for scientific research, science education, management, and other areas. The 6th Geoscience Alliance (GA-6) conference will help address this issue by building on a successful series of national conferences aimed at broadening the participation of Native Americans in geoscience and environmental sciences. The conference theme engages with Indigenous environmental justice, an area of academic research and a social movement that is both relevant to public policy and linked to scientific issues related to air and water quality, natural resource management, and climate change. In particular, the GA-6 conference will elevate Indigenous perspectives in environmental justice research, education, and engagement to spur ideas, dialog, and collaboration among participants and their networks. The three-day conference will include activities proven successful in previous Geoscience Alliance conferences: discussion circles, workshops, poster sessions, and field trips. The main objectives of the GA-6 conference are learning; networking and career progress; understanding; making it memorable; and growing the community. The conference will fulfill each of these objectives under the established and effective Geoscience Alliance principle that everyone teaches and everyone learns.  The GA-6 conference will also serve to disseminate information to participants about opportunities such as Research Experience for Undergraduate programs, internships, and academic degree programs. A focus on networking at the conference will support all participants in developing a strong network of peers and collaborators.    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.",FALSE
2047292,"CAREER: Overcoming Obstacles, Building Community, and Broadening Participation: A Qualitative Analysis of the Experiences and Career Decisions of Black Men in Computing",2025-04-25,Howard University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,275767,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047292,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2047292_4900,2021-02-01,2027-01-31,200590002,DYZNJGLTHMR9,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This CAREER project aims to examine and understand factors that contribute to the education and career decisions of Black men in computing. This understanding will inform enhancements to mentoring and other peer support programs designed to increase the retention of individuals from underrepresented groups in computing, informatics, and engineering (CIE) disciplines. The ubiquity of computing and digital information is driving rapid change in the world. Diversity is essential for the United States to maintain a globally competitive CIE workforce.    Qualitative methods will be used in this project to examine relationships among individual and environmental influences on Black men studying CIE and their support systems, interest levels, satisfaction, and retention in university degree programs. Utilizing elements of both the Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT and the Social Cognitive Career Theory, the research will explore the unique, individual characteristics that influence and impact the educational and career decisions of Black men. Increased understanding of these characteristics and their relationships will advance awareness of barriers to retention and success for Black men in computing. The integrated research and education plans include the development of a new course and the establishment of the BLKGENIUS network to engage Black men in computing and match them with role models and mentors in order to promote retention and success. This award is funded by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), which provides awards to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs.    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.",FALSE
2011780,Collaborative Research: Access Expansion: Growing a Network of Equity-Focused Programs in the Physical Sciences,2025-04-25,Chicago State University,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,35630,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Physics,Integrative Activities in Phys,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2011780,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2011780_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,606281598,PJ66MZ7MFZ16,"This award supports the Access Network, a project aimed at substantially improving equity and inclusion in the physical sciences. Research has shown that many common existing cultural features of physics departments disproportionately and negatively impact women and underrepresented minority students, ultimately leading to their attrition. Students and faculty in physics departments have created programs using research-based strategies that cultivate a culture that welcomes and values students’ different identities.  The Access Network, formed in 2015, combines nine of these single campus programs into a national network while providing them with resources, expertise, and knowledge related to equity work, institutional change, and STEM education. Evidence shows that Access sites have positively transformed the student experience, and that the Network supports the success of these sites. The lessons learned in developing intensive mentorship and workshops to new sites and deliberately expanding leadership will be of value to others attempting to apply best practices in student support to new populations and scale local efforts to national movements. Documentation will expand the set of resources for new and existing programs, which can be used within the Network and beyond. Finally, ongoing evaluation will contribute to an understanding of the impacts of the Network on the individual sites and of the sites on their participants.    The Access Network works towards a more equitable and inclusive physics culture. Driven by a set of shared principles (e.g., student voice, community building) and a suite of programmatic offerings (e.g., mentorship, model building courses, community events, early research opportunities), each site is tailored to the needs of its unique population, ranging from a large number of Deaf and hard of hearing students at the Rochester Institute of Technology to Black commuter students at Chicago State University. The Network supports each site by providing relevant expertise, community support, mentored leadership opportunities, and shared resources.  By helping students succeed and empowering them as leaders, Access supports these students in changing the culture of physics to make it more inclusive, welcoming, and equitable.    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.",FALSE
2417753,Collaborative Research: Texas Alliance for Research on Sociological Issues,2025-04-25,Texas A&M University,COLLEGE STATION,TX,TX10,112765,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417753,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417753_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,778454375,JF6XLNB4CDJ5,"HSIs are substantially underfunded compared to other institutions of higher education due to relatively low endowment revenue and tuition fees. Chronic underfunding leads to infrastructural and technological disparities that disadvantage students as they pursue advanced educational and professional opportunities. This project creates an alliance between four Texas HSIs to improve institutional competitiveness  through: 1) research focused on and directly relevant to creating opportunities across demographic and socio-economic groups; 2) the establishment of physical lab spaces with state-of-the-art computing resources and statistical analysis software; 3) the creation of a virtual lab across all four campuses to facilitate student and faculty mentorship and collaboration; and 4) preparation of students from HSIs to enter graduate programs.     The project brings students and faculty together from R1, R2, and M1 classified HSIs to conduct research relevant to creating opportunities across all demographics and socio-economic groups through two interconnected studies. Applying multi-method comparative designs, these studies will advance a deeper understanding of attitudes, experiences, attitudes on immigration, and other thematic areas to address core questions on inequality and opportunity. The creation of physical and virtual lab spaces for these studies will foster equal participation in scientific innovation at each of the collaborating universities by allocating infrastructural resources in proportion to need. These labs will facilitate the development of research and the dissemination of important findings through yearly mini-conferences showcasing student and faculty work, academic publications targeting traditional disciplinary outlets, and white papers designed to make the research accessible to the general public. Collectively, the alliance of four universities will address four objectives: (1) the theoretical and methodological development of sociological research, (2) promoting research opportunities for students and faculty at under-resourced HSIs, (3) conducting meaningful research on critical sociological issues important to the Texas and national social context, and (4) creating a pipeline for students from HSIs into scientific training and doctoral graduate programs.    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.",FALSE
2306259,Research Initiation: Studying the Implementation and Efficacy of an African-Centered Pedagogy and Curriculum for the STEM Education of African American Learners,2025-04-25,Morgan State University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,200000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306259,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306259_4900,2023-07-01,2025-06-30,212510001,KULSKCCZJT27,"This project will explore the impact on African American youth when the African American experience is the basis of the teaching methods and curriculum. Conscious Ingenuity (CI) is one of few programs that utilizes an African-centered approach to teach science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) concepts to African American students in kindergarten to eighth grade to encourage and support their interest, pursuit of, access to, and involvement in STEM fields. Currently, many STEM programs exist throughout the United States to increase interest and participation in STEM through exposure to the field. However, these programs utilize a traditional approach to teaching STEM concepts which fails to create an inclusive learning environment. While conventional STEM teaching aims to develop and strengthen interdisciplinary skill sets such as critical thinking, problem-solving and exploratory learning, European history and culture are at its core. African American culture and contributions are completely ignored, these exclusions weaken the African American STEM educational experience. This research study will help the research team identify specific instructional strategies and materials from an African-centered perspective that supports and encourages the interest, engagement and comprehension of African American STEM learners. We anticipate the results will demonstrate that when African American STEM learners are instructed with a pedagogy and curriculum that centers their experience, provided adequate resources and nurtured in a communal environment, they are capable learners.    Little work to date has investigated the efficacy of using an African-centered pedagogy and curriculum to encourage and support the interest, engagement and comprehension of African American STEM learners. To address this gap, the objective of our research is to examine the implementation and efficacy of an African-centered pedagogy and curriculum on the STEM education of African American youth by analyzing the instructional strategies and materials of the Conscious Ingenuity program, and evaluating student learning of STEM concepts and formation of engineering identity. We are guided by the following research questions: “In what ways does an African-centered pedagogy and curriculum influence the construction of engineering knowledge?” and “How does an African-centered pedagogy impact student learning of engineering concepts and engineering identity formation for urban African American youth?”. To address these questions, we will conduct a two-phase mixed-methods case study. The first phase of the research study will begin by studying the instructors of the CI by examining their instructional strategies and materials. The second phase of the research study shifts the focus of the investigation to measuring the effectiveness of the teaching strategies and materials instructors use by assessing the participants' understanding of particular topics and engineering identity formation. The findings of the proposed research will contribute to efforts to redress racial inequities in STEM education. These racial inequities include but are not limited to culturally unresponsive traditional STEM teaching methods, limited access to technology, inadequate technological literacy, eurocentric intellectual perspectives, unhealthy student-teacher relationships, and the absence of teacher-family-community relationships. The adoption of the proposed pedagogical approach will cultivate an inclusive environment for all students to learn effectively, where such inclusion diminishes the conventional one size fits all approach to teaching STEM. This inclusive learning environment will increase social consciousness, a phenomenon necessary for cultivating harmonious diverse communities.    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.",FALSE
2314254,SBP: Collaborative Research: Improving Engagement with Professional Development Programs by Attending to Teachers' Psychosocial Experiences,2025-04-25,American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences,ARLINGTON,VA,VA08,158053,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314254,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314254_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,222023289,MCN6J5L6M3T4,"As the U.S. student population grows more diverse, longstanding disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes persist. Efforts to remedy these disparities often use focused professional development (PD) to support educators in more effectively teaching diverse students. PD covers a wide array of topics, such as culturally responsive instruction, inclusive practices for students, and strategies for engaging students who have experienced adversity. What unites these diverse PD approaches is an intentional and explicit focus on understanding the issues facing students with diverse experiences and needs, and on equipping educators with skills to overcome these challenges and support student success. While focused PD is in high demand, little is known about its effectiveness. Many focused PD programs have little to no effect, and some may be counterproductive. For example, these programs can create a sense of psychological threat among educators, leading to feelings of being excluded, judged, or disadvantaged. These outcomes can result in resistance and backlash that undermine program goals.    For focused PD to be successful, it needs to attend to educators' experiences. This project conducts studies that examine how three common sources of psychological threat in focused PDs (identity, culture, and pedagogy threats) shape how educators engage with and use focused PD content in their classrooms, and how this use improves students’ academic experiences and performance. Two studies use focus groups and survey designs to examine these issues among a national sample of educators who have participated in a wide variety of focused PD experiences. Three additional studies use randomized controlled experiments to test strategies for mitigating identity, culture, and pedagogy threats among educators. Together, this work provides insight for creating focused PD environments where all teachers feel valued, equipped to engage with challenging ideas, and capable of growing their classroom skills.    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.",TRUE
2131875,Research-Oriented Learning Experiences (ROLE) Program,2025-04-25,New Mexico State University,LAS CRUCES,NM,NM02,369821,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2131875,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2131875_4900,2022-01-01,2025-07-31,88003,J3M5GZAT8N85,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2)    The development of a Research-Oriented Learning Experiences (ROLE) program at New Mexico State University (NMSU) will provide Latino/a college students with the tools and knowledge required to succeed in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) majors in particular, and in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM)-related degrees in general. ECE is a field of great relevance for our modern society, and where Latinos/as are commonly underrepresented. This project will encourage Latina undergraduates to participate in high-impact research-oriented educational activities, where they will conduct research in collaboration with Latino/a graduate students and ECE faculty, leading to pathways to graduate programs. This project will also train Latino/a graduate students to mentor a selected group of undergraduates, in order that they can strengthen and refine their mentoring and leadership skills, which are very useful in STEM-oriented academia and industry positions. The involvement in research and mentoring activities will help increase students’ engagement and leadership, realizing the importance and value of their engineering degree, and consequently, develop a strong sense of belonging to their major and campus. The benefits of ROLE are two directional; on the one hand, higher degree interest and attainment will increase for Latina undergraduate students in ECE; and on the other hand, Latino/a graduate students will feel better prepared to occupy leadership positions within their field either in academia or the private sector. By focusing on Latinos/as, a population relevant for the demographics of NMSU, this research project will produce outcomes aligned with the mission of the NSF’s Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) program, that are scalable, sustainable, and applicable to various contexts, settings, and demographics within Engineering and Sciences.    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.",FALSE
2343111,Collaborative Research: Incentivizing and Spotlighting Scientific Contributions in Legislative Studies,2025-04-25,William Marsh Rice University,Houston,TX,TX09,118007,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343111,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343111_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,770051827,K51LECU1G8N3,"To maximize scientific contributions in the field of legislative studies, this project creates a new initiative with the mission to engage, support, and promote the study of legislative politics across gender and sub-disciplinary divides. The initiative hosts virtual events monthly throughout the year, a professional development seminar, a research seminar, and a writing group, an in-person annual conference. The project also maintains a website and listserve with over 550 members and promotes women’s research via social media. Additionally, the initiative collects/analyzes data on women in legislative studies.     This project seeks to bring new research and perspectives to scholarship on legislative politics by promoting the study of legislative politics across gender and sub-disciplinary divides. The initiative focuses on the research being done by a diverse set of scholars studying legislatures around the world. One of the aims of the project is to bridge the gap across the study of individual legislatures and the study of legislatures in comparative perspective. Bringing together a diverse set of scholars of legislative politics will encourage intellectual contributions that bridge these subfields. The initiative hosts virtual events monthly throughout the year, a professional development seminar, a research seminar, and a writing group, an in-person annual conference. The project also maintains a website and listserve with over 550 members and promotes women’s research via social media. Additionally, the initiative collects/analyzes data on women in legislative studies.    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.",FALSE
2341629,"DDRIG: Ethereal infrastructure: Placelessness, nature, and low-earth-orbit satellite internet constellations",2025-04-25,Cornell University,ITHACA,NY,NY19,21443,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341629,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2341629_4900,2024-04-01,2025-07-31,148502820,G56PUALJ3KT5,"This Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant supports a project that examines the socio-economic and environmental conflicts arising from the recent emergence of low-earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. A new generation of LEO constellation operators argue they can overcome existing infrastructural barriers to provide reliable broadband internet worldwide. However, LEO constellations engender new, overlapping conflicts concerning the viability of LEO internet connectivity, the future of astronomical research, and how outer space will be framed in future environmental legislation. This project will examine how involved stakeholders navigate and contest the claims of ubiquitous, physically unbound connectivity provided by satellite constellations, and connect these to discursive and legal struggles over the environment and outer space in this era of large-scale outer space commercialization. Results from the project will be used to inform ongoing policy debates over regulation of outer space.    The study addresses the following research questions: How do LEO operators, government bodies, astronomers, environmental activists, and rural communities conceptualize place and nature during LEO infrastructure development? How are satellite operators, astronomers, and rural communities negotiating novel place-based challenges arising from the material presence of satellite constellations in low-earth-orbit? How are understandings of outer space as a human or non-human environment linked to environmental activism and the technological life cycle of LEO satellite infrastructure? This project combines theoretical frameworks from Science and Technology Studies with multi-sited ethnography, semi-structured interviews, and documentary analysis. It will examine the deployment, operation, and regulation of LEO satellite constellations and the responses to these from the professional astronomical community, environmental activists, legislative bodies, and rural communities to provide a comparative account of how place, nature, and the environment are being conceptualized by these actors, and the larger consequences of these conceptual choices. In doing so, the research highlights issues of digital and environmental inequality along the LEO constellation supply chain and will be of interest to lawmakers, computing professionals, and scholars committed to creating more sustainable networking infrastructures.    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.",FALSE
2126506,Collaborative Research: Build and Broaden 2.0: California Alliance for Hispanic-serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA),2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,203155,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126506,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2126506_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     The California Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA) builds and broadens the low participation of social science faculty in extramurally funded research with an examination of systemic barriers and comprehensive professional development programming and policies. The partnership between three California universities will serve 28 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) of various sizes and representing unique regional factors in the California State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC) systems. The outcomes of this project will serve as a model to advance research in wide-ranging disciplines that impact the health, prosperity, and welfare of the US public. CAHSSA implements a comparative content analysis of NSF social science proposal review comments at HSIs and non-HSIs to identify how social, behavioral, and economic research is constructed and practiced across institutional types as well as reveal any existing biases in the review process. Results will inform the project's interventions that include virtual grant writing webinars and workshops, writing groups, intensive writing retreats, and social science leader seminars for more than 700 CSU and UC social sciences faculty and leaders.     The California Alliance for Hispanic-Serving Social Science Advancement (CAHSSA) will pursue a greater understanding of the challenges faced by social scientists at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) in the extramural funding process at the micro-level within varied campus types and at the macro-level through the examination of NSF reviewer perceptions of social science proposals. From a pool of nearly 4500, the PIs recruit more than 700 social sciences researchers and leaders from 22 California State University (CSU) HSI campuses and six  University of California (UC) HSI campuses to participate in virtual webinars and workshops (N=500 researchers), writing groups (N=160 researchers), writing retreats (N=60 researchers), and seminars (N=100 leaders). Methods include CSU and UC annual systemwide surveys, pre- and post-intervention participant evaluation surveys, focus group interviews, and content analysis of grant reviewer comments on 500 proposals over the prior ten years. The results of this project will serve as a national model for advancing a new dialogue on faculty professional development and the science of broadening participation by studying institutional factors that shape social science grant success at HSIs/MSIs. The interventions will produce innovative grant proposals to enhance research in the social sciences as well as the revision of policies and procedures to strengthen practices that support social sciences grant and research activity at HSIs/MSIs.    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.",FALSE
2417666,BPC-AE: LEAP Alliance:  Diversifying Future Leadership in the Professoriate,2025-04-25,University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,861624,Cooperative Agreement,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417666,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417666_4900,2025-01-01,2029-12-31,606375418,ZUE9HKT2CLC9,"This award extends the current Broadening Participation in Computing Alliance, the LEAP Alliance, which addresses the critical broadening participation challenge of increasing the diversity of the future leadership in the Computing professoriate at research universities as a way to increase diversity across the field. The problem we address is stark and straight-forward: only 5.3% of the faculty (tenured, tenure track, teaching, research, instructors, and postdocs) at PhD-granting universities are from the following underrepresented communities: Black or African-American, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. Diversifying the computing professoriate is critically important to address because diverse faculty contributes to academia in several important ways. They serve as excellent role models for a diverse study body, bring diverse backgrounds to the student programs and policies developed by the department, and bring diverse perspectives to the research projects and programs as well as the courses that comprise the undergraduate and graduate curricular. Further, key national leadership roles, such as serving on national communities that impact the field of computing, often come from research universities.    The extension builds upon the initial accomplishments and lessons learned of the BPC LEAP Alliance, which was launched in 2021 and consists of 30 unique institutions. The five-year extension entails two main activities: (1) the continuation and refinement of the LEAP Alliance strategies for increasing diversity in the computing professoriate and (2) the establishment of an Affiliates Program for strong cross-dissemination of good practices and lessons learned between the four cohorts and the affiliate member institutions. The plan is to start the Affiliates Program during year three of the extension. The shared purpose and broad vision of the LEAP Alliance entails three main approaches: (1) increase the diversity of PhD graduates from the Institutions that are the top producers of computing faculty; (2) increase the exposure of academic careers at the institutions that already have good diversity in their PhD graduates; and (3) increase the retention of undergraduate students from underrepresented communities at the institutions that send students to doctoral programs.    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.",FALSE
2418921,Conference: Support for Conferences and Mentoring of Women,2025-04-25,Princeton University,PRINCETON,NJ,NJ12,400000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2418921,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2418921_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,085442001,NJ1YPQXQG7U5,"Understanding how social systems work as a quantitative empirical phenomenon is vital to the future success of the United States in terms of both its domestic politics and its relations with other countries in the international system. Methodology is at the core of social science; this project seeks to engage, attract and retain a diverse array of scholars to the subdiscipline of political methodology. Specifically, the focus of this proposal is to recruit women to the study of political methodology by explicitly funding education, conferences and other networking opportunities for them. A diverse field that more equally draws on the talents of all its potential participants leads to better science. This project helps the United States be the preeminent place to study social science research methods. It also aids society by improving the quality of the research and public work those social scientists perform.     The objective of this project is to meaningfully diversify the subfield of political methodology. This will be done in four main ways: by providing excellent methods education for a cohort of undergraduates; by providing explicit support for a women’s conference in methodology; by providing explicit support for women to attend events and to network with methodologists; by supporting graduate students in their efforts to join the broader methods community.  Support here will not only contribute to diversifying the field, but it will also contribute to a better understanding of the strategies that are most effective. By pairing our work with meaningful measurement and data collection efforts, we can ensure that we not only build a community of scholars but also that we can measure the growth of that community. Each scholar that joins the community of scholars who are studying political methodology not only increases the potential impact of our research but also increases the potential impact of our teaching. Building a diverse cohort of methodologists is important for us to have our work reach a diverse cohort of students, both graduate and undergraduate. By attending to each step in the pipeline, we maximize the chances that our efforts will be successful.    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.",FALSE
2215613,"Broadening participation, building STEM competencies, and strengthening identity formation through cross-cultural and international collaboration in project-based learning",2025-04-25,Pepperdine University,MALIBU,CA,CA32,2000000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215613,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215613_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,902633999,NHBMUW819YE7,"This project engages pre-college Latinx, Black, and Indigenous learners, educators, and collaborating undergraduates in an international, project-based learning and media-making community in areas of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The project addresses key challenges including broadening participation in informal STEM learning, developing capacity for leading informal STEM programs, and building stronger connections between STEM learning and personal and social identity formation during adolescence. The project’s community of participants is an asset-based learning environment that treats each participant, their background, skills, and interests as uniquely beneficial to the whole. Led by mentors at each hub (teachers, leaders from science organizations, or other out-of-school learning environments), participants collaborate with peers from the US and from other countries. The collaborations encompass a broad spectrum of STEM projects. Participants also create digital media to communicate their projects. The project activities reflect a focus on STEM content, collaboration, and communication, in a global context that includes school-age learners from the US and peers from Central and South America, the Middle East, Asia, and Sub-Sahara. The combination of the sophisticated STEM competencies skills for collaborating across international and cultural boundaries, and media-savvy communication abilities are essential to the nation’s future STEM workforce and to building a scientifically vibrant citizenry.     The project addresses two primary research questions co-developed with teachers and other informal science providers. The first research question involves understanding and optimizing conditions for broadening participation through this type of distributed or virtual collaboration across boundaries of culture, race, gender, ability, nationality, and socioeconomic status. The project features a design experiment by which the overall community of participants comprises four separate hubs, each hosted by the different project partners (primarily teachers). Educators devise, test, and revise alternative designs for organizing STEM collaborations. Publication of these teacher-led designs and their evaluation are among the primary outputs of the project. The designs modify and improve a template developed under this project’s proof-of-concept precursor (NSF1612824). The second research question addresses how growth in STEM abilities, collaboration, and communication mutually reinforce adolescent personal and social identity formation. Participating students in the US will intentionally reflect heterogeneous backgrounds. The project analysis will focus on whether cultural and national cross-boundary collaboration can strengthen the development of learners' personal identity and academic performance. The project methodology relies heavily on quantitative ethnography and epistemic network analysis. This approach enables the creation of visual models that highlight the presence or absence of connections between constructs relevant to each research question, along with changes between and within groups. The constructs include variations of autonomy, competence, and connection (pillars of self-determination theory) in tracing identity formation and STEM abilities. The quantitative ethnography approach provides statistically reliable scaffolding and insights about the hub designs and their efficacy in promoting goals of broadening participation and fostering mutually reinforcing STEM competencies and identity formation. This type of virtual collaboration, crossing boundaries of culture, nationality, ethnicity, age, gender, economic strata, or ability, can realistically be expected to play a significant role in next-generation learning environments, especially through out-of-school activities. The project is expected to reach 120 U.S. and 80 non-U.S. students annually. Research findings, design principles and curricula will be widely disseminated to researchers, designers, program developers, informal science institutions and community organizations.    This research project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",TRUE
2450246,Collaborative Research : Improving the teaching of genetics in high school to avoid instilling misconceptions about gender differences,2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,459020,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2450246,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2450246_4900,2024-10-01,2026-07-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Recent research suggests that learning about genetics during high school biology can lead to a belief that inherent differences in the genes and brains of men and women are the main causes of gender differences in behavior and intellectual abilities (a belief known as neurogenetic essentialism). This belief is implicated in lowering girls’ sense of their own STEM abilities, their feelings of belonging in STEM classes, and their interest in pursuing further education in STEM fields. The goal of this project, led by a team of researchers at Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, the University of Texas, Austin, and New York University is to answer important questions about how to teach genetics at the high school level in a manner that is scientifically accurate, but does not have these detrimental side effects. Specifically, this new line of experimental research will identify—and revise—the content in common genetics instruction that promotes the belief in neurogenetic essentialism. The proposed experiments will also explore how the beliefs of peers and teachers contribute to changes in such beliefs in students. This work has further implications for how the topic of differences between men and women is addressed during high school biology education. Furthermore, the research findings will advance theory on factors that contribute to gender disparities in STEM attitudes and aspirations. The project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances the fundamental research literature on STEM learning, with co-funding by the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK12) program.     Building on preliminary evidence, this project aims to accomplish four key goals. First, the project will study which specific aspects of genetics instruction affect students’ beliefs in neurogenetic essentialism. Second, the project will identify the cognitive mechanisms through which these effects occur. Third, the project will uncover the downstream effects of revised genetics instructional materials on a broad range of motivational variables relevant to STEM pursuit, such as implicit person theories, sense of belonging in STEM, and interest in this domain. Fourth, the project will explore the contextual factors (e.g., teacher and peer beliefs) that may moderate or mediate how students respond to the instructional materials. The research team will develop and iteratively refine genetics educational materialsthat teach about genetic, neurological, and behavioral variation within and between sexes, as well as the social causes of such differences. The research team will then test the effectiveness of these revised materials through two large-scale randomized control trials, one targeting students directly and one targeting students’ learning via their teachers. The results of this project will produce generalizable knowledge regarding the cognitive, sociological, and educational factors that contribute to STEM gender disparities.    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.",FALSE
2325183,Collaborative Research: Ethical Considerations in Three-Dimensional Digitization of Indigenous Heritage,2025-04-25,University of Missouri-Columbia,COLUMBIA,MO,MO03,91609,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2325183,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2325183_4900,2022-10-01,2025-07-31,652113020,SZPJL5ZRCLF4,"Three-dimensional digital models are increasingly prevalent in preserving tangible and intangible aspects of Indigenous material heritage. Yet, there are no comprehensive, clearly laid-out best practices that can guide researchers, Indigenous communities, and museum personnel in designing ethically sound and socially engaged 3D heritage preservation projects. The use of 3D technologies for heritage preservation and providing public access to digital 3D collections is well-established in the European context. While there have been several robust efforts on digitizing European national heritage, in the U.S. context, the focus often involves work with Indigenous heritage, instantly placing 3D projects into a post-colonial research paradigm with a complex set of ethical ramifications. This research examines emerging thoughts from the European context and connects them with best practices in digital Indigenous data management to identify practices that contribute to cultures of academic integrity that are inclusive of all stakeholder voices. This work fosters ethical cultures of STEM through the development of a comprehensive Responsible Conduct of Research guiding document that can be adapted to address culture-specific Indigenous perspectives as well as project-specific challenges in future 3D heritage preservation endeavors.     Project goals are accomplished through workshops and virtual collaborations that bring together researchers, Indigenous community members, and heritage preservation professionals with previous experience in the responsible management, protection, and sharing of Indigenous digital data and the use of 3D technology for heritage preservation. The collaboratively produced guidelines outline ethical considerations that can be used in developing: 1) partnerships with origin/descendant communities, 2) institution- and collection-specific museum policies on using 3D technology, 3) Tribal policies for culturally appropriate use of 3D technologies, and 4) training material and curriculum that integrates with other research compliance regulations pertaining to heritage preservation. The project explores the questions that have emerged through previous experiences using 3D technologies to preserve Indigenous ancestral heritage. These questions include the factors contributing to developing ethically sound 3D heritage preservation projects; the  practices useful in 3D projects to foster a culture of integrity that equally engages academic and Indigenous perspectives; consideration for what constitutes Responsible Conduct of Research in using 3D technologies to preserve Indigenous cultural heritage; and addressing practice-based questions that contribute to understanding ethical challenges in digitally preserving and presenting Indigenous heritage. The project situates 3D modeling and heritage representation as part of the larger discourse on decolonizing core methodologies in museum management and anthropological collection practices. Results from this work can be adapted to training future researchers and digital heritage management professionals and creating meaningful partnerships in heritage documentation. This research cultivates cultures of academic integrity by informing heritage management policy on the critical importance of heritage ethics for the creation and management of 3D digitization projects involving Indigenous collections. This award is funded by the Directorate of Geosciences and the Directorate of Education and Human Resources.    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.",FALSE
2423019,MCA: Investigating the Mechanisms of Integration in U.S. Communities,2025-04-25,University of Illinois at Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL07,104825,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2423019,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2423019_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,606124305,W8XEAJDKMXH3,"This study uses a mixed method, multiscalar approach to map and explore stably integrated communities and explain their emergence and persistence. In the United States, spatial inequality plays a fundamental role in shaping patterns of social inequality. Because access to resources and wealth are typically tied to home ownership and location, developing a full understanding of housing patterns and trends is essential for social scientists and policymakers interested in equity. Using quantitative methods, GIS mapping techniques, in-depth interviews, archival work, and targeted ethnographic observation, researchers will define and map stably integrated neighborhoods, identify their key characteristics and patterns, and select eight communities for in-depth qualitative investigation of the mechanisms of stability. Findings will clarify mechanisms that serve as both pernicious barriers to, and facilitators of, integration that affect intergroup relations, upward mobility, and well-being. The team will collaborate with research and community organizations to share key findings broadly in addition to academic and policy venues. A public website will make maps and reports available for open-access use.    This project will be among the first to examine stable integration across local, regional, and national scales, taking a multiscalar, multidimensional approach to integration that creates new opportunities for theory-building and empirical clarity. The team will examine neighborhood-level integration patterns where racial integration has persisted for 20+ years. In mapping stably integrated neighborhoods, identifying and theorizing the key characteristics that lead to stable integration, and engaging in mixed qualitative research at eight research sites that represent the diversity of such communities, they will develop novel empirical and theoretical insight into how stably integrated communities not only achieve numerical stability, but the extent to which social integration is achieved. Such insights into both the breadth and depth of integrated communities are an important contribution to our understanding of persisting inequality and social change.    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.",FALSE
2151404,CAREER: Breaking the Tradition of Silence through Conocimiento and Consciousness Raising among Latinx Engineers,2025-04-25,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,572770,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2151404,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2151404_4900,2021-10-01,2026-01-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"Latinx underrepresentation in engineering is a topic that has been widely discussed in engineering education circles for many years. Although the Latinx population continues to grow and more Latinx are attending college, the degree attainment for this population in engineering continues to be low. Different scholars have argued that Latinx students do not pursue engineering careers because the cultures of students do not fit the “cultures of engineering.” The narrow conceptualization of who belongs in engineering has failed to recognize and acknowledge the material realities and lived experiences of Latinx students and their contribution to knowledge construction in engineering. Oftentimes, the conocimiento and testimonio of Latinx students is perceived as a deficit rather than an asset that belongs in engineering. While there is a broad range of research that addresses Latinx students in engineering, the current approaches are devoid of the insider perspectives and methodologies needed to (re)frame and (re)define the ways of doing research about and with Latinx from an asset-based perspective. Without understanding the language, culture, practices, or belief systems of Latinx students, researchers in the past have come to deficit views of Latinx and other marginalized student groups’ thinking and academic work. To counter these deficit views, it is necessary to validate the everyday life experiences of Latinx engineering students and recognize them as holders and creators of knowledge. This study seeks to provide a pathway for the development of more culturally responsive educators and researchers that attend to the lived experiences of Latinx engineering students. The goal is to provide more information on how to support marginalized engineering students by designing a framework that supports learning through transformation while acknowledging conocimiento and testimonio as forms of knowledge generation in engineering. This work contributes to the growing body of knowledge related to student-centered initiatives, the diversification of the engineering field, and the identification of institutional practices that may perpetuate or alleviate the adversity faced and perceived by Latinx students in engineering.     This three-phase multi-sited ethnographic study seeks to (1) explore the concept of conocimiento as Latinxs make sense of adverse experiences in engineering, (2) identify and analyze the structural barriers and modes of exclusionary discourse in engineering, and (3) develop a model that integrates Latinx epistemologies and methodologies to expand asset-based and culturally responsive approaches to engineering education research and teaching. Phase 1 of the study focuses on the collection and analysis of the testimonios of Latinx engineering students to unravel traditional academic ideas of who may be considered a producer of knowledge. This analysis addresses how Latinx engineering students negotiate and make meaning of their lived experiences as they go through their engineering journey while documenting their conocimiento. Phase 2 consists of an analysis of institutional norms and how these are communicated and (re)produced to identify the different forms in which institutional practices may perpetuate or alleviate the adversity faced and perceived by Latinx engineering students. Finally, Phase 3 involves the development of methodologies that contribute to the (re)framing of asset-based approaches to engineering education research and teaching. This study provides methodological approaches written by and for Latinxs to theorize and analyze systemic barriers, resistance, persistence, and agency as a way to foster a culture of inclusivity in engineering education, and broaden the participation and academic attainment of Latinx engineering students. The testimonios, conocimiento, and methodologies emerging from this study support advocacy work for Latinx engineering students across the nation, and help dismantle the myth of the Latinx monolith to prevent reproducing the narrative that Latinxs have fixed social configurations, which interferes with the effectiveness of initiatives to increase the number of Latinxs in engineering.    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.",FALSE
2100408,Collaborative Research: What Black Doctoral Students in STEM Want and What Their Faculty are Giving: How the Differences Impact Students’ Mental Health and Career Trajectory,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,744966,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100408,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100408_4900,2021-06-15,2026-05-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"To increase the diversity of the PhD-prepared workforce, understanding underlying issues affecting retention and completion of doctoral degrees is essential. Researchers at Arizona State University and University of Massachusetts Boston, propose to study the expressed needs of Black doctoral students in relation to faculty perceptions of what they are providing during advising relationships. Understanding the mental health impacts of cumulative experiences that marginalize Black graduate students, will advance knowledge by providing recommendations for developing inclusive environments and mentoring strategies that are effective at supporting Black students. Through a two-phase design, the project aims to use detailed interviews regarding the experiences of marginalization, mental health, and career trajectory decisions of graduate students, and faculty perceptions of supports and contributors or deterrents to providing supports. The project is aligned with the EHR Core Research program’s goal of addressing challenges in STEM interest, learning, and participation.     The research design is framed by extending Role Strain Theory to include the tension that Black students may feel in relationships during graduate programs. The central hypothesis is that intersectional experiences of marginalization and the STEM environment among Black doctoral students impact mental health and career trajectory decisions. The project aims to understand the contributors and deterrents for faculty to address systemic barriers. A nationwide sampling strategy will include representation from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Predominately White Institutions (PWIs), and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). The project aims to match critical identity aspects in the interviewer-interviewee pairing within each phase of the project. Phenomenological principles grounded in a social constructivist paradigm will guide the interpretation of individual interviews. The research responds to the need for understanding barriers to success in graduate programs for Black students by novel coordination and expansion of traditional educational research strategies with strategies typically utilized by counseling psychologists. The creation of a tip sheet on promising practices for supporting Black students and an online repository aims to inform faculty advisors who seek to improve communication and mentoring for their students.     The project is funded by the EHR Core Research program that supports fundamental research focused on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM professional workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2348836,EAGER: Innovation in Society Study Group,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,297300,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",Cross-Directorate  Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348836,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2348836_4900,2024-01-01,2025-06-30,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This award supports an study group that examines the social and behavioral dimensions of innovation as they relate to the broad mission of the National Science Foundation. The Innovation in Society Study Group will advance actionable recommendations for programmatic investments that support multiple objectives. An initial objective is to promote engagement with diverse communities for use-inspired research and early-stage intervention, including communities in geographic regions of the United States that show untapped potential for innovation and economic growth. A second objective is to advance convergence across technologies by supporting interdisciplinary collaborations and incorporating new perspectives on technological systems, especially for national priority technology development areas. Composed of an array of interdisciplinary practitioners from across the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, the study group also elucidates opportunities for research translation, ranging from prototypes to pilot testing to startup firms to widespread innovation diffusion, in ways that include a broad range of stakeholders. Expanding on insights about community partnerships and research translation, the products of this award include concise reports and publicly accessible publications that detail the insights resulting from the group’s activities.     The broad objective is to identify social, behavioral, and economic drivers and consequences of technological innovations, particularly those that are the focus of current investments. To realize this objective, the group embodies interdisciplinary expertise and perspectives from across the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. The award supports a complement of activities, including multiple workshops and collaborative opportunities to facilitate the production and dissemination of recommendations. The award also supports efforts to broaden participation in science by incorporating insights from underrepresented populations and geographic regions.    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.",FALSE
2210137,EAGER: DCL: SaTC: Enabling Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Combatting Disinformation and Racial Bias: A Deep-Learning-Assisted Investigation of Temporal Dynamics of Disinformation,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,300000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210137,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210137_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project explores the diffusion of racial disinformation online and its social impacts, particularly focusing on Asian Americans. While the hatred and bias against Asian Americans have become notable amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian-targeting disinformation has yet been fully explored. The project's novelties are in unique multidisciplinary approaches to (1) detect Asian-targeting disinformation and its countermeasure messages, and understand how they are spread on the web, (2) examine how the spread of disinformation and countermeasure messages on the web is associated with the intensity of the bias and hate crimes against Asian Americans, and (3) develop various data-driven computational models to help understanding the disinformation dynamics. The project's broader significance and importance are to inform civil society, including advocacy organizations and the general public, about how to strategize communication efforts in battling racial disinformation, and to make the developed tools and outcomes publicly available for broader uses.    The project takes three-staged approaches. The main objective of the first phase is to develop computational tools for the detection and analysis of the temporal dynamics between Asian-targeted disinformation and countermeasures on the Web. A specific focus is on developing automated identification tools and deep-learning classification models by feature-engineering unique characteristics of disinformation. The objective of the second phase is to understand to what extent the spread of disinformation and countermeasures online is associated with the societal trend of implicit bias and hate crime occurrences against Asian Americans in the real-world, which can be achieved via developing deep-learning causality models. The objective of the third phase is to design scalable data-driven deep-learning models of disinformation dynamics in macro and micro levels, identifying unknown dynamics from the real-world measurements, which also enables simulations of the learned dynamics.    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.",TRUE
2327599,Travel: Workshop for Women in Machine Learning,2025-04-25,Smith College,NORTHAMPTON,MA,MA02,49900,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,Robust Intelligence,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327599,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327599_4900,2023-06-01,2025-05-31,010636304,KRDJLRA9X6F3,"This grant supports the annual workshop for Women in Machine Learning (WiML). This one-day workshop brings together female researchers in industry and academia, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students from the machine learning community to exchange research ideas and build mentoring and networking relationships. It will foster collaboration within the machine learning community, featuring not only cutting-edge ideas from established researchers but also from students, who will present their own research and receive valuable feedback from both senior researchers and their peers. We expect that new connections and research collaborations will be established, and will help to advance the state-of-the-art of the field.    This workshop will provide a forum for female graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, junior and senior faculty, and industry and government research scientists to exchange research ideas and establish networking and mentoring relationships. Undergraduates, particularly those who are interested in pursuing graduate school or industry positions in machine learning, are also welcome to attend. Bringing together women from different stages of their careers gives established researchers the opportunity to act as mentors, and enables junior women to find female role models working in the field of machine learning. The workshop will also benefit the wider machine learning community: The WiML website includes a directory of over 400 women for organizations looking for female invited speakers. Co-locating with a major machine learning conference (a) enhances the visibility of the participants in the broader community and (b) facilitates travel for WiML attendees to stay on for the main conference.    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.",FALSE
2416817,SBP: Collaborative Research: Investigating an integrative model of colonial-based identities,2025-04-25,University of Puerto Rico-Rio Piedras,SAN JUAN,PR,PR00,423417,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416817,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416817_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,00931,Q3LLLDFHPNL3,"The history of colonialism impacts society members' education, health, and prosperity today. One legacy of colonialism is that racial groups and identities signal and reinforce status and advantage differences. Moreover, among individuals from low-status and disadvantaged groups, racial identities are often linked to support for public policies. This project develops and tests a model evaluating the relations between the history of colonialism and present-day racial identities, providing insights into how these identities impact the quality of life for individuals from low-status and disadvantaged groups.    This collaborative project adopts a mixed-methods approach, using quantitative and qualitative studies to better understand colonial-based racial identities. Initial studies evaluate the overall model and explore how individuals experience the history of colonialism in relation to their racial identities. Subsequent studies conduct experimental work to examine cause-and-effect relations between the psychology of colonialism and racial identities. This research addresses these aims by involving participants from Puerto Rico, a United States territory widely considered to be one of the world’s oldest colonies and whose people often experience disproportionately unfavorable outcomes (e.g., poverty, low education attainment, poor health), which have been exacerbated by recent public health and ecological events (e.g., COVID, Hurricane Maria). Project findings can inform policymakers and educators about how history affects present-day social cognition, and the work can build bridges across many social science literatures that often explore these issues in relative isolation.    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.",FALSE
2346906,Collaborative Research: Beginnings: Experiential-learning-based Undergraduate Semiconductor Workforce Exploration,2025-04-25,Alabama A&M University,NORMAL,AL,AL05,150000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ExLENT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2346906,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2346906_4900,2024-07-15,2027-06-30,357627500,JDVGS67MSLH7,"This project will contribute to development of a diverse, globally and locally (central area of the Gulf Coast) competitive semiconductor workforce, including women and other underrepresented minorities. In particular, the project will (1) increase strong partnerships and collaborations (both domestic and international) between academia, industry, and others; (2) improve and impact education and training of the advanced semiconductor workforce of the future; (3) align and incorporate industrial, professional, and technical standards in teaching and learning, thereby enabling participating students to have clear and smooth career pathways; (4) integrate systematic approaches to advance inclusive and equitable semiconductor education practices; (5) build capacity for the University to respond rapidly to changes in the workforce needed by the semiconductor industry; and (6) investigate student success in academia and in the semiconductor industry and associated fields. In addition, this project will practice and apply experiential learning pedagogy in emerging technology workforce exploration and demonstrate the effectiveness of the experiential learning theory in promoting and enhancing semiconductor workforce development.    The Experiential-learning-based Undergraduate Semiconductor Workforce Exploration (E-USem) team will leverage strong industry-academic partnerships to advance and support the development of a skilled semiconductor workforce. Fundamental contributions and innovations to be developed by the team include: (1) Use of Kolb’s experiential learning theory to strengthen the workforce exploration and implement evidence-based instructional and inclusive practices. (2) Conducting seven unique experiential learning activities through collaboration between industry and academia. The E-USem team will first undertake core work such as development of the semiconductor course package; based on the course package, the team will create and develop a new Semiconductor Engineering concentration and Certificate program, a curriculum-sharing program, a summer program, and a Bridge Program. An Electronic Design Automation tool will be developed as well. (3) Systematically embedding diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility in the proposed E-USem activities from student recruitment, educational program design, to course design. This project aligns with the NSF ExLENT Program, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.    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.",FALSE
2204550,ADVANCE Partnership: Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES),2025-04-25,Clarkson University,POTSDAM,NY,NY21,763337,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204550,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2204550_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,136761401,SL2PF6R7MRN1,"Although research using community-engaged research (CER) methods is funded by several federal agencies, CER is still undervalued within the broader STEM discipline culture, and often, it is classified as “service” during STEM faculty annual review, tenure, and promotion processes. This project posits that the systemic undervaluation of CER contributes to the attrition of many faculty that identify as women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minority women (URMWF) who frequently enter Environmental Engineering (EnvE) motivated to address societally important problems. This ADVANCE Partnership project titled “Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES)” will enhance the understanding and awareness of rigorous CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF. This is a collaborative effort among 11 academic institutions, EnvE discipline’s primary professional societies (American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists, American Association for Aerosol Research, Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors, Water Environment Federation), and an NSF initiative focused on CER through the National Research Traineeship program.    SPACES will leverage the strength of the SPACES partnership, gains made in gender representation in EnvE, as well as the justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives underway in EnvE and public health. The project aims to produce a structural model, operationalized as an institutional scorecard, that will result in greater faculty success and professional progress for those conducting CER. The scorecard will incorporate factors that shape trends related to the longevity and attrition of URMWF faculty in EnvE at the personal, disciplinary, and societal levels. The scorecard has potential to be used in other engineering disciplines. The project goals are to (1) increase the retention and promotion of URMWF in EnvE; (2) transform the climate and infrastructure to support and value community-engaged research in the EnvE academic community; and (3) enhance understanding and awareness of CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2243108,AGEP FC-PAM: Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineering Researchers (ARISE) to Increase the Diversity of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty,2025-04-25,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,226487,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243108,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243108_4900,2023-07-01,2028-06-30,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"The AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FC-PAM) “Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineers” (ARISE) promotes equity and inclusion in engineering higher education. The goal of the AGEP ARISE Alliance is to apply discipline-relevant, inclusive, and intersectional sponsorship and systemic change in hiring practices to increase the visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success of Black and African American, Latine and Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander biomedical engineering doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members at Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Yale University. This AGEP FC-PAM is building effective and professional sponsorship relationships outside the home institutions of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members. Sponsorship is differentiated from mentorship as it is concerned less with the transfer of knowledge between individuals and more with the transfer of power through the promotion of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members within professional networks. The doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’, and early career faculty members’ intersecting identities around race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and caregiver status informs pairings with sponsors, who are participating in training on the importance of intersectionality in sponsorship. The AGEP ARISE Alliance is also adapting faculty hiring best practices from the University of Michigan’s ADVANCE program to both postdoctoral research scholar and early career faculty hiring policies and practices.     Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty members, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FC-PAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FC-PAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FC-PAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.    The intermediate outcomes of the project are increases in the visibility, networks, opportunities, and collaborations of AGEP ARISE Alliance doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members and improved cultural and diversity awareness among sponsors. Longer term these advances translate into more diverse faculty in the AGEP ARISE Alliance academic departments. Internal and external advisory boards routinely review the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s progress, strategize on future steps, and engage with sponsors and sponsees. An internal evaluator is leading the project’s self-study and formative assessment of implementation, changes in hiring practices, and changes in doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’ and early career faculty members’ knowledge, aspirations, values, and professional activities resulting from Alliance activities. An external evaluator is providing summative assessment using a theory-based framework to assess the effectiveness of the AGEP ARISE Alliance in developing inclusive, nurturing networks of diverse doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members in biomedical engineering; the ways those individuals have increased their visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success; the impact of the project on fostering institutional climates that promote equity and inclusion; and the advancement of AGEP populations pursuing faculty positions in biomedical engineering. The AGEP ARISE Alliance team is developing and disseminating sponsorship and hiring guides, and project results, that are shared through peer-reviewed and general publications, an AGEP ASPIRE Alliance website, and presentations at scientific and professional meetings.    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.",TRUE
2148202,Collaborative Research: Understanding the Evolution of Political Campaign Advertisements over the Last Century,2025-04-25,University of Iowa,IOWA CITY,IA,IA01,82608,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148202,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148202_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,522421316,Z1H9VJS8NG16,"Television advertising, a primary way voters hear about candidates absent a media filter, is ubiquitous with political campaigns in the United States. Drawing on an existing but underutilized data set of over 100,000 political ads, this project examines the evolution of political advertising, especially as it pertains to issue advocacy and consonance.  The project makes significant methodological and substantive contributions to several fields including political, information, and library sciences, and enhances our understanding of the way ads shape and inform political behavior.  It also promotes interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate education at research and teaching institutions in the emerging sub-field of automated audiovisual analysis, including students and scholars from traditionally underrepresented groups.    The project uses a collection of over 100,000 political ads from 1912-2018, the Julian P. Kanter Political Commercial Collection archived at the University of Oklahoma, to develop (1) an automated system to identify issue (and other politically relevant) content from ad image, audio, and text and (2) a state-of-the-art user interface that gives researchers the ability to query, interact with and view videos, and also output data for analysis.  The project uses the data to examine the evolution of political advertising, testing models of horizontal and vertical diffusion of issues.  The project’s tools and data, introduced at an interdisciplinary workshop, are widely available to scholars across a number of disciplines who study American politics, campaigns, political communication and public opinion.    This collaborative project is jointly funded by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",FALSE
2411882,Collaborative Research: Developing a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice to Build Equitable Pathways to Graduate STEM Education,2025-04-25,Bowie State University,BOWIE,MD,MD05,776588,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411882,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411882_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,207159465,WMEEHCAPGR65,"Various disparities in STEM higher education have been the focus of many programs for decades.  Practices typically emphasize preparing historically excluded populations and overlook or minimize preparing the institutional environment to be inclusive.  The Bowie State (BSU)/University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)/University of Maryland (UMD) Network proposes the development of a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice to facilitate the adaptation of culturally responsive practices in graduate education and mentoring.   Culturally relevant practices have recently begun to be incorporated into secondary education; however, these practices may also be effective in addressing the gaps observed in STEM graduate education.   Previously funded work by the BSU/UMES/UMD Network evaluated how historically excluded populations at the Network institutions viewed the graduate school at UMD. The survey results from students, faculty, staff, alumni, and administration informed the focus and approach to be utilized in this project. The Community of Practice is designed to provide faculty who have expressed interest in working with the Network with an opportunity to adapt culturally relevant methods to teach and mentor historically excluded populations. Additionally, the proposed project intends to help student participants become familiar with graduate school opportunities at the various institutions, especially UMD, and engage them in necessary research training to ease their transition into graduate education in STEM fields.  This novel approach addresses disparities for historically excluded populations in STEM graduate education and has the potential to be adopted by other schools in Maryland and the nation.     Culturally relevant pedagogy in STEM refers to approaches that incorporate diverse backgrounds, experiences and perspectives into teaching.  Culturally relevant pedagogy is supported by cultural awareness, cultural competence and cultural responsiveness of the educator.  This pedagogy has been introduced to secondary educators, postdoctoral students, and graduate students; however, graduate STEM faculty have had limited exposure. The goal of this proposal is to conduct four trainings in culturally relevant pedagogy for STEM faculty and implement an online mentor training program.  The training and mentoring program are intended vehicles in developing a Culturally Responsive Community of Practice.  The intended structure of the Culturally Responsive Community of Practice is to allow participants to share culturally responsive research opportunities and instructional strategies as well as facilitate continuous engagement among regional colleagues in similar fields.  The aim is to implement the culturally relevant practices in a 10-week summer research program held at the three partnering institutions for undergraduate students from historically excluded populations.  In addition to the 10-week summer research program, plans include each Network institution hosting professional development workshops for students, which will culminate in a joint symposium and students having the opportunity to travel and present their research, extending their connection with mentors and lab mates beyond the summer.  Project activities, including an instrumental case study approach employing mixed methods, are also designed to address the following research questions: 1) What is the impact of a cross-institutional culturally responsive Community of Practice on  cultural awareness, responsiveness, and competency among STEM faculty; and 2) What is the impact of a cross-institutional culturally responsive Community of Practice on interest in STEM research among undergraduate students from historically excluded populations.     This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2310556,Collaborative Research: Military Service as a Gendered Pathway into STEM,2025-04-25,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,273297,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310556,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2310556_4900,2023-09-01,2025-10-31,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"The project investigates how gender and military service shape decisions to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees and occupations. Research shows that military service is a pathway into STEM fields. The project examines how the timing of educational and occupational experiences shape STEM-related outcomes. It also focuses on how the influence of military service on STEM trajectories varies by gender ad across demographic groups. Thus, the project addresses the national need to increase the number of STEM professionals, diversify the STEM workforce, and optimize the recruitment of military personnel. Findings from this project assist decision-makers in how to finetune military recruitment and assignment strategies to optimize strategic growth and inclusion goals in the Armed Forces. Findings are also important to federal agencies committed to broadening participation in STEM, and to employers interested in recruiting and retaining a diverse STEM workforce. Identifying how military service influences subsequent STEM trajectories presents a timely and unique opportunity to strengthen both private- and public-sector institutions.      The project pursues a two-pronged approach. First, large-sample analyses involve integrating multiple restricted-use data sources available via the U.S. Census Bureau’s Federal Statistical Research Data Centers/FSRDC to construct a longitudinal database spanning more than two decades: Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Department of Veterans’ Affairs U.S. Veterans File, National Survey of College Graduates; plus publicly-available data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. These analyses involve sophisticated statistical models on large samples based on millions of respondents in the FSRDC databases. Methodological contributions involve creating new population estimates sought by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies, plus conducting essential robustness checks that test several distinct STEM definitions used by federal agencies. Second, to examine the mechanisms that shape such trajectories of civilian and veteran students, the project relies on original survey data for a representative sample of current students at a major US university. This original survey compensates for limitations in the FSRDC data by homing in on the impact of specific skills and experiences, including those of student veterans. The survey data are made publicly available via a data repository, to enhance social science data infrastructure, dissemination, and transparency. This project is jointly funded by the Sociology Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Science of Broadening Participation Program.    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.",TRUE
2241521,Collaborative Research: Southern Lynchings and Children's Educational Outcomes,2025-04-25,National Bureau of Economic Research Inc,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,201410,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241521,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241521_4900,2023-04-01,2026-03-31,021385359,GT28BRBA2Q49,"Stressors in a child’s environment, among other things, can have significant adverse effect on the child’s educational attainment, as well as other possible outcomes. Exposure to violence, especially violence targeted at the child’s own demographic, social or faith community, can be a severe environmental stressor. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw widespread patterns of racially motivated violence, particularly in the South. This project will use newly digitized historical records from early 20th century Mississippi to study how lynchings affected the educational choices of local Black children and their families using. The research will combine county level lynching data with detailed school enrolment and attendance record of every child in Mississippi from 1927 to 1957.  This detailed data set, and the exogenous nature of lynchings will allow the researchers to identify how lynchings affect children’s educational outcomes.  Given the critical importance of education in reducing inequality and progressing toward racial equity in the U.S., identifying how exposure to lynchings affected educational attainment can improve our understanding of the evolution of Black-White inequality in the mid- to late-20th century South. The research results can therefore guide policies to improve educational outcomes of racial minorities, hence narrow the racial achievement gaps in the US.    This project will digitize and link the Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children, 1850-1892; 1908-1957, a newly discovered set of records created by the Mississippi Department of Education to inform allocation of state education funding across counties. These records include the school enrollment and attendance status for every child in Mississippi, biennially from 1927 to 1957, as well as information on the town of residence, school attended, and sibling links. Using these unique records, the PIs will construct a measure of historical educational attainment that will be more accurate than the self-reported educational attainment variable present in the 1940 and 1950 decennial censuses.  The constructed data will allow the PIs to observe which children had completed their schooling at the time a lynching occurred in their community. The PIs will use the lynching data in the state of Mississippi and the constructed educational attainment data to estimate the causal effect of lynching on the educational attainment of different racial groups in communities where lynchings occurred during the study period.  The research results can guide policies to improve educational outcomes of racial minorities, hence narrow the racial achievement gaps in the US.    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.",TRUE
2334272,Planning: CRISES: Collaborative Research and Education Center for Transformative Water Solutions,2025-04-25,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,100000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,"CRISES-R&I in Sci, Env&Society",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334272,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334272_4900,2023-10-01,2025-09-30,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"Within the United States, the provision of safe and reliable water is often taken for granted. Water services in the U.S. and globally are under increasing strain and are failing many of the most vulnerable and underserved populations. Together, aging infrastructure, a shrinking water-sector workforce, increasing urbanization, and changing rainfall patterns increase stress on water services. There are rapidly increasing risks of safe drinking water shortages, a higher prevalence of water-related diseases, increased flooding, and the inadequate treatment of wastewater. An adequate response requires interdisciplinary teams of experts to collaborate with communities and government agencies to innovate appropriate solutions together. The project is initially focused on five related water challenges in the Southeast U.S. that epitomize situations elsewhere: water scarcity, water quality, aging infrastructure, flooding, and climate change. The approach to all five challenges is grounded in environmental justice with a vision to ensure all communities have equitable and reliable access to safe and affordable water with considerations in stormwater management and flood mitigation.    This project establishes the foundation of a research center that works to advance equitable and just water services, thus providing for a resilient future. In partnership with multiple actors, this project creates a shared vision for a center that addresses research, education, and training needs to respond to the urgent demands in the water sector. Collaborators include local and state government agencies, utility managers, community-based organizations, industry, and academic institutions. Through workshops, focus groups, and interviews, collaborators discuss values and experiences, service challenges and shortcomings, and identify data and workforce needs. This process leads to a holistic understanding of current water services provision, future visions, and the steps to get there. The research project builds regional capacity through strengthened regional networks for sharing and collaborating and creating innovative solutions that can be translated and scaled to other regions.    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.",TRUE
2122436,Teaching Computational Thinking to Prekindergarten Students in Underrepresented Communities,2025-04-25,Rand Corporation,SANTA MONICA,CA,CA36,999859,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122436,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122436_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,904013208,YY46Q97AEZA8,"Underrepresented students face barriers in accessing and finding success in computer science (CS). Black, Hispanic, and low-income populations have less access to CS and encounter cues that the field that it is not for them. In addition, girls face social barriers to a male-dominated field.  To alleviate these barriers, the National Head Start Association (NHSA), codeSpark, a content creation company, and the RAND Corporation are creating one of the first computational thinking curricula for underrepresented populations in prekindergarten that teachers can directly apply in classrooms. This project is based on research that shows barriers to entry into computer science are complex, involving the home, school, and larger society. The research suggests that two critical avenues must be addressed to successfully close disparities in access to computer science along racial, gender, and socio-economic lines. First, exposure to computer science must start young and, second, curricula and learning tools must meet the needs and include the perspectives of underrepresented communities. This project will create a half-year computational thinking (CT) curriculum that can be implemented in prekindergarten classrooms with varying access to technology. The early development of CT skills and ongoing experiences of success with coding is likely to stimulate students’ interest in the field and mitigate stereotypes that the field is exclusively for white males. Because CT is tightly interrelated with other STEM fields, this work is expected to also help increase participation among these underrepresented groups in STEM more broadly and provide valuable cognitive skills for those who elect not to pursue STEM careers.    The goals of the researcher-practitioner partnership (RPP) and project are to create: (1) a prekindergarten computational thinking digital app and companion physical manipulatives; (2) a scalable professional development for teachers; (3) and a set of lesson plans for teachers. The program will be made available to schools and school systems free of charge. The RPP will engage in an iterative design process to achieve the goals of the project. Head Start parents and educators will provide input and feedback on versions of the curriculum program through focus groups to ensure that all aspects are culturally relevant and meet the needs of underrepresented communities and classrooms of differing resources. Think aloud activities with students will provide feedback on how students interact with the curriculum. Materials will first be tested in a small number of classrooms in a feasibility study where teachers can provide feedback and classrooms can be observed. The project will culminate in a randomized control trial pilot of the curriculum program. The RPP will provide information to the field on the successes and challenges of engaging in this work and a program that is evidence-based through rigorous efficacy research. This project is funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.    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.",FALSE
2411595,Collaborative Research: Integrating a culturally relevant digital curriculum into U.S. science dual language immersion programs,2025-04-25,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,275803,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411595,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411595_4900,2024-08-15,2027-07-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"Today’s schools are experiencing increasing cultural and linguistic diversity and facing the challenge of meeting the learning needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children, such as Latinx learners in dual language immersion programs. This project will support bilingual students by recognizing and incorporating their cultural heritage into science education. Further, it will advance the understanding of how integrating Indigenous knowledge with Western science in dual language immersion programs can improve science identity and education for Latinx youth in middle schools, many of whom are also of Indigenous heritage.  The project will also evaluate the impact of this curriculum on students and teachers, fostering a more inclusive and holistic approach to learning. Digital media and curricular materials developed through this collaboration will be widely available, making this innovative curriculum accessible to dual language classrooms across the U.S. Ultimately, this work seeks to enhance science education accessibility for marginalized students, particularly Latinx youth, and support their representation and engagement in STEM fields.    The project team will support 11 middle school teachers and 2,500 students across southern states providing them with resources that acknowledge and incorporate multiple epistemologies of indigenous communities. The research team will employ qualitative methods, including thematic, content, and ethnographic analyses of meetings with Indigenous collaborators, the curricular development process, professional learning for teachers, teaching practices, and student artifacts. Assessment and evaluation plans to involve examining how teachers adapt their instruction to include Indigenous knowledge and measuring the curriculum's impact on student engagement and achievement in STEM. Further dissemination of the digital curriculum can increase the impact of this project. Through the weaving of indigenous forms of scientific knowledge and Western science, the project team anticipates providing more spaces for participation in STEM and developing additional interest among historically marginalized Latinx youth toward STEM employment pathways.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2426219,"Doctoral Dissertation Research: People's budgets, demographics, and the politics of public goods in cities",2025-04-25,Vanderbilt University,NASHVILLE,TN,TN05,23230,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,HEGS-DDRI Human-Enviro&Geo Sci,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426219,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426219_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,372032416,GTNBNWXJ12D5,"This doctoral dissertation research project examines how publicly funded goods and services, such as parks, roads, and affordable housing, can attenuate or exacerbate racial inequities in cities. The study contributes to scholarly research on the social benefits of public goods, especially understandings of how the provisioning of public goods dynamically intersects with political, economic, and race relations in cities. This project also analyzes nationwide efforts for “people’s budgets”, or city budgets by and for the people, to better understand the possibilities and limitations of using public goods to address the determinants of inequality at the level of municipalities. In addition to contributing to the education and training of an early-career geographer, the broader impacts of this project include identifying structures of inequality in municipal finance and supporting ongoing policy efforts for budget transparency, accountability, and participation.    This project elucidates how municipal-level public goods, such as roads, parks, and affordable housing, are provisioned at the nexus of shifting political, economic and race relations. The specific aims include not only understanding why cities struggle to afford public goods, but also how race relations shape ongoing debates over what constitutes the public good (e.g., which public goods are affordable, where, and why). Through an archival, geospatial, and ethnographic study of municipal budgeting in an urban context, this project has multiple, complementary objectives. First, the study examines broad shifts to public provisioning in recent decades. Second, the research analyzes the extent to which racial disparities spatially impact the creation and distribution of public goods. Third, the research evaluates the possibilities and limitations of nationwide efforts to address inequities in municipal finance via “people’s budgets”, or city budgets by and for the people. By advancing a novel geospatial methodology, budget mapping, this study potentially serves as a model for examining the geography of public goods in cities and discerning more clearly how public goods may sustain or resolve racial and spatial inequities.    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.",FALSE
2243466,Growing Teacher Leadership in Mathematics for Underserved Schools,2025-04-25,Bank Street College of Education,NEW YORK,NY,NY12,1117403,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243466,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243466_4900,2023-10-01,2029-09-30,100251898,JVQ7Z4NRQK16,"The project aims to address the national need of preparing highly effective mathematics teacher leaders to serve in underserved schools. The project proposes to allow practicing teachers to pursue a master’s degree in math education and continue to grow their teacher leadership through four years of professional learning. This project responds directly to national issues in mathematics education focused on recruitment and retention of mathematics teacher leaders of color. Therefore, this project focuses on the recruitment and support of racially and ethnically diverse, exemplary practicing mathematic teachers to become Master Teaching Fellows (MTFs).  Project activities will engage them in the growth of their identities as mathematicians and teacher leaders who can influence the mathematics teaching within their schools and across the district. The project will also investigate the following questions: How can efforts focused on increasing the racial literacy of current mathematics teachers support their teacher leadership development? In what ways will teacher leaders embrace an equity stance in their work with colleagues? Policymakers, school administrators and teachers know that Students of Color (SoC) continue to face barriers to postsecondary success, and Teachers of Color (ToC) have high attrition rates despite national efforts. The essential question the project will grapple with is: How can a graduate program and sustained professional development address and potentially redress the effects of systemic and structural barriers that can limit or eliminate opportunities for non-white teachers teaching mathematics?      This project at Bank Street Graduate School of Education includes partnerships with Gonzaga University’s Department of Mathematics, professionals at New York Hall of Science (NYSCI), and New York City's Department of Education (NYC DOE). This project aims to provide scholarships to enable 14 high-achieving math teachers to complete a Master of Science degree in mathematics leadership. The project includes a full scholarship for the final 14 months of the 16-month program, followed by four years of professional learning, during which teachers will receive an annual salary supplement of 10,000 as they continue as classroom teachers. The goal of the project is to recruit and support exemplary math teachers in growing their identities as mathematicians and teacher leaders in order to influence the mathematics teaching within their schools and across the district. Bank Street’s partners at the NYC DOE have expressed a strong need for mathematics educators, teacher leaders, and school and district leaders who embrace a learner-centered approach to mathematics education. This project will contribute to building a pipeline of strong math teachers who can influence the way schools and districts approach the teaching and learning of mathematics. Evaluation will include the progress towards the objectives of the master’s degree and to collect summative data to document the effectiveness of the project’s mathematics teacher leaders. Faculty and students will submit proposals to various conferences and publications to promote the work of the project. This Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.    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.",FALSE
2409523,Collaborative Research: Known Rivers: Creating Justice-Centered Water Literacy along the Lower Mississippi River,2025-04-25,University of Arizona,TUCSON,AZ,AZ07,255493,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2409523,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2409523_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,85721,ED44Y3W6P7B9,"Marginalized communities disproportionately experience the effects of environmental degradation such as sinking infrastructure, urban flooding, and coastal land loss as a result of legacies of segregation and lack of access to resources. To support youth in Black and Afro-Indigenous communities in Southeast Louisiana, the research team will work collaboratively with local community organizations to develop and enact a justice-centered framework for water literacy that responds to children’s experiences and concerns about the environmental water issues that impact their everyday lives. The project will contribute to knowledge of how community-engaged science curriculum and teaching projects build relationships between communities and schools and how students and teachers grapple with the justice dimensions of issues that have disciplinary and social implications.     In partnership with a network of public charter schools in New Orleans, Louisiana, the research team will engage in four years of design-based research that centers community knowledge and lived experience. Guided by a steering committee of local water-focused community leaders and organizations, the team will work with approximately 16 teachers and 640 students in grades 3–8 to develop and study the implementation of the justice-centered water literacy curriculum units. Additional products will include professional development tools designed to amplify the community’s experiential and historical knowledge as central to science learning.     This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2433830,STEM-APWD: Access and Equity in STEM: Disability and Innovation in Fundamental Research,2025-04-25,William Marsh Rice University,Houston,TX,TX09,93265,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2433830,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2433830_4900,2024-07-01,2025-12-31,770051827,K51LECU1G8N3,"The overall goals of this conference is to spotlight the kinds of research that disabled investigators are conducting, to highlight ways that disabilities can lead to innovation in research materials, methods, and findings, to discuss the kinds of accessibility challenges and systemic ableism faced by researchers with disabilities at every stage of the research process. The conference will also suggest ways to engage the scientific community in working to overcome challenges and to promote access, equity, and inclusion in fundamental research for disabled investigators. It will highlight both the excellent science that is done by investigators with disabilities, and the means by which excluded individuals may be better supported in STEM. The conference will improve collaboration within and across career stages, fields, and institutions, and between investigators with and without disabilities.    This conference centers the work, perspectives, and lived experiences of researchers with disabilities, in order to initiate a focus in various scientific communities on increasing equitable participation of persons with disabilities in fundamental research. The conference will take place on July 10, 2024 at NSF headquarters in Alexandria, VA, in hybrid format to ensure maximal access to persons with disabilities. It will consist of two panels of 5 invited panelists each. All invited panelists are STEM researchers with various types of disabilities who work in a range of academic disciplines. The first panel seeks to spotlight examples of the kinds of research that disabled investigators are conducting. The second panel focuses on researchers with disabilities who are working on projects to specifically promote access, equity, and inclusion in STEM fields. These conversations will facilitate more inclusive and representative scholarship across disabilities, and will facilitate direct discussion with scientific communities, leadership, and staff. Community awareness and understanding should result in improved policies and opportunities for scientists with disabilities and the communities that engages with them.    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.",FALSE
2342624,Collaborative Research: Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity,2025-04-25,George Mason University,FAIRFAX,VA,VA11,434522,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342624,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342624_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,220304422,EADLFP7Z72E5,"Data literacy plays a pivotal role in understanding real-world problems, making it an increasingly important topic in mathematics education. Preparing young learners to use data to answer questions and solve problems empowers them to participate in society as informed citizens and opens doors to 21st-century career opportunities. For many learners underrepresented in STEM, developing data literacy through innovative technologies requires personally meaningful experiences working with data. The Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity (FIT for Equity) is a Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI) project that will engage 24 teachers in co-designing technology-enhanced data literacy lessons and including students and community members as co-authors. This inclusive lesson study approach advances equity in math classes by supporting the critical data literacies necessary to participate in today’s workforce as informed citizens. FIT for Equity will cultivate design principles that bring together teachers, students, and community members in this innovative capacity building effort that may lead to more equitable learning opportunities. The project team will also produce a collection of data literacy mathematics lessons featuring transformative technologies to address community-based challenges, co-authored by elementary teachers, students, and community members in four distinct geographic locales in Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.    Through equity frameworks in mathematics education, this project will develop and test design principles for planning, observing, and reflecting on technology-integrated mathematics lessons. Researchers will use a design-based research approach to answer three research questions: 1. How do technology-enhanced data literacy lessons develop students' data literacy, understanding of community issues, and attitudes towards STEM? 2. How do the project’s design principles for technology-enhanced data literacy lessons promote teachers’ practices for culturally responsive mathematics teaching? 3. What are the affordances and constraints of Inclusive Lesson Study in expanding the integration of technology for data literacy towards equity? Iterative implementation cycles will be used to develop and test the inclusive lesson study cycles. Data will be collected through inventories and document analysis of lesson study artifacts, including student work, annotated classroom lessons, and lesson study meeting recordings. Additionally, data will be gathered using the Culturally Relevant Mathematics Teaching (CRMT2) Classroom Observation Tool, the Equity-centered Transformative Technology Lesson Analysis Tool, and interviews with participating teachers, students, and community members. Pre- and post-surveys will be administered to measure changes in students' STEM self-efficacy and career interests. Deliverables will include a repository of research lessons and video vignettes highlighting FIT for Equity lessons. Research findings will be disseminated through a project website, conference presentations, and journal publications. All program materials will be made free and publicly accessible, allowing other educators, designers, and researchers to replicate or modify them to foster innovative approaches to promoting inquiry topics that are both meaningful and applicable to underrepresented learners’ real-world contexts.    This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that increase students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2405747,Co-Constructing a Research Program Through Community Dialogues about Mathematical Storylines,2025-04-25,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,100000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2405747,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2405747_4900,2024-08-15,2025-07-31,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"This partnership development project deepens an existing partnership between the researcher and leadership of an elementary school in central Texas that serves predominantly Black and Latine students. The project focuses on engaging community members, teachers, and learners at the school in conversation about how mathematics teaching and learning might be improved. This partnering is important because the relationship between schools and communities is often marked by one-way communication and decision-making without dialogue. By promoting dialogue, all members of this partnership can learn more about the mathematical storylines embedded into the community—that is, the stories that community members, teachers, and learners share about their personal relationship to mathematics teaching and learning. Approaching mathematics education in this way also provides a space for addressing myths about mathematics such as math is free of culture, history, or specific points of view. In the context of this school and the students it serves, the storylines that are uncovered can be a strong cornerstone for developing mathematical practices that support learning by connecting to students' culture, history and community experiences. Finally, by understanding more deeply the mathematical storylines of community members, teachers, and learners, the researcher and leadership team can co-design a research program about mathematics teaching and learning that is anchored in the school communities' concerns, interests and talents.   The question guiding this partnership development project is: In what ways can the research and school leadership teams be in dialogue with the community to enhance the professional development of teachers and experiences of learners in elementary mathematics? To answer this question, the research team will engage in the following activities: 1) Listen to and document the stories of resistance, perseverance, and inequities shared by community members, learners, and teachers regarding mathematics teaching and learning; 2) Analyze and compare mathematical storylines within community dialogues. 3) Develop a collaborative plan of action leading to the development of a research project responsive to the DRK-12 solicitation. The project's findings will add to our understanding of how to (re)create educational spaces that serve, rather than marginalize, communities. Developing a partnership means a deep commitment to the community; consequently, feedback and continued dialogue must be a key component to evaluating the project's success. As such, newsletters, video-updates, member checking, community presentations, and other forms of sharing in the decision-making processes will be used. Across the project, an advisory board of experts in bilingual education, students' learning of mathematics, and community-school partnerships will foster accountability by offering meaningful feedback regarding the extent to which the partnership's processes and objectives are being fulfilled. Lessons learned and reflections can provide a conceptual framework for developing powerful community partnerships through dialogue with school communities and provide district policymakers and school leadership with tools and strategies for creating more bidirectional relationships with community members.",FALSE
2050161,REU Site: The Scope and Consequences of Hate Crime Victimization in the South,2025-04-25,University of Arkansas Little Rock,LITTLE ROCK,AR,AR02,324987,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050161,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2050161_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,722041000,DBP4N9GHCA14,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate. It has both scientific and societal benefits, and integrates research and education. The REU site in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology (SCJC-REU) at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to engage in an immersive research experience examining hate crimes in the South. Funded by the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the SBE Directorate, this SCJC-REU site engages students in a collaborative research environment to gain an understanding of the research process through experiential learning, field experience, and working with experienced faculty mentors and graduate students on an emerging issue within criminal justice. This project, REU Site: The Scope and Consequences of Hate Crime Victimization in the South, focuses on the extent and scope of hate crimes, discrimination, and stigmatization. Over three years, each cohort of students work on a different aspect of this project. In Year 1 (2022), the focus is on experiences, perceptions, and concerns with regards to stigmatization and victimization based. In Year 2 (2023), the SCJC-REU team examines the extent and scope of hate crimes in Arkansas through the distribution and analysis of a statewide survey. In Year 3 (2024), the policies, procedures, and decision-making processes of the law enforcement who handle hate crime incidents in Arkansas are explored, in addition to the perceptions of lawmakers and the obstacles in passing hate crime legislation in Arkansas. Through these projects, students learn how to conduct meaningful research that can contribute positively to the NSF’s mission to promote public welfare by heightening public awareness of hate crimes along with obstacles to social integration, reporting, and seeking support after experiencing hate crimes.    The SCJC-REU provides students the opportunity for in-depth mentorship in theory, skills, and application to cultivate research curiosity, to build experiences conducting independent research, and apply research to real-world issues. Specifically, the goals are to: 1) recruit participants with an interest in social research, especially, but not limited to, underrepresented undergraduate students, 2) provide and cultivate experiences that involve theory, research skills, and application, 3) increase knowledge about substantive areas, methodological techniques, and increase participants’ ability to conduct independent research through hands-on research experiences, 4) strengthen professional skills through a series of interactive workshops, invited expert speakers, and interactions with criminal justice professionals, 5) inspire and motivate students to continue conducting research, and 6) prepare students to apply to and attend graduate school in criminology, criminal justice, or related disciplines.    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.",FALSE
2106666,RI: Medium: Automatically Understanding and Identifying Digital Expression of Black Grief,2025-04-25,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,1207500,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,Robust Intelligence,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2106666,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2106666_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"In today’s world, multiple large-scale events have converged, causing increased emotional distress for many in the United States. In addition to large-scale events, such as COVID-19, incidents of police brutality against Blacks, and the economic downturn, people also experience distressing personal events, such as loss of a close family member or friend. This project develops novel machine learning-based natural language processing (NLP) tools to automatically identify the online expression of grief and component emotions that occur in reaction to these triggering events. The focus is on Black grief, a phenomenon that is not well understood, especially when it occurs in a networked public. The results of this project will include a dataset, annotated at different levels, that scholars and computational researchers can use to understand the online expression of Black grief and develop novel NLP models for its identification. The project has the potential for truly broad and profound impact in society. Given the rate at which people post online, an NLP tool that can automatically identify grief expressed in a post would be useful to professionals who respond to grief. Automatic flagging of posts indicating that the poster may need help would be more efficient than having professionals manually scan all online spaces of interest, an approach that is now common. New NLP tools developed during the project have the potential to shift how social workers, mental health professionals, and outreach workers treat complex grief online, informing new intervention and treatment programs that respond to an individual’s digital life. The investigators work with Black Harlem residents who are helping other residents cope with and process emotions including grief and other disturbing events, engaging them in the evaluation of the developed NLP tools.    This work is an interdisciplinary collaboration between computer scientists, social work researchers, and linguists. It includes the use of layered annotation and computational methods to analyze social media posts after triggering, often traumatic, events to identify how people communicate about different types of loss. The goal is to understand the digital expression of grief in posts by Black community members. The plan is to collect corpora containing expressions of grief in reaction to triggering events, and to produce a layered annotation of the corpora reflecting semantic interpretation and context, psychological interpretation of ex- pressed emotion, as well as linguistic expression of grief. Using this data, a computational approach will be developed to automatically identify grief, its component emotions and intensity, and how emotional re- actions change over time. The Natural Language Processing (NLP) team will develop new semi-supervised methods to identify grief, its component emotions and intensity as expressed in different dialects as well as conversational patterns that lead to different resolutions of grief over time. The social work team will perform a qualitative analysis of complex historical trauma, bias, and racism embedded in annotations of social media posts. They will work with community experts to identify the best strategies for deciphering different expressions of emotions that use hyper-local language that is deeply regional, nuanced, and cultural. The linguistics team’s work will advance understanding of the role of specific digital language strategies in the creation of social meaning, identifying the significance of morphosyntactic variation in digital language. The approach also includes identifying racial bias in systems that are developed in the award and understanding the impact on predictions when the computational model is applied to the language of different different demographics in communities (e.g., age, socio-economic status).    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.",FALSE
2124994,Collaborative Research: Assessing the bioethical impacts of an Indigenous scholars network in genomics,2025-04-25,University of California-Los Angeles,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA36,353105,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2124994,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2124994_4900,2021-10-01,2026-09-30,900244200,RN64EPNH8JC6,"Engagement of Indigenous communities by scientific researchers is riddled with examples of scientific misconduct and a lack of direct benefit to participants and their communities. The Summer internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) short course offers training and tools for early career Indigenous scientists to engage in the research process and community members to guide their communities in making informed decisions about research. Alumni of SING and affiliated faculty have organized through the workshop to present ethical concerns around current frameworks of scientific engagement to the general scientific community and to raise the collective voice of Indigenous people in genomics research. However, the impact of SING in its mission to inform participants in genomics research in Indigenous communities and build out networks of collaborating Indigenous researchers have not been explicitly tested. This study defines the role and impact of SING in shaping views of research and incorporating  Indigenous researchers into scholarly networks among Indigenous alumni and faculty. Long-term assessment of training programs such as SING have not been investigated to any great extent such that this can serve as a model for determining the effectiveness of short course scientific training programs.    Recognizing that genomic research is inherent in future medical, scientific, and translational research, the inclusion and involvement of Indigenous people is important and the role of SING to facilitate this engagement is unparalleled. In this project, the investigators objectively measure the impact of the SING program by eliciting the perceptions and understandings of genome science and ethics engagement of past SING participants and faculty through focus groups surveys, and social network analysis. Specifically, the project engages SING alumni and participants by 1) elucidating Indigenous perspectives on genetic research and scholarship, 2) defining interactions and influences initiated by SING among Indigenous genomics scholars, and 3) developing and delivering topic specific training for the general public and SING alumni. Findings from this work will inform in-person training for the SING program and engagement of the general scientific community to impact research approaches, scholarship, and public policy.    This project was funded through the ER2 program by the BIO directorate.    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.",FALSE
2417604,Doctoral Dissertation Research in DRMS: Evidence on Closing Gender Gaps in Self-Promotion,2025-04-25,Carnegie-Mellon University,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,29533,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417604,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417604_4900,2024-08-01,2025-07-31,152133815,U3NKNFLNQ613,"Despite progress in recent decades, gender gaps in labor market outcomes remain persistent both in the United States and globally, underscoring the need for further research to shape informed policies and interventions. This proposal focuses on an important but understudied source of these gender gaps: self-promotional behaviors. Self-promotion involves whether and how individuals communicate their skills, abilities, and achievements, which significantly influence how they are perceived by their colleagues and employers. Thus, if there are gender differences in self-promotional tendencies, or if self-promotion differentially affects outcomes for men and women, it may have far-reaching effects across various stages of their careers, ranging from education and hiring, to task assignments and promotions.    The project entails an interdisciplinary approach that draws from economics and psychology to understand self-promotion both as a supply-side and demand-side driver of gender gaps in labor market outcomes. Leveraging lab experiments, field studies, and observational data, the research aims to address three questions. First, are there gender differences in the propensity and degree of self-promotion, and what are the underlying mechanisms of these decisions? Second, what is the impact of self-promotion on career outcomes, and do men and women equally benefit from self-promotion across different professional contexts? Third, if self-promotion is important for career outcomes, how can we mitigate gender gaps in self-promotional tendencies? The research seeks to provide a comprehensive understanding of not just whether but also when and how self-promotion can exacerbate gender disparities within organizations. The resulting knowledge help in better understanding when and how gender gaps arise, and more importantly, can inform the design of structural interventions that change features of the environment in which men and women make decisions.    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.",FALSE
2327579,"A Culturally-Responsive Maker Program Designed to Develop the STEM Interest, Self-Efficacy and Science Identity of Black Girls",2025-04-25,GLOBAL FUND FOR WOMEN INC,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,299941,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327579,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327579_4900,2023-04-15,2025-07-31,941112585,UYRXACL96L54,"Black Girls Create (BGC) is a program that uses maker pedagogy, social history (i.e., Black women’s contributions in STEM), culturally responsive pedagogy, and mentoring to engage Black girls in STEM.  For the project, culturally responsive making is operationally defined as the use of cultural knowledge and maker technologies to create, design, and produce artifacts that are related to a particular concept, theme, or person.  The project will conduct a feasibility research study that investigates how engagement in BGC affects participants' STEM interest, STEM confidence, and racial and gender identities. In the project, participants will discover how Black women have made an impact in STEM fields and will learn how to digitally create cultural artifacts/wearable art related to their discoveries. Approximately 120 middle school girls in grades 6-8 (8 groups of 15 participants each) from underserved neighborhoods will be recruited for participation in this two-year study. Each group will meet for 3 hours per week over an 8-week period. Instructional materials from this research will be made freely available online so that they can be adapted and used at other formal and informal educational institutions that seek to garner interest and access to STEM learning for Black girls and women.    A pre- and post-test, quasi-experimental design will be used to research the program’s influence on participants’ self-efficacy, racial identity, and gender identity. Lagged regression models that control for students’ age, race/ethnicity, and pre-survey scores will be used to examine growth in each of the four outcomes. Once all of the participants in the groups have completed BGC, data from all groups will be combined to increase power and thereby detect statistically meaningful differences in pre- and post-survey scores. In addition, variables representing attendance and program engagement will be entered into the model to examine whether students who are highly engaged in BGC programming exhibit more growth in the four outcomes.    Qualitative data will be derived from students' journal entries as well as focus group interviews. Weekly journals will be used to gather data about the context and experiences of participants as they unfold throughout the program. Semi-structured focus groups will center around the usefulness of skills and knowledge gained from the program activities, significant experiences with peers and program staff, the opportunity to learn about Black women STEM progenitors, and learning how to make digitally fabricated artifacts. NVIVO, a computer software program, will be used as a tool to support the analysis of the rich, text-based information resulting from the journals and focus group narratives.     This feasibilty research project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",TRUE
2216286,BPC-DP IvyWorks Expansion,2025-04-25,Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana,INDIANAPOLIS,IN,IN07,238327,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216286,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216286_4900,2022-09-01,2025-09-30,462085752,XGMKKTCV87C1,"The purpose of this project is to provide women the opportunity to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) related careers with the aid of mentoring, scholarship, employment, and internship assistance. Research suggests women are underrepresented in STEM fields. According to the US Department of Commerce report titled ""Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation"", women fill nearly half of all jobs in the United States yet hold less than 25 percent of STEM jobs. It has been noted that women hold a disproportionately low share of STEM undergraduate degrees, particularly in Engineering. The IvyWorks program aims to spark women's interest in tech fields, cultivate a sense of belonging to retain them while pursuing their degree, and support them to fully integrate and find mobility in a tech career. Equal representation in STEM fields provides women the same opportunities at a high-paying job, providing a self-sustaining career where a woman can then provide for herself and a family. Research shows that women with STEM jobs earned 33 percent more than women not in STEM careers. The success of the IvyWorks program model will advance knowledge and understanding in the tech industry on how to close the computing gender gap.      Based on the success of a small sample of a prior test case from a team of researchers from the investigator's college, where free mentorship and additional peer network was provided for the women in the STEM-related degrees, it has become imperative to provide adequate support as in addition to promoting the need for STEM education for women. By providing a peer support network, the women of the test case program have automatic support from other women who have completed the same courses and found success with employment in the field of technology. This indicates that providing adequate support engenders success. Mentors and peer networks can support students pursuing their STEM education (Powell, Chang). This project will advocate for (1) mentorship, (2) targeted academic advising, (3) internship placement, (4) career advising, (5) alumni network, and (6) employment placement assistance. With women as an untapped workforce in STEM fields, our goal is to educate, support and mentor women as they pursue their STEM career degrees. Women make up half the workforce but are employed in only a quarter of the high-paying STEM jobs. With the help of a grant, additional opportunities will be provided to a demographic of the society that has been underrepresented in the STEM field.    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.",TRUE
2122112,RUI: Mechanisms Underlying the Development of Social Categorization,2025-04-25,Haverford College,HAVERFORD,PA,PA05,628630,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122112,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122112_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,190411336,QAP9NNDEWGZ8,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    Children divide the world into groups in various ways, including race and gender. The way children represent these groups in their minds often serves as the basis for negative outcomes such as stereotyping and biased behavior. However, the people children interact with do not belong to only one group; they are simultaneously part of multiple groups. This perspective is not often recognized, and even more rarely adopted in prior research. Recognizing and incorporating this perspective in research is important because it illuminates unique forms of bias faced by people who have multiple marginalized identities.  This project will investigate how children integrate information about multiple groups and how the processes underlying that integration may differ across early childhood. Specifically, the project will examine how low-level perceptual cues (e.g., facial femininity) and higher-level conceptual knowledge (e.g., beliefs about the category) shape how children integrate information about multiple categories in their representations of others. Investigating these processes is critical in order to develop a framework for predicting at what ages different types of interventions to pre-empt bias might be most effective.     The project tests the hypothesis that perceptual cues (e.g., facial features) are more influential in shaping categorization processes for younger, preschool-aged children, but that conceptual knowledge about groups is more influential for older children. The project uses novel adaptations of social-cognitive methods used with adult samples for use with children. Children will be shown pictures of people’s faces that differ in gender and racial background and asked to make a gender categorization. This project will help spur theoretical innovations about how children parse the social world, as well as create pipelines for research dissemination and community involvement via partnerships with community-based institutions.  The project will also provide training in social psychology and developmental science for a diverse group of undergraduate researchers.    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.",FALSE
2426690,Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Political Ecology of Indigenous Pgaz K'Nyau Food Environment Transitions,2025-04-25,Pennsylvania State Univ University Park,UNIVERSITY PARK,PA,PA15,25200,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,HEGS-DDRI Human-Enviro&Geo Sci,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426690,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426690_4900,2024-10-01,2026-09-30,168021503,NPM2J7MSCF61,"The diets of rural and Indigenous communities are impacted by contextual changes in the environments in which people acquire food. This Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement project examines the ways that transitional food environments impact diet quality for members of these communities. Drawing on theoretical perspectives from political ecology, this project contributes to equitable public health outcomes by attending to the experiences of Indigenous and rural women and their contributions as food decision-makers in changing environments. Inclusive understandings of food environments help to inform global public health research and policymaking to promote diet quality and positive nutritional outcomes. The project also contributes to the training and education of a graduate student.    Poor quality diet is a major public health burden that is responsible for an estimated 11 million deaths globally each year, and the burden disproportionately affects Indigenous communities. The role of food environments in driving dietary changes is still not fully understood. This doctoral dissertation project contributes to more complete understandings of the relationships between food environments and diets by addressing multiple, complementary research questions. First, the researchers examine how changes to food environments affect individuals’ decision-making? Second, the study elucidates the pathways by which changing food environments lead to heterogeneous outcomes in diet quality. Third, the research considers the social, political, economic and environmental factors that potentially underlie uneven and gendered experiences of food environment change. Mixed methods involving interviews, focus group discussions, geolocated participant observation and participatory mapping are used to investigate changes to individuals’ and communities’ food environments and diets. Developing community-centered methods in collaboration with Indigenous scholars to study changing food environments in rural and Indigenous contexts advances broader interdisciplinary research on diet quality. Enhanced understandings of the relationships between food environments and diets in different contexts help to foster research and policy for equitable and sustainable food system transformations.    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.",FALSE
2152437,SCISIPBIO: Examining the Career Barriers Confronting African American or Black Biomedical Scientists,2025-04-25,University of Kansas Center for Research Inc,LAWRENCE,KS,KS01,408187,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2152437,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2152437_4900,2022-08-01,2025-07-31,660457563,SSUJB3GSH8A5,"The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest science funding agency in the world.  Discoveries linked to NIH funding have contributed to the health and longevity of the population in the United States.  NIH funding is also essential for academic careers in biomedical research fields.  Several researchers have documented race and ethnicity differences in the likelihood of receiving NIH funding.  However, a full account of the career challenges facing scientists from historically underrepresented groups has been hampered by a lack of access to data on science faculty linked to their publications and grants.  This study will construct a dataset that identifies the race, gender, academic field, academic rank, publications, citations and grants of individual scientists by linking data on over 2 million individual faculty from Academic Analytics for the years 2009-2023, the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates, NIH Reporter, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), and web searches.  These data will be used to examine race/ethnicity differences in the career paths of scientists at research-intensive universities.      This study will have five specific aims.  Aim 1 of this study will create the Demographic Academic Careers (DAC) data set that will be housed in a data enclave at National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) so that the research community can make use of this rich data to understand academic careers as well as other Science of Science Research questions.   Aim 2 will document the race/ethnicity distribution of faculty at 427 research-intensive universities and medical schools across the United States and their impact on students of color.  Although many researchers have examined the demographic makeup faculty of medical schools, and aggregate statistics have been reported, less attention has been given to the demographics of faculty at research institutions that train undergraduates who will become future scientists.  This aim will examine whether institutions with more faculty of color produce more undergraduate and graduate students of color.  Aim 3 will examine race/ethnicity differences in promotion to associate and full professor as well as the potential double-bind of gender and race/ethnicity.  Research funding is considered essential for academic promotion in biomedical sciences.  This study will examine whether the race/ethnicity NIH funding gaps contribute to similar academic  promotion gaps.  Aim 4 will examine race/ethnicity differences in the age of research independence and funding longevity.  Although researchers have examined these topics in the aggregate or for women the same has not been done by race/ethnicity.  The longitudinal data developed in Aim 1 is ideal for this kind of study.  Aim 5 will examine gender and race/ethnicity differences in NIH R01 renewals (Type 2) awards.  Researchers have documented that women and faculty of color are less likely to receive Type 2 and renewals.  This project will determine whether publications, citations, prior funding, and institutional affiliations explain these differences.    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.",TRUE
2429070,Collaborative Research: Conference on Research on New Populations and its Applications,2025-04-25,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,24792,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429070,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429070_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"To advance the science on social factors associated with the well-being – defined broadly to include social, economic, physical, psychological, and relational dimensions – of new populations, in this project social scientists are convened to present their research on new populations in the United States and influences on their well-being. With sustained levels of new populations to the country, it is crucial to promote scientific knowledge on their well-being as their population is critical for the sustenance, prosperity, and health of the nation. Representing advances in this area across a variety of disciplines – including anthropology, education, criminal justice, sociology, and economics – the scholarship presented at this convening will be published in peer-reviewed journals to enhance public knowledge on the barriers and promoters to the well-being of new populations, thereby benefiting US society. Specific efforts will be undertaken to recruit scholars from under-represented backgrounds and institutions of varying research capacities, to add a diversity of perspectives to the field.    Making sound decisions rooted in empirical evidence concerning new populations requires that we create spaces that amplify academic work on the subject, while also creating opportunities for the public to engage with this scholarship in consumable forms. In this conference, a collaborative effort between the George Washington University and the University of South Florida, participants present high-impact research on the well-being of new populations and take part in applied workshops on best practices for communicating that research to decision makers and the public-at-large. The intellectual merit of the conference includes its interdisciplinary and translational orientation to the application of empirical research. The translational workshops prepare a cohort of scholars with the knowledge and skills to bring empirical insights on publicly engaged scholarship on the well-being of new populations beyond the academy into decision making spaces.    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.",FALSE
2241828,Collaborative Research: The Militarized Dispute Data 2015-2024 and Beyond,2025-04-25,United States Air Force Academy,U S A F ACADEMY,CO,CO05,NA,Interagency Agreement,NA,NA,NA,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241828,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241828_4900,2024-05-01,2027-09-30,808406208,HJY2D59E2AN5,NA,FALSE
2327594,BPE Track 2: Collaborative: Supporting Engineering Faculty Gender Equity by Understanding the Experiences and Career Trajectories of Women in Non-tenure Track Faculty Roles.,2025-04-25,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,URBANA,IL,IL13,84206,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327594,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327594_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,618013620,Y8CWNJRCNN91,"The broader impact of this Broadening Participation for Engineering Track 2 (BPE- Track-2) project will be to enhance knowledge about how to increase the number of women in higher-power (tenure-track) engineering faculty and leadership positions. Though many stakeholders prioritize increasing gender equity for academic faculty, statistics show that women are over-represented in lower-power faculty positions (non-tenure track). These lower-power faculty roles are often not eligible for higher career advancement, including campus leadership positions. Without gender equity in higher positions of power, the benefits of a diverse workforce cannot be fully realized. We are researching why and how women are positioned in lower- or higher-powered faculty roles in academia. To do this, we will learn from people along this career path, including women graduate engineering students, women in lower-power engineering faculty positions, and women engineering faculty in higher-power positions. By interviewing these people and studying their experiences, we will be able to more deeply understand the underlying mechanisms that result in these power imbalances for women, including women of color. This understanding will then inform changes that institutions can make to support women faculty advancing toward leadership positions in academia.    The proposed project leverages a qualitative approach to answer the unexplored research question: How can institutions support the advancement of women faculty in non-tenure track (NTT) ranks? Our study will explore women graduate student and faculty experiences through the lenses of intra-occupational gender segregation and social cognitive career theory to identify key mechanisms that influence women’s career decisions in academia and the factors that support women’s transitions from NTT to tenure-track (TT) roles.  The project will leverage our prior research to determine: 1) how trainee perceptions of TT and NTT roles develop and influence career decisions; 2) how NTT women faculty experience their roles and seek career advancement; and 3) what are the pathways, including barriers and supports, of advancement of women from NTT to TT ranks. We will interview 40-50 participants, including (1) women engineering graduate students, (2) women NTT faculty in engineering, and (3) women TT faculty in engineering. Interview collection will include semi-structured, quantitative comparative, and critical incident techniques and analysis will include thematic analysis and corresponding quantitative comparative, and critical incident analysis. We will leverage our results to inform research-based practices to support career development and institutional policies that support gender equity.    This project was partially supported by the NSF ADVANCE program which is designed to foster STEM faculty equity by identifying and eliminating organizational barriers to the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.    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.",FALSE
2045977,CAREER: Understanding the Interdependence of the Microenvironment and Nuclear Organization in Stem Cell Aging,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,404355,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems",Engineering of Biomed Systems,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045977,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2045977_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"The dramatic increase in the elderly population presents new challenges for our society, and a critical effector of healthy lifespan is functioning skeletal muscle. Despite the significant personal and societal costs of age-related muscle atrophy and weakness, only modest progress has been made in understanding this degenerative process. One critical factor is a reduction in number and function of adult stem cells with aging.  Hence, a mechanistic understanding of how muscle stem cells become dysfunctional in old age is needed. The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) project is to establish systems to study how stem cells receive and store information in their nuclei (which contain genetic information and controls and regulates cell activities) during aging. The outcome will be enhanced understanding of the stem cell aging process in a unified and controllable manner. The primary educational objective of this project is to develop a series of stories that focus on introducing concepts of stem cells and genomics to under-represented minority (URM) students in K-3. These stories aim to increase scientific literacy and reduce the language barrier for URM students to engage with STEM principles and genomics at an early age, and positively portray underrepresented Minorities using Integrative Genomics, Human stem cells, and TechnologY (MIGHTY).    The investigator's long-term research goal is to develop and optimize technologies and therapeutics that prevent or delay age-related declines in skeletal muscle function that occur in the elderly population. A known critical contributor of sarcopenia (age-induced skeletal muscle wasting) is muscle stem cell dysfunction, which is regulated by the packaging of the genome in the nucleus.  Thus, in keeping with the long-term goal, this NSF CAREER project aims to elucidate the sensitive relationship between nuclear organization and the stem cell microenvironment in aging using in situ genome editing, microfluidics, biomaterials and integrative genomic assays. The Research Plan is organized under two objectives.  The FIRST Objective is to demonstrate that muscle stem cell dysfunction observed in aging is driven by 3D genome misfolding. An in-situ genome editing (CRISPR-Cas9) system in muscle stem cells will be used to manipulate heterochromatin and hierarchical nuclear organization. High-resolution 3D imaging coupled with epigenomic mapping will be used to contrast the effects of these perturbations with muscle stem cells isolated from different stages of life (youth, middle-age and old age). Successful completion of these experiments will demonstrate how intrinsic alterations through genome folding engender stem cell dysfunction and remodeling of the microenvironment as well as expose the relative susceptibility of each part of the genome to deleterious changes that occur in aging. The SECOND Objective is to establish that the aberrant extracellular matrix produced during aging engenders chromatin defects that regulate muscle stem cell expansion. Envelope muscle stem cells on myofibers with engineered biomaterials that replicate aspects of an aging endomysium will be used to assess the effect on chromatin architecture and stem cell expansion. Extracellular matrix density, elastic moduli, composition and structure surrounding muscle stem cells will be varied to determine how different types of modifications converge onto nuclear organization and impact clonal dynamics. Successful completion of these experiments will reveal how muscle stem cells transduce alterations in their microenvironment into chromatin remodeling during aging and how these adjustments drive variations in proliferative behavior. The ability to make meaningful connections between these innovative engineering systems and critically important biological process in aging will facilitate construction of a molecular-scale, integrated understanding of the stem cell aging process that can help advance therapeutics, and fulfill knowledge gaps.    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.",FALSE
2426669,"NSF-NFRF: Building resilience of coastal inhabitants in vulnerable regions of Bangladesh through a participatory, gender-transformative approach",2025-04-25,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,524987,Standard Grant,OD,Office of the Director,International Science and Engineering,GVF - Global Venture Fund,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426669,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426669_4900,2024-06-01,2027-05-31,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"Bangladesh places seventh on the global Climate Risk Index and the country’s coastal areas are particularly vulnerable to the changing climate. Women, members of Indigenous communities, and people with disabilities in particular face high risks and vulnerabilities due to their lack of adaptive capacity, resources, and skills. The research takes a novel approach to evidence generation within the field of climate change adaptation and mitigation by utilizing a gender-transformative and participatory approach to identify risks and create transformational mitigation/adaptation strategies for climate change risks. In the past, approaches for addressing climate change and its risk and vulnerability assessment focused mainly on the scientific and technical aspects of the problems while ignoring social, institutional, and gender issues. This research project overcomes this gap and promotes the progress of science by prioritizing partnerships with local vulnerable communities to co-create knowledge and communication strategies, and to plan and implement objectives that are devised and owned by communities and local governments to build climate change resilience. The broader scientific impact of the research is anticipated to be a demonstration that groups that are most at risk of the negative impacts of climate change are in a unique position to lead adaptation and mitigation efforts – which both can decrease their risk of experiencing negative consequences from climate change as well as can help empower them to provide ongoing leadership on this complex and ever-evolving issue within their own communities.    The objective of the research is to reduce risks associated with climate change affecting vulnerable coastal communities in the Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong regions of Bangladesh, while contributing to gender transformative change. This will be achieved in three phases. First, working together with community-based women, representatives of Indigenous populations and persons with disabilities who reside in highly climate insecure communities in coastal areas of Bangladesh, the research team and a women-led, community-based organization will use innovative and participatory visual and arts-based methodologies, such as storytelling, photovoice, incomplete stories, mapping and drawing, to collaboratively identify risks that these groups encounter due to climate change. In phase 2, the research team will support community representatives to analyze data collected in phase 1 and to create feasible, locally-led, community-based action plans that can be piloted in their own communities to adapt to / mitigate the impacts of climate change. In phase 3, the research will focus on analyzing the data collected throughout the implementation of the locally-developed community-action plans, synthesizing learning, and developing dissemination products.    This is a project jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as funding agencies from Canada via the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Competition. This Competition allowed a single joint international proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by Canada. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries.    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.",FALSE
2134136,Symposium: Increasing Awareness of Plant Science Opportunities among Students from Underrepresented Groups,2025-04-25,Iowa State University,AMES,IA,IA04,53487,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Integrative Organismal Systems,Genetic Mechanisms,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2134136,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2134136_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,500112103,DQDBM7FGJPC5,"A changing world presents challenges that will be addressed specifically by plant scientists. To meet demands presented by climate change, a growing human population and diminishing non-renewable resources, the U.S. will need a diverse work force focused on increasing our plant specific knowledge base and its applications through basic and applied research in plant sciences and related fields.  However, the number of Ph.D. degrees awarded in the plant sciences have been stagnant for the last two decades and the field lacks participation from members of marginalized groups. This problem is compounded by low awareness of the plant sciences among students interested in pursuing advanced degrees. As a first step in tackling this challenge, a series of plant science-focused scientific sessions and career development workshops will be developed that target members of underrepresented groups attending the annual meeting for the Society for the Advancement of Chicano/Hispanic and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS). These activities will highlight cutting edge plant science and present students with an array of career opportunities to inform and recruit the next generation of plant scientists.     Plant Sciences represent a large sector of the public and private research portfolios and is an area that is expected to grow and provide important career opportunities in the next decades. The goal of this project is to increase the visibility of the plant sciences at SACNAS, a professional society that serves groups underrepresented in STEM fields, by creating a new community space for plant scientists of diverse backgrounds where they can be supported and mentored to achieve success in their careers. It is the hope that these efforts will also increase participation of industry and diverse groups from plant science related professional societies such as the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) and the Botanical Society of America (BSA).    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.",FALSE
2402441,Excellence in Research: Understanding Firearm Possession Among Young Adults,2025-04-25,Delaware State University,DOVER,DE,DE00,1012381,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,HBCU-EiR - HBCU-Excellence in,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2402441,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2402441_4900,2024-08-15,2026-07-31,199012202,RZZ8BMQ47KX3,"This project will advance the understanding of firearm possession among a specific community living in urban areas characterized by high crime and violence. It expands a seminal study investigating gun possession among community males between the ages of 15 and 24 years old by using grounded theory methods to include the lived experience of females and of incarcerated males and females in the same age group.  This study will fill an academic and practitioner knowledge gap. In addition, the grounded theory methodology focuses on understanding firearm possession in the context of lived experience, informing relevant, feasible, and appropriate decision making and interventions to make cities safer and to meet the varying needs of males, females, and incarcerated populations. The project also replicates the initial study’s research strategy, creating a collaborative of researchers at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). This collaborative approach increases the application of the study findings beyond a single site or city. It also strengthens and advances HBCU research capacity, developing the next generation of researchers, informing decision making and practice, and engaging community serving organizations in the research process.    This study aims to answer three broad questions: 1) Do the factors driving firearm possession differ by gender among community youth aged 15-24 living in urban high-crime communities? 2) Do the factors driving firearm possession differ between community youth aged 15-24 involved in the criminal justice system for weapons charges versus those living in the community? 3) Do the factors driving firearm possession differ across study sites? It will be conducted in four sites. The work in each site will be led by a seasoned researcher based at an HBCU. Because there is little information about firearm possession among young community adults living in high crime and violent areas, this study is phenomenological using a purposive sampling technique. In partnership with community partners, 300 participants will be recruited to participate in a semi-structured interview. Each study site will interview community members between 15 and 24 years old, including 25 females living in the community, 25 males incarcerated for weapons charges, and 25 females incarcerated for weapons charges. The qualitative analyses will employ grounded theory processes to identify common themes and coding schemes. The coding schemes will allow for quantitative analyses, including examining significant differences by testing the null hypotheses for each specific research question. Based on the research canon, including the original study conducted as a pilot for this study, differences based on gender, incarceration for weapons charges status, and location are expected.    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.",FALSE
2431915,Conference: Thought Summit on the Future of Survey Science,2025-04-25,Cornell University,ITHACA,NY,NY19,39870,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2431915,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2431915_4900,2024-08-01,2025-07-31,148502820,G56PUALJ3KT5,"Surveys provide fundamental data about the social and economic conditions of communities around the world. In the U.S., the National Science Foundation funds a number of important social science surveys that produce data relevant to nearly every aspect of American life. The goal of this conference is to bring together principal investigators from several of these surveys and other global experts in survey methodology for a first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss potential synergies across surveys, developments in survey methods including artificial intelligence applications, and best practices for enhancing the efficiency and impact of surveys on society. The conference will benefit the science of survey research by identifying state-of-the-art knowledge, including common challenges and opportunities, and by incorporating relevant advancements in artificial intelligence technology. The conference will benefit society by focusing on ways that surveys can better represent the views of diverse segments of the public, by inviting a diverse group of early career scientists to participate in the meeting, and by making key insights and conclusions publicly available through the conference website.     Surveys have long been a prominent method for measuring social and economic conditions globally. In the U.S., the National Science Foundation funds a number of important social science surveys. Yet, changing social conditions and advancements in technologies present new opportunities and challenges for surveys and the methodologies they rely on. This conference will bring together principal investigators of several NSF-funded survey projects, early career scholars, and other global experts focused on survey research and methods, including large language models (LLMs) and AI, for a Thought Summit on the Future of Survey Science scheduled to take place in September 2024. Primary conference goals include developing synergies among NSF-funded surveys, increasing their societal impacts, and informing the future of survey research. Specific aims include: 1.) Strengthening collaboration across NSF projects 2.) Sharing best practices 3.) Identifying challenges, opportunities, and solutions in the survey research and AI space. With respect to intellectual merit, this conference will advance the state-of-the-art knowledge of survey methods and best practices, identify synergies between survey research and large language model (LLM) and AI research focused on modeling public beliefs, attitudes, and opinions, and generate new lines of inquiry at the intersection of survey methods and AI research, the outcome of which could alter the future of survey research. With respect to broader impacts, NSF-funded surveys enhance understanding about social, political, and economic conditions affecting diverse segments of the public, while attempting to represent the unique viewpoints of different groups as accurately as possible. This conference will support these broader impacts by helping to ensure that existing NSF-funded surveys are achieving their goals of capturing all voices and conducting representative surveys. In addition, the meeting will recruit a diverse group of junior scholars to ensure their perspectives are incorporated and to help create a more diverse and inclusive scientific community. Finally, to maximize the broader social impact of the meeting, key findings, conclusions, and recommendations from the meeting will be made public through the conference website.    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.",FALSE
2434604,Planning: Bringing the Ocean to the Streets: Strategic Approaches for Engaging Historically Excluded Communities in Geosciences,2025-04-25,BLACK IN MARINE SCIENCE,SPOKANE,WA,WA05,200000,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2434604,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2434604_4900,2024-08-15,2026-07-31,992010580,SM8RSLFHWRC5,"Bringing the Ocean to the Streets is a strategic approach for engaging communities. It aims to address the lack of diversity in marine sciences through immersive and educational experiences through two key events: the Essence Festival and Black in Marine Science (BIMS) Week. At the Essence Festival, the “BIMS Ocean to Essence” exhibit showcases marine science through interactive displays and activities with focus on inspiring interest and promoting diversity in the geosciences. BIMS Week, a professional wellness retreat supports and develops a diverse body of marine scientists with expert-led workshops, cultural excursions, and networking opportunities. These initiatives aim to foster a sense of community, enhance professional growth, and promote inclusivity in the marine sciences, ensuring diverse voices address critical ocean and coastal issues.    The primary goal of this project is to enhance diversity, representation, and equity in marine sciences by engaging communities through two key events: Essence Festival and BIMS Week. These events aim to foster a sense of community, build authentic relationships, and provide immersive educational experiences to make marine science accessible and relevant. The “BIMS Ocean to Essence” exhibit will seek to raise awareness and inspire action on marine issues. BIMS Week offers professional development and networking opportunities to support and nurture marine scientists. These initiatives promote interdisciplinary collaboration, enhance public understanding of marine and coastal issues, and ensure diverse voices are included in addressing critical environmental challenges, thereby creating a sustainable and inclusive future for marine science research and conservation. The PI team will utilize novel BIMS frameworks to measure and evaluate the effectiveness of these events.    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.",FALSE
2137410,Understanding the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 in the Arctic,2025-04-25,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,660422,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Polar Programs,ASSP-Arctic Social Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2137410,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2137410_4900,2021-11-01,2025-07-31,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"This award supports research on how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected women across political, economic, social, civic and personal domains in three Arctic locations. The PI will assess the effects of pandemic conditions on existing gender inequalities and policy responses. Through collaboration with tribal and community liaisons, the project will also evaluate pandemic impacts on Indigenous women in Alaska and Russia. Qualitative and quantitative data from both rural and urban locations will ensure broad coverage of the study areas. A series of indicators tracking political, economic, social and civic gendered policy responses will be developed and deployed online for public use.     This project uses a case study approach, employing mixed methods to identify and evaluate pandemic impacts on women. Qualitative data collection includes interviews and focus groups with women in Alaska, Iceland, and Russia. The PI will also analyze quantitative socioeconomic data on labor force participation, earnings, and employment. Study locations were selected to reflect both rural and urban contexts and to include both Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. Broader impacts include training and education of students, development of university curriculum, promotion of gender equality to the public and stakeholder organizations, and a multilingual web portal making the study data and findings available to a global audience.    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.",FALSE
2241576,AI for the Workforce of Tomorrow: Attending to Ethics and Collaboration in Learning Artificial Intelligence for High School Aged Youth,2025-04-25,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,1291633,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241576,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241576_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"As AI becomes increasingly integral to a broad range of industries, it is critical that the field develops equitable and justice-oriented instructional models that can support youth to integrate technical knowledge about AI with ethical principles for AI development and deployment. This project will design and study an online course for high school aged youth that is a collaborative learning experience for building workforce skills. The project will strengthen and broaden youth capacity for, and disposition toward, artificial intelligence (AI) domains and careers. Learning activities will provide youth with opportunities to develop AI systems grounded in real-world contexts that are relevant to this age group including college applications, health care, and social media, enabling them to draw on their own personal and cultural knowledge. Through its implementation, the project will address three important national needs: (1) increasing and expanding AI workforce capacity; (2) attending to the social and ethical concerns associated with AI; and (3) broadening participation in AI understanding to bring a greater diversity of lived experiences to the AI workforce and greater STEM field. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    Using surveys, observations, and interviews within a design-based research approach, the researchers  will address the following research questions: (1) How can instruction be designed to integrate AI technical knowledge with AI ethics principles in an online learning experience that also encourages and supports positive social interaction and collaboration among participants? How do specific design features and pedagogical strategies contribute to a coherent approach? (2) To what extent, for whom, and under what conditions does this AI instructional model support: (a) AI technical learning; (b) capacity to integrate ethics in AI development; and (c) dispositional changes (sense of belonging in AI; value assigned to STEM ethics integration)? (3) What infrastructure is necessary to support this work beyond the life of the grant; and how can this program be institutionalized? This project will advance knowledge toward building a more inclusive approach to integrating ethical principles within technical training. This will increase the likelihood that the future workforce will be attentive to ethical concerns and better reflect the views and backgrounds of the populations that the technology is supposed to serve. Through the intentional design for productive online collaboration, the project will contribute to improved learning outcomes in online spaces. Project deliverables include an online course with educator supports and custom-designed digital tools, empirical findings and presentations for research and practitioner communities, and design principles for online, collaborative, sociotechnical learning environments. The AI course will be offered to six cohorts of 20 students each. Participants will be recruited from high schools in the western United States that receive Title I funding. The resulting course resource will be designed for sustainable implementation and positioned for implementation at scale across similar institutions nationally.    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.",TRUE
2115695,"Collaborative Research:   Intergenerational Learning, Deliberation, and Decision Making for Changing Lands and Waters",2025-04-25,Western Washington University,BELLINGHAM,WA,WA02,1085442,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115695,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115695_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,982255996,U3ZFA57417D4,"Creating science education that can contribute to cultivating just, culturally thriving, and sustainable worlds is an important issue of our time. Indigenous peoples have persistently been under-represented in science reproducing inequalities in a myriad of ways from educational attainment, participation in and contributing to innovations in foundational knowledge, to effective policy making that upholds and respects Indigenous sovereignty. The development of models of science education that attend to intersections of knowledge and development, socio-scientific decision-making and civic leadership, and the complexities and contradictions of these realities, is imperative. This five-year Innovations in Development project broadens participation and strengthens infrastructure and capacity for Indigenous learners to meet, adapt to, and lead change in relation to the socio-ecological challenges of the 21st century. The project engages multi-sited community-based design studies to develop and research the impacts of Indigenous informal field-based science education with three Indigenous leadership communities from the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes. This project will have broader impacts through model development, building infrastructure to transform the capacity of informal field-based science education, and will produce cutting edge foundational knowledge about pressing 21st century issues with a particular focus on Indigenous communities. The project increases Indigenous participation in research through 1) engagement of Indigenous community members as research assistants, 2) training of Indigenous graduate fellows, and post-doctoral fellows, and 3) supporting the careers of more junior Indigenous scholars.     This research seeks to identify key design features of an Indigenous field (land/water) based model of science education and to understand how learners’ and educators’ reasoning, deliberation, decision-making, and leadership about complex socio-ecological systems and community change evolve in such learning environments. The project also examines key aspects of co-design and partnership with Tribal communities and how these methods of co-production of new science enable new capacities for systems transformation. This multi-layered project is organized through 3 panels of studies including: Panel 1) community-based design experiments to develop and refine a model of Indigenous informal science education; Panel 2) co-design and implementation of professional learning programs for Indigenous informal science education; and Panel 3) foundational studies in cognition and learning with respect to socio-ecological systems thinking and the impact on learning and instructional practices. Of particular importance in this research is the rigorous development and articulation of effective pedagogical practices and orientations. More broadly, findings will have clear implications for theories of cognitive development, deliberation and environmental decision making and especially those pertaining to how knowledge is shaped by culture and experience.     This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.    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.",FALSE
2142739,CAREER: Language Technologies Against the Language of Social Discrimination,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,342171,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,Robust Intelligence,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2142739,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2142739_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    The exponential growth of online social platforms provides an unprecedented source of equal opportunities for accessing expert- and crowd-wisdom, for finding education, employment, and friendships. One key root cause that can deeply impede these experiences is the exposure to implicit social bias. The risk is high, since biases are pernicious and pervasive, and it has been well established that language is a primary means through which stereotypes and prejudice are communicated and perpetuated. This project develops language technologies to detect and intervene in the language of social discrimination—sexist, racist, homophobic microaggressions, condescension, objectification, dehumanizing metaphors, and the like—which can be unconscious and unintentional, but cause prolonged personal and professional harms. The program opens up new research opportunities with implications to natural language processing, machine learning, data science, and computational social science. It develops new Web-scale algorithms to automatically detect implicit and disguised toxicity, as well as hate speech and abusive language online. Technologically, it develops new methods to surface and demote spurious patterns in deep-learning models, and new techniques to interpret deep-learning models, thereby opening new avenues to reliable and interpretable machine learning. Successful completion of the program will pave the ground for a paradigm shift in existing ways for monitoring civility in cyberspace, shielding vulnerable populations from discrimination and aggression, and reducing the mental load of platform moderators. Therefore, this project can benefit and empower a dramatic number of individuals—representatives of disadvantaged groups discriminated by gender, race, age, sexual orientation, ethnicity—who use social media or AI technologies built upon user generated content. Finally, the educational curriculum developed by this program will equip future technologists with theoretical and practical tools for building ethical AI, and will substantially promote diversity, equity and inclusion in STEM education, helping to foster a new, more diverse generation of researchers entering AI.     The overarching goal of this CAREER project is to develop lightly supervised, interpretable machine learning approaches—grounded in social psychology and causal reasoning—to detect implicit social bias in written discourse and narrative text. More specifically, the first phase of the project develops algorithms and models for identifying and explaining gendered microaggressions in short comments on social media, first unsupervisedly, then with active learning, given limited supervision by trained annotators. It provides transformative solutions to making existing overparameterized black-box neural networks more robust and more interpretable. Since microaggressions are often implicit, it also develops approaches to generate explanations to the microaggression detector’s decisions. In the second phase, the project addresses the challenging task of detecting biased framing about members of the LGBTQ community in narrative domains of digital media and develops data analytic tools by operationalizing, across languages, well-established social psychology theories. The expected outcomes of this five-year program include new datasets,  algorithms, and models that provide people-centered text analytics, and pinpoint and explain potentially biased framings, across languages, data domains, and social contexts.    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.",TRUE
2239824,CAREER: Advancing Equity in Selection Problems Through Bias-Aware Optimization,2025-04-25,Massachusetts Institute of Technology,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA07,531915,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",OE Operations Engineering,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239824,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2239824_4900,2023-06-01,2028-05-31,021394301,E2NYLCDML6V1,"This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) grant will contribute to the advancement of national health, prosperity, and welfare by developing systematic approaches to reducing workforce inequality due to implicit bias. Widely used automated applicant screening technologies bring high risk of systematically screening-out STARS (skilled workers trained by alternate routes), while imposing quotas on the selection of candidates from different backgrounds can violate anti-discrimination laws. This award supports the development of fundamental methodologies for transparently handling contextual biases in candidate evaluation data without resorting to quotas or fairness constraints (due to legal requirements). This interdisciplinary research will provide tools for practitioners and policymakers to understand the inefficiencies in the system, leading to a synergistic design of policies for hiring and college admissions. The accompanying educational plan aims to develop STEAM (STEM+art) workshops for high school students to understand biases in data through a “hiring manager” simulation game, a workshop geared towards policy and law professionals, the design of courses in Ethical OR, and the continued mentorship of students with a focus on STEM minorities.    This research will develop fundamental methodologies to model variability in data due to its context, by using counterfactual and causal analysis to construct cardinal and ordinal variability sets for candidates’ evaluation data, yielding bilinear optimization problems and ordinal combinatorial optimization respectively. The research will develop new techniques to address these challenging problem classes using parametric optimization and order theory as a start and find tractable solutions. This work will provide a fundamental shift in how we process contextual data, while advancing the theories of ordinal, robust, parametric, and general discrete optimization. The work will address important policy-design questions related to equity-efficiency trade-offs, e.g., the impact of bias-aware techniques on equity, diversity, and fairness when data is contextual, the impact of changing ""risk"" parameters in the construction of variability sets on candidate selection and highlight ways to use limited resources to reduce variability.    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.",TRUE
2115472,Ingenieros Ingeniosos (Ingenious Engineers): Connecting Latinx Youths' Workplace Practices with Engineering through Out-of-School Time Programs,2025-04-25,Utah State University,LOGAN,UT,UT01,1786397,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115472,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115472_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,843221000,SPE2YDWHDYU4,"Millions of Latinx youth, aged 14 to 18, work formal or informal jobs to provide income for themselves or their families. In the context of these workplaces, Latinx youth demonstrate numerous skills that are essential to industrial engineering, such as minimizing workplace injuries or optimizing processes to maximize efficiency. However, their workplace ingenuity and skills are often underrecognized by educational systems. To counter this lack of recognition, the purpose of this project is to iteratively develop and research an out-of-school engineering program for working Latinx youth. This program is designed to recognize and build from youths’ workplace experiences by connecting them with industrial engineering concepts and practices, such as those used to promote worker safety. This program is also designed for youth to articulate transformational visions of industrial engineering, which expand current goals, values, and methods commonly embraced within this discipline. This year-long program will be facilitated by educators of existing out-of-school programs (e.g., Mathematics, Engineering, and Science Achievement), in partnership with undergraduate mentors from the Society for Professional Hispanic Engineers and other local organizations that serve Latinx youth (e.g., Latinos in Action). Approximately 220 youth are expected to participate in the programming. Researchers will explore whether and how youth participants develop identities in engineering, as well as how the educators and mentors understand and enact assets-based, out-of-school engineering education grounded in youths’ experiences. Researchers will also identify the individual, institutional, and systemic factors that support or inhibit sustained implementation of the program over time in different sites and contexts. This project will result in a set of empirically tested, bilingual program materials that will be disseminated widely to professional organizations dedicated to out-of-school programming and to serving Latinx youth.     This project will result in a localizable, transferable, and sustainable model for an out-of-school time program that recognizes and amplifies Latinx youths’ workplace funds of knowledge and leverages them toward youth-driven visions and applications of engineering. This program, which will connect with other people and sites in youths’ learning ecosystems, is grounded in principles of translanguaging, transformational mentorship, and educational dignity and recognition. In partnership with youth participants, researchers will use a social design experiment to explore the following research questions: What are the engineering identity trajectories of working high school youth, and how do specific moments of identity negotiation and recognition relate to broader patterns across program sessions and identity trajectories for individual participants over time? To answer these questions, a pre-, mid- and post-program Engineering Identity Scale; recordings of program implementations; interviews; and youth artifacts will be analyzed using various methods such as critical multimodal discourse analysis. After implementations of the program across multiple sites, researchers will use design-based implementation research to answer the following questions: How do educators and mentors understand and enact assets-based pedagogies designed to foster recognition across sites? What institutional and systemic features (designed or naturalistic) support or inhibit productive adaptations and implementations of the program? These questions will be answered using constant comparative analyses of data sources such as interviews with the program educators and mentors, observations of program implementations, observations of professional development sessions, and public documents. Culturally responsive, educative evaluation will be used to iteratively improve the program. The resulting research and program materials will be disseminated widely through professional organizations dedicated to Latinx youth, engineering education, and out-of-school learning.    This Innovations in Development project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2319639,Pathways to a Diverse STEM Workforce: GEM Underrepresented Minority Internships in STEM Program,2025-04-25,The National GEM Consortium,ALEXANDRIA,VA,VA08,600000,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Chemistry,Special Initiatives,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2319639,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2319639_4900,2023-10-01,2027-09-30,223143403,X8BEWZU5KHY9,"The Division of Chemistry, the Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental, and Transport Systems, the Division of Physics, and the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation jointly fund this project by the GEM Consortium. The GEM Underrepresented Minority Internships in STEM Program is designed to build a diverse workforce in STEM fields such as chemistry, engineering, and physics, by focusing on connecting underrepresented (e.g., African American, Hispanic American/Latino, and Native American) graduate students to leading industries in the United States (US). The program provides this group of emerging talented graduate students with knowledge, mentoring, professional development, and hands-on training that will allow them to be competitive for leadership positions in these industries.     Specifically, this project will allow the National GEM Consortium (GEM) to implement the GEM Internships in STEM Program by deploying the partnerships that have been developed among GEM, chemistry and other related physical science industries, higher education institutions, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) around mutual goals for increasing the diversity of talent and leadership in the national STEM workforce. This project allows GEM to leverage earlier NSF awards that have supported initial design and implementation of an internship program focused on building pathways to careers in STEM and more recently specifically into chemistry related fields. The project will support 89 graduate students over a three-year period and create better alignment between demand in the workforce and supply of diverse talent.    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.",TRUE
2218544,Collaborative Research: Human Infrastructure for a National Geochronology Consortium: Micro-Funding an Inclusive Community Grassroot Effort to Better Understand the Earth System,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,1827627,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Earth Sciences,FRES-Frontier Rsrch Earth Sci,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218544,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2218544_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project supports the Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems (AGeS-cubed or AGeS3) initiative to: (1) increase access to geochronology data and geochronology expertise to further our understanding of unified Earth systems, (2) implement a platform attracting underrepresented minorities to the geosciences, and (3) test grassroots ideas at a frontier of inclusive and collaborative science. Geochronology data provide the temporal information required for synergistic science spanning the deep Earth to surface processes. Yet National Academy reports have repeatedly highlighted challenges for geochronology data access, technical innovation, and training. This project addresses these needs through a trio of strategic micro-award programs. The mature AGeS-Grad program supports high-impact collaborative science projects between graduate students, labs, and home institution mentors. The prototype AGeS-DiG (Diversity in Geochronology) program funds pilot initiatives to increase access to geochronology for those underrepresented in the Earth sciences. The new AGeS-TRaCE (Training and Community Engagement) program supports community-led efforts to address emerging challenges in geochronology. The micro-awards of this program powers the human infrastructure engine, enabling important scientific advances that may not happen within the silo of more classic grants.    The Advancing Geochronology Science, Spaces, and Systems (AGeS-cubed or AGeS3) project builds on the success and cooperative spirit of the AGeS-Grad subprogram through the launch of micro-grant opportunities to crowd-source solutions for self-identified geochronology needs. The program harnesses expertise and creativity across the Earth sciences by enabling collaborative science and evaluating grassroots community-led solutions to current challenges in geochronology and geosciences more broadly. The project activities propagate a web of new relationships that position the greater geoscience community to make transformative scientific advances on the dynamics and complexity of Earth processes and systems. This project funds over 150 strategic micro-awards across three subprograms to engage hundreds across the Earth sciences in collaborative science, training, review, and governance activities. Still broader engagement and integration will be achieved through annual, virtual, fully open AGeS community meetings, a website that will host project blogs and deliverables, and a formalized governance model that includes steering and review committees with rotating members designed to balance experience with new engagement. Assessment and evaluation activities will provide formative feedback to shape the initiative over its arc. Belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusivity are infused throughout all activities, and outcomes of diverse participation will be sought via inclusive and accessible practices that also promote a sense of connection and belonging in the community.    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.",TRUE
2055426,Collaborative Research: Latinx Families' Talk about Science in Stories with Young Children,2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Cruz,SANTA CRUZ,CA,CA19,778346,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055426,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055426_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,950641077,VXUFPE4MCZH5,"This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. It responds to continuing concerns about racial and social inequities in STEM fields that begin to emerge in the early childhood years. The overarching goal of the project is to identify cultural strengths that support early science learning opportunities among Spanish-speaking children from immigrant Latin American communities, a population that is traditionally underrepresented in STEM educational and career pursuits. Building on a growing interest in the ways stories can promote early engagement in and understanding of science, this project will investigate the role of oral and written stories as culturally relevant and potentially powerful tools for making scientific ideas and inquiry practices meaningful and accessible for young Latinx children. Findings will reveal ways that family storytelling practices can provide accessible entry points for Latinx children's early science learning, and recommend methods that parents and educators can use to foster learning about scientific practices that can, in turn, increase interest and participation in science education and fields.     The project will advance knowledge on the socio-cultural and familial experience of Latinx children that can contribute to their early science learning and skills. The project team will examine the oral story and reading practices of 330 Latinx families with 3- to 5-year-old children recruited from three geographic locations in the United States: New York, Chicago, and San Jose. Combining interviews and observations, the project team will investigate: (1) how conversations about science and nature occur in Latinx children's daily lives, and (2) whether and to what extent narrative and expository books, family personal narratives, and adivinanzas (riddles) engender family conversations about scientific ideas and science practices. Across- and within-site comparisons will allow the project team to consider the immediate ecology and broader factors that shape Latinx families’ science-related views and practices. Although developmental science has long acknowledged that early learning is culturally situated, most research on early STEM is still informed by mainstream experiences that largely exclude the lived experiences of children from groups underrepresented in STEM, especially those who speak languages other than English. The proposed work will advance understanding of stories as cultural resources to support early science engagement and learning among Latinx children and inform the development of high quality, equitable informal and formal science educational opportunities for young children.    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.",FALSE
2315027,Collaborative Research: Energy Efficiency and Energy Justice: Understanding Distributional Impacts of Energy Efficiency and Conservation Programs and the Underlying Mechanisms,2025-04-25,Florida State University,TALLAHASSEE,FL,FL02,425280,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315027,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315027_4900,2023-08-15,2026-07-31,323060001,JF2BLNN4PJC3,"The adoption of energy efficiency technologies and conservation behaviors has the potential to significantly reduce energy demand and improve people's physical and financial well-being. This is particularly important for households facing energy poverty, who may forgo basic needs or engage in risky behaviors to meet their energy needs. U.S. electric utilities currently offer over 900 energy efficiency and conservation programs that aim to reduce household energy consumption and improve living conditions. These programs either provide information to help individuals change their energy consumption habits or offer financial incentives such as rebates and loans to lower the costs of adopting energy-efficient technologies. There is mixed evidence, however, regarding the cost-effectiveness of these programs, as their impacts depend on factors including income levels, rebound effects, and energy consumption behaviors. Unfortunately, many energy efficiency and conservation programs are not effectively reaching disadvantaged communities, and the equity of their impacts is under-studied. There is a need to investigate how these programs can effectively change energy consumption behavior and address instances of energy poverty in households.    This project examines the heterogeneous impacts of multiple energy efficiency and conservation programs and the underlying mechanisms that contribute to inequitable program impacts. This project has three parts: 1) evaluating the heterogeneous impacts of four different energy efficiency and conservation programs using quasi-experimental designs, 2) examining how the heterogeneous impacts are related to multi-dimensional energy poverty, and 3) modeling energy behaviors to uncover the mechanisms behind inequitable program impacts. The data include actual consumption information provide by a Tallahassee energy provider as well as survey and experimental results. This project not only provides a fundamental scientific contribution to uncovering the distributional impacts of energy programs and their underlying mechanisms but also has direct societal benefits by helping develop more effective and better-targeted programs to improve consumers’ financial and physical well-being, particularly in disadvantaged communities.    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.",FALSE
2231959,The Impact of Country of Origin on Group Consciousness in Political Behavior Research,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,79243,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2231959,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2231959_4900,2022-08-15,2025-07-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2). The goal of this project is to gain insights into the political attitudes and behaviors of citizens with different countries of origin. Scholarly knowledge of the effects of country of origin on political opinions, behavior, and policy preferences remains limited, despite the fact that these groupings comprise a sizable portion of the electorate. This project will address this gap and develop an evidence-based understanding of the effect of country of origin on the political behavior of American citizens. Consistent with the mission of NSF, this study will contribute to a more informed and nuanced understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities facing democratic governance and national welfare in the United States in a period of uncertain transformation. In addition to the proposed research, this project will also support a small conference of diverse scholars with areas of expertise related to citizens' country of origin and gender that will include presentations by undergraduate and graduate students. This project will therefore connect scholars from across the country who share research interests and provide students from underrepresented backgrounds with a unique opportunity to gain hands-on research experience.       The proposed research includes interviews and focus groups aimed at providing in-depth insights about Latinx political attitudes and a nationally representative survey of citizens. The resulting data will be used to evaluate how gender and country of origin interactively influence the opinions and political behavior of citizens and shape the scope and nature of group consciousness among American citizens. This project therefore enables the development of an intersectional theoretical approach to study how multiple social identities influence the opinions and political behavior of citizens. This cross-cutting approach allows this project to contribute to a gap in existing research.    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.",FALSE
2347112,Explorations: Engaging Black Community Support to Develop Youth’s Awareness of and Technical Skills for Emerging Computational Careers,2025-04-25,MYVILLAGE PROJECT INC,JACKSONVILLE,FL,FL04,999828,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2347112,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2347112_4900,2024-07-15,2027-02-28,322023356,WCPARNUR28E3,"A strong workforce in emerging technology areas requires diverse participation, especially of populations historically excluded from STEM careers. To accelerate innovation through expanded experiences and viewpoints, and to support equitable economic advancement in high-paying STEM careers, this Explorations project addresses multiple systemic barriers that contribute to the underrepresentation of Black individuals in technology careers. These barriers include Black youth’s limited self-efficacy and belief in future success, the perception that high technology industries are disconnected from Black communities and cultural values, and a lack of Black professional role models.  The project’s partners, including Black-owned industries, non-profit organizations, and workforce development experts, address these barriers by (1) teaching technical skills to Black youth within an inclusive after-school environment, (2) using Black professional role models and mentors to introduce students to emerging technology industries, (3) demonstrating strong Black community support and (4) providing peer support through a cohort experience. The high school students participating in this project will be able to access a wide range of opportunities including certifications and project-based experiences, new connections and networks, and a foundation of technical and entrepreneurial skills allowing them to adapt to changing technology.  As a result, Black youth will gain the skills and awareness needed to enter emerging technology careers.     Signature features of this project include the use of demographically matched professional role models and regional employers, its commitment to engaging youth in 850 hours of career development and technical training in AI, machine learning, digital twinning, data science, spatial computing, and virtual/augmented reality.   Finally, it builds youth’s self-efficacy for career entry via the immersive experience of developing technical products, in a cohort learning model, with support and guidance from community mentors. To determine the success of its experiential learning approach, the project’s evaluation plan will examine changes in youth’s (1) knowledge about, interest in,  sense of belonging and connection with careers in emerging technologies and  perception of emerging technologies as beneficial to their local community; (2) technical skills and sense of self-efficacy in AI, data science, and spatial computing technologies; and (3) entrepreneurial self-efficacy beliefs and the communication, teamwork, and other soft skills needed to work in an innovative, collaborative, and flexible environment. Finally, through its examination of mentor-youth interactions, and the roles played by varied kinds of mentoring (Technical, Career and Tech Trends, and Emotional and Behavioral), the project informs the field of STEM workforce development pedagogy. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2348945,REU Site: Exploring Ancient Communities Through Archaeology,2025-04-25,Crow Canyon Archaeological Center,CORTEZ,CO,CO03,362810,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2348945,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2348945_4900,2024-05-15,2027-04-30,813219408,H323T6LKJHD8,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It has both scientific and societal benefits in addition to integrating research and education. This project actively engages undergraduate students from underrepresented communities across the nation in authentic archaeological research alongside professional mentors within the framework of a long-term research project. Students receive extensive preparation in STEM-based learning objectives necessary for future success within the scientific disciplines. Students gain necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities to secure future employment within the sciences and to pursue advanced degrees, emerging as the next generations of professionals, tribal historic preservation officers, educators, and leaders. Students will: 1) Design and conduct empirically derived research; 2) Develop critical thinking skills; 3) Gain skills in excavation and survey methods and laboratory analyses; and 4) Learn and adhere to U.S. archaeological laws and ethics. Inferences generated about past human behaviors are generated to create a more robust understanding of the principles that govern culture change worldwide, address issues relevant to today’s societies, and provide critical information to guide future policy making.      Through this project, the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center addresses broader anthropological research questions concerning human-environment interactions, the development of inequality/equality, the political role of community centers, and identity formation/dissolution. Its results have national and global impacts. Archaeology, more than any other scientific discipline, is best suited to study how humans engage with environmental and societal change, lending insights to modern-day issues that continue to resonate with populations across the world. By engaging in scientific research focused on broader anthropological questions, REU students advance and share knowledge of the human past and contribute to cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary research surrounding human actions in the past, present, and future.    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.",FALSE
2343235,Collaborative Research: AGEP ACA: An HSI R2 Strategic Collaboration to Improve Advancement of Hispanic Students Into the Professoriate,2025-04-25,Texas A&M University Corpus Christi,CORPUS CHRISTI,TX,TX27,278818,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343235,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343235_4900,2024-03-01,2026-02-28,784125739,Y3RET2XN41S5,"This NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance project addresses the important question of how to advance the role and increase the presence of members of traditionally underrepresented groups in STEM faculty positions. The particular focus of this project is to explore such challenges in the context of the often overlooked role played by institutions ranked Doctoral Universities – High research activity (R2) with strong research programs and holding a minority-serving status. Composed of researchers and leaders from two Hispanic Serving R2 Institutions: Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (TAMU-CC) and New Mexico State University (NMSU), this NSF AGEP Catalyst Alliance team is using their expertise in promoting diversity to expand knowledge about the shared and specific challenges facing doctoral students and early career faculty in STEM field and building best practices to catalyze equitable and inclusive institutional transformation.    The specific goals of the 2-year project are to identify the inequities in these institutions that prevent the advancement and success of faculty members from traditionally underrepresented groups and to establish a strategic alliance aimed at increasing the number of Hispanic and Native American faculty in STEM disciplines. This will be accomplished through a collection of coordinated efforts, inclusive of engagement of institutional leadership, collection and analysis of present and historical data, and development and deployment of pilot equity strategies. The project will culminate with the development of a comprehensive 5-year equity strategic plan to guide the foundation of a strong alliance working towards collective impact.    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.",TRUE
2417821,Social Norms and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Knitwear Factories,2025-04-25,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,62722,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417821,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417821_4900,2024-08-01,2025-07-31,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"In some settings, firms do not adopt productivity-enhancing managerial practices, and hence are less productive than firms with different practices. This award funds research that explores one factor that may explain why firms do not adopt certain communications-related management practices---local social norms around communication between members of social groups with different social status. The research suggests that in some societies, high-status individuals are unwilling to learn from low-status individuals, even if doing so improves their work performance. The researchers test this theory on workers in six knitwear firms using two well-designed field experiments. The research will improve our understanding of possible barriers to productivity growth and career advancement of low-social status workers. The results of this research will contribute to the development of policies to increase the adoption of new technologies, improve productivity, economic growth and the well-being of people in low-income settings. The research results will also provide important inputs into US foreign aid policy formulation and implementation.      This award funds a research project that investigates why firms in developing countries do not endogenously implement productivity-enhancing management practices. The PI hypothesizes that some social norms, such as norms around communication between high- and low-status individuals, hinder the adoption of productivity enhancing management practices. The researchers will use two field experiments to test this hypothesis in six knitwear factories. The first is an incentivized survey experiment to examine workers’ willingness to participate in teaching sessions with workers of the same versus the opposite social status (anonymous instructors is the control group). The second is a field experiment in which the researchers inject information about productivity-enhancing practices into the firm through selected men and women and study how gender affects information diffusion across workers and quantify the downstream effects on untrained workers’ productivity. The results of this research will advance generalizable knowledge about social relationships and productivity, as well as contribute to the adoption of new technologies, and improve productivity, economic growth and the well-being of people in low-income countries.    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.",FALSE
2055735,A Collaborative Approach to Work-Based Learning in Biotechnology: Building Inclusive Lab Environments,2025-04-25,University of California-San Francisco,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,262964,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Advanced Tech Education Prog,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055735,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055735_4900,2021-05-15,2025-06-30,941034249,KMH5K9V7S518,"There is a renewed sense of urgency to develop a more diverse workforce in STEM-related fields. This project focuses on community college students from groups that are not yet equitably represented in STEM.  These communities have also been disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  Most workforce interventions to prepare students for technical positions have been based on the premise that the students simply need targeted skill training and tips on behavioral norms to be successful in these workplace cultures. This “student deficit” model puts the burden on the newcomer to navigate a work environment that is often inherently biased against people of color, women, and individuals from groups that are underrepresented in the sciences. However, as leading-edge organizations are recognizing the value of diversity, they are also realizing that they have a role to play in establishing an inclusive workplace culture. This project aims to foster the professional development of students, faculty, industry managers, and academic researchers in inclusive workplace practices.  The project expects that these practices can seed true cultural change and prepare a more diverse, inclusive, and productive United States biotechnology workforce.    This project at City College of San Francisco is a collaboration with the Office of Career and Professional Development at the University of California, San Francisco.  Its overall goal is to build more inclusive workplace environments for community college students pursuing biotechnology education and careers. The project plans to address issues of diversity in the scientific workforce by 1) teaching industry managers and academic researchers practical ways to supervise, mentor and train future scientists inclusively and effectively, and 2) helping community college students and their instructors navigate the scientific workplace to identify inclusive workplaces and navigate barriers to inclusivity. It builds on prior work that has led to the development of a published framework for inclusive workplace practices in research laboratories, a comprehensive inclusive academic mentor and intern training, and a guided internship program that includes formative assessments and coaching. In collaboration with the California Life Sciences Institute, an organization representing hundreds of biotechnology companies, the project will invest significant resources in developing new frameworks, tools, and curriculum tailored to the needs of the biotechnology industry. Additionally, the project seeks to disseminate the trainings to other community colleges and academic research institutions. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy.     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.",FALSE
2101324,Collaborative Research: Understanding STEM Teaching through Integrated Contexts in Everyday Life,2025-04-25,La Salle University,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,325502,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101324,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101324_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,191411199,NDCFZK2BEQY9,"Increased focus on school accountability and teacher performance measures have resulted in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction that emphasizes content and procedural knowledge over critical thinking and real-world applications. Yet, critical thinking and application are essential in developing functional scientific literacy skills among students.  This need is perhaps most pressing in economically depressed urban settings. One strategy to promote STEM engagement and learning is to make clear and meaningful connections between STEM concepts, principles, and STEM-related issues relevant to the learner. Socioscientific issues (SSI) can provide a powerful avenue for promoting the desired kinds of engagement.  SSI are debatable and ill-defined problems that have a basis in science but necessarily include moral and ethical choices. SSI for economically disadvantaged, culturally diverse students in urban settings might include, for example, lead paint contamination, poor water or air quality, or the existence of “food deserts.” By integrating locally relevant SSI with the goals of social justice, the Social Justice STEM Pedagogies (SJSP) framework the project uses is intended to support students to use their scientific expertise to be agents of change. SJSP can be potentially transformative for teachers, students, schools, and the communities in which students live. For SJSP to effectively promote STEM learning, however, teachers must learn how to integrate STEM-concepts and practices into the various real-world SSI present in their students’ environment. This collaborative project is designed to implement and evaluate a comprehensive professional development plan for grades 7 –12 STEM teachers from economically disadvantaged school districts in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Teachers will develop ways to incorporate SSI into their instruction that are grounded in standards to foster students’ STEM engagement.  The instructional practices enacted by teachers will enhance students’ STEM literacy while utilizing their own knowledge and culture in solving complex and ethically challenging STEM issues, thus promoting students’ abilities to be change agents.    This collaborative research project involves Arcadia University, Mercyhurst University, LaSalle University, Villanova University, and St. Joseph’s University. It is designed to investigate the effectiveness of a professional development (PD) program for STEM teachers to develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teaching SSI and SJSP. Over four years, three cohorts of 25 grades 7-12 teachers will participate in about 200 hours of PD. The SSI and SJSP encompass authentic, complex real-world, STEM-based issues that are directly related to the inequities experienced by students and their communities that students can engage with in the classroom through the use of inquiry-based learning strategies. By promoting students’ engagement in and awareness of the relevance of STEM in everyday life, teacher participants in this PD will foster STEM learning, especially among students who have been historically marginalized from STEM disciplines, and who are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The research plan is designed to reveal elements of the PD program that are most effective in supporting teachers’ increased capacity to design and implement units of study that incorporate scientific, social, and discursive elements of SSI. Using predominantly qualitative methods, other outcomes include how teachers’ PCK change towards teaching with SSI/SJSP; what factors support and inhibit teacher’s abilities to promote SSI/SJSP; and how justice-centered STEM lessons help students to develop moral and ethical reasoning, scientific skepticism, STEM inquiry/modeling, and SSI discourse/argumentation.      The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM subjects by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2305599,Collaborative Research: ADVANCE PARTNERSHIP: STEM Intersectional Equity in Departments (SIEDS): A Partnership for Inclusive Work Cultures,2025-04-25,Wayne State University,DETROIT,MI,MI13,150670,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305599,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305599_4900,2023-10-15,2028-09-30,482023692,M6K6NTJ2MNE5,"The STEM Intersectional Equity in Departments (SIEDS) project brings three universities, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, and Wayne State University into a partnership to develop, implement, and assess a Toolkit for Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Departmental Culture. The research literature indicates that all faculty thrive when they work in environments that support the “whole person.” The toolkit will help department leaders create and sustain positive departmental environments that lead to success for all faculty.  The project will empower department leaders so that they can, create assessments that credit faculty for their work in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) (Inclusive Assessment), promote a “whole person” approach to recognizing and supporting faculty needs (Support across the Faculty Lifecycle), and cultivate future leaders with DEIJ-focused skills and strategies (Diversifying Leadership).    The SIEDS toolkit will 1) identify and address biases during promotion, tenure, and other evaluation processes to create inclusive assessment; 2) recognize the ways that work- and life- tasks interact to build healthy department cultures; 3) expand conceptualizations and measurements of hidden and low-promotable work tasks to increase the recognition and valuing of these time-consuming tasks; and 4) create materials to support leadership development. The toolkit and lessons learned will be shared at the Great Lakes Consortium Convening annually. In project year four, the toolkit is expected to be adapted by the consortium members, reaching all the R1 and R2 universities in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. This adaptation will be evaluated in the final year of the project, which will help improve the toolkit for other institutions and identify implementation issues that may need to be addressed.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",FALSE
2128991,FW-HTF-R:  Collaborative Research: Virtual Meeting Support for Enhanced Well-Being and Equity for Game Developers,2025-04-25,University of Wisconsin-Whitewater,WHITEWATER,WI,WI01,39013,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,FW-HTF Futr Wrk Hum-Tech Frntr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128991,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2128991_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,531901705,M73MZJWBNZN5,"The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote work, highlighting barriers to well-being, equity, and inclusion. Virtual meeting fatigue, the exhaustion that occurs after long periods of videoconferencing, has been identified as especially harmful to women and people of color, compounding common face-to-face inequities like unequal talking time and interruptions in meetings. To develop more inclusive and equitable remote workspaces, this research asks: How can future virtual meeting platforms better support well-being and social equity? To address this question, the project focuses on a uniquely appropriate group: video game developers, who rely heavily on virtual meetings within teams with varied expertise (i.e., design, programming, and art), represent an estimated $160 billion industry (over $40 billion domestic), and grapple with issues of social equity in the workplace. The interdisciplinary research is using insights from these workers to identify general best practices for virtual meetings among diverse teams to minimize fatigue and improve well-being, equity, and inclusion.     The project uses a mixed-methodological approach to pinpoint and test virtual meeting-platform features that influence user welfare. Study 1 utilizes natural language processing of social media to develop a broad, inductive understanding of how virtual meeting elements relate to well-being and social equity. Study 2 utilizes a survey of remote workers in an exploratory analysis of how virtual meeting features statistically relate to user welfare. Study 3 uses targeted interviews to qualitatively interpret broader insights about virtual meetings within the context of video game developers. Study 4 uses an online experiment to test hypotheses about which specific virtual meeting features enhance video game-developer welfare. Study 5 prototypes and user tests a virtual reality meeting platform with game development teams to confirm which design features promote well-being and social equity. A public “Guide to Virtual Meetings for Well-Being and Equity” is being developed based on insights from these studies.    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.",FALSE
2417878,Collaborative Research: A Multi-faceted Analysis of Small Business Lending Dynamics,2025-04-25,CUNY City College,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,243419,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417878,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417878_4900,2024-08-15,2027-07-31,100319101,L952KGDMSLV5,"Small businesses form the backbone of the U.S. economy, yet significant disparities exist in access to capital and entrepreneurial opportunities for various demographic groups. This project seeks to advance national prosperity and welfare by dismantling systemic obstacles that prevent equitable participation in entrepreneurial activities. By developing novel research tools to examine underlying market frictions and facilitate inclusive funding opportunities, the project holds promise for empowering underserved communities, unlocking untapped economic potential, and creating a more level playing field for all aspiring entrepreneurs nationwide.     The project establishes two interconnected research infrastructures with a cross-country scope: (1) The Small Business Lender Preference and Perception (SBLPP) database, consolidating survey data on nearly 9,300 U.S. community banks and credit unions regarding their lending preferences, market perceptions, and institutional strengths and (2) FundMatch, an online platform using SBLPP data to match entrepreneurs with lenders aligned to their financing needs and preferences, reducing search frictions. FundMatch enables field experiments identifying and addressing demand-side barriers like borrower discouragement. This researcher-entrepreneur-lender nexus yields actionable insights to foster inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems and drive equitable economic development across regions.    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.",FALSE
2243018,"AGEP FC-PAM: The University of Texas System Alliance: An Inclusive Model of Mentoring, Sponsorship, and Systemic Change for Diversity in STEM Faculty Career Paths",2025-04-25,University of Texas at El Paso,EL PASO,TX,TX16,245140,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243018,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243018_4900,2023-08-15,2028-07-31,799688900,C1DEGMMKC7W7,"The AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FC-PAM) “The University of Texas System Alliance” (UT System Alliance) promotes equity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education. The goal of the AGEP UT System Alliance is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a University of Texas System AGEP career pathway model that provides (1) systemic change around policies and procedures for recruitment and hiring of, and (2) collaborative mentoring and sponsorship for the success of Black and African American, Latine and Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander STEM doctoral candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty members at the University of Texas campuses at Arlington, Austin, Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio. The AGEP UT System Alliance provides inclusive mentoring and sponsorship for AGEP UT System Alliance participants around tools for success, and it promotes changes in culture and policy at each Alliance institution to create an ecosystem supportive of the professional development. Alliance activities are addressing non-inclusive practices and creating welcoming spaces for members of these groups as they ascend to careers in academia. The Alliance is working to improve the understanding of intersecting identities around ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, economic background, first generation status, faculty role and discipline, and family and community roles, as intersectional identities inform professional development activities for doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members, as well as professional development for university leaders as part of systemic change strategies. The AGEP UT System Alliance is also adopting faculty hiring best practices for early career faculty hiring policies and practices.     Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty members, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FC-PAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FC-PAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FC-PAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.     The Alliance has internal and external advisory boards with members who routinely review the AGEP UT System Alliance’s progress and strategize on future steps. An internal evaluator is leading the project’s self-study and formative assessment of the development and implementation of effective programming, institutional integration, and impacts. An external evaluator is providing summative assessment using a theory-based framework to assess the effectiveness of the AGEP UT System Alliance in recruiting, supporting, and retaining STEM doctoral candidates, postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty members; the Alliance’s creation of career and  academic pathways; and the project’s impact on institutional integration for sustainability. The AGEP UT System Alliance team is disseminating the AGEP FC-PAM Model and project results through peer-reviewed and professional publications, an AGEP UT System Alliance website, and presentations at scientific and professional meetings.    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.",TRUE
2224571,Collaborative Research: Building Racial Equity in Marine Science,2025-04-25,BLACK IN MARINE SCIENCE,SPOKANE,WA,WA05,1039378,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224571,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224571_4900,2023-08-15,2028-07-31,992010580,SM8RSLFHWRC5,"Ocean science is one of the least diverse sciences in the United States. Yet the complex and pressing issues facing the ocean and the needs of ocean-dependent communities require an ocean-literate society with diverse expertise, racial identities, and experiences. This project combines the strengths of two entities, Hampton University and Black in Marine Science, to increase the participation of Black people in marine science related fields and create a sense of belonging through culturally responsive and justice-centered programming. This project is designed to boost ocean literacy and research within Black and other marginalized communities and equip people with tools to solve problems in their changing environment. The project will (1) attract high school students of color into marine science related fields, (2) engage undergraduates through a culturally relevant curriculum, (3) support undergraduates and graduates develop professional skills and build their identity as scientists, (4) prepare undergraduates for marine science-related and STEM careers, and (5) introduce both high school students and undergraduates to research. All activities will be implemented using equitable STEM teaching tools (cultural pedagogies, multi-generational learning, supporting diverse sense-making, centering racial justice, meaningful phenomena, and place-based learning).    This project aims to answer the overarching research question: How does participation in the designed project activities improve outcomes and increase racial equity for Black people? The research team will collect data on the experiences and impacts on participants to understand how different aspects of the project affect their knowledge of and sense of belonging in marine sciences. The internal and external evaluation of the project will utilize a culturally responsive and equity-focused approach, mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) data collection strategies, and apply an educative and values-engaged lens. These methods will provide richer data, allow for better data triangulation, higher multicultural validity, and produce more nuanced evaluation results. The broader impacts of this project include scientific publications with key findings from the evaluations, conference, and community presentations to highlight the strength and weaknesses of the programming, curriculum accessible to teachers and lastly, data on attraction, retention, and sense of belonging of participants.    This project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports projects that promote racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Awarded projects center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism in STEM fields. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation’s diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations.    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.",FALSE
2122367,Development of a culturally relevant pedagogical framework for computer science and computational thinking in high schools,2025-04-25,Kutztown University,KUTZTOWN,PA,PA04,484199,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122367,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122367_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,195309335,JGVSJXZ5B6D4,"This project will develop and measure the efficacy of a Culturally Relevant Pedagogical Framework for Computer Science and Computational Thinking (CRPF-CSCT). Students from groups underrepresented in computer science (CS) will provide input and participate in developing the framework. The development team will consist of six students, six high school teachers (CS and non-CS), and five research team members. The framework will be designed over a year and guided by collaborative dialogues, a form of structured discussion where participants work together to identify and develop positive change.  Once completed, the framework is intended for use in computer science courses to improve retention. Teachers in other subjects can also use the framework to introduce high school students to computational thinking (CT) across the curriculum. The framework will be designed to encourage inclusivity and collaboration, making the classroom experience more welcoming for all.    The researchers will use mixed methods to identify how key challenges and barriers to studying CS are perceived and experienced by students from underrepresented groups in CS. The project team will develop an instrument to quantitatively measure perceptions and attitudes toward computer science in high school students. The team will also develop specific approaches to improve the teaching and learning of CS and CT for all students. External evaluation will ensure that all project goals are achieved, and student voices remain central to the process. Results from the project directly address issues of broadening participation in computing through early and ongoing involvement by students from underrepresented groups and through the development of the framework itself. The research is intended to provide a more welcoming environment in computer science for girls, underrepresented students of color, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, at a young age as they are first beginning to consider career options seriously.    This project is funded by the CS for All: Research and RPPs program.    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.",FALSE
2520318,Collaborative Research: Roots and Wings: Developing Informal Learning Resources in Engineering with Black Families,2025-04-25,Cornell University,ITHACA,NY,NY19,1068770,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2520318,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2520318_4900,2025-04-01,2028-08-31,148502820,G56PUALJ3KT5,"This project will broaden participation in engineering by developing learning resources through which Black families have opportunities to engage in engineering practices and to see themselves as part of the engineering community.  The research team will co-develop informal learning resources with Black families in which children, ages six to ten, have opportunities to engage in biological, civil, computer, electrical, environmental, and mechanical engineering activities at home. Caregivers will support their children through engineering practices such as empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing, while also educating them about Black engineers and scientists who made significant advancements within each field. Research will explore whether and how the identity-affirming informal learning resources fostered the children’s engineering identities and interest. The resulting deliverables include video workshops for caregivers, to support them in using the resources, as well as a suite of easy-to-use engineering activities that will be disseminated via national homeschool networks, through public media, through high-traffic repositories with engineering lesson plans, and through professional networks of science and engineering educators.     Research will explore how identity-affirming engineering educational resources impact children’s engineering identities and interests.  To investigate whether and how these resources contribute to shifts in children’s engineering identities and interests, the research team will conduct a mixed-method study in which they generate and analyze the following data sources: pre- and post-engagement surveys with the caregivers; video-recordings of caregiver-child interactions as they engage with the informal learning resources; interviews with children and caregivers; caregiver reflective journals; and artifacts produced by the families, such as children’s sketches. The results from these analyses will provide insights into how informal educators can design at-home learning resources that build children’s interests in engineering pathways, as well as how families can use identity-affirming interactions in engineering to spark their children’s interest in this field. Findings will be disseminated widely via professional conferences, networks, and journals in educational research. Ultimately, this project is likely to broaden participation in engineering among Black people who remain underrepresented in engineering pathways and careers. This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of STEM learning in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2415399,Collaborative Research: From Stories to Solutions: Engaging Latinx Families as Design Partners to Advance Equitable Informal Engineering Learning Opportunities for Young Children,2025-04-25,Chicago Children's Museum,CHICAGO,IL,IL05,787042,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415399,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415399_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,606113580,ZJV1AL1FPMR9,"Many point to the potentially transformative role early engineering education can play in broadening participation in STEM among individuals from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Moreover, this idea has driven the dramatic expansion of tinkering and making spaces and programs that provide engineering learning opportunities for children and their families in the early years. To fully unlock the promise of these kinds of early learning opportunities for advancing equity in engineering, however, it is necessary to do more than increase access. This project addresses the further need to understand how to design these engineering activities and programs to connect with and build upon cultural and familial strengths and practices for supporting children's learning. The project takes as a starting point that many families, and particularly those from cultural communities with rich oral storytelling traditions such as families of Latin American heritages, rely frequently on oral storytelling to communicate knowledge to young children. The project focuses on how Latinx families' everyday practices around engineering and oral storytelling can form the basis for the design of new engineering learning opportunities that recognize and value the assets of individuals and communities. An emphasis on why and how oral storytelling can underpin promising engineering educational practices is in keeping with efforts to engage cultural and familial resources for STEM learning, as well as work in developmental psychology and learning sciences demonstrating that oral stories offer powerful mechanisms for constructing knowledge and making memorable learning. Sharing stories in the context of engineering activities may also foster a sense of belonging, for example, by highlighting the human side of engineering and how it can help others and make things better.    The project reflects a collaboration among community leaders at Palenque LSNA, educators at Chicago Children’s Museum (CCM), and researchers at Loyola University Chicago. With a community-engaged process and design-based research methods, 90 Latinx caregivers and their 5- to 8-year-old children will participate as design partners to create playful, hands-on early engineering activities that are relatable and meaningful. Palenque and CCM facilitators will explore strategies for centering oral storytelling as a potentially powerful tool for empowering family design partners. In turn, the resulting activities from the co-design sessions will form community-based informal engineering programs offered to more than 100 community members annually, and during summertime family programming at the museum when the number of visitors can exceed 200 per day. In the community- and museum-based programs, the project will research whether and to what extent the co-designed programs impact family engineering learning in community- and museum-based settings. Additionally, the project will identify practices for effectively sharing the co-design process and first-person voices of family co-design partners, and study how doing so might impact the engineering engagement and stories of connection and belonging expressed by other families participating in the programs. The project will yield a design narrative and a toolkit of resources reflecting what is learned about co-creating engineering learning opportunities for and with community members in ways that reflect families' cultural resources and everyday practices. The project will also contribute practices that support other families in community- and museum-based programs to connect their own stories to hands-on engineering activities in ways that can advance engineering engagement and expressions of belonging. The work will provide robust training and professional development opportunities across the three-way institutional partnership. Practice resources and other products of the work will be created collaboratively and disseminated broadly with contributions of all involved acknowledged. This Integrating Research and Practice collaborative project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2417752,Collaborative Research: Texas Alliance for Research on Sociological Issues,2025-04-25,University of Texas at El Paso,EL PASO,TX,TX16,136402,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417752,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417752_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,799688900,C1DEGMMKC7W7,"HSIs are substantially underfunded compared to other institutions of higher education due to relatively low endowment revenue and tuition fees. Chronic underfunding leads to infrastructural and technological disparities that disadvantage students as they pursue advanced educational and professional opportunities. This project creates an alliance between four Texas HSIs to improve institutional competitiveness  through: 1) research focused on and directly relevant to creating opportunities across demographic and socio-economic groups; 2) the establishment of physical lab spaces with state-of-the-art computing resources and statistical analysis software; 3) the creation of a virtual lab across all four campuses to facilitate student and faculty mentorship and collaboration; and 4) preparation of students from HSIs to enter graduate programs.     The project brings students and faculty together from R1, R2, and M1 classified HSIs to conduct research relevant to creating opportunities across all demographics and socio-economic groups through two interconnected studies. Applying multi-method comparative designs, these studies will advance a deeper understanding of attitudes, experiences, attitudes on immigration, and other thematic areas to address core questions on inequality and opportunity. The creation of physical and virtual lab spaces for these studies will foster equal participation in scientific innovation at each of the collaborating universities by allocating infrastructural resources in proportion to need. These labs will facilitate the development of research and the dissemination of important findings through yearly mini-conferences showcasing student and faculty work, academic publications targeting traditional disciplinary outlets, and white papers designed to make the research accessible to the general public. Collectively, the alliance of four universities will address four objectives: (1) the theoretical and methodological development of sociological research, (2) promoting research opportunities for students and faculty at under-resourced HSIs, (3) conducting meaningful research on critical sociological issues important to the Texas and national social context, and (4) creating a pipeline for students from HSIs into scientific training and doctoral graduate programs.    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.",FALSE
2116799,"Renewable energy, mining, and extraction governance",2025-04-25,University of Kentucky Research Foundation,LEXINGTON,KY,KY06,347149,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cultural Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116799,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116799_4900,2021-08-15,2025-06-30,405260001,H1HYA8Z1NTM5,"This project is jointly funded by Cultural Anthropology and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This project compares how solar energy and conventional mining projects are governed to determine the opportunities and challenges of a renewable energy transition. Using collaborative research methods that involve local communities in the design and conduct of the research, the project will examine to what extent large-scale renewable energy projects draw upon the same economic and governance strategies as conventional extraction. The research team will document the legal, bureaucratic, and economic frameworks for developing and operating large-scale projects in rural areas. Conventional extraction projects have historically deepened the economic and political marginalization of many rural zones, which experience high rates of poverty while shouldering the environmental and economic costs of extraction. If renewable energy projects draw on the same mechanisms for expropriating resources as mining, then strategies for just energy transition should focus on more than reducing carbon emissions and include socio-economic and political measures to address the systemic marginalization of rural areas. Research results will be shared in the communities participating in the research, through national and international policy venues addressing a renewable energy transition, including among U.S. civic groups, communities, and policymakers engaged in rural energy and economic transition work. Other broader impacts include collaborative analysis training workshops on civic engagement and extraction, which will broaden participation in science to underrepresented populations in Central Appalachia.     This ethnographic and documentary research initiative will engage civic organizations and rural communities in collecting data about the laws, procedures, and practices that facilitate large-scale solar and mining projects. The project team will produce outreach materials on these governance practices as the basis for field-based, qualitative research on strategies state and corporate actors use to manage these projects. The research will also establish the commonalities and differences in how residents engage with renewable energy and conventional extraction to make claims for services, policies, or representation related to and extending beyond specific projects. This project will advance anthropological theories of extraction as an expression of governance practices, not only the material resource being extracted, and will relate those theories to agrarian studies of the challenges facing rural areas and the social science of renewable energy transitions.    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.",FALSE
2034824,Breaking Barriers to Participation: A Cultural Approach to Increasing Native Hawaiian Representation in Engineering,2025-04-25,University of Hawaii,HONOLULU,HI,HI01,641379,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2034824,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2034824_4900,2021-04-15,2025-10-31,968222247,NSCKLFSSABF2,"Enhancing diversity can lead to success, not only for minorities, but for everyone. Multicultural experiences can make people more creative, and diverse groups are more likely to think deeply and achieve higher quality outcomes compared to homogenous groups. In universities and in the workplace, embracing the talents and experiences of people from diverse backgrounds will be beneficial for society more broadly. Yet certain groups are underrepresented in universities and in particular fields. Specifically, Native Hawaiians are one of the most underrepresented groups in the engineering workforce and also in engineering programs at four-year institutions. As the primary public institution in Hawai‘i, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa serves a central role in engaging Native Hawaiians in engineering programs. Native Hawaiian engineering graduates will have numerous benefits in their future careers (including higher wages) and can have various opportunities to contribute to their local communities. In this light, it is presently important to use evidence-based approaches and seamlessly adapt preexisting practices in engineering education for supporting more Native Hawaiian students. This project will increase the participation of Native Hawaiians in engineering, with implementation via educational and mentoring initiatives and specific focus on outcomes at the graduate level. Broadening the participation of Native Hawaiians in university engineering programs will benefit the Native Hawaiian community while also strengthening the U.S. engineering workforce as a whole.     To support Native Hawaiian students’ retention in engineering programs and pursuit of graduate degrees, we aim to provide key resources and support first at the undergraduate level. Specifically, this project will: 1) identify potential culture-specific barriers for entering graduate engineering programs through a cultural psychological approach; 2) develop course materials originating from Native Hawaiian culture for a more culturally aligned engineering education; and 3) establish multi-disciplinary programs for professional development and cohesive mentoring based on students’ academic and personal needs. This project will develop culture-based pedagogical tools consistent with Native Hawaiian ways of learning and integrate them within the engineering curriculum. In addition, we will establish professional development and mentoring programs to create an environment that fosters Native Hawaiians’ educational aspirations and stimulates Native Hawaiians to thrive in their future engineering careers. We expect that our evidence-based approach, combined with concrete educational and mentoring initiatives, will increase Native Hawaiian students’ sense of belonging, academic performance in engineering, and interest in engineering graduate program enrollment. By increasing inclusion of Native Hawaiians, the culture of engineering programs at UHM will be transformed to enable greater diversity. The broad participation of Native Hawaiians in engineering graduate programs will further enhance diversity in a wide range of engineering job sectors. Furthermore, Native Hawaiian individuals with strong engineering backgrounds will be able to play a much-needed role in bridging a gap between policy makers and the local Native Hawaiian community to understand unique cultures and perspectives on each side. Findings and outcomes from this project have high potential to benefit others, who are underrepresented in STEM including, but not limited to, Other Pacific Islanders, Alaska Native and Native American individuals.    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.",FALSE
2115429,A Model of Generalized Ingroup Recognition Advantage,2025-04-25,University of California-Riverside,RIVERSIDE,CA,CA39,431338,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115429,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115429_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,925210001,MR5QC5FCAVH5,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    People often have worse recognition memory for individuals who are not (versus are) in their racial group. This well-known cross-race effect can lead to racial disparities. As one example, in the US criminal justice system nearly a third of wrongful convictions that later are overturned were based on errors made in cross-race identification. The cross-race effect would seem to be specific to faces: A glance at a face quickly reveals information about race, gender, age, and other social categories. Yet many objects beyond a face, or even beyond a person, may signal group membership and cause a recognition bias. This research investigates the possibility that the ingroup recognition advantage exemplified by the cross-race effect is a general recognition bias. This research has the potential to transform our theoretical understanding of social influences on perception and cognition, including the basic psychological mechanisms that contribute to racial disparities.     This project builds upon research in social psychology, developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and vision science to develop a comprehensive model of ingroup recognition and examine its social impact. The project is organized around three sets of experiments, all using a basic paradigm in which participants complete a learning task followed by a recognition task. The first set of experiments aims to differentiate two causes of an ingroup recognition advantage: People may better recognize information relevant to their own group because (1) they have more lifetime experiences with their group and thus have perceptual expertise, and/or (2) they are more interested and motivated to attend to their own group. Each cause can be tested with experiments in which participants form new groups and are exposed to objects with which they have no prior experience but are related to their group or another group. A second set of experiments examines whether an ingroup recognition advantage occurs to the same extent for different groups to which one belongs, and a third set examines how the generalized ingroup recognition advantage can lead to stereotypic judgments of others. Under conditions of tight experimental control, this research tests a novel model that accounts for: (1) the mechanisms and boundary conditions of ingroup recognition; (2) the qualitative nature of the cognitive processes underlying the generalized ingroup recognition advantage; and (3) the implications of the generalized ingroup recognition advantage. The interdisciplinary and integrative nature of this research has implications that are relevant to social psychologists, policymakers, legal scholars, law enforcement, and the general public, and it can inform interventions to reduce stereotyped judgments. The project also provides specialized training to students at a minority-serving institution (MSI) that ranks highly in terms of diversity, social mobility, and graduation rates.    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.",FALSE
2306658,Broadening Participation Research Project: Investigating the Efficacy of Data Science for Environmental Justice based PBL Modules for Improving Diversity in Environmental Science,2025-04-25,North Carolina Central University,DURHAM,NC,NC04,349112,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306658,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306658_4900,2023-08-01,2026-07-31,277073129,L1DXXP1KGP77,"The Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) provides support to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs. This project at North Carolina Central University (NC Central) is a collaborative project between computer science and environmental science faculty at NC Central, social science researchers at Cynosure Consulting, and geography and biology faculty at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. This project aligns with the goals of HBCU-UP in its effort to provide support for research that seeks to create and study new theory-driven models and innovations related to the participation and success of underrepresented groups in STEM undergraduate education. The project at NC Central will conduct research on the impact of introducing social justice-based environmental science project-based learning (PBL) modules on student interest in environmental science and the declaration of majors.     The goal of this project is to increase the participation in environmental science, one of the least diverse STEM fields, among students from historically marginalized communities.  The project innovation will be incorporated within an existing gateway course at NC Central University (ENSC 1000: Introduction to Sustainable Planet) by introducing data science for environmental justice project-based learning (DSEJ-PBL) modules. This project will study whether and how the innovation increases interest in environmental science using a mixed-methods approach to measure the efficacy of the innovation and its impacts on participants, and to provide insight into how the innovation produces changes in student beliefs, choices, and actions. The website that will be created through this project will host a repository of detailed DSEJ-PBL modules and associated tutorials and instructor materials. The research results from this project will be disseminated to the STEM and Education academic communities through presentations at seminars and conferences and publications in journals.    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.",TRUE
2115781,Collaborative Research: Establishing a Network and Framework for Informal STEM Education for Youth in Native Communities,2025-04-25,University of Minnesota Duluth,DULUTH,MN,MN08,225533,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115781,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115781_4900,2022-04-15,2027-03-31,558123011,LPCTM8BS8NF3,"Centering Native Traditional Knowledge within informal STEM education programs is critical for learning for Native youth. In co-created, place-based learning experiences for Native youth, interweaving cultural traditions, arts, language, and community partnerships is vital for authentic, meaningful learning. Standardized STEM curricula and Western-based pedagogies within the mainstream and formal education systems do not reflect the nature of Native STEM knowledge, nor do they make deep connections to it. The absence of this knowledge base can reinforce a deficit-based STEM identity, which can directly impact Native youths’ participation and engagement in STEM. Reframing STEM education for Native youth to prioritize the vitality of community and sustainability requires active consideration of what counts as science learning and who serves as holders and conduits of STEM knowledge. As highly regarded holders of traditional and western STEM knowledge, Native educators and cultural practitioners are critical for facilitating Native youths’ curiosity and engagement with STEM. This Innovations in Development project is Native-led and centers Native knowledge, voice, and contributions in STEM through a culturally based, dual-learning approach that emphasizes traditional and western STEM knowledge. Through this lens, a network of over a dozen tribal nations across 20 U.S. states will be established to support and facilitate the learning of Traditional and Western STEM knowledge in a culturally sustaining manner. The network will build on existing programs and develop a set of unique, interconnected, and synchronized placed-based informal STEM programs for Native youth reflecting the distinctive cultural aspects of Native American and Alaska Native Tribes. The network will also involve a Natives-In-STEM Role Models innovation, in which Native STEM professionals will provide inspiration to Native youth through conversations about their journeys in STEM within cultural contexts. In addition, the network will cultivate a professional network of STEM educators, practitioners, and tribal leaders. Network efforts and the formative evaluation will culminate in the development and dissemination of a community-based, co-created Framework for Informal STEM Education with Native Communities.    Together with Elders and other contributors of each community, local leads within the STEM for Youth in Native Communities (SYNC) Network team will identify and guide the STEM content topics, as well as co-create and implement the program within their sovereign lands with their youth. The content, practitioners, and programming in each community will be distinct, but the community-based, dual learning contextual framework will be consistent. Each community includes several partner organizations poised to contribute to the programming efforts, including tribal government departments, tribal and public K-12 schools, tribal colleges, museums and cultural centers, non-profits, local non-tribal government support agencies, colleges and universities, and various grassroots organizations. Programmatic designs will vary and may include field excursions, summer and after school STEM experiences, and workshops. In addition, the Natives-In-STEM innovation will be implemented across the programs, providing youth with access to Native STEM professionals and career pathways across the country. To understand the impacts of SYNC’s efforts, an external evaluator will explore a broad range of questions through formative and summative evaluations. The evaluation questions seek to explore: (a) the extent to which the culturally based, dual learning methods implemented in SYNC informal STEM programs affect Native youths’ self-efficacy in STEM and (b) how the components of SYNC’s overall theoretical context and network (e.g., partnerships, community contributors such as Elders, STEM practitioners and professionals) impact community attitudes and behaviors regarding youth STEM learning. Data and knowledge gained from these programs will inform the primary deliverable, a Framework for Native Informal STEM Education, which aims to support the informal STEM education community as it expands and deepens its service to Native youth and communities. Future enhanced professional development opportunities for teachers and educators to learn more about the findings and practices highlighted in the Framework are envisioned to maximize its strategic impact.     This Innovations and Development Project is a five year endeavor and supported by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments, multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. The project is also co-funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale.    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.",TRUE
2230887,EAGER: Effects of Leaf Diversity on Aquatic Insect Colonizer Diversity,2025-04-25,Louisiana Tech University,RUSTON,LA,LA05,197022,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Environmental Biology,Population & Community Ecology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230887,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230887_4900,2022-08-15,2025-07-31,712720001,PAMDY6DMVVE7,"The diversity of animals often increases with the diversity of plants in a community. One reason for this might be that animals choose habitats with more diverse plants. These diverse plants may provide a higher variety of nutrients or other resources to support a more diverse animal community. Diversity can be measured by the variety of species, variety of the roles that species play, or the variety of evolutionary histories of those species. This project examines the importance of these different types of diversity by manipulating the mixtures of dead tree leaves in artificial ponds and estimating the diversity of insects choosing those ponds. To examine the diversity of aquatic insects, the research will also consider the variety of species, species roles (particularly diet), and evolutionary histories. This research will provide important information on how the diversity of trees surrounding aquatic habitats affects aquatic biodiversity, providing guidance on forestry management relating to the conservation and restoration of aquatic communities. This project will also involve mentoring undergraduate and high school students from underrepresented backgrounds to perform scientific research, as well as provide outreach on the diversity of trees and aquatic insects to the general public.    The project will simultaneously manipulate species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of leaf litter in pond mesocosms and examine effects on species, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of aquatic insect colonizers. The research will also examine the form of the relationship to determine if an increase in resource diversity affects colonizer diversity with a form that is linear, log-linear, or quadratic with an intermediate peak. This information will be important to guide future work on potential mechanisms of why aquatic insect diversity is related to particular types of leaf litter diversity. The experimental design will use a species pool larger than the highest species richness treatment to avoid confounding species richness and community composition, and checks will be performed to prevent confounding leaf litter species, functional, phylogenetic diversity, and average leaf traits. Researchers will measure continuous functional traits of aquatic insects by measuring their size and using stable isotopes to estimate trophic position and trophic niche breadth, which will provide better resolution at the species level than previously used categorical traits.    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.",FALSE
2152524,"ADVANCE Partnership: Faculty Online Learning Communities for Gender Equity, Targeting Department Level Change in STEM",2025-04-25,Western Michigan University,KALAMAZOO,MI,MI04,256319,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2152524,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2152524_4900,2021-10-15,2026-09-30,490085200,J7WULLYGFRH1,"The Faculty Online Learning Communities for Gender Equity: Targeting Departmental Level Change in STEM (FOLC-E) project offers a unique and valuable opportunity to understand department level structures and culture related to STEM faculty gender inequity. This project addresses the critical need to improve the cultures, practices, and structures of STEM departments by investigating features of the departmental setting. This project will engage teams of faculty representing 5-7 departments per FOLC-E group. As a direct result of this project, twenty-five to forty-five departments, across multiple STEM disciplines, will make a significant department level change addressing inequity, potentially impacting thousands of students and faculty. The potential of this project to promote increased equity within STEM departments will substantially improve the educational places where many of the students that identify as being from groups that are underrepresented in STEM study and work.  Partners include the Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL) a national alliance of over 4,000 STEM faculty from over 150 institutions of higher education to disseminate information from the grant and PULSE (Partnership for Undergraduate Life Sciences Education) which was initially funded by NSF, HHMI and NIGMS/NIH and is now an educational non-profit organization.     The project will inform intersectional gender equity reform efforts in STEM by implementing and studying five FOLC-Es. FOLC-E is a mechanism for increasing intersectional gender equity that leverages social learning and support. It is grounded in the concepts of faculty learning communities (FLC), communities of practice (CoP), and departmental action teams (DATs).  In a community of practice, people with a common interest come together to fulfill both individual and group goals in a spirit of learning, knowledge generation and sharing, and collaboration. Teams of faculty will work with FOLC-E facilitators, intersectional gender equity experts, and administrative mentors to engage in a process of deeply understanding the power dynamics of inequity. They will engage structures that contribute to inequity that can be leveraged to enact reforms within their departments. Teams will create an action plan for change, utilizing established theories of organizational change, and enact their plans with the support and encouragement of the FOLC-E. The FOLC-E groups will use data to assess the impact and success of their efforts and refine future plans for action. A study of the FOLC-E intervention will result in new knowledge about the organizational and cultural factors that create both barriers to and opportunities for systemic change.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.    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.",FALSE
2237580,"CAREER: Mass Incarceration, Racial Segregation, and Spillover Effects in U.S. Communities",2025-04-25,Trustees of Boston University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,231958,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237580,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2237580_4900,2023-07-01,2028-06-30,022151703,THL6A6JLE1S7,"This project investigates the causes and consequences of mass incarceration within U.S. communities and neighborhoods. The overarching goal is to study how residential inequalities drive incarceration rates and disparities, and how neighborhood exposures to the criminal justice system affect the well-being and political participation of community members. The first part of the project evaluates and tests place-based mechanisms, specifically segregation and housing conditions, that may be driving disparities between demographic groups and shifts in incarceration over time. This part of the study seeks to understand how contemporary incarceration rates and disparities emerge from both historical residential patterns and recent changes in U.S. communities. The second part of the project examines how multiple, interrelated criminal justice system exposures, from contact to imprisonment, may accumulate to affect community well-being and political participation. An open criminal justice data project establishes a replicable system of data collection, processing, archiving, and analysis that coincides with an interdisciplinary educational program of courses, practicums, and symposia. The integrated research and educational aims of this project expand the participation of underserved students in STEM, share newly collected data on criminal justice exposures with the public, and provide useful insights for interventions addressing inequality and mass incarceration.    To better understand rates of and disparities in criminal justice contact, as well as their influence on community well-being and democratic membership, this project focuses on the measurement and influence of place-based mechanisms—specifically, residential segregation and neighborhood effects. The two studies that comprise this project integrate data science methodologies, machine learning, spatial analysis, and quasi-experimental design to test theories relating segregation to mass incarceration and community-level spillover effects. To do so, these studies combine rarely accessible geocoded data on policing and incarceration with detailed individual-level data on voting and mortality. By combining top-down sociological theories of place and punishment with bottom-up data science and machine-learning techniques, this project brings new evidence to bear on these theories and contributes synergistic new methods to the fields of sociology, data science, and their application.    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.",TRUE
2301249,Collaborative Research: The Smart Playground: Computational Thinking through Robotics in Early Childhood,2025-04-25,Tufts University,MEDFORD,MA,MA05,524970,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301249,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2301249_4900,2023-08-01,2027-07-31,021555519,WL9FLBRVPJJ7,"Technology and computing are increasingly central in the lives of children, and building foundational skills in computational thinking in the early years is a national imperative. Young children can learn best through play and in educational environments that sustain their cultural practices and identities. This Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) project will co-create and study an outdoor robotic-augmented playground called the “Smart Playground” and a corresponding series of classroom lessons. The Smart Playground will be co-designed with Latinx families and educators to engage young children (kindergarten) in developing computational thinking skills and learning about robotics in a physical environment using a culturally sustaining approach. The project will retrofit existing playgrounds in a low-income, predominantly Latinx school district with circuit boards, sensors, and actuators. These boards will allow young children to program their playground to interact with them in different ways. By programming activities that use the playground structures, children will learn foundational computational thinking skills. Further, through co-designing with Latinx families and educators the project will center the technology and activities in families’ routines, values, and cultural funds of knowledge. Research and evaluation will examine whether exposure to the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities have an impact on the development of computational thinking in young children. This project will contribute to the emerging field of robotics in early childhood education by addressing the need for new approaches to teach with and about technology in a developmentally appropriate and culturally sustaining way. This work will increase awareness of early robotics, develop children’s computational thinking skills and STEM identities, and integrate learning opportunities throughout children’s experiences in playgrounds, classrooms, and public spaces. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    This project aims to create and test an innovative educational approach for bringing STEM learning experiences to underserved youth. Using a culturally sustaining approach, this project will co-design, augment, and evaluate the Smart Playground to promote computational thinking with approximately 500 Latinx kindergarten students and their teachers and families from Santa Ana, CA. Using a Design Based Implementation Research approach and a variety of participatory design techniques, this project will create several prototypes of the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities. This work is guided by the following research questions: 1.) What is the impact of engaging with the Smart Playground on children’s computational thinking? 2.) How do varied design elements in the Smart Playground support the development of different aspects of computational thinking among children? 3.) In what ways do Latinx children, teachers, and families in Santa Ana propose to integrate local, cultural, and learning practices into the Smart Playground during co-design activities? A wide range of quantitative and qualitative data governing student gains in computational thinking during baseline, implementation, and follow-up phases will inform the iterative process of design-test-redesign. The project will also collect, transcribe, and analyze observations, interviews, and meeting records to develop thematic insights into culturally sustaining designs and re-design of the Smart Playground elements. Ultimately, this project will result in an evidenced based set of prototypes and lessons that promote computational thinking and build from the cultural strengths of Latinx children. Designs and lessons will prioritize usable and scalable materials to create playful computational thinking opportunities in classrooms and playgrounds across the country and the world.    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.",FALSE
2101083,Learning about Viral Epidemics through Engagement with Different Types of Models,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,1886928,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101083,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101083_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,275995023,D3LHU66KBLD5,"The project will develop new curriculum and use it to research how high school students learn about viral epidemics while developing competencies for scientific modeling. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for supporting student learning about viral outbreaks and other complex societal issues.  Given the complexity of issues like viral outbreaks, engaging learners with different types of models (e.g., mechanistic, computational and system models) is critical. However, there is little research available regarding how learners coordinate sense making across different models. This project will address the gap by studying student learning with different types of models and will use these findings to develop and study new curriculum materials that incorporate multiple models for teaching about viral epidemics in high school biology classes.  COVID-19 caused devasting impacts, and marginalized groups including the Latinx community suffered disproportionately negative outcomes. The project will directly recruit Latinx students to ensure that design products are culturally responsive and account for Latinx learner needs. The project will create new pathways for engaging Latinx students in innovative, model-based curriculum about critically important issues. Project research and resources will be widely shared via publications, conference presentations, and professional development opportunities for teachers.    The project will research three aspects of student learning: a) conceptual understandings about viral epidemics, b) epistemic understandings associated with modeling, and c) model-informed reasoning about viral epidemics and potential solutions.  The research will be conducted in three phases. Phase 1 will explore how students make sense of viral epidemics through different types of models. This research will be conducted with small groups of students as they work through learning activities and discourse opportunities associated with viral epidemic models. Phase 2 will research how opportunities to engage in modeling across different types of models should be supported and sequenced for learning about viral epidemics. These findings will make it possible to revise the learning performance which will be used to develop a curricular module for high school biology classes. Phase 3 will study the extent to which students learn about viral epidemics through engagement in modeling practices across different models. For this final phase, teachers will participate in professional development about viral epidemics and modeling and then implement the viral epidemic module in their biology classes. A pre- and post-test research design will be used to explore student conceptual understandings, model-informed reasoning, and epistemic understandings. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2321914,SBIR Phase II:  A Digital Platform That Engages Elementary Aged Girls in STEM Through Personalized Informal Learning,2025-04-25,SMART GIRLS HQ LLC,CHARLOTTE,NC,NC12,999800,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,SBIR Phase II,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321914,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321914_4900,2023-10-01,2025-09-30,282230001,YAA3C96BQJG7,"The broader/commercial impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is an increase in the representation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) employment areas, enabling the US to meet the increasing demand for STEM workers and maintain competitiveness in the global innovation community. The factors contributing to the underrepresentation of girls and women in STEM often take effect early in their education and extend beyond traditional classrooms settings. Very few solutions specifically address the support needed by parents to facilitate STEM informal learning in a way that is engaging to their young daughters. This project intends to deliver personalized learning pathways designed to catalyze positive STEM experiences for girls early in their learning journeys so that they are more likely to embrace STEM careers.        This project seeks to deliver a learning platform that operates using a novel recommender system, which applies algorithmic modeling of surprise and curiosity as well as best practices regarding the unique STEM learning needs of young girls. The main technical hurdles that will be addressed in this project are as follows: (1) refinement of algorithmic model, which will be applied to generate recommendation sequences that elicit curiosity in manner that both increases interest in STEM and prompts additional STEM learning and career awareness; (2) expansion of a dataset and data representation through the enhanced features and improvements to the data model; (3) visualization and gamification of learner interest inputs and (4) implementation of an engaging user interface and experience. The refinement of algorithmic models is expected to expand the research knowledge on recommendations for behavior change, recommender systems for a young target audience, and surprise and curiosity modeling in artificial intelligence systems.  The solution will ultimately deliver a commercial application that personalizes STEM career exploration, particularly suited for young women.    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.",FALSE
2217706,"DASS: Exploring how convergence methods foster shared accountability to reveal, map, and mitigate the sources and dynamics of bias across social service provisioning systems",2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,748809,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computing and Communication Foundations,DASS-Dsgng Accntble SW Systms,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217706,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217706_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Social services, traditionally, have been organized around their missions, such as education or safety or health. A newer approach, called ""wrap-around services"" or ""systems of care,"" organizes services around individuals and their specific context and needs. These systems face many challenges when applied in real-world settings. Application processes often focus more on the potential of technologies and less on the realities, histories, and needs of communities. The proposed research addresses this gap by evaluating the implementation of a system of care in a real-world setting. The research involves studying how civic participation may be better supported and bias reduced in the development and integration of systems of care for communities. A key outcome of this proposal is to understand the influence of processes inspired by justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion to intentionally check bias and reduce disparities in the design and application of public service provisioning software systems. The goal of the proposed work is to advance accountable software systems through developing generalizable and localizable practices for exploring how to identify specific and systemic sources of bias, improve public service provisioning outcomes, and minimize disparities from biased program outcomes.    The proposed work builds from existing theory and the project team’s experience in designing and executing software systems that support services to the public. The intent is to identify and map the different types of threats to accountability that can be anticipated within the socio-computational ecosystem of care services. The team is studying dynamics of how bias might propagate across the system through regulations, social contexts, data, and lack of representation in the software development process, among other factors. Once such dynamics are mapped, the team will explore how to attend to bias through a series of interventions planned and conducted in collaboration with community members. These will include mapping the system collaboratively, and holding knowledge convergence workshops, algorithmic impact assessments, and using computational analytic techniques that can augment governance opportunities in the design and deployment of these systems of care. An outcome measure to be tracked through this process is the effectiveness of a system at responding to individual-level threats and creating bias immunity at the systems level through shared stewardship and accountability. The type of products expected from this research are advances in theory (articulation of novel threats, new understandings of dynamics & treatments), specific products related to an algorithmic accountability policy toolkit, and guidelines for practice customizable to local use cases through generalizable convergence workshops.    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.",TRUE
2345129,STEM Teacher Effectiveness and Retention in High-Need Schools: Combining Equity & Ecological Frameworks,2025-04-25,University of Connecticut,STORRS,CT,CT02,738969,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2345129,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2345129_4900,2024-07-01,2028-06-30,062699018,WNTPS995QBM7,"This project aims to serve the national need to improve the retention of effective STEM teachers in high need school districts. Elevated rates of turnover of teachers contribute to lowered educational outcomes, particularly for high-need schools.  Improving STEM teacher retention creates conditions for science and mathematics teachers to develop their expertise and foster relationships that will strengthen school programs. The project also seeks to understand how to increase the presence of racially diverse STEM teachers by identifying cases where conditions allow STEM teachers of color to remain in the classroom. The project team will examine large quantitative data sets to track STEM teacher movement and instructional effectiveness in the state of Connecticut. Statistical analyses will be complemented by interviews with practicing STEM teachers. This research has the potential to improve understanding of STEM teacher retention patterns and the relationships between teacher movement and instructional effectiveness. The results of this study have the potential to inform school district decision-making and state official policy-shaping, driving the development of data-driven interventions focused on STEM teacher retention in the service of effectiveness and equity.     This project at the University of Connecticut has three goals. The first is to uncover school factors strongly associated with greater teacher retention and subsequent teaching effectiveness. The project team will achieve this goal via quantitative analyses of data collected by the state of Connecticut as part of routine practices. The second is to examine intersections of teacher identity (race and gender) contributing to STEM teacher retention and effectiveness as measured by data collected annually by the state of Connecticut to monitor highly qualified teaching, educator certification, and school staffing. The third is to conduct iterative interviews with practicing STEM teachers of various demographics (i.e., White, Black, Latinx, and Asian) to seek their perspectives about forces influencing STEM teacher retention, movement between schools, and effectiveness. Using a participatory design research approach, the project team will also provide periodic updates of the study’s statistical outputs to these teachers to solicit their interpretations and recommendations. In this way conversational cycles throughout the project will help to refine the quantitative analyses. The overall investigation will draw from three theoretical frames: conservation of resources, goal congruity, and sociopolitical consciousness. Multilevel analyses will identify factors associated with the retention of effective STEM teachers. Graph theory techniques will assess movement, including a social network analysis of matched pairs to assess impact of relevant factors. This research project has the potential to provide recommendations to improve STEM teacher retention and advance high-quality STEM instruction in high need school districts. This Track 4: Noyce Research project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced K-12 teachers to become STEM leaders in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.    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.",FALSE
2149849,Collaborative Research: The AGEP Massachusetts State University System Equity-Minded Model for Recruiting and Advancing Early Career Faculty in the STEM Professoriate,2025-04-25,Framingham State University,FRAMINGHAM,MA,MA05,1122960,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149849,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149849_4900,2022-07-01,2027-06-30,017022471,SALGGFMNG2X5,"Three collaborating institutions in the Massachusetts Public Higher Education System, Framingham State University, Bridgewater State University and Worcester State University, are working together to develop and implement an equity-minded model for advancing early career STEM faculty who are members of AGEP populations: African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. This AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model’s (FCPAM) goal is to develop, implement, evaluate and institutionalize a FCPAM for transforming institutions to be more supportive and culturally sensitive such that the faculty successfully advance through recruitment and retention along early career pathways to tenure in teaching intensive comprehensive universities. This FCPAM is improving the success of early-career faculty such that faculty demographics will mirror student demographics at the three collaborating institutions. This change in faculty demographics will ultimately result in graduating more STEM students from diverse populations and increasing diversity in the STEM workforce. Enhancing diversity within the STEM workforce will contribute to mitigating systemic racism, boosting innovation in the workplace, and enhancing the economy and prosperity within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our Nation.    Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FCPAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FCPAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FCPAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.    The foundation of this FCPAM includes a cluster hiring strategy to recruit diverse faculty who will have a shared learning experience and support system across the universities, including a joint faculty development initiative, a faculty mentorship program, common events and shared resources. In addition, the Alliance has a collaborative plan focusing on equity to examine, change, and align institutional policies and procedures in support of a welcoming and supportive academic climate for a diverse faculty. The Alliance will use formative and summative evaluations to document results and evaluate strengths and weaknesses of the model throughout the life of the project. The self-study of the FCPAM development and activities will advance knowledge concerning how socio-cultural, economic, structural, and institutional variables impact the development and success of the Alliance model and the institutional culture changes. An intersectional lens will be used to examine the impact of the FCPAM activities on the success of recruited faculty in relation to their identities, including race, ethnicity, gender, sexual identity, immigration status or national origin, abilities, and being a caregiver or a parent.    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.",TRUE
2116543,Social Structure Learning,2025-04-25,Harvard University,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,604296,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116543,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116543_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,021385366,LN53LCFJFL45,"Social groups are woven tightly into the fabric of people’s lives. They shape how people perceive, punish, cooperate with, and learn from other people. This project seeks to understand how people discover the structure of social groups from patterns in the behavior of individuals. The project is centered on the concept of social structure learning. According this account, the brain uses statistical learning algorithms to sort individuals into latent groups on the basis of their behavioral patterns. These group representations are updated as more evidence is accumulated. The research extends the social structure learning model in several ways. One is to better understand the processes by which updating, subtyping, and subgrouping occur. Another is to establish how people balance the influence of explicit social categories against latent groupings. A third is to better understand how people resolve the challenge of cross-categorization. The project offers broad societal relevance by shedding light on the nature of social biases and stereotypes, ultimately pointing the way toward reducing discrimination.    This project advances basic understanding of social structure learning by using a combination of computational modeling and laboratory experiments. Computational models offer a formalization of hypotheses and make quantitative predictions about behavior. The project develops a computational model that makes specific predictions and captures several important features of social structure learning: (i) how people infer hierarchically-structured groups; (ii) how people use explicit social categories to guide their inferences about group structure; and (iii) how people infer multiple groupings of the same individuals. Integrating insights from these models into the study of social cognition allows for greater predictive precision and stimulates innovative strategies for stereotype change. The project also supports a summer internship program to involve students from diverse backgrounds, along with regular engagement in public outreach and education via print interviews, social media, blog posts, and public lectures.    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.",FALSE
2342772,Collaborative Research: SEI: Creating a Lasting LEGACY - Scaling a Peer-learning Community Model to Provide AP CS Preparation and Career Awareness for Black Young Women,2025-04-25,Central State University,WILBERFORCE,OH,OH10,91059,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342772,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342772_4900,2024-05-15,2028-04-30,453845800,UZUVJXMDNZY6,"Careers in Computer Science (CS) related areas represent many of the best-paid jobs in the nation. However, Black women comprise less than 1% of the workforce at the most popular U.S. software companies. Low participation of Black students in CS areas is often attributed to a lack of “preparatory privilege,” encompassing the unavailability of resources and experiences that build content knowledge and associated skills, and few role models. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations project will scale up a successful project that engaged Black young women in high schools throughout the state of Alabama in a year-long peer-learning community to prepare them for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. Called LEGACY++, the project will expand the focus to 500 students, adding two other states - Mississippi and Ohio. To do so, it will create a partnership among (1) post-secondary institutions in diverse cultural settings (urban and rural); (2) collaborators that specialize in analyzing programmatic outcomes and identifying factors that promote student success in CS; and (3) industry partners to connect students with new learning experiences from the automotive, wireless, and health sector domains. Eighteen Black CS Teacher Leaders will receive training across the tri-State partnership to facilitate an immersive summer institute experience to initiate the preparation of students for the AP CSP course at their school. Interactions will continue during the school year to promote students’ AP exam readiness through curriculum workshops focused on AP CSP topics and interactions with multiple mentors who are all Black women. Students will also be provided with resources to mitigate the barriers to CS access often faced by low-income families, such as access to a peer learning community with scheduled meetings over the academic year.     The LEGACY++ Scholars will represent Black young women from three states to imbue CS content knowledge and an awareness of opportunities in CS-related occupations. LEGACY++ Scholars will learn AP CSP concepts through culturally responsive instruction and project-based learning facilitated by tools to support remote student collaborations to highlight the nature of virtual work, while connecting with new learning experiences from industry partners, their own life situations, and career aspirations. The synergy among these strategies is a promising approach to stimulate the learning of CS for this population; thus, the project’s activities will explore creative and transformative approaches targeted at enabling the participation of groups historically underrepresented in CS careers. Specifically, the research questions addressed in this project include investigating how LEGACY++ activities foster a perception of CS as a communal endeavor, how creating a community of learners can strengthen participants’ identity with CS/technical careers and reduce the effects of stereotype threat, and whether LEGACY++ participation can increase awareness and understanding of CS careers. The LEGACY++ evaluation plan will continuously assess activities and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback by identifying promising practices and evidence of success that stimulate CS interest among Black young women. Data collection and evaluation of the implementation of the program activities will include observations of the Summer Institutes, semi-annual interviews of teacher leaders, annual interviews of program leaders and mentoring board members, and student projects. These data will be analyzed qualitatively in terms of pre-defined program success criteria. Measurable program outcomes will include changes in Scholars’ content knowledge and attitudes towards CS, and Scholars’ career plans. The knowledge-generation component will investigate how creating a community of learners increases identification, belonging, and persistence in CS among Black women. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2419365,"Human intentional environmental exposure studies: what risks are acceptable, and to whom?",2025-04-25,"RUTGERS, THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW JERSEY",NEWARK,NJ,NJ10,599485,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419365,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2419365_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,071073001,YVVTQD8CJC79,"In intentional environmental exposure studies (IEES), scientists expose healthy volunteers to pollutants to understand their effects on human health. These studies raise ethical questions, including under what conditions is it acceptable to expose participants to these potentially harmful materials? In addition, substantial attention is currently being given to the importance of representative inclusion of minority participants in health research and the inclusion of pregnant women (now often excluded from health-related research that presents any level of risk), since findings of trials including these groups are more likely to be applicable to them. However, in the case of IEES, increasing inclusion raises additional ethical questions: minority populations are already more likely to be exposed to harmful pollutants, is it fair to invite them to take on the additional risks involved with research about these same pollutants? This bioethics project will collect data on the views of scientists who conduct IEES, communities disproportionately affected by pollution, pregnant women, and the American public on related questions. Findings will benefit the public by improving research regulations and making IEES research more fair and socially beneficial.    Through interviews with researchers, focus groups with diverse communities affected by air pollution, with pregnant women, and with environmental justice activists, and an online experiment/survey of the American public, this project will generate new insights on: a) how IEES researchers view questions of fairness and inclusion and how helpful current regulations are in achieving these goals, b) how affected groups would balance protection from risks vs. inclusion in IEES, and, c) how the public perceives IEES, how much risk is acceptable relative to a study’s social value, and under what conditions Americans would be willing to participate in IEES. These findings will serve as the basis for recommendations for improvements to current IEES regulation and guidance.    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.",FALSE
2420868,"Public health leadership, preparedness, and governance at the front lines",2025-04-25,Syracuse University,SYRACUSE,NY,NY22,549983,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420868,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420868_4900,2024-08-15,2026-07-31,13244,C4BXLBC11LC6,"Public officials can experience significant ""backlash,” such as harassment, intimidation, and threats of violence, in response to policies that they develop and implement. Among the outcomes of backlash documented in this research are an inability to function effectively and high levels of personnel turnover. This project analyzes a case in which backlash was not uniform across or within states to identify the conditions under which it arose, its nature and impact and how public officials responded. Answers to these questions contribute to the social science of crisis management and to the development of policies as we prepare for future epidemics or other potentially consequential population health threats.    Grounded in social science literature on institutional crisis response and backlash as social and political phenomena, this project develops a unique conceptual framework suggesting hypotheses to account for variation in the experience of crisis and backlash. To evaluate these hypotheses the project uses multiple sources of data: 150-200 key informant interviews with state and local health officials from all US states and two territories (these will be made available to researchers in a digital archive); a data set of social media posts from state legislators and governors; protest data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project and the Threats and Harassment Dataset. Using these qualitative and quantitative data sets, the project takes a case-comparative methodological approach with several goals in mind: 1) to evaluate and refine the initial conceptual framework; 2) to test the project's initial hypotheses and suggest additional/new ones; 3) to identify in as much detail as possible lessons for public health officials and other authorities as they plan for the next major epidemic. This research is co-funded by the Science of Science: Discovery, Communications, and Impact and the Security and Preparedness Programs.    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.",FALSE
2343972,NSF-JST: Advanced Data and Methods to Improve Hazard Resilience for Underrepresented Groups: Minority- and Women-Owned Small and Mid-Sized Businesses,2025-04-25,North Dakota State University Fargo,FARGO,ND,ND00,499999,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",GVF - Global Venture Fund,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343972,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343972_4900,2024-06-01,2026-05-31,58105,EZ4WPGRE1RD5,"This project supports a binational effort (US-Japan) to advance small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) resilience, both conceptually and empirically, focusing mainly on minority- and women-owned enterprises. These businesses face challenging and complex recovery in the aftermath of disasters, exacerbated by supply chain disruptions and limitations on access to capital. This project aims for theoretical advancement in dynamic economic resilience and methodological innovation for observational data gathering and analysis. It deepens our understanding of the determinants of SME resilience and their propagation throughout a recovery path.  The results facilitate identification of best practices and provide government agencies with tools to mitigate disproportionate consequences of natural disasters borne by underrepresented groups.    To this end, the project targets several interrelated research questions and explores if: 1) accelerating the pace of resilience investments is more effective at reducing overall losses than simply reducing the duration of recovery; 2) resilience and recovery differ between women- and minority-owned SMEs and SMEs more broadly; 3) women- and minority-owned SMEs face unique social, cultural and public-sector challenges in resilience and recovery; and 4) characteristics of disasters (e.g., property damage, production input disruptions, critical infrastructure disruptions) affect an SME’s ability to implement dynamic resilience tactics. It also examines the effectiveness and equity of those tactics in various contexts (e.g., labor shortage, infrastructure disruptions, supply-chain disruptions), among others. The project extends microeconomic production theory to dynamic economic resilience and connects these theoretical advances to multi-area data collection efforts. Novel data analysis techniques are applied, such as econometric and sequential decision-making models. The application to SMEs owned and operated by underrepresented groups is expected to improve equity, social justice, and capacity-building in the disbursement of disaster assistance.    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.",FALSE
2149223,"Collaborative Research: Gender, Politics, and Environmental Concern",2025-04-25,Yale University,NEW HAVEN,CT,CT03,238600,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149223,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149223_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,065113572,FL6GV84CKN57,"This project investigates gender differences in how individuals form attitudes about climate policy across countries. The research helps us understand how societies manage environmental risks. Climatic shifts have been shown to increase both interpersonal and inter-group conflict in every world region, meaning that mitigating climate change is a matter of national security. Understanding how to gain support among those most skeptical in high carbon-emitting economies is key to forming effective policy. This project identifies the material and psychological sources of public support for and resistance to climate mitigation policies around the world. It will develop three new public datasets and associated qualitative materials, encouraging replication and extensions, and contributes to education and research infrastructure.     In wealthy nations, women tend to express more concern about climate change than men. Yet the gender gap in climate attitudes does not exist in poorer countries. This project develops a new theory to explain how political elites shape citizens' perceptions of the costs and benefits of climate action in ways that vary across countries (by economic development) and by gender within countries. We test this theory by collecting and analyzing four data sets: (1) a 60-country dataset on major parties' climate policies; (2) a 60-country dataset on media references to the winners and losers of climate action; (3) qualitative case studies in seven countries to investigate the development of climate policy frames; and (4) a survey experiment in five countries to gauge how policies that lessen the perceived costs of climate action differently affect policy support among men and women.     This project is co-funded by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) and the Security and Preparedness (SAP) programs.    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.",TRUE
2140903,Examining Blackness in Postsecondary STEM Education through a Multidimensional-Multiplicative Lens,2025-04-25,American University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,1056052,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140903,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140903_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,200168003,H4VNDUN2VWU5,"Despite well-intentioned university efforts to support Black undergraduate STEM students, policy and practice reforms run the risk of not appropriately benefiting all Black people due to pervasive, deficit-based assumptions about Black racial identities and the types of structural engagement needed to advance holistic, racial well-being in transformative and sustainable ways. Stated simply, STEM contexts do not adequately support Black undergraduate STEM students because STEM educators and practitioners remain unsure of what Blackness means for individuals, thereby constraining true racial equity endeavors. Contemporary literature regarding race posits instead that embodiment(s) of Blackness differ across multiple dimensions and axes, including ethnic identity (e.g., African American, Caribbean American, Nigerian American), place identity (e.g., South, Midwest), and generational identity (e.g., first-generation, second-generation, third plus generation). Black students from different ethnic and generational identities having varied perceptions of the racial climate and understandings of their STEM experiences. Recognizing the scope of Blackness and its implications for creating and sustaining holistic, heterogenous conceptions of racial equity in STEM, the team will establish a collaborative network among six institutions (two HBCUS, two PWIs, one majority Black institution, and one HSI) located across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions of the US to study how Black undergraduate STEM students’ notions of Blackness vary with respect to these dimensions.     The research team will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods project, integrating mosaic ethnography, survey design and administration of the survey to Black undergraduate STEM students across five states. Through these methods, the students’ conceptions of Blackness will be explored as it relates to their STEM engagement and perspectives of racial equity in STEM. In efforts to foster racial equity in STEM for all Black people, this project will produce tools of analysis (i.e., theories, research methods, qualitative and quantitative measures) and translational products (i.e., professional developments, aminations, infographics) that will change how institutional and organizational policies, practices, and future research treat Black people in STEM, thereby promoting tailored resources and supports to meet Black people’s nuanced needs. The desired outcomes from this work will inform the development and implementation of racial equity focused policies and practices in STEM education, facilitating increased access and sustained engagement in STEM for Black undergraduate students.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2148016,Engaging Latinx Youth in Understanding the Science of Climate Change by Developing Digital Narratives and Games,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,431984,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148016,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148016_4900,2022-07-01,2025-12-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"The project will engage LatinX middle and high school youth in developing technology-rich, interactive digital media, games, and narratives about climate science. In creating digital stories, youth will blend real-world scenarios with their ideas and decision-making processes to solve climate-related problems. This immersive experience will help the underserved population of LatinX youth build robust knowledge of climate science and support their identities to serve as community science experts. While creating digital narratives and preparing for community events, the youth will interact with STEM role models in climate science and information communication technologies. Such interaction can support their exploration of STEM pathways and develop a deeper interest in STEM careers.    This project is designed as a participatory research-practice project (RPP) which centers equity in its design and implementation. This will be done by 1) investigating questions of common interest to researchers, practitioners, and learners; 2) activating the talents of all groups to co-create and test innovative learning experiences; and 3) drawing on the experience and strengths of all groups to generate knowledge, share findings, and determine next steps. By using the methods of surveys, personal meaning maps, and focus groups with participating youth, the research will focus on investigating outcomes related to increasing environmental science knowledge and improving STEM career aspirations among Latinx teens. The study will utilize both quantitative (Wilcoxon signed-rank tests) and qualitative analysis (a priori and inductive coding). This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2115614,Urban Youth Participation in Community and Citizen Science,2025-04-25,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,1999250,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115614,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115614_4900,2021-09-15,2025-08-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"Environmental Protectors is a four-year project based at the University of California at Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science. The project is designed to explore the educational and developmental impact of an informal science education programming model that features Community and Citizen Science (CCS) activities for youth of color residing in urban communities. The project is grounded in hypothesis that CCS-focused experiences result in learning outcomes that better position youth of color to more effectively engage in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) related educational, occupational, and civic activities. Each year, in three economically challenged urban communities located throughout the country, youth of color between the ages of 14 and 18 will participate in month-long summer or semester-long afterschool programs. These programs will feature CCS-related activities that include collection, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data that addresses local, pressing environmental quality concerns, such as soil lead contamination and air particulate matter pollution. The project will use a mix of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis to assess the impact of youth engagement in these CCS activities. Overall, through its implementation the project aims to generate information useful in nationwide efforts designed to identify effective strategies and approaches that contribute to increasing STEM understanding and interest among youth of color.    Project research is guided by the following questions: A) What are ways to increase STEM engagement among those who have typically been underrepresented in Community and Citizen Science (CCS) research projects in particular and STEM in general? B) When youth are engaged in CCS, what outcomes are observed related to their science agency and science activism? What other unanticipated outcomes are observed related to benefits of participation and learning? C) How does science activism develop in youth participating in CCS?; and D) How do differences in program implementation impact youth outcomes. In particular, the project explores the manner in which particular CCS activities (e.g., project design, data analysis and interpretation, data presentation) impact youth “Science Agency,” defined as a combination of constructs that include Science Identity (i.e., sense of themselves as science thinkers), Science Value (i.e., awareness of the potential benefits of applying scientific practices to addressing critical community health and environmental issues) and Science Competency Beliefs (i.e., belief of themselves as competent science practitioners) and “Science Activism,” defined as a combination of perceived behavioral control and personal salience. Through its execution the project will refine a theory of learning that makes explicit connections between these constructs. Information derived from the execution of the project will contribute to deeper understanding of the potential for using of CCS projects as a key component of science education environments in urban areas and in general.    This Research in Service to Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2201800,Collaborative Research: Investigating Gender Differences in Digital Learning Games with Educational Data Mining,2025-04-25,University of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,78960,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201800,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201800_4900,2022-07-01,2025-06-30,152600001,MKAGLD59JRL1,"Despite evidence that gender differences in math achievement have narrowed or disappeared in recent decades, stereotypes about men being better than women at math emerge early in childhood and persist through adulthood. These perceptions appear to influence female students’ interest and performance in math, as well as their pursuit of STEM careers. Given the potential motivational benefits of digital learning games, games might provide a pathway for reducing math anxiety for female students while increasing their self-efficacy and interest in math. This project will explore whether digital learning games can lead to less math anxiety and better learning in female students, while not hurting male student learning. It will study learning with two existing digital learning games: Decimal Point, which teaches foundational math concepts (decimal numbers and operations) to 5th and 6th grade students; and Angle Jungle, which targets a similar age range (4th and 5th graders) and has a similar thematic design (i.e., a game map, cartoon characters), but with different game mechanics, content (angles), and instructional approach. The study will explore how and why Decimal Point has, over the course of several experiments spanning multiple years, consistently produced a learning advantage for female students. In doing so, investigators will identify principles regarding the relationship between gender and game features that can be shared with game developers and used in other games, starting with Angle Jungle.    This work will go beyond the traditional gender binary of male and female, analyzing multiple dimensions of gender, including gender identity (e.g., how much students feel like a boy, a girl, both, neither), gender typicality (e.g., How much students like to do the same things as other girls [boys], How much students feel they look like boys [girls]), and gender-typed interests, activities, and traits (e.g., how much a student feels affectionate or adventurous). The study will also investigate two pathways hypothesized to lead to gender differences: first, that the playful features of the games reduce the saliency of the math content, making it less likely to cue math stereotype threat (the stereotype threat hypothesis); and second, that the games’ thematic details are more appealing to learners who identify (more) as females, making the games more engaging for them compared to learners who identify (more) as boys (the engagement hypothesis). In Year 1, educational data mining will be used to infer students’ cognitive and affective processes while playing Decimal Point and compare data to the distinct processes predicted by these two pathways. In Year 2, investigators will assess whether the hypothesized pathways and gender differences replicate in the context of Angle Jungle. In Year 3, hypotheses will be further tested by manipulating Decimal Point’s emphasis on math content in one version of the game and enjoyment and playful features in another. The project will compare learning outcomes between the two versions to more deeply explore the stereotype threat and engagement hypotheses. The ultimate aim of this work is to provide insights into gender-based differences in learning from digital games, providing principles and guidance for other researchers and game designers in developing and revising digital learning games. Thus, the project has the potential to transfer Decimal Point’s success with girls’ learning outcomes to other digital learning games and advance knowledge on the multidimensionality of gender. Furthermore, findings will allow investigators to revise both games and make them available to thousands of late elementary and middle school students across the country. Even during this project, approximately 1,950 students—including many from districts with diverse populations and low math proficiency¬—will benefit from learning with Decimal Point and Angle Jungle.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",FALSE
2101395,Collaborative Research: Understanding STEM Teaching through Integrated Contexts in Everyday Life,2025-04-25,Arcadia University,GLENSIDE,PA,PA04,2031108,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101395,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101395_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,190383215,HT3NK1QGE1H8,"Increased focus on school accountability and teacher performance measures have resulted in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction that emphasizes content and procedural knowledge over critical thinking and real-world applications. Yet, critical thinking and application are essential in developing functional scientific literacy skills among students.  This need is perhaps most pressing in economically depressed urban settings. One strategy to promote STEM engagement and learning is to make clear and meaningful connections between STEM concepts, principles, and STEM-related issues relevant to the learner. Socioscientific issues (SSI) can provide a powerful avenue for promoting the desired kinds of engagement.  SSI are debatable and ill-defined problems that have a basis in science but necessarily include moral and ethical choices. SSI for economically disadvantaged, culturally diverse students in urban settings might include, for example, lead paint contamination, poor water or air quality, or the existence of “food deserts.” By integrating locally relevant SSI with the goals of social justice, the Social Justice STEM Pedagogies (SJSP) framework the project uses is intended to support students to use their scientific expertise to be agents of change. SJSP can be potentially transformative for teachers, students, schools, and the communities in which students live. For SJSP to effectively promote STEM learning, however, teachers must learn how to integrate STEM-concepts and practices into the various real-world SSI present in their students’ environment. This collaborative project is designed to implement and evaluate a comprehensive professional development plan for grades 7 –12 STEM teachers from economically disadvantaged school districts in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Teachers will develop ways to incorporate SSI into their instruction that are grounded in standards to foster students’ STEM engagement.  The instructional practices enacted by teachers will enhance students’ STEM literacy while utilizing their own knowledge and culture in solving complex and ethically challenging STEM issues, thus promoting students’ abilities to be change agents.    This collaborative research project involves Arcadia University, Mercyhurst University, LaSalle University, Villanova University, and St. Joseph’s University. It is designed to investigate the effectiveness of a professional development (PD) program for STEM teachers to develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teaching SSI and SJSP. Over four years, three cohorts of 25 grades 7-12 teachers will participate in about 200 hours of PD. The SSI and SJSP encompass authentic, complex real-world, STEM-based issues that are directly related to the inequities experienced by students and their communities that students can engage with in the classroom through the use of inquiry-based learning strategies. By promoting students’ engagement in and awareness of the relevance of STEM in everyday life, teacher participants in this PD will foster STEM learning, especially among students who have been historically marginalized from STEM disciplines, and who are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The research plan is designed to reveal elements of the PD program that are most effective in supporting teachers’ increased capacity to design and implement units of study that incorporate scientific, social, and discursive elements of SSI. Using predominantly qualitative methods, other outcomes include how teachers’ PCK change towards teaching with SSI/SJSP; what factors support and inhibit teacher’s abilities to promote SSI/SJSP; and how justice-centered STEM lessons help students to develop moral and ethical reasoning, scientific skepticism, STEM inquiry/modeling, and SSI discourse/argumentation.      The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM subjects by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2314229,"Developing Partnerships Among Tribes, Geoscientists, and the National Park Service to Advance Informal Geoscience Learning at Grand Canyon",2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,147758,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314229,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314229_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"The Grand Canyon region is the ancestral homeland of eleven Indigenous Nations, the Traditionally Associated Tribes of Grand Canyon, who possess rich land-based expert knowledge of Earth processes and features. Grand Canyon National Park was established in 1919 and has become a globally renowned geoheritage site. Within the Park, geoscience resources and programs support millions of visitors each year to explore the immensity of geologic time and the geologic history through the landscapes and rocks. However, the Indigenous knowledge of the Traditionally Associated Tribes has historically been marginalized and excluded from geoscience education at the Park. This Partnership Development & Planning project seeks to foster respectful, reciprocal, and lasting partnerships at Grand Canyon among members of the Traditionally Associated Tribes, the Grand Canyon Trust, Interpretive Park Rangers, and Grand Canyon geoscientists. With multiple layers of Tribal oversight, the project will use the four Rs of Indigenous research (reciprocity, relevance, respect, and responsibility) and a Dine analytical model to support relationship and trust building activities (e.g., site visits, story circles, a workshop) and co-development. The group will work toward addressing and helping to remedy the historic exclusion of Indigenous presence and Indigenous knowledges at Grand Canyon, explore opportunities for mutually beneficial collaborations and future AISL projects, and draft recommendations for respectfully Indigenizing future interpretive resources and programs.     The project will be led by a Steering Committee comprised of a Tribal Council (all of whom are members of the Traditionally Associated Tribes of Grand Canyon), university geoscientists (some of whom are members of the Traditionally Associated Tribes of Grand Canyon) and National Park Service staff. Tribal Council members and other members of the Steering Committee have long-standing relationships as well as backgrounds or interest in geoscience. To ensure that the partnership remains mutually beneficial and fully accountable, and yields value to all partners, the project will center the four Rs of Indigenous research. Relationships will be fostered among members of the Tribes, geoscientists, and the National Park Service through gatherings and mutual engagement in geoscience activities at culturally and scientifically important places in and around Grand Canyon and the Park, in Tribal communities if requested, and at times virtually. The Steering Committee will use the Dine model of nitsahakees (critical thinking), nahat'a (planning), iina (implementation in life); and siihasin (reflection and iteration to renew the cycle) to guide the co-design process. Ultimately, the group will co-design and co-author common and mutually beneficial goals related to informal geoscience learning at Grand Canyon, ensure educational benefits expand to local Native youth, and draft recommendations for respectfully Indigenizing future interpretive resources and programs at the Park. Insights and recommendations will be developed while adhering to the CARE Principles of Indigenous Data Governance, which hold that all Indigenous knowledges remain the credited intellectual property of the appropriate Tribes, who hold control over all uses. When approved by the Tribes, the projects' recommendations will be shared with the informal STEM learning community, including other National Parks. External evaluation will use recognized Indigenous criteria to iteratively assess and inform the project's: 1) ability to establish ethical, respectful, reciprocal partnership(s) among practitioners, community members, and researchers; 2) conceptions of new decolonized, place-based, culturally inclusive plan(s) for informal geoscience education at Grand Canyon; and 3) potential for its approaches and recommendations to extend to other partnerships, Parks, and geoheritage areas.     This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2201100,Collaborative Research: The Organizational Climate Challenge: Promoting the Retention of Students from Underrepresented Groups in Doctoral Engineering Programs,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,158047,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201100,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201100_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,275995023,D3LHU66KBLD5,"The ongoing lack of diversity in the engineering doctoral workforce remains a significant problem with far-reaching implications for the US economy. The long-term vitality of the US workforce relies on the full range of engineering career pathways being available to all Americans. A diverse STEM workforce is more creative and innovative. While the number of women completing STEM doctorates has risen, the proportion of women earning engineering doctorates remains low. And, in 2019, while 24.1% of engineering doctorates were earned by women, only 1.4% were earned by Hispanic, Black, and Native American women (no Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander women). Doctoral engineering attrition rates reveal a disproportionately high loss of students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM. The problem is not students’ inability to complete the Ph.D. degree requirements, but rather that talented students leave engineering doctoral programs before completing their doctorates. Student attrition results in a loss of human talent to the national endeavor of research and discovery at universities fueling US economic growth. Unwelcoming organizational climates in engineering doctoral programs likely contribute to this attrition. This project aims to examine the organizational climates of engineering doctoral programs to guide efforts that promote the persistence and retention of doctoral students in engineering.    The goal of this mixed-methods project is to examine doctoral students’ perceptions of the factors that impact their persistence in degree completion and the differences in experiencing those factors based on intersecting social categories. This project adopts an explicitly intersectional approach to the meaning and relevance of students’ belonging to multiple social categories, including gender, race/ethnicity, and sexual orientation, considered within the context of engineering doctoral education. Drawing on organizational climate research and intersectionality theory, the project’s multidisciplinary team aims to use a student-centered approach to shed light on multiple climate factors (e.g., climate for diversity, climate for inclusion, student sense of belonging, etc.) by engaging with students from diverse groups. To achieve a comprehensive picture of departmental climate and persistence, which may differ by intersectional group, major, and institution type, iterative and complementary cycles of project implementation are planned over the four-year project period. In Year 1, the researchers aim to use findings from the quantitative pilot climate survey approach to inform the qualitative design. The team aims to repeat this process in Year 2 to develop, refine, and validate the final survey instrument, including a climate scale that will be sensitive enough to assess intersectional phenomena unique to students from diverse groups. The scale will be grounded in measurement invariance, in that factors will be measured in the same way across different groups to reveal similarities and differences between engineering doctoral student populations. In Years 3 and 4, the researchers plan to administer the final survey nationally and incorporate follow-up interviews with a subsample of survey respondents, using a mixed-methods approach. In partnership with the American Society for Engineering Education, the team plans to deploy the climate survey nationally to engineering doctoral students and to share survey findings with engineering deans.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest interventions and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2243106,AGEP FC-PAM: Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineering Researchers (ARISE) to Increase the Diversity of the Biomedical Engineering Faculty,2025-04-25,Johns Hopkins University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,253293,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243106,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243106_4900,2023-07-01,2028-06-30,212182608,FTMTDMBR29C7,"The AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FC-PAM) “Alliance for Relevant and Inclusive Sponsorship of Engineers” (ARISE) promotes equity and inclusion in engineering higher education. The goal of the AGEP ARISE Alliance is to apply discipline-relevant, inclusive, and intersectional sponsorship and systemic change in hiring practices to increase the visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success of Black and African American, Latine and Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander biomedical engineering doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members at Brown University, Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, and Yale University. This AGEP FC-PAM is building effective and professional sponsorship relationships outside the home institutions of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members. Sponsorship is differentiated from mentorship as it is concerned less with the transfer of knowledge between individuals and more with the transfer of power through the promotion of the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members within professional networks. The doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’, and early career faculty members’ intersecting identities around race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and caregiver status informs pairings with sponsors, who are participating in training on the importance of intersectionality in sponsorship. The AGEP ARISE Alliance is also adapting faculty hiring best practices from the University of Michigan’s ADVANCE program to both postdoctoral research scholar and early career faculty hiring policies and practices.     Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty members, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FC-PAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FC-PAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FC-PAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.    The intermediate outcomes of the project are increases in the visibility, networks, opportunities, and collaborations of AGEP ARISE Alliance doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members and improved cultural and diversity awareness among sponsors. Longer term these advances translate into more diverse faculty in the AGEP ARISE Alliance academic departments. Internal and external advisory boards routinely review the AGEP ARISE Alliance’s progress, strategize on future steps, and engage with sponsors and sponsees. An internal evaluator is leading the project’s self-study and formative assessment of implementation, changes in hiring practices, and changes in doctoral candidates’, postdoctoral research scholars’ and early career faculty members’ knowledge, aspirations, values, and professional activities resulting from Alliance activities. An external evaluator is providing summative assessment using a theory-based framework to assess the effectiveness of the AGEP ARISE Alliance in developing inclusive, nurturing networks of diverse doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members in biomedical engineering; the ways those individuals have increased their visibility, networks, collaborations, and professional success; the impact of the project on fostering institutional climates that promote equity and inclusion; and the advancement of AGEP populations pursuing faculty positions in biomedical engineering. The AGEP ARISE Alliance team is developing and disseminating sponsorship and hiring guides, and project results, that are shared through peer-reviewed and general publications, an AGEP ASPIRE Alliance website, and presentations at scientific and professional meetings.    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.",TRUE
2452030,Empowering Students with Choice through Equitable and Interactive Mathematical Modeling (EIM2),2025-04-25,Texas A&M University,COLLEGE STATION,TX,TX10,842811,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2452030,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2452030_4900,2024-10-01,2026-08-31,778454375,JF6XLNB4CDJ5,"This project aims to create and study an Equitable and Interactive Mathematical Modeling (EIM2) program that positions students as decision makers in their own learning. Despite the value of connecting students’ life experiences with their mathematical learning, the practical implementation of this strategy has proven challenging in a classroom setting. EIM2 addresses this issue by supporting students to engage in equitable mathematical modeling, a process of using mathematics to analyze and quantify scenarios through a lens of equity. The EIM2 program involves collaborations with sixth and seventh grade students, a professional learning community series with their mathematics teachers, and the creation of the dynamic, online platform that hosts EIM2 modules. The EIM2 dynamic online platform allows students to easily select scenarios based on their interests; experience the scenarios with visuals and animations; and compare, synthesize, and refine their mathematical ideas.    The program development will be guided by design principles and hypothesized learning processes that support students’ cultural competence, their evaluations of multiple mathematical solutions, and their mathematical identity development. Using multi-tier design-based research and a mixed-methods approach, the EIM2 program will be continuously evaluated and refined through multiple iterations to ensure usability and efficacy. Over the four-year project span, this project will (1) explore the nature and impact of the EIM2 program, assessing how it promotes a shared vision for the learning of all students, including racially and ethnically minoritized students, in classroom settings; (2) examine whether and how students’ engagement in EIM2 supports their achievement and identity development in mathematics; and (3) understand how teachers enact EIM2 and whether they change their attitudes toward modeling over time and across contexts. The proposed project fills a theoretical gap related to scalable design models for interactive mathematical modeling curricula that are culturally sustaining for students. Our model improves upon current practices of mathematical modeling by transforming existing curricula to reflect students’ lived experiences and to foster their active learning, leveraging the interactive nature of digital curricula. Our proposed work has the potential to be transformative for STEM education through the co-creation of asset-based instructional materials built on a deep understanding of students, which can be applicable for other STEM education fields of study.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.     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.",FALSE
2334340,Planning: CRISES: Climate Adaptation Solutions Accelerator (CASA) through School-Community Hubs,2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Barbara,SANTA BARBARA,CA,CA24,99098,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,"CRISES-R&I in Sci, Env&Society",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334340,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334340_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,931060001,G9QBQDH39DF4,"Universities, planning agencies, and non-profit groups are pioneering initiatives to help historically underserved and vulnerable communities cope with environmental changes related to climate impacts, such as rising sea levels, storm-related flooding, longer heat waves, and increasing numbers of wildfires. However, there are daunting barriers to rapid and broad-based climate adaptation outreach. Traditional forms of soliciting public input often do not generate productive community engagement in historically underserved communities, and establishing trust through new community organizations can take years. Research demonstrates that public schools are neighborhood institutions that are trusted by communities and that schools have been used successfully to deliver other types of community services. This project is a novel research effort proposing to investigate how schools can function as hubs for fostering community climate adaptation in the historically underserved communities most vulnerable to climate change. The project supports partnerships with three California public schools to establish school-community climate adaptation hubs. Each hub uses school-based activities to support climate adaptation in a vulnerable neighborhood, to connect residents to innovative adaptation solutions specific to the local context, and to build relationships between community members relevant city and county adaptation planner. The activities under this grant build students’ capacity to develop climate solutions, improve school learning outcomes, foster community climate capabilities in historically underserved communities, and advance just and effective adaptation planning. Case studies analyses of the three school-community climate adaptation hubs support preparation of a proposal for a new center: the Climate Adaptation Solutions Accelerator (CASA) through School-Community Hubs.     In the context of climate change adaptation, schools have already been mobilized as community centers during climate emergencies, but they can also support rapid and broad-based climate preparedness. Working through schools to connect communities and planning processes, CASA will build research capacity and infrastructure for the rapid and broad-based scaling of just and effective climate adaptation solutions. Exploratory research activities for CASA focus on three key areas. First, the project identifies existing and needed resources for mapping the intersecting climate risks facing each neighborhood that is home to one of California’s 10,000 K-12 public schools. These data are shared with schools and used to customize adaptation innovation resources. Second, the project develops a system for identifying innovative community-based climate adaptation initiatives being pioneered in California. Third, working in collaboration with three public schools and three climate adaptation innovators, the project investigates the opportunities and challenges of accelerating climate adaptation solutions through school-community hubs from the perspective of four stakeholder groups: historically underserved communities vulnerable to climate change, climate adaptation innovators interested in scaling their solutions activities, school administrative and teaching personnel, and city and county planners responsible for climate adaptation. Data collected via case study methods are analyzed to identify effective strategies for ascertaining community preferences and needs, key obstacles to scaling innovative adaptation solutions, potential organizational templates for school-community adaptation hubs, and the needs and preferences of local policymakers.    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.",TRUE
2313994,"Acknowledging and Shifting the Dynamics of Power: Building Equitable Partnerships Among Informal STEM Learning Practitioners, Researchers, and Communities",2025-04-25,Institute for Learning Innovation,PORTLAND,OR,OR03,143166,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313994,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313994_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,972174141,HYX9HNCUQC35,"The National Science Foundation, particularly the Directorate for STEM Education, has long funded work to support collaborations between researchers and practitioners, and to promote the application of research to improve learning outcomes in formal and informal learning environments. Popular and successful approaches have included the development of online repositories that help practitioners access, understand, and apply research knowledge to their work. Increasingly, these efforts involve partnerships that require [1] acknowledging and navigating boundaries by being open and curious to learn about each other and [2] working across these boundaries since effective partnerships work at these intersections as ideas are exchanged and mediated. This project will enhance understanding of how practitioners and researchers can and should form equitable partnerships in service of supporting lifelong STEM learning in informal learning environments. It will also examine how ""community"" intersects with partnerships, and the different levels or scales of community with which an ISL partnership of researchers and practitioners may intentionally and equitably engage. This two-phase Partnership Development and Planning project is conducted by the Institute for Learning Innovation and Pueblo Collab LLC, a community-centered consulting organization focused on shifting organizational culture to build better relationships with communities.     This project will focus on initial processes of building equitable ISL partnerships between practitioners and researchers by engaging in intentional exercises for co-thinking around issues of equity and power in ISL work. Grounded in Ferrell and colleagues' equity-in-mission and equity-in-process, these efforts are designed to build trust and shared understanding among partners while also confronting systemic power dynamics (and their roles in the team's prior partnerships). In Phase one, the core project members will test and refine the processes examining their own and each other's practices before widening the lens. In Phase two, an expanded group of ISL and ISL-adjacent researchers and practitioners will be engaged. Several claims will be scrutinized using co-constructed process evaluation: 1) Providing sufficient time and space for self-reflection and co-reflection conversations about power in ISL researcher-practitioner relationships can support the development of trust. 2) Providing such time and space to engage in this work is central to the co-creation of a shared research agenda. and 3) Iteratively addressing issues around power and trust is essential to creating a healthy, equitable, and lasting ISL researcher-practitioner partnership. By the end of this project the team will have a) created a strong and expanded partnership; b) developed a collection of conversation prompts and exercises specifically useful for developing equitable partnerships between researchers and practitioners in ISL contexts, c) considered how researcher-practitioner partnerships engage with the communities/public audiences, and d) identified future project ideas that ensure reciprocal benefits for the partners and communities involved. Processes will be shared broadly though a co-written blog series.    This Partnership Development & Planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes. By examining the foundational and sometimes problematic practices in the ISL field that must be interrogated to make meaningful change in this space, the project supports AISL's goal for broadening participation in STEM.    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.",FALSE
2144618,CAREER:  Fostering Early STEM Exploration with Gifted and High Ability Black Girls and Their Elementary Teachers through Culturally Relevant Experiential Learning Activities,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Charlotte,CHARLOTTE,NC,NC12,727541,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2144618,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2144618_4900,2022-06-01,2027-05-31,282230001,JB33DT84JNA5,"There is limited scholarship on the experiences of gifted Black girls in STEM Education. Black girls are underrepresented by almost 40% in gifted programs, and under-referred for advanced course work, such as STEM-focused Advanced Placement and other courses. This proposed CAREER project fills a theoretical gap related to the intersections of race, gender, class, and cognitive ability in gifted, urban, and teacher education. The researcher will develop and study co-learning, community-engaged educational programs that center STEM education pipelines and pathways for gifted Black girls. The central aim of this proposed project is to bring about an actionable theory of change at the elementary level to foster a sense of belonging in STEM, early STEM exploration and development, and nurturing a STEM identity, through critical and culturally relevant experiential learning. The project will also develop curricular materials for gifted Black girls and their families (See Me in STEM) as well as professional development materials for teachers (Teachers as Talent Catalysts) as part of the educational integration plan. This CAREER award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    The researcher will provide 20 elementary teachers with professional learning based on relevant literature and the expressed needs of gifted Black girls in STEM using community and familial input. Teacher participants will be immersed in culturally relevant experiential STEM teaching processes to enhance their pedagogy. A mixed-methods research design will inform the development and implementation of two components of the project, the teacher development program, Teachers as Talent Catalysts, and the curriculum developed for use with 40 Black girls identified as gifted and their families, See Me in STEM.  The intended research outcomes include: (1) increased understanding of the experiences of elementary-aged gifted Black girls with respect to STEM identity via experiential learning; (2) development of a theory that centers the voices, historical legacies, and interests of gifted Black girls, their community interests, and families as partners; (3) a co-developed  model for partnership development that supports a shared vision for talent identification and development in elementary STEM for gifted Black girls; and (4) increased understanding of how the co-learning model and collaborative approach informs the STEM talent identification and development of gifted Black girls.    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.",TRUE
2301248,Collaborative Research: The Smart Playground: Computational Thinking through Robotics in Early Childhood,2025-04-25,Boston College,CHESTNUT HILL,MA,MA04,522638,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301248,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2301248_4900,2023-08-01,2027-07-31,024673800,MJ3JH8CRJBZ7,"Technology and computing are increasingly central in the lives of children, and building foundational skills in computational thinking in the early years is a national imperative. Young children can learn best through play and in educational environments that sustain their cultural practices and identities. This Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) project will co-create and study an outdoor robotic-augmented playground called the “Smart Playground” and a corresponding series of classroom lessons. The Smart Playground will be co-designed with Latinx families and educators to engage young children (kindergarten) in developing computational thinking skills and learning about robotics in a physical environment using a culturally sustaining approach. The project will retrofit existing playgrounds in a low-income, predominantly Latinx school district with circuit boards, sensors, and actuators. These boards will allow young children to program their playground to interact with them in different ways. By programming activities that use the playground structures, children will learn foundational computational thinking skills. Further, through co-designing with Latinx families and educators the project will center the technology and activities in families’ routines, values, and cultural funds of knowledge. Research and evaluation will examine whether exposure to the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities have an impact on the development of computational thinking in young children. This project will contribute to the emerging field of robotics in early childhood education by addressing the need for new approaches to teach with and about technology in a developmentally appropriate and culturally sustaining way. This work will increase awareness of early robotics, develop children’s computational thinking skills and STEM identities, and integrate learning opportunities throughout children’s experiences in playgrounds, classrooms, and public spaces. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    This project aims to create and test an innovative educational approach for bringing STEM learning experiences to underserved youth. Using a culturally sustaining approach, this project will co-design, augment, and evaluate the Smart Playground to promote computational thinking with approximately 500 Latinx kindergarten students and their teachers and families from Santa Ana, CA. Using a Design Based Implementation Research approach and a variety of participatory design techniques, this project will create several prototypes of the Smart Playground and corresponding classroom activities. This work is guided by the following research questions: 1.) What is the impact of engaging with the Smart Playground on children’s computational thinking? 2.) How do varied design elements in the Smart Playground support the development of different aspects of computational thinking among children? 3.) In what ways do Latinx children, teachers, and families in Santa Ana propose to integrate local, cultural, and learning practices into the Smart Playground during co-design activities? A wide range of quantitative and qualitative data governing student gains in computational thinking during baseline, implementation, and follow-up phases will inform the iterative process of design-test-redesign. The project will also collect, transcribe, and analyze observations, interviews, and meeting records to develop thematic insights into culturally sustaining designs and re-design of the Smart Playground elements. Ultimately, this project will result in an evidenced based set of prototypes and lessons that promote computational thinking and build from the cultural strengths of Latinx children. Designs and lessons will prioritize usable and scalable materials to create playful computational thinking opportunities in classrooms and playgrounds across the country and the world.    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.",FALSE
2342842,NSF-JST: An Inclusive Human-Centered Risk Management Modeling Framework for Flood Resilience,2025-04-25,Lehigh University,BETHLEHEM,PA,PA07,499271,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,GVF - Global Venture Fund,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342842,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342842_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,180153008,E13MDBKHLDB5,"Modern flood risk is influenced by the way nature works (such as how rainfall becomes streamflow) and how people organize things (such as how properties are protected). To comprehensively study flood risk, one must focus on specific spatial scales, acknowledge variations within those areas, and evaluate the lasting impacts of floods on society. This project, jointly supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the US and the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), brings a team of scientists together to perform research that will develop a novel computer modeling approach that helps us understand and manage flood risk better. This approach is designed to create a modeling system that considers the natural conditions of the study area, people's perceptions and experiences related to floods, and factors such as governmental policies on buyouts and insurance. Most importantly, the research explicitly considers the differential impact of floods on vulnerable groups, including low-income, minority, disabled, and elderly individuals.     The project is structured around three research tasks. The first focuses on establishing a comprehensive US-Japan flood risk data inventory, concentrating on existing and missing data related to marginalized groups. The work serves as a foundation for future collaborative flood research between the two countries. The second research task involves the development of a two-way coupled, multi-scale, agent-based flood risk catastrophe model that considers both marginalized and non-marginalized groups. This international collaboration ensures the incorporation of diverse cultural and societal factors from Japan and the US. The third research task centers on analyzing flood risks and resilience by jointly creating climate change and socioeconomic scenarios with an inter-country project advisory board. This project forms a meaningful trans-Pacific partnership for the next generation of flood modeling and advances the four priority areas of the Sendai Framework: 1) understanding disaster risk; 2) strengthening disaster risk governance; 3) investing in disaster risk resilience; and 4) enhancing disaster preparedness.    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.",FALSE
2216540,BPC-DP: Cultivating Academic Inclusion and Career Engagement to Increase the Persistence of Minoritized Students in Computing,2025-04-25,Pennsylvania State Univ University Park,UNIVERSITY PARK,PA,PA15,296804,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,IIS Special Projects,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216540,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216540_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,168021503,NPM2J7MSCF61,"Despite efforts to broaden participation in technology majors at US universities, classroom learning environments and career engagement opportunities have not evolved to meet the unique needs of increasingly diverse student bodies. The voices and experiences of women, Black and Hispanic / Latinx students are commonly underrepresented in existing curriculum and instructional practices, which reinforces inequities that impede their learning, engagement, and persistence in technology majors. This demonstration project aims to create first-year learning experiences reflective of the knowledge and skills of minoritized students. The project team will pilot a novel approach for overlaying inclusive teaching practices on the well-established Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate (ADDIE) course design model. Instructors at Penn State’s College of Information Sciences and Technology will participate in Inclusive ADDIE workshops to redesign the first-year course and develop a digital badging credential. The expected outcomes of these faculty development activities include first-year learning experiences that foster classroom spaces that welcome and support diverse learners, strengthen student-teacher interactions, and incentivize and reward students’ exploration of technology career resources and opportunities.     Broadening participation initiatives tend to focus on recruiting new students while overlooking current students as an essential asset in reaching diversity goals. The proposed study uses Inclusive ADDIE, an action-oriented framework, to reimagine a first-year course that enhances the learning experiences and career exploration opportunities of minoritized students majoring in IST. The project team will implement and assess two scalable and reproducible faculty development interventions that consider intersectionality and facilitate modifications to curriculum and instructional practices to bolster students’ persistence. The Inclusive ADDIE framework has transformative potential concerning more significant theorizing of race and ethnicity related to inclusive pedagogies and course design. This project also offers a repeatable methodology and curriculum for inclusive pedagogy and course design that supports the persistence of minoritized students in technology majors.    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.",FALSE
2513528,"The Influence of Climate, Social Networks, and Cultural Models on the Retention of Women and Racially/Ethnically Marginalized Engineers in Graduate School and the Workforce",2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,613946,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2513528,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2513528_4900,2024-10-01,2028-01-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"This project follows engineering graduate students, professors, and those in industry to learn about their experiences when it comes to the climate they face in engineering and the factors that relate to their persistence. Specially, this research involves multiple explanatory angles to understand persistence, including the knowledge and beliefs engineers have, the people whom they go to for advice and resources, and the climate they experience in engineering. This advances scientific knowledge about the multiple intersecting phenomena that shape social trends when it comes to how the engineering workforce (industry and academia) does not represent the broader U.S. population demographically. This knowledge can help craft more inclusive engineering environments and broaden participation in the field. A more representative engineering workforce can improve society in multiple ways, such as by supporting advancements in engineering practice and education made possible by diverse perspectives therefore making peoples’ lives better both inside and outside of the academy.    This study builds upon an existing dataset, following a previous cohort. The project revisits approximately 2,100 participants from 11 universities who were enrolled in their first year in an engineering degree program in 2014. The previous project followed them for five years through annual surveys and two rounds of interviews with a subsample of 55 women and underrepresented students. In the new project, we follow the large cohort again using two more surveys, and also conduct interviews this time expanded to a total of 120 interviewees. Altogether, the new project expands the dataset into what will become a 12-year longitudinal project that began with students reflecting on their last year of high school to then following them into their first few years of graduate school or engineering occupations. The new project additionally provides outcome information for many respondents from the first study who were still enrolled in their engineering program at their fifth year. Further, the new project introduces added dimensions of identity measures (beyond binary gender as well as sexuality) to further capture how diversity is likely subsequently tied to climate and persistence. Using Ego Network Analysis, Logistic Regression, and Reflective Thematic Analysis, findings from this work can show how institutional climate intersects with cultural models and social networks to impact persistence in ways that likely vary for engineers with a range of identities, including those of race/ethnicity, binary gender, gender diverse, and sexuality.    This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2438411,Conference: 2025 NPA IMPACT Fellowship Program Summit,2025-04-25,National Postdoctoral Association,NORTH POTOMAC,MD,MD08,49736,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2438411,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2438411_4900,2024-09-15,2025-08-31,208788705,KL3KU62JFJ36,"This project aims to support a summit of the National Postdoctoral Association (NPA) IMPACT Fellowship Program, an event of critical importance as postdoctoral fellows from underrepresented communities selected for the program learn and network with one another  and others to benefit themselves and society as a whole. This proposed summit aims to be the essential culmination of the fourth class of IMPACT Fellows, enabling strategically planned activities that promote and extend the duration of the learning objectives of the fellowship. The six current IMPACT Fellows will meet in person for the first time and engage in didactic and interactive skills learning, peer engagement, and mentor connectivity in order to strengthen their personal and professional chances of success in STEM and STEM-adjacent fields. This work, in turn, benefits society broadly by helping create a successful, increasingly connected, and empowered class of IMPACT Fellows from disadvantaged backgrounds, scholars who have been selected for their Fellowship in part due to clearly demonstrated need for tools for professional growth. As a pinnacle of the 16-month IMPACT Fellowship, the Summit, connected to the NPA Annual Conference, the largest gathering of postdoctoral researchers in the U.S., aims to significantly increase the chances of these members of underrepresented communities achieving faculty positions and thereby diversifying academia.    This event provides a select cohort of exceptional postdoctoral fellows from underrepresented backgrounds with additional tools as they continue their journeys to the professoriate. The project supports an invitation-only session set as a preconference to the NPA Annual Conference and will be attended by NPA IMPACT Fellows (6); IMPACT Fellow Mentors (6); NPA IMPACT Task Force Members (6); IMPACT Fellow Alums (2); and Invited Speakers (2). This proposal will financially support members of underrepresented communities to be able to attend the summit and the NPA conference. The IMPACT Program curriculum emphasizes relational learning and self-efficacy, is designed nimbly to maximize Fellows’ sense of belonging and connection to a broader community and provide education and career pathways to postdoctoral scholars to help broaden participation in STEM and related research. The summit aims to achieve its goals using a four-component method: 1) peer discussion and learning; 2) speaker-led interactive workshops; 3) program evaluation and feedback; and 4) networking opportunities. The scope of the project helps 1) inform the curriculum of the next class of IMPACT Fellows for 2025-26, 2) ensure the longevity of IMPACT Fellowship learnings of current Fellows in their STEM careers, and 3) inform, through creation and dissemination of a paper summarizing session results, the content of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) postdoctoral programs in STEM offered by the NPA’s research institution members and partners. This project also aims to support the work of IMPACT Fellows as they develop Individual IMPACT Projects (IIPs) to empower their home (institution/minority cohort) communities, sharing lessons learned as researchers from underrepresented backgrounds. The summit methodology includes individual and group feedback on cross-disciplinary presentations of these projects for the benefit of all participants.    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.",FALSE
2101667,Collaborative Research: Developing and Researching K-12 Teacher Leaders Enacting Anti-bias Mathematics Education,2025-04-25,Oregon State University,CORVALLIS,OR,OR04,621002,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101667,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101667_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,973318655,MZ4DYXE1SL98,"There is increased recognition that engaging all students in learning mathematics requires an explicit focus on anti-bias mathematics teaching. Teachers, even with positive intentions, have biases, causing them to treat students differently and impacting how they distribute students’ opportunities to learn in K-12 mathematics classrooms. Research is needed to examine models of mathematics teacher professional development that explicitly addresses bias reduction. The goal of this project is to study the design and development of community-centered, job-embedded professional development for classroom teachers that supports bias reduction. The project team will partner with three school districts serving racially, ethnically, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse communities, for a two-year professional development program. The aim is to reduce bias through: analyzing and designing mathematics teaching with colleagues, students, and families to create classrooms and schools based on community-centered mathematics; engaging in anti-bias teaching routines; and building relationships with parents, caretakers, and community members. The project team will study teacher leader professional development, including the professional development model, framework, and tools, along with what teacher leaders across district contexts and grade-levels take up and use in their instructional practice.  This will potentially have wider implications for supporting more equitable mathematics teaching and leadership. Project activities, resources, and tools will be shared with the broader community of mathematics educators and researchers for use in other contexts.     The goal of this two-phase, design based research project is to iteratively design and research teacher leaders’ (TLs) participation in community-centered, job-embedded professional development and investigate their subsequent impact on classrooms, schools, and districts. The project builds on the existing Math Studio professional development model to create a Community Centered Math Studio, integrating the Anti-bias Mathematics Education Framework into the work. The project seeks to understand how the professional development model supports the development of teacher leaders' knowledge, dispositions, and practices for teaching and leading anti-bias mathematics education, and how teachers' subsequent classroom practice can cultivate students' mathematical engagement, discourse, and interests. The project will measure aspects of teacher knowledge and classroom practice by integrating existing classroom observation rubrics and STEM interest surveys to assess the impact on teacher classroom practice and student outcomes. The project will engage 12 TLs and approximately 60 additional teachers working with those TLs in two years of professional development using the Community Centered Math Studio Model to support anti-bias mathematics teaching. Data will be collected for all teachers related to their participation in the professional learning, with six teachers being followed for additional data collection and in-depth case studies. The project's outcomes will contribute to theories of how TLs build adaptive expertise for teaching and leading to reduce bias in classrooms, departments, schools, and districts. In addition, the project will contribute new and adapted research instruments on anti-bias teaching and leading. The research outcomes will add to the growing research base that describes the nature of equitable mathematics teaching in K-12 classrooms and increases access to meaningful mathematics for students, teachers, and communities.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2414497,"2024 Signal Transduction in Engineered Extracellular Matrices Gordon Research Conference and Seminar; Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, New Hampshire; 20-26 July 2024",2025-04-25,Gordon Research Conferences,EAST GREENWICH,RI,RI02,10000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",Engineering of Biomed Systems,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2414497,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2414497_4900,2024-05-01,2025-04-30,028183454,XL5ANMKWN557,"This award will support the 2024 Signal Transduction in Engineered Extracellular Matrices Gordon Research Conference and Seminar; Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester, New Hampshire; 20-26 July 2024, which builds on prior Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) and Gordon Research Seminars (GRS) on Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices (STEEM) to explore questions that will define the next decade of work in engineered microenvironments for next-generation biology, disease modeling, and therapeutics. Conference session topics include how the field can combine mechanics and molecular reporters to create living/dynamic materials; develop bio-instructive materials capable of understanding cell heterogeneity and cell death mechanisms; exploit multi-scale modeling and systems biology to predict material and cell coevolution; and determine the influence of sex and ancestry on cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) signaling.    Over the past quarter-century, the GRC and GRS on Signal Transduction by Engineered Extracellular Matrices (STEEM) has served as the premier venue for sharing and discussing cutting-edge developments in ECM science and engineering. The objectives of the 2024 GRC include: (i) Be a forum in which information and ideas are freely exchanged between researchers of diverse and complementary backgrounds to discuss the emerging technologies at the interface of materials and cells. (ii) Support a diverse set of young and early career investigators by exposing them to new and exciting ideas and opportunities in an environment that encourages collegial interactions. (iii) Bring together scientists across all experience levels, from trainees to senior scientists, and represent diverse fields of expertise and professional settings, from academic labs to national labs to small and large biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, to foster meaningful, long-lasting collaborations and (iv) Encourage lasting collegial interactions and initiation of collaborations between young, mid-career, and senior investigators of diverse fields. The conference will broaden participation from diverse audiences and will provide networking opportunities to both early career scientists and scientists historically underrepresented in the field.    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.",FALSE
2127359,Collaborative Research: How do histories of violence shape affect and experience?,2025-04-25,"Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.",ATLANTA,GA,GA05,283420,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127359,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127359_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,303032921,MNS7B9CVKDN7,"Violence affects individual and community health in both subtle and obvious ways, acutely and over the long term. Even in areas that are no longer impacted by direct violence, historical legacies of violence can cause lingering trauma among those who experienced it. These traumas can be transmitted to individuals who were not otherwise affected by violence. This research project addresses the question of how regional and temporal histories of violence affect emotional responses and ongoing experiences of individuals affected -directly or indirectly - by violence. Using theory from cultural anthropology and geography, the project will contribute to more innovative science by considering how violence over time and space continues to elicit emotional responses in affected communities. The project widens the pipeline of highly qualified minority students into leading graduate programs. It will build scientific infrastructure at a minority-serving institution and increase public literacy of science by making findings publicly accessible.      The investigators seek to answer the following questions: 1) How does variation in the history of violence affect perceptions of danger and safety embedded in associated landscapes? How are legacies and ongoing dynamics of violence reflected in the human body and in geographic space? How can public histories be re-constructed to account for these legacies and ongoing dynamics? The Co-PIs and their teams of student researchers will conduct ethnographic research over a three-year period in fourteen communities with variable histories of violence. The team will identify, collect, and aggregate existing spatial data and maps related to violence; affected communities, and their dynamics over time. For comparative perspective, the researchers will conduct a range of interviews with people across study sites. The results will provide insights relevant to decreasing the burden of violence on human societies.    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.",FALSE
2314653,Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Learning Without Formal Education,2025-04-25,Washington State University,PULLMAN,WA,WA05,31500,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cult Anthro DDRI,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314653,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314653_4900,2023-07-01,2025-06-30,991640001,XRJSGX384TD6,"Humans are remarkably adept in adapting to diverse natural and social environments. This is made possible in large part by their capacity to learn from others. Furthermore, human adaptation arises in contexts without formal education. In many societies where education arsies informally, children acquire critical skills and relevant knowledge rapidly and beginning at an early age. This project examines from whom and how children and adolescents learn complex skills and knowledge in contexts lacking formal education. The study considers how a child’s age, gender, cultural ideas about what children can and cannot do at particular ages, and cultural values impact from whom and how children learn. The research project disseminates its findings to academics, policymakers, and the general public to expand the understanding of the diverse ways by which children learn and how these insights might be incorporated into formal education systems. The project also provides research and training opportunities to graduate students in scientific cultural anthropology.      Specifically, this doctoral dissertation project weighs theoretical debates about learning without formal education in culturally distinct neighboring communities within contexts in which intercultural marriages are commonplace versus rare. It addresses whether these contexts affect whether knowledge is transmitted from parent to child, from peer to peer, or from unrelated teachers. It further tests whether learning is biased according to content, commonness, or to prestige of the teacher. The investigators use a variety of semi-structured parental and child interviews as well as behavioral observational techniques to provide systematically acquired qualitative and quantitative data to address theoretical debates that are frequently abstract. In doing so, the research project contributes to a key area of scientific anthropological inquiry that currently lacks sufficient empirical evidence to weigh among alternative models of social learning.    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.",TRUE
2047513,"CAREER: Developing, Designing and Distributing Technology to Increase Equitable Outcomes in Energy, Information and Aerospace Sectors",2025-04-25,Massachusetts Institute of Technology,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA07,640978,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047513,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2047513_4900,2021-09-15,2026-08-31,021394301,E2NYLCDML6V1,"The project will create and validate a framework to explain, evaluate and prescribe approaches to designing technical systems that consider and increase equity. The project will define a scale to measure society’s relationship to technology using four categories:  Concept, Artifact, Complex Product System and Complex Sociotechnical System to evaluate case studies.   These case studies will be used to develop interventions in the development, design, and distribution of technology as well as the creation of a curriculum for training graduate students and industry representatives. The project will be of interest to designers of technology, decision makers in industry, scholars of technology and students training in STEM.    Using scholarship from the history of science and political science, the project will create analytical narratives of case studies of technical systems from the Energy Sector and the Information & Aerospace Sector. The case study analysis is organized based on a Systems Architecture Framework drawn from Systems Engineering. The product of Phase I of the research agenda is a series of publications stating theoretical propositions. Phase II of the research agenda uses the same case studies to perform or observe an intervention designed to increase equitable outcomes in the design, development, and distribution of technology. The research is complemented by an education agenda that will create curriculum modules for graduate students in the Media Lab’s Program in Media Arts and Sciences as well as short courses for the public sector that reflect how to design, develop, and distribute technology to consider multiple axes of oppression and privilege.    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.",FALSE
2452096,Reducing Racially-Biased Beliefs by Fostering a Complex Understanding of Human Genetics Research in High-School Biology Students,2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,1402246,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2452096,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2452096_4900,2024-10-01,2026-09-30,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Genetic essentialism is the belief that people of the same race share genes that make them physically, cognitively, and behaviorally uniform, and thus different from other races. The project will refine a genetics education curriculum, called Humane Genome Literacy (HGL), in order to reduce belief in genetic essentialism. This research will provide curriculum writers and educators with knowledge about how to design a humane genetics education to maximize reductions in students’ genetic essentialist beliefs and minimize the threat of backfiring (unintentionally increasing belief in essentialism). The research findings will demonstrate how to support teachers who wish to reduce beliefs in genetic essentialism by teaching students about the complexity of human genetics research using the HGL learning materials.  Project research findings, learning materials, and professional development institutes will be made available to educators and researchers across the country who desire to teach genetics to reduce racial prejudice.     To prepare for the research, the project will revise and augment the project’s existing HGL curriculum and professional development institutes.  In year one, the project will develop new versions of the HGL interventions. Using these materials, the project will train teachers to implement new versions of the HGL interventions in their classrooms. Researchers will video and audio record a sample of teachers and students as they learn. These data will be analyzed qualitatively to: (1) examine how the conceptual change of genetic essentialism was promoted or impeded by interactions between teachers, students, and the materials; and (2) identify and corroborate general factors undergirding the backfiring effect.  Knowledge constructed through these studies will be used to revise the HGL interventions and PDIs.  In year three, using the revised versions of the HGL intervention, the project will conduct a cluster randomized trial (CRT). The CRT will compare the HGL interventions to a well-defined “business as usual” genetics curriculum, using a statistically powerful and geographically diverse sample (N = 135 teachers, N = 16,200 students, from 33 states). Using data from the CRT, the project will identify classrooms where the interventions reduced essentialism, had no effect on it, and where it backfired. Then, the project will use stimulated recall methods to interview the teachers and students in those classrooms to make sense of factors that contributed to these outcomes. The project will use this information to develop the final version of the HGL interventions and PDI materials. By the end of year four, the project will have trained an additional 90-100 teachers to use HGL interventions, reaching an additional 10,800-12,000 students, in at least 33 different states.     The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2333262,Collaborative Research: Utilizing Professional Societies to Achieve a Reinforcing Transformative Culture (UPSTART Culture),2025-04-25,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,351684,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333262,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333262_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"The geosciences professions are an area of critical national need that ensures the energy, natural resource, and environmental security of the United States. To satisfy demand for a sufficiently competent and technically skilled geosciences workforce, Utilizing Professional Societies to Achieve a Reinforcing Transformative Culture (UPSTART Culture) deploys a program of staged professional development for aspiring geoscientists to create an iteratively reinforcing learning ecosystem that is deliberately inclusive of all participants. The goal is to promote the humanity of geoscientists to create an ever-growing scientific workforce respecting the dignity and autonomy of individuals toward career success. The Geological Society of America’s (GSA) On to the Future (OTF) program is a professional development program for students from groups structurally underrepresented in the geosciences. GSA’s definition of underrepresentation includes traditionally protected classes as well as non-traditional student categories (e.g., 1st-generation college students, single parents, veterans, students from under-resourced school systems in both urban and rural settings, etc.) The current effort scales OTF to a multi-year program of cohort activities as well as mentor-focused workshops. Stage 1 introduces OTF scholars and professional society mentors to activities for identity appreciation/development, building social capital, and networking with professional societies. Stage 2 features professional societies providing OTF scholars with skill-building workshops, short courses, and field trips with critical feedback to societies related to promotion of inclusive norms. Stage 3 tasks OTF scholars with mentors/professional societies to refine inclusionary practices and develop leadership within society functions. Stage 4 returns OTF scholars as emerging leaders to Stage 1 activities to reinforce best practices promoting diversity and inclusive cultural norms such that the nation sustains a robust and representative workforce of highly skilled and competent geoscientists.    UPSTART Culture will create an innovative, dynamic, and reciprocating learning ecosystem leveraging investments in several culture-transforming programs: GSA On to the Future (OTF), HHMI Geoscience Ambassadors, NSF GEOPATHS, and NSF Geosciences Associated Societies Committed to Embracing & Normalizing Diversity Research Coordination Network (Geosciences ASCEND). Grounding powerful principles of system dynamics in sociocultural conceptualizations of identity development and cultural change, UPSTART Culture will deliberately disrupt Geoscience Culture, establish a critical process and iterative routine for long-term systemic norming. The approach centers the premise that all those practicing science are informed by their identities and pathways. Storytelling centers agency and responsibility in creating an inclusive geoscientific community as a necessary counter to assimilationist norms; e.g., that one becomes a scientist by learning a way of being, doing, and compliance with a demonstrably toxic cultural milieu.  Professional societies convene communities to reinforce professional norms and practices. UPSTART Culture will activate professional societies for change by developing safe spaces that link transformational processes of storytelling and co-design for critiquing exclusive, oppressive, unjust norms and promoting more equitable, inclusive democratic and just norms at scale.    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.",FALSE
2341996,SCC-PG: Internet of Waste: A Low-Cost Geospatial Sensor Network for Optimizing Solid Waste Management and Fostering Resident's Recycling Effectiveness Through Evidential Education,2025-04-25,Saint Louis University,SAINT LOUIS,MO,MO01,149791,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2341996,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2341996_4900,2024-04-01,2025-09-30,631032006,JNBLLTBTLLD8,"Solid waste management, particularly for recyclables, remains a significant challenge for communities with only a small fraction of recyclables collected for recycling and only 5% eventually recycled globally. Mismanaged solid waste is routed to landfills and incinerators, 80% of which are built in low-income communities and communities of color, causing substantial public health problems and environmental injustice. Thus, enabling a circular economy of solid waste comes with great rewards, and failure comes at a catastrophic cost regarding the environment, public health, and equity. The proposed project will develop an IoT system to connect people and communities to the fate of their waste by forming data-driven links between citizens, local government, waste service contractors, and policymakers. The project will yield community-tailored education and outreach, increasing participation in recycling by underserved communities of St. Louis while increasing the general public’s scientific literacy in waste reduction and recycling. The sensor network initialized in this study is general and has the potential to unlock a new recycling economy of operational recycling data that can benefit local governments.    This project aims to create a multilayered model for municipal waste that connects residents, policymakers, non-profits, educators, and waste management contractors in reducing waste and increasing recycling efficiency in St. Louis, MO. The project will undertake initial community engagement and exploratory design for creating a sensor network that fills the data gap on incoming recyclable and non-recyclable solid waste by transforming waste bins into edge devices. This planning grant will hone the sensors’ design parameters, identify data gaps that impact waste management operations, and delineate citizens’ expectations of recycling service transparency and privacy concerns related to collecting residential solid waste data. Initial work will also engage non-profits and community groups that work on reducing food waste. In addition to the sensor network, the project will prototype three AI models: one for optimizing city-wide recycling operations, the second for quantifying the impact of various recycling outreach on recycling rates, and a third for psychometric analysis to assess outreach strategies that result in recycling and waste reduction behavior change.    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.",FALSE
2101526,Collaborative Research: Accessible Computational Thinking in Elementary Science Classes within and across Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Contexts,2025-04-25,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,1172781,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101526,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101526_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Currently, students who are white, affluent, and identify as male tend to develop a greater interest in and pursuit of science and computing-related careers compared to their Black, Latinx, Native American, and female-identifying peers. Yet, science, computing, and computational thinking drive societal decision-making and problem-solving. The lack of cultural and racial diversity in science and computing-related careers can lead to societal systems and decision-making structures that fail to consider a wide range of perspectives and expertise. Teachers play a critical role in preparing students to develop these skills and succeed in a technological and scientific world. For this reason, it is crucial to investigate how teachers can help culturally and linguistically diverse students develop a greater understanding of and interest in science and computers. This research project aims to enhance elementary teacher education in science and computational thinking pedagogy through the use of Culturally Relevant Teaching, i.e. teaching in ways that are relevant to students from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds The project will support 60 elementary teachers in summer professional development and consistent learning opportunities during the school year to learn about and enact culturally relevant computational thinking into their science instruction. In doing so, the project aims to increase both the quantity and quality of computing experiences for all elementary students and support NSF’s commitment in broadening participation in the STEM workforce. The project will also produce resources, measures, and tools to support elementary teachers to do this kind of work, which will be shared with other STEM researchers and teacher educators.    The goal of this research project is to design and promote teaching practices that integrate computational thinking in the elementary science classroom in culturally relevant ways. This project will seek to empower practicing elementary teachers’ approaches to meaningfully and effectively integrate and adapt computational thinking into their regular science teaching practice so that all students can access the curriculum. It will also explore the impact of these approaches on student learning and self-efficacy. The scope of this project will include working with multiple highly distinct school settings in Maryland, Arizona, and Washington DC across three years, reaching approximately 60 elementary teachers and 1,200 students. To achieve the project objectives, the research team will leverage concurrent mixed methods approaches that include teacher and student interviews, reflections, observations, descriptive case study reports as well as regression and multilevel modeling. The project’s findings will inform the fields’ understanding of: (a) teachers’ conceptualization of computational thinking; (b) the barriers elementary teachers encounter when trying to integrate computational thinking with culturally relevant teaching practices; (c) the types of support that are effective in teacher professional development experiences  and throughout the school year; and (d) the development of a cohort of teachers that can maintain integration efforts in different districts.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM subjects by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2330332,"Collaborative Research: The Role of Elites, Organizations, and Movements in Reshaping Politics and Policymaking",2025-04-25,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,196240,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330332,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2330332_4900,2022-10-01,2025-10-31,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Arguably, the current political climate is the function of three seemingly distinct, yet interrelated, ongoing phenomena: (1) a contentious, problem-laden political environment, (2) grassroots organizations driving unprecedented levels of engagement and turnout, and (3) national movements driving discourse, preferences, and reform around long-held policy grievances. The combination of contentious politics and an energized electorate can result in record turnout despite a raging pandemic. The PIs examine how these features of the American polity shape public and institutional political behaviors. The project aims to build a network, and supportive infrastructure, to better understand how political elites, organizations, and movements in key political locations work to drive participation, preferences, and policymaking.      The project examines two broad research questions. The first question is: How do organizations and social movements mediate political preferences and policy agendas amongst the mass public? Second, it is interested in the collaboration between organizations and social movements and how these interactions shape traditional and untraditional forms of political participation. The study draws on a comprehensive mixture of quantitative (surveys, survey experiments, voter data analysis, social media analysis, and social network analysis) and qualitative (ethnographic observations, content analysis, elite interviews, and focus groups) methodological approaches to answer these questions. This study examines political activities during two electoral periods in several transformative states and municipalities. The broader impacts of the study are numerous. First, it connects a network of scholars from a diverse set of institutions. The project builds critical infrastructure at partner institutions to facilitate data collection and analysis. Namely, it (1) builds mobile research labs designed to conduct rapid response surveys during protests and organizational rallies, and (2) establishes data analysis centers at two minority serving institutions, and (3) provides cutting-edge training, tools, and professional resources to students from marginalized and underserved groups.    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.",TRUE
2115963,"Collaborative Research: Intergenerational Learning, Deliberation, and Decision Making For Changing Lands and Waters",2025-04-25,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,1223091,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115963,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115963_4900,2021-09-01,2026-08-31,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"Creating science education that can contribute to cultivating just, culturally thriving, and sustainable worlds is an important issue of our time. Indigenous peoples have persistently been under-represented in science reproducing inequalities in a myriad of ways from educational attainment, participation in and contributing to innovations in foundational knowledge, to effective policy making that upholds and respects Indigenous sovereignty. The development of models of science education that attend to intersections of knowledge and development, socio-scientific decision-making and civic leadership, and the complexities and contradictions of these realities, is imperative. This five-year Innovations in Development project broadens participation and strengthens infrastructure and capacity for Indigenous learners to meet, adapt to, and lead change in relation to the socio-ecological challenges of the 21st century. The project engages multi-sited community-based design studies to develop and research the impacts of Indigenous informal field-based science education with three Indigenous leadership communities from the Pacific Northwest and the Great Lakes. This project will have broader impacts through model development, building infrastructure to transform the capacity of informal field-based science education, and will produce cutting edge foundational knowledge about pressing 21st century issues with a particular focus on Indigenous communities. The project increases Indigenous participation in research through 1) engagement of Indigenous community members as research assistants, 2) training of Indigenous graduate fellows, and post-doctoral fellows, and 3) supporting the careers of more junior Indigenous scholars.     This research seeks to identify key design features of an Indigenous field (land/water) based model of science education and to understand how learners’ and educators’ reasoning, deliberation, decision-making, and leadership about complex socio-ecological systems and community change evolve in such learning environments. The project also examines key aspects of co-design and partnership with Tribal communities and how these methods of co-production of new science enable new capacities for systems transformation. This multi-layered project is organized through 3 panels of studies including: Panel 1) community-based design experiments to develop and refine a model of Indigenous informal science education; Panel 2) co-design and implementation of professional learning programs for Indigenous informal science education; and Panel 3) foundational studies in cognition and learning with respect to socio-ecological systems thinking and the impact on learning and instructional practices. Of particular importance in this research is the rigorous development and articulation of effective pedagogical practices and orientations. More broadly, findings will have clear implications for theories of cognitive development, deliberation and environmental decision making and especially those pertaining to how knowledge is shaped by culture and experience.     This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.    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.",FALSE
2411737,Collaborative Research: Building and Testing a Framework for Liberatory and Conceptual Mathematics Learning with Black Disabled Students,2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Cruz,SANTA CRUZ,CA,CA19,817107,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411737,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411737_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,950641077,VXUFPE4MCZH5,"Black disabled students encounter systemic challenges in K-12 education such as being overrepresented in special education categories of behavioral and intellectual disabilities while facing harsher disciplinary consequences compared to other students. These challenges impact their opportunities for meaningful STEM learning. A key avenue to counter these disparities is through high school mathematics teacher coaching encompassing knowledge of the interactional nature of racism and ableism in teaching and decision making. Therefore, this project aims to develop and test a theoretical coaching framework that addresses challenges while advancing conceptual mathematics learning and high school mathematics instructional practices.    Using qualitative participatory methodology, this project will involve establishing and sustaining an authentic partnership with a cohort of Black disabled high school students. Their voices, knowledge, and experiences will be central in informing the development of this project’s coaching theoretical framework. The research team will support students’ learning, developing, and enacting ways to counter racism and ableism, advance conceptually oriented mathematics instructional practices, and impact instruction to improve students’ experiences and learning opportunities. Students will have opportunities to convene to share their experiences, and mathematics teachers will participate in professional development opportunities to support working with students as well as piloting and developing the coaching model. This project will contribute to both theory and practice in mathematics education as well as produce positive impact to the lives of Black disabled students.    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.",FALSE
2404264,Collaborative Research: ADVANCE Partnership: Golden Compass Onward: Geospatial sciences Alliance for International women faculty Advancement (GAIA),2025-04-25,Association of American Geographers,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,912722,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2404264,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2404264_4900,2024-09-01,2028-08-31,200065805,VCEDP1MAPF43,"The Geospatial sciences Alliance for International women faculty Advancement (GAIA) project brings the University of Northern Colorado and two STEM professional societies, the American Association of Geographers and the University Consortium of Geographic Information Science, into a partnership to identify and address systemic inequities in academic workplaces in Geography and Geospatial Sciences. The research literature indicates that professional societies are well positioned to effect positive change in academic departments in their disciplines. Informed by a mixed-methods assessment of departmental climates and barriers, the GAIA project will support department leaders to engender more welcoming environments and develop more equitable policies and practices that lead to success for all faculty.     The GAIA project will gather and synthesize intersectional qualitative and quantitative data on barriers and lived experiences to inform equity systemic change toolkits for deployment in Geography and Geospatial Sciences departments. The project team will support a cohort of department leaders in their implementation and evaluation of the toolkits and will sustain the effort in long-term collaboration with the cohort. The team will disperse the toolkits and disseminate results throughout the profession, impacting approximately 10,000 individual faculty members. This partnership will be evaluated formatively and summatively by an external evaluator and will be supported by internal and external advisory boards.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",FALSE
2314850,Doctoral Dissertation Research: Acculturation and Mental Health among Immigrant Communities,2025-04-25,Texas A&M University,COLLEGE STATION,TX,TX10,28202,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cult Anthro DDRI,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314850,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314850_4900,2023-07-15,2025-06-30,778454375,JF6XLNB4CDJ5,"Acculturation refers to the processes and consequences of cultural change from exposure to a new society. Recent studies show that immigrants in the U.S. actively construct, negotiate, and achieve their own success frame of becoming American within their ethnic communities. In this context, individual Americanization is influenced by immigrants’ own socioeconomic contexts and trajectories in relation to their ethnic communities. This research studies how immigrants define acculturation at an ethnic community-level, and in what context their struggle to be in accordance with the success can affect their mental health. In addition to training a doctoral student in cultural anthropology, this research sheds light on the relationship between the multifaceted experience of immigrants results and health disparities, the results of which will be disseminated broadly to academic and non-academic audiences. This project also broadens the participation of underrepresented groups.    This doctoral dissertation project incorporates participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and surveys to examine: 1) whether there are different patterns in the ways immigrants perceive and achieve the shared success frame of “becoming American” in their ethnic community; and 2) whether the different patterns explain variations in mental health among immigrants that cannot be explained by linear acculturation scales alone. The project contributes to the greater understanding of the dynamics and consequences of migration, by shifting attention toward the lived experience of the individual and how the interlocking relationship between culture and social structures results in immigrant health disparities.    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.",TRUE
2322705,Beginnings: Addressing the Talent and Diversity Gap in Biotechnology Workforce,2025-04-25,University of Louisiana at Lafayette,LAFAYETTE,LA,LA03,999291,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322705,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2322705_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,705032014,C169K7T4QZ96,"The AddreSSing the TalEnt and DiversiTy Gap in Biotechnology Workforce (ASSET) project aims to fill the talent and diversity issues in the biotechnology workforce by providing high-impact experiential education experiences of undergraduate research, internships, and a cohort model to college students in Louisiana. Recognizing that the degree attainment disparities among different demographic groups impact the future emerging technology workforce, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the University of Louisiana System, seek to leverage the success of the existing UL Lewis Scholars Program to address the talent and diversity gap in the biotechnology industry. Project ASSET will build on and expand the components of the Lewis Scholars program by bringing STEM-focused research and internship experiences to the existing program to help prepare participants to become the next-generation workforce for the biotechnology industry.     The University of Louisiana will collaborate with industry partners to teach workplace and biotechnology job-related skills to create pathways into the biotechnology industry. The ASSET program aims to address barriers and promote STEM education for underrepresented students through outreach, mentorship, collaboration, and partnerships with academic institutions, research organizations, and community organizations. In the summers, 18 Lewis Scholars will participate in the experiential activities of undergraduate research experience and internships at biotechnology industry partners. Throughout the academic year, UL System faculty, industry partners (such as CGI, a leading information technology and business consulting services firm), and industry researchers will interact with the participants to build biotechnology skills, to familiarize Scholars with biotechnology industry culture, and to create career pathways via networking opportunities. The project will evaluate the working relationship between the leadership team and the business and corporate partners. The project will also assess participants’ gains in biotechnology skills, interest in, and plans for biotechnology careers. This project aligns with the NSF ExLENT Program, funded by the NSF TIP and EDU Directorates, as it seeks to support experiential learning opportunities for individuals from diverse professional and educational backgrounds to increase their interest in, and their access to, career pathways in emerging technology fields.    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.",FALSE
2140646,Co-Constructing Faculty Critical Consciousness In Engineering Education,2025-04-25,University of San Diego,SAN DIEGO,CA,CA51,464828,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140646,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140646_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,921102476,V6S1GT51XD56,"The overall goals of this project are twofold: to advance understanding of the system of privileges and advantages in engineering education and to create a professional development program to help engineering faculty develop the skills to critically question social, cultural, historical, and political effects of this privilege in engineering. Engineering education is built on a system that historically privileges and normalizes the values, beliefs, experiences, and perspectives of particular identities that guide the work of the field. While there has been substantial research into the masculinity of engineering, there has been limited research about the role of privilege in engineering. This project will generate new knowledge by focusing on three research questions: (1) How and in what ways does systemic racism manifest in engineering education? (2) What strategies can be used to effectively help engineering faculty develop their critical consciousness? and (3) How and in what ways does the growth of critical consciousness support faculty to identify and challenge the systemic barriers preventing racial equity in engineering? The research will support engineering faculty to interrogate the associated systemic barriers preventing racial equity.    This four-year project will examine guided, reflective journaling of faculty experiences in engineering and field notes from observations of the researchers' own professional engineering settings (e.g. faculty meetings, classroom observations). These artifacts will serve as the baseline for creating the faculty development program during Year 2. During Years 3-4, the program will be implemented and revised with two cohorts of 16 engineering faculty each, in a recursive co-construction of critical consciousness and scripts of race and racial identity. This project will result in the creation of immersive experiences for engineering faculty that serve as a vehicle for the development of critical consciousness, which is the foundation to enact changes that will address racial inequity in engineering and provide a model that supports practices to challenge privilege  in engineering spaces.     This collaborative project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that promote racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Awarded projects center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism in STEM fields. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations.    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.",FALSE
2306216,"Quantum Noir: A conference series focused on Faculty, Researchers, and Students of Color(+) in the Quantum Sciences",2025-04-25,Harvard University,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,291459,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Materials Research,QL-The Quantum Leap: Leading t,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306216,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306216_4900,2023-08-01,2026-07-31,021385366,LN53LCFJFL45,"Non-technical description: This work will lead to creation of “Quantum Noir”, a biennial Quantum, Nanoscience and Engineering conference targeted at researchers from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. The primary goals of the meeting are to educate participants of the scope and potential of Quantum Science and Engineering, illuminate scientific opportunities nationwide, and to network researchers from under-represented groups, connecting participants “collaboratively” with leaders in the Quantum Science and Engineering Community, focused on new technologies, national policy, and workforce training. The conference serves as a training and recruiting event for faculty, researchers, and students from under-represented groups into the Quantum Sciences. The ongoing revolution in Quantum Information, Quantum, Sensing, and Quantum Networking is a national challenge we must meet with all our resources, human and otherwise. With this support, Quantum Noir will help bridge this critical resource gap.    Technical description: We are witnessing the emergence of Quantum Science & Engineering, a technology disruption as significant as the revolution in microelectronics. The ascent of this new discipline demands we rally the nation’s scientific community to address this opportunity. Much of the foundation of this work is based in condensed matter science and engineering where historically, there has been a barrier of entry for researchers of color, particularly at small and minority serving institutions, due to limited access to the extensive infrastructure and resources required to do world-class work. The conference will serve as an important workforce training and development event by enabling technology dissemination of the “state-of-the-art” from Quantum Engineering leaders, directly to a new generation of diverse researchers. The conference will create a collaborative nexus for researchers and students and will allow industry and the venture community access to an untapped source of innovators. The first meeting will be at Harvard University hosted in part by the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems (CNS). Quantum Noir will leverage the community expertise to truly diversify Quantum science, but also to build community, ensuring we are optimizing the nation’s talent and human resources available by connecting all researchers with the available infrastructure, resources, and training.    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.",TRUE
2412776,NSF-DST:CPS:Small: Equitable Energy Access via Energy Communities and Microgrids: A Cyber Physical System Approach,2025-04-25,Cornell University,ITHACA,NY,NY19,500000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Electrical, Communications and Cyber Systems",CPS-Cyber-Physical Systems,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2412776,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2412776_4900,2024-07-01,2027-06-30,148502820,G56PUALJ3KT5,"This project develops a theoretical foundation, computational approaches, and practical solutions for equity-regarding cyberphysical systems. As a specific application, the project focuses on equitable energy access in energy communities and microgrids where energy demand and resources are co-optimized to achieve an optimal tradeoff among economic efficiency, equitable access among consumers with income inequality,  and operation resilience. The project is structured into three thrusts. Thrust One develops analytical measures of equity and decentralized equity regarding welfare maximization for the scheduling of individual and community-shared resources. Thrust Two focuses on equitable access in a microgrid where network reliability and resilience are additional constraints. Thrust Three focuses on validation, performance evaluations, and experimentations based on U.S. and India’s datasets on income, energy consumption, and community populations.      The intellectual merit of the proposed research is threefold. First, this research pursues a novel optimization-based system design theory for equity-regarding cyberphysical systems. Second, the project develops computational tools for equity-regarding welfare maximization by incorporating analytical equity measures through welfare functions that capture total community benefits gained through community-shared energy resources. Third, the project provides solutions to achieving reliable and resilient equitable energy access in microgrids under normal operating conditions and during extreme events.     The broader impacts of the proposed research are along three axes.  First, the developed computational approach to equity- and resilience-regarding welfare maximization has wide applications in many cyberphysical system designs, particularly for social-economic systems such as health, environmental, and education systems.  Second, this multidisciplinary research will positively influence university curriculum and workforce developments by embedding socioeconomic concepts in engineering education. In addition, this US-India collaboration project includes developing an interactive course on equitable access to energy that brings global perspectives on energy equity and justice.  Finally, the research and education activities promote broader participation by under-represented minorities in STEM education and cyberphysical system research.    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.",FALSE
2122212,"Building High-Quality K-12 Computer Science Education Research Across an Outcome Framework of Equitable Capacity, Access, Participation, and Experience",2025-04-25,The New York City Foundation for Computer Science Education,ARMONK,NY,NY17,336174,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122212,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122212_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,105041511,Z258RG1LVED8,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    This project seeks to address the critical need for high-quality, equity-focused K-12 computing education research (CER) across the U.S. to meet the needs of finding promising practices for teaching computing to all students. The research will analyze existing and ongoing research and develop guidelines for conducting high-quality, equity-focused research. One goal is to identify barriers and gaps in equity-focused research across K-12 computing education using the Capacity, Access, Participation, and Experience (CAPE) framework as a lens for analysis. Those results will be used to develop workshops to build the capacity of researchers to include and focus on equity. The research questions ask:    1) How comprehensive is K-12 CER in explicitly addressing broadening participation in computing or equity goals?  2) What are the barriers that prevent K-12 computing education researchers from conducting research?  3) How effective are new resources, materials and workshops specifically created to address the gaps in and barriers to producing high-quality, equity-focused K-12 CER?    The project will first frame prior research against the CAPE framework to identify barriers researchers face when conducting high-quality research inequitable K-12 computing education. Using results from that effort and input from experts, the researchers will develop recommendations and resources for expanding coverage of equitable, high-quality K-12 computing education research. Finally, the research team will design and test workshops to train researchers in equitable K-12 CER methods and practices.  The project will directly impact the quality of computer science education research conducted. In turn, this will lead to better analysis and identification of programs, curricula, training, and interventions that improve participation and experiences of populations historically underserved and underrepresented in K-12 computing education.    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.",FALSE
2435273,Collaborative Research: Conference: GA6 Geosciences and Environmental Justice for Indigenous Communities,2025-04-25,Duke University,DURHAM,NC,NC04,6983,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Earth Sciences,EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2435273,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2435273_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,277054640,TP7EK8DZV6N5,"The 6th Geoscience Alliance (GA-6) conference builds on a successful series of national conferences aiming to broaden the participation of Native Americans in geoscience and environmental sciences. The first five Geoscience Alliance conferences brought together a total of more than 500 graduate, undergraduate, and K-12 students, educators, Elders, community members, and professionals representing 40 Tribes, Bands, and Native Villages. The GA-6 conference will take place in North Carolina and is expected to increase participation from the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic, regions that have been underrepresented at prior Geoscience Alliance conferences.  The conference theme, Geoscience and Environmental Justice in Indigenous Communities, considers the distributions of environmental benefits and burdens along with the environmental policies, practices, and power dynamics that influence these distributions. Noting that Indigenous communities regularly shoulder disproportionately large environmental burdens from pollution, resource extraction, and climate change, conference participants will learn about, share, and discuss some of the ways that Indigenous and western knowledges can be used to address these problems and promote environmental justice. By increasing the involvement of Native American communities underrepresented in geoscience and environmental science, the conference will help enhance human capacity in these fields at a national level.    Despite growing recognition that Indigenous knowledge systems have much to offer the geoscience and environmental sciences, Indigenous peoples themselves are among the most underrepresented groups in careers and degree programs in these fields. This underrepresentation has implications for scientific research, science education, management, and other areas. The 6th Geoscience Alliance (GA-6) conference will help address this issue by building on a successful series of national conferences aimed at broadening the participation of Native Americans in geoscience and environmental sciences. The conference theme engages with Indigenous environmental justice, an area of academic research and a social movement that is both relevant to public policy and linked to scientific issues related to air and water quality, natural resource management, and climate change. In particular, the GA-6 conference will elevate Indigenous perspectives in environmental justice research, education, and engagement to spur ideas, dialog, and collaboration among participants and their networks. The three-day conference will include activities proven successful in previous Geoscience Alliance conferences: discussion circles, workshops, poster sessions, and field trips. The main objectives of the GA-6 conference are learning; networking and career progress; understanding; making it memorable; and growing the community. The conference will fulfill each of these objectives under the established and effective Geoscience Alliance principle that everyone teaches and everyone learns.  The GA-6 conference will also serve to disseminate information to participants about opportunities such as Research Experience for Undergraduate programs, internships, and academic degree programs. A focus on networking at the conference will support all participants in developing a strong network of peers and collaborators.    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.",FALSE
2245181,ADVANCE Partnership: Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES),2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,79403,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2245181,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2245181_4900,2022-10-01,2026-09-30,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Although research using community-engaged research (CER) methods is funding by several federal agencies, CER is still undervalued within the broader STEM discipline culture and often it is classified as “service” during STEM faculty annual review, tenure, and promotion processes. This project posits that this systemic undervaluation of CER contributes to the attrition of many faculty that identify as women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minority women (URMWF) who frequently enter Environmental Engineering (EnvE) motivated to address societally important problems.  This ADVANCE Partnership project titled “Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES)” will work to enhance the understanding and awareness of rigorous CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF.  This project is a collaborative effort among 11 academic institutions, EnvE discipline’s primary professional societies (American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists, American Association for Aerosol Research, Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors, Water Environment Federation) and an NSF initiative focused on CER through the National Research Traineeship program.     SPACES will leverage the strength of the SPACES partnership, gains made in gender representation in EnvE, as well as the justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives underway in EnvE and public health.  The project aims to produce a structural model, operationalized as an institutional scorecard, that will result in greater faculty success and professional progress for those conducting CER. The scorecard will incorporate factors that shape trends related to the longevity and attrition of URMWF faculty in EnvE at the personal, disciplinary, and societal levels.  The scorecard has potential to be used in other engineering disciplines. The project goals are to: (1) increase the retention and promotion of URMWF in EnvE; (2) transform the climate and infrastructure to support and value community-engaged research in the EnvE academic community; and (3) enhance understanding and awareness of CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2315124,Advancing Racial Equity for Youth in Alternative Schooling Systems through Culturally Responsive STEM Programming,2025-04-25,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,1170000,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315124,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315124_4900,2023-09-01,2028-08-31,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"Racial disparities exist in school systems when Black and Latinx youth are disproportionately suspended or expelled and subsequently enter alternative schooling systems. Once in alternative systems, they may not receive the supports needed to pursue a range of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) trajectories and careers that align with their interests and strengths. This absence of supports can result in undermatching when high school students, who have great potential to contribute to STEM fields, do not apply for colleges that would prepare them for STEM careers of interest to them. To address this racial inequity, the University of Houston will co-develop and research a program that offers culturally responsive mentoring, tutoring, a summer research laboratory experience, and college and career readiness seminars to predominantly Black and Latinx high school students who are enrolled in alternative schooling systems in the city of Houston. Within this context, undergraduate pre-service teachers at the University of Houston will take coursework on anti-racist and culturally responsive pedagogies, and they will use these pedagogies as a framework to guide their interactions with the youth during their summer research laboratory, and in post-laboratory mentoring and STEM tutoring. Research will explore whether the pre-service teachers report increased self-efficacy in culturally responsive teaching, and whether and how the program shapes the high school students’ STEM identities and interest in STEM careers. Results will be shared with the local high school communities, and with the participating youth and their families, through open houses, school district fairs, and media, among other venues.     The University of Houston will partner with 8 Million Stories, an alternative schooling system created to disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline in the in the city of Houston, to co-design and implement a comprehensive program that supports college and career readiness in STEM careers among predominantly Black and Latinx students enrolled in the alternative system. Mixed methods research will explore whether and how participation in the program shapes the youths’ STEM identities, interest in STEM careers, and perceived readiness for college. To achieve this research purpose, the project team will analyze pre-and post-surveys of STEM identity and interest, as well as transcripts of focus groups and interviews with youth. Additionally, mixed methods research will explore whether and how participation in the program shapes the pre-service STEM teachers’ sense of self-efficacy toward culturally responsive teaching. To achieve this second research purpose, the project team will analyze pre-and post-surveys of the pre-service teachers’ culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy and outcome expectancy beliefs, in addition to transcripts from focus groups and interviews. Research findings will be distributed widely through networks, conferences, and journals designed for audiences of STEM teacher educators, STEM teachers, STEM educational researchers, and stakeholders in alternative school systems. To achieve further national impacts, the materials developed for the pre-service teachers will be disseminated widely to over 50 sites in the National UTeach Program. Collectively, these deliverables move toward racial equity in STEM education through advancing comprehensive approaches for supporting STEM career trajectories among youth who have been pushed out of mainstream school systems.     This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.     This project is also funded by the National Science Foundation's HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these goals.    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.",FALSE
2224509,Collaborative Research: Building Racial Equity in Marine Science,2025-04-25,Hampton University,HAMPTON,VA,VA03,767261,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224509,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224509_4900,2023-08-15,2028-07-31,236694561,KSJKE3KVNBB4,"Ocean science is one of the least diverse sciences in the United States. Yet the complex and pressing issues facing the ocean and the needs of ocean-dependent communities require an ocean-literate society with diverse expertise, racial identities, and experiences. This project combines the strengths of two entities, Hampton University and Black in Marine Science, to increase the participation of Black people in marine science related fields and create a sense of belonging through culturally responsive and justice-centered programming. This project is designed to boost ocean literacy and research within Black and other marginalized communities and equip people with tools to solve problems in their changing environment. The project will (1) attract high school students of color into marine science related fields, (2) engage undergraduates through a culturally relevant curriculum, (3) support undergraduates and graduates develop professional skills and build their identity as scientists, (4) prepare undergraduates for marine science-related and STEM careers, and (5) introduce both high school students and undergraduates to research. All activities will be implemented using equitable STEM teaching tools (cultural pedagogies, multi-generational learning, supporting diverse sense-making, centering racial justice, meaningful phenomena, and place-based learning).    This project aims to answer the overarching research question: How does participation in the designed project activities improve outcomes and increase racial equity for Black people? The research team will collect data on the experiences and impacts on participants to understand how different aspects of the project affect their knowledge of and sense of belonging in marine sciences. The internal and external evaluation of the project will utilize a culturally responsive and equity-focused approach, mixed-methods (quantitative and qualitative) data collection strategies, and apply an educative and values-engaged lens. These methods will provide richer data, allow for better data triangulation, higher multicultural validity, and produce more nuanced evaluation results. The broader impacts of this project include scientific publications with key findings from the evaluations, conference, and community presentations to highlight the strength and weaknesses of the programming, curriculum accessible to teachers and lastly, data on attraction, retention, and sense of belonging of participants.    This project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports projects that promote racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Awarded projects center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism in STEM fields. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation’s diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations.    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.",FALSE
2411679,Collaborative Research: Promoting Meaningful Collaboration in a STEM + Medicine Learning Ecosystem,2025-04-25,University of Memphis,MEMPHIS,TN,TN09,252486,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411679,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411679_4900,2024-09-15,2029-08-31,381520001,F2VSMAKDH8Z7,"While integrated science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) learning  is gaining popularity in informal learning environments, it remains less common in formal in-school settings. Sharing STEMM resources across informal and formal learning contexts for youth is particularly challenging in under-resourced school districts, exacerbating the underrepresentation of minoritized learners in STEMM fields.  This project seeks to address this challenge by fostering a STEMM learning ecosystem that brings secondary teachers in historically under-resourced schools together with local STEMM professionals to co-design and allocate STEMM based resources for youth. Ultimately, this work will contribute to a deeper understanding of the structures that lead to inequitable resource allocations and possible approaches to facilitate the creation of a dynamic and responsive STEMM learning environment.     The research team will employ an ethnographic design to understand how integrating STEMM lessons in under-resourced schools can advance equitable learning opportunities for minoritized learners. Grounded in culturally responsive teaching, social constructivism, and situated learning theories, the research involves co-designing curricula and instructional strategies with 20 local educators, STEMM professionals, and community stakeholders. Methods include conducting semi-structured interviews and focus groups with school leaders, middle school teachers, students, and community members to gather insights into their experiences and perceptions of STEMM teaching and learning. Classroom observations and document analysis of the iterative refinements of project-based learning materials will complement these interviews, providing a comprehensive view of the effects of integrating STEMM into formal school settings and how resource allocations can impact social-ecological system transformations. The team will identify actionable recommendations for enhancing the capacity of teachers to integrate justice-oriented approaches in STEMM lessons, thereby providing effective STEMM teacher education experiences that foster minoritized learners’ STEMM identities.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2349605,REU Site: GeoAI-driven Computational Sustainability in the Human-Environment Nexus,2025-04-25,Saint Louis University,SAINT LOUIS,MO,MO01,270895,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2349605,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2349605_4900,2024-05-01,2027-04-30,631032006,JNBLLTBTLLD8,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). It has both scientific and societal benefits in addition to integrating research and education. Environmental changes, an increasing global population, and global trends in population shifts to large cities make sustainability an important aspect in designing future cities. This REU Site will address this challenge by training nine students for ten weeks in the interdisciplinary field of computational sustainability. Research projects will produce methods and data required by decision-makers to design healthier, equitable, and sustainable cities. In addition, 27 students who will be trained in the program who are coming from universities with limited research opportunities or from underrepresented groups in STEM will be immersed in geographic information systems, computer science, mixed-method research, and community engagement. The research products of the REU will be made available both in academic formats such as conference presentations and journal papers and be also disseminated for public benefit digitally.    The REU program that is housed in SLU’s Earth, Environment, and Geospatial Science department will address local sustainability and climate resilience planning needs in Saint Louis, MO. Research projects will develop community-in-the-loop approaches to urban design problems such as the design of greenspaces to mitigate heat islands, designing public transportation to minimize air pollution, and recycling interventions to minimize plastic waste in communities. Students will be mentored by a broad group of faculty mentors and community partners whose expertise ranges from biology, computer science, geospatial science, hydrology, meteorology, and remote sensing. The REU will give students first-hand experience in academic research into computational sustainability and its implementation with community partners. In addition to research activities, REU will host professional development activities for students which will culminate with a final symposium that will be widely attended by academic, private, non-profit, and local government stakeholders.    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.",FALSE
2433238,Collaborative Research: EPIIC: Workforce and Innovation Collaborative for Regional Partnerships (WICRP),2025-04-25,Hampton University,HAMPTON,VA,VA03,400000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",EPIIC-Enbl Part Incr Innov Cap,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2433238,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2433238_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,236694561,KSJKE3KVNBB4,"This collaborative proposal between Hampton University (HU) and Georgia Piedmont Technical College (GPTC) aims to enhance the ability of both institutions to form external partnerships that boost academic and innovative growth. By working together, the institutions plan to create a structure for developing regional innovation ecosystems. Successful completion of the grant will lead to the development of a toolkit to help formalize partnership processes, which can serve as a model for other resource-limited institutions, particularly Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Over the grant period, three symposiums will immerse participants in partnership development, focusing on monetizing research and formalizing workforce partnerships. The project goals include establishing a partnership ecosystem, strengthening partnership capacities, and enhancing program scalability and reproducibility, with a focus on supporting underrepresented populations, particularly women in STEM.     The intellectual merit of this project, Workforce and Innovation Collaborative for Regional Partnerships (WICRP), lies in its efforts to build partnerships that support emerging technology fields and regional innovation for underrepresented groups. The project addresses challenges identified in previous research, such as inequities faced by HBCUs in forming research partnerships with non-HBCUs. By using data and feedback, the team aims to understand and overcome these challenges, sharing their findings to improve capacity-building efforts at HBCUs and MSIs. The broader impacts include aligning economic goals, faculty development, and student opportunities with strategic objectives, fostering beneficial industry relationships, and enhancing research and workforce development at both HU and GPTC.    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.",FALSE
2416816,SBP: Collaborative Research: Investigating an integrative model of colonial-based identities,2025-04-25,Rutgers University Newark,NEWARK,NJ,NJ10,423417,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416816,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416816_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,071023026,T3NGNR66YK89,"The history of colonialism impacts society members' education, health, and prosperity today. One legacy of colonialism is that racial groups and identities signal and reinforce status and advantage differences. Moreover, among individuals from low-status and disadvantaged groups, racial identities are often linked to support for public policies. This project develops and tests a model evaluating the relations between the history of colonialism and present-day racial identities, providing insights into how these identities impact the quality of life for individuals from low-status and disadvantaged groups.    This collaborative project adopts a mixed-methods approach, using quantitative and qualitative studies to better understand colonial-based racial identities. Initial studies evaluate the overall model and explore how individuals experience the history of colonialism in relation to their racial identities. Subsequent studies conduct experimental work to examine cause-and-effect relations between the psychology of colonialism and racial identities. This research addresses these aims by involving participants from Puerto Rico, a United States territory widely considered to be one of the world’s oldest colonies and whose people often experience disproportionately unfavorable outcomes (e.g., poverty, low education attainment, poor health), which have been exacerbated by recent public health and ecological events (e.g., COVID, Hurricane Maria). Project findings can inform policymakers and educators about how history affects present-day social cognition, and the work can build bridges across many social science literatures that often explore these issues in relative isolation.    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.",FALSE
2117083,"Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: The Effects of Gender and Racial Stereotypes on Math Confidence, Effort, and Achievement",2025-04-25,National Bureau of Economic Research Inc,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,24984,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117083,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2117083_4900,2021-08-15,2025-07-31,021385359,GT28BRBA2Q49,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    There are large, persistent gender and race gaps in STEM participation and achievement, as well as persistent academic stereotypes about race and gender. This project seeks to understand the effects of providing information to elementary and middle school students to counteract the negative stereotypes and social norms surrounding the participation and achievement of under-represented groups in STEM – particularly the effects of this information on students’ confidence, STEM engagement, and achievement. While research show that stereotypes about ability matter for adults’ confidence and participation in STEM, these stereotypes emerge at much younger ages. This study will evaluate the impacts of intervening against these negative stereotypes early in students’ educational trajectory, which may be more effective and more long-lasting than intervening with adults. In addition to increasing diversity in STEM and encouraging more equal opportunities for all students, closing the gender and race gaps in STEM engagement is expected to improve productivity and innovation in the sector and reduce wage gaps, since more than 90 percent of STEM occupations offer wages above the national average. Closing gaps in STEM participation is thus a top priority for the US government as well as business leaders and professional organizations in STEM fields. The results of this research could guide policies to close the racial and gender STEM gaps and thus increase the supply of STEM workforce.  This will increase economic growth, decrease poverty as well as decrease income inequality in the US.      This study will provide the first experimental evidence on the role of stereotypes in creating gaps in STEM achievement. It will also provide novel evidence on the mechanisms through which stereotypes cause these effects; specifically, the effects of stereotypes on confidence, engagement with and responsiveness to feedback, and effort. This research uses a randomized intervention – a series of videos and exercises that provide information to counteract prevailing negative academic stereotypes – delivered to students on a leading online learning platform to study these issues.   Student behavior on the platform will provide high-frequency measures of student effort, learning strategies, and engagement with feedback. Additional outcomes will be measured in a survey, also integrated into the platform, which will provide psychometric and revealed-preference measures of math interest, confidence, and endorsement of stereotypes. Finally, student achievement will be measured using standardized test scores. Differences in outcomes between treated and control students will deliver the effect of the intervention, and the large set of considered outcomes will be used to test various mechanisms that explain the effect of race and gender stereotypes on math achievement.  The results of this research could guide policies to close the racial and gender STEM gaps and thus increase the supply of STEM workforce.  This will increase economic growth, decrease poverty as well as decrease income inequality in the US.    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.",TRUE
2115921,"Embodied Physics: Using the Lenses of Physics and Dance to Investigate Learning, Engagement, and Identity Development for Black and Latinx Youth",2025-04-25,TERC Inc,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,1522057,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115921,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115921_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,021401339,GSLCJ3M62XX1,"The call for more science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education taking place in informal settings has the potential to shape future generations, drive new innovations and expand opportunities. Yet, its power remains to be fully realized in many communities of color. However, research has shown that using creative embodied activities to explore science phenomena is a promising approach to supporting understanding and engagement, particularly for youth who have experienced marginalization. Prior pilot work by the principal investigator found that authentic inquiries into science through embodied learning approaches can provide rich opportunities for sense-making through kinesthetic experience, embodied imagining, and the representation of physics concepts for Black and Latinx teens when learning approaches focused on dance and dance-making. This Research in Service to Practice project builds on prior work to better understand the unique opportunities for learning, engagement, and identity development for these youth when physics is explored in the context of the Embodied Physics Learning Lab Model. The model is conceptualized as a set of components that (1) allow youth to experience and utilize their intersectional identities; (2)  impact engagement with physics ideas, concepts and phenomena; and (3) lead to the development of physics knowledge and other skills. The project aims to contribute to more expansive definitions of physics and physics learning in informal spaces. While the study focuses primarily on Black and Latinx youth, the methods and discoveries have the potential to impact the teaching of physics for a much broader audience including middle- and high-school children, adults who may have been turned off to physics at an earlier age, and undergraduate physical science majors who are struggling with difficult concepts. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.    The research is grounded in sociocultural perspectives on learning and identity, embodied interaction and enactive cognition, and responsive design. The design is also informed by the notion of “ArtScience” which highlights commonalities between the thinking and making practices used by artists and by scientists and builds on the theoretical philosophy that all things can be understood through art or through science but integrating the two lenses allows for more complete understandings. Research will investigate the relationship between embodied learning approaches, design principles, and structures of the Embodied Physics Learning Lab model using the lenses of physics, dance, and integrated ArtScience to better understand the model. The project employs design-based research to address two overarching research questions: (1) What unique opportunities for learning, engagement, and identity development for Black and Latinx youth occur when physics is explored in the context of the Embodied Physics Learning Lab Model? and (2) How do variations in site demographics and site implementation influence the impact and scalability of the Learning Lab model? Further, the inquiry will consider (a) how youth experience and utilize their intersectional various identities in the context of the activities, structures, and essential elements of the embodied physics learning lab; (b) how youth's level of physics engagement changes depending on which embodied learning approaches and essential element structures are used; (c) the physics knowledge and other skills youth attain through the set of activities; and (d) how, if at all, the embodied learning approaches engage youth in thinking about their own agency as STEM doers. An interdisciplinary team of researchers, choreographers, and youth along with community organizations will co-design and implement project activities across four sites. Approximately 200 high school youth will be engaged; 24 will have the role of Teen Thought Partner. Through three iterative design cycles of implementation, the project will refine the model to investigate which elements most affect successful implementation and to identify the conditions necessary for scale-up. Data will be collected in the form of video, field notes, pre- and post- interviews, pre- and post- surveys, and artifacts created by the youth. Analyses will include a combination of interaction analysis, descriptive data analysis, and movement analysis. In addition to the research findings and explication of the affordances and constraints of the model, the project will also create a curricular resource, including narrative text and video demonstrations of physics concepts led by the teen thought partners, video case training modules, and assessment tools.    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.",TRUE
2426981,Data Equity for AANHPI Communities,2025-04-25,National Opinion Research Center,CHICAGO,IL,IL07,984495,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,RI Social & Behavioral Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426981,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426981_4900,2024-10-01,2025-09-30,606035713,MPYFY5UMSDP4,"In this project, a large probability panel from Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) populations is expanded and leveraged to establish a major benchmarking survey of AANHPI adults. AANHP communities have been substantially underrepresented in U.S. research and from a data perspective have largely been invisible. There have been many calls for greater disaggregated data of AANHPI from the White House, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Departments of Justice and Commerce, national think tanks and foundations, and a host of varied AANHPI community organizations. Now more than ever before, the voices of AANHPI need to be heard in government, academia, the public sector, and private enterprise. While the diversity of AANHPI communities creates complexities for research, it is crucial to include these voices to ensure policies, programs, resources, and commercial products and services are inclusive. Survey practices therefore must evolve to accurately reflect the needs, opinions, and experiences of AANHPI communities. Through support of multiple foundations, NORC at the University of Chicago has been developing a significant data resource for AANHPI, a large probability panel of AANHPI (“Amplify AAPISM”) to solve this data inequity issue. This data infrastructure allows all researchers to be able to conduct research of AANHPI, the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the U.S. Further, it enables the important feature of subgroup disaggregation: the ability to not just study AANHPI overall but within its seven largest subgroups, Chinese, Asian Indian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, and Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI). The panel will be an affordable, scientifically valid, and accessible resource to conduct data of AANHPI for years.     The large-scale survey benchmarks key metrics of the AANHPI population and focuses on questions of culture, cultural background, health, economics, and other topics. The sample plan uses an expected 16 strata design (a method of selecting a sample population divided into similar subgroups) that leverages Census and consumer data to cluster households into likely Asian subgroups, whereby smaller subgroups can be oversampled to attain parity of interviewing across subgroups. This stratification also, in general, oversamples households more likely to be AANHPI and should attain a survey incidence of about 35 percent, thereby maintaining survey reliability and validity. The survey will attain at least 2,000 interviews. Completed interviews will be weighted and a public use file generated.    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.",FALSE
2415883,Collaborative Research: Advancing Latino Children’s Science Learning through Community Co-Design of AI-Enhanced Bilingual E-Books,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,619404,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415883,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415883_4900,2024-08-01,2028-07-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Early childhood years are critical for developing the foundational knowledge, skills, and attitudes for later success in STEM. Young children learn science best when they actively engage with topics that are meaningful to their everyday lives. Artificial intelligence can help in developing science learning content and making it more interactive, but inherent social, racial, and linguistic biases in AI-generated materials make this undertaking risky. Our project involves direct participation from parents in under-resourced Latino families in co-designing AI-based educational materials. Their participation can help reduce potential biases in the produced materials. University and community partners will jointly work with AI to first create bilingual science stories rooted in Latino identity and then to make those stories interactive. This initiative leverages storytelling–a major form of cultural capital in the Latino community–to foster children’s scientific curiosity and engagement, while also helping build community members’ AI literacy skills. The project will contribute important knowledge about how AI can be effectively and equitably harnessed by and with diverse communities in support of their values and education, aligning with key National Science Foundation objectives.    The project utilizes participatory design with Latino families in California and Michigan to create 24 Spanish-English culturally relevant e-books for Latino children aged 4-7, employing generative AI for rapid, iterative content development. The e-books will feature a bilingual AI-powered conversational agent that allows children to dialogue directly with the story characters, as well as family discussion prompts to encourage parent-child interaction. After the 24 interactive e-books are piloted and iteratively improved, a randomized control trial will be carried out with 120 Latino families to evaluate the impact of e-book use on children's science knowledge and engagement and on parent-child science communication. Subsequent improvements will prepare the e-books for free national distribution, significantly broadening STEM learning opportunities for diverse children, particularly in Latino communities.    This Integrating Research and Practice Project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports research on the development and impact of STEM learning opportunities in informal educational environments. This project is also partially funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2241596,Equity-Centered Design of Conversational Agents for Inclusive Science Communication Education in High Schools,2025-04-25,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,499801,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241596,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241596_4900,2023-07-01,2026-06-30,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Science communication, defined as the ability to communicate scientific concepts and discoveries to broad audiences, is an important scientific literacy skill. It can promote public efforts to protect the biodiversity and livelihood of communities around the world. Yet, K-12 students have limited opportunities to engage in inclusive science communication approaches that incorporate their lived experiences and account for the diverse socioeconomic, language, and cultural backgrounds of potential audiences. This project will engage high school students from predominantly Latinx, Title I schools in Orange County, California, in an AI-guided science curriculum for learning and practicing inclusive science communication and marine biodiversity. Students will interact with conversational agents that represent different community perspectives around the local marine ecosystems. They will also collaborate with peers to train and create their own conversational agents to share views on marine conservation. Project activities aim to offer meaningful engagement to deepen students’ understanding of science communication, AI literacy, and interest in careers in AI and broader science fields. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    In partnership with Crystal Cove Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit in Orange County, California, the project will invite students, formal and informal educators, community members, and marine scientists to co-design the conversational agents’ interface and exchange. The project team will interview additional community members to integrate their perspectives to refine the agents’ dialogues. 90 students in grades 9-11 will engage in the AI-guided curriculum. Researchers in STEM education and education technologies from University of California, Irvine and Utah State University will explore research questions surrounding Equitable Partnership and Learning including (1) How can the co-design and implementation of conversational agents with informal educators, community partners, and students be facilitated in equitable, collaborative ways?, (2) How does the AI-integrated curriculum support inclusive science communication about environmental systems, interest in STEM careers, and AI literacy?, and (3) What instructional adaptations do teachers make to facilitate these learning outcomes? The project will draw from equity-centered research-practice partnership and design tension frameworks to answer research questions around how to facilitate equitable design work and adapt the curriculum in instruction. Regression analyses will be used to test the hypothesis that students significantly improve in science communication, interest in STEM careers, and AI literacy, as indicated by pre- and post-assessments. The outcomes of this work include (1) an innovative AI-integrated high school curriculum around inclusive science communication, (2) co-design principles to collaborate with community members to develop the technology, and (3) a student-constructed language corpus of conversations to train future conversational agents in STEM contexts. The research takes important advancing steps in the emerging field of AI-integrated education supporting diverse K-12 populations to deepen scientific and AI literacy.    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.",FALSE
2300607,Collaborative Research: Mobilizing Physics Teachers to Promote Inclusive and Communal Classroom Cultures through Everyday Actions,2025-04-25,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,1321338,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300607,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2300607_4900,2023-09-15,2027-08-31,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"The project addresses the historic marginalization of women and minoritized racial/ethnic (MRE) groups in physics. The aim of the project is to co-design, test, and disseminate professional learning (PL) for high school physics teachers, specifically targeting the implementation of inclusive and equitable practices that support physics identity development and persistence of women and MRE groups. The project leverages the existing national network of over 1,800 high school physics teachers established by the project, which is called STEP UP.  Teachers play a crucial role in students' transition to college and their decisions regarding what to study. STEP UP challenges prevailing narratives about who can do physics and what constitutes physics, along with the Everyday Actions Guide (EAG) for inclusion and equity, Research has shown positive effects on the physics identity of women and MRE. However, teachers have expressed a continuous need for additional professional learning (PL) to effectively implement the EAG. In response, the project will co-design a PL program with teachers, testing its impact on teacher and student outcomes through design-based research (DBR) and an experimental study, and propagating the evidence-based PL program to hundreds of high school physics teachers. Overall, the project aims to support high school physics teachers across the nation in implementing and enhancing their inclusive practices. The project will ultimately impact over 10,000 students.     The project aims to deepen physics teachers' engagement with inclusive and equitable practices, foster communal classroom cultures, and promote physics identity development for women and MRE. It also seeks to understand how the propagation of these practices can be effectively implemented at a larger scale to support positive teacher and student outcomes. After collaborating with teachers in the co-design of the PL program, the project will implement an experimental design involving 120 physics teachers, with treatment groups receiving the PL facilitated by trained teachers, and control groups not receiving the PL. The effects of the PL on teacher and student outcomes will be examined. In the final phase, the PL program will be implemented on a larger scale, involving 400 in-service and 100 pre-service physics teachers. using a train-the-trainer model. The impact of the PL will be assessed through a survey study. The use of an evidence-based model and a community-engaged train-the-trainer approach will have broader implications for other professional learning projects, as well as the ongoing success of the STEP UP program.  The commitment of two national societies, which will continue the professional learning for via their extensive teacher networks, ensuring the project's sustainability and long-term impact.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.     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.",FALSE
2415965,Cultivating Culturally Responsive STEM Pathways using a Near-Peer Role Model Intervention,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,1730730,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415965,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415965_4900,2024-09-15,2028-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Research shows the importance of children seeing themselves as capable of “doing STEM” and developing a positive STEM identity. Yet, children of color are less likely to have access to these informal STEM opportunities. Building on the successful “Science is Fun” (SIF) intervention, the project will revise this program for Hispanic students using a culturally-responsive approach. Facilitated by Hispanic, near-peer mentors, the revised, afterschool program will engage 4th grade students (from schools with predominantly Hispanic enrollment) with several sessions of science activities and their families in in family science explorations. The activities will focus on light and energy, using an approach combining demonstration and inquiry. (A phenomenon may be demonstrated, resulting in questions stimulated by a counterintuitive outcome. Participants then engage in hands-on exploration to explain the outcomes.) A co-design process involving teachers, role models, advisors and students will be conducted, incorporating language and cultural themes in program activities and facilitation.       The iterative project research and evaluation aims to observe, assess, and revise the Science is Fun (SIF) program, helping to understand the program’s cultural responsiveness for historically marginalized Hispanic audiences. The major hypothesis of project research is that incorporating a cross-cultural curriculum will have positive impacts on participants’ 1) cultural awareness, 2) STEM interest, self-efficacy, and identity, and 3) perceptions of careers in STEM and who can be a scientist. Data will be collected from focus groups, surveys and observations from students, near-peer mentors, and families. This project will contribute to the research on culturally responsive STEM programs and will present important theoretical and practical implications.    This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2333985,"Increasing Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, Accessibility and Justice (DEIBAJ) in the US Ocean Studies Community",2025-04-25,National Academy of Sciences,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,280000,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Ocean Sciences,OCE SPECIAL PROGRAMS,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333985,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333985_4900,2024-05-15,2026-09-30,204180007,PKFJZHG2MLG9,"Despite dedicated efforts of federal and state agencies, professional societies, universities, and the private sector to address this issue, racial and ethnic diversity in the ocean studies continues to lag other STEM fields. Current trends regarding representation of historically excluded racial and ethnic groups show that the number of ocean science doctoral degrees awarded annually to members of these groups has not increased substantially over the past decade. From 2014 - 2018, only ~ 6% of ocean science degrees were awarded to Hispanic/Latino, Black, and Native American students, compared to about 14% for science and engineering fields overall (National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, 2021). This consensus study activity is a collaboration between the Ocean Studies Board (OSB) and the Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW) at the National Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM). It will provide a comprehensive analysis of diversity programs, both within ocean studies and in the broader STEM community, with target metrics to guide the ocean studies community in achieving diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) goals. This study will produce a consensus report for establishing an evidence-based framework to advance these goals in institutions that are critical to the development and success of the future ocean studies workforce. The report will include findings and recommendations aimed at colleges, universities, and other educational institutions, federal and state agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and other ocean organizations – including business and industry. The longer-term goal is to implement the findings of the report by creating an “Action Collaborative, which is an active space for academic, research, non-profit, industry and other organizations to work together, sharing successes and challenges, and pledging to move beyond pro forma policies to evidence-based practice.    The design of this study includes plans to meet with STEM DEI experts from outside of ocean studies to identify effective practices and metrics in other fields and to meet with ocean studies DEI experts to address issues specific to ocean science disciplines, and explore how structural and organizational aspects of ocean studies affect perceptions of professional opportunities and careers. These meetings will provide opportunities for diverse communities to share insights and experiences that the committee will use in shaping the recommendations in the report. The longer-term goal is to implement the findings of the report by creating an active space for academic, research, non-profit, industry and other organizations to work together, sharing successes and challenges, and pledging to move beyond pro-forma policies to evidence-based practice.    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.",FALSE
2305728,NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology: Assessment of interactions between nectarivorous birds and flowering plants to investigate pollination loss in Hawaiian forests,2025-04-25,University of Washington,Seattle,WA,WA07,240000,Fellowship Award,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,Cross-BIO Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305728,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305728_4900,2024-01-01,2026-12-31,82070,HD1WMN6945W6,"This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2023, Broadening Participation of Groups Underrepresented in Biology. The Fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow that will increase the participation of groups underrepresented in biology. The Fellow will investigate pollination loss in Hawaiian forests, which have experienced high rates of species extinction and invasion by non-native species. For instance, most native nectar-feeding birds in the Hawaiian Islands have gone extinct, and plants that depend on these birds for pollination may be at risk for extinction from the loss of their bird partners. The Fellow will closely examine bird-plant interactions, using film and 3D scans of bird bills and flower tube shapes, to predict the impacts of bird pollinator loss on Hawaiian plants. To broaden participation, the fellow will conduct surveys and analysis to understand and start to resolve barriers that LGTBQIA+ biologists face in STEM careers and involve native Hawaiians in the research.     Pollination often depends on mutualistic interactions with nectar-feeding animals (hereafter nectarivores), in which nectarivores transfer pollen between plants while collecting the sugary reward. Nectarivores and plants may coevolve to exhibit matched functional traits, such as coupled bird bill and floral tube shapes, increasing the specificity and benefits of their interactions. When traits are mismatched, however, species may fail to interact, or interactions may negatively impact plants. Hawaiian lobelioids (Campanulaceae), which have coevolved with nectarivorous Hawaiian birds, may be pollination-limited due to bird species loss. Nevertheless, historic plant-pollinator interactions are largely unknown, and it is uncertain whether extant nectarivores (native and introduced) may potentially compensate for bird extinctions by maintaining pollination processes. Thus, a mechanistic model is needed for identifying interaction outcomes for plant-nectarivore species pairings. The Fellow will simulate interactions from three-dimensional (3D) digital models of birds and flowers, in order to investigate how trait-matching metrics derived in 3D can be linked to pollen transfer in wild-filmed interactions. The Fellow will then predict outcomes for potential extinct and extant interactions to estimate mutualism loss and validate models with tests of seed viability.    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.",FALSE
2204099,ADVANCE Partnership: Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES),2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,136406,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204099,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2204099_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Although research using community-engaged research (CER) methods is funding by several federal agencies, CER is still undervalued within the broader STEM discipline culture and often it is classified as “service” during STEM faculty annual review, tenure, and promotion processes. This project posits that this systemic undervaluation of CER contributes to the attrition of many faculty that identify as women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minority women (URMWF) who frequently enter Environmental Engineering (EnvE) motivated to address societally important problems.  This ADVANCE Partnership project titled “Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES)” will work to enhance the understanding and awareness of rigorous CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF.  This project is a collaborative effort among 11 academic institutions, EnvE discipline’s primary professional societies (American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists, American Association for Aerosol Research, Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors, Water Environment Federation) and an NSF initiative focused on CER through the National Research Traineeship program.     SPACES will leverage the strength of the SPACES partnership, gains made in gender representation in EnvE, as well as the justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives underway in EnvE and public health.  The project aims to produce a structural model, operationalized as an institutional scorecard, that will result in greater faculty success and professional progress for those conducting CER. The scorecard will incorporate factors that shape trends related to the longevity and attrition of URMWF faculty in EnvE at the personal, disciplinary, and societal levels.  The scorecard has potential to be used in other engineering disciplines. The project goals are to: (1) increase the retention and promotion of URMWF in EnvE; (2) transform the climate and infrastructure to support and value community-engaged research in the EnvE academic community; and (3) enhance understanding and awareness of CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2324616,SAI: Integrating Equity in Emergency Management of Critical Infrastructure,2025-04-25,SUNY at Buffalo,AMHERST,NY,NY26,750000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2324616,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2324616_4900,2023-09-15,2026-08-31,142282577,LMCJKRFW5R81,"Strengthening American Infrastructure (SAI) is an NSF Program seeking to stimulate human-centered fundamental and potentially transformative research that strengthens America’s infrastructure. Effective infrastructure provides a strong foundation for socioeconomic vitality and broad quality of life improvement. Strong, reliable, and effective infrastructure spurs private-sector innovation, grows the economy, creates jobs, makes public-sector service provision more efficient, strengthens communities, promotes equal opportunity, protects the natural environment, enhances national security, and fuels American leadership. To achieve these goals requires expertise from across the science and engineering disciplines. SAI focuses on how knowledge of human reasoning and decision-making, governance, and social and cultural processes enables the building and maintenance of effective infrastructure that improves lives and society and builds on advances in technology and engineering.    Every year, wildfires in the United States cause many deaths and bring enormous economic loss. The frequency and harm caused by wildfires are projected to grow with changes in the climate and shifting population centers. Wildfires represent a significant threat to critical infrastructure systems. These challenges are compounded by the observation that rural and disadvantaged communities are often the most susceptible to wildfire disasters. Although significant progress has been made in predicting wildfire propagation, less is known about the complex interactions between wildfires, socially vulnerable populations, and emergency management practices. This SAI project focuses on strengthening the emergency management of critical infrastructure systems, with special attention to the disproportionate societal impacts of wildfires. Specifically, this project integrates social scientific theories with mathematical models to yield novel insights into the design and improvement of emergency management of critical infrastructure systems. The goal is to develop a new assessment framework and an integrative decision model that enhances the human-centered governance of such systems.    One critical challenge in this area is understanding how essential services, such as electricity, water, and transportation, might fail due to their strong interdependencies when facing a wildfire. Another major challenge is that the needs of socially vulnerable communities residing at the interface between wildlands and urban areas are often unseen. As a result, the disproportionate impacts of wildfire-induced critical infrastructure failures on these communities are not adequately considered in emergency planning and practices. This SAI project aims to develop a human-centered, equity-focused, risk-informed decision-making framework to address these challenges. The research develops equity-aware and interpretable models and computational algorithms related to vulnerability assessment and efficient post-wildfire recovery strategies of interdependent critical infrastructure systems under deep uncertainties. It also evaluates the social burden of wildfire-induced critical infrastructure service disruptions on rural and disadvantaged communities and effectively integrates it with the new emergency management decision model. The project brings together expertise and resources from a network of researchers in the social sciences, engineering, and public policy, along with stakeholders from multiple institutions, public and private agencies, non-profit organizations, and local communities.    This award is supported by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic (SBE) Sciences and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.    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.",TRUE
2243017,"AGEP FC-PAM: The University of Texas System Alliance: An Inclusive Model of Mentoring, Sponsorship, and Systemic Change for Diversity in STEM Faculty Career Paths",2025-04-25,University of Texas at Arlington,ARLINGTON,TX,TX25,1077608,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243017,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243017_4900,2023-08-15,2028-07-31,760199800,LMLUKUPJJ9N3,"The AGEP Faculty Career Pathways Alliance Model (FC-PAM) “The University of Texas System Alliance” (UT System Alliance) promotes equity and inclusion in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) higher education. The goal of the AGEP UT System Alliance is to develop, implement, self-study, and institutionalize a University of Texas System AGEP career pathway model that provides (1) systemic change around policies and procedures for recruitment and hiring of, and (2) collaborative mentoring and sponsorship for the success of Black and African American, Latine and Hispanic American, Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and Native Pacific Islander STEM doctoral candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and junior faculty members at the University of Texas campuses at Arlington, Austin, Dallas, El Paso, and San Antonio. The AGEP UT System Alliance provides inclusive mentoring and sponsorship for AGEP UT System Alliance participants around tools for success, and it promotes changes in culture and policy at each Alliance institution to create an ecosystem supportive of the professional development. Alliance activities are addressing non-inclusive practices and creating welcoming spaces for members of these groups as they ascend to careers in academia. The Alliance is working to improve the understanding of intersecting identities around ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, economic background, first generation status, faculty role and discipline, and family and community roles, as intersectional identities inform professional development activities for doctoral candidates, postdoctoral research scholars, and early career faculty members, as well as professional development for university leaders as part of systemic change strategies. The AGEP UT System Alliance is also adopting faculty hiring best practices for early career faculty hiring policies and practices.     Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty members, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity, and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, funds grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. FC-PAM awards are intended to support the development, implementation, evaluation, and institutionalization of Alliance models that will advance AGEP populations, within similar institutions of higher education. FC-PAM collaborators also study how socio-cultural, economic, structural, leadership and institutional variables affect the formation of the FC-PAM, and the strategies or interventions the collaborators implement to advance AGEP populations.     The Alliance has internal and external advisory boards with members who routinely review the AGEP UT System Alliance’s progress and strategize on future steps. An internal evaluator is leading the project’s self-study and formative assessment of the development and implementation of effective programming, institutional integration, and impacts. An external evaluator is providing summative assessment using a theory-based framework to assess the effectiveness of the AGEP UT System Alliance in recruiting, supporting, and retaining STEM doctoral candidates, postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty members; the Alliance’s creation of career and  academic pathways; and the project’s impact on institutional integration for sustainability. The AGEP UT System Alliance team is disseminating the AGEP FC-PAM Model and project results through peer-reviewed and professional publications, an AGEP UT System Alliance website, and presentations at scientific and professional meetings.    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.",TRUE
2200753,Supporting School Administrators in Leading Towards Racially Just and Ambitious Mathematics Instruction,2025-04-25,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,2181409,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200753,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200753_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"School and district leaders play an important role in supporting teachers to learn new practices, especially those related to equity.  Both researchers and educators have often treated educational leadership that promotes racial justice as separate from mathematics teaching. This project focuses on developing anti-racist mathematics teaching and learning practices that have led to inequitable school experiences for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students. This study is a partnership with school and central office leaders from one district and educational researchers from three universities with expertise in both educational leadership and mathematics education. Partnership activities include documenting how leaders learn and develop anti-racist leadership practices and then measuring the impact on teachers’ instruction and students’ experiences. This project will result in a refined set of leadership practices that support anti-racist, ambitious teaching and learning by fostering Black, Indigenous, and Latinx students’ positive racialized mathematical identities, positioning students as central members of their mathematics learning communities, and affirming their home and cultural assets. Moreover, the tools, routines, and leadership moves developed and used by the partner educators will help researchers and educators better envision and advocate for anti-racist leadership in the areas of school systems and policies, mathematics teaching and learning, and supports for teacher learning. This award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    This mixed-methods study aims to document how leaders learn and develop leadership practices to support anti-racist and ambitious mathematics learning opportunities for students, and measure the relationship between these practices and a) teachers’ instruction and b) students’ experiences. In a research-practice partnership (RPP), both educational leadership and mathematics education researchers from three universities and leadership practitioners from three elementary schools and a central office team in one district will collaborate to understand how and if leadership for anti-racist, ambitious mathematics teaching and learning is a key lever to create more racially just schools. Qualitative analysis of observations, interviews, documents, and artifacts from the RPP and from leaders’ practices will demonstrate leaders’ developing understandings and practices. Mixed-methods analyses of classroom video recordings and artifacts, teacher interviews, student focus groups and student surveys will describe the relationship between leaders’ actions, teachers’ practices, and students’ learning experiences. Findings will contribute to both the fields of justice focused leadership and mathematics education by explaining how this type of leadership shapes content-specific instruction and will provide much-needed guidance for practitioners looking to cultivate antiracist teaching, learning, and leadership in schools.    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.",FALSE
2419014,Navigating Ethical and Responsible Co-Authorship with Indigenous Partners,2025-04-25,Boise State University,BOISE,ID,ID02,399199,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419014,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2419014_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,837250001,HYWTVM5HNFM3,"Motivated by a growing recognition of the importance of community-engaged research, the goal of this project is to assist researchers, ecological restoration practitioners, and community partners in navigating how to co-author and share research findings in ways that are relevant, useful, and culturally reflexive. The project grows from the collaborative Indigenous Led Ecological Restoration (ILER) project (NSF-BSC #2117652) and is co-led by non-Tribal university scholars and Blackfoot scholars and partners, including 5 Tribal Elders and Piikani Lodge, a Blackfeet-led environment and health nonprofit. The project asks: (1) What are the obstacles to ethical co-authorship with Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners, and how can these best be addressed? (2) What practices and models of collaboration enable ethical and effective co-authorship? (3) More specifically, what does ethical co-authorship look like in ecological restoration research? In answering these questions, the project supports equitable ecological restoration research and addresses gaps in institutional research ethics around co-authorship. Broader impacts include: guidelines for best practices in ethical co-authorship; opportunities for Blackfoot partners including students to engage in co-authorship; and co-written outputs that apply different models of co-authorship to support Blackfoot-led ecological restoration. The project promotes the progress of ecological restoration science, advances national wellbeing by supporting equitable scholarship, and broadens participation in STEM by supporting research and authorship opportunities for Tribal and early-career scholars.     This project engages in scholarly debate on institutional research ethics and Indigenous-engaged research, knowledge co-production, and ecological restoration to advance understanding of the foundations of ethical and responsible co-authorship among Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners. We address this through two major research objectives: 1) To better understand the dynamics of ethical and responsible co-authorship with Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners in general and in the field of ecological restoration; and 2): To translate these into guidelines for IRBs and ecological restoration research. Our research approach combines standard methods of interviews and dialogue on co-authorship with experimental methods in which we apply and evaluate different models of co-authorship. The project produces generalizable findings on ethical co-authorship and collaborative knowledge production and provides concrete insights into best practices.      This project is jointly funded through the ER2 program by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, the Directorate for Biological Sciences, and the Directorate for Geosciences.    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.",FALSE
2100961,Collaborative Research: Supporting Teachers to Develop Equitable Mathematics Instruction Through Rubric-Based Coaching,2025-04-25,Harvard University,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,1199099,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100961,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100961_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,021385366,LN53LCFJFL45,"Creating supportive middle school mathematics learning spaces that foster students' self-efficacy and mathematics learning is a critical need in the United States. This need is particularly urgent for mathematics classrooms with students who have been historically marginalized in such spaces. While many instructional improvement efforts have focused on broadening access to mathematical ideas, fewer efforts have paid explicit attention to the ways instructional practices may serve to marginalize students. Supporting teachers in identifying and refining their equitable mathematics instructional practices is a persistent challenge. This project brings together a successful mathematics rubric-based coaching model (MQI Coaching) and an empirically developed observation tool focused on equity-focused instructional practices, the Equity and Access Rubrics for Mathematics Instruction (EAR-MI). The project's work integrates the EAR-MI rubrics into the MQI Coaching model with 24 middle grades mathematics coaches supporting 72 teachers at grades 5-8. The project measures the effects of the coaching model on teachers' beliefs and instructional practices and on students' mathematical achievement and sense of belonging in mathematics. The project also investigates how teachers' attitudes and beliefs impact their participation and what teachers take away from engagement with the coaching model.    The project makes use of a delayed-treatment experimental design to investigate effects on teacher beliefs and practices and student achievement and sense of belonging. A cohort of 14 coaches are randomly selected to participate in the coaching in Years 2 and 3, with the remaining 10 coaches assigned to a business-as-usual model in Year 2 and engaging in the training in Year 3. Coaches engage in a 4-day summer training to become acquainted with the model with coaching cycles and follow-up meetings during the school year. Each coach will engage teachers in 8-10 coaching cycles in treatment years. Data on the nature of the coaching includes logs and surveys from the coaches. Teachers submit surveys related to their beliefs and practices and two lessons each at the start and end of the academic year for analysis. Student assessment data, course grades, and administrative data, combined with survey data from students on classroom belonging and perceptions of ability and confidence in mathematics, are used to describe student outcomes. Teacher outcomes are captured through the analysis of classroom video, surveys about ethnic-racial identity and racial attitudes, beliefs about students and instruction, and beliefs about and efficacy for culturally responsive teaching. The project uses a set of survey measures with established reliability and validity, adapting some instruments to include specific indicators related to the equity and access rubrics. Analysis of the data uses a multi-level model accounting for the clustering of teachers within schools and students within classrooms and schools.    This project is funded by the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The DRK-12 program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2204552,ADVANCE Partnership: Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES),2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,250000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204552,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2204552_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"Although research using community-engaged research (CER) methods is funding by several federal agencies, CER is still undervalued within the broader STEM discipline culture and often it is classified as “service” during STEM faculty annual review, tenure, and promotion processes. This project posits that this systemic undervaluation of CER contributes to the attrition of many faculty that identify as women and underrepresented racial and ethnic minority women (URMWF) who frequently enter Environmental Engineering (EnvE) motivated to address societally important problems.  This ADVANCE Partnership project titled “Strategic Partnership for Alignment of Community Engagement in STEM (SPACES)” will work to enhance the understanding and awareness of rigorous CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF.  This project is a collaborative effort among 11 academic institutions, EnvE discipline’s primary professional societies (American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists, American Association for Aerosol Research, Association of Environmental Engineering & Science Professors, Water Environment Federation) and an NSF initiative focused on CER through the National Research Traineeship program.     SPACES will leverage the strength of the SPACES partnership, gains made in gender representation in EnvE, as well as the justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) initiatives underway in EnvE and public health.  The project aims to produce a structural model, operationalized as an institutional scorecard, that will result in greater faculty success and professional progress for those conducting CER. The scorecard will incorporate factors that shape trends related to the longevity and attrition of URMWF faculty in EnvE at the personal, disciplinary, and societal levels.  The scorecard has potential to be used in other engineering disciplines. The project goals are to: (1) increase the retention and promotion of URMWF in EnvE; (2) transform the climate and infrastructure to support and value community-engaged research in the EnvE academic community; and (3) enhance understanding and awareness of CER research and its value to the EnvE discipline and society, especially as conducted by URMWF.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2101668,Collaborative Research: Developing and Researching K-12 Teacher Leaders Enacting Anti-bias Mathematics Education,2025-04-25,Teachers Development Group,PORTLAND,OR,OR03,820320,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101668,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101668_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,972021063,JQK1L1KKJ6W3,"There is increased recognition that engaging all students in learning mathematics requires an explicit focus on anti-bias mathematics teaching. Teachers, even with positive intentions, have biases, causing them to treat students differently and impacting how they distribute students’ opportunities to learn in K-12 mathematics classrooms. Research is needed to examine models of mathematics teacher professional development that explicitly addresses bias reduction. The goal of this project is to study the design and development of community-centered, job-embedded professional development for classroom teachers that supports bias reduction. The project team will partner with three school districts serving racially, ethnically, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse communities, for a two-year professional development program. The aim is to reduce bias through: analyzing and designing mathematics teaching with colleagues, students, and families to create classrooms and schools based on community-centered mathematics; engaging in anti-bias teaching routines; and building relationships with parents, caretakers, and community members. The project team will study teacher leader professional development, including the professional development model, framework, and tools, along with what teacher leaders across district contexts and grade-levels take up and use in their instructional practice.  This will potentially have wider implications for supporting more equitable mathematics teaching and leadership. Project activities, resources, and tools will be shared with the broader community of mathematics educators and researchers for use in other contexts.     The goal of this two-phase, design based research project is to iteratively design and research teacher leaders’ (TLs) participation in community-centered, job-embedded professional development and investigate their subsequent impact on classrooms, schools, and districts. The project builds on the existing Math Studio professional development model to create a Community Centered Math Studio, integrating the Anti-bias Mathematics Education Framework into the work. The project seeks to understand how the professional development model supports the development of teacher leaders' knowledge, dispositions, and practices for teaching and leading anti-bias mathematics education, and how teachers' subsequent classroom practice can cultivate students' mathematical engagement, discourse, and interests. The project will measure aspects of teacher knowledge and classroom practice by integrating existing classroom observation rubrics and STEM interest surveys to assess the impact on teacher classroom practice and student outcomes. The project will engage 12 TLs and approximately 60 additional teachers working with those TLs in two years of professional development using the Community Centered Math Studio Model to support anti-bias mathematics teaching. Data will be collected for all teachers related to their participation in the professional learning, with six teachers being followed for additional data collection and in-depth case studies. The project's outcomes will contribute to theories of how TLs build adaptive expertise for teaching and leading to reduce bias in classrooms, departments, schools, and districts. In addition, the project will contribute new and adapted research instruments on anti-bias teaching and leading. The research outcomes will add to the growing research base that describes the nature of equitable mathematics teaching in K-12 classrooms and increases access to meaningful mathematics for students, teachers, and communities.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2342769,Collaborative Research: SEI: Creating a Lasting LEGACY - Scaling a Peer-learning Community Model to Provide AP CS Preparation and Career Awareness for Black Young Women,2025-04-25,Oakland University,ROCHESTER,MI,MI11,76606,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342769,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342769_4900,2024-05-15,2028-04-30,483094401,HJTLACN81NK1,"Careers in Computer Science (CS) related areas represent many of the best-paid jobs in the nation. However, Black women comprise less than 1% of the workforce at the most popular U.S. software companies. Low participation of Black students in CS areas is often attributed to a lack of “preparatory privilege,” encompassing the unavailability of resources and experiences that build content knowledge and associated skills, and few role models. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations project will scale up a successful project that engaged Black young women in high schools throughout the state of Alabama in a year-long peer-learning community to prepare them for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. Called LEGACY++, the project will expand the focus to 500 students, adding two other states - Mississippi and Ohio. To do so, it will create a partnership among (1) post-secondary institutions in diverse cultural settings (urban and rural); (2) collaborators that specialize in analyzing programmatic outcomes and identifying factors that promote student success in CS; and (3) industry partners to connect students with new learning experiences from the automotive, wireless, and health sector domains. Eighteen Black CS Teacher Leaders will receive training across the tri-State partnership to facilitate an immersive summer institute experience to initiate the preparation of students for the AP CSP course at their school. Interactions will continue during the school year to promote students’ AP exam readiness through curriculum workshops focused on AP CSP topics and interactions with multiple mentors who are all Black women. Students will also be provided with resources to mitigate the barriers to CS access often faced by low-income families, such as access to a peer learning community with scheduled meetings over the academic year.     The LEGACY++ Scholars will represent Black young women from three states to imbue CS content knowledge and an awareness of opportunities in CS-related occupations. LEGACY++ Scholars will learn AP CSP concepts through culturally responsive instruction and project-based learning facilitated by tools to support remote student collaborations to highlight the nature of virtual work, while connecting with new learning experiences from industry partners, their own life situations, and career aspirations. The synergy among these strategies is a promising approach to stimulate the learning of CS for this population; thus, the project’s activities will explore creative and transformative approaches targeted at enabling the participation of groups historically underrepresented in CS careers. Specifically, the research questions addressed in this project include investigating how LEGACY++ activities foster a perception of CS as a communal endeavor, how creating a community of learners can strengthen participants’ identity with CS/technical careers and reduce the effects of stereotype threat, and whether LEGACY++ participation can increase awareness and understanding of CS careers. The LEGACY++ evaluation plan will continuously assess activities and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback by identifying promising practices and evidence of success that stimulate CS interest among Black young women. Data collection and evaluation of the implementation of the program activities will include observations of the Summer Institutes, semi-annual interviews of teacher leaders, annual interviews of program leaders and mentoring board members, and student projects. These data will be analyzed qualitatively in terms of pre-defined program success criteria. Measurable program outcomes will include changes in Scholars’ content knowledge and attitudes towards CS, and Scholars’ career plans. The knowledge-generation component will investigate how creating a community of learners increases identification, belonging, and persistence in CS among Black women. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2408749,BPE-Track 4: Phase I: Developing Complete Engineers: Nebraska Engineering Inclusive Excellence Center (NEIEC),2025-04-25,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,1199999,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2408749,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2408749_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"This NSF Track 4 Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) project will establish the Nebraska Engineering Inclusive Excellence Center (NEIEC) within the College of Engineering (COE) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL). NEIEC aims to cultivate a diverse engineering workforce by providing education to individuals from varied backgrounds, equipping them with essential technical, professional, and personal skills, and fostering their engineering identity. As the only engineering college in Nebraska, UNL COE is committed to ensuring that its resources and opportunities are accessible to all Nebraskans, including women, students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups (UREGs), and students from rural areas. NEIEC's mission aligns with NSF’s goal of broadening participation in engineering by prioritizing student success across six core non-technical competencies through the Complete Engineer® program and our values of Community, Impact, and Inclusion in order to develop engineers capable of addressing complex global challenges.    The primary goals of NEIEC are to foster a culture of inclusive excellence, reinforce engineering identity, facilitate the development of complete engineers, emphasize inclusive excellence from K-12 recruitment to faculty mentoring, and to examine engineering identity development throughout K-12 education. NEIEC is structured around four pillars.  Broadening Recruitment (Pillar I) will build upon and link existing community networks to collaborate with high school educators, inspire engineering mindsets, and bolster engineering identities to increase access to engineering career pathways for Nebraska youth. Enhancing Retention (Pillar II) will scrutinize and address institutional policies that may inadvertently create barriers to persistence toward an engineering degree, particularly among students from underserved groups. This pillar also includes refining and broadening access to the burgeoning suite of specialized student support programs currently offered by the college, while researching how these services contribute to supporting engineering identities and retention. The Complete Engineer® program (Pillar III) will establish pathways for engineering students to achieve the Engagement in within the Inclusive Excellence competency through student grants and faculty-led engagement projects. Research under this pillar will shed light on how student engagement projects focused on inclusive excellence impact undergraduate students’ engineering identity. Fostering Inclusive Faculty (Pillar IV) includes establishing an innovative faculty mentoring program to support faculty in inclusive teaching, student mentoring, and the scholarship of engagement, enhancing faculty capacity to promote inclusive excellence within engineering education. Guiding research questions for this pillar focus on understanding how a dynamic ecosystem promoting collaborative, experiential, and interactive activities can transform engineering culture into a partnership model and serve as a catalyst for shaping strong engineering identities, as informed by Cultural Transformation Theory. Mixed methods-based research data will include questionnaires on elements of engineering culture, student retention data analysis, first-year student surveys, course policy document analysis, focus groups, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of written reflections. The evaluation plan for this project will span three levels, the central and integrative partnership level, the research and education practice (knowledge generation) level, and the participant (including faculty and students) leadership and scholarship level. This project will make significant contributions to the knowledgebase about inclusive excellence in engineering education and fostering a culture that strengthens engineering identity among undergraduate students. NEIEC will produce complete engineers equipped with technical and nontechnical skills who are poised to lead innovation and inclusivity in engineering fields. Its outcomes and best practices will serve as a model for institutions promoting diversity and innovation, thereby contributing to a globally competitive workforce.    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.",FALSE
2202109,"Advanced Manufacturing: Girls Can, Too",2025-04-25,Kentucky Community & Technical College System,VERSAILLES,KY,KY06,347382,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Advanced Tech Education Prog,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2202109,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2202109_4900,2022-07-01,2025-06-30,403831245,GWSXAJZALU69,"Kentucky faces a skilled technical worker shortage that must be addressed if the state is to advance its manufacturing base. Analysis of graduation data in Advanced Manufacturing credentials by Bluegrass Community & Technical College (BCTC) faculty indicates few women graduate in these fields. BCTC’s three-year Girls Can Too Project will address this problem by educating, recruiting and mentoring 80 middle and high school girls into careers relating to Industrial Maintenance Technology (IMT), a key technical field that supplies highly skilled technicians who install, maintain and repair industrial systems equipment. Project activities will develop awareness and learning activities coupled with mentoring interventions for these middle and high school girls and then recruit 10 to 12 high school girls to enroll in dual credit courses that will prepare them for transfer into the IMT program to earn certificates, diplomas or AAS degrees. Mentoring and support by professional women employed in IMT will provide women enrolled in the IMT program with leadership opportunities as near-peer mentors for the middle and high school students participating in the Girls Can Too Project. The broader impacts of this project include support for girls’ engagement and transition into technical fields by strengthening and expanding high school dual credit programs to include IMT preparation courses. The project also supports systemic change in the college’s systems of support, mentoring and industry connections through a female-led mentoring program and a Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT). The intellectual merit of the project rest on its contribution to a growing field of study that assesses the value of mentoring and support interventions to address gender disparities in STEM fields. College administrators will review project successes and adapt or expand activities to grow enrollment in other technical programs with similar gender disparities so the college can build a diverse skilled technical workforce.    The overall goal of the project is to recruit and retain more women in Industrial Maintenance Technology by increasing awareness and providing learning opportunities and mentoring beginning in middle school. Girls and young women will gain access to relevant dual credit courses in high school and have high levels of contact with faculty and industry professionals who are women. Each year, project directors expect 80 students from middle and high schools to participate in program activities supported by two faculty who will lead the program of interventions and support that encompass Saturday engagements at the college’s Advanced Manufacturing campus in Georgetown Kentucky and summer learning experiences that engages them with hands-on activities related to industrial maintenance. High school students who participate in the program will have the opportunity to take four technology-related dual credit courses to prepare for enrollment in the college’s IMT program. IMT faculty will add to their pedagogical skills those strategies needed to engage a more diverse classroom by participating in BCTC’s Cultural Competency course, a semester-long course developed and offered by the college to advance the goals of equity and diversity in teaching and learning. This cultural competency knowledge will be integrated into the IMT classroom to update the curriculum and better meet the needs of a more diverse student body. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the Nation's economy.    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.",FALSE
2416656,Indigenous Experiences of Environmental Changes in Historical Perspective,2025-04-25,University of Oklahoma Norman Campus,NORMAN,OK,OK04,124434,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416656,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416656_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,730193003,EVTSTTLCEWS5,"While climate variability has accelerated in the last few decades, the planet has been warming since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the mid-1800s. Such environmental changes have particularly impacted Indigenous communities located in mountainous areas where glaciers have retreated, avalanches have unleashed snow and ice, glacial lakes have burst, and waterways have become contaminated with metals released by melting glaciers. This project traces the history of Indigenous experiences and understandings of climate variability since the end of the LIA to understand how environmental changes have impacted Indigenous people and how they have responded to such changes. The results of this project will help policymakers, scientists, and environmental organizations develop plans inclusive of and attentive to Indigenous views and experiences.    The project’s main goal is to examine how Indigenous people’s ecological experiences, knowledge, and practices have shifted over the last 200 years. It asks: how have Indigenous people understood and shaped their environment? How have they interacted with state institutions, industry, and non-Indigenous scientists? How have Indigenous communities altered environmental and ritual practices in the face of environmental change? And how have their relationships with a changing environment shaped their identities and organizations? The study posits that Indigenous people’s labor has shaped the environment, that their relationships with the environment have shaped their identities and claims to resources and autonomy, that their knowledge has informed state policy and scientific expertise, and that their ideas and practices have changed over time due in part to the impacts of environmental change. The project will be based on extensive archival research and document analysis as well as oral histories and ethnographic interviews.    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.",FALSE
2418858,Collaborative Research: Prismatic Community of Practice Incubation Project,2025-04-25,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,52166,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2418858,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2418858_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"This project will foster a network of collaborators, the Prismatic Community of Practice, to advance knowledge about ethical and responsible human subjects research with a focus on minoritized individuals and communities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). All research involving human participants necessarily includes people with, or requires considerations of, minoritized identities. The project focuses specifically on assembling STEM education researchers, education practitioners, educational professional societies, and Institutional Review Board (IRB) personnel to form a community of practice to understand pertinent ethical issues.  It will lead to the creation and piloting of a professional development module. The project will have far-reaching benefits by supporting professional development, the progress of social science methodology, and ethical STEM education research.     The project will expand knowledge about ethical and responsible human subjects research with a focus on minoritized individuals and communities in STEM. There are many ethical considerations in such research, from research design and confidentiality to participant recruitment, instrumentation, data collection, data storage, data analysis, and the sharing of findings.  The project will foster new collaborations and build a community of practice with STEM education researchers, practitioners, professional societies, and personnel from IRB offices. The community of practice will link research and minoritized identities to move the STEM education research field forward in ethical, responsible, and inclusive ways. Project activities will involve developing a pilot module with the community of practice and providing mentoring for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students as part of their involvement in conducting research. In the long run, project activities will provide benefits to education researchers at-large and research participants through a refined module.     This project is jointly funded through the ER2 program by the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences and the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.    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.",FALSE
2314260,STEMcyclists: Black and Brown Youth Transforming Science and Engineering via Bikes,2025-04-25,SUNY at Buffalo,AMHERST,NY,NY26,2081790,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,SSA-Special Studies & Analysis,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314260,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314260_4900,2024-01-01,2027-06-30,142282577,LMCJKRFW5R81,"The bike is an engineering system centered on a transparent technology that promotes freedom of movement and thus has the potential to democratize mobility and access. As an accessible technology it allows for tinkering, redesigning, repairing, customizing, re-mixing, repurposing, building, and re-building. This project uses bikes and biking to introduce STEM content and experiences to traditionally underrepresented youth (grades 9-10) by having them participate in place-based informal learning activities. The researchers along with community organizations work together to plan and facilitate a summer institute and cohort sessions during the academic year. The youth will engage in STEM learning in their community by creating and contributing knowledge that informs their own learning in topics like science, engineering, and biomechanics.    The goal of this project is to use bikes and biking learning experiences to advance STEM, human-centered engineering, and science frameworks through the assets of an urban, community-based youth organization. The project will impact 96 students in grades 9 and 10 in an urban setting. Data will be collected before, during, and after summer and fall/spring sessions over the course of three years. The main data sources will be observations of, and videorecording of all sessions; semi-structured interviews with youth, peer mentors, instructors, team members and community partners; and, youth produced project artifacts, and planning and design, modules, and institute artifacts. This asset-based approach will be accomplished through four overlapping foci: (a) applying the STEM processes (engineering design principles and scientific practices) of rebuilding bikes; (b) understanding the biomechanics of bikes and biking; (c) using the bike as a medium to experience and uncover STEM phenomena in the community; to (d) transform youth STEM identities. This project will get youth interested and engaged in STEM by having their understandings represented based on how they engage with and apply engineering principles to rebuild bikes, the actual bike rebuild, youth discussions as well as interactions with peers and instructors/facilitators.    This Type 4, Integrating Research and Practice, project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes. The project is co-funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts, and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2320742,When Merit Shifts: The Impact of Changes to Admissions Policies in Selective Public Schools,2025-04-25,Tufts University,MEDFORD,MA,MA05,256252,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2320742,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2320742_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,021555519,WL9FLBRVPJJ7,"This project investigates how changes in school admissions policies affect perceptions of merit. The study examines the impact of a change in admissions policy that increased the representation of historically underrepresented groups in selective public schools. The project examines both the possibilities and perils of shifts to more inclusive systems of selection, particularly in organizations with a history of exclusion. The policy change studied in this project has the potential to assist efforts to provide more equitable access to high-quality secondary education.      This study investigates how changes to admissions policies in selective public schools affect students’ and teachers’ experiences, behaviors, and attitudes. The project focuses on two schools in a city that shifted its admissions policy, now placing students in socioeconomic tiers based on their neighborhoods’ socioeconomic status. The shift in policy dramatically changed the demographic make-up of one of the city’s selective public schools but not another. The investigators conduct participant observation and 160 in-depth interviews with educators and students in both schools, evaluating impacts on students' experiences and feelings of belonging and on teachers' behavior and pedagogy. The project pays particular attention to demographic differences and to differences between students admitted before and after the changed admissions policy. The study also draws comparisons across the two schools to understand the extent to which a changing composition shapes ideas about deservingness of admission.    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.",TRUE
2430370,SBIR Phase I: Addressing Mental Health in Underserved Athletic Populations,2025-04-25,EDNA INC.,OXFORD,MA,MA01,275000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,SBIR Phase I,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2430370,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2430370_4900,2024-10-01,2025-09-30,015402722,Y334AMJL4AF3,"The broader impact and commercial potential of this SBIR Phase I project lies in its innovative approach to proactively monitor mental health support for student-athletes, particularly those from underserved communities. Research shows that college athletes face 20 times higher rates of mental health issues than their non-athletic peers, with students of color encountering unique challenges tied to economic, culture, and social constructs. This product will launch at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), where underfunded institutions, lack of social support, and imposed responsibilities compound the pressures of athletic competition.    This project focuses on developing an AI tool that provides conversational check-ins, identifying language indicative of mental distress. By leveraging minority data, this tool engages student-athletes in a culturally relevant manner, promoting their mental wellness. The primary objective is to train a large language model (LLM) using this data to proactively monitor the health and wellness of these student-athletes. The bot integrates subjective conversational data with objective clinical surveys through proprietary algorithms, offering a more accurate assessment of mental distress. With a projected revenue of $3 million by year three, this comprehensive approach has the potential to revolutionize mental health support for student-athletes, with broader commercial applications for other vulnerable populations.    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.",FALSE
2331216,Collaborative Research: EPIIC: Expanding Team Capacity for High Impact and New Growth (ETCHING) Cohort,2025-04-25,Columbus State Community College,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,400000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",NSF Engines - Type 1,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331216,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331216_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,432151722,H7GFSFHXELW4,"This is a collaborative project across the following institutions: Columbus State Community College (CSCC) and Onondaga Community College (OCC).  The two colleges share regional environments that have seen a revitalization of former industrial regions through new emerging industries, with specific synergy currently underway in high-volume advanced manufacturing and recent developments in the semiconductor industry. The growth of emerging industries in both regions will be a workforce catalyst, and CSCC and OCC aim to increase research and training opportunities to address industry needs and better serve their communities. CSCC and OCC share gaps in finding qualified and available faculty, in collaborating with other four- and two-year institutions, in the need to engage employer partners more deeply, and in a desire to increase capacity for resource development aligned to emerging technologies.    The cohort goals will grow partnerships for the regional innovation ecosystem to create a more diverse workforce to meet the talent demand. The cohort will expand the research development capacity of each college and help other institutions with similar goals to pursue new opportunities and better engage in large-scale collaborations. Activities include creating an expanded partnership model for engaging industry, developing a benchmark partnership model for instructor sharing, creating in-residence models for industry instructor sharing, and increasing capacity to engage in grant initiatives for larger scale partnerships. The cohort will become a resource for grant development partnerships that focus on increasing underserved participation in emerging pathways. Equity-focused strategies will be incorporated throughout the design and guide how diverse populations are engaged. Through this project, the cohort will develop a blueprint for other institutions with similar challenges and needs to effectively engage with their regional innovation ecosystem to in emerging technology.    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.",FALSE
2451885,CAREER: Vivificando Valores Incluyentes Radicalmente en la Educacion de Ingenieria (ViVIR): Inspiring Radically Inclusive Values in Engineering Education,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,342108,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2451885,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2451885_4900,2024-10-01,2029-09-30,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Many researchers have established that groups Historically Minoritized and Marginalized (HMM) in STEM (e.g., women, Hispanic, Indigenous, Black) tend to place greater importance on social/communal, cultural, and altruistic values when making education/career decisions. However, their perceptions of stereotypical STEM culture are incongruent with such values and discourages consideration of STEM education/careers. This is commonly referred to as Goal Congruity Theory. Not only does this incongruity discourage consideration of STEM education/careers, it also thwarts efforts to broaden participation of HMM in STEM. In fact, despite the countless resources invested to broaden participation in engineering, women and Hispanic, LatinX/e/a/o, XicanX/e/a/o peoples, inclusive of their intersectionalities (HLX+), represent only 16% and 9% of the college educated engineering workforce, respectively. Although, the efforts have resulted in an increased share of engineering Bachelor’s degrees awarded to women (24%) and HLX+ (14%) over the years, women and HLX+ are still unacceptably underrepresented in the college educated engineering workforce. Considerable research has explored engineering identity development as a potential solution to address many of the issues facing engineering education. However, critiques of the narrow focus of the literature (e.g., identification with the profession itself, historical definitions of the profession) disclose that none ask students to connect their beliefs, values, or other aspects of identity to engineering. Engineering identity may support recruitment and retention efforts, but it is wanting if the central goal is to broaden participation and increase diversity because individuals’ backgrounds (e.g., ethnic, racial, cultural, gender, sexual preference, historical) and their associated beliefs and values are not even considered in many of the engineering identity constructs. Therefore, in alignment with the National Science Foundation’s Broadening Participation in Engineering program, this project intends to enable and encourage the participation of all citizens in the engineering enterprise by challenging these patterns.     This project will take on a holistic approach to enhance “servingness” at HSIs and beyond by creating an identity affirming culture in engineering education. Hispanic, LatinX/e/a/o, XicanX/e/a/o undergraduate students, inclusive of their intersectionalities (HLX+), in engineering will participate in a program that nurtures holistic identity development and empowerment informed by Anzaldua’s Path to Conocimiento (i.e., Conocimiento). Path to Conocimiento is framework that contributes to their making meaning of the transitional journey that naturally occurs during higher education. Students will engage in autoethnographic inquiry to make meaning of their experiences as HLX+ in engineering education and then identify where and how they can dismantle cultural barriers or transform hegemonic structures. The Conocimiento will also provide the context to explore HLX+ Cultural, Community, Racial, Ethnic (CCoRE) values. The research component, using a combination of qualitative and participatory research methods, will seek to answer: (1) What are the salient CCoRE values that HLX+ undergrads bring with them into their engineering education?; (2) Where and how do HLX+ undergrads experience conflicts with their CCoRE values during their engineering education?; and (3) How do HLX+ undergrads navigate conflicts with their CCoRE values when empowered with their own conocimiento? This new knowledge will be used to develop a workshop to inspire and aid faculty to create an identity affirming culture within their research teams and/or in their classes, departments, and beyond. Ultimately, this project seeks to (1) empower students to recognize and disrupt hegemonic engineering education structures and, by extension, the profession, (2) dismantle cultural barriers that dissuade historically minoritized and marginalized people from participating in engineering education/careers, and (3) transform the dominant engineering culture by inspiring radically inclusive values, particularly among faculty and HLX+.    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.",FALSE
2423785,Understanding Youth Political Engagement,2025-04-25,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,399998,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2423785,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2423785_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project examines demographically diverse young adults and how they develop social and political identities, as well as how resources and opportunities for youth political engagement have changed during election seasons.  The project will contribute to our understanding of the development of political attitudes, behaviors, and identities during this period of rapid life transitions that characterize young adulthood. This project will further our understanding of how demographic groups are integrated into U.S. society and will also identify ways to promote political participation among young adults.     This multi-method study will consist of four waves of data collection. First, in September 2024, we anticipate collecting online survey responses from about 500 young adults ages 23 to 34 who participated in our 2020 survey, and 1,500 new participants ages 18 to 22 and 1,000 new participants ages 23 to 34. Second, we will recruit 40 original study participants and 40 new participants who will be first time voters in 2024 to participate in a photovoice exercise. Third, in October 2024, we expect to re-interview approximately 150 young adults ages 23 to 34 who participated in the original study, and 80 new participants ages 18 to 22 using purposive sampling to capture heterogeneity in experiences and outlooks by racial/ethnic and gender identity, political affiliation and voting intentions, and area of residence. Fourth, in the weeks immediately following the 2024 presidential election, we will administer a second online survey to all pre-election survey respondents. Data analysis will include statistical analysis of our survey data using regression analysis to estimate how sociodemographic and other background characteristics and contexts of political socialization are associated with political identities and forms of political engagement. Interviews and photovoice data will be analyzed using a qualitative data analysis software that supports multiple researchers' continuous data inputting and analysis.    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.",FALSE
2426972,Collaborative Research: AGEP ACA: Critical STEM Faculty Alliance (C-STEM Alliance),2025-04-25,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,129100,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2426972,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2426972_4900,2024-08-15,2026-07-31,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"New York University, Northwestern University, and the University of Pennsylvania form the Critical STEM Faculty Alliance (C-STEM).  Leveraging their combined strengths, they aim to develop an infrastructural technology system that provides more opportunities and lowers systemic risks for historically underrepresented groups. C-STEM will examine college and university functions, to understand how to train effective technology researchers and teachers from these groups. NSF emphasizes creating opportunities everywhere. Accordingly, C-STEM seeks to help new researchers from underrepresented backgrounds build strong professional networks, establish stable pathways that advance careers, and collaborate with other experts in academia, industry, and government. Also, C-STEM aims to help researchers build new projects and design innovative educational tools to improve people's lives. Its goal is to ensure that technology serves the public interest, especially those who have been most negatively affected by technology.    C-STEM aims to design and implement institutional self-assessments at the three C-STEM Alliance institutions. The alliance will prioritize collecting and analyzing data to identify inequities affecting underrepresented minority (URM) doctoral students, postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty in STEM fields. To assess the need for the C-STEM Alliance, the project will collect data on the demographic representation (race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender, first-generation status) of doctoral students and faculty in STEM and related fields. The project will also conduct curriculum surveys to understand demographic and socio-technical content representation in STEM courses, and review research production by minority and non-minority STEM students and faculty. Surveys will also evaluate existing mentorship and support structures, and collect data on minority STEM doctoral student outcomes, such as degree completion and post-degree hiring. Additionally, the alliance will gather qualitative data from minority STEM students and faculty about their experiences. This data will help identify institutional challenges and justify the alliance's activities, demonstrating how they address specific needs. To assess institutional readiness, the project will collect data that include reviews of diversity commitments by university leaders and progress towards diversity, equity, and inclusion goals. This will demonstrate C-STEM institutions’ commitment to increasing the representation, resilience, and success of minority doctoral students and faculty in STEM. The alliance intends for this work to help research communities better understand the incentives and affordances  institutional leaders’ encounter in their efforts to  create, continue, or expand key structures, such as postdoctoral programs and frameworks for transitioning postdoctoral scholars to tenure-track positions.    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.",FALSE
2431606,"Student Travel Support for Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) World Congress; Detroit, Michigan; 9-11 October 2024",2025-04-25,Lawrence Technological University,SOUTHFIELD,MI,MI12,26306,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",AM-Advanced Manufacturing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2431606,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2431606_4900,2024-07-01,2025-12-31,480751051,PF53FKHZST32,"This award provides participant support for students and young researchers to attend the World Congress on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM) World Congress in Detroit, Michigan, 9-11 October 2024. The conference focuses on research and development activities in advanced manufacturing and digital technologies. US and international researchers present their research results on advanced manufacturing and digital technologies in oral and poster sessions. The conference impacts the engineering and manufacturing communities. Priority is given to participation by women and under-represented minority groups, which promotes diverse participation at the conference. This award benefits the nation through the education of a skilled science and engineering workforce, which is better prepared to provide transformative solutions to the challenges in their chosen fields. This symposium plays an important role in supporting and sustaining the field of advanced manufacturing, which has many important applications in transportation, energy, microelectronics, and other industrial sectors.    This participant support is expected to benefit the students’ and young researchers’ professional, scientific, and technical development. Attendance at the conference gives the students and young faculty a broader view of advanced manufacturing and digital technologies, its fundamentals and practice. The conference discusses specialized topics related to advanced manufacturing such as vehicle electrification, AI in manufacturing, smart mobility, smart manufacturing, robotics in manufacturing, digital twins, and industrial automation. Besides technical research, the conference plans to hold workshops on geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T), production part approval process (PPAP), and programmable logic controller (PLC), and panels on smart mobility, EV charging and others. At the conference, concepts and challenges in advanced manufacturing are identified and presented, and attendees chart new paths forward in the field and rally a new generation of researchers toward them. The conference is attended by US and international researchers, which provides an opportunity for a variety of perspectives to be presented and discussed. The conference is an opportunity for participants to showcase their scientific accomplishments and interact with peers and colleagues in academia, government laboratories and industry.    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.",FALSE
2323131,"NSF INCLUDES Planning Grant: Coastal, Ocean, and Marine Enterprise Inclusion  and Network-building (COME IN)",2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,69553,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323131,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2323131_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"This NSF INCLUDES planning grant is funded by NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (NSF INCLUDES), a comprehensive national initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in discoveries and innovations by focusing on diversity, inclusion and broadening participation in STEM at scale.  The goal of this award is to create the Coastal, Ocean, and Marine Enterprise Inclusion and Network-building (COME IN). The project includes a series of facilitated virtual and in-person engagement opportunities that bring together scientists, stakeholders, and partners from various coastal, ocean and marine (COM) disciplines to understand the dynamic needs of students from underrepresented and under-resourced communities, establish a collaborative infrastructure to enhance and expand internship programs for underrepresented minorities (URM) based on Sea Grant’s Community-Engaged Internship program, and estimate resource needs to successfully form new and expanded frameworks that will ensure the persistence and success of URM students in the COM workforce. In addition to facilitating participant learning and relationship building, COME IN promotes enhanced communication and collaboration among various COM organizations, institutions, and businesses. The project utilizes multiple ways of capturing diverse perspectives, including the lived personal and professional experiences of individuals from underserved and underrepresented communities who may not be able to participate in virtual or in-person COME IN meetings.     This planning project focuses on developing a shared vision among partners, partnerships, goals and metrics, and developing robust mechanisms of collaborative infrastructure for sharing lessons learned and best practices. The broadening participation challenge proposed by COME IN is based on two foundational questions: (i) how can COM focused professional societies, government and non-governmental organizations, businesses, and academia engender justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion principles, and (ii) how can partnering organizations effectively support, measure, and replicate URM success in COM science disciplines at the undergraduate level and beyond. To address this challenge, COME IN fosters discussions around the following questions: what are the unique needs and challenges that either facilitate or prevent students from underrepresented and under-resourced communities from pursuing a degree in COM science fields; which tools, methods and practices are most effective in terms of supporting the participation, persistence, and success of these students in COM fields; how does integration of traditional and local knowledge with western approaches of doing science contribute to the development of students’ identity as scientists; in what ways can professional societies, government and non-governmental organizations, businesses, and academia create more inclusive and safe working environments that foster students’ sense of belonging; what is the impact of long-term cohort building, professional development, and access to culturally-responsive mentors and role models on student retention and success; and lastly, what measures and metrics can be used to assess the effectiveness of mentorship and role models in COM science fields.    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.",TRUE
2101169,Bilingualtek: An integrated science-language approach for Latinx preschoolers,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina Greensboro,GREENSBORO,NC,NC06,1611921,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101169,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101169_4900,2021-06-01,2026-05-31,274125068,C13DF16LC3H4,"Early childhood education currently faces challenges related to effective science instruction practices that meet the learning needs of culturally and linguistically diverse children, such as Latinx dual language learners (DLL). This project seeks to foster the science achievement of Latinx preschoolers by confronting current barriers that impact their STEM education through an integrated science-language instructional approach for preschool classrooms. The project will use everyday science experiences to engage Latinx preschoolers in learning the practices of scientists, including the practices of obtaining information and using language to communicate scientific findings.  These aims will be accomplished by combining engaging science experiences delivered via e-books, and multimedia supports for science and dual-language learning. Consistent with the Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS), the project offers a transformative model of early childhood science and language education that supports kindergarten readiness at a national level and addresses the vital need for educational resources that build on and enhance the strengths of underserved communities.      The long-term goal of this project is to foster the science achievement of Latinx preschoolers by addressing current challenges impacting their STEM education.  These challenges include; limited early science education instruction for teachers, minimal incorporation of NGSS science principles in early science learning for preschoolers, and increasing numbers of Latinx DLLs entering preschools experiencing a shortage of bilingual early childhood teachers. The project addresses these challenges by leveraging recent research with preschool Latinx DLLs across several disciplines into a media-supported integrated science-language instructional approach. These instructional practices provide an NGSS-aligned model for preschool-age science education at the national level, support kindergarten readiness, and directly address the need for educational resources that build on the strengths that diverse children bring to their learning experience. Supporting monolingual teachers’ use of multimedia dual-language science materials will also address preschool teacher professional learning related to science instruction while promoting the participation of underrepresented minorities in STEM education at an early age. The science-language instructional practices will be developed by bringing together preschool teachers and Latinx families in an iterative co-design process to develop instructional content and supports to facilitate science and language learning by Latinx DLLs.  The project will be implemented in 28 classrooms to examine its usability, feasibility, and preliminary efficacy, including child outcomes (science talk, science knowledge, and language skills) through a rigorous quasi-experimental field study. The treatment and control groups will each include 42 children and 14 teachers. The project will produce 1) an integrated science and language instructional approach and resource materials relevant to Latinx children’s living experiences, 2) proof of concept of the project’s feasibility; and 3) initial findings on the impact of the project on children’s science and language learning outcomes.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2321391,Collaborative Research: Supporting the Whole Student: Identifying and Mitigating Barriers to Persistence for Underserved Post-Traditional Engineering Students,2025-04-25,University of Kansas Center for Research Inc,LAWRENCE,KS,KS01,200041,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321391,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321391_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,660457563,SSUJB3GSH8A5,"While there has been important research on improving retention for Black, Latinx, and economically disadvantaged students in engineering, these studies typically do not account for factors associated with being a post-traditional student. Traditional students are 18-24, First Time in College, enrolled full-time, and reside on campus. On the other hand, post-traditional students can be identified with one or more of the following factors: being 25 years of age or older, enrolled part-time, working to support oneself or family, and/or a commuter student. Consideration of these factors is important both because they add significant complexities for a population that is already underserved in engineering (i.e., Black, Latinx, and economically disadvantaged learners), and because post-traditional undergraduates now comprise the majority of students in colleges and universities. This population shift has given rise to a new term in higher education literature for this group: “Post-traditional” students. “Post-traditional” instead of “non-traditional” acknowledges that this population now represents a new normal and that these undergraduates are no longer an aberration. Aligned with the NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering goals and target demographics, along with these population changes in higher education, a shift is needed to understand how post-traditional factors impact Black, Latinx, and economically disadvantaged students. This project will collect and analyze data on underserved post-traditional engineering undergraduates from three racially and ethnically contrasting institutions. The project will have wide implications; post-traditional students are in all institutions and need creative support, and their needs are known if no one asks. This research will take a transformative approach to not only understand those needs but also position faculty and staff to partner with students to find solutions. This should lead to novel programs and policies that the engineering community can implement as well as evaluate in future studies. Resources and findings will be disseminated with institutional partners such as American Society for Engineering Education and American Council on Education to ensure findings are both widely understood and implemented.    The goals of this transformative cyclical mixed methods research study will be two-fold. First, seek to understand factors that impact the retention and persistence of underserved post-traditional undergraduates in engineering. Second, aim to identify strategies that engineering programs can implement to be more inclusive of and responsive to these students’ needs. Motivated by these goals, the following research questions will be answered: 1) What factors impact underserved post-traditional students’ retention in engineering? (Quantitative); and 2) What are underserved post-traditional students’ experiences and perspectives regarding their persistence in pursuit of four-year engineering degrees? (Qualitative). The study is informed by the Model of Co-Curricular Support (MCCS) in engineering education, the students-as-partners conceptual model, and intersectionality. This three-year study will be conducted across three racially and ethnically different institutions: 1) A large public Hispanic-Serving Institution; 2) A small private Historically Black College/University; 3) A large public predominately White institution. A quantitative approach will assemble institutional data sets and collect survey responses from both students and faculty/staff. The multi-phase qualitative research design will consist of focus groups with students to understand their perspectives. It will also involve stakeholder action meetings in which students and faculty/staff work together to collaboratively generate recommendations for policy and practice. A key outcome from this study will be a large dataset on post-traditional learners from these institutions, which will include several more post-traditional variables than are available through the MIDFIELD engineering data file. The dataset will also allow the team and future projects to illuminate differences across student populations depending on the number of post-traditional variables that apply to them.    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.",TRUE
2342626,Collaborative Research: Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity,2025-04-25,Wayne State University,DETROIT,MI,MI13,254853,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342626,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342626_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,482023692,M6K6NTJ2MNE5,"Data literacy plays a pivotal role in understanding real-world problems, making it an increasingly important topic in mathematics education. Preparing young learners to use data to answer questions and solve problems empowers them to participate in society as informed citizens and opens doors to 21st-century career opportunities. For many learners underrepresented in STEM, developing data literacy through innovative technologies requires personally meaningful experiences working with data. The Framework for Integrating Technology for Equity (FIT for Equity) is a Developing and Testing Innovations (DTI) project that will engage 24 teachers in co-designing technology-enhanced data literacy lessons and including students and community members as co-authors. This inclusive lesson study approach advances equity in math classes by supporting the critical data literacies necessary to participate in today’s workforce as informed citizens. FIT for Equity will cultivate design principles that bring together teachers, students, and community members in this innovative capacity building effort that may lead to more equitable learning opportunities. The project team will also produce a collection of data literacy mathematics lessons featuring transformative technologies to address community-based challenges, co-authored by elementary teachers, students, and community members in four distinct geographic locales in Virginia, Ohio, Tennessee, and Michigan.    Through equity frameworks in mathematics education, this project will develop and test design principles for planning, observing, and reflecting on technology-integrated mathematics lessons. Researchers will use a design-based research approach to answer three research questions: 1. How do technology-enhanced data literacy lessons develop students' data literacy, understanding of community issues, and attitudes towards STEM? 2. How do the project’s design principles for technology-enhanced data literacy lessons promote teachers’ practices for culturally responsive mathematics teaching? 3. What are the affordances and constraints of Inclusive Lesson Study in expanding the integration of technology for data literacy towards equity? Iterative implementation cycles will be used to develop and test the inclusive lesson study cycles. Data will be collected through inventories and document analysis of lesson study artifacts, including student work, annotated classroom lessons, and lesson study meeting recordings. Additionally, data will be gathered using the Culturally Relevant Mathematics Teaching (CRMT2) Classroom Observation Tool, the Equity-centered Transformative Technology Lesson Analysis Tool, and interviews with participating teachers, students, and community members. Pre- and post-surveys will be administered to measure changes in students' STEM self-efficacy and career interests. Deliverables will include a repository of research lessons and video vignettes highlighting FIT for Equity lessons. Research findings will be disseminated through a project website, conference presentations, and journal publications. All program materials will be made free and publicly accessible, allowing other educators, designers, and researchers to replicate or modify them to foster innovative approaches to promoting inquiry topics that are both meaningful and applicable to underrepresented learners’ real-world contexts.    This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that increase students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2313981,"A Synthesis of Approaches to Equity, Belonging, and Broadening Participation in Museums and Makerspaces",2025-04-25,Children's Museum of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,593533,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313981,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313981_4900,2024-01-01,2026-06-30,152125250,GKJMMM9L41N7,"Despite a long history of considering and attempting to address issues of diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion, visitor-serving organizations such as museums, botanical gardens, and zoos tend to serve disproportionately white, able-bodied, and high-income audiences. Traditionally, efforts to address this challenge have focused on reducing barriers (cost, transportation, etc.) in order to get more people to participate in informal science learning experiences. In recent years, the field has begun to call for equity-oriented and anti-oppressive approaches that question not only who participates but how informal science learning can be re-designed to center the needs and interests of people whose experiences are marginalized in STEM fields. While this shift is promising, the learning tends to be isolated in identity-focused silos. For example, people addressing racial inequities are not often engaged with research about making informal science more accessible for people with disabilities. In this project, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh in partnership with EdTogether, Spelman College, and the Warner School of Education at the University of Rochester will bring together these distinct domains of learning by working with youth and practitioners to conduct a systematic review of equity and belonging work in informal science learning. The review will generate insights about how project teams talk about and enact equity and belonging in their work and the project will produce resources that will support future projects to move beyond simplistic definitions of identity in order to holistically embrace learners' needs.    This project will use a six-step synthesis process to review approximately 7,000 empirical sources about equity and belonging-focused informal science efforts in museums, makerspaces, botanical gardens, zoos, and other visitor-serving institutions. The research questions will investigate the implicit and explicit philosophies of equity and belonging in the field; the extent to which the field enacts anti-oppressive practices; the ways in which projects blend multiple anti-oppressive practices; and how equity and belonging-focused work has varied over time and context. This project will be a collaboration among established, professional researchers and participants in a Co-Research Fellowship program through which youth and adult practitioners will inform and engage in all stages of the research. Co-Research Fellows will also be co-producers of the project's efforts to initiate change to deepen the ways informal science integrates anti-oppressive lenses. This includes a charrette through which informal science professionals will consider the ways they can integrate the project learnings into ongoing structures for change; a journal article; conference sessions; and a practitioner-oriented mini-book that will share insights and tools for conducting integrative anti-oppressive work in the informal science field. The project's evaluation will offer guidance about how co-research can challenge notions of who can do research; extend visitors' and practitioners' exposure to existing informal science learning research; expand co-researchers' STEM and advocacy skills through participation in and decision-making about research; and enhance the relevance and validity of the research process and findings through alignment with practitioner and visitor needs.    This Synthesis project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",FALSE
2241522,Collaborative Research: Southern Lynchings and Children's Educational Outcomes,2025-04-25,Mississippi State University,MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS,MS03,103735,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241522,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241522_4900,2023-04-01,2026-03-31,39762,NTXJM52SHKS7,"Stressors in a child’s environment, among other things, can have significant adverse effect on the child’s educational attainment, as well as other possible outcomes. Exposure to violence, especially violence targeted at the child’s own demographic, social or faith community, can be a severe environmental stressor. The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw widespread patterns of racially motivated violence, particularly in the South. This project will use newly digitized historical records from early 20th century Mississippi to study how lynchings affected the educational choices of local Black children and their families using. The research will combine county level lynching data with detailed school enrolment and attendance record of every child in Mississippi from 1927 to 1957.  This detailed data set, and the exogenous nature of lynchings will allow the researchers to identify how lynchings affect children’s educational outcomes.  Given the critical importance of education in reducing inequality and progressing toward racial equity in the U.S., identifying how exposure to lynchings affected educational attainment can improve our understanding of the evolution of Black-White inequality in the mid- to late-20th century South. The research results can therefore guide policies to improve educational outcomes of racial minorities, hence narrow the racial achievement gaps in the US.    This project will digitize and link the Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children, 1850-1892; 1908-1957, a newly discovered set of records created by the Mississippi Department of Education to inform allocation of state education funding across counties. These records include the school enrollment and attendance status for every child in Mississippi, biennially from 1927 to 1957, as well as information on the town of residence, school attended, and sibling links. Using these unique records, the PIs will construct a measure of historical educational attainment that will be more accurate than the self-reported educational attainment variable present in the 1940 and 1950 decennial censuses.  The constructed data will allow the PIs to observe which children had completed their schooling at the time a lynching occurred in their community. The PIs will use the lynching data in the state of Mississippi and the constructed educational attainment data to estimate the causal effect of lynching on the educational attainment of different racial groups in communities where lynchings occurred during the study period.  The research results can guide policies to improve educational outcomes of racial minorities, hence narrow the racial achievement gaps in the US.    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.",TRUE
2420069,"A Study of Launch Infrastructure and Sociotechnical Relations of Adjacency, Diversity, and Cosmology",2025-04-25,University of California-Santa Barbara,SANTA BARBARA,CA,CA24,425444,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420069,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420069_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,931060001,G9QBQDH39DF4,"This project explores the relationship between commercial satellite launching and underrepresented minority communities. The study investigates how intensified commercial satellite launching is impacting local Indigenous groups, farmworkers, and incarcerated persons who live and work nearby. In the process, the project explores relations between aerospace, agriculture, and prison sectors in the community, local public education and workforce development, and environmental and public health effects of launch noise and emissions. The project’s significance is grounded in its integration of diverse community perspectives in understanding and evaluating the local effects of satellite launching. The study supports public knowledge of federally subsidized launch infrastructure and satellite technologies and provides collaborative research and educational opportunities for community members and university students. Reports, graphics, and publications from the study will be publicly available on the project website.     Leveraging partnerships with community organizations, the study uses ethnographic methods to conduct focus groups, interviews, and correspondence programs that convey how minority communities think about and perceive increasing satellite launches in their midst. The major goals of the project are to: 1) understand how satellite launching impacts both the local community and the global satellite industry; 2) investigate the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of commercial satellite launching; 3) learn how members of minority communities think about the base, satellite launching, aerospace, and STEM education; and 4) draw on qualitative data to theorize how sociotechnical relations of adjacency, diversity, and cosmology alter understandings of launch infrastructure and satellite technology. The study will contribute to research on satellite technology and infrastructure, the aerospace sector, and population demographics and technology.    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.",FALSE
2429247,Conference: Building Collaborations in the Study of Polarization,2025-04-25,Texas Tech University,LUBBOCK,TX,TX19,49962,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429247,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429247_4900,2024-06-01,2026-05-31,79409,EGLKRQ5JBCZ7,"Part 1:  This conference will focus on ways to integrate mass-level theories of polarization with institutional theories of legislative behavior and organization. By facilitating collaboration between them this project aims to expand and refine existing theoretical approaches to assess how constituency-level factors affect polarization within the legislature, and how that, in turn, influences legislative behavior and outcomes. The project will integrate important changes in findings about the electorate into institutional theories of legislative politics and behavior. The conference will lead to a better understanding of the nature and consequences of legislative politics in an increasingly polarized world. The effort to integrate mass-level theories of polarization into institutional theories of legislative behavior holds the potential to account for the institutional implications arising from significant changes in constituency-based elements of partisanship. the participant list includes scholars from a range of institution types, ranging from non-PhD granting, teaching-focused institutions to highly selective private and flagship state PhD granting institutions. Additionally, half of the invitees are women. The PIs will seek to include graduate students, and potentially, undergraduate students in the research endeavor, by encouraging the invited participants to identify students whose research interests mesh with the project description.    Part 2:   This conference will focus on ways to integrate mass-level theories of polarization with institutional theories of legislative behavior and organization. By facilitating collaboration between them this project aims to expand and refine existing theoretical approaches to assess how constituency-level factors affect polarization within the legislature, and how that, in turn, influences legislative behavior and outcomes. The project will integrate important changes in findings about the electorate into institutional theories of legislative behavior. The conference will lead to a better understanding of the nature and consequences of legislative behavior in an increasingly polarized world. The effort to integrate mass-level theories of polarization into institutional theories of legislative behavior holds the potential to account for the institutional implications arising from significant changes in constituency-based elements of partisanship. the participant list includes scholars from a range of institution types, ranging from non-PhD granting, teaching-focused institutions to highly selective private and flagship state PhD granting institutions. Additionally, half of the invitees are women. The PIs will seek to include graduate students, and potentially, undergraduate students in the research endeavor, by encouraging the invited participants to identify students whose research interests mesh with the project description.     Part 3:    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.",FALSE
2324657,Supporting the GEO REU Network and Exploring New REU Models to Effectively Engage Diverse Students in the Geosciences,2025-04-25,University Corporation For Atmospheric Res,BOULDER,CO,CO02,356236,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Ocean Sciences,EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2324657,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2324657_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,803012252,YEZEE8W5JKA3,"Studies show that mentored research experiences, cohort building, and student career development in inclusive environments effectively engage undergraduates in STEM career paths. The NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Program supports internship programs at institutions across the nation that provide valuable educational experiences for undergraduate students through participation in research. It also aims to increase the participation of the nation's diverse talent - particularly underrepresented students and students from institutions with limited research capacity - in the U.S. science and engineering workforce. Developing and managing an internship program is a complex undertaking, especially for geoscience internship programs that often involve fieldwork. This award creates a central network that supports the efforts of Geosciences (GEO) REU program leaders at over sixty institutions and provides professional development for participating REU interns. The REU program leaders will benefit from the experience and insight of others in the GEO REU Network, including the project leads and other experts. The Network leaders will provide just-in-time resources, strategies, and tools for GEO REU PIs as they navigate recruiting and selecting students, preparing mentors, setting expectations, and addressing student engagement challenges in their programs. They will provide REU leads with individual support and recruit students from underrepresented communities, community colleges, and primarily undergraduate institutions at scientific meetings. The PIs of this project will offer career development workshops for all GEO REU interns during the summer, which directly contributes to the preparation of the geoscience workforce. These efforts will support the community of practice among the internship leads and augment the efficacy of REU programs.     The geoscience community hosts internships, Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REUs), with the intention of providing students with valuable education and of bringing undergraduate scholars from a wide range of backgrounds into the geosciences. Developing and managing an effective, inclusive internship is a challenging year-round undertaking. The GEO REU Network will provide support to all GEO REU leaders and students through fostering the exchange of tools, strategies, and experiences within the community, developing resources, and providing professional development that aligns with the REU Program goals. An overarching theme has been to encourage the adoption of inclusive REU practices and processes. These involve designing accessible and inclusive REUs that take into account and even examine biases and privilege in application and selection processes. The project will advance community understanding of the pedagogy of student research and of inclusive practices, and it will enhance a sense of collaboration among REU PIs.    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.",TRUE
2127380,RUI: Processing ambiguity: From initial perception to race classification of multiracial faces in diverse observers,2025-04-25,"The University Corporation, Northridge",NORTHRIDGE,CA,CA32,351755,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127380,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127380_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,913300001,LAGNHMC58DF3,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     America’s multiracial population represents one of its fastest growing segments. In the 50 years following the legalization of interracial marriage in the US, multiracial individuals have grown to represent 6.9% of the American population, a figure poised to triple by 2060. By their very nature, multiracial people challenge conventional either-or thinking about race, offering important avenues for improving race relations. This research investigates basic cognitive and social psychological influences on multiracial face perception with these broader impacts in mind. Understanding how perceivers think about and racially categorize multiracial people also has consequences for both the physical and mental well-being of multiracial individuals themselves. As a result, it has become increasingly important to understand how multiracial people think about their racial identity and how they are perceived by others. Research has consistently found that people are generally unable to categorize multiracial people as multiracial. Understanding why and under what circumstances people fail to recognize others as multiracial forms the basis for the current research.     This project tests the hypothesis that the inability to identify multiracial people as multiracial is not universal but depends on the extent to which one’s past experiences foster a mental representation of multiracial others. It is predicted that people from areas with a relatively large multiracial population will be more attuned to multiracial faces than those with little prior exposure and will therefore be more likely to identify such faces as multiracial. This research also explores the elements of cognitive processing as they rapidly unfold during the perception of monoracial and multiracial faces. Using reaction time modeling and recordings of electrical brain activity with electroencephalography (EEG), the research aims to identify distinct stages of processing that occur between initially seeing a face and its eventual categorization. Unpacking these processing stages will allow an examination of how they differ when viewing a multiracial versus monoracial face, and how they may be differentially tuned by level of prior contact with multiracial people. Critically, the research fosters active student involvement by providing hands-on, technical training in scientific research methods and statistical procedures, professional development, and intensive mentorship of underrepresented students of color. These funds also allow for increased access to neuroscientific tools and training by traditionally underserved students, thereby diversifying the scientific pipeline for years to come.    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.",FALSE
2100793,Collaborative Research:  Supporting Teachers to Develop Equitable Mathematics Instruction Through Rubric-based Coaching,2025-04-25,University of Delaware,NEWARK,DE,DE00,651546,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2100793,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2100793_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,197131324,T72NHKM259N3,"Creating supportive middle school mathematics learning spaces that foster students' self-efficacy and mathematics learning is a critical need in the United States. This need is particularly urgent for mathematics classrooms with students who have been historically marginalized in such spaces. While many instructional improvement efforts have focused on broadening access to mathematical ideas, fewer efforts have paid explicit attention to the ways instructional practices may serve to marginalize students. Supporting teachers in identifying and refining their equitable mathematics instructional practices is a persistent challenge. This project brings together a successful mathematics rubric-based coaching model (MQI Coaching) and an empirically developed observation tool focused on equity-focused instructional practices, the Equity and Access Rubrics for Mathematics Instruction (EAR-MI). The project's work integrates the EAR-MI rubrics into the MQI Coaching model with 24 middle grades mathematics coaches supporting 72 teachers at grades 5-8. The project measures the effects of the coaching model on teachers' beliefs and instructional practices and on students' mathematical achievement and sense of belonging in mathematics. The project also investigates how teachers' attitudes and beliefs impact their participation and what teachers take away from engagement with the coaching model.    The project makes use of a delayed-treatment experimental design to investigate effects on teacher beliefs and practices and student achievement and sense of belonging. A cohort of 14 coaches are randomly selected to participate in the coaching in Years 2 and 3, with the remaining 10 coaches assigned to a business-as-usual model in Year 2 and engaging in the training in Year 3. Coaches engage in a 4-day summer training to become acquainted with the model with coaching cycles and follow-up meetings during the school year. Each coach will engage teachers in 8-10 coaching cycles in treatment years. Data on the nature of the coaching includes logs and surveys from the coaches. Teachers submit surveys related to their beliefs and practices and two lessons each at the start and end of the academic year for analysis. Student assessment data, course grades, and administrative data, combined with survey data from students on classroom belonging and perceptions of ability and confidence in mathematics, are used to describe student outcomes. Teacher outcomes are captured through the analysis of classroom video, surveys about ethnic-racial identity and racial attitudes, beliefs about students and instruction, and beliefs about and efficacy for culturally responsive teaching. The project uses a set of survey measures with established reliability and validity, adapting some instruments to include specific indicators related to the equity and access rubrics. Analysis of the data uses a multi-level model accounting for the clustering of teachers within schools and students within classrooms and schools.    This project is funded by the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The DRK-12 program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2210142,EAGER: DCL: SaTC: Enabling Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Evaluating Bias In The Creation and Perception of GAN-Generated Faces,2025-04-25,Haverford College,HAVERFORD,PA,PA05,296325,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210142,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210142_4900,2022-07-01,2025-06-30,190411336,QAP9NNDEWGZ8,"Bad actors often use bots and fake profiles to attack individuals or groups and to undermine social harmony and collective movements. These fake profiles may use face images to signal human authenticity. Until recently it was possible to identify bad-faith actors via reverse image searches because many fake profiles used stock photos. Recent advances in machine learning-enabled general adversarial networks (GANs) have made it possible to create hyper-realistic faces of people who do not exist and cannot be identified. These faces can be animated and used to cause harm. To help develop more secure and trustworthy cyberspaces, it is critical to understand whether and how human perceivers (alone or with computational aids) can detect real vs. artificial faces, and how their detection strategies and outcomes differ across groups. This project investigates whether the GANs that generate faces are racially biased and whether this bias is manifested in differential detectability of ingroup vs. outgroup faces.     The project tests the hypothesis that GANs are racially biased because the training dataset is itself biased, with White faces (especially White female faces) overrepresented. Furthermore, when tools are created to control what kind of face is generated, these tools may be racially biased as well because they are extracting biased parameters. These biased processes may result in GAN-generated faces that are more detectable to racial minority individuals vs. racial majority individuals. To test these hypotheses, the project is developing a training dataset of diverse faces, with annotations for dimensions of interest such as skin tone and gender. These annotations can be used to train a GAN with any number of checkpoints to examine how GAN-generated faces appear at different stages of creation. The project is examining how people perceive the generated faces at each stage of the GAN. This project is helping spur theoretical insights into how machine-learning works, and provides training in computer science and social psychology for a diverse group of undergraduate researchers.    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.",TRUE
2416518,SBP: Collaborative Research: Journeys in World Politics A Mentoring Workshop for Junior Women in International Relations,2025-04-25,University of Iowa,IOWA CITY,IA,IA01,207685,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2416518,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2416518_4900,2024-10-01,2028-09-30,522421316,Z1H9VJS8NG16,"This project aims to serve the national need of mitigating the underrepresentation of women in science, and therefore contributes to scientific progress. Peer mentorship is one of the most effective avenues to increase the status of women in academia. By providing intense peer-mentorship to junior women scholars of international relations, the project will promote high-quality scholarship and contribute to an increased success of mentored women in academia. The project will promote these goals through the hosting of intense peer-mentorship workshops to foster networks, provide feedback and support, disseminate information, and encourage psychological resilience. The project also tracks the success of peer-mentorship programs through survey research and a collection of data on academic success.     Studies that have evaluated the status of women in international relations over the past 30 years reveal significant gender gaps on numerous dimensions. The continued under-representation of female scholars at top research institutions and high ranks harms scientific progress. Recent research demonstrates that active mentoring, especially through workshops that foster networks, provide feedback and support, disseminate information, and encourage psychological resilience, are among the most promising avenues for change. The Journeys in World Politics workshop program has mentored young women scholars of International Relations (IR) since 2004. The project hosts annual three-day workshops that support 18-20 participants and includes research presentations by junior scholars, feedback from discussants, oral autobiographies by senior scholars, and career and gender discussion sessions involving topics such as networking, work-life balance, and navigating classroom gender dynamics. Beyond the workshops, the project maintains an active website and other forms of communication, arranges meetings at conferences, and thereby builds a broad network of women in the entire political science discipline. To track the success of mentorship workshops, the project collects more systematic data to evaluate the mechanisms through which mentoring programs increase long-term success rates for female political scientists.    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.",FALSE
2046607,CAREER: SBP: Understanding Emotion Regulatory Flexibility among African American Adolescents,2025-04-25,Virginia Commonwealth University,RICHMOND,VA,VA04,575787,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046607,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046607_4900,2021-06-01,2026-05-31,232849005,MLQFL4JSSAA9,"Recent instances of violence targeting African Americans has sparked protests and greater attention to the racism that African American youth and their families have faced for generations in the United States. Studies report that most African American youth will experience racism during their lifetimes, and these experiences increase their risk for negative life outcomes, such as poor mental and physical health and less academic success. How do African American youth manage their experiences with racism to protect against such negative outcomes? This research examines how African American youth develop a specific form of emotional competence, called emotion regulatory flexibility, to protect themselves from racism. They may attend to cues that signal when an interaction is not going well, and then use these signals to adjust how they express and manage their emotions so that others do not perceive them as angry or threatening. This research provides a novel perspective on emotion regulatory flexibility as a form of emotion-related competence that is malleable and culturally situated.     How do African American youth develop such self-protective emotional competence? This question is addressed by doing research with both African American youth and their parents, and by combining physiological and self-report measures. The unique approach provides subjective and objective indicators of emotional reactions to racism and captures the social cues that African American youth use to manage these situations. The research also includes parent-child interactions to reveal how parents discuss these issues with their children. This project provides training experiences for junior scientists from various racial backgrounds in how to work with the African American community to address the effect of racism on youth, and can help African American youth recognize their positive emotion skills.    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.",FALSE
2411771,Collaborative Research: Racial Equity in STEM Starts with Teacher Education,2025-04-25,Washington State University,PULLMAN,WA,WA05,188167,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,National STEM Teacher Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411771,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411771_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,991640001,XRJSGX384TD6,"The racial and ethnic diversity of the K-12 student population far exceeds the diversity of the current teacher workforce and teacher candidate pipeline. To address this gap, systemic changes in the structural and cultural dimensions of university teacher preparation programs are required. This project will leverage an existing consortium of STEM teacher preparation programs in Washington State to: (1) identify community assets and systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting STEM teacher candidates from historically underrepresented populations; (2) develop strategies for preparing STEM teacher candidates to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies; and (3) advance understanding of how universities can develop authentic partnerships with historically marginalized communities to support STEM teacher preparation. The significance of this project is that it aims to establish authentic partnerships with individuals and groups typically underrepresented in STEM and elevate the knowledge and leadership from marginalized communities to collaboratively address barriers and obstacles to becoming STEM teachers.    This project will employ a descriptive multiple case study design to understand how institutes of higher education work with their local communities to dismantle systemic barriers to recruiting and supporting students from historically underrepresented groups in STEM teacher preparation. Further, the project will investigate how these teacher preparation programs leverage the knowledge of leaders from marginalized communities to develop and share strategies for preparing future STEM teachers to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies. With sites spanning urban, suburban, and rural settings, this research will enhance our collective knowledge about contextual factors that support or constrain efforts to address inequities in STEM teacher preparation. The community-led work at each region is grounded in the principles of Targeted Universalism and will utilize tools and frameworks from the Equity-Driven Systems Change Model to center the voices and experiences of marginalized communities. Anticipated impacts include new recruitment and retention models for diversifying STEM teaching, revised curricula to infuse culturally sustaining pedagogy into STEM teacher preparation, and new equity-minded structures and policies to guide teacher education program decisions.    This collaborative project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2331116,Planning: FIRE-PLAN: Wildland Fire + Cultural Burning (WFCB),2025-04-25,Oregon Museum of Science and Industry,PORTLAND,OR,OR01,99055,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331116,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331116_4900,2023-09-15,2025-05-31,972143356,CLUFG5P4B554,"This Planning Project to Catalyze Innovative and Inclusive Wildland Fire Science through Diverse Collaborations will result in a plan for future, immersive experiences that will advance science center and museum visitors' understanding of the interrelationship between human activity, wildland fire, and climate change, focusing on Indigenous Ways of Knowing, cultural burning, and wildland resilience to climate change. Over the course of one year, an Organizing Committee, including a geographic diversity of Indigenous voices and practices, will co-develop an action plan in support of a future submission to NSF's Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program for an interactive, bilingual (Spanish/English) traveling exhibition and associated programs honoring Indigenous Ways of Knowing and sharing how cultural burning practices support wildland resilience to climate change. The Organizing Committee will implement inclusion and accessibility strategies throughout the project, specifically convening in a variety of formats; they will be led by a Native facilitator and guided by a Native evaluator to allow for deep engagement that is culturally responsive, builds trust among partners, and brings diverse perspectives to the table. Learnings and reflections from the Wildland Fire + Cultural Burning (WFCB) collaboration process will further inform future collaborations seeking to use wise practices to elevate Indigenous stories within informal science learning contexts and bring Indigenous Ways of Knowing to the forefront of critical STEM subject matter such as wildland fire science. This future, immersive experience will build public understanding of wildland fire science, promote climate justice, and inspire the land stewards of tomorrow.    Past collaboration with Indigenous communities, as well as current conversations with the WFCB organizing committee, have illuminated the need for thoughtful, authentic community partner engagement and relationship building among regional indigenous communities, nature organizations, museums, and cultural centers in project planning. Important components of meaningful collaboration with Indigenous communities will include developing relationships, fostering and enhancing trust, practicing transparency, centering community needs and priorities, listening to learn, maintaining functional feedback loops, and expecting transformational, not transactional relationships (Cross-Hemmer, 2022). Multiple methods of communication and flexibility in timelines and processes will also be important (Roots of Wisdom Project Team, 2016). Varied modes of engagement will allow for authentic promotion of these components. Past projects have utilized listening sessions, advisory committees, Indigenous facilitation approaches, and other methods of engagement to provide flexible space for diverse perspectives and needs. Opportunities for debrief and discussion will be critical to allow for engagement of participants who may not communicate directly. Recognizing differences between various communities will also be critical, and it may be necessary to tell multiple stories. The collaboration itself will be a learning process, and it will be critical that teams be open to learning and reflecting on one's own cultural assumptions (Stein & Valdez, 2016b). Collaborations respectful of diverse cultural perspectives and supportive of Indigenous leadership can contribute greatly to the revitalization and elevation of cultural burning (Adlam et al., 2021). Details for the planning project will include proposed project goals, learning goals, focus audiences, research question(s), collaboration process, draft timeline, and budget that supports Indigenous co-leadership, creation, and evaluation of a traveling exhibition and associated programs suitable for diverse audiences across North America.     This planning project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2045129,CAREER: Understanding the Drivers and Consequences of Personal Adaptation Behavior to Environmental Extremes,2025-04-25,Stanford University,STANFORD,CA,CA16,591141,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,"HDBE-Humans, Disasters, and th",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045129,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2045129_4900,2021-04-01,2027-03-31,943052004,HJD6G4D6TJY5,"Escalating environmental extremes – weather and climate events that are extreme in magnitude, frequency, and/or impact on communities – have been observed in recent years and are predicted to increase over this century. These extremes (e.g., wildfires, heat waves, storms, etc.) contribute to an estimated 150,000 deaths each year, and the World Health Organization conservatively projects they will result in 250,000 deaths annually between 2030 and 2050. Addressing these escalating environmental extremes will require personal and household adaptation to reduce human suffering (e.g., chronic respiratory ailments due to wildfire smoke exposure) and death (e.g., as a result of acute smoke exposure). The unprecedented scope of extremes makes it difficult for people to adapt, particularly for low-income persons of color (POC) who have access to fewer resources. Effective, low-cost, easily-accessible decision support tools such as those deployed through smartphone applications could play an important role in helping people understand the escalating nature of extremes and motivate them to adopt behaviors that result in improved personal outcomes contributing to greater societal resiliency. Yet, little is known about how exposure experienced as events unfold – unbiased by time or outcome knowledge – affects psychosocial factors, adaptation behaviors, and personal outcomes, and how decision support effects decision making in this context. The objectives of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) integrated research and education plan are to (1) advance fundamental understanding of how decision support tools affect adaptation behavior given psychosocial antecedents in the face of real-time exposure to escalating extremes over time, particularly among low-income POC populations, (2) advance the conceptualization and testing of environmental extremes adaptation behavior models, and (3) transform how we train and educate the next generation of behavioral decision scientists to co-produce and deploy decision support tools with relevant stakeholders – especially among those low-income POC populations that may benefit the most–to more effectively motivate adaptation behaviors that yield desired adaptation outcomes.    The research objectives will be achieved by conducting a longitudinal randomized controlled trial to determine whether a “positive affect” or “social comparison” wildfire smoke intervention, delivered via a smartphone app-based decision support tool, can effectively enhance adaptation behaviors (face mask wearing, sheltering, home or workplace improvements) and desired adaptation outcomes (improved health, adoption of other adaptation measures such as fire protection) in the context of actual exposure (volatile organic compounds, NO2, particulate matter) among approximately 720 San Francisco Bay Area residents from low-income POC communities over time. My educational objective will be achieved by developing and testing a Research-Education-Practice curriculum that trains behavioral decision science scholars on co-producing and deploying effective decision support tools, and attracts and retains underrepresented minorities, low-income, and first-generation students and young investigators. The proposed plan will advance adaptation behavior models for environmental extremes, contribute to effective policy-making environmental extremes adaptation, and contribute to the training of the next generation of behavioral decision science scholars.    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.",FALSE
2314519,Doctoral Dissertation Research Award: Investigating the Role of Scale in the Development of Flexible Irrigation Structures.,2025-04-25,Stanford University,STANFORD,CA,CA16,20782,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Archaeology DDRI,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314519,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314519_4900,2023-08-01,2025-04-30,943052004,HJD6G4D6TJY5,"Scholars have endeavored to explicate the underlying mechanisms that contribute to the resilience of contemporary infrastructure, which is increasingly vulnerable to environmental and socio-economic risks. Archaeology holds a unique position to provide relevant insights, as it can systematically investigate the factors that have sustained certain kinds of infrastructure that have existed for millennia. In this doctoral dissertation award the dissertation student, is examining a particularly enduring piece of infrastructure — the qanat irrigation systems — as a case study to evaluate its continued operation amidst numerous episodes of external social and environmental shifts. Based on preliminary research, the investigators it is hypothesized that the resilience of these qanat systems can be ascribed to their management of small scale, which allows them to rapidly adapt to environmental stressors. This research contributes to the burgeoning literature on materiality, human-environmental relations, and infrastructure by examining the role of scale in maintaining the social networks within which technology operates. In a broader sense, the findings of this project offer valuable insights into the potential advantages of decentralized management in bolstering infrastructural resilience amid current ecological crises. Additionally, the study advocates for the cultural heritage of the underrepresented Uyghur community.    The dissertation student documents, assesses, and synthesizes the long-term trajectory of qanat systems in response to climatic fluctuations, political reconfiguration, and evolving agricultural practices system which can be traced back over a thousand years. The project involves nine months of fieldwork on over 200 functional qanat systems in the study region, utilizing an interdisciplinary program of systematic surveys, palaeoecological reconstruction, geochronological analyses, and ethnographic observation. This award supports extensive Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dating of the qanat systems, a technique that has proven reliable for analogous systems in multiple regions.  Obtaining dates are necessary to establish a rigorous typology of these systems and reveal relationships between qanat evolution and environmental transformations, as well as the mechanisms by which these systems have demonstrated exceptional resilience for millennia.    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.",TRUE
2315875,"Collaborative Research: Broadening Equitable, Affordable, and Health-Promoting Access to Energy Efficient Housing",2025-04-25,University of Nevada Las Vegas,LAS VEGAS,NV,NV01,168700,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315875,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315875_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,891549900,DLUTVJJ15U66,"Health disparities arising from inequities in the built environment, such as uneven exposure to heat risk, are exacerbated by the challenges faced in affording energy expenses. Nearly one-third (31%) of U.S. households struggle with paying energy bills and maintaining comfortable temperatures in their homes. The indoor environment plays a crucial role in shaping both physical and mental health outcomes, particularly in minority and low-income communities. The goal of this project is to develop affordable and efficient energy use strategies through simulation-based discovery, data analysis, and community engagement, and to cultivate an engineering mindset with social equity among STEM students. By investigating the impact of real-world energy usage on human health and well-being, this project addresses the societal and economic challenges associated with energy use and poverty in low-income households. Ultimately, it strives to shift from current static building control practices towards a sustainable and adaptable approach to the built environment.    Despite the existence of energy assistance programs such as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) in the U.S., there remains a persistent lack of understanding regarding the impact of controlling indoor temperatures on energy bills and health. This knowledge gap hinders the provision of cost-effective and thermally comfortable indoor environments, which have the potential to address disparities in dwelling conditions. This project aims at filling this gap by establishing a comprehensive knowledge base for balancing energy demand reduction with thermal comfort thresholds across diverse residential building conditions by utilizing parametric building energy modeling and simulation methods in combination with empirical data analytics. Additionally, community-based participatory outreach is employed to collect actual measured data from low-income residential housing, ensuring the validation of the simulation results. The research outcomes are then disseminated to underrepresented groups in STEM through a sustainable partnership between Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs) and non-MSI institutions to promote the ability to situate engineering discovery within social science contexts.    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.",TRUE
2244380,REU Site: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Environmental Adaptation,2025-04-25,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,428885,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,RSCH EXPER FOR UNDERGRAD SITES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2244380,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2244380_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"This project is funded from the Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Sites program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE). The international community has now realized that the global effort to significantly reduce carbon emissions is insufficient to halt the worsening effects of environmental change. The current consensus holds that we must engage in building and disseminating adaptation knowledge to adjust to environmental change. This REU Program will address current recommendations by producing environmental adaptation research that synthesizes pertinent interdisciplinary and environmental justice information in its design and implementation. In this light, this undergraduate research opportunity offers a diverse and underrepresented group of students the chance to gain research experience on environmental adaptation and have a better understanding of the challenges facing the United States and the rest of the world.     In order to prepare undergraduate students for environmental adaptation research at the upper levels and later graduate programs and careers in environmental adaptation research fields, the project draws on the diversity of faculty expertise and graduate student mentors across various disciplines at the University of South Florida. The research uses an interdisciplinary approach that employs multi-level analysis to better understand barriers and facilitators of social, cultural, economic, political, and scientific issues of environmental adaptation. In addition to gaining actual research experience, students will also build networks, acquire professional development abilities, and comprehend interdisciplinary research. Projects will be designed to benefit the University of South Florida’s Tampa Bay community and other communities around the country most vulnerable to the impacts of environmental adaptation. The outcome will be an emerging group of young researchers, trained in interdisciplinary approaches to environmental adaptation research, capable of understanding the complexities of the environmental adaptation problem, and synthesizing complex responses to the problem in ways that encourage and engender social, cultural, political, and economic change.    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.",TRUE
2224296,Transfer Advocacy Groups: Transforming Culture to Support Transfer Students of Color in Undergraduate Physics,2025-04-25,San Jose State University Foundation,SAN JOSE,CA,CA18,1127264,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224296,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224296_4900,2023-05-01,2028-04-30,951125569,LJBXV5VF2BT9,"Over the past decade nearly half of all post-secondary students of color have attended community colleges. This project is a collaboration of two institutions, San Jose State University and Michigan State University. The project aims to address the urgent need to support community college transfer students of color in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields by transforming the receiving baccalaureate granting institutions. Changing this racialized transfer function requires understanding and transforming the institutional culture around transfer in STEM at both the sending and receiving institutions. By partnering with transfer students of color as design partners, the goal of this project is to craft support for new-to-campus transfer students of color in STEM by engaging in university institutional change efforts.    This project will create Transfer Advocacy Groups (TAGs) which are collaborations of faculty, students, and advisors working to implement interventions to support transfer students of color in STEM and promote a transfer receptive culture. The project focuses on transfer students of color majoring in physics as well as  students of color taking introductory physics classes at both institutions. The scope of the project includes documenting the experiences of transfer students of color, a population that is largely absent from the literature on racialized experiences in undergraduate STEM. The data collected will allow the lived experience and perspectives of transfer students of color to be centered in the work of the TAGs and provides an understanding of the extent to which institutional change addresses their needs and realities. Analyses of research conducted in collaboration with transfer students of color as well as research with respect to institutional policies and practices will inform the work of the TAGs at each institution. TAGS will collaborate with key stakeholders to implement changes in the universities. Through these activities, the project aims to transform culture at both departmental and college levels so it is more transfer-receptive and supportive others partnering with transfer students of color on institutional change efforts.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.      This collaborative project is co-funded through the Division of Physics. The Division of Physics (PHY) supports physics research and the preparation of future scientists in the nation’s colleges and universities across a broad range of physics disciplines that span scales of space and time from the largest to the smallest and the oldest to the youngest.    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.",FALSE
2048993,Collaborative Research: Engaging Adolescents through Collaboration on Simulated STEM Career Scenarios and Mathematics Activities,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,812187,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2048993,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2048993_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,275995023,D3LHU66KBLD5,"Employment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and attainment in STEM education need to reflect better the diversity of US population demographics. This disparity is especially concerning given projected shortfalls in skilled workers for jobs in STEM fields. This project will lead to the creation of virtual simulations of peer collaboration in STEM fields, designed for use by adolescents. Practice with these simulations will help adolescents build collaborative skills and career interest in STEM fields, especially those that use mathematics and require strong teamwork.  By creating an innovative simulation to support mathematics collaborative skills development and STEM career identities, and grounding its use in informal learning environments that capitalize on youths’ cultural assets, this project will increase the likelihood that students historically underrepresented in STEM careers will persist in the STEM career pipeline. The project’s work will result in three simulation modules, program materials supporting their use in informal learning environments, and initial research evidence about their implementation and impacts.     The simulations will feature authentic performance settings of STEM career scenarios with opportunities for repeated application of mathematical knowledge and collaborative skills. Simulation players will interact with virtual partners, receiving feedback to improve performance and emphasize the value of mathematics and collaboration in STEM careers. Adapted from an artificial intelligence platform used in healthcare training, the simulations’ virtual partners and their dialog will be based on recordings of mathematics collaboration in secondary school classrooms. Simulation content and supports will be informed by staff from strategic partners, Morehead Planetarium and Science Center (MPSC) and LatinxEd, that provide STEM-focused programming to African American, Latinx, and future first-generation college students. Six African American and Latinx STEM Career Partners will ground the simulations in authentic mathematics and collaborative industry practices that appeal to student users. A total of 96 African American and Latinx adolescents, and adolescents who are potential first-generation college students will serve as play-testers. An additional 80 participants enrolled in the strategic partners’ programs will engage in field-testing: playing each of three simulations, generating user data, and completing a transfer task of collaborative skills in mathematics and self-report surveys about their STEM career interests and aspirations.  Field-test data will be analyzed using multi-level models for nested data and repeated measures. Qualitative data collection will include observations of play and field testing, and interviews with program staff and industry consultants. Thematic analysis will inform curricular supports and improve implementation utility and feasibility. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2407375,Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Investigating the Impact of Mentorship Structures on Women's Persistence in Engineering,2025-04-25,University of Cincinnati Main Campus,CINCINNATI,OH,OH01,18215,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2407375,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2407375_4900,2024-09-01,2026-08-31,452202872,DZ4YCZ3QSPR5,"This project aligns with the National Science Foundation’s mission for “the Professional Formation of Engineers, to create and support an innovative and inclusive engineering profession for the 21st Century”. The research project aims to address the recommendation of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to study the effects of mentorship on persistence and success in STEMM. This study will examine the correlation and impact between mentorship outcomes and persistence in engineering for First-Time In College (FTIC) undergraduate women. A non-dyad mentoring network involving the pairing of mentees with an assembled number of mentors will be established based on deep-level similarities in sociocultural identities. Mentees will be paired with near-peer mentors in the upper-level division, an academic advisor/coach, faculty, and an industry mentor. Training modules for mentors will be developed to enhance effective and inclusive mentorship. Resource guides on mentoring best practices, mentoring tools, and training will be provided to all mentors to prepare and support their mentoring activities. Both mentors and mentees will be prompted with discussion topics. For example, prompt questions could include, “Tell me about a time when you struggled in a course and what you did to pass?” Mentees are expected to engage in formalized group activities that facilitate academic awareness, provide college survival tips, and support talent development and student success skills. Also, they are expected to participate in journal entries, focus group studies, and regular one-on-one meetings with their four mentors at different stages of their academic pursuits. A set of instruments, including reflection prompts, interviews, an inclusive demographics questionnaire, a Sense of Belonging, and Academic Self-Efficacy Scales, will be administered to respective participants in this mentorship structure.     This research project will be used to understand the impact of sociocultural contexts on mentoring structures, their processes, and their outcomes in the persistence of FTIC women in engineering. Specifically, to (1) determine the impact of traditional mentorship on FTIC women and their attrition rate in engineering at the University of South Florida; (2) investigate the effect of a structured mentorship model on FTIC women and their decision-making to continue pursuing engineering; (3) determine the effects of similar social and cultural perspectives of mentor and mentee relationships on the sense of belonging from their first year and beyond; (4) determine the impact of different social and cultural identities between mentors and mentees from their first year and beyond; and (5) examine and identify competency for sociocultural awareness relevancy to mentorship. Badura’s self-efficacy theory and Tinto’s theoretical framework will be employed to educate, motivate, prepare, and engage mentees. Statistical analysis and a coding software designed for qualitative and mixed-method assessment will be used to evaluate data, media, and text to decipher the outcomes between traditional and non-traditional mentoring structures and to examine the impact of similar sociocultural identities. The research will be conducted through a collaboration between engineering faculty at the University of South Florida and an engineering education faculty mentor at the University of Cincinnati. Results from this study will help expand the current knowledge base for creating and integrating a mentoring support system that intentionally targets engineering identity, persistence, and retention rates for students from populations underrecognized and underserved in STEM. The research outcome can potentially reveal, validate, and address the academic disparities in STEM education in the select population.    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.",FALSE
2115579,Breaking Stereotypes through Culturally Relevant Storytelling: Optimizing Out-of-school Time STEM Experiences for Elementary-Age Girls to Strengthen their STEM Interest Pathways,2025-04-25,The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,2098995,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2115579,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2115579_4900,2021-09-01,2026-02-28,770303870,ZUFBNVZ587D4,"The U.S. urgently needs the perspective and knowledge of females who are Latinx and African American in STEM fields. Providing early STEM interest pathways for these populations that are historically underrepresented in STEM fields is critical to creating gender equity in the STEM workforce. There are profound inequities in STEM fields for women of color that impact their interest and persistence in these fields. This Research in Service to Practice project will build important knowledge about early pathways for reducing these inequities by developing early interest in STEM. Gender stereotypes around who can do STEM are one of the sociocultural barriers that contributes to girls’ loss of interest in STEM. These stereotypes emerge early and steer young women away from STEM studies and pursuits. Exposing girls to role models is an effective strategy for challenging stereotypes of who belongs and succeeds in STEM. This project will explore how an afterschool program that combines narrative and storytelling approaches, STEM role models, and family supports, sparks elementary-age girls’ interest in STEM and fosters their STEM identity. The project targets K-5 students and families from underrepresented groups (e.g., Latinx and African American) living in poverty. The project will evaluate an inquiry-based, afterschool program that serves both elementary school girls and boys and explores if adding storytelling components to the out-of-school time (OST) learning will better support girls’ interest in STEM. The storytelling features include: 1) shared reading of books featuring females in STEM; 2) students’ own narratives that reminisce about their STEM experiences; and 3) video interviews of female parents and community members with STEM careers. A secondary aim of this project is to build capacity of schools and afterschool providers to deliver and sustain afterschool STEM enrichment experiences. Museum-based informal STEM experts will co-teach with afterschool providers to deliver the Children’s Museum Houston (CMH) curriculum called Afterschool Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (A’STEAM). Although A’STEAM has been implemented in over 100 sites and shows promise, to scale-up this and other promising afterschool programs, the team will evaluate how professional development resources and the co-facilitation approach can build afterschool educators' capacity to deliver the most promising approaches.    Researchers at the Children’s Learning Institute (CLI) at UTHealth will partner with Museum-based informal STEM educators at CMH, YES Prep, a high performing charter school serving >95% of underrepresented groups, and other afterschool providers serving mostly underrepresented groups experiencing poverty. Storytelling components that highlight females in STEM will be added to an existing afterschool program (A'STEAM Basic).  This derivative program is called A’STEAM Stories. Both instantiations of the afterschool programs (Basic and Stories) include an afterschool educator component (ongoing professional development and coaching), a family component (e.g., home extension activities, in-person, and virtual family learning events), and two age-based groups (K-G2 and G3-G5). Further, the A’STEAM Stories professional development for educators includes training that challenges STEM gender stereotypes and explains how to make science interesting to girls. The 4-year project has four phases. In Phase 1, researchers, CMH, and afterschool educators will adapt the curriculum for scalability and the planned storytelling variation. During Phase 2, the research team will conduct an experimental study to evaluate program impacts on increasing STEM interest and identity and reducing STEM gender stereotypes. To this end, the project’s team will recruit 36 sites and 1200 children across Kindergarten through Grade 5. This experimental phase is designed to produce causal evidence and meet the highest standards for rigorous research. The researchers will randomly assign sites to one of three groups: control, A’STEAM Basic, or A’STEAM Stories. During Phase 3, researchers will follow-up with participating sites to understand if the inclusion of afterschool educators as co-facilitators of the program allowed for sustainability after Museum informal science educator support is withdrawn. In Phase 4, the team will disseminate the afterschool curriculum and conduct two training-of-trainers for local and national afterschool educators. This study uses quantitative and qualitative approaches. Data sources include educator and family surveys, focus groups, and interviews as well as observations of afterschool program instructional quality and analysis of parent-child discourse during a STEM task. Constructs assessed with children include STEM interest, STEM identity, and STEM gender stereotype endorsement as well as standardized measures of vocabulary, science, and math. Findings will increase understanding of how to optimize OST STEM experiences for elementary-age girls and how to strengthen STEM interest for all participants. Further, this project will advance our knowledge of the extent to which scaffolded, co-teaching approaches build capacity of afterschool providers to sustain inquiry-based STEM programs.    This Research in Service to Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments.    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.",FALSE
2403517,"Collaborative Research:  Varieties of Crises, Elite Responses, and Executive Approval",2025-04-25,SUNY at Buffalo,AMHERST,NY,NY26,31070,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2403517,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2403517_4900,2023-10-01,2025-06-30,142282577,LMCJKRFW5R81,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2. This project examines four major types of crises -- economic, security, natural disaster, and public health crises – and how they influence public support for political leaders in contemporary democracies. This is important to understand because leader approval is a key barometer of policymaker accountability and democratic stability, both of which can be undermined by crises. This project analyzes the interplay of four factors  which vary systematically across these different types of crises and how, in turn, these shape public evaluations of political executives: (1) the ability of citizens to assign responsibility for policy decisions and outcomes; (2) the degree of expert consensus on effective policy response; (3) how much a given crisis in one area generates acute challenges or crises in other areas; and (4) the extent to which an effective response depends on citizens acting collectively.  Several data sets including (quarterly) measures of executive approval and crises; the tone and salience of leader messaging about the crises; the media’s treatment of leader messaging; and (monthly) leader approval for a smaller number of countries for which such data is available; and survey-based experiments in three countries are collected and made publicly available. The award supports education and diversity by building the research capacity of a student project lab at Georgia State University, a Minority Serving Institution, in coordination with PIs at four other universities who will also engage graduate and undergraduate students in this work.     Puzzling divergences across countries in public reactions to leader responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis have revealed major gaps in our understanding of how crisis events translate into public assessments of leaders. To resolve these puzzles, this project advances a unifying theoretical framework that identifies four major types of crises: economic, security, natural disaster, and public health. It then locates these crises on four key dimensions which should condition public support of top officials: the institutional and political context and other factors that impact attribution of responsibility, degree of expert consensus and incentives for politicians to follow expert recommendations, the likelihood and nature of spill-over to other crisis types, and the degree to which citizen action is required for an effective response. The project collects data to test theoretically-motivated hypotheses using: 1) a macro time-series cross-national data set to study the effects of crisis type on public approval for political executives for 48 countries, 2) a high-frequency time-series data set appropriate to test how approval dynamics reflect leader responses, as well as messaging choices and media effects for 18 countries for which this data is available, and 3) conjoint experiments in France, Italy, and Mexico, countries with different political and institutional settings, to assess the validity of the links between crisis types and dimensions as well as to validate proposed individual-level mechanisms.    This project is supported by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior Program and the SBE Build and Broaden Program.    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.",TRUE
2049023,"A Culturally-Relevant Computer Science Education Program to Expand Equity, Access, and Opportunity for Native American High School Students",2025-04-25,American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES),ALBUQUERQUE,NM,NM01,1441169,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2049023,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2049023_4900,2021-06-01,2026-05-31,871202642,XUE5YPEN3UZ9,"The underrepresentation of Native Americans in STEM and computing deprives the nation of its potential for innovation and transformative solutions that can arise from a diverse STEM workforce. Studying the educational differences between Native American and non-Native American learners will increase the understanding of how to reduce inequity and improve educational and economic outcomes for Native American students, families, and communities. To achieve these objectives, the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and the Kapor Center will study the design and implementation of culturally relevant computer science courses for Native American high school students with emphasis on how to best support Native girls’ advancement to careers in computational STEM fields. The project will provide curricula, training, and support for in-school and out-of-school computer science education.  These interventions are designed to expand equity, access, and opportunity for students to increase knowledge and interest in computer science, and afford pathways to higher education and careers in computing and computational STEM fields. The project team will engage a highly diverse set of partners and Native community members to participate in development and implementation of the project’s activities and deliverables. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    The project will engage 1,824 Native American students and 28 educators. Findings will inform replication of the program as a model computer science for high schools with predominately Native American students. Research and program coordination will be conducted by researchers with extensive experience in computing education in Native communities. The research will have a quasi-experimental design. Baseline data collected at the beginning of each course will be compared with post-intervention data to examine the relationship between the intervention and student outcomes. Quantitative and qualitative data will be collected using surveys, course data, transcripts, interviews, and focus groups. Methods include surveys and sharing circles, which will be conducted with girls and boys separately. The sharing circles will seek to determine similarities and differences in how respective genders in Native communities experience cultural activities introduced during the project’s activities. Research questions include: (1) What is the impact of culturally relevant, female-focused computer science courses on increasing the entry, persistence, and success (i.e., knowledge gained) in computing of Native American students in general and Native female youth, specifically?; and (2) What program components are essential to increase Native American females’ computer science aspirations, engagement, self-efficacy, resilience, and social and emotional learning? The project will contribute to the literature by studying existing structural, psychological, and social barriers for Native students in computing education and the efficacy of rigorous, culturally relevant, and intersectional computing courses and out-of-school college and career readiness activities.    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.",FALSE
2116538,"Collaborative Research:  Varieties of Crises, Elite Responses, and Executive Approval",2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,43972,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116538,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116538_4900,2022-01-01,2025-06-30,275995023,D3LHU66KBLD5,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2. This project examines four major types of crises -- economic, security, natural disaster, and public health crises – and how they influence public support for political leaders in contemporary democracies. This is important to understand because leader approval is a key barometer of policymaker accountability and democratic stability, both of which can be undermined by crises. This project analyzes the interplay of four factors  which vary systematically across these different types of crises and how, in turn, these shape public evaluations of political executives: (1) the ability of citizens to assign responsibility for policy decisions and outcomes; (2) the degree of expert consensus on effective policy response; (3) how much a given crisis in one area generates acute challenges or crises in other areas; and (4) the extent to which an effective response depends on citizens acting collectively.  Several data sets including (quarterly) measures of executive approval and crises; the tone and salience of leader messaging about the crises; the media’s treatment of leader messaging; and (monthly) leader approval for a smaller number of countries for which such data is available; and survey-based experiments in three countries are collected and made publicly available. The award supports education and diversity by building the research capacity of a student project lab at Georgia State University, a Minority Serving Institution, in coordination with PIs at four other universities who will also engage graduate and undergraduate students in this work.     Puzzling divergences across countries in public reactions to leader responses to the COVID-19 public health crisis have revealed major gaps in our understanding of how crisis events translate into public assessments of leaders. To resolve these puzzles, this project advances a unifying theoretical framework that identifies four major types of crises: economic, security, natural disaster, and public health. It then locates these crises on four key dimensions which should condition public support of top officials: the institutional and political context and other factors that impact attribution of responsibility, degree of expert consensus and incentives for politicians to follow expert recommendations, the likelihood and nature of spill-over to other crisis types, and the degree to which citizen action is required for an effective response. The project collects data to test theoretically-motivated hypotheses using: 1) a macro time-series cross-national data set to study the effects of crisis type on public approval for political executives for 48 countries, 2) a high-frequency time-series data set appropriate to test how approval dynamics reflect leader responses, as well as messaging choices and media effects for 18 countries for which this data is available, and 3) conjoint experiments in France, Italy, and Mexico, countries with different political and institutional settings, to assess the validity of the links between crisis types and dimensions as well as to validate proposed individual-level mechanisms.    This project is supported by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior Program and the SBE Build and Broaden Program.    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.",FALSE
2048018,CAREER: Advancing STEM Persistence among Graduate Women of Color through an Examination of Institutional Contributors and Deterrents to Mental Health,2025-04-25,University of Massachusetts Boston,DORCHESTER,MA,MA08,806841,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2048018,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2048018_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,021253300,CGCDJ24JJLZ1,"The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers 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. This project aims to serve the national interest by addressing the inequitable representation of graduate Women of Color (WoC) (i.e., Black/African American, Latina, Indigenous, and Asian American women) in STEM. This continued underrepresentation of WoC has been attributed, in part, to negative encounters in STEM characterized by alienating and marginalizing program environments. Yet, existing efforts designed to broaden participation in STEM have largely focused on academic and professional challenges that influence STEM persistence, with little attention to the psychological toll of persisting in STEM environments rife with systemic oppression (e.g., gendered racism). Research has linked racism-related stress, perceived discrimination, microaggressions, minority status stress, and isolation to many negative psychological outcomes such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Furthermore, increased psychological distress has been shown to negatively influence academic and research productivity. Evidently, mental health and distress are crucial, yet unexamined, factors that can influence STEM persistence. To address this knowledge gap and improve the representation of graduate WoC in STEM, this project seeks to understand the psychological toll that results from navigating negative STEM environments. It will also identify specific institutional factors that either mitigate or perpetuate the marginalizing encounters that affect graduate WoC’s mental health.    The project employs a two-phase, multi-methodological, longitudinal, and experimental approach grounded in well-established theories from social and counseling psychology. Phase I will obtain rich insights about the contributors and deterrents to STEM graduate WoC’s mental health using three complementary studies: a sequential mixed-methodological nationwide examination of the state of mental health among graduate WoC in STEM (Study 1); and a series of semi-structured critical incident interviews with both current graduate WoC in STEM as well as those who have prematurely discontinued their STEM doctoral pursuits to understand supportive (Study 2) and unsupportive (Study 3) faculty behaviors that affect the respondents’ mental health. Phase II will build on the insights gained in Phase I to design and evaluate an innovative and transformative culturally responsive wellness intervention for graduate WoC (Study 4). The output of this research will serve the following educational goals: (1) cultivate awareness and change among STEM faculty to combat racist and marginalizing encounters; (2) establish a scalable and sustainable restorative wellness program designed to promote graduate WoC’s STEM persistence in a manner that is wholesome, enriching, and centered on thriving; and (3) leverage cross-disciplinary partnerships with counseling professionals to design an innovative and culturally responsive graduate curriculum. This effort will increase our understanding of the ways in which marginalizing STEM encounters negatively affect graduate WoC’s mental health and, in turn, their persistence to degree completion.    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.",FALSE
2101665,Collaborative Research: Developing and Researching K-12 Teacher Leaders Enacting Anti-bias Mathematics Education,2025-04-25,Portland State University,PORTLAND,OR,OR01,640568,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101665,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101665_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,972015508,H4CAHK2RD945,"There is increased recognition that engaging all students in learning mathematics requires an explicit focus on anti-bias mathematics teaching. Teachers, even with positive intentions, have biases, causing them to treat students differently and impacting how they distribute students’ opportunities to learn in K-12 mathematics classrooms. Research is needed to examine models of mathematics teacher professional development that explicitly addresses bias reduction. The goal of this project is to study the design and development of community-centered, job-embedded professional development for classroom teachers that supports bias reduction. The project team will partner with three school districts serving racially, ethnically, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse communities, for a two-year professional development program. The aim is to reduce bias through: analyzing and designing mathematics teaching with colleagues, students, and families to create classrooms and schools based on community-centered mathematics; engaging in anti-bias teaching routines; and building relationships with parents, caretakers, and community members. The project team will study teacher leader professional development, including the professional development model, framework, and tools, along with what teacher leaders across district contexts and grade-levels take up and use in their instructional practice.  This will potentially have wider implications for supporting more equitable mathematics teaching and leadership. Project activities, resources, and tools will be shared with the broader community of mathematics educators and researchers for use in other contexts.     The goal of this two-phase, design based research project is to iteratively design and research teacher leaders’ (TLs) participation in community-centered, job-embedded professional development and investigate their subsequent impact on classrooms, schools, and districts. The project builds on the existing Math Studio professional development model to create a Community Centered Math Studio, integrating the Anti-bias Mathematics Education Framework into the work. The project seeks to understand how the professional development model supports the development of teacher leaders' knowledge, dispositions, and practices for teaching and leading anti-bias mathematics education, and how teachers' subsequent classroom practice can cultivate students' mathematical engagement, discourse, and interests. The project will measure aspects of teacher knowledge and classroom practice by integrating existing classroom observation rubrics and STEM interest surveys to assess the impact on teacher classroom practice and student outcomes. The project will engage 12 TLs and approximately 60 additional teachers working with those TLs in two years of professional development using the Community Centered Math Studio Model to support anti-bias mathematics teaching. Data will be collected for all teachers related to their participation in the professional learning, with six teachers being followed for additional data collection and in-depth case studies. The project's outcomes will contribute to theories of how TLs build adaptive expertise for teaching and leading to reduce bias in classrooms, departments, schools, and districts. In addition, the project will contribute new and adapted research instruments on anti-bias teaching and leading. The research outcomes will add to the growing research base that describes the nature of equitable mathematics teaching in K-12 classrooms and increases access to meaningful mathematics for students, teachers, and communities.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2140892,Collaborative Research: Understanding Persistence through the Lens of Interruption: A Framework for Transformation (UPLIFT),2025-04-25,Albany State University,ALBANY,GA,GA02,502307,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140892,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140892_4900,2022-08-15,2027-07-31,317052796,JEJGGM9MT7V9,"This collaborative project will study the impact of interruptions on Black women’s collegiate STEM experiences and their persistence and matriculation in STEM majors. Interruptions are defined as overt and subtle external acts and internal dialogues and decisions that result in a loss of focus, momentum, and confidence and require time to rebound. Each interruption requires resources to rebound (e.g., time), but continual interruptions impact Black women’s ability to rebound and persist in STEM over time. Conducting research that centers the voices of Black women who experience these interruptions will generate new insights into redesigning institutional and other structural factors that often serve as barriers to persistence and success in STEM majors.    The research design entails a longitudinal, mixed-methods design wherein they follow 45 Black women who are STEM majors across three colleges in Georgia. Through interviews, focus groups, audio diaries, and the use of survey methods to collect quantitative data, the research team intends to develop a framework of interruption for Black women in STEM. The goals of the framework include: (a) to define interruption, (b) to identify constructs of interruption related to intent to persist, and (c) to determine the relationship between the domains of power and the experiences of interruption by undergraduate Black women in STEM. The creation of a clear definition of interruption and a robust conceptual framework has the potential to generate knowledge that will help address systemic racism across disciplines and settings.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2055039,Collaborative Research: Developing Teacher Learning Theory with Teachers and Students Animating Mathematical Concepts,2025-04-25,University of New Mexico,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,NM01,552371,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055039,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055039_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,871310001,F6XLTRUQJEN4,"This project will advance theory for understanding teacher learning as it relates to mathematics teacher knowledge and student knowledge. The research team theorizes that teacher knowledge and student knowledge are not distinct. Specifically, this work challenges the longstanding idea in teacher education that a knowledge base for teaching pre-exists as a static body of knowledge awaiting to be discovered by teachers. Instead, this project examines what happens when teacher and student knowledge bases are conceptualized as interdependent and capable of generating new knowledge in and for teacher learning. This project will build theory, grounded in feminist, Indigenous, and materialist perspectives, that explains how teacher knowledge and student knowledge interact to generate new knowledge that is relevant in and for racially, culturally, and linguistically diverse mathematics teaching contexts. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    This project will develop theory regarding a teacher learning approach that encourages teachers to teachers adopt and exchange flexible roles with their students as active observers and participants to contribute to teachers developing their teacher learning as a relational practice. Drawing on lesson study and Indigenous research design principles, researchers, teachers, and their students will collaborate to create animated concepts of mathematical ideas. Animated concepts include how students use mental images, material objects, and lived experiences that center Black, Native American, Latina, and newcomer knowledge bases related to mathematical concepts.  Researchers across three sites in Michigan, Virginia, and New Mexico will immerse two teachers per research location and their students in this process both during the school year and during a summer program where teachers and students will collaborate with local artists to produce multimedia projects representative of their animated concepts. This research has implications for how mathematical teacher knowledge is conceptualized and how it is addressed via professional development.    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.",FALSE
2326134,FW-HTF-RM: Addressing and Amplifying the Skills of the Future Hispanic and Latino Construction Workforce Using BIM and Augmented Reality,2025-04-25,The University of Central Florida Board of Trustees,ORLANDO,FL,FL10,985135,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,FW-HTF Futr Wrk Hum-Tech Frntr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2326134,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2326134_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,328168005,RD7MXJV7DKT9,"Our nation currently faces a critical shortage of skilled trades workers as more are retiring than joining these critically important construction occupation fields. Additionally, a widening foreign language gap forces new construction workers, who are not native English speakers, to face a job market lacking the requisite skills gap creating staffing, and safety, and skill issues. This project addresses this gap created by the changing composition of the labor force by advancing the theory and knowledge required to train currently marginalized Hispanic and Latino workers utilizing augmented reality (AR) and building information modeling (BIM) technology. This new foundational knowledge will support the creation of an environment where all individuals can fully participate. Our interdisciplinary team is innovating by investigating how AR, with real-time voice translation can enable equity, and BIM technology can facilitate the learning of transferable retrofitting skills to expand individuals’ aspirational goals, by opening additional career paths to the ‘Missing Millions’ in the construction workforce. Increasing access to better positions for these workers by amplifying workers with what they bring to retrofitting jobs. Our goal is to empower non-native English-speaking workers by utilizing AR to access BIM data in their native language (Spanish), thereby assisting them to learn in-demand retrofitting skills.     This project will utilize a novel interdisciplinary approach to advance the fundamental understanding of the learning science supporting in-demand retrofitting skills and designs at the edge of the AR+BIM human-technology frontier. We will conduct a language needs analysis to understand the subtleties and complexities of several Spanish dialects to identify strengths and weaknesses in future AR+BIM real-time translation interfaces. We will develop validated processes to leverage these translation capabilities for non-native English-speaking workers, while developing novel mini-labs to promote greater transferable retrofitting skills by testing impacts of workers’ first and second language comprehension on complex construction task completion. This research project will study how native language and physical actions embody and extend cognitive processes in complex construction environments and gaining understanding of the linguistic and cultural competencies of a diverse future workforce. Our approach is directly applicable towards providing insights into the alternative problem domains of manufacturing, nursing, and public safety, all of which are facing the challenges of skilled labor shortages and equitable access.    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.",TRUE
2419971,"RCN: Co-creating Research for Just Arctic Future Infrastructure Transformations, Resilience, and Adaptation (CRAFT)",2025-04-25,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,199448,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Polar Programs,ASSP-Arctic Social Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419971,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2419971_4900,2024-12-01,2025-11-30,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"Arctic infrastructure is rapidly changing under the impact of climate change, socioeconomic and   political shifts. Its existence varies by different regions and countries. In some places it is   outdated and inadequate, while maintaining or upgrading poses significant challenges. In other   places there is a need in new roads, airstrips, Internet and utilities. And for some places and   communities’ concerns exist about negative impacts of infrastructure on cultures and ecosystems.   This issue is especially important among Indigenous Peoples as infrastructure development has   traditionally served interests of external groups to exploit resources without local   approval. As the Arctic undergoes transformations, and climate-induced damages, such as flooding and    erosion accelerated by thawing permafrost and sea level rise, understanding where and what   infrastructure demands the most attention becomes highly important for building resilient and   sustainable infrastructure. Development of this understanding requires collaborative efforts to learn from   past mistakes, ensure just transitions, and construct Arctic infrastructure that fosters a more   equitable and sustainable future.    The project brings together researchers working in the Arctic (e.g., Alaska, Norway, Greenland, and   Canada) and Indigenous community members (in particular, residents of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta   Region) to collaboratively identify the challenges and good practices of co-production of   place-specific and theoretically grounded knowledge of Arctic infrastructure. The project will   promote transdisciplinary research inclusive of diverse ways of knowing, experiencing and   perceiving the world. This project aims to formulate locally and regionally relevant questions   for future research on just infrastructures through the following objectives: 1) Map existing   expertise developed by academia, Indigenous Peoples, communities and other stakeholders and learn   from each other about infrastructure planning, managing, maintaining and adapting to climate   conditions and how it involves/excludes stake-, rights- and knowledge holders; 2) Identify   prospects for knowledge convergence and co-production on studies of different forms of   infrastructure in the Arctic; 3) Start creating a self-sustaining experts network that could be   utilized for decision making, research and other purposes related to critical infrastructure   planning, construction, maintenance, and removal of abandoned objects. The project will begin   development of a knowledge platform to help decision-makers assess solutions designed to facilitate the   equitable and just development of critical infrastructure. The project provides learning   opportunities by including Indigenous knowledge holders and early-career scholars in planning,   implementing, and reporting research projects.    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.",FALSE
2422010,Collaborative Research: Reconceptualizing Community Cultural Wealth in an engineering design context: Efforts towards curricular integration,2025-04-25,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,179171,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2422010,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2422010_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"Engineering design courses are a staple of the undergraduate engineering curriculum. These courses provide students with opportunities to tackle real-world problems before encountering them in the workplace. The courses require students to integrate their creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Design courses are crucial aspects of the professional formation of engineers and, therefore, are essential to the competitiveness of the nation’s scientific workforce. The research team will conduct interviews and then develop and deploy a survey focusing on assets that minoritized students bring to the engineering design process. This project provides a perspective that is currently missing from the professional formation of engineers and will help educators improve the engineering curriculum by making it more inclusive for all students, ultimately helping strengthen the workforce.    The project will use an exploratory sequential mixed-methods research design to expand community cultural wealth theory for application in engineering design courses. Recruiting through design-based course instructors, the researchers will conduct two ethnographic interviews with approximately 12-15 minoritized undergraduate students at varying stages of their undergraduate studies. The interview series will focus on students’ linguistic, resistant, navigational, familial, social, and aspirational capital and how design experiences allow them to practice these strengths. Researchers will employ inductive and deductive thematic analysis as well as critical counternarrative analysis. We will publish critical counternarratives to elevate the lived experiences of minoritized engineering students in design-based courses from an asset perspective. The thematically analyzed interview results will include a framework of design-based community cultural wealth working definitions. The researchers will seek feedback from 10-12 faculty experts who teach engineering design courses. The researchers will use critical quantitative methods to design and validate a design-based community cultural wealth survey instrument with students at partnering ABET-accredited institutions. First, the team will deploy the survey to a large and diverse sample of 500-800 engineering students and conduct exploratory factor analysis. The following year, they will relaunch the survey with an additional 500-800 engineering students and conduct a confirmatory factor analysis. The final survey instrument and its accompanying ethical-use manual will provide a way for design-based course instructors to understand the extent to which their students believe they have had the opportunities to practice their design-based forms of capital and the impact of these opportunities on their engineering self-efficacy and identity development. Workshops facilitated by the project team provide an opportunity for educators at partnering institutions and others around the country to collaboratively develop plans to use the instrument and address equity gaps in how design courses are taught. The project will help to promote the integration of asset-based approaches into students’ professional formation to combat disparities in engineering education, a necessary step in building a diverse engineering workforce equipped to tackle the complex challenges of the 21st century.    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.",FALSE
2101277,"Culturally Responsive, Affective-Focused Teaching of Science and Mathematics",2025-04-25,University of Florida,GAINESVILLE,FL,FL03,1448590,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101277,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101277_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,326111941,NNFQH1JAPEP3,"Students and professionals who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color (BIPOC) continue to be underrepresented in STEM fields. Broadening participation in STEM requires a change in how K-12 STEM teachers engage and educate students who identify as BIPOC. Research has demonstrated that cultural and social justice connections can lead to positive academic outcomes for students who identify as BIPOC in science and mathematics. This project will provide a field-based science and mathematics teacher education program that supports teaching focused on students’ affective development through culturally responsive practices. In this project, affective development is defined by students’ abilities to incorporate their science and mathematics learning into their own unique personal value systems. The project's field-based teacher education program takes place over a two-year period and models how culturally responsive and affective instruction can occur in the STEM classroom to engage students. The project participants include 48 secondary science and mathematics teachers who work with about 5300 students in a district with some of the most persistent and pronounced educational equity issues in the state of Florida. The associated research will have implications for theory and practice that can be extended to improve STEM educator development in schools and districts throughout the country. This aligns with NSF’s commitment to advancing K-12 student and teacher learning in the STEM disciplines through research-based design and development of innovative models.    Using design-based implementation research, this project will accomplish the following objectives: (1) transform the practices of a district-wide set of 48 secondary science and mathematics teachers by equipping them with culturally responsive, affective-focused practices and leadership skills; (2) construct tools and resources that will serve as open-access professional development materials shared widely via learning management tools; and (3) develop an evidence-based and adaptable theory of change to share widely with the STEM education community. The research plan draws on both qualitative and quantitative research methods to study the experiences and changes of science and mathematics teachers and their students as they experience continuously refined versions of the teacher education model. In particular, this project focuses on studying teacher and student outcomes, including teachers’ culturally responsive, affective-focused practices and self-efficacy, their understanding of student values and cultural backgrounds, and their attitudes toward cultural diversity; growth in students’ affective development and STEM achievement, their interest in STEM careers, and STEM identity development. Answers to the research questions will provide empirically-driven means for developing both the practical tools and the theoretical models of change toward STEM teacher transformation and positive impacts for students who identify as BIPOC.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2449906,"Fostering Black and Latinx student STEM efficacy, interests, and identity: A participatory study of STEM programming and practices at one community-based organization",2025-04-25,University of Iowa,IOWA CITY,IA,IA01,538026,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2449906,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2449906_4900,2024-10-01,2029-03-31,522421316,Z1H9VJS8NG16,"Black and Latinx people are underrepresented in the STEM workforce.  This project examines how curricula and practices in a culturally situated, community-based youth development program nurture and support the STEM engagement of Black and Latinx boys and girls. Often research supporting out-of-school-time (OST) activities in STEM and traditionally underrepresented youth takes place in newly created learning environments. However, this program goes to where the youth are already, the Downtown Boxing Gym. Building knowledge and understandings on the inclusion of arts into gender-based STEM research could have implications for the future of OST research and programming. The project will explore how out of school learning spaces can broaden participation of Black and Latinx youth in STEM focused learning opportunities. Participants in this project are 170-250 youth, ages 8-18, who are involved in the Downtown Boxing Gym in Detroit, Michigan.    This project utilizes a mixed methods approach to collecting and analyzing survey data, interview data, and video data using thematic and interaction analyses. The goals of the project are to: (1) examine how youth learn STEM in informal environments; (2) advance the knowledge base of informal STEM learning, and (3) increase belongingness, broaden participation, and support learners' participation in and understanding of STEM practices utilizing a student- and practitioner- driven approach. During the school year, the program is offered twice a day, five days each week, for one hour, and during the summer five days a week, four hours a day. The program curriculum is collaboratively created by staff and students and may include topics and activities such as: 3D modeling, video game coding, environmental analysis of wildlife, chemistry, artificial intelligence/facial scanning, and robotics programing/construction.    This Type 4, Integrating Research and Practice, project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",FALSE
2051184,Biological Impacts of Colonial Practices: Bioarchaeological Reconstruction of Health and Demography,2025-04-25,University of Nevada Las Vegas,LAS VEGAS,NV,NV01,360711,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Biological Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2051184,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2051184_4900,2021-06-01,2025-08-31,891549900,DLUTVJJ15U66,"This bioarchaeological project examines the impact of colonization practices on population health and mortality. Skeletal data on age, sex, pathologies, trauma, disability, cause of death, and other indicators of morbidity are used to test hypotheses about hardships, illnesses, and loss of life in the context of colonization practices. These bioarchaeological outcomes can extend our knowledge regarding the biological and cultural consequences of enslavement and marginalization beyond what can be understood from limited and biased historical records. The project engages underrepresented minority students in science-based research and interpretation of empirical data involving their own community history. The research represents a multidisciplinary cooperation that engages the local community, directly involving them in the research process as co-producers of scientific knowledge and critical stakeholders in ensuring that the research findings are understood and communicated to the community and public audiences.    Settler colonialism is typically understood to be based on appropriation of resources and persistent removal of local, indigenous cultures. This project involves the excavation and analysis of skeletal remains from an historic cemetery in the American Southwest comprised of indigenous people who were conscripted into servitude. Hypotheses will be tested with the demographic, health and trauma data derived from the skeletal remains of infants, children, and adult males and females to expand our knowledge about the effects of enslavement and marginalization during colonization. Retrieval and analysis of the skeletal remains, and the reburial of these remains in the local church cemetery, is part of a larger undertaking that will establish this location as a heritage site with an educational component featuring data retrieved from the skeletons about life, health, and death in this historic location. The outcomes of this project will provide a solid basis for future studies on colonial practices, morbidity and mortality.     This project is jointly funded by the Biological Anthropology Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",FALSE
2041192,SBP: Implicit Bias: Separating Person and Context,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,465738,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2041192,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2041192_4900,2021-08-01,2026-07-31,275995023,D3LHU66KBLD5,"Implicit bias refers to mental associations linking social groups with evaluations or stereotypes. Research suggests that implicit race biases are widespread, difficult to change, and that these associations may contribute to unintended discrimination. There is no consensus, however, on whether implicit bias is best understood as a feature of a person, or as a consequence of inequalities and stereotypes cued by the social environment. Does implicit bias operate as an individual attitude, so that a person's behavior can be predicted from their implicit bias score? Or does it operate like a feature of the context, such that any individual would have greater implicit bias when passing through some contexts than others? Addressing these issues can help organizations make more informed decisions about how best to reduce unwanted disparities.     This project consists of three longitudinal studies to measure stability and change in implicit bias over time, and across different contexts. It measures implicit bias across twenty cities to understand how much scores depend on the city-wide context, as opposed to the individuals who compose that context. The project measures city-level changes, such as protests against racial discrimination and changes in local ordinances and monuments, to understand whether such changes are followed by changes in implicit bias. And it examines whether individuals' level of implicit bias changes when they move from one social context to another. It is unlikely that the answers to these questions are that implicit bias entirely reflects the person or the context. Instead, the project aims to quantify the contributions of each, and how person and context interact with each other. This research contributes knowledge about the fundamental nature of implicit bias and the most promising directions for reducing unintended discrimination.    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.",FALSE
2430996,CIVIC-PG Track B: Advancing Health Equity in Western Kansas Rural Communities Affected by Gender-Based Violence: A Survivor-Centered Advocacy Approach,2025-04-25,Fort Hays State University,HAYS,KS,KS01,74446,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2430996,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2430996_4900,2024-10-01,2025-10-31,676014009,DVSMS2BMAK51,"Gender-based violence is a pervasive public health issue, particularly in rural communities where access to support services is often limited. This project aims to address these gaps in health equity for survivors by implementing survivor-centered interventions that mobilize existing community resources, identify local leaders, and enhance economic opportunities and employment. The primary focus of this project is creating a network of support by empowering local leaders and volunteers who can connect organizations and other community members and networks. This approach will help build collaborative and coordinated responses to survivors that address immediate needs and promote long-term stability and independence. The project is also developing community-based support groups to improve access to healthcare, financial assistance, and housing support. The ultimate aim is to generate solutions that can be scaled and adapted to similar settings nationwide, fostering organizational connections and creating pathways for financial stability.  This project aligns with NSF’s mission to promote the progress of science, engineering, and education by contributing to broader research on health equity and violence prevention.    The primary goal of this project is to develop and implement participant action-oriented and survivor-centered interventions to improve health equity for gender-based violence survivors in rural communities. In Stage 1, the team is conducting extensive stakeholder consultations, listening sessions, and community engagement activities to gather insights and identify key community leaders and civic partners. It is mobilizing community resources to identify facilitators, including local leaders and volunteers, who can connect organizations, individuals, and community leaders, fostering ongoing collaboration. It is forming a volunteer task force and establishing a community leader forum to better utilize local resources. Employment training, apprenticeship programs, and financial assistance initiatives are planned to support survivors’ economic independence. These efforts will culminate in a Stage 2 project aimed at creating a collaboration across providers, nonprofits, and volunteers, and a health equity assessment toolkit, utilizing the information gathered in Stage 1 to further enhance health equity in rural communities.    This project is in response to the Civic Innovation Challenge program’s Track B. Bridging the gap between essential resources and services & community needs and is a collaboration between NSF, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Department of Energy.    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.",FALSE
2415812,Climate Stories: A Community and Planetarium Partnership Model to Develop Local Data-Driven Visual Impact Narratives,2025-04-25,"Associated Universities, Inc.",VIENNA,VA,VA11,1223730,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2415812,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2415812_4900,2024-10-01,2027-09-30,221807300,NZBMKZMW68N3,"Informal learning environments like planetariums play a critical role in educating the public on climate change. Local stories motivate more than abstract global threats when it comes to understanding the science of climate change and how communities can enact resilience efforts. Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized and under-resourced communities, as they are most at risk from disruptions in water and food supply, more likely to live in homes with inadequate insulation or cooling, and more likely to live in areas with old and poorly-maintained infrastructure, among other challenges, so it is important for climate change stories to represent the local and social dimensions of climate change. Indigenous communities are at particular risk from climate change, but also have rich cultural stories about how people engage with nature to draw upon. This project will develop a model for how planetariums can collaborate with local communities to co-develop local stories, supported by data-driven immersive visualizations, of the impacts of climate change on their community, connecting the community’s culture and localized impacts and mitigation efforts with the larger story and science of climate change. This model will be presented in the form of a collaboration guide and evaluation toolkit that other planetariums and informal science education institutions can use to develop their own localized climate data stories. There are around 800 planetariums in the United States, and 2,000 worldwide, so this work has the potential to impact hundreds of thousands of planetarium visitors annually as well as similarly large numbers of audiences in relevant local community settings.    The project uses a collection of frameworks that support collaboration between Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Western science, provide guidelines for responsible research practice with Indigenous community partners, and offer practical strategies for how to engage communities equitably with climate knowledge and resilience efforts. A needs assessment will be conducted via survey administered to planetariums across the United States to ascertain their interest and ability in working with climate change content and local communities, to inform expectations about inputs for project design for the collaboration guide. The development of the collaboration model will use a two-phase design: initially, four “Development Partnerships” will articulate, test and refine the collaboration model and create a collaboration guide and toolkit which five additional “Implementation Partnerships” will subsequently test for applicability. The guiding research questions are: (1) How healthy and productive are the local collaborations? (2) Comparing results across nine collaborations, which elements hypothesized to support a healthy collaboration between planetariums and community partners are most salient or significant? and (3) To what degree do local climate impact stories impact audiences, and what role do visualizations and narratives play in creating audience impact? Data to be collected include surveys, interviews, and focus groups. The iterative data analysis method used by Risien et al. (2023) will be used to derive basic principles for respectful and productive collaborations. An iterative, local capacity-building approach will be used to co-create and refine templates for audience questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups, which after validation, will be distributed with the guide for planetariums to use to assess the STEM education impact of their data story co-design efforts.     This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.    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.",FALSE
2148561,Collaborative Research: Enhancing Underrepresented Student Engagement in STEM through Mentoring and Family Involvement,2025-04-25,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,60439,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148561,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148561_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This collaborative project is an informal science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) intervention that will uniquely combine partnerships between STEM and education faculty at the University of Houston (UH) with mentorship from the participants’ families and UH STEM undergraduate mentors to provide hands-on STEM experiences to fourth- and fifth-grade Students of Color. The project aims to increase awareness of and interest in STEM careers as a way to broaden participation in STEM careers. Key program components will include weekly hands-on activities that engage the students with technology through the engineering design process led by undergraduate STEM mentors who also are from groups underrepresented in STEM careers; the Scientist of the Week, which exposes students either to a STEM pioneer from underrepresented groups or a current STEM professional from an industry partner; the math problem of the day, which is aligned to state standards for fourth and fifth grades; and an end-of-year interactive STEM fair, during which students demonstrate their knowledge to larger audiences from their schools and communities.    The research questions that will guide this mixed-methods project will include: 1) What strategies help conceptualize STEM knowledge in a manner that affirms students' racial identity and cultural ways of knowing? 2) How do students' STEM identity and awareness of and interest in STEM change over time? 3) How do families engage in their children’s STEM learning in out-of-school STEM communities, and 4) how does family participation shape students' interest in STEM and their STEM identity? Data from interviews, observations, and questionnaires on Engineering Identity and Career Aspirations will be gathered and analyzed to study possible changes over time. The project's research will contribute to the knowledge-base on family engagement in STEM learning and the STEM identities of racially and ethnically diverse students. Specifically, the team will build upon their prior research on students' STEM identity and program implementation by studying students' STEM identity longitudinally, the racial dimensions of STEM identity, and variability in program implementation across school sites. This project will also have an explicit focus on broadening participation in STEM studies and careers among Students of Color. Within two years, the project will expand to four elementary schools in the Houston region. During the timeline of this award, the project will directly impact 140 fourth and fifth grade Students of Color and an additional 50 students and families per site, per year through the annual interactive STEM fair. This project will also directly engage 50 racially and ethnically diverse STEM mentors who lead project activities. A final product of this work will be a program model guided by principled adaptation that positions the project for large-scale implementation. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",TRUE
2116350,"Family Bereavement: Societal Prevalence, Patterning, and Consequences",2025-04-25,University of Southern California,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA34,254788,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2116350,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2116350_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,90033,G88KLJR3KYT5,"This project investigates family bereavement—the phenomenon of experiencing the death of a family member. Extensive research has identified how economic and social hardship can contribute to an individual’s risk of death; yet we know less about whether the death of a family member can induce hardships for those bereaved. Scientific efforts to understand family bereavement are highly relevant given the COVID-19 pandemic—a global mortality event of historic proportions that has left millions of individuals grieving the abrupt death of relatives. This study offers a life course overview of family bereavement and its socioeconomic and health consequences. Whereas past studies have focused on singular types of family loss, like parental death, this study considers multiple relatives. This allows clarification of the societal burden of different types of bereavement and their unique consequences for individuals.  Findings can inform programmatic efforts to address the effects of bereavement on population health, prosperity, and welfare.  In addition to generating findings of high relevance to public health, this research supports diversity in science through the mentoring and training of students from historically under-represented groups.     The first goal of the project is to identify the consequences of family bereavement by analyzing rich survey data on a cohort of 1,500 young adults. The data feature detailed family history information, including whether relatives are still alive and if not, how long ago they died, how old they were at the time of death, and whether they suffered from prolonged illness. These data are used to analyze whether experiences of family bereavement influence young adults’ wellbeing, including their mental and physical health and educational success. The second goal of the study is to use cross-national survey data on more than 3.7 million youth and 1.8 million adults to offer a comprehensive overview of the societal and life course patterns of family bereavement in more than 50 locations. By identifying the societal burden of family bereavement at the community, regional, and higher levels, and elucidating between-family and cohort differences in life course patterns of bereavement for multiple birth cohorts, the study offers foundational knowledge on family bereavement.    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.",FALSE
2329425,SBIR Phase II:  HealthText: Providing digital healthcare navigation for underserved communities in the US,2025-04-25,LISA FITZPATRICK & ASSOCIATES MD PC,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,999904,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,SBIR Phase II,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2329425,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2329425_4900,2023-10-01,2025-09-30,200015272,VC6YBGX96H95,"The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to further develop HealthText, an artificial intelligence (AI) driven digital health information and navigation platform tailored to support the Medicaid population. The project's broader impact lies in its potential to address health disparities in under-resourced communities by providing trusted and relatable health literacy content through a user-friendly Short Message/Messaging Service (SMS). Under-resourced and minority communities often experience poor health outcomes and disengagement from care due to low health and science literacy and distrust. Technology-based engagement strategies have not adequately reached these underserved populations, making HealthText a valuable solution to bridge this gap. The core focus of this project is to deliver targeted and culturally appropriate health information campaigns directly to Medicaid beneficiaries. Through relatable content and intuitive SMS messaging, the platform aims to foster trust, increase healthcare engagement, and reduce avoidable emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and preventable, health-related deaths. The commercial opportunity associated with improving healthcare engagement in underserved and minority communities is significant, given the annual US Medicaid market size of over $720 billion. By addressing health literacy and navigation support issues, this technology can help achieve substantial cost savings that could exceed $100 million annually, while improving health outcomes.     This project has demonstrated successful engagement outcomes among Medicaid populations, suggesting the potential for widespread commercialization to Medicaid insurance companies. The project involves refining the delivery of tailored health information using AI-based communications tools like chatbots and generative AI. Existing AI resources lack consideration for communication nuances prevalent in underserved populations with lower educational achievements. To address this, the AI components will be specifically designed for underserved and minority communities, thereby minimizing concerns about bias in existing health-related AI solutions. The solution include: 1) gap analysis with high priority quality measures; 2) utilization of custom content and delivery platform to send targeted messaging via text, video, and on-demand AI chat to patients; and 3)  evaluation of improved clinical outcomes.    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.",FALSE
2429010,Collaborative Research: NSF-NFRF: The Indigenous Peoples Observatory Network (IPON): The Climate-Food-Health Nexus,2025-04-25,Pennsylvania State Univ University Park,UNIVERSITY PARK,PA,PA15,225625,Standard Grant,OD,Office of the Director,International Science and Engineering,International Research Collab,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2429010,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2429010_4900,2024-06-01,2027-05-31,168021503,NPM2J7MSCF61,"Climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation are profound threats to Indigenous Peoples globally. These threats are rooted in discrimination, land dispossession, and colonization. The convergence and interaction of these stresses that affect health and well-being are primarily through the nexus with Indigenous food systems. Government policies often overlook and undermine Indigenous knowledge and practices, which underpin resilience across the nexus of food systems, health, and well-being. The Indigenous Peoples’ Observatory Network (IPON) transforms and rethinks our understanding of this nexus from the bottom up. It builds on multiple ways of knowing, including Indigenous knowledge and science, to strengthen community resilience to multiple stresses and support actions that benefit Indigenous Peoples. The project promotes the progress of science through transdisciplinary approaches that investigate the links among food, climate, and health.     This project will establish Indigenous observatories that include community leaders, Elders, and youth, along with decision makers and researchers from Indigenous communities worldwide, covering the United Nation's seven social cultural regions. The observatories will document, monitor, and examine how climate stressors interact with food systems, health, and well-being across partner regions and communities as they play out in real-time and across seasons. This will be done by recording the lived experiences, stories, responses, and observations of the affected people. The teams will work together to create knowledge and capacity that can be used to develop policies and actions that build on community strengths and address potential vulnerabilities. The observatories strengthen the capacity of Indigenous communities to document their knowledge about the links between climate, food, and health, and provide a space for dialogue with decision makers at regional, national, and global levels to determine necessary actions to build resilience. IPON's global scope provides a foundation for developing scalable insights that inform decision making and advocacy for our partners in United Nations and Indigenous organizations.    This is a project jointly funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as funding agencies from Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom via the 2023 International Joint Initiative for Research on Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Competition. This Competition allowed a single joint international proposal to be submitted and peer-reviewed by Canada. Upon successful joint determination of an award recommendation, each agency funds the proportion of the budget that supports scientists at institutions in their respective countries.    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.",FALSE
2121455,STEM Inquiry Research Summer Enrichment Program,2025-04-25,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,299960,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121455,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121455_4900,2021-10-01,2026-09-30,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing sustainable practices to improve undergraduate engagement and persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This IUSE EHR Engaged Student Learning Level 1 project, STEM Research Inquiry Summer Experience (STEM RISE), seeks to better prepare and retain STEM majors as qualified STEM teachers and professionals equipped with tools and resources to serve urban youth. It is a collaboration at the University of Houston between faculty from the secondary STEM teacher preparation program, teachHOUSTON, and the College of Medicine, along with Jack Yates High School in the Historic Third Ward in which the University resides. High quality teacher preparation in the STEM disciplines is critical to student success especially in schools that are underfunded and combatting atmospheres of deficit thinking. Consequently, STEM RISE takes up the charge by implementing targeted professional development, revising curriculum to integrate culturally responsive pedagogy, and providing learning experiences with mentorship facilitated by content experts and peers. The STEM RISE project is the next step in teachHOUSTON’s evolving trajectory towards being a national leader in secondary STEM teacher education programs.     The project intends to engage urban high school youth from a predominantly Black community in summer research experiences to enhance learning and introduce them to STEM career pathways. It is expected that the high school students will learn valuable science skills and experiences that will equip them with the knowledge, motivation, mentorship, and social capital to pursue a STEM career. Supporting this activity is a mentorship structure that will include undergraduate STEM student lab mentors as well as faculty (who also mentor the undergraduates) and pre-service teachers. STEM RISE provides undergraduate STEM majors, pursuing STEM teacher certification, with novel and meaningful opportunities to embed culturally responsive teaching (CRT) in their instruction through a revised Research Methodology in STEM Course and a professional development institute focused on social justice topics. Additionally, the professional development institute supports STEM undergraduates in learning STEM CRT methods with structured practice in lesson design and implementation. The findings from the project are expected to contribute to the knowledge base about mentoring undergraduate STEM majors, preservice teacher professional development, and literature about theory-practice gaps in culturally responsive and inquiry-based STEM education, including research experiences with underrepresented student populations. Thus, the project has the potential to contribute to better STEM teacher preparation, mentoring of undergraduate STEM majors and experiential learning of varying student bodies, especially students of color who are historically underserved and underrepresented in STEM fields. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship (Noyce) Program is providing co-funding for this IUSE: EHR project to support the project's preservice teacher preparation goals, which are well-aligned with Noyce Program goals.    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.",FALSE
2122553,"BPINNOVATE: Intersectionality in Building STEM Entrepreneurship Capacity: Rurality, Indigeneity, and Technology",2025-04-25,University of New Mexico,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,NM01,982345,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122553,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122553_4900,2021-09-01,2025-06-30,871310001,F6XLTRUQJEN4,"The Central New Mexico region is home to large populations of Native Americans and Hispanics traditionally underrepresented in STEM. The state also contains an abundance of STEM-focused education and research, including a transition to clean energy that will provide new jobs and three national laboratories in the region. However, no alliance directly connects New Mexico STEM majors to innovation through training in technology transfer and entrepreneurship relevant to their heritage. The proposed activities offer great potential to positively impact societally relevant outcomes, including the broader participation of women and underrepresented minorities from Native American, Hispanic and low-income populations in STEM innovation and entrepreneurship. Broadening participation by increasing the representation of underserved groups in technology innovation and entrepreneurship is critical for maintaining global competitiveness and for promoting economic development, especially in communities historically plagued by endemic poverty and rural marginality.The conceived technology career pathway proposed in this project has significant potential to spawn an increase in the success of underrepresented populations in STEM, creating a new career pipeline at the intersection of higher education and research commercialization. This project will also enable the proposed research team to create a Shared Vision and the necessary knowledge-base to address the broadening participation challenges in STEM, especially for Native Americans and rural Hispanics.    This program will advance knowledge and understanding in the field of STEM education that focuses on technology innovation and entrepreneurship by adding a novel aspect to the existing large body of work seeking to broaden representation in STEM academic programs and careers. This program will focus on the development of a profile of the rural digital identity that operates within New Mexico’s underserved populations. An investigation of the role that indigeneity plays in relation to other identity categories has become increasingly urgent. The role of identity at this very complex moment in world history requires the use of intersectionality as a means of provoking a deeper understanding of the way people belong to communities and serve as change-agents within those communities. This profile will be instrumental in providing much needed context for educational and economic development programs aimed at connecting underserved communities to global markets using technological innovation as the mechanism for new models of economic prosperity.    This project is jointly funded by Science of Science: Discovery, Communication, and Impact, and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",FALSE
2419500,Leading and following in virtual meetings: An investigation of affect display,2025-04-25,University of North Carolina at Charlotte,CHARLOTTE,NC,NC12,149746,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SoO-Science Of Organizations,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2419500,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2419500_4900,2024-09-01,2025-08-31,282230001,JB33DT84JNA5,"Virtual meetings are important for organizational leaders as this context represents a critical activity to share information, develop relationships, and stimulate creativity and innovation. The project collects data and leverages data science to inform the training of leaders to create effective and inclusive virtual meetings. This research has implications for the scientific advancement of leadership theories as well as downstream practical implications for organizations and society. Almost every societal challenge faced by organizations requires effective leadership to overcome it. The application of data science to studying leaders’ and followers’ use of emotional expressions in virtual meetings is necessary. First, those who train leaders will have greater specificity in the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to facilitate leader emergence and effective leadership. Second, leaders who receive this training, and their organization, will benefit from the creation of a more inclusive and engaging virtual environment.    Along with what leaders say in meetings, it is also important to understand how they say it in the form of verbal and nonverbal emotional expressions. This project seeks to advance scientific knowledge of how leaders and followers effectively use emotional expressions as signals in virtual meetings. First, the project team conducts a series of online meetings in which leaders and followers work on a component of a strategic plan for a real organization (Task 1: Generate leader and follower verbal and nonverbal data). Second, the project team applies artificial intelligence methods to analyze leaders’ and followers’ verbal and nonverbal (voice tone, pitch, volume) emotional expressions during meetings (Task 2: Develop multimodal AI scores of leader and follower verbal and nonverbal behavior). Third, the project team explores gender differences in how leaders use emotions and how followers rate the leaders (Task 3: Examine the occurrence and outcomes of emotional expressions during meetings).    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.",FALSE
2127909,"Collaborative Research: The Role of Elites, Organizations, and Movements in Reshaping Politics and Policymaking",2025-04-25,"Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.",ATLANTA,GA,GA05,273731,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2127909,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2127909_4900,2022-06-01,2025-11-30,303032921,MNS7B9CVKDN7,"Arguably, the current political climate is the function of three seemingly distinct, yet interrelated, ongoing phenomena: (1) a contentious, problem-laden political environment, (2) grassroots organizations driving unprecedented levels of engagement and turnout, and (3) national movements driving discourse, preferences, and reform around long-held policy grievances. The combination of contentious politics and an energized electorate can result in record turnout despite a raging pandemic. The PIs examine how these features of the American polity shape public and institutional political behaviors. The project aims to build a network, and supportive infrastructure, to better understand how political elites, organizations, and movements in key political locations work to drive participation, preferences, and policymaking.      The project examines two broad research questions. The first question is: How do organizations and social movements mediate political preferences and policy agendas amongst the mass public? Second, it is interested in the collaboration between organizations and social movements and how these interactions shape traditional and untraditional forms of political participation. The study draws on a comprehensive mixture of quantitative (surveys, survey experiments, voter data analysis, social media analysis, and social network analysis) and qualitative (ethnographic observations, content analysis, elite interviews, and focus groups) methodological approaches to answer these questions. This study examines political activities during two electoral periods in several transformative states and municipalities. The broader impacts of the study are numerous. First, it connects a network of scholars from a diverse set of institutions. The project builds critical infrastructure at partner institutions to facilitate data collection and analysis. Namely, it (1) builds mobile research labs designed to conduct rapid response surveys during protests and organizational rallies, and (2) establishes data analysis centers at two minority serving institutions, and (3) provides cutting-edge training, tools, and professional resources to students from marginalized and underserved groups.    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.",FALSE
2333261,Collaborative Research: Utilizing Professional Societies to Achieve a Reinforcing Transformative Culture (UPSTART Culture),2025-04-25,"The Geological Society of America, Inc.",BOULDER,CO,CO02,1561546,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333261,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333261_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,803011806,TKBVGF4WK5N5,"The geosciences professions are an area of critical national need that ensures the energy, natural resource, and environmental security of the United States. To satisfy demand for a sufficiently competent and technically skilled geosciences workforce, Utilizing Professional Societies to Achieve a Reinforcing Transformative Culture (UPSTART Culture) deploys a program of staged professional development for aspiring geoscientists to create an iteratively reinforcing learning ecosystem that is deliberately inclusive of all participants. The goal is to promote the humanity of geoscientists to create an ever-growing scientific workforce respecting the dignity and autonomy of individuals toward career success. The Geological Society of America’s (GSA) On to the Future (OTF) program is a professional development program for students from groups structurally underrepresented in the geosciences. GSA’s definition of underrepresentation includes traditionally protected classes as well as non-traditional student categories (e.g., 1st-generation college students, single parents, veterans, students from under-resourced school systems in both urban and rural settings, etc.) The current effort scales OTF to a multi-year program of cohort activities as well as mentor-focused workshops. Stage 1 introduces OTF scholars and professional society mentors to activities for identity appreciation/development, building social capital, and networking with professional societies. Stage 2 features professional societies providing OTF scholars with skill-building workshops, short courses, and field trips with critical feedback to societies related to promotion of inclusive norms. Stage 3 tasks OTF scholars with mentors/professional societies to refine inclusionary practices and develop leadership within society functions. Stage 4 returns OTF scholars as emerging leaders to Stage 1 activities to reinforce best practices promoting diversity and inclusive cultural norms such that the nation sustains a robust and representative workforce of highly skilled and competent geoscientists.    UPSTART Culture will create an innovative, dynamic, and reciprocating learning ecosystem leveraging investments in several culture-transforming programs: GSA On to the Future (OTF), HHMI Geoscience Ambassadors, NSF GEOPATHS, and NSF Geosciences Associated Societies Committed to Embracing & Normalizing Diversity Research Coordination Network (Geosciences ASCEND). Grounding powerful principles of system dynamics in sociocultural conceptualizations of identity development and cultural change, UPSTART Culture will deliberately disrupt Geoscience Culture, establish a critical process and iterative routine for long-term systemic norming. The approach centers the premise that all those practicing science are informed by their identities and pathways. Storytelling centers agency and responsibility in creating an inclusive geoscientific community as a necessary counter to assimilationist norms; e.g., that one becomes a scientist by learning a way of being, doing, and compliance with a demonstrably toxic cultural milieu.  Professional societies convene communities to reinforce professional norms and practices. UPSTART Culture will activate professional societies for change by developing safe spaces that link transformational processes of storytelling and co-design for critiquing exclusive, oppressive, unjust norms and promoting more equitable, inclusive democratic and just norms at scale.    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.",FALSE
2411678,Collaborative Research: Promoting Meaningful Collaboration in a STEM + Medicine Learning Ecosystem,2025-04-25,St Jude Children's Research Hospital,MEMPHIS,TN,TN09,559342,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411678,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411678_4900,2024-09-15,2029-08-31,381053678,JL4JHE9SDRR3,"While integrated science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and medicine (STEMM) learning  is gaining popularity in informal learning environments, it remains less common in formal in-school settings. Sharing STEMM resources across informal and formal learning contexts for youth is particularly challenging in under-resourced school districts, exacerbating the underrepresentation of minoritized learners in STEMM fields.  This project seeks to address this challenge by fostering a STEMM learning ecosystem that brings secondary teachers in historically under-resourced schools together with local STEMM professionals to co-design and allocate STEMM based resources for youth. Ultimately, this work will contribute to a deeper understanding of the structures that lead to inequitable resource allocations and possible approaches to facilitate the creation of a dynamic and responsive STEMM learning environment.     The research team will employ an ethnographic design to understand how integrating STEMM lessons in under-resourced schools can advance equitable learning opportunities for minoritized learners. Grounded in culturally responsive teaching, social constructivism, and situated learning theories, the research involves co-designing curricula and instructional strategies with 20 local educators, STEMM professionals, and community stakeholders. Methods include conducting semi-structured interviews and focus groups with school leaders, middle school teachers, students, and community members to gather insights into their experiences and perceptions of STEMM teaching and learning. Classroom observations and document analysis of the iterative refinements of project-based learning materials will complement these interviews, providing a comprehensive view of the effects of integrating STEMM into formal school settings and how resource allocations can impact social-ecological system transformations. The team will identify actionable recommendations for enhancing the capacity of teachers to integrate justice-oriented approaches in STEMM lessons, thereby providing effective STEMM teacher education experiences that foster minoritized learners’ STEMM identities.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2510215,Collaborative Research: The AGEP Engineering Alliance: A Model to Advance Historically Underrepresented Minority Postdoctoral Scholars and Early Career Faculty in Engineering,2025-04-25,University of Kentucky Research Foundation,LEXINGTON,KY,KY06,199620,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2510215,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2510215_4900,2024-12-15,2025-12-31,405260001,H1HYA8Z1NTM5,"This Alliance brings together four universities with the goal of developing, implementing, studying, evaluating and disseminating a model focusing on career development for historically underrepresented minority (URM) engineering postdoctoral scholars, who successfully transition into early career faculty positions, and eventually become tenured and promoted in Engineering academic departments.  The AGEP Engineering Alliance works with URM postdoctoral scholars to provide them with mentoring, professional development training and the skills necessary to succeed in academic faculty positions. The model also addresses the needs of the early career faculty, including teaching pedagogy training, grant-writing and student mentoring education. The model work is through partnerships between the Georgia Institute of Technology, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, William Marsh Rice University, and the University of Colorado Colorado Springs.    This alliance was created in response to the NSF's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program solicitation (NSF 16-552). The AGEP program seeks to advance knowledge about models to improve pathways to the professoriate and success of URM graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and faculty in specific STEM disciplines and/or STEM education research fields. AGEP Transformation Alliances develop, replicate or reproduce; implement and study, via integrated educational and social science research, models to transform the dissertator phase of doctoral education, postdoctoral training and/or faculty advancement, and the transitions within and across the pathway levels, of URMs in STEM and/or STEM education research careers. While this Alliance is primarily funded by the AGEP program, additional support has been provided by the NSF INCLUDES program, which focuses on catalyzing the STEM enterprise to collaboratively work for inclusive change; the Directorate for Engineering's  Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) and the Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) program; and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources' Historically Black Colleges and Universities - Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) and Centers for Excellence in Science and Technology (CREST) program.    As the nation addresses a STEM achievement gap between URM and non-URM undergraduate and graduate students, our universities and colleges struggle to recruit, retain and promote URM STEM faculty who serve as role models and academic leaders for URM students to learn from, work with and emulate. Recent NSF reports indicate that URM STEM associate and full professors occupy 8% of these senior faculty positions at all 4-year colleges and universities, and about 6% of these positions at the nation's most research-intensive institutions. The AGEP Engineering Alliance has the potential to advance a model to improve the success of URM early career faculty in the field of Engineering, which ultimately leads to improved academic mentorship for URM undergraduate and graduate students in STEM.    One of the research components of the Alliance investigates Engineering post-graduation plans for PhD graduates and their faculty pathways, and another study examines the policies and practices of higher education Engineering programs.    The AGEP Engineering Alliance team will work with the BSCS Science Learning to conduct formative and summative evaluations. They will also engage an Executive Board of institutional administrators and leaders, as well as an external Advisory Board.  The boards will provide feedback to the Alliance team and suggest adjustments to the project's management, to the research, and to the model development, implementation, testing, evaluation, dissemination, sustainability and reproduction potential.  The boards will also provide input about how the Alliance work impacts institutional policies and practices to advance URM postdoctoral scholars and early career faculty in their academic Engineering careers.    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.",FALSE
2304933,NSF Engines Development Award: Advancing energy technologies in tribal communities (CA),2025-04-25,SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TRIBAL CHAIRMENS ASSOCIATION,PALA,CA,CA48,998406,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",NSF Engines - Type 1,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304933,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2304933_4900,2023-05-15,2026-04-30,920592316,ME79J3FGK6T7,"This Regional Innovation Engines Development Award is focused on developing a dynamic innovation ecosystem within the tribal communities of Southern California. The Tribal Energy Innovation Accelerator (TEIA) project will systematically drive the development of clean energy technologies, businesses, and projects to accelerate the region's transformation into a sustainable and resilient economy. The TEIA ecosystem will form around the collaborative framework of the Southern California Tribal Chairman's Association (SCTCA), which since 1971 has supported Tribes with a range of programs assisting efforts to strengthen economic resilience. The TEIA region, spanning the lands of 25 SCTCA member Tribes, is poised for a transformative investment in clean energy innovation and development, given access to appropriate funding and leadership. SCTCA member Tribes bring a strong need and significant opportunity for clean energy solutions, workforce development, and economic development. They also offer unique potential to support rapid growth by hosting innovative clean energy projects - including demonstration/pilot projects and manufacturing facilities. TEIA partner organizations include SCTCA, Prosper Sustainably, Pala Band of Mission Indians, Cleantech San Diego, University of California - Riverside, University of California - San Diego, GRID Alternatives, and the Microgrid Institute.    The Regional Innovation Engines Development Award will support activities including refinement of strategies and plans, collaborative work to formalize the TEIA organization; initial staffing; outreach, engagement, and collaboration to solidify partnerships; and initiation of clean energy innovation and development activities. The project will address critical gaps affecting Tribes' access to innovative clean energy technologies and development opportunities by providing dedicated central resources, including staff and partners with full skills and knowledge to support R&D and development across the SCTCA region. TEIA's collaborative processes will facilitate gathering ideas, knowledge, methods, and expertise from core partners and collaborators in many different disciplines, technical and non-technical. This collaborative work will yield tangible translational outcomes, including innovative clean energy equipment products, resilient clean energy-producing systems, Tribal entrepreneurial businesses, and workforce development and job training services. TEIA will provide clean energy technology job training, apprenticeships, and placement assistance for candidates seeking positions in roles required for regional clean energy innovation and development - prioritizing members of Tribes and other historically excluded and disadvantaged communities.    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.",FALSE
2317284,Collaborative Research: Supporting Teachers to Develop Equitable Mathematics Instruction Through Rubric-based Coaching,2025-04-25,University of Virginia Main Campus,CHARLOTTESVILLE,VA,VA05,1116371,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317284,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317284_4900,2023-03-01,2026-03-31,229034833,JJG6HU8PA4S5,"Creating supportive middle school mathematics learning spaces that foster students' self-efficacy and mathematics learning is a critical need in the United States. This need is particularly urgent for mathematics classrooms with students who have been historically marginalized in such spaces. While many instructional improvement efforts have focused on broadening access to mathematical ideas, fewer efforts have paid explicit attention to the ways instructional practices may serve to marginalize students. Supporting teachers in identifying and refining their equitable mathematics instructional practices is a persistent challenge. This project brings together a successful mathematics rubric-based coaching model (MQI Coaching) and an empirically developed observation tool focused on equity-focused instructional practices, the Equity and Access Rubrics for Mathematics Instruction (EAR-MI). The project's work integrates the EAR-MI rubrics into the MQI Coaching model with 24 middle grades mathematics coaches supporting 72 teachers at grades 5-8. The project measures the effects of the coaching model on teachers' beliefs and instructional practices and on students' mathematical achievement and sense of belonging in mathematics. The project also investigates how teachers' attitudes and beliefs impact their participation and what teachers take away from engagement with the coaching model.    The project makes use of a delayed-treatment experimental design to investigate effects on teacher beliefs and practices and student achievement and sense of belonging. A cohort of 14 coaches are randomly selected to participate in the coaching in Years 2 and 3, with the remaining 10 coaches assigned to a business-as-usual model in Year 2 and engaging in the training in Year 3. Coaches engage in a 4-day summer training to become acquainted with the model with coaching cycles and follow-up meetings during the school year. Each coach will engage teachers in 8-10 coaching cycles in treatment years. Data on the nature of the coaching includes logs and surveys from the coaches. Teachers submit surveys related to their beliefs and practices and two lessons each at the start and end of the academic year for analysis. Student assessment data, course grades, and administrative data, combined with survey data from students on classroom belonging and perceptions of ability and confidence in mathematics, are used to describe student outcomes. Teacher outcomes are captured through the analysis of classroom video, surveys about ethnic-racial identity and racial attitudes, beliefs about students and instruction, and beliefs about and efficacy for culturally responsive teaching. The project uses a set of survey measures with established reliability and validity, adapting some instruments to include specific indicators related to the equity and access rubrics. Analysis of the data uses a multi-level model accounting for the clustering of teachers within schools and students within classrooms and schools.    This project is funded by the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). The DRK-12 program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2217703,Collaborative Research BPE track 3: Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation in Engineering Hub,2025-04-25,Jackson State University,JACKSON,MS,MS02,159865,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217703,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217703_4900,2022-10-01,2027-09-30,392170002,WFVHMSF6BU45,"This NSF Track 3 Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) project aims to address the resilience, identity formation, and academic outcomes of minorities in engineering through the ""Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation (Minority-MAP) in Engineering Hub’s infrastructure, resources sharing, community engagement, and evidence-based inclusive mentoring. The hub will leverage an all-access, open-platform called the Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub) to dynamically foster inclusive mentoring through a community of practice in engineering. The project’s catalytic activities are expected to democratize minority representation in engineering through the hub’s data and technology ecosystem that will connect student mentees with faculty and industry mentors and employers in the Minority-MAP network. The iMAP Hub will positively impact the completion rates of students pursuing engineering degrees and improve the career preparation of engineering students at participating minority serving institutions, thereby enhancing the diversity of the US engineering workforce. The project will employ the interest of HBCUs, leading companies, and non-profit organizations to collaboratively transform the human capital via inclusive mentoring, thus creating a culture change towards an impactful, resilient career. This effort aligns with the NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering’s mission to strengthen the future U.S. engineering workforce.    This project will be led by Center for Engineering Excellence at Morgan State University, in collaboration with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Jackson State University, STEMconnector, and Ziker Research. The goals of the project are to: 1) recruit 100 student mentees and faculty or industry mentor pairs by 2024, to test and refine an innovative mentoring platform called Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub); 2) curate, develop, and expand inclusive mentoring resources and activities to include 300 student mentees at 10 minority-serving institutions by 2027; 3) develop and implement a framework to identify gaps in the hub’s inclusive mentoring practices through formative and summative evaluations; 4) provide professional development to support implementing culturally responsive, inclusive mentoring practices at annual Summer Institutes, and develop and refine online student, faculty, and industry training resources for evidence-based inclusive mentoring practices delivered through an online repository that is integrated into the iMAP Hub platform by 2024; and 5) share findings and presentations during annual Summer Institutes, STEMconnector's Annual STEM Summits, Million Women Mentors Summits, and annual Post-Secondary Innovation Labs as a strategy for growing the network and expanding iMAP Hub services. Proposed research efforts will investigate the aspects of mentoring that promote the development of an engineering identity and have the potential to improve the persistence and retention of underrepresented groups in engineering. Methods will include data collection from multiple sources, including data analytics using iMAP usage data, survey reports from all participants, and observations of mentor-mentee activities. Outcomes related to changes in engineering identity, career awareness, and professional skills will be measured through pre- and post-surveys informed by the Engineer Identity Survey (EIS), interview protocols, and observations. The iMAP Hub’s resources and research findings will be disseminated through a dedicated website, conference presentations, workshops, newsletters, publications, and social media. The project team will scale the network of mentors and mentees by working with STEMconnector's membership which includes over 100 industry partners and MSI universities.    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.",FALSE
2345110,PROJECT STEM High-Achieving Kumu Akamai (SHAKA),2025-04-25,Hawaii Pacific University,HONOLULU,HI,HI01,756286,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2345110,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2345110_4900,2024-08-15,2029-07-31,968134800,QKESSLC5LFR4,"The project aims to serve the national need of preparing culturally responsive secondary STEM teachers to teach in high-need school districts. The program also serves the national interest in improving STEM instructor preparation and reducing STEM inequities. The program will prepare students for workplaces that need educated STEM-literate workers. Project outcomes will include 1) educators who can develop STEM learning experiences essential for instilling a passion for STEM in students and 2) STEM-literate students with diverse, applicable skills. This project, at Hawai'i Pacific University (HPU), includes partnerships with Honolulu's High-Need School Districts (HNSDs) of Farrington-Kaiser-Kalani and Kaimuki-McKinley-Roosevelt complex areas.     Project goals include: 1) training 12 HPU STEM (Bachelor of Science in Biology, Chemistry, Chemistry/Biochemistry, Computer Science, Engineering, Environmental Science, Marine Science, Mathematics, or Oceanography) graduates for secondary STEM teaching over five years; 2) training in STEM curriculum design to connect underserved students to STEM content and practice using Design Thinking and programmable STEM kits as models; 3) improving teachers' sensitivities regarding cultural differences and culturally responsive teaching; and 4) providing a comprehensive support system to increase retention of practicing teachers in high-need schools. The project seeks to answer the question of how we can address students' cultural and linguistic needs regarding STEM education. Teachers will examine the theoretical foundations of culturally responsive pedagogy and receive explicit instruction on its practical applications in STEM classrooms. Through conference presentations and publications, the project expects to provide evidence of the efficacy of preparing secondary education teachers for high-need classrooms through training in culturally  responsive teaching and Design Thinking. The potential contribution of this project is to create a model pipeline that connects university STEM majors to STEM teaching careers geared to address the need for greater participation in STEM by students from underrepresented groups. The project's evaluation will examine how the proposed project contributes to the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts. This Noyce Track 1 Scholarships and Stipends project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.    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.",FALSE
2147635,Collaborative Research: Understanding the Evolution of Political Campaign Advertisements over the Last Century,2025-04-25,University of Oklahoma Norman Campus,NORMAN,OK,OK04,300519,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147635,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147635_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,730193003,EVTSTTLCEWS5,"Television advertising, a primary way voters hear about candidates absent a media filter, is ubiquitous with political campaigns in the United States. Drawing on an existing but underutilized data set of over 100,000 political ads, this project examines the evolution of political advertising, especially as it pertains to issue advocacy and consonance.  The project makes significant methodological and substantive contributions to several fields including political, information, and library sciences, and enhances our understanding of the way ads shape and inform political behavior.  It also promotes interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate education at research and teaching institutions in the emerging sub-field of automated audiovisual analysis, including students and scholars from traditionally underrepresented groups.    The project uses a collection of over 100,000 political ads from 1912-2018, the Julian P. Kanter Political Commercial Collection archived at the University of Oklahoma, to develop (1) an automated system to identify issue (and other politically relevant) content from ad image, audio, and text and (2) a state-of-the-art user interface that gives researchers the ability to query, interact with and view videos, and also output data for analysis.  The project uses the data to examine the evolution of political advertising, testing models of horizontal and vertical diffusion of issues.  The project’s tools and data, introduced at an interdisciplinary workshop, are widely available to scholars across a number of disciplines who study American politics, campaigns, political communication and public opinion.    This collaborative project is jointly funded by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",TRUE
2434748,Investigating Black Educator Attitudes and Motivations for Teaching K-12 Computer Science (BEAMS-CS),2025-04-25,American Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences,ARLINGTON,VA,VA08,749967,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2434748,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2434748_4900,2025-01-01,2027-12-31,222023289,MCN6J5L6M3T4,"The American Institutes for Research® (AIR) and Teach For America (TFA) are undertaking a Research Strand project for the NSF Computer Science (CS) for All: RPP program to examine the motivational factors underlying pre-service and in-service Black teachers’ decisions to become CS teachers. Currently, many U.S. K-12 students lack access to or participation in CS instruction. A shortage of K-12 CS teachers is a significant contributing factor to students' lack of access to CS education, with roughly 70% of schools reporting it difficult to fill CS teacher vacancies in 2023. CS teacher shortages don’t impact all students equally; despite similar levels of interest in CS, Black students have access to and participate in fewer K-12 CS courses than their White peers. There is not only a shortage of CS teachers, but Black teachers are underrepresented in the CS teacher workforce, with only about 8% of CS teachers identifying as Black compared to 15% of K-12 students. Students’ lack of access to racially representative teachers is concerning, as teachers are influential in shaping students’ CS academic and workforce trajectories. Additionally, prior research has identified several academic benefits for students who have at least one same-race teacher. Unfortunately, CS teacher preparation pathways are limited. Black teachers also face racialized experiences in the profession, and there is little understanding of how these experiences affect Black teachers’ motivations to teach CS. Given these substantial barriers for Black individuals to become CS teachers, and their historic exclusion from CS, this project will provide vital information about the motivational factors, experiences, and perceptions underlying Black teachers’ decisions to teach CS.    During the last decade, a growing amount of research has focused on the Black experience in computing education and computing based industries. However, few studies investigate how Black teachers’ professional motivations are influenced by their racialized experiences in the teaching profession within the unique context of U.S. CS K-12 education. Further, research on recruiting Black pre-service and early career teachers into the K-12 CS teacher workforce has been limited. To address these research gaps, this project will focus on four research questions centered around motivational factors related to pre-service Black teachers’ interest in teaching CS; motivational factors that predict in-service Black teachers’ teaching CS; how Black teachers’ perceived barriers and facilitators to becoming CS teachers change from pre-service to in-service; and how Black teachers’ perceptions regarding teaching CS change from pre-service to in-service. The researchers are surveying Black teachers in the TFA Corps during pre-service training and one year after in-service; conducting focus groups with Black teacher survey respondents during their pre-service training and one year after in-service; and directing sensemaking sessions with prior focus group participants to present study findings and understand potential methods for alternative teacher preparation programs to recruit Black teachers into the CS teacher workforce. The study uses the Factors Influencing Teacher Choice Framework, which posits eight motivational factors associated with teachers’ choice to enter the profession. Elements of this framework align with professional considerations for CS teachers and Black teachers. In the long term, knowledge from this project could be used by alternative teacher preparation programs to recruit Black CS teachers and expand the CS teacher workforce, which is vital as alternative pathways prepare approximately 35% of Black teachers. This project’s findings could also be applied to develop research-based approaches to increase the number of Black teachers in other STEM domains.    This project is funded through the Computer Science for All: Research and RPPs program.    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.",FALSE
2310557,Collaborative Research: Military Service as a Gendered Pathway into STEM,2025-04-25,University of Alabama in Huntsville,HUNTSVILLE,AL,AL05,80498,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310557,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2310557_4900,2023-09-01,2025-10-31,358051911,HB6KNGVNJRU1,"The project investigates how gender and military service shape decisions to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees and occupations. Research shows that military service is a pathway into STEM fields. The project examines how the timing of educational and occupational experiences shape STEM-related outcomes. It also focuses on how the influence of military service on STEM trajectories varies by gender ad across demographic groups. Thus, the project addresses the national need to increase the number of STEM professionals, diversify the STEM workforce, and optimize the recruitment of military personnel. Findings from this project assist decision-makers in how to finetune military recruitment and assignment strategies to optimize strategic growth and inclusion goals in the Armed Forces. Findings are also important to federal agencies committed to broadening participation in STEM, and to employers interested in recruiting and retaining a diverse STEM workforce. Identifying how military service influences subsequent STEM trajectories presents a timely and unique opportunity to strengthen both private- and public-sector institutions.      The project pursues a two-pronged approach. First, large-sample analyses involve integrating multiple restricted-use data sources available via the U.S. Census Bureau’s Federal Statistical Research Data Centers/FSRDC to construct a longitudinal database spanning more than two decades: Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Department of Veterans’ Affairs U.S. Veterans File, National Survey of College Graduates; plus publicly-available data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System. These analyses involve sophisticated statistical models on large samples based on millions of respondents in the FSRDC databases. Methodological contributions involve creating new population estimates sought by the U.S. Census Bureau and other federal agencies, plus conducting essential robustness checks that test several distinct STEM definitions used by federal agencies. Second, to examine the mechanisms that shape such trajectories of civilian and veteran students, the project relies on original survey data for a representative sample of current students at a major US university. This original survey compensates for limitations in the FSRDC data by homing in on the impact of specific skills and experiences, including those of student veterans. The survey data are made publicly available via a data repository, to enhance social science data infrastructure, dissemination, and transparency. This project is jointly funded by the Sociology Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Science of Broadening Participation Program.    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.",TRUE
2417148,BPC-AE: Advancing Diversity-Fueled Innovation by Extending National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Resources & Systemic Change into New Audiences,2025-04-25,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,2850758,Cooperative Agreement,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2417148,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2417148_4900,2025-01-01,2029-12-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"The University of Colorado will extend the National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) BPC Alliance to broaden participation in computing with a focus on those marginalized by gender via a research-based national effort to enact systemic long-lasting change. Computing is the vanguard of American innovation and a key driver of the nation’s economic growth. Computation is fundamental to advances in healthcare, national security, and nearly every STEM discipline. NCWIT was founded in 2004 to ensure that the perspectives and contributions of those who identify as women are meaningfully represented at all levels of computing. Every woman has multiple intersecting identities, including race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, religion, and ability status.  Implicit and explicit beliefs about what women of different identities can, should, and do contribute emerge into everyday practices and implicit policies about how women are to be treated. These beliefs create disparities for women in computing, including lower likelihood of being promoted, significant pay gaps, continued discrimination, and higher quit rates. Intersections with other marginalized identity categories exacerbate women’s comparatively limited access to social and economic opportunities and capital.       NCWIT provides social science-based interventions for change leaders in postsecondary computing departments by reshaping the ways in which they consider social structures, data and evaluation, recruitment and retention practices, and the institutionalization of practices. NCWIT has developed, rigorously evaluated, and extensively deployed interventions aimed at supporting sustained institutional transformation. With this project, NCWIT will extend its efforts to diversify all computing disciplines, while adding a special focus on rapidly advancing research subfields. The alliance will expand participation in department-focused systemic change initiatives, including (1) the Tech Inclusion Journey® (TIJ), an assessment- and decision-support tool that teams use to build shared vision, assess strengths and needs within their units, and then identify and adapt appropriate actions to their local contexts, conditions, and resources; (2) a guided Learning Series for Postsecondary Researchers, Teaching Faculty, Teaching Assistants, and Department Leaders; and (3) Cohort-based Learning Circles, a peer-to-peer approach to learning about BPC systemic change and its implementation. The project also (4) brings together a growing membership of more than 650 postsecondary computing departments in virtual and in-person convenings and (5) provides freely available, professionally designed research-based materials that explain BPC concepts and practices in an easily digested and shareable manner. As a national resource, NCWIT develops approaches that interrupt inequities in social systems by altering policy, everyday practices, decision-making, beliefs, and norms by empowering individuals to become change leaders in their organizations. Institutionalizing systemic change in academic computing will lead to equity and greater well-being for women, gender-queer, and nonbinary individuals of all intersectional identities; improved computing education for all students; better trained teaching faculty and teaching assistants; a highly qualified, diverse, computing workforce to advance the economy, health care, national security, and other computing-dependent STEM fields; and computing research fueled by diversity in influential, rapidly advancing fields.    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.",FALSE
2224595,Collaborative Research: Reimagining Educator Learning Pathways Through Storywork for Racial Equity in STEM,2025-04-25,Trustees of Boston University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,666618,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224595,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224595_4900,2023-06-15,2025-04-25,022151703,THL6A6JLE1S7,"There is a pressing need for STEM educator learning models to substantively consider the diversity of STEM practices and values across social and cultural contexts, as well as how STEM fields are adapting to this diversity. As educators seek more meaningful approaches to equity that integrate everyday pedagogies, there is a further need to address how these pedagogies often reproduce inequitable STEM structures. This collaborative project seeks to address these challenges by designing, implementing, and studying an educator learning model that helps educators recognize and transform the moment-to-moment learning interactions that perpetuate racial inequalities across a myriad of STEM contexts. The project therefore aims to achieve two primary outcomes. First, to deepen educators' capacity to mediate the moment-to-moment tensions that arise between STEM concepts and practices privileged in schools, and those that attend to students' cultural and intellectual lives; and second, to generate knowledge on how to systematically support educators as they wrestle with the conceptual and ethical complexities of unjust STEM teaching and learning.    This three-year study is structured around a series of modules grounded in storywork, an Indigenous knowledge-systems approach to centering minoritized learners' language, history, phenomenon-based storylines, and their racialized experiences of systemic racism when co-designing STEM learning opportunities. Through long-standing partnerships between project leaders and K-12 and higher education STEM educators serving Indigenous, Black, and Latinx youth and families, the iterative design of modules is informed by the analysis of educator learning trajectories when codesigning through storywork. In addition to incorporating modules into higher education programs (e.g., teacher education and various STEM disciplinary courses), broadly sharing resources and tools with communities, practitioners, and researchers through multimedia outlets as well as academic and practitioner-facing publications and presentations, the project has the potential to inform foundational theory on developing highly adaptable approaches for more racially- and educationally- just educator-student interactions in STEM spaces.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2120006,Engaging Multicultural Audiences through Inclusive STEM content on YouTube,2025-04-25,PBS FOUNDATION,ARLINGTON,VA,VA08,2499320,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2120006,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2120006_4900,2021-08-01,2025-07-31,222024371,N6CCSJ75L2J7,"This Innovations in Development  project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to (a) advance new approaches to and evidence-based understanding of the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments; (b) provide multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences; (c) advance innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments; and (d) engage the public of all ages in learning STEM in informal environments    Increasing greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in science not only presents a social justice  goal, but is also vital to the financial and social success of the nation. The stereotype of the older white male scientist has obscured the contributions of women and people of color. This project  seeks to remedy these perceptions which are barriers to entry into STEM fields.  The project will create a large-scale hub for STEM themed video content on YouTube and other social media platforms, featuring 100+ original STEM videos produced by PBS partners. This hub and accompanying research seeks to identify the characteristics of online STEM content that attract (or fail to attract) underrepresented groups, specifically Black and Hispanic communities as well as women of all races.  The objectives of this project are to 1) provide a unified online science-themed hub, PBS Terra, on YouTube and other platforms for hosting, sharing, and distributing digital STEM series from diverse producers from across the PBS system; 2) conduct surveys and focus groups to examine and understand the needs and expectations of women,  Black and Hispanic communities and their consumption of STEM video content online and 3) test hypotheses about the communicative strategies of STEM videos that feature Black and Hispanic female scientists. Project collaborators include PBS, researchers at the University of Utah and the University of Georgia, and consultants and advisors with expertise in broadening participation and inclusion in STEM.      Little is known about how or why adult Americans seek science content on YouTube, especially the motivations of adults from underrepresented minorities and females. The key research questions in this project are:  1) Why do Black and Hispanic audiences and women of all races seek science video content  online? 2) How does showing Black and Hispanic female scientists in science video content on YouTube impact  viewers’ identification with and sense of belonging in STEM? 3) How does the use of humor by Black and Hispanic scientists in YouTube science content affect viewers’ perceptions of the communicator and their engagement with STEM content? 4) How does the appearance and manner of dress of Black and Hispanic scientists in YouTube science content affect viewers’ perceptions in the aforementioned areas? A nationally representative baseline survey will be conducted.  A probability sample of 2000 respondents will be obtained including oversampling of Black and Hispanic audiences. To complement findings from the survey, focus groups will be conducted in eight different regions of the country to learn why these targeted audiences do or do not seek science content on YouTube and what motivates them to share the content with their social media network. In addition, an experiment embedded in an online survey will test the hypothesis that greater on-screen representation of women and scientists of color will broaden existing perceptions about scientists. The experiment will consist of a 3 (scientist’s race: Black/Hispanic/White) × 2 (science issue: controversial/non-controversial) × 2 (style: casual/professional) between-subjects design. Survey participants will be randomly assigned to the experimental conditions. These factors (science issue and host appearance) can be altered by content producers to better reach and engage the targeted audiences. The project not only investigates theoretical questions at the intersection of STEM stereotypes and race, but findings related to these experimental conditions will offer practical insight into strategies that can be used  by science communication practitioners.    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.",FALSE
2200066,PIPP Phase I: Dynamics of Pandemic Spread and Prevention in Indigenous Communities,2025-04-25,Lehigh University,BETHLEHEM,PA,PA07,999894,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computing and Communication Foundations,PIPP-Pandemic Prevention,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200066,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200066_4900,2022-08-01,2026-01-31,180153008,E13MDBKHLDB5,"It hardly needs stating in today’s world how deadly and destructive to society pandemics can be, and how important it is to understand and predict the evolution of pandemics over time and space.  Notably, the severity of pandemics impacts communities differently, often causing much greater mortality in underserved and isolated communities.  For example, over the decades and across different types of epidemics, including the current COVID-19 pandemic, mortality rates among Indigenous populations have been more than three times that of the general public. This research team aims to contribute to global pandemic prediction and prevention by advancing knowledge about pandemic dynamics within isolated and underserved populations. Specifically, the investigators examine how pandemics of infectious disease affect and are affected by their spread in Indigenous communities. The focus will be on how specific features of these communities influence various aspects of epidemics, such as the initial spillover to humans, the human-to-human spread of the pathogen, the biological behavior of the pathogen, and countermeasures that can mitigate the impact of the disease. The assembled team is highly interdisciplinary, covering the broad scientific expertise, including members of the Cheyenne River Sioux and Prairie Band Potawatomi tribes, and connecting with external partners. Team meetings serve as observational data for a study of convergent team science, and student training and mentoring activities provide opportunities for bridging to the next generation of researchers.    The investigators have identified three overarching questions that motivate four specific research thrusts: (1) What factors, environmental to molecular, contribute to the mortality rates in Indigenous communities? (2) Can the findings of this study translate to broader understanding of pandemic dynamics? (3) What engineering, education, biological, and policy solutions can be devised to address the root causes of the problems? The project initially focuses on Influenza, although it is expected that the findings will apply to other viral diseases such as COVID-19, EBOLA, and Zika.  In order to address these overarching questions, the project will innovate collaboratively in the fields of engineering, biology, data science, and cognitive psychology along four interlinked thrusts: (I) Community Understanding of Cause and Prevention, which will establish the beliefs in Indigenous communities regarding disease and its amelioration. The investigators will employ a Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach, which involves communities in all aspects of the research, so as to build trust between communities and researchers. (II) Predicting Virus Spillover and Spread, which will bring computational, statistical, and data science expertise in Catastrophe and Network Modeling to predicting dynamics in isolated communities. (III) Engineering Devices for Point-of-Care Sensing, which will develop sensitive and simplified tools to enhance testing capability in underserved Indigenous populations and improve pandemic tracking. (IV) Biological Differentiators: Predicting Infection, which will investigate virus-host cell interactions, and phenotypic and genotypic differentiators.     This award is supported by the cross-directorate Predictive Intelligence for Pandemic Prevention Phase I (PIPP) program, which is jointly funded by the Directorates for Biological Sciences (BIO), Computer Information Science and Engineering (CISE), Engineering (ENG) and Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).    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.",TRUE
2405868,Preparation of Stimuli-Responsive Materials with Directed Photophysical Behavior,2025-04-25,University of South Carolina at Columbia,COLUMBIA,SC,SC06,602701,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Materials Research,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2405868,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2405868_4900,2024-11-01,2027-10-31,292083403,J22LNTMEDP73,"Non-technical Summary:    Supported through the Solid State and Materials Chemistry Program within the Division of Materials Research, principal investigator Prof. Natalia Shustova and her team at the University of South Carolina at Columbia focus on developing stimuli-responsive well-defined materials, consisting of metal cations and organic ligands. The main advantage of these metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) is that their fundamental properties can be controlled externally using light and heat to modulate properties, enabling a close mimic of the complexity observed in biological systems. This work paves the way for applications in areas such as optoelectronic devices, precision-controlled drug delivery, artificial muscles, light- or heat-activated molecular machines, and encryption systems among others. In addition to materials chemistry research, the research group, in collaboration with other groups at the University of South Carolina, initiated and is committed to advancing the Carolinian Women in Science (Wi-Sci) Supportive Network. The primary aim of Wi-Sci is to build and expand a support network for women, especially with a focus on female scientists belonging to underrepresented minority groups at Carolinian higher education institutions, including historically black colleges and universities. This Wi-Sci Program combines educational and research opportunities to support female students in STEM disciplines.    Technical Summary:    Rapid and reversible switching between two discrete states in the solid state is a cornerstone for the technological development of, for example, on-demand-activated drug delivery platforms, photochromic heterogeneous catalysts, molecular motors, recyclable and healable materials, artificial muscles, and multilevel anticounterfeiting and information encryption systems. Therefore, the focus of this program, supported through the Solid State and Materials Chemistry Program in the Division of Materials Research, is to establish fundamental synthetic principles that would enable the control of the rate of photophysical material response. At the same time, introducing a second (orthogonal) external stimulus as a variable will allow for precise or multivariable control of material properties, enabling a closer mimicry of the complexity characteristic of biological systems. Thus, another part of this project is to develop a synthetic approach for the integration of two types of photochromic molecules within the same platform, for which photophysical properties can be controlled orthogonally. This project also integrates the research and educational opportunities for high school, undergraduate, and graduate students with a focus on underrepresented minority groups.    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.",FALSE
2342767,Collaborative Research: SEI: Creating a Lasting LEGACY - Scaling a Peer-learning Community Model to Provide AP CS Preparation and Career Awareness for Black Young Women,2025-04-25,Cleveland State University,CLEVELAND,OH,OH11,245177,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2342767,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2342767_4900,2024-05-15,2028-04-30,441152226,YKGMTXA2NVL6,"Careers in Computer Science (CS) related areas represent many of the best-paid jobs in the nation. However, Black women comprise less than 1% of the workforce at the most popular U.S. software companies. Low participation of Black students in CS areas is often attributed to a lack of “preparatory privilege,” encompassing the unavailability of resources and experiences that build content knowledge and associated skills, and few role models. This Scaling, Expanding, and Iterating Innovations project will scale up a successful project that engaged Black young women in high schools throughout the state of Alabama in a year-long peer-learning community to prepare them for the College Board’s Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) course. Called LEGACY++, the project will expand the focus to 500 students, adding two other states - Mississippi and Ohio. To do so, it will create a partnership among (1) post-secondary institutions in diverse cultural settings (urban and rural); (2) collaborators that specialize in analyzing programmatic outcomes and identifying factors that promote student success in CS; and (3) industry partners to connect students with new learning experiences from the automotive, wireless, and health sector domains. Eighteen Black CS Teacher Leaders will receive training across the tri-State partnership to facilitate an immersive summer institute experience to initiate the preparation of students for the AP CSP course at their school. Interactions will continue during the school year to promote students’ AP exam readiness through curriculum workshops focused on AP CSP topics and interactions with multiple mentors who are all Black women. Students will also be provided with resources to mitigate the barriers to CS access often faced by low-income families, such as access to a peer learning community with scheduled meetings over the academic year.     The LEGACY++ Scholars will represent Black young women from three states to imbue CS content knowledge and an awareness of opportunities in CS-related occupations. LEGACY++ Scholars will learn AP CSP concepts through culturally responsive instruction and project-based learning facilitated by tools to support remote student collaborations to highlight the nature of virtual work, while connecting with new learning experiences from industry partners, their own life situations, and career aspirations. The synergy among these strategies is a promising approach to stimulate the learning of CS for this population; thus, the project’s activities will explore creative and transformative approaches targeted at enabling the participation of groups historically underrepresented in CS careers. Specifically, the research questions addressed in this project include investigating how LEGACY++ activities foster a perception of CS as a communal endeavor, how creating a community of learners can strengthen participants’ identity with CS/technical careers and reduce the effects of stereotype threat, and whether LEGACY++ participation can increase awareness and understanding of CS careers. The LEGACY++ evaluation plan will continuously assess activities and provide quantitative and qualitative feedback by identifying promising practices and evidence of success that stimulate CS interest among Black young women. Data collection and evaluation of the implementation of the program activities will include observations of the Summer Institutes, semi-annual interviews of teacher leaders, annual interviews of program leaders and mentoring board members, and student projects. These data will be analyzed qualitatively in terms of pre-defined program success criteria. Measurable program outcomes will include changes in Scholars’ content knowledge and attitudes towards CS, and Scholars’ career plans. The knowledge-generation component will investigate how creating a community of learners increases identification, belonging, and persistence in CS among Black women. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",FALSE
2241805,Supporting Rightful Presence in Museum Spaces: Youth as Participatory Designers of Indigenous Mixed Reality Science Exhibits,2025-04-25,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,1391279,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Information Technology Researc,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241805,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241805_4900,2023-06-01,2026-11-30,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"This project will address the ongoing marginalization of Indigenous communities in informal science learning spaces by developing and studying a model that strengthens Indigenous youths’ disposition toward, and capacity for STEM pathways. Science centers and museums play an important role in promoting science learning outside of schools. However, they are often perceived by communities historically and chronically marginalized in science as unwelcoming and/or culturally irrelevant. Merely increasing access for Indigenous communities is insufficient to promote equitable, affirming, and just engagement with science learning. Instead, asset-based approaches that center nondominant cultures are needed to advance more expansive and transformative models of science that promote rightful presence: the idea that visitors will experience a sense of belonging and respect. Building on a partnership between University of California’s Lawrence Hall of Science and mak-’amham, an Indigenous Ohlone cultural organization that empowers Ohlone people with a rich cultural identity, the project will engage Ohlone youth (ages 10-16) in iterative cycles of participatory design and prototyping to create immersive Indigenous science exhibit experiences using mixed reality technologies. In centering Indigenous perspectives within science and technology learning experiences and highlighting connections between Indigenous cultural identities and contemporary STEM career pathways, the project aims to reframe STEM learning to increase Indigenous youth’s rightful presence in informal STEM learning spaces, with the potential to lead to a more diverse STEM workforce.     The project team will employ participatory design-based research methodologies to investigate the following three research questions: 1) What are the outcomes of youth participation in the design of mixed reality exhibits? a) How do youth develop a sense of belonging, science identity, and STEM career interest, and in what ways do these make visible and amplify their rightful presence in informal science education spaces? b) How do youth deepen and construct new STEM knowledge through Indigenous Science-based participatory design? 2) How can a participatory design model be developed in ways that center Indigenous Science and contribute to Indigenous rightful presence in informal science education? 3) How can informal science educators be supported to make sense of and center Indigenous Science? In collaboration with an Ohlone Research Advisory Committee, the project team will analyze the following data: interviews with focal youth; artifact-elicited focus groups; ethnographic observations of design workshops and reflective conversations; and design artifacts gathered from youth design teams. By engaging a total of 70 Indigenous youth directly, project research will investigate the impact of the participatory design model on youths’ STEM learning, science identity, and interest in STEM careers, and advance understanding of design practices that contribute to rightful presence for Indigenous youth. The research will also generate insights into how to support informal science educators in facilitating Indigenous-centered learning experiences. Project findings will be disseminated to informal science and technology learning communities to support principled adaptation of the Indigenous Science youth participatory design model in informal science education contexts. This project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",TRUE
2243041,Statistical and Psychometric Methods for Measuring the Extent to Which Culturally Responsive Assessments Reduce Cultural Bias,2025-04-25,Educational Testing Service,PRINCETON,NJ,NJ03,360000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,"Methodology, Measuremt & Stats",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243041,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243041_4900,2023-05-15,2026-04-30,085402218,SZN1MPHQN853,"This research project will develop a set of statistical tools to analyze data from culturally responsive assessments. Culturally responsive assessments have emerged as a potential solution to the concern that standardized assessments perpetuate social injustice through their content, design, and use. However, few true culturally responsive assessments exist, and there is a lack of proven statistical methods to analyze data from them. This project will use the tools to be developed and data collected by the project personnel to measure the extent to which culturally responsive assessments reduce cultural bias. Scientific products will be disseminated via social media, workshops, and publications in peer-reviewed journals. Open-source software will be developed to make the tools more accessible to a broader audience. The project will engage graduate students in conducting this research, and the investigators will include students from underrepresented groups in their project. The findings and products originating from this project will be useful for scholars across the social, behavioral, and economic sciences. The project also will have implications for society as it will provide a new set of tools to promote social justice.    This research project will provide scholars with new tools for producing fair scores from culturally responsive assessments. The project team first will examine several statistical models and approaches to analyzing data from culturally responsive assessments and demonstrate the effectiveness of these approaches using simulated data. The project team then will develop several culturally responsive assessments with the help of a multidisciplinary team of researchers and practitioners. These assessments will be administered to several thousand examinees obtained from a platform such as Amazon Mechanical Turk or Prolific. The newly developed models and approaches will be used to analyze the data. The analyses will focus on measuring the type and extent of cultural bias in standardized tests and determining the extent to which culturally responsive assessments produce more fair and equitable results. The project will produce publicly available principles and guidelines for preparing culturally responsive assessments and user-friendly software and accompanying manual to implement the approaches developed in this project.    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.",FALSE
2101144,Collaborative Research: Understanding STEM Teaching through Integrated Contexts in Everyday Life,2025-04-25,Villanova University,VILLANOVA,PA,PA05,266281,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2101144,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2101144_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,190851603,EYNYSU6L8ZX6,"Increased focus on school accountability and teacher performance measures have resulted in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) instruction that emphasizes content and procedural knowledge over critical thinking and real-world applications. Yet, critical thinking and application are essential in developing functional scientific literacy skills among students.  This need is perhaps most pressing in economically depressed urban settings. One strategy to promote STEM engagement and learning is to make clear and meaningful connections between STEM concepts, principles, and STEM-related issues relevant to the learner. Socioscientific issues (SSI) can provide a powerful avenue for promoting the desired kinds of engagement.  SSI are debatable and ill-defined problems that have a basis in science but necessarily include moral and ethical choices. SSI for economically disadvantaged, culturally diverse students in urban settings might include, for example, lead paint contamination, poor water or air quality, or the existence of “food deserts.” By integrating locally relevant SSI with the goals of social justice, the Social Justice STEM Pedagogies (SJSP) framework the project uses is intended to support students to use their scientific expertise to be agents of change. SJSP can be potentially transformative for teachers, students, schools, and the communities in which students live. For SJSP to effectively promote STEM learning, however, teachers must learn how to integrate STEM-concepts and practices into the various real-world SSI present in their students’ environment. This collaborative project is designed to implement and evaluate a comprehensive professional development plan for grades 7 –12 STEM teachers from economically disadvantaged school districts in Philadelphia and surrounding areas. Teachers will develop ways to incorporate SSI into their instruction that are grounded in standards to foster students’ STEM engagement.  The instructional practices enacted by teachers will enhance students’ STEM literacy while utilizing their own knowledge and culture in solving complex and ethically challenging STEM issues, thus promoting students’ abilities to be change agents.    This collaborative research project involves Arcadia University, Mercyhurst University, LaSalle University, Villanova University, and St. Joseph’s University. It is designed to investigate the effectiveness of a professional development (PD) program for STEM teachers to develop their pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in teaching SSI and SJSP. Over four years, three cohorts of 25 grades 7-12 teachers will participate in about 200 hours of PD. The SSI and SJSP encompass authentic, complex real-world, STEM-based issues that are directly related to the inequities experienced by students and their communities that students can engage with in the classroom through the use of inquiry-based learning strategies. By promoting students’ engagement in and awareness of the relevance of STEM in everyday life, teacher participants in this PD will foster STEM learning, especially among students who have been historically marginalized from STEM disciplines, and who are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. The research plan is designed to reveal elements of the PD program that are most effective in supporting teachers’ increased capacity to design and implement units of study that incorporate scientific, social, and discursive elements of SSI. Using predominantly qualitative methods, other outcomes include how teachers’ PCK change towards teaching with SSI/SJSP; what factors support and inhibit teacher’s abilities to promote SSI/SJSP; and how justice-centered STEM lessons help students to develop moral and ethical reasoning, scientific skepticism, STEM inquiry/modeling, and SSI discourse/argumentation.      The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of STEM subjects by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",FALSE
2121797,ADVANCE Partnership: Promoting Equity and Inclusion to Facilitate Retention of Faculty through Evidence- and Place-Based Intervention Training,2025-04-25,University Enterprises Corporation at CSUSB,SAN BERNARDINO,CA,CA33,444414,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121797,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121797_4900,2021-10-01,2025-09-30,924072318,QJZ1F3UMLEJ4,"The University of California, Riverside (UCR) Collaborative NSF ADVANCE Partnership project (COE ADVANCE) aims at developing an organizational culture and climate that better promote equity and inclusion for engineering faculty. This will be achieved by building awareness and understanding of exclusionary behaviors and enabling effective intervention through bystander training. This project will affect individual and organizational change in Colleges of Engineering (COEs) across the University of California (UC) system, starting in the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) at UCR and expanding to all other UC COEs, through a partnership with the UC Engineering Deans’ Council.  The project objectives include: (1) Increase individual and organizational awareness and understanding of the culture and climate within COEs across the UC system, particularly as they affect women and in the context of intersectionality; (2) Develop organizational leaders, allies, and coconspirators from the departments and colleges to provide bystander intervention training for all faculty and to model behaviors that promote equity and inclusion; (3) Empower faculty to apply bystander intervention strategies that promote positive organizational culture and climate, encourage equitable attitudes, and facilitate systemic change; and (4) Elucidate the intersectional experiences of underrepresented faculty and resistance to change among overrepresented faculty.  This project is in partnership with the ADVANCEGeo: From the Classroom to the Field: Improving the Workplace in the Geosciences (#1725879) and NSF INCLUDES: Leveraging Field- Campaign Networks for Collaborative Change (#1835055) projects.    The COE ADVANCE project will result in: (1) An increased understanding and adoption of strategies by engineering faculty across the UC system for identifying and addressing exclusionary practices; (2) An intervention model that can be used in multiple higher education contexts to promote equity and inclusion of STEM faculty, staff, and students; (3) A network of organizational leaders from departments within COEs across the UC system who are committed to modeling equity and inclusion, and who are connected to the AdvanceGEO and INCLUDES partners and their networks; and (4) An improved culture and climate for COE faculty across the UC system. Important elements in this project for supporting systemic and sustainable change include: engagement of leadership at the College, University, and UC System levels; development of organizational leaders within departments as allies and co-conspirators; and faculty empowerment through department-centralized training (train-the-trainer model). Training materials and research methods will be developed through the partnerships with the AdvanceGEO and NSF INCLUDES projects. These project partners bring experience in applying such approaches in a place-based context.  The COE ADVANCE research methods, data, deliverables, and outcomes will contribute to a growing body of knowledge and published literature on bystander intervention programs, as well as on efforts to promote equity and inclusion in academia. Although COE ADVANCE focuses on inclusion for STEM faculty, systemic shifts in organizational culture and climate will also positively affect students and staff.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.    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.",FALSE
2421410,"Collaborative Research: Judgment, Identity, and Participatory Praxis of Black Men in Engineering Student Teams",2025-04-25,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,99108,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2421410,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2421410_4900,2024-09-15,2027-08-31,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"Despite ongoing efforts to broaden participation in engineering in the United States, Black men remain significantly underrepresented, with only 2.8% of engineering bachelor's degrees awarded to them in 2020. These statistics indicate that there is a disconnect between cultural, institutional, or academic factors in engineering education settings and the expectations and experiences of Black men resulting in this lack of representation. Moreover, within both engineering education and professional engineering work contexts, complex projects are formulated and executed by teams. Given the critical role of teamwork in engineering in both industrial and academic settings, understanding the social interactions between Black men and their peers within these teams is vital. Consequently, this project will investigate the experience of Black men in undergraduate engineering student teams. The project aims to produce results that will be used broadly to support Black men’s sense of belonging and enhance their academic and professional success in engineering. To address these issues, this project focuses on two research questions: 1) What are the experiences of Black men on student project teams? and, 2) How do Black men perceive their participation in decision-making processes within these teams? This project will expand the research available to instructors, researchers, decision makers, and policy makers to support Black men in engineering from an asset-based perspective.    To achieve the goals of this project, this mixed-methods qualitative study will use Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) and Photovoice methods. These phenomenological and participatory methods enable the prioritization of the voice of Black male engineering students in constructing study findings and co-constructing future scholarly work with student-driven strategies for increasing a sense of belonging and academic success. This project will address three key gaps in the current literature. First, in the past 5 years only one research study has explored the experiences of Black men on student project teams. Second, there is a lack of research on how Black men participate in decision-making processes on student led teams. This is critical because researchers have suggested there is a strong connection between identity production processes and the construction of engineering judgments among team members. By cross-fertilizing these literatures, the research team will investigate the ways that Black male experiences illustrate how identity processes directly impact engineering work practices among undergraduates. Third, this study will adopt an assets-based approach, focusing on the positive aspects of Black men's experiences in engineering rather than individual deficiencies. The participatory aspect of the photovoice methods will facilitate the development of student-driven strategies that have the potential to foster positive cultural change at the institutional level. The research may result in tangible recommendations for supporting and retaining Black men in engineering fields nationwide. To broadly share the student-driven strategies co-created with study participants, the project will include co-creation of a photovoice exhibit to share participants’ strategies, resources, and experiences. Disseminating project findings through this photovoice exhibit will make the research accessible to a wider audience, including community stakeholders, students from other institutions and disciplines, university researchers, administrators, and the general public.    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.",FALSE
2148928,Collaborative Research: Understanding the Evolution of Political Campaign Advertisements over the Last Century,2025-04-25,Harvard University,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,155357,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148928,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148928_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,021385366,LN53LCFJFL45,"Television advertising, a primary way voters hear about candidates absent a media filter, is ubiquitous with political campaigns in the United States. Drawing on an existing but underutilized data set of over 100,000 political ads, this project examines the evolution of political advertising, especially as it pertains to issue advocacy and consonance.  The project makes significant methodological and substantive contributions to several fields including political, information, and library sciences, and enhances our understanding of the way ads shape and inform political behavior.  It also promotes interdisciplinary graduate and undergraduate education at research and teaching institutions in the emerging sub-field of automated audiovisual analysis, including students and scholars from traditionally underrepresented groups.    The project uses a collection of over 100,000 political ads from 1912-2018, the Julian P. Kanter Political Commercial Collection archived at the University of Oklahoma, to develop (1) an automated system to identify issue (and other politically relevant) content from ad image, audio, and text and (2) a state-of-the-art user interface that gives researchers the ability to query, interact with and view videos, and also output data for analysis.  The project uses the data to examine the evolution of political advertising, testing models of horizontal and vertical diffusion of issues.  The project’s tools and data, introduced at an interdisciplinary workshop, are widely available to scholars across a number of disciplines who study American politics, campaigns, political communication and public opinion.    This collaborative project is jointly funded by the Accountable Institutions and Behavior (AIB) program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",TRUE
2247959,SaTC: CORE: Small: Understanding and Reducing Barriers to Entry and Participation in the Vulnerability Discovery Community,2025-04-22,Tufts University,MEDFORD,MA,MA05,599999,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2247959,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2247959_4900,2023-05-01,2026-04-30,021555519,WL9FLBRVPJJ7,"The current vulnerability discovery workforce consists of experts who search for software security bugs. This workforce lacks gender and socioeconomic diversity, causing inequitable access to high paying jobs, limited diversity of thought, and workforce shortages endangering Internet safety. This project aims to identify root causes of limited diversity in the vulnerability discovery community. Little research has addressed vulnerability discovery education and challenges faced by new professionals. This project is conducting studies to identify challenges faced by marginalized populations and is developing and evaluating interventions and policies grounded in these populations' experiences. This project will provide guidance to community leaders, policy makers, and educators to improve diversity, inclusivity, and equity in the vulnerability discovery workforce.     To improve community equity and inclusivity, the research team is conducting a broad survey to identify disparities among demographic groups and is interviewing leaders organizing diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives to identify domain-specific decision-making challenges. The research team is conducting a community organizer workshop to discuss their findings and to collaboratively develop domain-specific guidance to address gaps and challenges in diversity initiatives. To reduced barriers to learning, the team is conducting controlled experiments with students to understand their information search processes and online resource use, and to generate and evaluate novel approaches to student educational support. Findings are to be synthesized into research-based guidelines to help educators best support a diverse group of students who would be prepared to work productively in the vulnerability discovery community.    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.",TRUE
2201466,STEM Microclimates of Intersectional Inclusivity: Modeling Interrelated Programmatic Features and their Relationships to Racial Academic Disparities,2025-04-21,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,641684,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201466,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201466_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Persistent racial disparities are notable across STEM fields from who receives undergraduate degrees to the unequal opportunities and outcomes that hamper scientists’ careers later in life. Past research shows that contact with faculty, advising, and undergraduate research can reduce racial inequities, but it is not clear whether and how these work in all STEM fields. This project will explore how experiences like these create “STEM microclimates” for undergraduates with intersecting identities including race, gender, income, and first generation status. This research will develop models to assist universities with creating and fine-tuning programs to better support underrepresented and marginalized groups in STEM fields. This project will provide an approach for universities to more effectively use data to examine and adjust policies and practices that affect STEM racial inequities. The project will also provide a model for how universities can do this work in close collaboration with racially marginalized and minoritized communities who are most affected by racial disparities.    This project uses an innovative approach to quantitatively model intersectionality with institutional, transcript, and survey data spanning over a decade. The research project examines STEM microclimates centered on student experiences and outcomes related to intersectional inclusivity, or the extent to which academic programs support students from varied intersectional social locations in relation to the resources and opportunities to pursue their academic degrees and future careers. Project goals include (1) modeling and disaggregating longitudinal patterns of ethnoracial disparities and their relationship to interrelated gender and socioeconomic disparities in STEM fields that are connected to the everyday interactions and academic engagement of racially marginalized and minoritized students, (2) strengthening the conceptualization of intersectional inclusivity as an organizationally-embedded feature identifiable in the academic structures of STEM microclimates differentially experienced by students, and (3) addressing past limitations of quantitative applications of intersectionality theory through modeling of STEM microclimates with longitudinal data and latent variables. Beyond advancing the use of critical theories and melding them with quantitative modeling strategies to examine STEM inequities, the emphasis on intersectional social locations of students embedded within organizational contexts contributes to knowledge about leveraging student voices through quantitative data that speak to the nuances of intersectionality. Research and programmatic components of the project ensure that analyses, sense-making of findings, and the implications are made in collaboration and partnership with those most affected by systemic inequities in STEM fields such that scientific and policy-relevant knowledge are generated in conjunction with institutional transformation promoting targeted and effective strategies to make STEM fields more racially equitable.     This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2327488,Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: Understanding instructor and student concepts of race to measure the prevalence of race essentialism in biology education,2025-04-18,Auburn University,AUBURN,AL,AL03,283448,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327488,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327488_4900,2024-01-01,2025-04-18,368490001,DMQNDJDHTDG4,"Race essentialism is the incorrect belief that race is an inherent biological characteristic resulting in distinct race categories. While race essentialism has been shown to be correlated with increased bias, stereotypes, and prejudice, improving student understandings of race has been shown to lower these distorted beliefs. This project is designed to serve the national interest by assessing beliefs about race of STEM instructors and students, increasing awareness of intersectionality, and developing recommendations targeting misconceptions about race in the classroom. These recommendations will ultimately inform improvements in STEM education which is of significance to teaching race and ethnicity and could result in more accurate understandings of race in society.       This project measures undergraduate biology instructors’ and students’ concepts of race and combine this information with existing biology education literature and recommendations from experts in diversity, equity, and inclusion to create comprehensive guidelines for teaching race and ancestry in undergraduate biology through anti-essentialist and culturally relevant lenses. Racial biases directly harm historically marginalized and excluded communities, but little is known about how race concepts are perceived by individual faculty and students or reinforced by curricular materials. While virtually all current research supports a socially constructed view of race, race essentialism is still prevalent among the public and within scientific research. STEM educators in biology are in a unique position to counteract essentialist views of race and have a positive impact on both our students as well as the broader society. This project is designed to accomplish the following goals: (1) Explore the educational practices and beliefs of STEM instructors who teach biology, (2) Analyze the race concepts of undergraduate biology students and how they respond to instruction on these topics, (3) Expand upon instructor and student race concepts (1&2) with in-depth interviews of students and instructors, and (4) Create and disseminate new guidelines to address these issues by identifying gaps and missteps in biology education related to race. This project will improve STEM Education by creating a summary of the ways race and ancestry are taught in biology courses and by developing guidelines and recommendations that target specific race misconceptions.     This project is supported by NSF’s STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) Program with co-funding from The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation. The STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation through a partnership with the National Science Foundation seeks to promote greater diversity within the STEM/STEM education research workforce.    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.",TRUE
2224593,Collaborative Research: Reimagining Educator Learning Pathways Through Storywork for Racial Equity in STEM,2025-04-18,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,1034751,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224593,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224593_4900,2023-06-15,2025-04-18,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"There is a pressing need for STEM educator learning models to substantively consider the diversity of STEM practices and values across social and cultural contexts, as well as how STEM fields are adapting to this diversity. As educators seek more meaningful approaches to equity that integrate everyday pedagogies, there is a further need to address how these pedagogies often reproduce inequitable STEM structures. This collaborative project seeks to address these challenges by designing, implementing, and studying an educator learning model that helps educators recognize and transform the moment-to-moment learning interactions that perpetuate racial inequalities across a myriad of STEM contexts. The project therefore aims to achieve two primary outcomes. First, to deepen educators' capacity to mediate the moment-to-moment tensions that arise between STEM concepts and practices privileged in schools, and those that attend to students' cultural and intellectual lives; and second, to generate knowledge on how to systematically support educators as they wrestle with the conceptual and ethical complexities of unjust STEM teaching and learning.    This three-year study is structured around a series of modules grounded in storywork, an Indigenous knowledge-systems approach to centering minoritized learners' language, history, phenomenon-based storylines, and their racialized experiences of systemic racism when co-designing STEM learning opportunities. Through long-standing partnerships between project leaders and K-12 and higher education STEM educators serving Indigenous, Black, and Latinx youth and families, the iterative design of modules is informed by the analysis of educator learning trajectories when codesigning through storywork. In addition to incorporating modules into higher education programs (e.g., teacher education and various STEM disciplinary courses), broadly sharing resources and tools with communities, practitioners, and researchers through multimedia outlets as well as academic and practitioner-facing publications and presentations, the project has the potential to inform foundational theory on developing highly adaptable approaches for more racially- and educationally- just educator-student interactions in STEM spaces.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2131508,SaTC: CORE: Medium: Learning Code(s): Community-Centered Design of Automated Content Moderation,2025-04-18,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,780000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,DASS-Dsgng Accntble SW Systms,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2131508,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2131508_4900,2021-10-01,2025-04-18,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Online platforms bring out the best and worst of free speech: while they help us make connections and share ideas, they can also facilitate hate speech and extremism. Content moderators work to enforce community rules designed to mitigate these negative behaviors, but face a high burden from repeated exposure to toxic content.  In principle, automated tools that use natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML) techniques could ease this burden.  However, current NLP and ML techniques can be circumvented by determined posters through the use of subtle and coded language, and the moderation tools that use them are often hard for moderators to configure for their community's norms, policies, and moderation practices.  This project leverages the fact that communities already make and enforce diverse speech policies online to 1) teach software to learn nuance from the decisions moderators make in existing communities; 2) support moderators by not only flagging content, but also suggesting decisions and providing explanations for those decisions; and 3) provide auditing tools that help community members know that moderators are acting in accordance with norms and policies.  In doing this research, the team will develop tools to support healthier online communities, particularly volunteer-led communities, by strengthening policy enforcement, enabling better working conditions for online moderators (who are often from marginalized communities), creating more flexible software responses to community policies, and supporting adaptability to future regulation of content moderation.      To achieve these goals, the cross-disciplinary project team is conducting cycles the involve empirical needs-finding studies with moderators, development of NLP and ML-based tools, evaluation, and iterative improvement of those tools. The project's empirical studies will advance knowledge of how ``machine-in-the-loop'' moderation (where automated tools make or support moderation decisions) impacts moderator working conditions and online participant experiences, as well as informing evaluation mechanisms for measuring the success of the ML tools at respecting online community policies and identifying unwritten community norms. The project's design process will make fundamental progress in ML algorithms that learn from few labels using justifications provided by moderators, as well as improving explanations for machine decisions based on human rationales. Together, these advances produce new design methods for ML tools that adapt to complex written policies and identify unwritten social norms, serving multiple stakeholders accountably and transparently.    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.",FALSE
2225362,Quantitative Research Methods for STEM Education Scholars Program,2025-04-18,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,998969,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225362,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2225362_4900,2022-08-15,2025-04-18,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Despite the persistent under representation of individuals from underserved populations in STEM, there are not enough scholars and early career researchers trained to adequately study the issues.  This training institute project will target early career scholars with research foci on issues of access and equity of underrepresented populations in STEM within either K-12 or postsecondary settings. The goal of the training institute is to focus on and improve education research study design, methods of measurement, and data analytical approaches for 60 early career scholars over three cohorts. Each scholar's work will make valuable and immediate contributions to the literature around issues such as STEM education access, achievement gaps, and workforce diversity.      This research institute involves a year-long training of three cohorts of 20 Quantitative Research Methods (QRM) scholars via two intensive institutes on fundamental issues in research design, analysis, measurement, with both in-person and remote collaborative activities and meetings with their assigned methods mentor and graduate student facilitator. Year-long interactions include live-stream workshops, regular meetings with methods mentors, and a social network infrastructure to improve participant's skills in design and execution of research in STEM Education. Each QRM scholar will be expected to work on a proposed study/activity during the year while they are being mentored, this may be in collaboration with other scholars. The year will culminate with a capstone conference, where the scholars present their work from the past year.    The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR:BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.    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.",TRUE
2304106,INCLUDES DDLP: Creating Opportunities in the Mathematical Sciences through Equity and INclusion (COME-IN),2025-04-18,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,599948,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304106,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2304106_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"To strengthen the economic and technological future of the U.S., there is a need to increase the number of well-trained STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students at universities and colleges. This must occur while the number of college-aged students in the U.S. is decreasing. Thus, relying on just serving the types of students who have majored in STEM fields in the past is inadequate. Instead, there is a need to recruit and retain students who have not typically studied STEM disciplines. This can be achieved through diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation (DIB) efforts. Yet, colleges and universities will never fully address DIB challenges unless they are addressed in mathematics and statistics. Mathematics and statistics departments impact essentially every STEM student who enters the university. Given the mathematical sciences' departments unique role in educating essentially all students who enter higher education, it is crucial for all STEM disciplines that the mathematical sciences address DIB issues in STEM education. To do this, TPSE Math (Transforming Post-Secondary Education Math) will pilot a two-year DIB Math/Stat Leadership Institute to train mathematicians and statisticians as DIB consultants and provide support to mathematics and statistics departments to work on a DIB improvement project. The DIB Math/Stat Leadership Institute will facilitate mathematics and statistics departments in higher education in developing environments that are more diverse and inclusive while broadening participation. This will impact a broad group of individuals connected with the department including undergraduate students, graduate students, post-docs, faculty, and staff, of different races, ethnicities, gender identities, nationalities, and disability status. Also, this will involve a diverse set of departments such as those at two-year, four-year principally undergraduate institutions, and research-intensive institutions.      Because of their enormous service role, mathematics and statistics departments impact essentially every STEM student who enters a college or university. To help these departments successfully advance their efforts toward diversity, inclusion, and broadening participation in STEM education, TPSE Math created a set of resources tailored to the mathematical sciences, called the COME-IN tool. COME-IN was developed in partnership with the AAAS SEA Change initiative. In this project, TPSE Math plans a 2-year DIB Math/Stat Leadership Institute as a pilot to test the viability of small departmental teams using the COME-IN DIB tools along with math/stat DIB consultants as catalysts for transformational change in mathematical sciences departments. This DIB Math/Stat Leadership Institute will consist of four interrelated components: building a foundation to improve DIB efforts in mathematical sciences departments, training DIB consultants, establishing a community and network of institutions working in collaboration on DIB improvements in the mathematical sciences communities, and evaluating these efforts. TPSE Math will continue to partner with the AAAS SEA Change initiative and partner with math/stat professional organizations such as the Mathematics Association of America and the NSF INCLUDES National Network. The long-term vision is to pilot, test, modify, and expand the DIB Math/Stat Leadership Institute, which will establish the resulting program as a model for the mathematical sciences communities to improve DIB efforts. This project is funded by NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, which seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance and sustain systemic change to broaden participation in STEM at scale.    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.",TRUE
2309311,Collaborative Research: Evaluating Access: How a Multi-Institutional Network Promotes Equity and Cultural Change through Expanding Student Voice,2025-04-18,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,70000,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Physics,Integrative Activities in Phys,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309311,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2309311_4900,2024-02-01,2027-01-31,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Addressing the critical issue of representation and equity in the physical sciences requires meaningful cultural change. The Access Network, founded in 2015, directly addresses this national priority by connecting institutions with student-led, equity-oriented programs to share and disseminate research-based strategies and provide support for overcoming common barriers. Through mentored intersite student cohorts and an annual Assembly, Access fosters community, develops student leaders, reinforces institutional memory, and provides a national context, all important factors for sustainability and scalability. At the Network’s core is a unique philosophy that recognizes and elevates students as drivers of change, recognizing them as powerful members of the STEM community and the future leaders of physics.  An innovative evaluation partnership among external evaluators, educational research faculty within the network, and internal student evaluation fellows will document the network’s impacts on student leaders, local sites and individual departments. These activities combine a student-driven, community-based approach with the expertise of external evaluators, resulting in a more complete picture of the model.    This work will directly support students in the Network, at individual institutions, and beyond by: (i) continuously improving Network activities that support the professional development and retention of junior scientists from diverse backgrounds, (ii) cultivating new student leaders, and (iii) growing a repository of materials and best practices that will increase the efficacy of local sites. It will advance knowledge of equity-focused change in the physical sciences and develop infrastructure for robust evaluation to document, understand, and promote Network aspects crucial to success. The novel evaluation partnership proposed among external evaluators, internal evaluation mentors, and student evaluation advance the conception of participatory evaluation and sets a model for programmatic evaluation. More effectively supporting sites in local evaluation enables their sustainability, as they can better understand and communicate their impacts to local stakeholders. Insights from evaluation activities not only result in a more complete picture of the Access Network model, informing improvements to the network, but also benefit others wishing to enact equity-focused cultural change in STEM. The knowledge about effective programs will be especially helpful for those enacting shared leadership models, expanding the critical role students can play in transforming communities.    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.",TRUE
2140987,SBP: CAREER: Inferior and foreign racial stereotypes give rise to exploitative and exclusionary discrimination,2025-04-18,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,485350,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140987,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140987_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Many racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. experience discrimination. However, groups confront different types of discrimination, which creates a problem that may not have merely one solution. Some discriminatory actions and practices involve taking advantage of racial and ethnic groups in ways that benefit some Americans and keep relative group status and economic positions stratified (i.e., exploitation). Other discriminatory actions and practices involve preserving traditional notions of what it means to be American and denying racial and ethnic groups their own American national identity (i.e., exclusion). The current project examines when and why these different forms of racial and ethnic discrimination are likely to occur, as well as the self-reinforcing nature of discrimination.     The broad aim of this research is to provide important insights into the complex nature of racial and ethnic discrimination. Seven studies employ survey and experimental methods to investigate the cognitive, motivational, and social factors that lead to the exploitation and exclusion of racial and ethnic groups. First, this research tests specific predictions of the racial and ethnic stereotypes that tend to cause unique forms of discrimination. Perceiving a group as low status likely gives rise to exploitation, whereas perceiving a group as culturally foreign gives rise to exclusion. Second, this research examines the individual differences and social contexts that motivate some Americans to maintain socioeconomic differences between groups and preserve dominant cultural values and practices. Third, this research explores how exposure to existing patterns of exploitation and exclusion reinforce stereotypes about group status and cultural foreignness; those stereotypes, in turn, reproduce the same patterns of discrimination. This project advances an understanding of the psychological mechanisms of racial discrimination, provides mentorship opportunities to young researchers of color, and develops educational activities that foster awareness of racism. The project will contribute to precise and group-specific efforts that can reduce discrimination.    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.",TRUE
2145783,CAREER: Combating Censorship from within the Network,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,458019,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145783,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2145783_4900,2022-05-01,2027-04-30,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Over half of the world’s Internet population live in countries that censor political, social, or religious content online, and authoritarian governments continue to design and deploy increasingly sophisticated censorship systems. Internet censorship is thus a significant and growing threat, making research into circumvention technologies an important priority. While in the past proxies and (Virtual Private Networks) VPNs could be used to circumvent censorship, today, censors use complex techniques to find and block existing circumvention resources. This project proposes new ways to study and combat Internet censorship around the world by adopting a perspective similar to the censor’s themselves, and leveraging Internet infrastructure in non-censoring countries. First, this infrastructure will be used to measure “normal” Internet traffic, so that circumvention proxies can learn what to mimic in order to camouflage their activity and evade detection. Second, this project will use those findings and the network infrastructure itself to create new kinds of proxies that are harder for censors to block. Studying and combatting censorship from the network perspective will help level the playing field between censors and circumvention tool developers, ultimately supporting Internet users’ autonomy and access to information globally, including the billions of people worldwide living in repressively censored regions.    This work will use network taps deployed at (Internet Service Providers) ISPs and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in non-censoring countries to measure popular Internet protocols and how they are used in practice, develop novel ways to detect new and emerging forms of censorship, and explore how existing proxies and circumvention strategies can be improved using ISP data. Building on the growing Refraction Networking deployment, this work also investigates new ways that the ISP perspective can be used to combat censorship directly, such as improvements in Refraction transports to better resist active probing attacks from censors,  implementing peer-to-peer proxy protocols that are harder for censors to detect and block, and finding ways to directly make censorship more expensive for governments in practice.    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.",FALSE
2301964,AccelNet-Design: Global Futures Oriented Research Collective on Education for Sustainability (G-FORCES),2025-04-18,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,250000,Standard Grant,OD,Office of the Director,International Science and Engineering,AccelNet - Accelerating Resear,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301964,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2301964_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"The multifaceted nature and urgency of the climate crisis require interdisciplinary and collaborative approaches to transform education — and consequently stimulate cultural shifts — toward more sustainable global futures. This challenge cannot be solved through research solely focused on technical solutions, but requires a critical interrogation of underlying assumptions about knowledge, education, and social change. The Global Futures Oriented Research Collective on Education for Sustainability (G-FORCES) aims to bring together international sustainability-oriented research networks from the natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities to rearticulate the role of education for planetary sustainability in formal and non-formal lifelong learning settings. G-FORCES aims not merely to improve, but to fundamentally reshape the relationship between education and sustainability research across global networks in ways that effectively integrate different knowledge ecosystems, bridge the research-practice divide, and prioritize education for planetary wellbeing and ecological justice.     G-FORCES is a dynamic, multi-team collaboration across representatives from 10 diverse, globally leading research networks that share a common commitment to mobilize the power of education for planetary sustainability. Leveraging design approaches that enable structured but robust collaboration across networks, G-FORCES establishes a shared vision and strategic operational links across established research communities to engage in transdisciplinary convergence research that advances a comprehensive vision of sustainability education and climate literacy – encompassing scientific, energy, media, and ecological literacy – under a unified framework. Furthermore, it aims to maximize the impact of research on education policy and practice, create enduring local-to-global networks of scholarship and action, and address institutional barriers and structural limitations that presently limit integrated interdisciplinary climate research by creating new opportunities for inclusive research leadership for early-career scholars and from historically marginalized populations, particularly from the global South. Starting with a mapping exercise to identify gaps, connections, and synergies between networks, project activities will include annual research assemblies to set agendas for potential convergence research; a series of virtual co-design workshops to develop operational mechanisms for collaboration; and ongoing knowledge mobilization activities to engage relevant stakeholders to promote the transformation of  educational systems for planetary sustainability. In addition to generating innovative research synergies and creating new spaces for sharing knowledge across different research networks, G-FORCES  enhances connectivity among the world's leading scholars and education practitioners in enacting change.    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.",TRUE
2148014,CAREER - Transforming Science Teaching and Learning through Empowering Teachers and Students as Climate Justice Action Researchers and Change Agents,2025-04-18,San Jose State University Foundation,SAN JOSE,CA,CA18,610031,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148014,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148014_4900,2022-03-15,2027-02-28,951125569,LJBXV5VF2BT9,"This project supports school-based science teachers and students in conducting community-based science research on the causes and effects of extreme heat/urban islands in racially and ethnically diverse communities. Doing research of this nature in schools is important, as students’ opportunities to engage in community-based science research usually occur in out-of-school contexts. Teachers will participate in professional learning experiences that support their development of content knowledge, scientific research practices, and critical pedagogies needed to design and implement research projects in their classroom. Students will identify locally-relevant issues related to this phenomenon, conduct investigations to explore the issue, share their findings through arts-based community narratives, and advocate for change. This project will broaden access to empowering youth-centered approaches that support learning and identity construction in science. Educational activities culminating from this research include the development a graduate-level course focused on climate justice action research as well as curricular materials for K-12 classroom use by teachers and students. This CAREER award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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. This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.     Qualitative and quantitative measures will be employed to study how 40 teachers across 4 cohorts develop their capacity to lead students in studying urban heat islands, an issue germane to their community. The research will explore how student participation in this action research shapes learning and identity construction in science. This project presents a novel approach to school-based science teaching and learning by empowering teachers and students as climate action researchers and change agents. The research will aid in the development of a hub for justice-centered science education and will also yield school-based materials and professional development activities that examine the interwoven nature of climate justice and racial justice. Further, project findings will support a transformative science teacher education model that empowers teachers as designers, equity advocates, and leaders in community-engaged science research.         This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    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.",TRUE
2047152,Promoting Accurate Information on Social Media,2025-04-18,Massachusetts Institute of Technology,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA07,881188,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,(SPRF-FR) SBE Postdoctoral Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2047152,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2047152_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,021394301,E2NYLCDML6V1,"This research takes on the twin challenges of understanding what determines whether people accept or reject misleading information, and what can be done to correct such misinformation – or, better yet, prevent its dissemination in the first place. The PIs integrate political science and cognitive science to understand the conditions that influence the formation and revision of false beliefs, and how to foster the spread of accurate information. The insights that the PIs generate will help to advance theories around belief updating by reconciling apparently contradictory results regarding the role of political knowledge and sophistication from political science and cognitive science. The PIs' work advances emerging theories concerning motivations for online sharing. In addition to these intellectual benefits, the work will also directly inform efforts to encourage people to be more responsible and informed citizens, especially online. Reducing belief in, and sharing of, inaccurate information benefits democratic societies by helping citizens make decisions that reflect their preferences.    The PIs identify the cognitive basis of belief in misleading information. Prior research typically emphasizes one of two factors: political knowledge or cognitive style. However, by examining these two concepts in isolation, previous scholars have been unable to disentangle the independent influence of each factor. Across a series of proposed correlation and experimental survey studies, the PIs  juxtapose political knowledge and cognitive style, in order to understand whether, and in what ways, these two factors independently shape belief in and responses to inaccurate information. Based on the results of this first strand of work, the PIs develop a set of behavioral interventions to encourage people to become more responsible citizens. While previous approaches to correcting misleading information have primarily involved the provision of specific pieces of factual information, such as fact-checking messages, They instead favor two alternative sets of strategies: (1) improving the quality of content that individuals encounter online, and (2) inducing individuals to pay greater attention to accuracy when evaluating this content. The PIs evaluate the effectiveness of such approaches using survey experiments and social media field experiments.    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.",FALSE
2404719,Postdoctoral Fellowship: SPRF: Testing the Effectiveness of Social Queries,2025-04-18,University of Washington,Seattle,WA,WA07,160000,Fellowship Award,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,(SPRF-FR) SBE Postdoctoral Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2404719,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2404719_4900,2024-08-15,2026-07-31,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Kate Starbird at the University of Washington and Dr. Lisa Fazio at Vanderbilt University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist examining information integrity. The dissemination of information continues to outpace the ability of existing approaches to understand it, necessitating the development of approaches that can be quickly and effectively implemented. One potential new approach is responding to online information with queries that draw attention to accuracy or criteria used to judge accuracy, such as the presence of evidence or the credibility of the information’s source. This approach is unique in that it is user-centric, flexible, and can target information that cannot be addressed through traditional methods. These queries are theorized to reduce dissemination of inaccurate information through cueing other readers to more carefully consider the accuracy of the information and communicating that it is not universally accepted.    This project will be made up of three parts: i) experimental testing of the quick application of social queries, ii) large-scale analysis to characterize user attempts to respond to information online and their outcomes, and iii) a series of tightly-controlled experiments testing the effectiveness of queries in different contexts of application. The results of this work will be used to develop a set of practical guidelines for implementing this intervention. In addition, other contributions of this project include: i) furthering our theoretical understanding of how individuals form beliefs and decide to disseminate information in online environments, ii) a needed characterization of how users are currently responding to information with limited credibility and the outcomes of different types of corrective attempts, and iii) the development and refinement of methodological procedures for performing experimental tests of interventions on newly emergent inaccurate information.    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.",FALSE
2121851,Collaborative Research: HNDS-I: The Digital Society Project: Infrastructure for Measuring Internet Politics,2025-04-18,North Dakota State University Fargo,FARGO,ND,ND00,737487,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human Networks & Data Sci Infr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121851,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121851_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,58105,EZ4WPGRE1RD5,"Issues such as internet freedom, cybersecurity, misinformation, and the polarization caused by social media are central to modern life. They play a key role in social life, politics, and the strength of democracy around the world. Yet measuring how these issues affect political events in online spaces is hard. Scholars do not know what factors matter most. This project will produce tools and data to help study problems in the online world that affect state security, business risk, and daily life.       This grant supports infrastructure to collect data from around the world on cybersecurity, internet freedom, disinformation, coordinated information operations, and the politicization and polarization of social media. The project builds a global pool of experts who will provide data each year. It also advances methods to ensure that these data are valid. The project links the data to a massive set of political tweets, coded by place. Scholars and others can access these data through an online interface and open-source software. This project can help us learn how states monitor, alter, and control online space. This research is critically important to the US government, aid and human rights groups, and private industry. Policy makers can also rely on this project to better understand how, and where, to step in to curb internet-driven political violence, stop the spread of disinformation, reduce electoral manipulation, and enhance government accountability. Civil society groups can use assessments of online freedom and cybersecurity to improve human rights surveillance. Firms can use the data to reduce harm caused by their social media platforms. Finally, teachers and students can use this project to better understand politics in a digital world, equipping citizens to safely traverse the modern information landscape.    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.",FALSE
2152441,Studying Undergraduate Curricular Complexity for Engineering Student Success (SUCCESS),2025-04-18,University of Cincinnati Main Campus,CINCINNATI,OH,OH01,349936,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2152441,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2152441_4900,2022-04-01,2025-04-18,452202872,DZ4YCZ3QSPR5,"As the demand for engineering graduates grows, there has been mounting interest in understanding what prevents students from completing their degrees. Not everyone follows the same pathway to an engineering degree; current longitudinal research suggests that subpopulations of students take different routes to either completing or abandoning their studies. Accordingly, the BPE program seeks to support research on understanding systematic barriers that push out students from underserved communities. This project will examine a barrier that all students must overcome when pursuing an engineering degree, the curriculum itself. An emerging framework called Curricular Analytics has provided a new method of thinking about how curricula in engineering can be analyzed. The framework quantifies features of the curriculum that make it “complex” such that they can be connected to outcomes like graduation rates. This project will use a longitudinal dataset called the Multi-Institution Database for Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD), which contains nearly two million records from undergraduate students at 21 U.S. universities from 1987 through 2018 – 14.4 % of which are engineering students. Using these data, student course-taking trajectories will be created, clustered to find patterns based on measures of curricular complexity and compared to established curricula across engineering disciplines, then disaggregated into subpopulations. This project has the potential to empower administrators, curriculum designers, and advisors to understand how the complexity of the curriculum as defined by faculty and students’ deviances from it affects the success of different subpopulations of students. The project will use the perspective of curricular complexity to examine what kinds of programs such as first year experiences, enrollment models, and course sequencing that support the retention and graduation of different subpopulations of students.    To explore what barriers curricular factors impose on different students, the Curricular Analytics framework’s measures will be applied to capture a curriclum’s sequencing and interconnectedness quantitatively and study diverse student pathways - both as codified and as experienced. The guiding research question is: what is the variation in curricular complexity among the following strata – institutions, disciplines, matriculation models, populations, and pathways – and to what extent does curricular complexity relate to outcomes for diverse population subgroups? This project will combine curricular complexity with student outcomes and course-taking data from the Multiple-Institution Database for Investigating Engineering Longitudinal Development (MIDFIELD) to understand curricular factors in broadening participation in engineering, including retention and degree completion. This project will involve creating trajectories from student course-taking data using association analysis. The curricular complexity for these trajectories will be calculated and disaggregated across the strata of interest. These new data will be used to explore how curricular complexity for ecosystem metrics like discipline stickiness and migration yield are related to the complexity of a curriculum. The combination of the MIDFIELD database with the curricular complexity framework can bring a new perspective on differences in longitudinal studies on engineering student degree attainment and retention in the context of broadening participation. Currently, curricular complexity is a nascent framework with descriptive and explanatory potential, such as correlating program quality with curricular complexity measures. The empirical results can directly inform future curriculum revisions and policy efforts at the studied institutions through unique reports delivered to the appropriate administrative stakeholders. By disseminating these results directly to institutional stakeholders, The project will leverage MIDFIELD’s potential for disaggregation to impact inclusion efforts of underrepresented students in engineering at the curricular and programmatic level.    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.",TRUE
2233683,Track 2: PROMISE Engineering Institute Mentor Academy,2025-04-18,University of California-Davis,DAVIS,CA,CA04,399048,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233683,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233683_4900,2023-07-15,2025-04-18,956186153,TX2DAGQPENZ5,"The PROMISE Engineering Institute – Mentoring Academy (PEI-MA) will bring the concept of an “executive leadership program” to engineering graduate students. Executive leadership programs and similarly styled forums typically include the sharing of advice from experts, discussion of challenges and strategies for success, and cultivation of peer colleague networks. However, these coaching programs are often designed for, and offered to, career professionals who are already in leadership roles, and are on a track toward becoming executive leaders of organizations, e.g., CEOs, presidents, chancellors. The PEI-MA will bring this type of focused and impactful experience to graduate students. The program will expand executive leadership development models to offer facilitated mentoring and follow-up after the initial academy through virtual sessions and cohort-based conference experiences. The PEI-MA will put graduate students into a leadership ecosystem early, while they are still in school, and will expose them to accomplished leaders who are already university presidents. The PEI-MA will leverage the recent successes of Black engineering deans who have become university presidents, and will utilize “dean-to-president” exemplars as distinguished speakers for the PEI-MA to encourage the students to see themselves as future engineering leaders. The speakers will share successes, challenges, and advice for navigating the early career years of the professorial landscape and trajectories that led to tenure, leadership opportunities, deanships, and university presidencies, without ignoring cultural issues. Graduate student participants will have continued access to these presidents as short-term mentors in follow up, focused one-on-one sessions. The presidents will connect students to resources, supporters, potential employers, and other role models. Through mentoring from peers, staff, and exemplar presidents, the project seeks to build generational engineering leadership identity among the students. The program will be designed to foster this identity, value diversity, and build a mentor network that will encourage retention and pursuit of an engineering academic career pathway. The PEI-MA will share examples of roles and environments that provide opportunities to make strong contributions to science and technology, and leverage engineering and problem-solving skills for higher education leadership.    The PEI-MA will be a partnership between the University of California Davis (UC Davis) and the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). UC Davis and UMBC will collaborate to pilot an engineering mentoring academy that tests a theory of change. The PEI-MA will have four activities that directly engage 24 graduate students, in cohorts of 12 per year, over a two-year period. Ten sitting university presidents from across the U.S. will serve as mentors, and the project team of university administrators will serve as mentor-facilitators. The PEI-MA will form a mentoring network or constellation that complements the experience that graduate students have in their home academic departments. The four activities will include: 1) a 3-day workshop in California with mentor presidents and mentor facilitators, 2) follow-up, individualized virtual sessions between graduate students and mentor presidents, 3) facilitated connections at engineering conferences throughout the year, and 4) a Summer Success Institute in Maryland that invites additional graduate students from the region to learn from mentors, and build peer relationships. The research questions will examine ways that the PEI-MA model: impacts career and leadership aspiration, forms generational engineering leadership identity, provides space to discuss difficult topics such as racism, and offers mentoring that suits the needs of students from traditionally underserved groups. The project will facilitate opportunities to cultivate future engineering professors who will have outstanding technical contributions, and consider higher education leadership. The PEI-MA will utilize the National Academies’ report, “The Science of Effective Mentoring in STEMM,” will develop a toolkit of effective ways to establish mentoring networks, and will be designed to scale across STEM fields.    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.",TRUE
2228162,Planning Grant: Collaborative Research: The WinG Collective: An initiative to support Women of Color in the Geosciences,2025-04-18,University of California-Davis,DAVIS,CA,CA04,89482,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228162,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2228162_4900,2023-03-01,2025-08-31,956186153,TX2DAGQPENZ5,"Climate change and environmental issues disproportionately impact low-income communities of color, who are poorly represented in the Geosciences and environmental fields. In particular, women of color (WOC) are currently the largest group in California and projected to become the largest demographic in the United States, yet are amongst the most poorly represented in the Geosciences. This combination of issues forms a crisis in social justice, contributes to rising inequality, and hinders creativity and innovation needed in the environmental and climate workforce. The project leaders will create the WinG Collective, a Women of Color in the Geosciences network that provides community, belonging, access, advocacy, and resources to overcome the obstacles to their success. Initially, the WinG Collective will focus on the University of California and survey the experiences of WOC in the Geosciences. Then, the principal investigators will design and implement a workshop to provide professional development and a supportive community for WOC in the Geosciences. Finally, they will summarize the findings and share with their campuses and science community while also strategizing how to expand nationally.    There are a multitude of studies that document the inadequacies of the current academic system for people of color and proposals targeted to improve retention of historically minoritized students. This planning project is a grassroots approach to discern issues specific to WOC in the Geosciences. The activities align and leverage existing programs; bolster mentoring and training; and explore radical change that promotes the long term success and health of WOC in the Geosciences. The WinG Collective will serve as an incubator for scientific research and collaborations while also championing agents of change with advancing leadership capacity, extending vertical and lateral networks, and guiding best practices for community engagement. The project leaders seek to advance WOC in the Geosciences with a holistic emphasis that includes scientific endeavors and a mentoring network that spans the vertical structure of academia and parallel systems within the University of California system, with potential for longer-term adaptation nationally. Lessons from this planning grant are ones that are relevant to support and advocacy of WOC in the Geosciences nationally.    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.",TRUE
2235130,Mechanisms of Facial Stereotyping,2025-04-18,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,704044,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2235130,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2235130_4900,2023-05-01,2026-04-30,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"When people encounter others, they quickly infer personality traits from their faces such as how trustworthy or competent they appear to be. These initial impressions are formed instantaneously, and although they are typically inaccurate, they strongly guide people's behavior and predict real-world outcomes (e.g., job offers, prison sentences). Recently, researchers have mapped specific facial features that drive particular impressions (e.g., downward-turned lips are untrustworthy) with incredible precision, but this work has focused on homogenous targets (e.g., White male faces) and generally ignored gender, race, and other group memberships. Separately, researchers have long known that stereotypes related to gender, race, and other group memberships strongly bias impressions regardless of any role of facial features. These group-based biases have profound consequences and can drive social inequities such as gender and racial disparities in society. However, little is known about how people’s mappings of facial features to specific impressions change across group boundaries, such as when encountering individuals who vary in gender, race, or are members of an ingroup or an outgroup. By examining the mutual roles of both facial appearance stereotypes and group stereotypes, this project develops an integrated model of how social judgments are initially formed and the neural mechanisms underlying these judgments. By integrating insights and techniques from across social psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and vision science, this project can help identify effective interventions to reduce harmful social biases.    In this project, explicit ratings, speed of judgment, and brain activity measures test how people cognitively integrate facial appearance stereotypes and group stereotypes, which results in their social judgments reflecting trade-offs between the two factors. Brain imaging helps identify the neural basis of this integration process with a hypothesized role of the anterior temporal lobe, a region of the brain involved in storing and retrieving social concepts. These findings advance new theoretical perspectives of a dynamic, rather than fixed, cognitive and neural architecture for forming impressions of others that varies by context, who is judging and who is being judged, and it is sensitive to social learning and experience. Facial appearance stereotypes determine real-world outcomes in many domains (e.g., legal, business, social), and group stereotypes foster a variety of societal inequities. The overarching goal of this project is to develop a precise understanding of how specific facial appearances, together with learned stereotypes about gender, race, or ingroup and outgroup membership, bias people’s behavior toward others.    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.",TRUE
2154123,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: An Incident-Response Approach for Empowering Fact-Checkers,2025-04-18,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,441200,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2154123,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2154123_4900,2022-05-01,2025-04-18,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"Fact-checking can be effective in countering the growing threat of online misinformation because people across the political spectrum and demographics tend to trust credibility judgments of fact-checkers. However, a pipeline of manual and labor-intensive practices fragmented across disparate tools makes it difficult to scale fact-checking efforts. As a result, fact-checkers are inundated with information and lack effective dissemination mechanisms for countering misinformation early and effectively. To address these challenges, this project combines the complementary information processing strengths of humans and computation to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, and scale of fact-checking. The project can enable fact-checkers to spot misinformation early, prioritize effort, and unify the various tools and techniques used for fact-checking. The research outcomes can scale the work of human fact-checkers and boost information literacy in society, which can significantly reduce the number of people exposed to misinformation.    The project draws upon the core components of security incident response (i.e., preparation, detection, containment, and post-incident activity) to transform the ad-hoc, time-consuming, and small-scale nature of current fact-checking practices with a security-analyst perspective and a unified user experience (UX). The research approach leverages the power of computation and personalization while retaining the synergistic advantages of the human fact-checker in the loop. The interdisciplinary sociotechnical approach involves empirical studies of fact-checker practices, collection of data and development of computational techniques to address their challenges and barriers, and design explorations of novel UI/UX techniques to connect humans and computation. The research incorporates a feedback loop to disseminate fact-checking outcomes, thus boosting their visibility and impact on end users exposed to misinformation. The researchers are developing early warning and detection techniques to reduce the time between misinformation generation and fact-check dissemination and are employing prioritization and personalization for more effective and efficient use of fact-checking resources. The researchers are engaging with professional fact-checkers to translate the research outcomes to the real world.    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.",FALSE
2317570,Collaborative Research: Conference: Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative,2025-04-18,American Institute of Mathematics,PASADENA,CA,CA28,82680,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317570,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317570_4900,2024-01-01,2026-12-31,911250001,RP8CDDTJLA24,"The Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative (MSIDI) is a collaboration among US mathematical sciences institutes to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences. The member institutes include the American Institute of Mathematics, the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, and the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute. In this project MSIDI will organize ten scientific conferences and workshops with the long-term goal of enhancing research capacity in the US by increasing scientific and networking activities for mathematicians from underrepresented groups, increasing opportunities for mentoring and identifying role models for early career researchers from underrepresented groups, and highlighting the successes of mathematical scientists from those groups.    The proposed conferences include one Blackwell-Tapia conference, one Infinite Possibilities conference, one LatMath conference, three Modern Math workshops, one workshop on Mathematics on Racial Justice, two Roots of Unity conferences, and one Applied Mathematics skills Improvement for Graduate studies Advancement conference. These conferences are complementary to the core activities of the institutes and are important for the goal of increasing participation in key activities that are integral to a career in the mathematical sciences, as well as in the institutes' core programs. Each conference will be organized by one lead institute in collaboration with all MSIDI member institutes. More information can be found on the MSIDI webpage at https://www.mathinstitutes.org/diversity.    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.",TRUE
2240327,Collaborative Research: EAGER: Intersectional Computing,2025-04-18,Auburn University,AUBURN,AL,AL03,204324,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240327,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2240327_4900,2023-05-01,2025-04-30,368490001,DMQNDJDHTDG4,"Auburn University and Florida State University will collaborate to develop a series of workshops to engage members of the Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Alliances and Black, Latina and Native American women graduate students to develop a community of support in computing disciplines. Native American, Latina, and Black women are particularly underrepresented in computing with representation at all degree levels significantly less than the representation of these groups in the U.S. population. While prior work has has championed new approaches to student recruitment and preparation, less research has specifically focused on women of color and their lived experiences in the field of computing. An intersectional focus is important because the needs of women of color cannot be adequately addressed when interventions are designed and analyzed along a single axis of race or gender. Working in collaboration with the BPC Alliances, this project will serve as a step towards establishing a more inclusive and actionable research agenda focused on women of color, specifically Native American, Latina, and Black women in the field of computing. The project activities will center the lived experiences of women of color in computing and re-imagine efforts within and across the BPC-A’s while establishing an actionable research agenda around women of color.     BPC Alliances are uniquely positioned to integrate appropriate frameworks, approaches, and methodologies to transform computing education for women of color at scale, this project will implement  a series of workshops to engage members of the BPC Alliances and Black, Latina and Native American women graduate students to develop a community of support in the field of computing. The resulting intersectional research agenda will be a resource to the larger computing community, centering the lived experiences of Black, Latina, and Native women within each of the BPC Alliances and women graduate students enrolled in U.S. computing degree programs. Contributing to the diversity of ideas and perspectives, the project activities will (1) generate deep knowledge of the experiences of women of color; (2) explore the similarities and differences across Native American, Latina, and Black women populations in computing; (3) provide an analysis of the conditions under which different groups of women of color thrive; and (4) examine the trajectories of Native American, Latina, and Black women populations in computing.    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.",TRUE
2045432,CAREER: Large-Scale Examination of Problematic Online Behaviors and Their Regulators,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,439471,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045432,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2045432_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This project will help improve the quality of conversations and information online by identifying the constraints that regulate cross-partisan animosity and disinformation across different social media platforms. Combining the strengths of political communication and socioeconomic theories with the methodological rigor of computational and experimental approaches, this research will identify: (1) which regulators, or strategies, are suitable or most effective for combating disinformation and cross-partisan animosity online; (2) how their strengths vary across behaviors and social media platforms; and (3) how these regulators interact, at times undermining or supporting each other. Scholars once thought that online social media platforms would bring in a new era of democratic discussion and debate. However, scholars and users alike are now mostly concerned about the dark side of these platforms - problems such as incivility, cross-partisan animosity, and disinformation are all commonplace online. While there have been efforts to combat these problems - such as the use of moral suasion to curb incivility and media literacy to curb misinformation - the approaches thus far lack a unified theoretical framework that allows for a systematic exploration of the solution space.     This research will develop a framework connecting three of the modalities that regulate behavior online and offline: (1) Norms constrain through the sanctions or rules of a community. (2) Market constrains through price. (3) Architecture - built environment or code in online space - constrains through the structural burdens it imposes. The impact of these modalities on disinformation and cross-partisan animosity will be examined by developing a broad range of methodological approaches, spanning fields such as machine learning, network science, and causal inference. First, the project will contribute rich datasets and scalable machine learning and network science approaches for identifying cross-partisan animosity and disinformation online. Second, this project will bring together the theoretical strengths of legal and political communication scholarship and the computational strengths of computer and information sciences to combat problematic behaviors online. It will investigate the efficacy of different modalities of regulation through natural and randomized experiments and identify their interdependencies using structural equation modeling. Third, it will determine the generalizability of strategies by examining the behavior and efficacy of regulators across different platforms. Finally, most approaches that address problematic behaviors online treat individuals as the unit of analysis. However, structural regulators act upon communities. This project will overcome issues that generally undermine research at the individual level by performing comparative analyses across not just individuals but also communities.    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.",FALSE
2154118,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: An Incident-Response Approach for Empowering Fact-Checkers,2025-04-18,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,428000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2154118,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2154118_4900,2022-05-01,2025-04-18,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"Fact-checking can be effective in countering the growing threat of online misinformation because people across the political spectrum and demographics tend to trust credibility judgments of fact-checkers. However, a pipeline of manual and labor-intensive practices fragmented across disparate tools makes it difficult to scale fact-checking efforts. As a result, fact-checkers are inundated with information and lack effective dissemination mechanisms for countering misinformation early and effectively. To address these challenges, this project combines the complementary information processing strengths of humans and computation to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, and scale of fact-checking. The project can enable fact-checkers to spot misinformation early, prioritize effort, and unify the various tools and techniques used for fact-checking. The research outcomes can scale the work of human fact-checkers and boost information literacy in society, which can significantly reduce the number of people exposed to misinformation.    The project draws upon the core components of security incident response (i.e., preparation, detection, containment, and post-incident activity) to transform the ad-hoc, time-consuming, and small-scale nature of current fact-checking practices with a security-analyst perspective and a unified user experience (UX). The research approach leverages the power of computation and personalization while retaining the synergistic advantages of the human fact-checker in the loop. The interdisciplinary sociotechnical approach involves empirical studies of fact-checker practices, collection of data and development of computational techniques to address their challenges and barriers, and design explorations of novel UI/UX techniques to connect humans and computation. The research incorporates a feedback loop to disseminate fact-checking outcomes, thus boosting their visibility and impact on end users exposed to misinformation. The researchers are developing early warning and detection techniques to reduce the time between misinformation generation and fact-check dissemination and are employing prioritization and personalization for more effective and efficient use of fact-checking resources. The researchers are engaging with professional fact-checkers to translate the research outcomes to the real world.    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.",FALSE
2321649,"SaTC: CORE: Small: Study, Detection and Containment of Influence Campaigns",2025-04-18,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,529609,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,DAT-Democracy AffrmngTchnolgie,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321649,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321649_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"Influence operations are increasingly relying on social networks to distribute and amplify misinformation and hate speech with significant societal impact. Although social networks implement policies and attempt to stem the spread of such undesirable content and the accounts that promote it, their efforts can only succeed given an accurate understanding of influence operations resources and strategies, and of user beliefs and reasons to distribute undesirable content. Existing knowledge of influence operations has been collected through limited journalistic investigations that lack scientific method, and forensic analysis of social networks that increasingly limit researcher access. Further, much knowledge of user interaction with undesirable content comes from lab experiments that do not accurately model real life behaviors. This project introduces a novel approach to study influence campaigns and improve our understanding of the threats they pose, and will leverage gleaned insights to develop solutions that detect and reduce the reach and impact of campaigns. This project has the potential to minimize the attack surface to undesirable content and influence campaigns for vulnerable social network users who lack the background required to recognize and safely react to such content. Developed solutions may further reduce perception of bias for people who distribute undesirable content and give them a sense of fairness toward content moderation techniques.    This project builds on the thesis that efforts to study and contain influence campaigns need to involve the individuals who distribute undesirable content. To achieve this aim, the project team designs and conducts informed-consent studies with participants’ in-the-wild exposure to undesirable content, to understand their goals, motivation, resources, strategies, and perceptions. The project further develops a framework to detect influence campaigns, attribute undesirable content and the accounts that post it to their organizers, and characterize their strategies. The team also designs interventions that empower selective audiences to reduce the reach and impact of undesirable content, distribute responsibility for intervention outcomes, and obscure details from adversaries. The project further develops protocols to recruit relevant participants, triangulate findings, and evaluate solutions in the context of participants’ in-the-wild exposure to and distribution of undesirable content.    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.",FALSE
2323794,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Information Integrity: A User-centric Intervention,2025-04-18,University of Florida,GAINESVILLE,FL,FL03,580916,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Special Projects - CNS,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323794,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2323794_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,326111941,NNFQH1JAPEP3,"Combating misinformation in the digital age has been a challenging subject with significant social implications, as misinformation continues to impact contentious contemporary events from elections to responses to pandemics. Despite decades of research, misinformation remains a serious threat as most technical mitigation methods focus on improving detection accuracy and fail to consider social and emotional perspectives. This project assists in enhancing information integrity by identifying influencing communities, agents, and culturally resonant information to identify tipping points in public dialogue on controversial issues and offering venues of user-centric interventions at scale.    This project moves away from source-centric accuracy detection and debunking to focus on user-centric interventions that integrates psychological and socio-cultural constructs, computational theories, and machine learning (ML) algorithms to prototype interventions for testing. The first focus of research has the goal of analyzing and identifying social norm emergence--the shared beliefs or acceptable behaviors of communities, and tipping points when beliefs are about to change rapidly. The second focus of this research  is to uncover the cultural contexts of belief, personalized to each individual, to optimize the receptivity of scientific evidence in online network dissemination. The third pillar (Interaction) provides human-in-the-loop visual analytics framework to support users in verifying and making users' own decisions as to what they believe. Underpinning this work is the development and testing of novel deep learning models based on topology ML, which effectively predict heterogeneous social norm emergence for timely intervention, identify top trusted features for engagement, and temporal explainable artificial intelligence for transparent interaction with users. The involvement of leading misinformation mitigation and journalism education organizations such as the Poynter Institute helps to ensure social impacts in the field.    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.",FALSE
2224565,SaTC: CORE: Small: When and from Whom Reminder-based Corrections of Everyday Misinformation Improve Memory and Belief Accuracy,2025-04-18,University of North Carolina Greensboro,GREENSBORO,NC,NC06,458000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Information Technology Researc,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224565,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224565_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,274125068,C13DF16LC3H4,"Misinformation shared via news and social media platforms has negative consequences. For example, misinformation about safe and effective COVID vaccines has reduced intent to receive them. Websites have been designed to counteract misinformation by indicating contradictory information. But this approach may not always be effective because reminding people of misinformation can make it more believable. The project team is evaluating a reminding technique that recently improved memory and belief accuracy in internet news headlines in college students who were immediately tested. The project advances areas of social and behavioral sciences by revealing the mental processes that improve memory and belief accuracy for everyday news. This could benefit public health and national defense by establishing whether this implementable method counteracts health-based and other misinformation that can be propagated by foreign sources. This project supports the education of a diverse student body by being conducted at a university that emphasizes student research training and attracts students from many backgrounds. Both undergraduate and graduate students are training in theoretical and practical approaches to research and analysis that will prepare them for STEM careers.    The current project is examining whether benefits of misinformation reminders generalize to various situation in representative US samples. Specifically, the project is testing if the benefits extend from: presentation and test delays of minutes to days, news headlines with text and images to podcasts and news videos, and partisan-neutral to partisan-specific information sources varying in perceived credibility. Participants are first being exposed to real and fake internet news story headlines and then learning real news corrections that sometimes appear after participants are reminded of fake news. Participants’ recall accuracy and beliefs in recalled details are then being tested. The findings will illuminate when, how, and from whom reminders of everyday internet-based misinformation effectively promote accurate memory and beliefs.    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.",FALSE
2247868,Collaborative Research: SaTC: TTP: Medium: iDRAMA.cloud: A Platform for Measuring and Understanding Information Manipulation,2025-04-18,Trustees of Boston University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,225669,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2247868,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2247868_4900,2023-10-01,2027-09-30,022151703,THL6A6JLE1S7,"Social media has become crucial to our society, especially when it comes to the rapid and broad dissemination of information. However, bad actors have exploited social media, for example via information manipulation. While there have been efforts made to address the problem, there are a variety of challenges that make it difficult to study and combat information manipulation in practice. This project aims to address these challenges by transitioning a set of algorithms, software frameworks, and system designs out of the research lab into the hands of active practitioners to help identify and mitigate information manipulation (misinformation and dis-information). This project’s novelties are the design and development of production capable, open-source software suite to enable the rapid collection, management, and analysis of social media data. The project’s broader significance and importance is primarily related to ensuring the stability of the information ecosystem.  The production ready software created under the project can also help educate future practitioners about fundamental software development skills in the areas of systems, machine learning, and data science.    In this proposal, the project team aims to transition the tooling that has enabled cutting edge research into practice. The project team will develop a full featured crawler construction toolkit built from experiences working on a variety of large-scale social media data collection systems. Next, the project team will develop a data characterization and augmentation toolkit, integrating state-of-the-art techniques from information manipulation research. Finally, the project team will develop a set of data access and sharing APIs, including a federation subsystem, that practitioners can build new technologies around.    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.",FALSE
2150723,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Small: Understanding how visual features of misinformation influence credibility perceptions,2025-04-18,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,214999,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150723,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150723_4900,2022-04-01,2025-04-18,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"Today’s misinformation posts have increasingly been presented in visual formats, such as images, memes, and videos. Compared to text, visuals are processed faster, remembered better, and are more likely to be shared on social media. As technology makes image and video manipulation accessible to the masses, visual misinformation can be a significant threat to national security, social cohesion, and public health. Yet we need to know more about how specific visual features, such as color and face presence, may influence how people evaluate the credibility of such visual posts. This project offers a comprehensive understanding of how different visual elements may influence users’ perceived credibility of images and videos. The results help platforms and fact-checking agencies to detect visual misinformation, curb its diffusion, identify vulnerable user groups, and develop corrective interventions.    Drawing broadly from literature in computer science, advertising, marketing, cognitive science, and communication, and using computer vision analysis, qualitative interviews, large-scale human annotation, and experiments, this research project aims to: 1) identify the specific visual features and mechanisms which may influence people’s credibility perceptions, 2) examine how these visual features interact with non-visual features (source, virality, etc) and user characteristics (partisanship, digital media literacy, etc), and 3) examine how these visual features can be effectively leveraged in misinformation correction efforts. The research team is compiling a large-scale open dataset of visual posts with human annotations. While existing misinformation datasets have largely focused on the veracity of messages, this dataset provides credibility perceptions along with other relevant outcomes such as attention, emotional reactions and aesthetic appeal. In addition, the research team is creating a website with accessible information to educate the general public about misinformation presented in images and videos, so that the public can be aware of their vulnerabilities and be more vigilant towards certain types of visual information.    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.",FALSE
2154119,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: An Incident-Response Approach for Empowering Fact-Checkers,2025-04-18,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,396000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2154119,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2154119_4900,2022-05-01,2025-04-18,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"Fact-checking can be effective in countering the growing threat of online misinformation because people across the political spectrum and demographics tend to trust credibility judgments of fact-checkers. However, a pipeline of manual and labor-intensive practices fragmented across disparate tools makes it difficult to scale fact-checking efforts. As a result, fact-checkers are inundated with information and lack effective dissemination mechanisms for countering misinformation early and effectively. To address these challenges, this project combines the complementary information processing strengths of humans and computation to transform the efficiency, effectiveness, and scale of fact-checking. The project can enable fact-checkers to spot misinformation early, prioritize effort, and unify the various tools and techniques used for fact-checking. The research outcomes can scale the work of human fact-checkers and boost information literacy in society, which can significantly reduce the number of people exposed to misinformation.    The project draws upon the core components of security incident response (i.e., preparation, detection, containment, and post-incident activity) to transform the ad-hoc, time-consuming, and small-scale nature of current fact-checking practices with a security-analyst perspective and a unified user experience (UX). The research approach leverages the power of computation and personalization while retaining the synergistic advantages of the human fact-checker in the loop. The interdisciplinary sociotechnical approach involves empirical studies of fact-checker practices, collection of data and development of computational techniques to address their challenges and barriers, and design explorations of novel UI/UX techniques to connect humans and computation. The research incorporates a feedback loop to disseminate fact-checking outcomes, thus boosting their visibility and impact on end users exposed to misinformation. The researchers are developing early warning and detection techniques to reduce the time between misinformation generation and fact-check dissemination and are employing prioritization and personalization for more effective and efficient use of fact-checking resources. The researchers are engaging with professional fact-checkers to translate the research outcomes to the real world.    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.",FALSE
2210023,EAGER: DCL: SaTC: Enabling Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Deplatforming and Online Hate Speech Across the Social Media Ecology,2025-04-18,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,299768,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210023,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210023_4900,2022-07-01,2025-04-18,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"Social media platforms have recently begun to respond to pressure to remove or ""deplatform"" harmful content and malicious actors.  This project analyzes whether current deplatforming strategies mitigate harmful communication.  The project analyzes whether removing hate speech and extremist actors and communities curbs the spread of malicious content throughout social media. The analysis also can reveal whether whether deplatformed actors regroup on fringe platforms, reappear in potentially larger numbers, grow more cohesive communities, or attract a more extreme following with increased levels of hateful content, perhaps on platforms that do not moderate this content.  Through this research, the project provides a new understanding of how content moderation and deplatforming affect the development of online hate and extremism, leading to the design of effective policies to limit malicious content online.    This project is collecting data on online hate clusters, or groups, across multiple social media platforms.  The project team is constructing a machine-learning tool that can use these data to classify a wide range of hate speech types and targets, and the extent to which social media posts contain these types and targets. The team uses statistical models to analyze the effects of deplatforming events on the use, volume, and toxicity of hate speech, as well as on the extent to which groups reorganize on unmoderated platforms. The ultimate goal of the project is to build a dynamic, mathematical model to quantify how deplatforming affects the emergence of extremist groups and their evolution over time.    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.",FALSE
2346845,SaTC: CORE: Small: Enabling the Automated Delivery of Context-Aware Notifications,2025-04-18,Trustees of Boston University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,599996,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2346845,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2346845_4900,2024-07-01,2025-04-18,022151703,THL6A6JLE1S7,"Many online platforms use notifications to users to advise them when the potential harm of communications is in question, as in the case of false advertising, cyberbullying, scams, or personal threats. The notifications permit users to see the source or context of what they receive, rather than take it at face value. Previous research, however, has shown that these efforts fail to flag most of the fraudulence. This situation stems from the difficulty of automatically flagging online material, forcing service providers to heavily rely on manual verification, a scarce resource that cannot keep up with the number of communications posted every day. In this project, the team is developing tools that can enable the automated identification of fraudulence so users can receive correct notifications.    The project is improving the state of the art of automated identification of fraudulent online material. First, the project team is developing robust stance detection techniques powered by recent advances in large language models. These techniques can enable more precise and effective identification of fraudulent material that raises awareness of its context.  Second, the team is developing multi-modal techniques that combine the textual and image component of communications and analyze them together, by adapting computer vision techniques like perceptual hashing, optical character recognition, and multi-modal embeddings. Throughout the project, one of the main goals of the project is to develop techniques that are scalable and can operate on vast posted material using limited hardware resources. To this end, the researchers are working on reducing the size of the used machine learning models through model distillation, and on taking advantage of specialized technologies to efficiently handle embeddings like vector databases.    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.",FALSE
2310470,SaTC: CORE: Small: Socio-Technical Approaches for Securing Cyber-Physical Systems from False Claim Attacks,2025-04-18,University of Oklahoma Norman Campus,NORMAN,OK,OK04,613947,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310470,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2310470_4900,2023-08-01,2025-04-18,730193003,EVTSTTLCEWS5,"The fragility and vulnerability of cyberspace has exposed society to risks of disruption with severe consequences. Although direct attacks on cyberspace with tools such as viruses and ransomware have been extensively examined, much less attention has been focused on preparing for an emerging, over-the-horizon threat: adversaries who attack cyber-physical systems (CPS) indirectly by altering consumption behavior of unwitting users influenced through false claims such as of traffic jams or gasoline shortages. This project is exploring socio-technical approaches that integrate social science with systems engineering to protect and defend CPS against harmful actions by adversaries who deploy such indirect attacks.    This idea is represented with two layers: (i) an information layer being formed from social media and other social interactions, and (ii) a physical layer representing the physical components of a networked CPS (e.g., critical infrastructure network, Internet of Things). This work imagines an attack through the information layer that causes emergent human responses that adversely alter performance in the physical layer. The research objective of this proposal is to understand the effects of false claims in exposing and exacerbating the fragility and vulnerability of CPS and their performance. To combat such attacks and ensure the security and trustworthiness of cyber-physical systems, this project is developing knowledge across four research components that can (i) model and control the spread of influence on humans by false claims in the information layer through survey-driven agent-based models, (ii) relate this spread to the performance and vulnerabilities of the physical layer and develop protection-interdiction-reaction optimization models across layers, (iii) test and evaluate the model with a concrete example of false information spread on social networks and its effects on power networks, and (iv) offer a plan for the integration of research with classroom learning and outreach.    This project is jointly funded by SaTC and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",FALSE
2226087,III:Small: A novel machine learning framework for combating misinformation in real life,2025-04-18,University of Southern California,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA34,500000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,Info Integration & Informatics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2226087,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2226087_4900,2022-11-01,2025-04-18,90033,G88KLJR3KYT5,"Widespread misinformation has been persistently observed on social media, raising significant challenges to society. Misinformation involves rapidly evolving topics and sophisticated coordination among bad actors. Existing techniques to combat misinformation have achieved success to a limited extent. They struggle to eliminate false and misleading content in a timely and effective manner. Another challenge is the difficulty of quantifying the impacts of misinformation. In this project, a novel machine-learning framework will be developed by leveraging recent developments in machine learning. It will advance the understanding of misinformation propagation patterns, produce effective algorithms for misinformation detection, and help build a secure and trustworthy cyberspace. A range of outreach activities will be pursued to broaden participation in computing for women and other underrepresented groups. Tutorials and courses will be provided to broadcast the research outcomes.    The project will advance both machine-learning methodologies and social science insights, leading to effective solutions to mitigate misinformation and manipulation in a timely, scalable, and effective manner.Three research thrusts will be pursued in this project. The first thrust develops a reinforcement-learning-based solution using news-source credibility analysis to minimize human labeling efforts in constructing large-scale misinformation datasets. The second thrust develops an unsupervised coordination detection method based on knowledge-informed machine-learning models to identify coordinated behaviors among bad actors. The third thrust develops novel counterfactual analysis models to identify causal factors and evaluate the estimated effects of misinformation. A collection of large-scale datasets of misinformation on a variety of topics will be shared with the research community.    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.",FALSE
2329394,HCC: Small: Incorporating Procedural Fairness in Flagging Mechanisms on Social Media Sites,2025-04-18,Rutgers University New Brunswick,NEW BRUNSWICK,NJ,NJ12,581680,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2329394,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2329394_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,089018559,M1LVPE5GLSD9,"This research will analyze expectations and interactions of social media platform users with flagging tools in each phase of the flagging lifecycle. Platforms offer flagging, a technical feature that empowers users to report inappropriate posts or bad actors, to reduce online harm, such as hate speech, nonconsensual sharing of sexual photos, etc. However, prior research shows that reporting harms can be experienced as secondary victimization, especially when victims perceive a lack of procedural justice. Flags play a critical role in maintaining the feasibility of content moderation systems, an initial step to identifying content that requires careful review by moderators or automated tools. It is, therefore, vital to design flagging interfaces in ways that ease the negative experiences of reporting. To accomplish this goal, we must understand how users make sense of flagging, what information they seek, and how they navigate flagging interfaces.    There will be three phases in this project: (1) Interviews will be conducted with social media users who have recently flagged a post to understand their motivations, mental models, and concerns prior to flagging. (2) A user study with interactive prototypes will examine the awareness, navigation, and usage issues encountered while using flagging interfaces to report a post. (3) Participatory design workshop sessions will develop prototypes for post-flagging information and communication systems. In each phase, the research output will be codesigned with individuals from marginalized communities, who face disproportionate online abuse. Analysis will draw from the interpretive lens of procedural justice and its notions of voice and consistency to investigate how users develop their fairness perceptions of the flagging processes. It will produce a taxonomy of flagging-decision trees, offering a generative set of design dimensions upon which platforms may alter future flagging implementations.    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.",TRUE
2150716,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Small: Understanding how visual features of misinformation influence credibility perceptions,2025-04-18,University of California-Davis,DAVIS,CA,CA04,285000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150716,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150716_4900,2022-04-01,2025-04-18,956186153,TX2DAGQPENZ5,"Today’s misinformation posts have increasingly been presented in visual formats, such as images, memes, and videos. Compared to text, visuals are processed faster, remembered better, and are more likely to be shared on social media. As technology makes image and video manipulation accessible to the masses, visual misinformation can be a significant threat to national security, social cohesion, and public health. Yet we need to know more about how specific visual features, such as color and face presence, may influence how people evaluate the credibility of such visual posts. This project offers a comprehensive understanding of how different visual elements may influence users’ perceived credibility of images and videos. The results help platforms and fact-checking agencies to detect visual misinformation, curb its diffusion, identify vulnerable user groups, and develop corrective interventions.    Drawing broadly from literature in computer science, advertising, marketing, cognitive science, and communication, and using computer vision analysis, qualitative interviews, large-scale human annotation, and experiments, this research project aims to: 1) identify the specific visual features and mechanisms which may influence people’s credibility perceptions, 2) examine how these visual features interact with non-visual features (source, virality, etc) and user characteristics (partisanship, digital media literacy, etc), and 3) examine how these visual features can be effectively leveraged in misinformation correction efforts. The research team is compiling a large-scale open dataset of visual posts with human annotations. While existing misinformation datasets have largely focused on the veracity of messages, this dataset provides credibility perceptions along with other relevant outcomes such as attention, emotional reactions and aesthetic appeal. In addition, the research team is creating a website with accessible information to educate the general public about misinformation presented in images and videos, so that the public can be aware of their vulnerabilities and be more vigilant towards certain types of visual information.    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.",FALSE
2216561,BPC-AE: Scaling and Sustaining Gender Diversity in Postsecondary Computing using NCWIT's Systemic Change Approach,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,3645298,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216561,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216561_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"The University of Colorado extends the The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) Alliance. The systematic social and structural disadvantages to women in computing, at all identity intersections and levels of pathways to careers, is deeply concerning both from the viewpoint of equity and the nation's need for a highly qualified scientific workforce and improved innovation. While the nation has seen some improvement over the past two decades, underrepresentation of women continues, both in terms of numbers and of influence. NCWIT seeks to ensure that women have nontrivial influence in computing because technical products are better, people are better served, and computing research is relevant to more people. Women’s low participation in computing is rooted in inequitable societal structures and everyday social interaction, not in women. NCWIT change approaches interrupt the reproduction of these inequities at the level of social systems, altering policy, everyday practices and decision making, beliefs, and norms to sustain change. Building inclusive cultures in computing departments will increase diversity of thought and advance the computing discipline, a field integral to all other STEM fields.     NCWIT  unites over 1500 member organizations across the computing ecosystem to ensure the perspectives and contributions of those who identify as women—at the intersections of gender identity, race, ethnicity, class, age, sexual orientation, and ability status—are meaningfully represented at all levels of computing. NCWIT guides its members—including postsecondary institutions, a lynchpin in the ecosystem—in understanding, implementing, and institutionalizing research-based practices and strategies that produce systemic change. NCWIT helps organizations realize systemic change by providing resources, tools, guidance, and direct support to change leaders. In this project, NCWIT proposes to accelerate department-level culture change at all levels of postsecondary computing through several inter-connected activities: 1) Growth, diversification, and engagement of its Academic Alliance so more postsecondary computing programs have the knowledge, awareness, and motivation to increase participation of women of different backgrounds and educational levels in colleges and universities; 2) Further development and implementation of NCWIT’s unique, research-based systemic change (Tech Inclusion Journey) platform to enable more postsecondary undergraduate programs to efficiently self-assess and develop srategic solutions to increase representation of women in their programs; 3) creation and deployment of Learning Circles peer cohorts and a supporting community of practice model to guide academic change leaders in building inclusive cultures; 4) Extension of NCWIT’s freely available resource collection to include more actionable resources on inclusive culture construction, systemic change, and intersectionality; and integration of NCWIT’s talent pipeline programs and the resources of external BPC and other partner initiatives; and 5) Advancement of public awareness and support for increasing women's participation in computing through existing and new communication channels.    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.",TRUE
2147305,FAI: BRIMI - Bias Reduction In Medical Information,2025-04-18,University of Connecticut,STORRS,CT,CT02,392994,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,Fairness in Artificial Intelli,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147305,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147305_4900,2022-03-15,2026-02-28,062699018,WNTPS995QBM7,"This award, Bias Reduction In Medical Information (BRIMI), focuses on using artificial intelligence (AI) to detect and mitigate biased, harmful, and/or false health information that disproportionately hurts minority groups in society. BRIMI offers outsized promise for increased equity in health information, improving fairness in AI, medicine, and in the information ecosystem online (e.g., health websites and social media content). BRIMI's novel study of biases stands to greatly advance the understanding of the challenges that minority groups and individuals face when seeking health information. By including specific interventions for both patients and doctors and advancing the state-of-the-art in public health and fact checking organizations, BRIMI aims to inform public policy, increase the public's critical literacy, and improve the well-being of historically under-served patients. The award includes significant outreach efforts, which will engage minority communities directly in our scientific process; broad stakeholder engagement will ensure that the research approach to the groups studied is respectful, ethical, and patient-centered. The BRIMI team is composed of academics, non-profits, and industry partners, thus improving collaboration and partnerships across different sectors and multiple disciplines. The BRIMI project will lead to fundamental research advances in computer science, while integrating deep expertise in medical training, public health interventions, and fact checking. BRIMI is the first large scale computational study of biased health information of any kind. This award specifically focuses on bias reduction in the health domain; its foundational computer science advances and contributions may generalize to other domains, and it will likely pave the way for studying bias in other areas such as politics and finances.     BRIMI has the following objectives: (a) identifying and analyzing bias and language misuse online; (b) advancing the understanding of how misinformation spreads amongst different populations; and (c) triaging health topics with the biggest harms, and creating and disseminating triage guidelines to public health officials and practitioners. BRIMI will develop novel artificial intelligence approaches both to establish health information inequities empirically, and to reduce them. The methods used include large-scale online and social network data collection and a content analysis approach to annotating complex health data; supervised, semi-supervised and transfer learning to detect biased and false health information; controversy and misinformation analysis using community detection, stance detection and claim detection; and intervention design methods based on best practices in public health. The award’s research contributions will include: (a) novel metrics to computationally define biased health information and characterize its dissemination online and in social media, including specifically within divergent population groups; (b) utilizing transfer learning and semi-supervised approaches, in order to generalize solutions developed on and for medical language to lay language; (c) analyzing disagreement within and across populations on health information, which in turn requires improvement in stance detection and claim matching approaches; and (d) novel computational approaches to triage and prioritize misinformation for the purposes of mitigation.    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.",TRUE
2123635,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Large: Multi-Disciplinary Analyses of the Nature and Spread of Unsubstantiated Information Online,2025-04-18,University of Miami,CORAL GABLES,FL,FL27,1935238,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2123635,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2123635_4900,2021-07-15,2025-04-18,331462919,RQMFJGDTQ5V3,"Americans need reliable information to make decisions that can improve national security, public health, community resilience, economic competitiveness, and quality of life. Online media platforms make it possible for misinformation on these topics to spread with unprecedented speed and scale. To counter the deleterious effects of misinformation, it is important to understand how it spreads and the conditions under which people believe it. This interdisciplinary project examines these dynamics in ways that have the potential to help people make better decisions about what kinds of information will help them make better decisions.    The research design focuses on how different ways of presenting misinformation affect people’s attitudes, beliefs, and social identities. The design will show how psychological predispositions, moral values, sociocultural attitudes, social identity, group affinities and other factors influence who believes misinformation -- and who rejects or ignores it. The project also examines how network structures shape where and how false beliefs spread. The project’s research will be broadly disseminated to help scholars, policy experts, and social media designers create more contexts that empower more people to base their decisions on accurate facts.    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.",FALSE
2133963,Collaborative Research: HCC: Small: Science communication in the ecosystem of digital media platforms,2025-04-18,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,437446,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2133963,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2133963_4900,2022-03-01,2026-02-28,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"This research will investigate open questions about how scientific advances spread in the ecosystem of digital media platforms. Science communication has undergone dramatic changes over the past decades. Online platforms such as social media sites, electronic news outlets, blogs, and wikis are now used by most scholars and the public for sharing scientific findings. A better understanding of the online circulation of scientific advances is imperative because these new channels of connecting with the public have brought novel challenges in dealing with the uncontrolled distortion of information. Additionally, it remains difficult to identify reliable knowledge, given the increase of sensationalist presentations of scientific results. This work will merge ideas, approaches, and technologies from information science, communication, and journalism to address numerous issues of significant social and economic impact: (1) contributing to the improvement of public serving science journalism; (2) providing practical and actionable early predictions of science dissemination from collective cues on social media; (3) enriching the online experience of people around the globe with a better understanding and tracking of real-world message distortion campaigns; (4) informing key current crises related to misinformation; and, (5) guiding science policy with novel knowledge about science communication in the ecosystem of digital media platforms.    While most research on information diffusion has focused on individual platforms, this project will develop a critical multi-platform analysis framework for science communication. A primary goal is to discover fundamental knowledge about: (1) typical trajectories in the cross-platform dissemination of scientific articles; (2) how these trajectories connect to the impact of the work, its novelty, as well as the reactions from scholars and the public; (3) predictions of eventual reactions from early coverage patterns; and, (4) effects of clickbait and information distortion on dissemination. This project will illuminate how scientific findings are shared, discussed, and distorted online and provide empirical evidence of how early signals deduced from social media cues can be harnessed computationally to predict the coverage of scientific articles. The design of an interactive tool will demonstrate how traces of collective reactions can be compellingly and usefully presented to science journalists in real reporting scenarios. The work will be fueled by and will further existing theoretical and empirical research on the use of new media in science dissemination, assess intentional and unintentional information distortion online, harness collective cues from Web-based platforms for early prediction, and design information interfaces for journalists.    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.",FALSE
2210843,Collaborative Research: HCC: Designing Technologies for Marginalized Communities,2025-04-18,Princeton University,PRINCETON,NJ,NJ12,61560,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210843,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210843_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,085442001,NJ1YPQXQG7U5,"This award supports research that examines the experiences of marginalized community members who are going through significant life changes. It focuses on how augmented reality can address social and behavioral factors underlying such changes. The project designs, builds, and evaluates technologies to address these challenges by including marginalized community members as partners in each stage of the project. It is expected to improve society more broadly by increasing equity and inclusion in the public sphere by advancing (1) understanding of how technologies represent and distort individual identities; (2) the impact of these technologies on people’s physical, mental, and economic well-being; and (3) methods for and examples of technology designs that are more equitable and inclusive.  It also provides research training for underrepresented students. The results of this research will be of interest to policy makers, educators, and the general public.      This research increases scientific knowledge in Human-Computer Interaction and Social Computing about how technology can contribute to addressing challenges faced by people who are traditionally left out of design processes. The interdisciplinary team of researchers uses participatory design and qualitative research to study, build, and evaluate technologies to support marginalized communities. This research is expected to yield the following outcomes: 1) a comprehensive framework describing current gaps in technological innovation for people experiencing a significant life change; 2) design recommendations for how technology can address the needs and challenges of marginalized individuals; 3) innovative, human-centered augmented reality prototypes and techniques for supporting subcommunities in society; and 4) guidelines and heuristics for inclusive augmented reality. This is expected lead to potentially transformative theoretical and practical insights that extend Human-Computer Interaction research; it will do so by incorporating what we learn via technology designed with and for people who are not traditionally part of design processes.    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.",TRUE
2123618,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Large: Multi-Disciplinary Analyses of the Nature and Spread of Unsubstantiated Information Online,2025-04-18,Indiana University,BLOOMINGTON,IN,IN09,459210,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2123618,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2123618_4900,2021-07-15,2025-04-18,474057000,YH86RTW2YVJ4,"Americans need reliable information to make decisions that can improve national security, public health, community resilience, economic competitiveness, and quality of life. Online media platforms make it possible for misinformation on these topics to spread with unprecedented speed and scale. To counter the deleterious effects of misinformation, it is important to understand how it spreads and the conditions under which people believe it. This interdisciplinary project examines these dynamics in ways that have the potential to help people make better decisions about what kinds of information will help them make better decisions.    The research design focuses on how different ways of presenting misinformation affect people’s attitudes, beliefs, and social identities. The design will show how psychological predispositions, moral values, sociocultural attitudes, social identity, group affinities and other factors influence who believes misinformation -- and who rejects or ignores it. The project also examines how network structures shape where and how false beliefs spread. The project’s research will be broadly disseminated to help scholars, policy experts, and social media designers create more contexts that empower more people to base their decisions on accurate facts.    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.",FALSE
2210844,Collaborative Research: HCC: Designing Technologies for Marginalized Communities,2025-04-18,Northwestern University at Chicago,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,200611,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210844,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210844_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,602080001,KG76WYENL5K1,"This award supports research that examines the experiences of marginalized community members who are going through significant life changes. It focuses on how augmented reality can address social and behavioral factors underlying such changes. The project designs, builds, and evaluates technologies to address these challenges by including marginalized community members as partners in each stage of the project. It is expected to improve society more broadly by increasing equity and inclusion in the public sphere by advancing (1) understanding of how technologies represent and distort individual identities; (2) the impact of these technologies on people’s physical, mental, and economic well-being; and (3) methods for and examples of technology designs that are more equitable and inclusive.  It also provides research training for underrepresented students. The results of this research will be of interest to policy makers, educators, and the general public.      This research increases scientific knowledge in Human-Computer Interaction and Social Computing about how technology can contribute to addressing challenges faced by people who are traditionally left out of design processes. The interdisciplinary team of researchers uses participatory design and qualitative research to study, build, and evaluate technologies to support marginalized communities. This research is expected to yield the following outcomes: 1) a comprehensive framework describing current gaps in technological innovation for people experiencing a significant life change; 2) design recommendations for how technology can address the needs and challenges of marginalized individuals; 3) innovative, human-centered augmented reality prototypes and techniques for supporting subcommunities in society; and 4) guidelines and heuristics for inclusive augmented reality. This is expected lead to potentially transformative theoretical and practical insights that extend Human-Computer Interaction research; it will do so by incorporating what we learn via technology designed with and for people who are not traditionally part of design processes.    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.",TRUE
2318258,"Collaborative Research: An Equitable, Justice-Focused Ecosystem for Pacific Northwest Secondary CS Teaching",2025-04-18,Central Washington University,ELLENSBURG,WA,WA08,51239,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318258,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318258_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,989267500,SESUYWJGE3Y3,"The University of Washington, Central Washington University, Western Washington University, Whitworth University, and Washington State University will bring together leaders of pre-service programs, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) chapters, Educational Service Districts (ESD), CTE directors, community organizations, and researchers to realize justice-focused secondary CS education in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. School districts across the country need more secondary computer science teachers, especially those who share the identities, values, and lived experiences of the students they teach. However, pathways for preparing and supporting computer science teachers are only just emerging, and many are struggling to recruit promising teachers into the profession and retain them long term. This project seeks to serve students and teachers who are women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and/or disabled, specifically by creating pathways into computer science teaching for teachers with these identities. This project will create a consortium of emerging pre-service programs across the Pacific Northwest to address, strengthen, and mature computer science teaching pathways in four ways: 1) organizing and sharing information about teaching pathways, 2) identifying and resolving key barriers to pathways that aspiring teachers face, 3) supporting computers science teacher community building in partnership with new and existing computer science teachers association chapters, and 4) supporting administrative leaders who manage and grow these pathways.     The CSforAll High School Strand project’s approach is to build an evidence-based networked improvement community, which deeply engages stakeholders across the region to identify opportunities for change, develop sustainable cross-institutional coordination practices, and use research as one tool of many to inform approaches to change. Research will particularly focus on answering 1) who is and isn’t informed about CS teaching pathways, and why; 2) what barriers aspiring teacher with identities marginalized in CS face in pursuing CS teaching careers; 3) how community gatherings amongst teachers with marginalized identities can support teacher retention; and 4) how solidarity amongst teacher education administrative leaders can support sustainability of pathways. These questions will be posed across urban and rural divides, helping to inform how values, communities, and state politics shape equitable access to computer science education in secondary schools across the Pacific Northwest.    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.",TRUE
2122640,SaTC: CORE: Small: How False Beliefs Form and How to Correct Them,2025-04-18,Vanderbilt University,NASHVILLE,TN,TN05,506478,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,GVF - Global Venture Fund,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122640,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122640_4900,2021-07-15,2025-04-18,372032416,GTNBNWXJ12D5,"Modern technologies allow false information to spread faster and further than ever before. There is currently an urgent need to understand the real-world effects of misinformation on people’s beliefs and how to best correct false beliefs. Through a series of laboratory and naturalistic experiments, the project team is examining the effects of repetition on belief in real-world settings and how to more effectively counter-act misinformation. This project will inform real-world practices aimed at reducing the impact of misinformation. Fact-checking practitioners are consulted to help guide the research, and results will be discussed with them.     A series of studies examines how repetition affects belief in daily life. Findings will determine whether the commonly observed effects of repetition on belief are generalizable to real-world repetition or if they are an artifact of widespread use of laboratory tasks and materials. The studies explore why repetition increases belief more for some types of information than others. By examining these basic psychological processes in the primary domain within which they affect daily life – misinformation on social media – this work will have implications for real-world practices aimed at reducing the impact of misinformation. Leveraging core principles of cognitive psychology, another series of studies investigates how to best correct false beliefs. Using predictions derived from existing theories within memory, language, linguistics and communications, the project is testing various design features hypothesized to improve the effectiveness of misinformation debunking strategies. Findings will reveal the cognitive mechanisms underlying successful misinformation debunking, and how fact-checkers should best present their findings. Overall, the results will inform and constrain current theories of how beliefs form and can be changed.    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.",FALSE
2210841,Collaborative Research: HCC: Designing Technologies for Marginalized Communities,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,846131,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210841,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210841_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This award supports research that examines the experiences of marginalized community members who are going through significant life changes. It focuses on how augmented reality can address social and behavioral factors underlying such changes. The project designs, builds, and evaluates technologies to address these challenges by including marginalized community members as partners in each stage of the project. It is expected to improve society more broadly by increasing equity and inclusion in the public sphere by advancing (1) understanding of how technologies represent and distort individual identities; (2) the impact of these technologies on people’s physical, mental, and economic well-being; and (3) methods for and examples of technology designs that are more equitable and inclusive.  It also provides research training for underrepresented students. The results of this research will be of interest to policy makers, educators, and the general public.      This research increases scientific knowledge in Human-Computer Interaction and Social Computing about how technology can contribute to addressing challenges faced by people who are traditionally left out of design processes. The interdisciplinary team of researchers uses participatory design and qualitative research to study, build, and evaluate technologies to support marginalized communities. This research is expected to yield the following outcomes: 1) a comprehensive framework describing current gaps in technological innovation for people experiencing a significant life change; 2) design recommendations for how technology can address the needs and challenges of marginalized individuals; 3) innovative, human-centered augmented reality prototypes and techniques for supporting subcommunities in society; and 4) guidelines and heuristics for inclusive augmented reality. This is expected lead to potentially transformative theoretical and practical insights that extend Human-Computer Interaction research; it will do so by incorporating what we learn via technology designed with and for people who are not traditionally part of design processes.    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.",TRUE
2241069,"Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Small: Targeting Challenges in Computational Disinformation Research to Enhance Attribution, Detection, and Explanation",2025-04-18,University of California-Santa Barbara,SANTA BARBARA,CA,CA24,155967,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241069,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241069_4900,2023-03-01,2025-04-18,931060001,G9QBQDH39DF4,"The use of social media has accelerated information sharing and instantaneous communications. The low barrier to entering social media enables more users to participate and keeps them engaged longer, incentivizing individuals with a hidden agenda to spread disinformation online to manipulate information and sway opinion. Disinformation, such as fake news, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories, has increasingly become a hindrance to the functioning of online social media as an effective channel for trustworthy information. Cases are emerging where deliberately fabricated disinformation is weaponized to divide people and create detrimental societal effects. Therefore, it is imperative to understand disinformation and systematically investigate how to improve resistance against it, considering the tension between the need for information and security and protection from disinformation. The project aims to study the scientific underpinnings of disinformation and develop a computational framework to attribute, detect, and explain disinformation to inform policymaking.     The project involves fundamentally transforming the process to combat disinformation by developing new knowledge and a systematic computational framework to address major (provenance, data, and explanaibility) challenges of detecting online disinformation.  The techniques developed combine interdisciplinary theories and computational algorithms to help policymakers and social media users address disinformation. The project outcomes help advance state-of-the-art research on disinformation and introduce style-based and graph-based optimization methods that can determine the source of disinformation and its characteristics, disinformation detection methods requiring minimal data or supervision by harnessing multimodal data and high-level social context relations, and interpretable detection techniques that rely on well-established psychological and cognitive theories, and enable human interactions to enhance detection and explanation. More broadly, the project contributes to data mining, machine learning, graph mining, and text mining research as well social science research in communication and journalism on credibility, transparency, and disinformation mitigation.    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.",FALSE
2420678,Collaborative Research: EAGER: Intersectional Computing,2025-04-18,Emory University,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,92377,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420678,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420678_4900,2024-03-01,2025-04-30,303221061,S352L5PJLMP8,"Auburn University and Florida State University will collaborate to develop a series of workshops to engage members of the Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC) Alliances and Black, Latina and Native American women graduate students to develop a community of support in computing disciplines. Native American, Latina, and Black women are particularly underrepresented in computing with representation at all degree levels significantly less than the representation of these groups in the U.S. population. While prior work has has championed new approaches to student recruitment and preparation, less research has specifically focused on women of color and their lived experiences in the field of computing. An intersectional focus is important because the needs of women of color cannot be adequately addressed when interventions are designed and analyzed along a single axis of race or gender. Working in collaboration with the BPC Alliances, this project will serve as a step towards establishing a more inclusive and actionable research agenda focused on women of color, specifically Native American, Latina, and Black women in the field of computing. The project activities will center the lived experiences of women of color in computing and re-imagine efforts within and across the BPC-A’s while establishing an actionable research agenda around women of color.     BPC Alliances are uniquely positioned to integrate appropriate frameworks, approaches, and methodologies to transform computing education for women of color at scale, this project will implement  a series of workshops to engage members of the BPC Alliances and Black, Latina and Native American women graduate students to develop a community of support in the field of computing. The resulting intersectional research agenda will be a resource to the larger computing community, centering the lived experiences of Black, Latina, and Native women within each of the BPC Alliances and women graduate students enrolled in U.S. computing degree programs. Contributing to the diversity of ideas and perspectives, the project activities will (1) generate deep knowledge of the experiences of women of color; (2) explore the similarities and differences across Native American, Latina, and Black women populations in computing; (3) provide an analysis of the conditions under which different groups of women of color thrive; and (4) examine the trajectories of Native American, Latina, and Black women populations in computing.    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.",FALSE
2217770,SaTC: Small: Core: Using Markets to Address Manipulated Information Online,2025-04-18,Trustees of Boston University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,672287,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Information Technology Researc,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217770,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217770_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,022151703,THL6A6JLE1S7,"Societies function poorly without free speech.  They also function poorly when members cannot agree on basic facts.  This research seeks to discover technology-aided social structures that minimize the adverse impact of confusion about facts while promoting free speech. To accomplish these goals, the project develops, prototypes, and tests market mechanisms to dissuade sources of information from dissembling, to decentralize detection of false claims, and to change the incentive structure under which producing false claims is cheaper than producing honest news. It also seeks to decentralize governance so that no single party, neither a government nor a private firm, has content moderation authority. Finally, it provides a principled basis for updating Internet and media law concerning platform liability exemptions for user-generated content.    The proposed mechanism extends established economic theories of signaling and screening that allow authors to credibly signal information regarding the veracity of their claims while helping recipients believe which claims are honest. This mechanism puts the burden of proof on the author, in contrast to extant mechanisms that put the burden of proof on the recipients of information or on the platform. Testing is accomplished in a laboratory setting, using randomized control trials, the gold standard for establishing causality. Experimentation tests, for example, whether more honest candidates are more likely to win a tournament and whether more honest firms can sell more products. The claims made by authors will be decentralized.  Based on market design principles, the detection and the adjudication of false claims will also be decentralized. Security, privacy, and anonymity is proposed to be enforced by technology advances in the developed system.    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.",FALSE
2146448,CAREER: Empowering White-box Driven Analytics to Detect AI-synthesized Deceptive Content,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Dallas,RICHARDSON,TX,TX24,297562,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2146448,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2146448_4900,2022-10-01,2027-09-30,750803021,EJCVPNN1WFS5,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    Artificial intelligence (AI) synthesis techniques that automatically produce realistic images, videos, and other content have significantly improved over the past few years. Although there are promising legitimate applications of these techniques, they also raise serious trust and security threats. Cybercriminals increasingly weaponize AI synthesis techniques to deceive users and manipulate opinions without having to invest heavily in manual content generation. For instance, AI-synthesized profile photographs are abused to create fake accounts, while deepfake videos that simulate real people can give cybercriminals the ability to defame or impersonate others. Existing detection work mostly relies on ""black-box"" approaches that analyze content without considering the way the AI synthesis techniques work. This project's goal is to use ""white-box"" methods that consider how the techniques work, both to systematically detect AI-synthesized content, and to outline general principles that underlie how broad classes of AI synthesis algorithms work that will help detection algorithms adapt as new synthesis techniques are developed. The results of this research will reinforce user trust in online content and help social media sites and other Internet platforms mitigate deception through AI-synthesized content. The project team will integrate the new datasets and techniques developed in this research into undergraduate and graduate courses as well as online exercises to train future cybersecurity workers. The team will also support diverse participation in the research, actively recruiting and mentoring women and people from other under-represented groups.    This research aims to advance AI synthesis detection in terms of efficacy, generalizability, and robustness. The work focuses on detecting AI-synthesized images and videos, as humans are more likely to be attracted to and deceived by visual content. The developed analytics principles are envisioned to inspire new work in these areas and expand to detection of other types of AI-synthesized content. The project is organized around three research thrusts. First, the team will develop a unified analytic framework to systematically dissect AI-synthesis models and gain deep understanding of synthesis patterns common across the models. Second, based on these findings, the team will design generalizable approaches based on the frequency and pixel domains to efficiently detect AI-synthesized images and videos and operate at scale. Third, it will enhance detection robustness by proactively investigating adversarial evasion strategies and prioritizing detection techniques resistant to those strategies. The framework and the developed techniques will be thoroughly evaluated with large-scale real-world data. This research will contribute to establishing a principled detection paradigm and provide insights to prevail over future forms of AI-based deception and propaganda.    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.",FALSE
2241068,"Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Small: Targeting Challenges in Computational Disinformation Research to Enhance Attribution, Detection, and Explanation",2025-04-18,Illinois Institute of Technology,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,224033,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241068,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241068_4900,2023-03-01,2026-02-28,606163717,E2NDENMDUEG8,"The use of social media has accelerated information sharing and instantaneous communications. The low barrier to entering social media enables more users to participate and keeps them engaged longer, incentivizing individuals with a hidden agenda to spread disinformation online to manipulate information and sway opinion. Disinformation, such as fake news, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories, has increasingly become a hindrance to the functioning of online social media as an effective channel for trustworthy information. Cases are emerging where deliberately fabricated disinformation is weaponized to divide people and create detrimental societal effects. Therefore, it is imperative to understand disinformation and systematically investigate how to improve resistance against it, considering the tension between the need for information and security and protection from disinformation. The project aims to study the scientific underpinnings of disinformation and develop a computational framework to attribute, detect, and explain disinformation to inform policymaking.     The project involves fundamentally transforming the process to combat disinformation by developing new knowledge and a systematic computational framework to address major (provenance, data, and explanaibility) challenges of detecting online disinformation.  The techniques developed combine interdisciplinary theories and computational algorithms to help policymakers and social media users address disinformation. The project outcomes help advance state-of-the-art research on disinformation and introduce style-based and graph-based optimization methods that can determine the source of disinformation and its characteristics, disinformation detection methods requiring minimal data or supervision by harnessing multimodal data and high-level social context relations, and interpretable detection techniques that rely on well-established psychological and cognitive theories, and enable human interactions to enhance detection and explanation. More broadly, the project contributes to data mining, machine learning, graph mining, and text mining research as well social science research in communication and journalism on credibility, transparency, and disinformation mitigation.    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.",FALSE
2239879,"CAREER: Social Response-Powered Misinformation Detection, Robustness, and Correction",2025-04-18,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,120008,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239879,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2239879_4900,2023-05-15,2029-04-30,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"This project will invent methods to detect and correct misinformation on online platforms. Online misinformation poses an alarming threat to public health, democracy, science, and society. Addressing misinformation at scale remains a pressing challenge as current solutions rely on the limited resources of professional fact-checkers or moderators, which neither scales to newly emerging information issues nor directly addresses how to respond to misinformation in situ. This project will address these challenges through developing robust detection models that leverage user-generated responses to social media posts to identify potentially non-credible information. The team will also design a counter-response generation tool that can help everyday users effectively respond to misinformation, leveraging the models developed along with existing fact-checking resources and best practices in communication to suggest possible responses to incorrect posts that will help readers assess them. Together, the proposed work will boost information literacy in society and reduce the number of people exposed to misinformation. The team will also develop interdisciplinary coursework and research opportunities that will broaden both students’ toolkits for addressing misinformation in social media systems and the range of students who engage in it.    This project will advance scientific knowledge in misinformation, graph neural networks, adversarial learning, and social network analysis. The general approach is to leverage the social responses that ordinary users make on online posts, such as supporting, questioning, disbelieving, or countering claims, to robustly detect misinformation and suggest corrective responses. Around detection, the project will develop novel signed dynamic graph neural network models and network augmentation methods to address network sparsity issues. Around robustness, the project will create detection models that are robust to adversarial manipulation, by better modeling adversarial attacks carried out by groups of attackers, then creating defenses that optimize against fake response injections into social media comments. Around correction, the project seeks to empower social media users to correct misinformation by developing text generation methods to suggest effective counter-responses to posts estimated to contain information; these methods will be trained on data collected from professional fact-checking organizations and assessed in a series of studies. The project will also result in new models, datasets, benchmarks, and tools around misinformation that will promote future research on these topics.    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.",FALSE
2122673,CS for Oregon:  Antiracist Teacher Leadership for Statewide Transformation,2025-04-18,Portland State University,PORTLAND,OR,OR01,999968,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122673,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122673_4900,2021-10-01,2025-04-18,972015508,H4CAHK2RD945,"Portland State University, the University of Oregon, and Oregon State University-Cascades propose to continue the CS for Oregon project to develop and promote antiracist Computer Science Education in Oregon.  The project builds on the success of the 2017 CS for Oregon award (Award# 1738883), which provided Exploring Computer Science professional development to over 67 teachers to bring Exploring Computer Science classes to 49 schools in 36 school districts. The project team’s past efforts also initiated the training of three new ECS facilitators in the state.  The new project continues to expand the learning community of equity focused CS educators by continuing to offer the ECS Professional Development to teachers across the state, particularly in districts that serve historically excluded from commuter science.  It will also cultivate a group of Computer Science Social Justice Teacher Leaders who are building upon what they learned in ECS and applying it to developing antiracist curriculum and equitable programs of study in their schools and districts, and learning how to engage in district, regional, and statewide efforts to advance equity in Computer Science and STEM education.  In addition, the project team will work with the Oregon Department of Education to develop a computer science equitable learning outcomes report card to help statewide leadership celebrate the successes of schools that are broadening participation in the CS courses and programs of study.    The project team brings together expertise in Computer Science Research, Education Research, and High School teaching practice.  In addition to faculty from the three universities, the team includes a Computer Science Pathway teacher from McMinnville High School, who is an ECS teacher and an ECS facilitator.  Two team members have extensive experience working with Oregon’s regional STEM hubs, which are charged with improving outcomes and reducing equity gaps in STEM education.  The team works closely with key personnel from the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) as the Oregon team participating in the Expanding Computing Education Pathways (ECEP) BPC Alliance.    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.",TRUE
2318260,"Collaborative Research: An Equitable, Justice-Focused Ecosystem for Pacific Northwest Secondary CS Teaching",2025-04-18,Whitworth University,SPOKANE,WA,WA05,35893,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318260,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318260_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,992512515,K5P1N9G7SH79,"The University of Washington, Central Washington University, Western Washington University, Whitworth University, and Washington State University will bring together leaders of pre-service programs, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) chapters, Educational Service Districts (ESD), CTE directors, community organizations, and researchers to realize justice-focused secondary CS education in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. School districts across the country need more secondary computer science teachers, especially those who share the identities, values, and lived experiences of the students they teach. However, pathways for preparing and supporting computer science teachers are only just emerging, and many are struggling to recruit promising teachers into the profession and retain them long term. This project seeks to serve students and teachers who are women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and/or disabled, specifically by creating pathways into computer science teaching for teachers with these identities. This project will create a consortium of emerging pre-service programs across the Pacific Northwest to address, strengthen, and mature computer science teaching pathways in four ways: 1) organizing and sharing information about teaching pathways, 2) identifying and resolving key barriers to pathways that aspiring teachers face, 3) supporting computers science teacher community building in partnership with new and existing computer science teachers association chapters, and 4) supporting administrative leaders who manage and grow these pathways.     The CSforAll High School Strand project’s approach is to build an evidence-based networked improvement community, which deeply engages stakeholders across the region to identify opportunities for change, develop sustainable cross-institutional coordination practices, and use research as one tool of many to inform approaches to change. Research will particularly focus on answering 1) who is and isn’t informed about CS teaching pathways, and why; 2) what barriers aspiring teacher with identities marginalized in CS face in pursuing CS teaching careers; 3) how community gatherings amongst teachers with marginalized identities can support teacher retention; and 4) how solidarity amongst teacher education administrative leaders can support sustainability of pathways. These questions will be posed across urban and rural divides, helping to inform how values, communities, and state politics shape equitable access to computer science education in secondary schools across the Pacific Northwest.    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.",TRUE
2318259,"Collaborative Research: An Equitable, Justice-Focused Ecosystem for Pacific Northwest Secondary CS Teaching",2025-04-18,Western Washington University,BELLINGHAM,WA,WA02,231554,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318259,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318259_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,982255996,U3ZFA57417D4,"The University of Washington, Central Washington University, Western Washington University, Whitworth University, and Washington State University will bring together leaders of pre-service programs, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) chapters, Educational Service Districts (ESD), CTE directors, community organizations, and researchers to realize justice-focused secondary CS education in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. School districts across the country need more secondary computer science teachers, especially those who share the identities, values, and lived experiences of the students they teach. However, pathways for preparing and supporting computer science teachers are only just emerging, and many are struggling to recruit promising teachers into the profession and retain them long term. This project seeks to serve students and teachers who are women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and/or disabled, specifically by creating pathways into computer science teaching for teachers with these identities. This project will create a consortium of emerging pre-service programs across the Pacific Northwest to address, strengthen, and mature computer science teaching pathways in four ways: 1) organizing and sharing information about teaching pathways, 2) identifying and resolving key barriers to pathways that aspiring teachers face, 3) supporting computers science teacher community building in partnership with new and existing computer science teachers association chapters, and 4) supporting administrative leaders who manage and grow these pathways.     The CSforAll High School Strand project’s approach is to build an evidence-based networked improvement community, which deeply engages stakeholders across the region to identify opportunities for change, develop sustainable cross-institutional coordination practices, and use research as one tool of many to inform approaches to change. Research will particularly focus on answering 1) who is and isn’t informed about CS teaching pathways, and why; 2) what barriers aspiring teacher with identities marginalized in CS face in pursuing CS teaching careers; 3) how community gatherings amongst teachers with marginalized identities can support teacher retention; and 4) how solidarity amongst teacher education administrative leaders can support sustainability of pathways. These questions will be posed across urban and rural divides, helping to inform how values, communities, and state politics shape equitable access to computer science education in secondary schools across the Pacific Northwest.    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.",TRUE
2133964,Collaborative Research: HCC: Small: Science communication in the ecosystem of digital media platforms,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,78553,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2133964,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2133964_4900,2022-03-01,2026-02-28,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This research will investigate open questions about how scientific advances spread in the ecosystem of digital media platforms. Science communication has undergone dramatic changes over the past decades. Online platforms such as social media sites, electronic news outlets, blogs, and wikis are now used by most scholars and the public for sharing scientific findings. A better understanding of the online circulation of scientific advances is imperative because these new channels of connecting with the public have brought novel challenges in dealing with the uncontrolled distortion of information. Additionally, it remains difficult to identify reliable knowledge, given the increase of sensationalist presentations of scientific results. This work will merge ideas, approaches, and technologies from information science, communication, and journalism to address numerous issues of significant social and economic impact: (1) contributing to the improvement of public serving science journalism; (2) providing practical and actionable early predictions of science dissemination from collective cues on social media; (3) enriching the online experience of people around the globe with a better understanding and tracking of real-world message distortion campaigns; (4) informing key current crises related to misinformation; and, (5) guiding science policy with novel knowledge about science communication in the ecosystem of digital media platforms.    While most research on information diffusion has focused on individual platforms, this project will develop a critical multi-platform analysis framework for science communication. A primary goal is to discover fundamental knowledge about: (1) typical trajectories in the cross-platform dissemination of scientific articles, (2) how these trajectories connect to the impact of the work, its novelty, as well as the reactions from scholars and the public, (3) predictions of eventual reactions from early coverage patterns; and, (4) effects of clickbait and information distortion on dissemination. This project will illuminate how scientific findings are shared, discussed, and distorted online and provide empirical evidence of how early signals deduced from social media cues can be harnessed computationally to predict the coverage of scientific articles. The design of an interactive tool will demonstrate how traces of collective reactions can be compellingly and usefully presented to science journalists in real reporting scenarios. The work will be fueled by and will further existing theoretical and empirical research on the use of new media in science dissemination, assess intentional and unintentional information distortion online, harness collective cues from Web-based platforms for early prediction, and design information interfaces for journalists.    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.",FALSE
2315480,BPC-DP: Building Capacity for a Research Community on Black Women and Girls in Computing,2025-04-18,University of Florida,GAINESVILLE,FL,FL03,319723,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CISE Education and Workforce,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315480,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315480_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,326111941,NNFQH1JAPEP3,"The University of Florida seeks to address the underrepresentation of Black women and girls in computing, a critical issue that impacts both the advancement of science and the overall welfare of our society. Through the analysis of semi-structured interviews from the Modern Figures podcast and the collaboration of researchers, stakeholders, and the community, the project aims to build capacity for research collaborations and generate evidence-based strategies to broaden participation in computing. By uncovering the real, lived experiences of Black women and girls in computing, this project not only advances the field by identifying gaps in existing literature but also supports community and collaboration among key stakeholders. The project's outcomes have the potential to benefit society by ensuring that the advanced technology workforce includes all members, contributing to a more equitable and innovative future.    This Broadening Participation in Computing Demonstration Project has two primary goals: first, to conduct a thematic analysis of the semi-structured podcast interviews on Black women and girls in computing, identifying factors that promote interest, recruitment, persistence, and well-being in computing fields; and second, to foster research collaborations and knowledge exchange through a roundtable, scoping review, and listening sessions with the Black Women in Computing (BWiC)  Reseach community. By analyzing the collected data and commissioning thematic reports, the project will contribute to the understanding of the challenges and needs of Black women and girls in computing, generating evidence-based strategies for broadening participation. The roundtable will bring together researchers and stakeholders, facilitate collaboration, sharing of resources, and the development of strategic research agendas. The project's impact will be measured by the increased research collaboration, research community engagement, and dissemination of findings to a broader audience of researchers and practitioners through the listening sessions. Ultimately, this work seeks to advance the field, promote diversity, and benefit society by ensuring that the advanced technology workforce is inclusive and reflects the full range of talent and perspectives.    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.",TRUE
2318261,"Collaborative Research: An Equitable, Justice-Focused Ecosystem for Pacific Northwest Secondary CS Teaching",2025-04-18,Washington State University,PULLMAN,WA,WA05,17802,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318261,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318261_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,991640001,XRJSGX384TD6,"The University of Washington, Central Washington University, Western Washington University, Whitworth University, and Washington State University will bring together leaders of pre-service programs, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) chapters, Educational Service Districts (ESD), CTE directors, community organizations, and researchers to realize justice-focused secondary CS education in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. School districts across the country need more secondary computer science teachers, especially those who share the identities, values, and lived experiences of the students they teach. However, pathways for preparing and supporting computer science teachers are only just emerging, and many are struggling to recruit promising teachers into the profession and retain them long term. This project seeks to serve students and teachers who are women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and/or disabled, specifically by creating pathways into computer science teaching for teachers with these identities. This project will create a consortium of emerging pre-service programs across the Pacific Northwest to address, strengthen, and mature computer science teaching pathways in four ways: 1) organizing and sharing information about teaching pathways, 2) identifying and resolving key barriers to pathways that aspiring teachers face, 3) supporting computers science teacher community building in partnership with new and existing computer science teachers association chapters, and 4) supporting administrative leaders who manage and grow these pathways.     The CSforAll High School Strand project’s approach is to build an evidence-based networked improvement community, which deeply engages stakeholders across the region to identify opportunities for change, develop sustainable cross-institutional coordination practices, and use research as one tool of many to inform approaches to change. Research will particularly focus on answering 1) who is and isn’t informed about CS teaching pathways, and why; 2) what barriers aspiring teacher with identities marginalized in CS face in pursuing CS teaching careers; 3) how community gatherings amongst teachers with marginalized identities can support teacher retention; and 4) how solidarity amongst teacher education administrative leaders can support sustainability of pathways. These questions will be posed across urban and rural divides, helping to inform how values, communities, and state politics shape equitable access to computer science education in secondary schools across the Pacific Northwest.    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.",TRUE
2106476,HCC: Medium: Deterring objectionable behavior and fostering emergent norms in social media conversations,2025-04-18,Cornell University,ITHACA,NY,NY19,1197740,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2106476,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2106476_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,148502820,G56PUALJ3KT5,"This work seeks to develop a theoretical model for understanding the emergence and maintenance of norms to deter objectionable behavior in self-organized social media spaces where rules are not set by any authority.  Objectionable speech, such as misinformation, hate speech, and harassment, is prevalent in these online environments, which raises the question how individuals can foster norms to discourage objectionable speech. Yet while researchers note the influence of social norms within social media and online communities, existing theoretical work on the mechanisms through which such norms emerge focuses on norms promoting cooperation as opposed to norms that deter unwanted contributions. This project will benefit public discourse in online spaces, as well as research and educational outcomes, by: (1) Developing interventions that help citizens become effective objectors to the misinformation, hate speech and harassment they are likely to encounter on social media; (2) Developing a novel research tool for bridging individual and collective experimentation; (3) Providing and disseminating theoretical models of how individual and collective audiences respond to objections to problematic content in different domains, and (4) Raising awareness of the potential for objections, even if well-intentioned, to backfire in particular audience conditions. The result of this research will be a theoretical advancement in the understanding of emergent norms for the deterrence of unwanted behaviors as well as an internally and externally validated multi-level model recommending concrete strategies to be deployed in the real world.    This research seeks to achieve these goals through a multi-level, multi-method inquiry. It will test the impact of different ways of objecting to misinformation, hate speech, and harassment under different collective conditions in the audience and different social media affordances. The project proceeds in four research phases: real world observation, individual-level experimentation, agent-based simulation, and collective-level experimentation.  These are followed by a field implementation phase. In the observation phase, it will obtain real-world objections to offensive speech from social media and map these into a theoretical space. In the individual-level experimentation phase, it will use a novel simulated social media environment to test whether effects observed in the observational phase have causal influence at the individual level. The agent-based simulation phase will use the individual-level mechanisms to build simulations of interactions between objectors and audience members at scale. In the collective experimentation phase, the research will test whether the collective dynamics of interaction among real people match those produced by the agent-based simulation. Finally, in the field implementation phase, the evidence-based strategies derived from the research will build scalable online learning modules to train social media users on how to be effective objectors when encountering a discursive offense in social media.    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.",FALSE
2323795,Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Medium: Information Integrity: A User-centric Intervention,2025-04-18,University of North Carolina at Charlotte,CHARLOTTE,NC,NC12,217000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323795,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2323795_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,282230001,JB33DT84JNA5,"Combating misinformation in the digital age has been a challenging subject with significant social implications, as misinformation continues to impact contentious contemporary events from elections to responses to pandemics. Despite decades of research, misinformation remains a serious threat as most technical mitigation methods focus on improving detection accuracy and fail to consider social and emotional perspectives. This project assists in enhancing information integrity by identifying influencing communities, agents, and culturally resonant information to identify tipping points in public dialogue on controversial issues and offering venues of user-centric interventions at scale.    This project moves away from source-centric accuracy detection and debunking to focus on user-centric interventions that integrates psychological and socio-cultural constructs, computational theories, and machine learning (ML) algorithms to prototype interventions for testing. The first focus of research has the goal of analyzing and identifying social norm emergence--the shared beliefs or acceptable behaviors of communities, and tipping points when beliefs are about to change rapidly. The second focus of this research  is to uncover the cultural contexts of belief, personalized to each individual, to optimzie the receptivity of scientific evidence in online network dissemination. The third pillar (Interaction) provides human-in-the-loop visual analytics framework to support users in verifying and making users' own decisions as to what they belief. Underpinning this work is the development and testing of novel deep learning models based on topology ML, which effectively predict heterogeneous social norm emergence for timely intervention, identify top trusted features for engagement, and temporal explainable artificial intelligence for transparent interaction with users. The involvement of leading misinformation mitigation and journalism education organizations such as the Poynter Institute helps to ensure social impacts in the field.    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.",FALSE
2247867,Collaborative Research: SaTC: TTP: Medium: iDRAMA.cloud: A Platform for Measuring and Understanding Information Manipulation,2025-04-18,SUNY at Binghamton,BINGHAMTON,NY,NY19,505017,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Special Projects - CNS,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2247867,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2247867_4900,2023-10-01,2027-09-30,13902,NQMVAAQUFU53,"Social media has become crucial to our society, especially when it comes to the rapid and broad dissemination of information. However, bad actors have exploited social media, for example via information manipulation. While there have been efforts made to address the problem, there are a variety of challenges that make it difficult to study and combat information manipulation in practice. This project aims to address these challenges by transitioning a set of algorithms, software frameworks, and system designs out of the research lab into the hands of active practitioners to help identify and mitigate information manipulation (misinformation and dis-information). This project’s novelties are the design and development of production capable, open-source software suite to enable the rapid collection, management, and analysis of social media data. The project’s broader significance and importance is primarily related to ensuring the stability of the information ecosystem.  The production ready software created under the project can also help educate future practitioners about fundamental software development skills in the areas of systems, machine learning, and data science.    In this proposal, the project team aims to transition the tooling that has enabled cutting edge research into practice. The project team will develop a full featured crawler construction toolkit built from experiences working on a variety of large-scale social media data collection systems. Next, the project team will develop a data characterization and augmentation toolkit, integrating state-of-the-art techniques from information manipulation research. Finally, the project team will develop a set of data access and sharing APIs, including a federation subsystem, that practitioners can build new technologies around.    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.",FALSE
2210011,EAGER: DCL: SaTC: Enabling Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Improving Human Discernment of Audio Deepfakes via Multi-level Information Augmentation,2025-04-18,University of Maryland Baltimore County,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,331839,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Special Projects - CNS,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210011,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210011_4900,2022-06-01,2025-04-18,212500001,RNKYWXURFRL5,"This project increases listeners’ discernment of audio deepfakes through augmentation of information, both technological and sociolinguistic. This project establishes an innovative pathway for collaborative research across sociolinguistics, human centered analytics, and data science and lays the groundwork for future analyses of deepfakes that are broadly relevant across disciplines, informed by human behavioral perspectives. The project will address the societal challenge of misinformation by generating insights that can increase the ability of listeners – particularly college students, whose lives are indelibly shaped by technology – to evaluate the veracity and authenticity of information online. The project's broader significance is to address the societal challenge of misinformation by generating insights that can help empower listeners to make decisions about how to evaluate the veracity and authenticity of information they encounter online. The project improves understanding and modeling of how deepfakes are involved in spreading misinformation and tracking how language technology is adapted for social harm and/or used in unethical ways.     The proposed work will increase listeners’ discernment of audio deepfakes through augmentation of information that draws upon integrated interdisciplinary knowledge and advances data augmentation as an important tool for deepfake detection. The objectives of the project are to: (1) Study and evaluate listener perceptions of audio deepfakes that have been created with varying degrees of linguistic complexity; (2) Study and evaluate the efficacy of training sessions that increase listeners’ sociolinguistic perceptual ability and improve their ability to discern deepfake audio content; (3) Augment the audio deepfake discernment via multi-level temporal and linguistic signatures, informed by training and linguistic labeling; (4) Evaluate the impact of augmented signature information on listener perceptions of audio deepfakes; (5) Create open-access online modules and materials with social science and data science student involvement to improve listeners’ discernment of audio cues on a wider public scale.    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.",FALSE
2040209,Collaborative Research: SaTC: TTP: Small: DeFake: Deploying a Tool for Robust Deepfake Detection,2025-04-18,Rochester Institute of Tech,ROCHESTER,NY,NY25,443754,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,International Research Collab,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2040209,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2040209_4900,2021-10-01,2025-04-18,146235603,J6TWTRKC1X14,"Deepfakes – videos that are generated or manipulated by artificial intelligence – pose a major threat for spreading disinformation, threatening blackmail, and new forms of phishing. They are already widely used in creating non-consensual pornography, and have begun to be used to undermine governments and elections. Even the threat of deepfakes has cast doubts on the authenticity of videos in the news. Journalists, who have a key role in verifying information, especially need help to deal with ever-improving deepfake technology. Recent results on detecting deepfakes are promising, with close to 100% accuracy in lab tests, but few systems are available for real-world use. It is critical to move beyond accuracy on curated datasets and address the needs of journalists who could benefit from these advances.    The objective of this transition-to-practice project is to develop the DeFake tool, a system that utilizes advanced machine learning to help journalists detect deepfakes in a way that is robust, intuitive, and provides results that are explainable to the general public. To meet this objective, the project team is engaged in four main tasks: (1) Making the tool robust to new types of deepfakes, and having it show users why a video is fake; (2) Protecting the tool from adversarial examples – small perturbations to a video that are specially crafted to fool detection systems; (3) Working with journalists to understand what they need from the tool, and building an online community to discuss deepfakes and their detection; and (4) Integrating advances from the other tasks into a stable, efficient, and useful tool, and actively disseminating this tool to journalists. The project team is also leveraging visually interesting deepfakes to develop engaging education and outreach efforts, such as a museum-style exhibit on deepfake detection meant for broad audiences of all ages.    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.",FALSE
2314238,"A Climate of Hope: Investigating learning at an innovative exhibit towards new knowledge, theory, and practice of climate change learning with diverse audiences",2025-04-18,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,1124593,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Special Initiatives,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314238,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314238_4900,2023-08-15,2025-04-18,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"This project builds on two prior NSF awards that supported development of a climate change exhibit at the Natural History Museum of Utah through deep engagement with research and rigorous prototyping. Grounded in key ideas from science communication, this exhibit is designed to support new, productive types of engagement around the topic of climate change among the diverse communities of Salt Lake City, Utah. This project will study how visitors learn from the exhibit, with the goal of developing guidelines that other informal STEM education institutions can follow to develop similar exhibits that can engage diverse audiences in conversations about climate change.     Specifically, this project plans to study five different framings developed via pilot work (rational hope, better future, local context, community action, and playfulness). The research will explore how these frames influence the knowledge, emotion, and identity resources used in conversation by diverse and historically marginalized learners. Such learners are often at the frontline of climate change but are not typically targeted by climate change education. As a result, they can find existing climate change communication hard to engage with, even though climate issues intersect with their lives in meaningful ways. In studying learning at and beyond the exhibit, this project seeks to develop theory around how science issues can be framed for diverse informal education communities, explore how such framing strategies can be taken up for community climate action, and use the results to further refine the exhibit. The project will recruit community boards to consult on the research and design work. Data will be gathered from purposively sampled populations, and will include audio/video recordings of visitor engagement with the exhibit, pre-surveys, and delayed post-surveys and interviews. Inductive coding, deductive coding, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, and case analysis will be used to address the research questions: 1) Which knowledge, emotion, and identity resources do visitors use in conversations about climate chance? 2) How does their use influence visitors' learning trajectories? And, 3) How do resource use and learning trajectories vary across learners with different identities? The intellectual merit lies in contributions made to both the learning sciences and science communication fields by extending the theoretical understanding of what forms of climate science communication work, for whom, and why. The broader impacts arise from how these discoveries can foster learners' critical appraisal of the connections between STEM and society, and support learners in making informed judgments about how STEM intersects with their daily lives. Dissemination efforts will focus on a national network of museum practitioners seeking to advance climate-related learning experiences, as well as continued community-based work in the Salt Lake Valley and at the University of Utah.     This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2055237,Collaborative Research: Mapping professional support networks of women and gender and sexual minorities in physics,2025-04-18,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,455399,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055237,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055237_4900,2021-07-01,2025-04-18,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"This project is a collaboration among the University of Utah as the lead institution and Western Michigan University and Wright State University as partners to investigate how women and gender and sexual minorities (GSM) construct and navigate their professional networks to support their post PhD physics careers. The goal is to use social network analysis with qualitative methods to characterize the professional support networks of women and GSM physicists to test the central hypothesis: professional support networks of these physicists will include substantial out-of-field or out-of-hierarchy elements and that significant differences may appear by employment sector.  The specific aims are to (1) identify the types of professional support networks experienced by GSM physicists, (2) compare professional support networks and career trajectories between different GSM identities, (3) compare professional support network characteristics among physics employment sectors, and (4) synthesize results into a professional support network survey that can be distributed to a wider scientist audience.  The project will provide a nuanced understanding of these changing roles and structures with the goal of broadening participation in physics for underrepresented or marginalized groups.      The project will employ standpoint theory to investigate research questions that are aligned with the project aims. The framework motivates the importance of in-depth data collection that centers an individual with their multitude of experiences. It also suggests that individuals from underserved groups should not be compared to those from majority groups, but investigators should focus knowledge production from their voices and lives. Investigators will conduct semi-structured interviews to address three research questions: (1) How are the professional support networks of women and GSM in physics characterized? (2) How satisfied are women and GSM in physics with their career trajectories and current jobs? What network patterns are associated with higher satisfaction and sense of professional identity? (3) What similarities and differences exist among employment sectors?  Investigators will use qualitative methods to analyze and code participant surveys and ego network analysis to focus the exploration of the professional networks of women and GSM physicists. The project contributes guidance for universities, professional societies, and mentors to better understand the professional network needs of women and GSM scientists.      The project is funded by the EHR Core Research program that supports fundamental research focused on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM professional workforce development.    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.",TRUE
2328610,Postdoctoral Training Program to Develop Critical Research Skills,2025-04-18,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,648784,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2328610,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2328610_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"There is a critical need to increase the number of individuals with relevant expertise that align with emerging economic needs in areas such as high-tech manufacturing, artificial intelligence, safe renewable energies, and cyber security.  In order to meet these needs, it is of the utmost importance that STEM education researchers come from diverse perspectives to help identify and answer consequential questions relating to STEM education research, including gender and sexual minorities. This postdoctoral research cohort program seeks to train early-career scholars to carry out STEM education research projects that incorporate analyses at the institutional, classroom, and cultural levels.  The program is designed to prepare postdoctoral fellows for careers who are well-positioned to lead productive careers carrying out research aligned with emerging needs and is policy relevant.  The cohort program is designed to foster a sense of belonging through a STEM education research community.     This project is designed to recruit and train a cohort of three postdoctoral scholars to address intersectional concerns of marginalization and disciplinary activity in STEM. The project is designed to respond to the need to (1) support early-career STEM education researchers who have strong potential to address the needs of STEM learners that are under-researched and (2) help postdoctoral fellows to further develop skills required to conduct rigorous STEM education research that analyze phenomena at the institutional, cultural, and classroom-levels.  Fellows will be engaged in research through two research rotations prior to choosing two permanent mentors (one in science education and one in critical studies) to support them in creating and implementing an independent research project.  The project incorporates a rich series of development opportunities including mentoring, conference attendance, and a research symposium.    This project is funded by the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field.    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.",TRUE
2322915,Collaborative Research: Mapping professional support networks of women and gender and sexual minorities in physics,2025-04-18,University of Utah,SALT LAKE CITY,UT,UT01,32648,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2322915,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2322915_4900,2023-06-01,2025-04-18,841129049,LL8GLEVH6MG3,"This project is a collaboration among the University of Utah as the lead institution and Western Michigan University and Wright State University as partners to investigate how women and gender and sexual minorities (GSM) construct and navigate their professional networks to support their post PhD physics careers. The goal is to use social network analysis with qualitative methods to characterize the professional support networks of women and GSM physicists to test the central hypothesis: professional support networks of these physicists will include substantial out-of-field or out-of-hierarchy elements and that significant differences may appear by employment sector.  The specific aims are to (1) identify the types of professional support networks experienced by GSM physicists, (2) compare professional support networks and career trajectories between different GSM identities, (3) compare professional support network characteristics among physics employment sectors, and (4) synthesize results into a professional support network survey that can be distributed to a wider scientist audience.  The project will provide a nuanced understanding of these changing roles and structures with the goal of broadening participation in physics for underrepresented or marginalized groups.      The project will employ standpoint theory to investigate research questions that are aligned with the project aims. The framework motivates the importance of in-depth data collection that centers an individual with their multitude of experiences. It also suggests that individuals from underserved groups should not be compared to those from majority groups, but investigators should focus knowledge production from their voices and lives. Investigators will conduct semi-structured interviews to address three research questions: (1) How are the professional support networks of women and GSM in physics characterized? (2) How satisfied are women and GSM in physics with their career trajectories and current jobs? What network patterns are associated with higher satisfaction and sense of professional identity? (3) What similarities and differences exist among employment sectors?  Investigators will use qualitative methods to analyze and code participant surveys and ego network analysis to focus the exploration of the professional networks of women and GSM physicists. The project contributes guidance for universities, professional societies, and mentors to better understand the professional network needs of women and GSM scientists.      The project is funded by the EHR Core Research program that supports fundamental research focused on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM professional workforce development.    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.",FALSE
2320884,Water Science and Technology Board and Its Activities,2025-04-18,National Academy of Sciences,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,200000,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems",EnvE-Environmental Engineering,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2320884,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2320884_4900,2023-09-01,2028-08-31,204180007,PKFJZHG2MLG9,"This NSF award will provide core support for the activities of the Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB) of the Division on Earth and Life Studies of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM). WSTB provides an important convening function for discussion and sharing of knowledge among academia, government, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector on topics of relevance to water science, engineering, technology, and policy. WSTB organizes two public meetings each year and oversees a range of consensus studies, workshops, and other activities through agreements with federal agencies and other sponsors. At its semiannual meetings, the Board invites presentations, and coordinates discussions on significant and emerging water-related topics of national and global importance. Proposed topics of discussion during this award period will include the impact of climate change and associated extreme weather events (e.g., droughts, floods, and wildfires) on water quantity, quality, and availability from both a hydrological and engineering perspective; innovative surveillance methods for contaminants of emerging concern (CECs); environmental justice and inequities in drinking water and wastewater resource allocation and management; and the co-production of knowledge on water resources management in collaboration with relevant stakeholders and holders of traditional bodies of knowledge including Indigenous, rural, and underrepresented communities. During this award period, WSTB will also leverage NSF core support funding to seek out opportunities to engage with other federal agencies. This strategic engagement will enable WSTB to better understand the federal water landscape and provide both WSTB and NSF with opportunities to identify synergies on water related crosscutting grand challenges and research needs as the Nation develops and implements a plan to achieve water security under a changing climate.     Water is essential to the existence of all forms of life. In the United States, the development of water infrastructure has expanded the control and immediate availability of water resources well beyond their natural surface or subsurface boundaries, but also often beyond their natural capacities for replenishment. The societal need of clean water for potable, agricultural, and industrial usages rely on continuing to advance technology, but also on a deep understanding of the global water cycle and its interactions with other natural Earth systems. This is becoming ever more urgent with climate change and changing land use patterns (causing or exacerbating extreme weather events such as drought, flooding, wildfires, and aridification), and with the increasing contamination of surface water systems and groundwater aquifers with contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) such as PFAS and microplastic waste. The Water Science and Technology Board (WSTB) was established in 1982 to oversee and conduct water-related activities at the National Academies. This charge is broad, covering all aspects of water science, engineering, technology, and policy. As a standing body, WSTB combines decades of professional expertise with a unique neutral convening forum that allows it to provide a scientific and technological foundation for stewardship of water resources in the Unites States and beyond. Broad themes that WSTB might explore during this NSF award period will include impacts of climate change (such as drought, flooding, wildfire, and aridification) on water availability and quality; environmental justice and water equity for underserved populations; next generation drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems; water reallocation and reuse; managed aquifer recharge; impact of emerging contaminants (e.g. PFAS and micro/nano plastics) on water quality and availability; floodplain management; water systems engineering; aquatic ecosystem functioning and restoration; and legal, economic, and regulatory aspects of waterbodies. These are examples of areas where near-term input and engagement from the water science and engineering community would be critical as the Nation develops and implements a plan to achieve water security in the 21st century.     This award is co-funded by the NSF CBET Environmental Engineering and EAR Hydrologic Sciences programs.    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.",TRUE
2214215,Collaborative Research: HNDS-R: Dynamics and Mechanisms of Information Spread via Social Media,2025-04-18,University of California-Los Angeles,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA36,327276,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human Networks & Data Sci Infr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214215,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214215_4900,2022-08-15,2025-07-31,900244200,RN64EPNH8JC6,"There has never been so much information available at everyone’s fingertips than there is today. Unfortunately, with so much information  comes a lot of misinformation that can be spread to human populations and adopted by them as the truth. Understanding how information flows and its impact on human behavior is important for determining how to protect society from the effects of misinformation, propaganda, and “fake news.”   This project traces how information spreads on social media channels and how ideas, opinions, and beliefs change as they spread.  Conducting this research requires combining concepts from computational social sciences, computer science, sociology, and statistics to understand the fundamentals of information spread in social media    This project develops a new approach to the study of information diffusion that brings together several different mechanisms for information flow.  Together these are used to analyze how information spreads in social media.  The research has two main goals: First, it will spot and predict opinion trends and identify users’ polarization on topics of broad interest to society (e.g., climate change or the Covid-19 pandemic). Second, it will track information propagation to understand its role in shaping opinion trends and identify the factors that are important for its spread and adoption. The researchers have access to a large amount of data that permits them to build and test large-scale models of information diffusion.  The outcomes of this project include new computer algorithms that are capable of understanding information flow in social media and new avenues for research in the science of information spread and diffusion.    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.",FALSE
2318257,"Collaborative Research: An Equitable, Justice-Focused Ecosystem for Pacific Northwest Secondary CS Teaching",2025-04-18,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,1086476,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318257,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318257_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"The University of Washington, Central Washington University, Western Washington University, Whitworth University, and Washington State University will bring together leaders of pre-service programs, Computer Science Teachers Association (CSTA) chapters, Educational Service Districts (ESD), CTE directors, community organizations, and researchers to realize justice-focused secondary CS education in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. School districts across the country need more secondary computer science teachers, especially those who share the identities, values, and lived experiences of the students they teach. However, pathways for preparing and supporting computer science teachers are only just emerging, and many are struggling to recruit promising teachers into the profession and retain them long term. This project seeks to serve students and teachers who are women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans, and/or disabled, specifically by creating pathways into computer science teaching for teachers with these identities. This project will create a consortium of emerging pre-service programs across the Pacific Northwest to address, strengthen, and mature computer science teaching pathways in four ways: 1) organizing and sharing information about teaching pathways, 2) identifying and resolving key barriers to pathways that aspiring teachers face, 3) supporting computers science teacher community building in partnership with new and existing computer science teachers association chapters, and 4) supporting administrative leaders who manage and grow these pathways.     The CSforAll High School Strand project’s approach is to build an evidence-based networked improvement community, which deeply engages stakeholders across the region to identify opportunities for change, develop sustainable cross-institutional coordination practices, and use research as one tool of many to inform approaches to change. Research will particularly focus on answering 1) who is and isn’t informed about CS teaching pathways, and why; 2) what barriers aspiring teacher with identities marginalized in CS face in pursuing CS teaching careers; 3) how community gatherings amongst teachers with marginalized identities can support teacher retention; and 4) how solidarity amongst teacher education administrative leaders can support sustainability of pathways. These questions will be posed across urban and rural divides, helping to inform how values, communities, and state politics shape equitable access to computer science education in secondary schools across the Pacific Northwest.    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.",TRUE
2243822,"NRT-HDR: Computational Research for Equity in the Legal System"" (CRELS)",2025-04-18,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,3000000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243822,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243822_4900,2023-07-01,2025-04-18,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"The criminal legal system is an important driver of inequities and social and economic polarization, and legal institutions are at the leading edge of use – and misuse – of artificial intelligence. The increasing availability of “big data” from (and about) criminal legal systems – and the people who are enmeshed in them – provides a new opportunity to illuminate inequities and their sources. This National Science Foundation Research Traineeship (NRT) award to the University of California, Berkeley will develop novel interventions to reduce inequities and their resulting harms  in criminal legal systems.  New scientific knowledge will be generated through the development of tools for large-scale, ""human-in-the-loop"" analysis of criminal justice data, and will be used in the generation of new insights regarding legal system processes, impacts, and institutions. Faculty and trainees will collaborate across disciplines to simultaneously address social-science and policy questions regarding equity and criminal legal institutions, the development of tools and methods for leveraging newly available data from the criminal legal system, and ethical and social implications of big data and AI in the context of criminal justice. This NRT will train a new generation of researchers interested in computational approaches to equity and legal systems, enabling them to develop and evaluate public policy solutions that can mitigate social and economic polarization. It will also train a diverse workforce with flexible and transferrable computational skills, while also training social and data scientists in ethical AI and its social implications. It will create a transformative, cross-disciplinary model for graduate training at Berkeley and elsewhere, while also developing a broad-based recruiting and mentoring program to enhance training of students from underrepresented groups, which, in turn, helps to diversify the STEM workforce. The project anticipates training 50 PhD students, including 25 funded trainees, from the Social Sciences, Computer Science, and Statistics.      Recent public and policy interest in the criminal legal system coupled with new government efforts to make data public and leverage data for public policy creates new opportunities to study the criminal legal system, but only if such data can be made ready for analysis. The criminal legal system is critical terrain for evaluating how pervasive data collection and algorithmic decision-making can be brought into the service of society, while addressing potent challenges that can accompany these approaches. Big data and AI can give us broader and more precise knowledge of the dynamics of social systems and hold potential to increase transparency and support fairer decision-making. At the same time, areas relating to criminal justice have seen a massive expansion of surveillance, data production and reuse, and algorithmic decision-making often without oversight, recourse, or evidence about effectiveness in addressing underlying issues. Data technologies in criminal justice have grounded new social schema of classification and accompanying social hierarchies – from recidivism risk scores to predictive policing – with important implications for opportunity and life chances. Our goal is to develop tools for continuous ingestion, integration, and cleaning of structured and unstructured data, and the analysis of such data. Using a combination of large pre-trained AI models coupled with data management and human-computer interaction techniques, we will develop tools to ingest information from various government and online sources, turning it into structured data for analysis. These efforts will lead to novel and generalizable tools for semi-autonomous and continuous data processing, as well as integration at scale, that also preserves privacy and promotes equity.    The NSF Research Traineeship (NRT) Program is designed to encourage the development and implementation of bold, new potentially transformative models for STEM graduate education training. The program is dedicated to effective training of STEM graduate students in high priority interdisciplinary or convergent research areas through comprehensive traineeship models that are innovative, evidence-based, and aligned with changing workforce and research needs.    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.",TRUE
2315277,Building Capacity to Institutionalize Equity in Outdoor and Environmental Science Education,2025-04-18,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,1701416,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315277,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315277_4900,2024-01-01,2028-12-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"This project aims to advance racial equity in outdoor and environmental science education (OESE) by co-developing, implementing, and studying a replicable model for organizational capacity building and transformation. This project will increase the capacity of organizations to build more racially just and equitable work environments for Professionals of Color in OESE.  It is a collaboration among a research and learning design team at a large public university (the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley), a community-based racial and environmental justice organization (Justice Outside), and a data and strategic consultancy firm (Informing Change). The project will support a team of leaders from five organizations to facilitate and guide organization-wide discussions related to racial equity. Through this work, the project will develop and formalize a Racial Equity Transformation Tool Kit to activate field-wide change. The Tool Kit will include three components: 1) Facilitator's Reflection Guide, 2) Foundations of Racial Equity Guide, and 3) Organization Systems Change Tools. The project includes collaborative and interconnected research and evaluation components to inform project activities, assess the effectiveness of the capacity-building model, and examine how race and power shape the everyday experiences of Professionals of Color and the organizational journey to advance systems change.    Drawing on a racialized conditions of systems change framework, research findings will build on theoretical and practical understandings of how racialized conditions shape the enactment of organizational transformation towards a more racially just and equitable work environment, namely for Professionals of Color.). The project will explore three research questions using a qualitative, case study approach: (RQ1) What are the conditions necessary in OESE organizations to move towards a racially equitable and just work environment for Professionals of Color, and what can transformative change look like?; (RQ2) What are meaningful indicators for Professionals of Color of a racially just and equitable work environment in OESE organizations?; and (RQ3) How do Professionals of Color make meaning of their experiences in the field-at-large, and what factors shape the experiences of Professionals of Color? The evaluation will utilize a mixed-methods design to explore the key design and implementation features that can employ critical levers or address barriers to position participants to authentically engage in organizational transformation. Collectively, the research and evaluation will lead to new understandings of how to conceptualize, enact, and assess systems change in OESE organizations, which can offer critical insights to STEM education more broadly. By bridging research and evaluation, the project will provide insight with respect to Racialized Conditions of Systems Change framework, exploring the interplay between the social, institutional, cultural, and individual factors and organizational conditions to identify key indicators of systems change.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2314435,"Collaborative Research: Electoral Systems, Suburbanization, and Representation",2025-04-18,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,37805,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314435,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314435_4900,2023-08-01,2025-07-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"One traditional solution to electoral concerns about constituent representation in local government is to abolish large multi-member districts and create smaller, single-winner electoral districts, some of which are designed to encompass minority neighborhoods. While this traditional remedy might help under some conditions, there is a strong possibility that it may not work as well in rapidly changing metro areas. Such areas are common, as residents migrate to and from city centers and suburban neighborhoods. Some suburban areas have become heterogeneous, while others have become homogeneous. In such contexts, because of the nature of candidate recruitment, the traditional remedy of creating smaller/single-winner districts could backfire and limit the effectiveness of potential remedy for identified representational concern. This study explores the conditions under which minority representation can be achieved in the context of ongoing suburbanization and gentrification. The study will also make a wealth of fine-grained data available to researchers and members of the public through a user-friendly web interface.       The study explores the conditions under which descriptive and substantive representation can be achieved in the context of ongoing suburbanization and gentrification, paying special attention to two of the most important electoral systems used for local governance: multi-seat at-large and single-member district plurality.  Specifically, the project will include a large-scale data collection effort combining population demographics, candidate characteristics, institutional structure, and policy outcomes for 88 municipalities and 22 school districts from 1970 to the present. The project team will conduct representative surveys of voters, elected officials, and past candidates. Data will be analyzed to identify the conditions under which minorities run for local office and are successful as well as the conditions under which descriptive representation leads to substantive representation. As time-honored tools for protecting minority voting rights and representation are being invalidated by courts, these data will provide crucial evidence regarding new reform efforts relevant to many urban areas around the country.    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.",TRUE
2314075,Understanding the Impact of Outdoor Science and Environmental Learning Experiences Through Community-Driven Outcomes,2025-04-18,University of California-Berkeley,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,1583195,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314075,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314075_4900,2024-01-01,2027-12-31,947101749,GS3YEVSS12N6,"Scientific and environmental literacy are valuable outcomes linked to academic learning, career pathways, and broader engagement in science and environmental fields and causes. However, while current tools for measuring these concepts are useful for measuring some dimensions of impact, they are aligned with dominant views that can marginalize, exclude, and erase the knowledge and expertise of communities of color. This project will employ a community-driven process, centering the voices of communities of color, to identify meaningful and relevant outcomes and develop research tools to measure scientific and environmental literacy. We will then conduct a national study to measure the impact of outdoor science and environmental learning (OSEL) experiences on students' scientific and environmental literacy. This study will contribute new understandings of how race and culture influence learning, as well as how racism and biases have shaped research to date. This project will produce a suite of psychometrically tested tools that are driven by communities of color, improving the field's ability to measure learning outcomes while also taking one step to counteract a long history of marginalization in research. The work will contribute to existing bodies of literature on the benefits of outdoor learning and the role OSEL experiences can play in developing science and environmental literacy.     The research will explore four questions across three phases. Phase 1 (Defining Outcomes) will explore: (1) What do scientific literacy and environmental literacy mean to communities of color? and (2) What outcomes are most meaningful for youth of color who engage in outdoor science learning experiences, and how can they be measured? A Community Research Network (CRN) composed of youth, educators, leaders, and community members of partnering OSEL organizations will engage in an iterative process of idea generation, data collection, and sensemaking to articulate and co-develop a set of outcome measures. These measures will be piloted with heterogeneous organizations serving diverse communities and will result in finalized items and scales. In Phase 2 (Measuring Impact) will explore: (3) In what ways do OSEL programs influence scientific and environmental outcomes for youth, particularly youth of color? (4) How do youth of color make meaning of these experiences? Phase 2 will include a quantitative study, using the instruments developed in Phase 1, at OSEL programs across the country, while also seeking to understand how youth of color make meaning of these experiences through a focal student case study approach at selected case sites. Finally, in Phase 3, the research team and the CRN will collaborate to share findings with the field, including through a conceptual framework that articulates the outcomes and structures within and adjacent to OSEL organizations that enable youth to thrive. Built on the premise that both research and praxis in OSEL have reinforced the oppression and marginalization of people of color, this project holds the goal that our community-driven approach and our creation of new community-driven measures will push researchers and practitioners to grapple with what it means to move towards more just and equitable practices in research and practice.     This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2329570,A Postdoctoral Fellowship in Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses,2025-04-18,"Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.",ATLANTA,GA,GA05,1207522,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2329570,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2329570_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,303032921,MNS7B9CVKDN7,"Improving students' performance in STEM subjects is crucial for their future career readiness and the development of essential 21st-century skills. Policymakers have prioritized education initiatives to support U.S. students' achievement in STEM. However, evidence indicates ongoing challenges in increasing mathematics and science outcomes, particularly for students from minoritized groups, including students of color, low-income students, and students with disabilities. To address this issue, teachers need access to evidence-based interventions to tailor their instruction and meet these students' learning needs, thus increasing their access to the science and math curricula. Yet, there is still much to learn about the most effective math and science interventions for these students and the conditions that impact their effectiveness. High-quality, comprehensive reviews of studies on math and science interventions focused on these students are suitable for identifying the most promising instructional practices and the conditions under which they are effective. By conducting these reviews, we can identify effective strategies and techniques to improve math and science outcomes for these students, promoting fair and equitable access to the mathematics and science curricula, and ultimately contributing to more inclusive and effective educational practices. However, a lack of scholars, especially those from minoritized backgrounds, with advanced knowledge and skills in conducting high-quality reviews to identify evidence-based mathematics and science practices for these students remains a challenge.     The post-doctoral program aims to prepare the next generation of scholars with expertise in conducting high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses focused on math and science outcomes for K-12 students from minoritized groups. The program emphasizes situated learning research, cohort-building, and networking to prepare a cohort of post-doctoral fellows to acquire and apply advanced techniques for conducting high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses to identify evidence-based interventions for increasing these students' mathematics and science proficiency. They will also explore sources of heterogeneity in these interventions to understand the conditions under which they are effective. The fellows will receive training in performing effective literature searches and coding procedures, using multilevel modeling to address complex data structures, implementing multilevel and multivariate modeling, and using machine learning algorithms for article screening and coding in hierarchical databases. Additionally, scholars will develop dissemination materials that assist teachers in effectively translating research into classroom practices. The project has the potential to contribute significantly to STEM education by increasing the number of scholars from minoritized backgrounds who can conduct high-quality systematic reviews and meta-analyses focused on evidence-based practices for minoritized students. This, in turn, will lead to more equitable and effective instructional strategies, ultimately improving mathematics and science outcomes for historically underrepresented groups.    This project is supported by NSF’s STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) Program with co-funding from the Discovery Research PreK-12 Program (DRK-12). The STEM Ed PRF Program aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. The DRK-12 Program seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2215409,Hydrosocial dynamics and environmental justice in water-energy transitions,2025-04-18,Portland State University,PORTLAND,OR,OR01,399876,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human-Envi & Geographical Scis,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215409,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215409_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,972015508,H4CAHK2RD945,"Energy and water systems are currently undergoing significant changes in response to climate change. New infrastructure proposals frequently seek to improve resilience and sustainability of energy and water supplies. Yet, these projects are often met with public controversy, including accusations of localized environmental injustice. This research examines the different ways in which communities, policymakers, and developers think about environmental justice in relation to infrastructure at the intersection of water and energy. The research focuses on an issue of increasing importance given ongoing efforts to mitigate climate change through transforming the water and energy sectors. The project will investigate how water-energy transitions and governance can be more attentive to environmental justice and community concerns. The research will engage communities directly, including Indigenous communities, and will result in a policy-facing report with community-generated recommendations in addition to academic publications.     The goal of this research is to advance understanding of the multiple perspectives on proposed water-energy nexus infrastructure and resource extraction projects, focusing on issues of environmental justice and perceptions of hydrosocial changes. The research uses qualitative methods to understand: (1) How are neighboring communities reacting to water-energy projects intended to mitigate or adapt to climate change, and the associated changes to hydrosocial dynamics? (2) What are the overlaps and differences between the ways that neighboring communities, policymakers, and developers imagine hydrosocial change and environmental justice in relation to water-energy infrastructures? (3) How are claims of environmental (in)justice framed and operationalized by public agencies, courts, environmental groups, community organizations, Tribal governments, and others involved in water-energy governance? The research contributes a stronger understanding of how different actors imagine the reshaping of hydrosocial flows and spaces through activities often considered “green” that, in practice, involve critical environmental justice issues.    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.",TRUE
2140902,Examining Blackness in Postsecondary STEM Education through a Multidimensional-Multiplicative Lens,2025-04-18,"Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.",ATLANTA,GA,GA05,888676,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140902,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140902_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,303032921,MNS7B9CVKDN7,"Despite well-intentioned university efforts to support Black undergraduate STEM students, policy and practice reforms run the risk of not appropriately benefiting all Black people due to pervasive, deficit-based assumptions about Black racial identities and the types of structural engagement needed to advance holistic, racial well-being in transformative and sustainable ways. Stated simply, STEM contexts do not adequately support Black undergraduate STEM students because STEM educators and practitioners remain unsure of what Blackness means for individuals, thereby constraining true racial equity endeavors. Contemporary literature regarding race posits instead that embodiment(s) of Blackness differ across multiple dimensions and axes, including ethnic identity (e.g., African American, Caribbean American, Nigerian American), place identity (e.g., South, Midwest), and generational identity (e.g., first-generation, second-generation, third plus generation). Black students from different ethnic and generational identities having varied perceptions of the racial climate and understandings of their STEM experiences. Recognizing the scope of Blackness and its implications for creating and sustaining holistic, heterogenous conceptions of racial equity in STEM, the team will establish a collaborative network among six institutions (two HBCUS, two PWIs, one majority Black institution, and one HSI) located across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions of the US to study how Black undergraduate STEM students’ notions of Blackness vary with respect to these dimensions.     The research team will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods project, integrating mosaic ethnography, survey design and administration of the survey to Black undergraduate STEM students across five states. Through these methods, the students’ conceptions of Blackness will be explored as it relates to their STEM engagement and perspectives of racial equity in STEM. In efforts to foster racial equity in STEM for all Black people, this project will produce tools of analysis (i.e., theories, research methods, qualitative and quantitative measures) and translational products (i.e., professional developments, aminations, infographics) that will change how institutional and organizational policies, practices, and future research treat Black people in STEM, thereby promoting tailored resources and supports to meet Black people’s nuanced needs. The desired outcomes from this work will inform the development and implementation of racial equity focused policies and practices in STEM education, facilitating increased access and sustained engagement in STEM for Black undergraduate students.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2301116,Collaborative Research: Examining the Longitudinal Development of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Equitable Noticing of Children’s Mathematical Thinking,2025-04-18,"Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.",ATLANTA,GA,GA05,135612,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301116,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2301116_4900,2023-08-15,2027-07-31,303032921,MNS7B9CVKDN7,"Preparing teachers to create equitable mathematics classrooms is an ongoing challenge for teacher education. This begins with helping teachers focus on children's strengths and identities as mathematics learners. Then, teachers need to be able to respond to children's experiences, knowledge, and mathematical reasoning when planning and teaching. This is particularly important for groups that have been historically marginalized in mathematics (e.g., Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American Pacific Islander). Teachers also need to consider how they can create change in their schools and districts for equitable mathematics teaching and learning. There is a need for resources for teacher education programs to help pre-service teachers learn about equitable mathematics approaches to teaching and learning. The project will also develop modules, resources, and tools for exploring how teachers' understanding of equity changes from their last year of the preparation program into their first year of teaching. The tools and resources can be shared with other teacher education programs.     The project builds upon prior research about the use and development of micromodules to help preservice teachers develop positive attitudes towards mathematics, practice equitable noticing of mathematics and understand the sociopolitical influences on teaching and learning. An important component of equitable noticing is helping teachers recognize how children's identities, language and mathematical reasoning are central to learning. The research questions examine how instructional experiences for preservice teachers influence their equitable professional noticing and how teaching practices continue once they are first-year teachers. The longitudinal study uses an embedded mixed methods approach that collects data in mathematics teaching methods courses, student teaching and the first year of teaching. The research will incorporate the following data sources: an assessment suite called Multiple Assessments for Noticing Equitably (MANE), a video-based think-aloud protocol, semi-structured interviews, and other artifacts of the teacher education experience.    This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) Program and the Discovery Research preK-12 Program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2204537,ADVANCE Adaptation: Creating a Destination of Choice at Missouri University of Science & Technology,2025-04-18,Missouri University of Science and Technology,ROLLA,MO,MO08,1000000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204537,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2204537_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,654091330,Y6MGH342N169,"The Missouri University of Science & Technology (S&T) ADVANCE Adaptation project aims to increase the representation of women, especially women from underrepresented racial-ethnic groups, across faculty ranks and leadership positions at Missouri S&T. The university’s considerable output of engineering graduates influences the diversity of the national engineering workforce. Increasing the representation of women faculty at Missouri S&T has the potential to transform what it means to become an engineer to citizens in the region and make Missouri S&T a true destination of choice for all. The specific goals of the project are to address underlying barriers to women’s recruitment and advancement identified in a self-study, namely: (1) cultivate an inclusive climate, (2) interrupt and address gender bias, and (3) facilitate equitable access to and distribution of resources and opportunities. The project aims to achieve these goals by adapting evidence-based strategies from prior ADVANCE projects to the unique STEM-focused and rural context of Missouri S&T. It will apply an intersectional lens by adapting activities and measuring outcomes in ways that consider the gender, race-ethnicity, and rank of program participants and beneficiaries. These adaptions will allow tests of the generalizability of prior ADVANCE strategies to unique contexts and diverse identities.    The Missouri University of Science & Technology (S&T) ADVANCE Adaptation project will adapt three primary evidence-based strategies from prior ADVANCE projects to achieve its goals. The first strategy is to provide education and leadership development to engage current and aspiring leaders as equity-minded cultural change agents. Approaches to execute this strategy includes: implementing a distinguished lecture series with nationally recognized experts in diversity, climate, and gender issues; revising bias training for search committees; providing leadership workshops to equip campus leaders with knowledge and tools for cultivating inclusive climates and improving equity; and giving mentoring workshops for mid-career faculty. The second strategy is to provide targeted support to individual units through Department Enhancement Grants. These grants will empower departments to develop their own strategies to address equity-related problems of their own choosing while receiving support, consultation, and resources to do so effectively. The third strategy is to transform institutional structures, policies, and practices, emphasizing accountability. This strategy will be achieved by: implementing a Faculty Fellows program that provides aspiring leaders administrative placements to work on projects that will develop and enhance campus policies and resources; infusing accountability into leadership practices; reviewing and revising promotion, tenure, and workload policies; and creating an Ombud position in the Provost’s Office to amplify faculty concerns. The project is expected to improve climate, change key policies and practices, and ultimately improve women faculty representation, experiences, and outcomes, especially women from historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Adaptation"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institution of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2317780,Track 2: Does the Diversity Perspective of R1 Institutions Matter for the Workplace Inclusion of Their Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty?,2025-04-18,University of South Carolina at Columbia,COLUMBIA,SC,SC06,399997,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317780,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317780_4900,2023-07-15,2025-04-18,292083403,J22LNTMEDP73,"This research ""Does the diversity perspective of R1 institutions matter for the workplace inclusion of their Black and Hispanic engineering faculty?"" will examine the relationship between the organizational diversity perspective (diversity strategy and approach) of inclusive research-intensive (R1) universities and perceptions of workplace inclusion by Black and Hispanic Engineering Faculty (BHEF). This work is vital because the perennial problem of the underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic faculty in engineering has remained unabated for decades. The scarcity of BHEF faculty often results in a lack of racially congruent faculty-student mentorship relationships for those from underrepresented backgrounds, which is vital for STEM identity affirmation.  The project aligns with the Broadening Participation in Engineering Program’s focus on strengthening the current and future engineering workforce by encouraging the creation and sustenance of work environments that promote the participation of all citizens in engineering by ""building capacity through inclusivity and equity within the engineering academic experience."" In doing so, we will examine how universities espouse and enact their diversity perspectives through their actions at different levels of the institution (i.e., university, college, department) to support their diversity values, respond to diversity resistance, and achieve success as identified through various performance metrics. This study will examine the black box of how institutions maintain an environment that is comparatively more inclusive than others and what they do that facilitates this success.    The objective of this research is to test the theory that institutions that espouse particular diversity perspectives (i.e., a learning and effective paradigm) will see better organizational inclusion outcomes (e.g., more inclusive work climates) for their BHEF than their counterparts. While most research in the field focuses on understanding the experiences of and problems identified BHEF, the proposed project extends that work to focus on the employer perspective to understand how organizational responses matter for those identified problems in institutions that are rated as inclusive for BHEF. The overarching research question for this proposed study is the following: What is the relationship between institutions’ (i.e., at the university, college, and department level respectively) diversity perspective and workplace inclusion for BHEF at inclusive R1 universities? To address this, we will conduct a quantitative-qualitative (QUANT-QUAL) mixed method study.  Overall, the purpose is to assess empirical support for the diversity perspective theory to better understand how to improve institutional diversity, especially for BHEF. A two-phase study will be conducted comprised of a national diversity perspective survey to administrators at R1 institutions and a qualitative multi-site case study to identify and understand the diversity perspectives of our purposive sample of six “R1” higher education institutions that have been ranked as highly inclusive. Based on prior research and the diversity perspective theory, we hypothesize that BHEF’s feelings of workplace inclusion will be affected by their institution’s diversity perspective. Practically speaking, the potential impacts of the research include providing guidance to institutions of higher education and colleges of engineering concerning the value of emphasizing and promoting particular diversity perspectives for diversity outcomes to facilitate inclusive work environments for BHEF and other underrepresented faculty.    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.",TRUE
2314917,Collaborative Research: Advancing Collaborations for Equity in Marine and Climate Sciences,2025-04-18,University of South Carolina at Columbia,COLUMBIA,SC,SC06,375552,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314917,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314917_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,292083403,J22LNTMEDP73,"Marine and climate sciences (MCS) scientists play an important role in society because of their focus on both local and global issues affecting the environment and people. Yet MCS are some of the least diverse STEM disciplines, including limited change in the number of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in MCS over the past 40 years. Climate and culture in MCS have been identified as actively contributing to the low participation and retention of BIPOC individuals in the disciplines and their disparate academic and professional outcomes, through gatekeeping, professional barriers, and other obstacles. The purpose of this research project is to examine how Woods Hole Collaborative Network (WHCN) researchers and administrators advance collaborations for equity in MCS and what processes are employed for developing equity-driven and anti-racist educational collaborations, infrastructures, and pathways. Project outcomes will span individual, institutional, and disciplinary level transformations.       This research project will investigate the WHCN, a multi-organizational collaboration between six predominantly white institutions located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The project focuses on three questions: (1) What features among the WHCN promote or inhibit institutional and disciplinary transformation? (2) In what ways has the WHCN pursued equitable collaborations and how has their collaboration evolved over time? (3) What effective and ineffective features of the WHCN’s initiatives can inform MCS collaborations? Drawing from nearly 20 years of WHCN’s programmatic efforts, researchers will utilize an instrumental case study to center the context and processes of a bounded case, with organizations (e.g., institutions) and individuals (e.g., students, scientists, and affiliated staff) as units of analyses. An instrumental case aligns with the project’s goal to develop a model that maps the process and infrastructure for transformation. The research design includes: (1) BIPOC storytelling and standpoint centering through qualitative interviews and qualitative network mapping with Woods Hole-affiliated BIPOC students, scientists, and alumni; (2) organizational and historical analysis through observations of WHCN initiatives, historical analysis of WHCN’s development, and analysis of student data, documented policies, activities, goals and procedures related to WHCN; and (3) model development, which will reflect a replicable and scalable model for equity-centered support in STEM collaborations.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activities (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EDU Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EDU in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2315095,Rhetorical Engineering Education to Support Proactive Equity Teaching and Outcomes (RESPETO),2025-04-18,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,2237769,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315095,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315095_4900,2023-09-01,2028-08-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"This project will provide a handbook of materials for faculty in engineering to help them understand language practices (what language is and how it is used) in engineering education at a Hispanic Serving Institution. The handbook will offer recommended teaching practices that help students become more aware of how language is inaccessible to Latinx students. In addition, the handbook will be available to faculty in a digital format.    This ethnographic project uses raciolinguistics as its theoretical framework. It will (a) investigate how and in what ways a racialized discourse in engineering creates barriers for minoritized populations to pursue engineering degrees; (b) provide engineering faculty and students with tools to recognize, value, and activate language that challenges dominant racialized discourses in engineering through critical sociolinguistic awareness; (c) and identify and reflect on pedagogical practices that challenge racialized discourse and linguistic practices throughout their work. This project will provide a more nuanced understanding of the role language and linguistic practices play in perpetuating inequity and lack of access to engineering spaces.    The project will engage four cohorts of 10 Latinx undergraduate students as researchers who will co-design, collect, analyze, and disseminate data for the project. The project will include document analysis of institutional artifacts, interviews with faculty, staff, and administrators, awareness workshops and seminars, questionnaires, and reflective journals. Findings will be disseminated through a digital handbook, social media campaign, seminars, workshops, and conference presentations. The findings from this project will appeal to the broader engineering education field, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Predominantly White Institutions, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities.     This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2140647,Co-Constructing Faculty Critical Consciousness In Engineering Education,2025-04-18,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,119324,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140647,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140647_4900,2022-08-15,2026-07-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"The overall goals of this project are twofold: to advance understanding of the system of privileges and advantages in engineering education and to create a professional development program to help engineering faculty develop the skills to critically question social, cultural, historical, and political effects of this privilege in engineering. Engineering education is built on a system that historically privileges and normalizes the values, beliefs, experiences, and perspectives of particular identities that guide the work of the field. While there has been substantial research into the masculinity of engineering, there has been limited research about the role of privilege in engineering. This project will generate new knowledge by focusing on three research questions: (1) How and in what ways does systemic racism manifest in engineering education? (2) What strategies can be used to effectively help engineering faculty develop their critical consciousness? and (3) How and in what ways does the growth of critical consciousness support faculty to identify and challenge the systemic barriers preventing racial equity in engineering? The research will support engineering faculty to interrogate the associated systemic barriers preventing racial equity.    This four-year project will examine guided, reflective journaling of faculty experiences in engineering and field notes from observations of the researchers' own professional engineering settings (e.g. faculty meetings, classroom observations). These artifacts will serve as the baseline for creating the faculty development program during Year 2. During Years 3-4, the program will be implemented and revised with two cohorts of 16 engineering faculty each, in a recursive co-construction of critical consciousness and scripts of race and racial identity. This project will result in the creation of immersive experiences for engineering faculty that serve as a vehicle for the development of critical consciousness, which is the foundation to enact changes that will address racial inequity in engineering and provide a model that supports practices to challenge privilege  in engineering spaces.     This collaborative project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that promote racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Awarded projects center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism in STEM fields. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations.    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.",TRUE
2221995,SBP: Collaborative Research: Culturally Relevant Mentorship for Enhancing STEM Identity and Career Interests,2025-04-18,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,92335,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221995,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2221995_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"In STEM education, mentorship has become an important means of increasing the participation of underrepresented minoritized (URM) students, including women, Native/Black/Latinx Americans, persons with disabilities, bilingual students, and low-socioeconomic status (SES) youth. This B2 3.0 project will identify new constructs of culturally relevant mentorship (CRM), develop new survey instruments for assessing CRM, and examine the associations between CRM and STEM identity and career interest of URM students. The findings will offer insights for practitioners and policymakers to target resources and design interventions that can improve STEM outcomes of URM students through CRM. This project will also support research publications and NSF proposal submissions of faculty and doctoral students at MSIs, as well as strengthen collaborative networks among STEM education and social/behavioral science researchers through a STEM coalition that involves more than 30 pre-college STEM programs and 10 MSIs across the country.    This B2 3.0 project, co-led by researchers at both MSIs and non-MSIs, will make substantive contributions to knowledge in the fields of mentorship, social psychology, and broadening participation in STEM. It integrates cross-disciplinary theoretical perspectives to identify novel CRM constructs and link them to URM students’ STEM identity and career interests. It also addresses one of the most critical measurement needs in mentorship research and STEM education by developing and validating two new sets of CRM survey scales for mentors and mentees. Specifically, this project will conduct: (1) a comparative case study to explore and describe important CRM constructs and case types of mentors for URM adolescents; (2) a multi-step scale development study to develop and validate two new sets of CRM survey instruments for mentors and mentees; and (3) a large-scale survey study with a diverse sample to analyze the relationships between mentors’ CRM practices and URM mentees’ CRM perceptions, STEM identity, and STEM career interest.    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.",TRUE
2329538,PROMISE: Postdoctoral Research Opportunities and Mentoring for Inclusive STEM Education,2025-04-18,Clemson University,CLEMSON,SC,SC03,1444001,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2329538,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2329538_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,296340001,H2BMNX7DSKU8,"The PROMISE program will support three postdoctoral fellows focused on equity and social justice in all aspects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education research, practice, and policy at the higher education level. PROMISE Fellows will tap into ongoing research, structures and projects in the Department of Engineering and Science Education (ESED) at Clemson University, as well as other campus- and state-wide resources. They will be mentored by ESED faculty and experts in STEM communication. Through program activities, PROMISE Fellows will build their identity as inclusive STEM educators and incorporate social justice into their own areas of interest and expertise. This project is designed to contribute to STEM education by providing insights to policy-makers on issues of equity and social justice in STEM education at regional, state and federal levels and by preparing the next generation of STEM educators and mentors to emerging scholars from diverse populations.       PROMISE will leverage existing projects and national networks of STEM education researchers and policy makers to enable Fellows to connect fundamental and applied research in the context of social justice in STEM education. PROMISE will employ a cognitive apprenticeship approach to provide the content and applied practice, and will draw on Black Feminist Thought to provide a mentoring structure necessary for Fellows to build robust research portfolios. Mentored teaching experiences for those seeking to expand their teaching portfolio will include classroom observations, instruction, and guidance on implementing inclusive and innovative pedagogical methods. Opportunities to advance knowledge and policy in STEM education include workshops and symposia on research methods, social justice, STEM education policy, and STEM communication, culminating with the Fellows writing a grant proposal to fund and conduct a STEM Education Policy Summit in Columbia South Carolina. PROMISE Fellows will present their research and discuss STEM education policy and action with lawmakers, policy advocates and community stakeholders. PROMISE Fellows will acquire expertise in education research methods, contribute to the research literature, and participate in scholarly and policy-related communities.       This project is funded by the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Program (STEM Ed PRF) in partnership with the EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research Program (ECR: BCSER) and the EDU Core Research (ECR) Program. The STEM Ed PRF Program aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. The ECR:BCSER Program is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.  The ECR Program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",TRUE
2233787,"Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: EVOLVED - Embedding a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity in the Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies",2025-04-18,Western Washington University,BELLINGHAM,WA,WA02,1203675,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233787,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233787_4900,2023-07-15,2027-06-30,982255996,U3ZFA57417D4,"EVOLVED (Embed a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity) is a comprehensive and integrated set of activities that embeds the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the backbone of the Consortium of Aquatic Sciences Societies (CASS). CASS membership includes 20,000+ aquatic scientists from all career stages working across academic, government, and industry sectors. CASS initiated transformative diversity, equity, and inclusion work through a 2021 BIO-LEAPS planning grant, which laid the groundwork for EVOLVED. In that process, CASS leadership demonstrated a collective commitment to equity and inclusion and a desire to elevate this work to one of CASS’s primary priorities. The EVOLVED program will focus its work in 3 areas: (1) developing programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), (2) re-envisioning CASS’s values, exploring biases and assumptions, and reexamining culture, to transform the CASS climate into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) building organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. The project includes a comprehensive mixed-method evaluation of all major initiatives. Together, the EVOLVED activities will catalyze cultural change at multiple levels: across CASS as a collective, in single societies, and by individual members within societies.     The EVOLVED program will embed diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the cultural fabric of environmental, ecological, and organismal biology-focused aquatic sciences.  This program will develop, implement, and assess activities that scale-up equity driven advancement across three levels of action: individual members, societies, and the CASS collective. EVOLVED will mechanistically link structural and cultural change aimed at breaking down major barriers to building diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within a consortium of professional, scientific societies and serve as a model for transformative culture change at the collective consortium level. To operationalize this, EVOLVED will: (1) build programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used in this proposal to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM), (2) re-envision values and mental models within CASS to transform its culture into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) build organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. Broader impacts of this work include increased engagement with minority-serving institutions within CASS, integration of DEI-focused values within individual CASS societies, and adoption of DEI-centric policy, management, and conservation work across the CASS collective. The proposed activities broaden participation of underrepresented groups in environmental biology disciplines; ensure more diverse voices are involved in biology-focused policy, conservation, and planning; and ultimately foster disciplinary excellence and environmental justice.    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.",TRUE
2233694,EVALUATION: Improving institutional diversity in professional society participation through virtual and hybrid conferencing,2025-04-18,West Chester University of Pennsylvania,WEST CHESTER,PA,PA06,390382,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233694,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233694_4900,2023-07-01,2026-06-30,19383,LJGZZLEEMG63,"For decades, professional scientific societies and individual scientists have relied on in-person conferences to share cutting edge research and build collaborative research networks: conferences are instrumental for developing individual careers and scientific progress. However, in-person conferences have significant barriers to access and inclusion, often excluding scientists and institutions with less financial resources and individuals for whom long-distance travel is difficult. The shift to virtual conferences during the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated these historical barriers, as conferences were attended by more diverse groups of scientists. This research investigates how and whether virtual and hybrid conferences in ecology, environmental science, and allied fields have increased participation by individuals from a diverse set of institutions, including academic organizations like universities and organizations outside of academia like government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and environmental consulting firms. By focusing on increasing institutional diversity, scientific conferences can improve collaboration and knowledge exchange between academic and extra-academic scientists, facilitating evidence-based environmental management. The project will also assess whether virtual and hybrid conferences are more inclusive of a diverse set of backgrounds and career stages and assess barriers, attitudes, and preferences related to conference access, attendance, and participation. Lastly, researchers will identify future and alternative virtual and hybrid formats and features likely to best support members from diverse institutions and backgrounds. Short-term outcomes will include guidance for professional societies to develop equitable and inclusive conferences and overcome barriers to access; long-term outcomes will be increased visibility and awareness of a diversity of types of institutions in ecology and conservation communities.    In-person conference formats can exclude many scientists and environmental practitioners who can contribute to and benefit from the exchange of ideas and research that takes place at these events, including those from low-to-middle income countries, early career-researchers, student trainees, caregivers, and those from non-research-intensive institutions. In particular, limited knowledge sharing and exchange between academic and extra-academic audiences have stymied integration of research into management and environmental policies. This project will provide professional societies and individual scientists with evidence-based guidance to evaluate tradeoffs in access, participation, and conference experience, to design more equitable conferences that can increase knowledge exchange across institutional boundaries. Through a focus on integration of academic and extra-academic scientists from a diverse range of institutions, this work will also support student and early-career researchers in their need and desire for development toward extra-academic career paths. This project applies quantitative and semi-quantitative approaches to assess if virtual conferences facilitate access for individuals from more diverse institutions, logistical and cultural factors that can expand access, and conference features and formats that are most likely to support inclusion of student and early-career researchers from those institutions. We will accomplish this through analysis of conference attendance prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic, surveys of current and prospective members of participating professional societies, and focus groups that iteratively identify approaches for testing as part of a future project. This project will produce multiple peer-reviewed publications, presentations, and an educational webinar.    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.",TRUE
2149321,DDRIG in DRMS: An Investigation of Harm Perceptions from Communications on Social Media about COVID Vaccines,2025-04-18,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,29850,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2149321,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2149321_4900,2022-02-01,2026-01-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"During health crises such as COVID-19, dissemination of health information on social media that is not backed by science has been shown to result in serious harms to communities. These harms include both physical harms (such as losses of life, long- and short-term health harms, or financial harms) and psychological harms (such as loss of trusts on others, emotional sufferings, or confusion). These negative effects can lead to wrong decisions such as drinking bleach to cure the viral infection. In investigating this type of harm, this proposal focuses on two specific research questions: (1) How can the perceptions of harm from information not backed by science be characterized in health crises? (2) How are harm perceptions associated with social media conversations in a health crisis? Results have the potential to advance national health and welfare. Official health organizations such as the CDC and WHO, may gain a better understanding of vulnerable population’s threat and need perceptions. An understanding of people’s perceptions of harmful inaccurate information ultimately helps improve the reliability of social media channels. Broader impacts include the support of a doctoral dissertation, dissemination of findings at professional outlets, and teaching modules related to this research project are part of a course at University of Texas at San Antonio, a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).    Despite prior efforts handling harms from inaccurate information in both COVID-19 pandemic and COVID-19 vaccine contexts, to our knowledge, there is no research that has characterized harm perceptions from such information in health crises. This project takes a sharp focus on perceived harms, rather than on actual harms, and examines the interplay between perceived harms and actual harms. Focusing on the COVID-19 vaccine context, studies examine several COVID-19 vaccine scenarios containing inaccurate information, and characterize harm from that information using three characteristics, i.e., unknown and dread and manageability. Using text mining the project examines the association between harm perceptions and nature of communication in Twitterverse. This is an early attempt at quantitatively measure the harm that results from inaccurate information in the pandemic context. The project advances knowledge in an under-studied area and use conversations in Twitterverse to investigate the nature of communication with respect to harm characteristics. This research bridges social media data with communication theory to unpack the role of social media around crisis communication.    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.",FALSE
2305330,ADVANCE Partnership: Ensuring Fair Access to Career-enhancing Opportunities on Medical School Faculties,2025-04-18,University of California-San Francisco,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,834384,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305330,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305330_4900,2023-08-15,2026-07-31,941034249,KMH5K9V7S518,"Women are underrepresented at every level of academic medicine, with even greater underrepresentation of women of color. This lack of diversity significantly compromises both the quality of medical research and medicine’s ability to serve the diverse US population. One key reason why women, and women of color in particular, leave the STEMM pipeline is that they are unable to access the opportunities that lead to promotion. Prior work by this team and others has documented that women of all races do dramatically more low-profile “office housework” than men. Similarly, women, and particularly women of color, report dramatically less access to career-enhancing opportunities (“glamour work”) that lead to retention and advancement. A prior experiment outside of medicine found that the 90-minute Individual Bias Interrupters (IBI) workshop equalized the distribution of the office housework. This project aims to combine the IBI workshop with an intervention to equalize access to career-enhancing “glamour” work. The proposed Interrupting Bias in Medicine Intervention (IBIM) includes: 1) a version of the IBI, which addresses bias based on race, gender, and social class, adapted for the medical school environment; 2) a new Access-to-Opportunities (ATO) workshop presenting the research on how bias affects access to opportunities in medical schools; and 3) a Tasking Tool to enable division chiefs to track access to opportunities in just 5-10 minutes a month. Prior research has shown the importance of addressing the “office housework” and the “glamour work” simultaneously to reduce the likelihood of women and especially women of color simply doing more work (e.g., adding glamour work to their already heavy load of office housework). The end result of the project aims to be a cost-effective, evidence-based, readily-scalable program designed for medical schools, which could be readily adapted to other university departments.     This project has 3 main goals: 1) Adapt the IBI workshop for leaders in academic medicine, 2) Develop and launch an Access-to-Opportunities workshop and Tasking Tool, and 3) Assess intervention efficacy. The assessment of efficacy will be done using six months of pre- and post-data from the Tasking Tool, as well as the Workplace Experiences Survey, a 10-minute survey that pinpoints how bias is playing out in a specific workplace. This intervention aims to enhance full participation of women of color in STEM, both inside and outside of medical schools, by directly addressing the lack of access to opportunities that lead to promotion. The project findings and strategies for systemic change will be disseminated through the medical community in academic journals, national/regional conference presentations, and in the popular media.      The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2223907,ADVANCE Catalyst: Self-Assessment to Establish Equity Among STEM Faculty at a Public Liberal Arts Institution,2025-04-18,Christopher Newport University,NEWPORT NEWS,VA,VA03,287877,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2223907,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2223907_4900,2023-02-01,2025-04-18,236063072,VMYDF2TZHHB6,"The ADVANCE Catalyst Award to Christopher Newport University will support a two-year self-assessment into systemic inequities related to gender, race/ethnicity, and other aspects of social identity among science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty. The project’s goal is to create a professional environment that effectively supports the inclusion and success of women with multiple identities in STEM. The ADVANCE team will take an intersectional approach to evaluate how individuals’ multiple identities impact their professional experiences. The project aims to provide significant insight into workload distribution, resource allocation, professional advancement, concerns regarding inclusivity on campus, and factors that serve as barriers and facilitators to professional success. The project will lead to important understanding of issues related to gender equity and intersectionality for faculty at primarily undergraduate universities. Further, the ADVANCE team will aim to begin implementing targeted changes and develop a strategic plan to address observed inequities and challenges to success.     Using a mixed methods approach, specifically a sequential explanatory design, the ADVANCE Catalyst project will examine the institutional context for women in STEM at Christopher Newport University. The project will assess institutional data and survey faculty about their perspectives and campus culture. Themes about women’s roles and identities in their professional lives and productivity identified by analyzing the institutional and survey data will be used to develop questions for interviews with faculty and university administrators. The institutional, survey, and interview data will be used to 1) identify policies and practices that affect satisfaction, promotion, and retention of women and underrepresented minority (URM) faculty and, 2) develop a 5-year data-driven plan to remedy any identified systemic inequities or barriers to success.  The creation and implementation of the five-year strategic plan from this grant will support equity among STEM faculty at Christopher Newport University and is intended to have sustainable effects on the recruitment, retention, and promotion of women with multiple identities (e.g., parenthood, sexual orientation/gender identification). The intersectional approach will generate new knowledge about the experiences of STEM faculty and serve as a catalyst for change at Christopher Newport University as well as at other similar institutions.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at an academic, non-profit institution of higher education.    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.",TRUE
2224675,Collaborative Research: Engaging Marginalized Groups to Improve Technological Equity,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,1368414,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224675,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224675_4900,2023-06-15,2028-05-31,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"This collaborative project investigates the lack of diverse, representative datasets and insights in the development and use of technology. It explore the effects of disparities on the ability of technologists (e.g., practitioners, designers, software developers) to develop technology that addresses and mitigates systemic societal racism and historically marginalized individuals' ability to feel seen and heard in the technology with which they engage. The implications of this project are threefold: 1) it supports building relationships between technologists and technology users by understanding the values that most impact historically marginalized communities' engagement and data contributions; 2) given access to more diverse data and insights, the project provides technologists with interventions that empower them to make use of these data and insights in practice; 3) lastly, the work provides support and affirmation for the technologists who are already making these explicit considerations in their work without the adequate support. More broadly, insights from this project can be applied in practice to promote racial equity and ensure systemic racism is an explicit consideration in STEM education and workforce development by incorporating more equitable practices in technologists' workflow.    This study seeks to answer three main research questions: 1) What are the barriers to engaging and amplifying marginalized voices in technological spaces and data sets for both technologists and users? 2) How can marginalized groups be engage when designing and developing data-centric systems without sacrificing their safety, security, and trust? 3) What does it look like to provide interventions for engaging the margins to technologists without compromising the safe spaces for marginalized groups? Using a multi-modal approach, the project will examine how researchers and technologists can best learn to engage in data-centric research with marginalized communities in an ethically and socially responsible manner that centers the rights and values of the communities of interest. Culturally relevant approaches and grounding philosophies will drive the research methods and analyses. Through surveys, semi-structured interviews, design workshops utilizing a combination of participatory design and community-based approaches, as well as case study analysis to collect qualitative and quantitative data, the research team will develop an intervention that supports technologists in responsible engagement. Aside from real-world implementation, this project will share its findings through academic and community-facing venues, such as journal publications, conference presentations, op-eds, blogs, workshops, and social media.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2224248,Collaborative Research: Promoting Equity in Early Mathematics Education for Latinx Children in Head Start Programs,2025-04-18,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,510464,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224248,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224248_4900,2023-05-15,2027-04-30,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"Mathematics learning in early childhood lays a foundation for ongoing engagement with math and STEM, supports development across a variety of other domains like reading, and is an important predictor of long-term academic achievement. Given the importance of early math, researchers and educators have created a variety of classroom-focused resources to support mathematical learning, thinking, and skill development. However, many of these resources do not take into account the important roles that parents, and the home learning environment play in supporting math learning and engagement. Current efforts also do not go far enough in countering deficit perspectives on families and moving beyond engagement strategies and activity structures based primarily on cultural models of learning from White, monolingual, middle- and upper-class communities. To achieve a new vision of equitable math learning in early childhood, it is important to disrupt power hierarchies between minoritized families and schools and reposition parents as central to children’s mathematics learning. Educators and researchers must also reconceptualize traditional ideas about math that are rooted in histories of marginalization and discrimination.    To advance approaches for addressing these systemic barriers, the project, Viviendo Matematicas, will conduct an equity-informed design-based implementation research (DBIR) study with the goal of developing a potentially transformative model for collaborating with Latinx families and early childhood educators to shape a more equitable vision of mathematics education in the preschool years.  Partnering with Head Start educators in Portland, OR, and New York, NY and Latinx parents with preschool-age children (3–5 years) who are Head Start eligible based on the  household's lower income, the project will extend prior equity work by using dialogic and asset-based approaches to amplify existing math knowledge and practices within families, broaden our collective understanding and appreciation of mathematics inside and outside the classroom, and identify design principles for parent educator collaborations that can be shared with other communities. Through the iterative, community-based design process, the project will deliver: (a) a strength-based framework describing Latinx early childhood math practices, (b) a program model and associated resources for supporting parent-educator math dialogue groups, and (c) design principles and theoretical frameworks underlying the dialogue program and how it supports a more equitable vision of math learning. By reorganizing traditional relationships between parents and school, the project seeks to empower Latinx parents and families as equal partners and advocates for their children’s education, as well as support the creation of sustainable resources for Head Start programs in our communities that align with families’ goals and values.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2315868,Collaborative Research: Weaving Together Supports for the Academic Success and Racial Identity Development of  Low Income and First Generation AA&NHPI Students,2025-04-18,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,153472,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315868,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315868_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"Low-income first-generation Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AA&NHPI) college students are concentrated in the nation’s Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), but there is little research examining how these institutions design and implement services and supports to “serve” their students. This project is a research-practice partnership (RPP) composed of higher education practitioners, faculty, and academic researchers in the fields of higher education and learning sciences designed to generate knowledge about how AANAPISIs enact “servingness.” The three lines of inquiry include 1) investigating how practitioners define and enact supports for students (i.e., servingness); 2) understanding how students experience servingness and how this relates to their academic and psychosocial outcomes, including racial identity development; and 3) an analysis of the impact of a tutoring program on multilingual college students’ outcomes.    Through a multiple methods design, our RPP works collaboratively to design, implement, measure, and assess the efficacy of AANAPISI program’s educational interventions on academic outcomes and racial identity development among students. The project also examines how the development of the AANAPISI program and its stakeholders’ sociocultural cognition supports AA&NHPI students’ academic and racial identity development. While servingness has been conceptualized as institutional structures and processes that comprehensively attend to both students’ academic success and positive racial identity development, there are few studies that have taken developmental perspectives to examine how institutions learn to design and implement practices that respond to these goals. By viewing cognition and learning at the institutional-programmatic level, and facilitating such learning through a RPP, this study examines how institutions learn to become AANAPISIs and serve their students. Furthermore, the study is one of few that connects locally designed, culturally-relevant educational practices to measurable academic and positive racial identity outcomes.    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.",TRUE
2216648,RaMP: Oklahoma Network addressing human impacts across biological processes (ON-RaMP),2025-04-18,Oklahoma State University,STILLWATER,OK,OK03,2719700,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,RaMP-Res & Mentoring Postbac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216648,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216648_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,740781031,NNYDFK5FTSX9,"Building a stronger and more diverse scientific workforce is very important to address major societal needs. One of the greatest challenges of the 21st century is to understand and mitigate the extensive and dramatic effects of human activities on the natural world. To increase participation in these efforts, this project will build a network at Oklahoma State University to mentor a diverse group of post-baccalaureate participants, who will work on research projects to study human effects on biological processes. The network will connect mentees with mentors representing a broad scope of areas and research questions in biology. It will provide a structured program to develop a scientific community focused on professional development and fostering an increased sense of belonging in science. The program’s focus on post-baccalaureate trainees will address a major gap in current efforts to build an inclusive STEM workforce. In addition to the direct impacts on mentees and their future careers, this program will provide training on mentorship for a large group of researchers and opportunities for collaboration among researchers working across different fields to address the common goal of understanding anthropogenic effects in biology. The project will also provide important data on the effectiveness of methods to increase participation in science and the pursuit of scientific careers.    Anthropogenic effects are having severe impacts on major biological processes, including disease transmission, species extinction, ecosystem function, and biogeochemical cycles. These impacts pose serious threats to the welfare and well-being of humans and the environment. Because these effects are so complex and widespread, addressing their consequences requires recruitment of large and diverse groups into scientific careers. The objective of this project is to build a diverse network of biologists to provide mentorship and training for post-baccalaureate students to study anthropogenic effects on biological processes in natural systems. The program will take place at Oklahoma State University, which has a strong group of researchers addressing anthropogenic effects on biology and is located in a region with high biodiversity and significant anthropogenic impacts. Individuals who are post-baccalaureate and had limited previous opportunities for research training will be chosen to participate in a program involving a year-long research experience, professional development, and networking activities. The selected network of research mentors works across multiple biological disciplines and will specifically focus on anthropogenic effects on disease spread, effects of toxins on physiology and ecology, behavioral and physiological consequences of anthropogenic disturbance, and climate change effects on biological processes. The success of the program will be evaluated in terms of its effects on participants’ scientific knowledge, sense of belonging in science, and career choices.    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.",TRUE
2233699,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: C-COAST: Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation,2025-04-18,Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,1736883,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233699,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233699_4900,2023-05-15,2027-04-30,981339009,DWJCCDRXVKX5,"Coastal counties are more diverse than non-coastal counties; however, the culture and identities of those who study and manage estuaries and coasts do not reflect these communities. This mismatch diminishes the quality of science and management provided; many coastal professionals lack the lived experiences and knowledge to prioritize issues most impactful to people in coastal areas. Despite widespread recognition that increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is essential to sustaining the nation's capacity for innovation and discovery, there is a widening gap between the total number of marine science graduate degrees granted and degrees granted to those underrepresented in the field. Professional societies play a unique role in facilitating culture change within STEM disciplines by establishing and reinforcing norms and practices that advance greater diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA). They are also important avenues for training students and professionals in relevant skills and in developing networks necessary to progress in their careers. Culture change in professional societies scales up to impacts on members, their home institutions, and beyond. The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) will assist the next generation of coastal and estuarine biologists and related disciplines in navigating the current culture while simultaneously dismantling inequities at the root of low DEIJA in the disciplines through the Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation (C-COAST) program, which will provide professional development, mentoring, and networking to students and professionals at all career stages.    The C-COAST program will harness evidence-based strategies to mitigate inequities and shift culture in the coastal and estuarine sciences through two programs: Rising TIDES Conference Program (RTCP) and Leadership Development Program (LDP). The RTCP is geared towards recruiting and retaining a new generation of estuarine and coastal science professionals. It consists of a 16-month program that supports attendance at the CERF and two additional coastal and estuarine conferences, with virtual meetings in between. The program provides professional and near-peer mentors, training, and networking, in addition to the full suite of scientific conference offerings. The LDP will provide leadership and DEIJA training for current and future leaders by building a dynamic learning community that will prepare emerging leaders to become agents of change while helping current leaders use existing power to address systemic inequities. The goals of C-COAST, from short- to long-term, are to 1): recruit and retain diverse undergraduate and graduate students and provide them professional development, mentorship, and peer networks to support a sense of belonging and identity; 2) educate current leaders on how to be more inclusive and change policies and practices that lead to inequities; and 3) increase the leadership skills of and opportunities for future leaders and prepare them to make policies and practices of CERF and their home institutions more inclusive when they are elevated to positions of power.    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.",TRUE
2237461,"SBP: CAREER: Mechanistic Dehumanization of Asians: Identifying Causes, Consequences, and Countermeasures for a More Inclusive STEM Workforce",2025-04-18,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,721716,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237461,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2237461_4900,2023-07-15,2028-06-30,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"To build a more inclusive society, diverse members in our communities must be treated fairly and kindly. However, as evidenced by recent events (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic), Asian Americans and Asians in the U.S. face biases from lacking leadership opportunities, receiving little social acceptance and support, to experiencing racialized verbal and physical attacks. These biases occur even in places where Asians are well-represented such as STEM schools and workplaces. Past theory and research have documented several stereotypes that explain why biases against Asians can occur (e.g., being seen as foreign and high achieving). The current project expands on past work by exploring a unique contributor to biases against Asians based on interdisciplinary research on dehumanization. Specifically, it is proposed that Asians have historically been viewed in the U.S. as like machines or robotics, indicating that they are subject to “mechanistic dehumanization.” Integrating this dehumanization perspective with social and industrial-organizational psychology research, this project develops a theoretical model to explain how Asians in the U.S. are impacted by mechanistic dehumanization. It also documents the psychological processes that can contribute to potential interventions to encourage people to see the humanity in others.    This project is organized around a set of qualitative (e.g., focus groups) and quantitative (e.g., surveys, experiments) studies to examine the causes, consequences, and countermeasures of mechanistic dehumanization of Asians in the context of STEM workplaces and educational settings. Asian communities in the U.S. are diverse, and this project focuses on East Asian, South Asian, and Southeast Asian (i.e., the major Asian subgroups in the U.S.) targets while including members of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds as participants. The project unpacks key subfactors of mechanistic dehumanization, such as perceived submissiveness and lack of emotions, and it develops an instrument to scientifically assess this concept. Using this measure, the project will systematically explore three objectives. First, it determines the extent to which mechanistic dehumanization can explain biases against Asians (e.g., lack of social support at school and at work). Second, it exposes the psychological processes explaining why mechanistic dehumanization may underlie these biases. Third, it uncovers causes (e.g., group and cultural differences) that make Asians in the U.S. more vulnerable to mechanistic dehumanization. The project also develops anti-dehumanization educational materials to increase awareness of these issues and to improve equity and inclusion in social, educational, and organizational contexts.    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.",TRUE
2141328,SBP: Collaborative Research: The impact of naturally occurring and experimentally manipulated interracial contact on social cognition,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,88485,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141328,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2141328_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Persistent racial tension in the US has led to renewed interest in reducing prejudice along racial lines. A prominent paradigm to address racial bias has been to create opportunities for people of different races to have contact with each other. Interracial contact can be an efficient intervention, but it is unlikely to work as intended without a firm understanding of the exact conditions that reduce racial bias. How deep must contact be? Is it sufficient for people in one group to merely see those of other groups, without any effort to recognize each person (i.e., mere exposure)? Is it necessary to see individuals frequently enough to recognize them without knowing anything else about them (i.e., perceptual individuation)? Or is it essential to interact with someone enough to acquire personal information about them (i.e., knowledge-based individuation)? This project provides a rigorous analysis of these three forms of interracial contact to test whether the extent of contact – while holding constant positivity of contact – can influence peoples' perceptions and evaluations of others, which can have downstream consequences for reducing racial prejudice.     The primary aim of this project is to examine how different forms of contact shape racial bias on visual perception of faces, spontaneous judgments, evaluations, and beliefs. Study 1 tests how naturally occurring experiences of interracial contact over a lifetime account for the categorization and evaluation of racial information and for beliefs about other racial groups. Study 2 examines the same categorizations, evaluations, and beliefs, while experimentally manipulating the type of exposure to others. Study 3 utilizes pupillometry and eye-tracking methods to indicate the salience of others' faces after having different forms of contact. Together these studies stand to transform our understanding of whether, how, and why interracial contact could be an effective way to reduce racial prejudice.    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.",TRUE
2148739,Fostering STEM identify development through localized engineering for LGBTQ+ youth displaced by housing insecurity,2025-04-18,Purdue University,WEST LAFAYETTE,IN,IN04,394861,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148739,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148739_4900,2022-07-15,2025-04-18,479061332,YRXVL4JYCEF5,"The project will develop and research a model for engaging LGBTQ+ youth experiencing housing insecurity in an engineering education program. This research program explicitly broadens engineering and STEM participation through a three-year Design-Based Research study. The team will collaboratively tailor their existing “Localized Engineering in Displacement (LED)” curriculum to and with LGBTQ+ runaway/homeless youth at a residential center in Indianapolis. The LED curriculum uses Active, Blended, Collaborative, and Democratic pedagogy to support learners in identifying a technical problem they see around them, studying relevant STEM principles, and coming up with a solution they can use. The educational technology kit (EngStarter) provides adaptable tools for learners to use. The team will integrate practice and research and study the development of youth identities, learning experiences, and technology engagement. Enabling LGBTQ+ runaway/homeless youth will have large individual and social impacts, expanding opportunities for this specific population to choose STEM pathways, become self-reliant individuals, translate their assets and potential into community development, and in turn support more youth in the future.     LGBTQ+ runaway/homeless youth are often characterized as an exceptionally vulnerable population with the intersectionality of sexual orientation and gender, as well as race/ethnicity and class, and research has overemphasized the deficits of these young people. This project, therefore, uses an asset orientation in its theoretical and methodological stance. Through a three-year Design-Based Research (DBR) study, the project team will collaboratively design and contextualize a localized engineering program consisting of a curriculum (“Localized Engineering in Displacement”), a pedagogy (“Active, Blended, Collaborative, and Democratic” learning), and a technology (“EngStarter,” a versatile educational lab kit). Students are asked to identify, scope, and iteratively generate and test solutions to a problem around them (“localized”), proceeding through the tailored LED curriculum to learn relevant skills and lead decision-making. The team will collaborate with Trinity Haven Transitional Home for LGBTQ+ Youth in Indianapolis and co-design the localized engineering program, the technology tools appropriate for the context, and the research. The research team will use DBR, given its unique nature, to link practice and research to foster collaborative participation throughout the program cycle. The project will address questions regarding (1) identity negotiation, construction and resolution experience and strategies: (1) (a). What identities do LGBTQ+ Youth experiencing housing insecurity negotiate and resolve by participating in a localized engineering in displacement program? (b) What strategies are employed by youth in negotiating and constructing an engineering identity? (c). What are the identities developed by teachers engaging in the program? (2) Unique LGBTQ+ runaway/homeless youth experiences and construction of multiple STEM pathways: (2) (a) What are the experiences of youth participating in a localized engineering in displacement educational program addressing community issues? (b) In what ways does the program inform and augment choices of STEM workforce pathways for youth? (c) What are the interactions and experiences of a local teacher embedded with youth? (3) technology’s role and expertise of youth: (3) (a) What are the roles and realized affordances of the EngStarter technology in the negotiation of engineering identity? (b) What are design modifications youth make to contextualize educational technology for their needs? (c) What is the process by which teachers develop ICT self-efficacy with EngStarter? The research will use quantitative and qualitative research methods to iteratively develop the program model. The project is funded by the Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) program, which supports projects that build understandings of practices, program elements, contexts, and processes contributing to increasing students' knowledge and interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and information and communication technology (ICT) careers.    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.",TRUE
2330924,"Collaborative Research: Indigenous Northern Landscapes, Visual Repatriation, and Collaborative Knowledge Exchange",2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,131932,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Polar Programs,ASSP-Arctic Social Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330924,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2330924_4900,2023-12-01,2026-11-30,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Historical landscape photographs in museum and archival collections are critical resources for identifying and characterizing environmental shifts due to climate change and other factors. Repatriation or return of these cultural heritage resources to Indigenous communities assists local stakeholders in assessing changes over time, formulating plans to address and respond to future changes, thus reducing risk and enhancing community resilience. This project, in collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA), creates a unique opportunity for the Iñupiat of Arctic Alaska and Ainu peoples of northern Japan to participate in a visual repatriation project and engage in community-centered heritage resource management. This project advances understanding of the processes of social and environmental change and resultant impacts on Indigenous peoples and fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers and Indigenous communities in Alaska and Japan.    This collaborative project employs diverse methods, including story mapping, repeat photography, oral history interviews, and photovoice to advance understanding of environmental change and foster intergenerational dialogue among Indigenous communities. Project activities include workshops and cultural exchanges, and community knowledge curation by Iñupiaq and Ainu community participants, co-authoring and co-editing a catalogue of historical photographs, and co-publishing peer-reviewed articles. This project advances Indigenous research sovereignty and cultural heritage repatriation efforts through knowledge co-production and builds collaborative relationships among the circumpolar communities.    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.",TRUE
2315869,Collaborative Research: Weaving Together Supports for the Academic Success and Racial Identity Development of  Low Income and First Generation AA&NHPI Students,2025-04-18,University of Nevada Las Vegas,LAS VEGAS,NV,NV01,211470,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315869,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315869_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,891549900,DLUTVJJ15U66,"Low-income first-generation Asian American and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (AA&NHPI) college students are concentrated in the nation’s Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institutions (AANAPISI), but there is little research examining how these institutions design and implement services and support to “serve” their students. This project is a research-practice partnership (RPP) composed of higher education practitioners, faculty, and academic researchers in the fields of higher education and learning sciences designed to generate knowledge about how AANAPISIs enact “servingness.” The three lines of inquiry include 1) investigating how practitioners define and enact supports for students (i.e., servingness); 2) understanding how students experience servingness and how this relates to their academic and psychosocial outcomes, including racial identity development; and 3) an analysis of the impact of a tutoring program on multilingual college students’ outcomes.    Through a multiple methods design, our RPP works collaboratively to design, implement, measure, and assess the efficacy of AANAPISI program’s educational interventions on academic outcomes and racial identity development among students. The project also examines how the development of the AANAPISI program and its stakeholders’ sociocultural cognition supports AA&NHPI students’ academic and racial identity development. While servingness has been conceptualized as institutional structures and processes that comprehensively attend to both students’ academic success and positive racial identity development, there are few studies that have taken developmental perspectives to examine how institutions learn to design and implement practices that respond to these goals. By viewing cognition and learning at the institutional-programmatic level, and facilitating such learning through a RPP, this study examines how institutions learn to become AANAPISIs and serve their students. Furthermore, the study is one of few that connects locally designed, culturally-relevant educational practices to measurable academic and positive racial identity outcomes.    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.",TRUE
2140922,Collaborative Research: Inspiring Networks and Sustainability of Postsecondary Inclusivity and Racial Equity with the Computing Alliance of HSIs,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,307884,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140922,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140922_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"The Inspiring Networks and Sustainability of Postsecondary Inclusivity and Racial Equity (INSPIRE) project will address the significant problem of sustaining equity-centered student success practices that attempt to mitigate systemic inequities within the STEM and STEM education enterprise. Studies of organizational sustainability of such practices are rare, particularly in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions. Also, few such initiatives have been sustained significantly over time. The Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), a 16-year-old consortium of 40 HSI computer science departments and other partners dedicated to improving racial equity, is one rare long-lasting initiative in this arena. Studying this consortium provides the opportunity to inform organizational change and adaptive strategies to mitigate often long-standing institutional practices that have led to inequitable participation in the computing field. INSPIRE’s goals are to (1) strengthen understanding of equity-centered student success strategies to mitigate systemic inequities in the computing enterprise, (2) support organizational sustainability of equity-centered student success strategies in HSIs, and (3) extend a transferable model of equity-centered student success in computing to other institutions.    The project aims to achieve three primary outcomes. First, to advance research on equity-centered student success practices that mitigate institutional racism and advance racial equity in computing. Second, to create a platform to elevate and give voice to student-, staff-, faculty-, and administrator-developed practical approaches to integrate and sustain these strategies. Finally, to develop a transferable and culturally sustaining model of organizational transformation. The project’s scope includes mixed methods quantitative and qualitative research with CAHSI computing departments. The INSPIRE team will also strive to build capacity in these computing departments to sustain organizational change toward racial equity. The approach will include quantitative surveys, qualitative interviews, and in-depth qualitative case studies of four CAHSI departments. The case studies will involve interviews and observations to study how key stakeholders encounter challenges and opportunities to implementing and sustaining equity-centered practices. These stakeholders include faculty, administrators, staff, and students. The project team will share data and generate feedback to build departments’ capacity to sustain equity-oriented organizational change during these activities. One expected result is an enhanced understanding of equity-centered student success strategies and the organizational conditions that hinder or enhance the adoption and sustainability of these strategies. Another is a model of computing student success to mitigate institutional racism in computing and STEM at all institutions. The INSPIRE team will disseminate research and professional development through webinars, publications, presentations, and interactive workshops. Dissemination will focus on inclusive and equitable departmental practices, such as community-building and intersectional approaches to learning and research, that can be directly applied to raise minoritized students’ computing success. Dissemination efforts will address audiences in multiple roles, including students, staff, faculty, and administrators.     This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. Institutions may include those with significant percentages of low-income undergraduate students.    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.",TRUE
2140601,Research: Engineering for Social Justice: Factors shaping the career aspirations and mindsets of humanitarian engineers,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,349985,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140601,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140601_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Humanitarian Engineering (HE) programs aim to train engineers to improve the health, prosperity, and welfare of underserved and marginalized communities. HE is increasingly desired by students and has the potential to recruit socially attentive students and students from underrepresented minority groups to engineering; however, there is limited research on the career paths of these students after admission. Further, decolonization and social justice reforms are changing the HE sector, and there is a need to understand how career outlooks, including self-efficacy, outcome expectations, career interests, alignment with social justice reform, and retention in the sector, are changing. This project will characterize career aspirations and expectations and identify factors and experiences that influence career pathways and the development of social justice value systems. Comparisons with responses from HE practitioners will help determine how student expectations and goals align or misalign with practitioner reality. As a result, this project will characterize career pathways to help inform students of potential careers post-graduation and needed skill sets in the sector. Additionally, the project will create research-based recommendations for HE educational programs and the sector, identify learning experiences that enable engineering for social justice, and provide reflection for actions that can be taken in the HE sector to retain and support socially-minded engineering practitioners.    This project will longitudinally study students from eight HE graduate programs in the United States.  The project will focus on career outlooks, including career aspirations, expectations, and self-efficacy. At the same time, we recognize how social justice movements are impacting the field of global engineering, opening up new considerations and pathways for socially minded engineering students that may or may not be aligned with current opportunities in the field. In order to capture these real-time changes and to determine how students’ socially minded career goals align with field realities, we will use mixed-method, longitudinal data to record how these career outlooks change over time and the factors that influence these career outlooks and changes. Longitudinal data will include interviews conducted with students each term, survey questionnaires, and regular discussions in a HE-specific online community maintained by the research team. Analysis of interviews conducted with HE practitioners and compared with student responses will reveal (mis)alignments between career outlooks and realities. The project will not only characterize career trajectories but also advance theory of engineering value system development. Further, by collecting perishable data in this time of social justice reform, the project will also build theory on how social justice movements and mindsets contribute to engineering student outlooks and mindsets. An expert advisory board of faculty from HE graduate programs will help further disseminate results for uptake in programs.    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.",TRUE
2135669,"BRITE Synergy: Engineering More Resilient Housing through Inclusion  of Women's Knowledge, Priorities and Perceptions",2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,399521,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",BRITE-BoostRschIdeasTransEquit,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2135669,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2135669_4900,2022-05-01,2025-04-18,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Engineers have studied disaster resilience of housing as structures, but with less attention to housing as homes that embody family, hopes and dreams, and financial security. This Boosting Research Ideas for Transformative and Equitable Advances in Engineering (BRITE) Synergy project conceptualizes a novel direction in engineering resilient housing to explore how women’s and other residents’ knowledge, priorities and perceptions can shape engineering problem solving for resilient housing at the individual, community and building code level. It focuses in particular on women because of their traditional bond with and responsibilities for home in our society, and their continued underrepresentation in engineering, architecture, and construction professions. This project will explore the sources of expertise that are missed when women residents, women students and women building industry professionals in engineering resilient housing are not included. Due to the large number of homes being built, remodeled or rebuilt after disasters in this country, there is a major opportunity to address vulnerabilities in future disasters, with a potentially significant payoff in reducing community disruption. The project also attends to the need to diversify the talent ecosystem in engineering, showing how a more diverse ecosystem enhances engineering outcomes.     The project’s hypothesis is that the inclusion of women’s knowledge, priorities and perceptions yields changes, for housing, in both the agenda set for engineering research and technology development, and the engineering solutions developed. This hypothesis will be tested by examining engineering problem solving in two research thrusts. The study of liquefaction remediation (Thrust 1) will develop new probabilistic engineering assessments of the risks of liquefaction-induced building damage at the home and community level, considering both repair costs (i.e., the threat to owners’ and households’ financial security) and habitability (i.e., the threat of losing the home). It will also quantify how the currently available liquefaction remediation techniques alter these risks. The project will produce a housing-driven engineering research and technology development agenda for liquefaction remediation techniques that incorporates community knowledge, co-created through a series of facilitated focus groups with community members from communities along the Los Angeles River. The study of retrofit in Thrust 2 will engage with the unique opportunity presented by the ongoing evaluation and mitigation of vulnerable reinforced concrete buildings in response to the City of Los Angeles’ mandatory seismic retrofit ordinance. The engineering assessment will quantify the risk posed by the existing (unretrofit) buildings, in terms of probable repair costs and loss of housing, and the positive and negative impacts of retrofit (and demolition) engineering solutions. The process and design space of engineering solutions will be developed through solicitation of women’s and residents’ knowledge, priorities and perceptions, through semi-structured interviews and surveys.    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.",TRUE
2240660,Standard Research Grant: Explaining Variations and Social Outcomes of Cumulative Impact Assessment for Environmental Justice by Government Agencies in Environmental Permit Review,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,436156,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240660,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2240660_4900,2023-08-15,2026-07-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Standard Research Grant: Explaining Variations and Social Outcomes of Cumulative Impact Assessment for Environmental Justice by Government Agencies in Environmental Permit Review    ABSTRACT    Racially marginalized, Indigenous, and working-class communities across the U.S. are disproportionately subjected to environmental problems such as contaminated drinking water, industrial air emissions, and dangerous workplaces. Vulnerable communities often endure multiple such harms simultaneously. These layered environmental inequalities lead to serious inequalities in illness, quality of life, and life expectancy. This study will examine government agencies’ use of cumulative impact assessment for environmental justice (CIAEJ) to improve quality of life in these overburdened, vulnerable, and underserved communities. This study aims to strengthen government agencies’ abilities to reduce environmental inequalities and foster environmental justice (EJ) by identifying agency practices that are most effective toward this end and the conditions that foster them. In addition to providing substantial graduate student training in methods of empirical data collection and analysis, the project findings will be shared to scientists, government agencies, EJ advocates, and the broader public through academic publications, invited presentations, formal comments at public hearings, and the PI’s participation in agency EJ advisory councils.    This three-year, empirical study will examine the ways three environmental regulatory agencies are currently applying CIAEJ techniques into environmental permit review. Data will be gathered from agency documents, public comments on these initiatives, confidential interviews with agency staff and external stakeholders, and observation of agency meetings. This project will advance scientific knowledge in STS, political ecology, and EJ studies by identifying social factors shaping the use of CIAEJ within regulatory decision-making, and analyses will focus on how bureaucrats determine what counts as risk, and how different contexts and creative bureaucratic practices may foster social justice reforms through regulatory agency practice.    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.",TRUE
2200706,ECR Core Research: Investigating Computer Science Departmental Diversity Efforts to Identify Levers for Change,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,588403,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200706,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200706_4900,2022-07-01,2025-04-18,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"This study addresses the longstanding problem of the lack of diversity among persons studying and working in the field of computer science (CS). The statistics describing the gender and race/ethnicity of those who earn CS degrees tell a story of a discipline that has been slow to change. The percentage of CS undergraduate degrees that have been earned by women has barely risen in nearly two decades. The lack of representation of Hispanic, African American, and Native American students in computing over the past few decades is even direr. And yet many CS departments have undertaken a wide variety of efforts to broaden participation in computing (BPC). While BPC efforts have been studied, the research until now has not examined a key lever that helps or hinders progress: faculty members’ attitudes toward diversity and their department’s BPC efforts. This project will seek to understand more about these faculty attitudes, supports, and obstacles to provide research-based recommendations to those who wish to diversify the students graduating with computing degrees. This diversification is important because today’s students are society’s future technologists, so they should reflect the society they will soon serve.    This research study will take a phenomenological qualitative approach to explore faculty attitudes, conceptions, and beliefs about broadening participation in computing (BPC) initiatives. The researchers will collect interview data from faculty and administrators in three different computer science departments chosen from among the top 25 undergraduate CS degree producers in the US. Each institution in the sample has been significantly involved in diversity efforts at the departmental level, with some successes, but with a notable lack of success in certain areas. The study’s main research question will be: What organizational conditions support or hinder faculty uptake of BPC efforts in high undergraduate-degree producing computing departments? Because faculty work within organizational systems that help or hinder their ability to produce and sustain change in their departments, the study draws upon neo-institutional theory. This theory helps clarify the role that faculty beliefs and actions play in responding to and co-creating departmental culture, including fostering inclusive departmental climates for non-majority populations. The study’s goal is to build a knowledge base of what supports and hinders departmental diversity efforts, and what organizational conditions are necessary for change to take hold. This knowledge base can lead to new interventions relative to BPC and CS faculty, as well as related research in other disciplines or other higher education institution types.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest interventions and innovations to address persistence.    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.",TRUE
2206057,DISES: Using continent-wide participatory science to model the dynamic outcomes for humans and birds in a socio-environmental system,2025-04-18,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,1599997,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Environmental Biology,DYN COUPLED NATURAL-HUMAN,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2206057,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2206057_4900,2023-01-01,2026-12-31,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"Bird feeding is the most common way that people intentionally attract wildlife near their homes, with over 57 million Americans involved in bird feeding. Bird feeders can impact the number and diversity of birds, increase the number of predators in an area, and increase disease transmission among birds. People can also be impacted through psychological responses to what they see at their feeders, which can influence their mental well-being. This project addresses the question of how we can maximize the positive benefits of bird feeding for both birds and people. To do so, Project FeederWatch, a participatory science project with more than 10,000 volunteers across the United States who study birds at feeders, is being transformed, allowing participants to be involved in passive experiments and also to input information on their own psychological responses from their observations. This research analyses how people’s responses are impacted by their beliefs about wildlife, motivations for feeding wildlife, and demographic characteristics such as gender, age, race, as well as physical or mental disabilities. The continent-wide scale of the collected data also allows for study of how these links between people and birds operate over seasons and from urban to rural areas. The project also aims to understand and implement how to diversify bird feeding and participatory science projects, better engaging Black and Indigenous people, other people of color, and people with disabilities.    Worldwide, people intentionally modify landscapes and food sources to affect wildlife behavior and improve outcomes for themselves. These human-modified habitats constitute a growing portion of wildlife habitat in the Anthropocene; yet, these integrated socio-environmental systems have rarely been studied as such. The proposed work focuses on bird feeding and associated habitat management, arguably the most common form of intentional wildlife attraction, to understand socio-environmental links and emergent outcomes for bird populations and human mental well-being. This project brings together social-ecological data collected weekly by participatory scientists across the continental U.S., feeder management experiments by participatory scientists, social science surveys, and laboratory experiments to test five hypotheses about the integrated links between human components and natural components of the socio-environmental system of bird feeding. The diverse ways in which humans impact birds and their natural enemies and the ways in which birds and their natural enemies influence humans, who then alter their behavior, are explored in this research. These responses are integrated to understand overall effects of the human emotional and behavioral responses on mental well-being, effects of spatial and temporal variation in the abiotic environment, and emergent outcomes for bird populations and human mental well-being over time and space. This proposed transdisciplinary approach investigates the crucial contribution that participatory science can make to socio-environmental systems research, and brings together a team of scientists trained in social and ecological theories and experienced in convergent social-ecological science. The work also engages more than 10,000 volunteers from across the U.S, including a disproportionately high number of women and strong participation of those with physical and mental disabilities, and focuses on improving inclusivity for ethno-racial groups that are currently underrepresented in birdwatching.    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.",TRUE
2333494,RAPID: Retrospective COVID-19 Scenario Projections Accounting for Population Heterogeneities,2025-04-18,University of Southern California,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA34,195825,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Environmental Biology,NA,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2333494,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2333494_4900,2023-08-01,2025-07-31,90033,G88KLJR3KYT5,"The long-term burden of COVID-19 may vary across races and ethnicities. To address this variaiton this project will extend a current model to account for race and ethnicity. The availability of outcomes and vaccine uptake data by race/ethnicity in the US creates an opportunity to explicitly model these variables across the groups and evaluate the results from real-world data. The project will help us understand the inequities of COVID-19 outcomes and vaccination uptake and prepare the US for the future of COVID-19 and other outbreaks. The project has the potential to be applicable wherever relevant data on ethnicity and race is available, and can be extended to other types of groups. The project will integrate the lessons learned in an undergraduate course on programming and a graduate-level class on Machine Learning for health. The project will also provide research opportunities through a senior capstone program and minority-serving programs such as the USC JumpStart program and the Viterbi Summer Institute.    The proposed project will integrate data on race and ethnicity along with various other datasets to account for population health. The key innovation in the integration is the ability to learn contact matrices from data. The project will use a novel approach, where the n×n contact matrix is generated by n hidden parameters that indicate the likelihood of contact of a group with a randomly selected individual. The learned contact matrix will be integrated with an epidemiological model currently being used by the PI in the US Scenario Modeling Hub to generate long-term projections of cases, deaths, and hospitalization. The appoach will compare learning contact matrices with other approaches that derive those matrices from survey data and high-resolution mobility data. The new approach will enable the modeling of sub-population interactions when such mobility data is not available. The model will be evaluated with ground truth data observed over the last three years in collaboration with the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub.    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.",TRUE
2335225,IMPLEMENTATION: Shifting Culture and Mitigating Inequities in Landscape Ecology Through a Collaborative Network of Professional Societies,2025-04-18,University of Arkansas,FAYETTEVILLE,AR,AR03,1359303,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335225,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2335225_4900,2024-02-15,2029-01-31,727013124,MECEHTM8DB17,"Landscape ecology is an interdisciplinary field that endeavors to understand the interplay between factors that shape landscape patterns and social-ecological processes. The North American Regional Chapter of the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE-NA) is the largest professional organization of landscape ecologists in the world, with goals of promoting the science and application of landscape ecology, bringing landscape ecologists together, and fostering research and communication among researchers, practitioners, and stakeholders. However, achieving these goals requires acknowledgement of multiple ways of knowing, integration of diverse perspectives, and elevation of historically marginalized identities. Through the support of this IMPLEMENTATION award, the IALE-NA aims to employ evidence-based strategies grounded in a developmental model of intercultural sensitivity to transform the culture of and address inequities within the field of landscape ecology. The specific objectives of this project are to: (1) Expand capacity: By cultivating a dedicated volunteer base from IALE-NA and related professional societies that support landscape ecologists, the project seeks to generate sustainable funding for long-term equity, inclusion, and diversity efforts initiated by IALE-NA members; (2) Foster a diverse and representative community: Through the implementation of a strategic recruitment program, the project aims to increase participation of underrepresented minority (URM) members by establishing an ambassador program, mentorship network, and outreach events in collaboration with societies serving URM communities; (3) Enhance opportunities and recognition: To ensure members from all backgrounds are provided equal opportunities, the project will focus on improving the accessibility of conference activities and websites, increasing diversity among award recipients, and offering culturally competent mentorship programs; (4) Champion participation: By creating inclusive networking opportunities and developing a Leadership Exploration Program for early career landscape ecologists, the project endeavors to effect systemic change in the future leadership of landscape ecology. By leveraging these strategies, the project seeks to create a more equitable, just, and inclusive landscape ecology community, where individuals from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to contribute, grow, and lead.    This project is designed to offer significant professional development and leadership opportunities to early career scientists. Moreover, it aims to support hundreds of professionals in the landscape ecology field through the mentorship network, ambassador program, leadership exploration programs, and workshops that aim to create a more equitable, just, and inclusive landscape ecology community. The resources developed through this IMPLEMENTATION award will be available to the wider scientific community, other professional societies, our ""parent"" organization IALE-World, and our ""sister"" landscape ecology organizations worldwide to promote similar initiatives customized to their background and needs.    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.",TRUE
2334951,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: Broadening participation of marginalized individuals to transform SABER and biology education,2025-04-18,University of Alabama at Birmingham,BIRMINGHAM,AL,AL07,1274120,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334951,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334951_4900,2024-03-01,2029-02-28,352940001,YND4PLMC9AN7,"Professional societies play an important role in providing a platform for sharing research findings and networking. However, most professional societies grapple with issues related to lack of representation and inclusion of members of demographic groups that have historically been underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and career paths. One among these professional societies includes the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER), a leading premier international society with a primary focus on undergraduate biology education research. Scholarship related to this organization impacts every undergraduate biology learning environment. Additionally, members of this organization are also members of other professional societies, which makes SABER a critical lever for advancing systemic changes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion across various biology sub-fields and thus, helping to exert a larger impact on undergraduate biology education.     SABER since its inception and as exemplified by a self-study in 2019, has struggled with issues of diversity and representation at every level of its organizational structure, including key leadership positions. This aspect directly impacts the culture and climate of this society which ultimately affects the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts related to undergraduate biology education. Despite significant changes in its organizational structure, a concerted effort is needed to institute a permanent change related to equity and inclusion. This project aims to enact sustainable change by including diverse perspectives and voices to fundamentally change the culture of the organization and implement initiatives that promote an environment to enable cultural change. The goals of this project are as follows: (1) broadly and systematically advertise and recruit for SABER to broaden its reach to organizations, institutions, and individuals who are not currently aware of SABER, (2) offer travel support for individuals that are members of groups typically underrepresented in biology or who work at historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions to attend the national meeting, (3) offer mentorship related to inclusion to individuals in leadership positions at SABER, and (4) develop networking, mentoring, and leadership opportunities to sustain the involvement of diverse members within SABER. We posit that increasing the number and including the perspectives of underrepresented scientists within SABER will enable a shift in the culture of this society to help advance inclusion by (1) creating welcoming spaces that foster an enhanced sense of belonging and professional growth of diverse individuals, (2) creating a supportive environment for members by developing and empowering environmental stewards within the SABER leadership and by offering them travel support and mentoring activities, and (3) introducing structural changes that will ultimately affect the culture and climate of SABER as an organization to create pathways that diversify the society’s leadership for diverse individuals. Finally, as members of SABER are members of other sub-fields of biology, these efforts will directly impact other professional societies in their efforts to becoming inclusive.    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.",TRUE
2201809,"Collaborative Research: A qualitative inquiry into sex/gender narratives in undergraduate biology and their impacts on transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students",2025-04-18,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,387605,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201809,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201809_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"This project examines how a more accurate curriculum about the diversity of sexes found across species, the role of the environment in sex determination, and the complex relationship between sex and gender can create a more inclusive environment for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming (TNG) students in undergraduate biology courses. Research indicates that rather than emphasizing the diversity of strategies and experiences that organisms have around sex, gender, and orientation, biology courses often inaccurately categorize sex and gender as binary. The oversimplification of sex and gender into binary categories can make biology classrooms particularly challenging for TNG students. Early data suggest that how sex and gender topics are represented in the biology curriculum impacts TNG students’ sense of belonging and interest in biology. Understanding TNG students’ experiences with biology content will support the design of interventions and curriculum inclusive of both TNG and intersex students. This project will also help all biology students develop inclusive and scientifically accurate understandings of sex and gender.  Finally, this work will positively impact the career competencies of all biology majors who will need skills and knowledge to work with diverse patients, stakeholders, and teams.      Guided by master narrative theory, the goals of this project are to: 1) explore how sex and gender are currently represented in the undergraduate biology content, 2) describe the impact this content has on classroom climate and belonging for TNG students, and 3) characterize the current efforts of biology instructors to create a more inclusive climate for TNG students. Master narrative theory deciphers how messages in the cultural environment become internalized and impact the development of personal identity. The sample will include TNG students with diverse racial/ethnic and social identities along with biology instructors recruited from a variety of institutions. Data collected will include participant interviews (recorded and transcribed), participant baseline demographic surveys, course observations (e.g., video recordings), and course artifacts (e.g., lesson plan, assessment questions). Feminist phenomenology, qualitative content analysis, and document analysis will be used to analyze the data. The anticipated outcomes of this project include (a) identifying aspects of biology content that could influence the sense of belonging of TNG students and impact the career competency of  all biology majors, (b) describing factors that can help or hinder instructors as they try to create more inclusive and accurate biology curricula related to sex and gender, and  (c) creating professional development materials to support instructors who design lessons around biology topics related to sex and gender.     This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2425826,EAGER: AI for All: Engaging the Public with Collaborative Student-Led AI Education,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,268428,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2425826,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2425826_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"The University of Colorado will engage interdisciplinary groups of college students in creating educational Artificial Intelligence (AI) content for social media.  AI literacy is important not just for people studying or working in technical fields, but for everyone. However, not all relevant learning happens in the classroom—especially since in the United States. many K-12 schools still do not have computing courses. Meanwhile, informal learning for young people increasingly takes place on social media, which is also full of myths, misconceptions, and misinformation around AI. Therefore, better public communication around AI is an urgent concern and should involve AI experts who can communicate both about how it works and its limitations. This project seeks to  cultivate communication skills in undergraduates and increase the amount of available high quality educational AI content.       Through bringing together computing students with knowledge of AI and non-computing students with knowledge of communication and media production, the ultimate goal of  this collaborative, creative effort towards public AI education is learning outcomes for both groups of students, as well as the broader public. Student participant-researchers will also be engaged with research bookending the project—needs assessment for young learners at the start and evaluation of educational outcomes at the end. The intellectual outcomes of this project therefore include identification and examination of: (1) AI knowledge gaps and interest points for young people; (2) learning outcomes (for both AI and communication skills) for all students engaged collaboratively in creating content; and (3) pedagogical efficacy of this type of public education content.    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.",FALSE
2311210,Track 3: Mentoring for the Formation of Research Careers in Engineering (M-FORCE),2025-04-18,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,800000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2311210,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2311210_4900,2023-07-15,2028-06-30,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"NSF and many others have long recognized the need for more underrepresented minority (URM) participation at every level of the engineering workforce. While some progress has been made in the past decade, it is clear that URMs tend to encounter social and personal obstacles that their well-represented counterparts do not face as they navigate the road from undergraduate training to workforce participation and career development. We believe that key mentoring strategies at the graduate school level, along with targeted introductions to research and mentoring opportunities for undergraduates, will help increase both the quantity of URMs entering the engineering workforce and the quality of experiences URMs need to thrive in high-level engineering careers. In particular, we aim for “best practices” mentoring that enables URM engineering graduate students to better understand and envision 1) research-based engineering careers; 2) transdisciplinary, team-based approaches needed to solve complex problems; and 3) ways to translate solutions into the market through technology transfer. Having such an understanding and vision, typically achieved by effective mentorship, is crucial for developing the leadership, communications, and professional competencies that future technology leaders in industry, academia, and government need from graduate education. To accomplish our goals, we propose Mentoring for the Formation of Research Careers in Engineering, or M-FORCE. This innovative, inclusive, open-access mentoring hub is designed to meet the goals of Track 3 of NSF’s Broadening Participation in Engineering program (NSF 22-514).     M-FORCE, which is a partnership between the University of Minnesota, Morgan State University, and the National GEM Consortium, will create belonging and inclusion for URM engineering graduate students that will enhance knowledge of the research enterprise and its career pathways. It will also provide a model for a collaborative community that can be adapted to any graduate program. Data collected through the M-FORCE hub will advance understanding of 1) the role that collective and individual mentoring can play in improving URM graduate school training and career development experiences; 2) how mentoring and network formation impacts graduate students’ perception of belonging and inclusion, which strongly influences their consideration of a research career in engineering; 3) how early exposure to research career concepts impact URM graduate student motivation to pursue and complete terminal degrees; and 4) how exposure to research and graduate school preparation activities influences URM undergraduates’ interest in and decisions about research careers in engineering. M-FORCE will leverage the best practices of minority serving institutions like HBCUs, which have been exceptional at providing community and a sense of belonging to URM engineering undergraduate and graduate students. It will also leverage best practices of very high-research R1 (and predominately white) universities that have been transitioning research from siloed to convergent approaches that are needed to solve today’s complex problems. Finally, M-FORCE will give URM undergraduates exposure to research and formal graduate school preparation and the rare opportunity to meet a critical mass of URM graduate students performing research and preparing to become leaders in technology fields. After five years, our hub model will be customizable for any campus research community to support and prepare URM engineering graduate students, especially first-generation college students. It will also provide a model of fairness and equity in institutional and program structures that can supplement formal academic training for engineering graduate students.    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.",TRUE
2151311,Factors Relating to Successful Recruitment of Women in Information Technology Jobs,2025-04-18,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,407450,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2151311,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2151311_4900,2022-04-01,2026-03-31,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields are critical drivers of economic growth and national competitiveness. Yet women remain underrepresented in many STEM fields, which has dramatic, negative consequences both for equality and for creativity and innovation, which often benefit from diverse perspectives. This award develops knowledge that increases women’s representation in STEM fields, focusing on information technology (IT). The research is organized around two projects. Project 1 examines the characteristics of IT jobs, as described in job advertisements, that increase women’s likelihood of applying. Project 2 examines whether legislation requiring medium-term, employer-paid maternity leave changes women’s likelihood of applying to jobs and companies’ likelihood of interviewing them. The findings inform companies regarding the job descriptions that attract female applicants and policymakers regarding the design of parental-leave policies.     This award includes two projects aimed at promoting women’s representation in STEM fields. It uses large scale data from an e-recruiting platform—including ~6 million applications to ~20,000 IT job advertisements posted by ~13,000 companies—that allows tracking of women’s progress through the hiring funnel. Project 1 identifies characteristics of job advertisements that increase the likelihood of women applying, using natural language processing and machine learning. Findings from this project expand the literature on women’s workforce participation, specifically regarding the job descriptions that appeal to women. Since prior work uses a deductive approach, it has necessarily considered only a small set of potentially relevant characteristics. This award instead uses an inductive approach to build theory, leveraging “big” data to uncover relationships that are hard to hypothesize a priori. Project 2 uses an event study to examine the effects of legislation mandating medium-term employer-paid maternity leave. Findings from this project expand the literature on women’s workforce participation, specifically regarding policy interventions.    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.",TRUE
2516400,"Collaborative Research: A qualitative inquiry into sex/gender narratives in undergraduate biology and their impacts on transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students",2025-04-18,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,162163,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2516400,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2516400_4900,2024-10-01,2025-04-18,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"This project examines how a more accurate curriculum about the diversity of sexes found across species, the role of the environment in sex determination, and the complex relationship between sex and gender can create a more inclusive environment for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming (TNG) students in undergraduate biology courses. Research indicates that rather than emphasizing the diversity of strategies and experiences that organisms have around sex, gender, and orientation, biology courses often inaccurately categorize sex and gender as binary. The oversimplification of sex and gender into binary categories can make biology classrooms particularly challenging for TNG students. Early data suggest that how sex and gender topics are represented in the biology curriculum impacts TNG students’ sense of belonging and interest in biology. Understanding TNG students’ experiences with biology content will support the design of interventions and curriculum inclusive of both TNG and intersex students. This project will also help all biology students develop inclusive and scientifically accurate understandings of sex and gender.  Finally, this work will positively impact the career competencies of all biology majors who will need skills and knowledge to work with diverse patients, stakeholders, and teams.      Guided by master narrative theory, the goals of this project are to: 1) explore how sex and gender are currently represented in the undergraduate biology content, 2) describe the impact this content has on classroom climate and belonging for TNG students, and 3) characterize the current efforts of biology instructors to create a more inclusive climate for TNG students. Master narrative theory deciphers how messages in the cultural environment become internalized and impact the development of personal identity. The sample will include TNG students with diverse racial/ethnic and social identities along with biology instructors recruited from a variety of institutions. Data collected will include participant interviews (recorded and transcribed), participant baseline demographic surveys, course observations (e.g., video recordings), and course artifacts (e.g., lesson plan, assessment questions). Feminist phenomenology, qualitative content analysis, and document analysis will be used to analyze the data. The anticipated outcomes of this project include (a) identifying aspects of biology content that could influence the sense of belonging of TNG students and impact the career competency of  all biology majors, (b) describing factors that can help or hinder instructors as they try to create more inclusive and accurate biology curricula related to sex and gender, and  (c) creating professional development materials to support instructors who design lessons around biology topics related to sex and gender.     This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",FALSE
2346653,Fostering More Accurate and Identity-Affirming Science Teaching and Learning at Hispanic-Serving Institutions,2025-04-18,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,204441,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2346653,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2346653_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing and diversifying the STEM and healthcare workforce with individuals equipped with accurate and identity-affirming scientific knowledge and experiences. A team of faculty from Colorado State University, Florida International University, and Arizona State University will investigate how the norm of “neutrality” (i.e., not acknowledging the role of social identities and social contexts on science or the role of science on society) impacts undergraduate science teaching at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), how some instructors break free of this norm to teach identify-affirming content, and how this change impacts students. This work at HSIs is important because of the growing interest in how educators within HSIs are intentionally serving, rather than simply enrolling, students from minoritized backgrounds and attending to different subgroups within Hispanic/Latinx communities. Understanding how to support instructors to break with the norm of “neutrality” should create more welcoming environments for students with a range of identities and increase student belongingness, interest, and retention in STEM.    This project plans to employ a mixed methods (interviews and surveys), multi-site case study approach at five HSIs. Three goals guide the execution of the project. The first is to characterize how undergraduate biology instructors at HSIs make decisions about if and how to include identity-affirming content in their courses and the various factors that influence these decisions. Second is to establish how identity-affirming content in biology impacts student experiences, such as belongingness, interest in biology content, and perceived content relevance. The third goal is to develop a survey instrument to capture student perceptions of the prevalence of different instructor approaches to biology instruction at HSIs. The project team will specifically focus on instructors’ use of identity-neutral or identity-affirming content in biology classes, and the impact this type of content has on students with minoritized identities. This project takes a novel research approach by examining instructors’ decisions regarding both content and pedagogy, a more holistic approach to understanding how instructors create identity-affirming environments. This project should advance understanding of how instructors make decisions about their pedagogy and course content in the context of HSIs. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.    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.",TRUE
2332592,Conference: Gender Equity in the Mathematical Study (GEMS) of Commutative Algebra,2025-04-18,University of Minnesota-Twin Cities,MINNEAPOLIS,MN,MN05,20000,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,"ALGEBRA,NUMBER THEORY,AND COM",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2332592,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2332592_4900,2023-09-15,2025-08-31,554143074,KABJZBBJ4B54,"This award supports participation in a workshop “Gender Equity in the Mathematical Study (GEMS) of Commutative Algebra” that will take place at the University of Minnesota, November 10-12, 2023. It will focus on forming a community of women and non-binary mathematicians interested in commutative algebra but will be open to people of all genders. The workshop is primarily aimed at graduate students in their first through third years of a Ph.D. program. It will include presentations from a diverse group of prominent researchers, active group work, opportunities for participants to present their own research, and community building activities. The goals of the workshop are to (a) introduce participants to cutting edge research topics in commutative algebra and surrounding fields, (b) facilitate the formation of mentoring relationships, (c) strengthen the network of women and non-binary mathematicians in commutative algebra and surrounding fields, and (d) develop collaborative relationships that cut across subdisciplines and involve diverse groups of researchers. This meeting will give young women and non-binary commutative algebraists access to the mentoring it is well understood is essential for retention in STEM fields. It will also provide them with role models to help them see themselves as professional mathematicians and build their sense of belonging to the mathematical community.    This workshop will introduce graduate student participants to contemporary and exciting research in commutative algebra. The workshop will have three 50-minute plenary lectures given by faculty, three 20-minute talks given by senior graduate students, and a poster session for all participants to share their own research. The talks will highlight not only pure commutative algebra but will also highlight interactions between commutative algebra and adjacent fields, such as algebraic geometry, combinatorics, and even neural network modeling.  In order to help participants better understand the techniques and methods presented in the plenary talks, there will be problem sessions for active work. These activities will promote the growth of mathematically collaborative relationships among participants and will build their mathematical skills. More information about this conference can be found at https://sites.google.com/tamu.edu/gems-of-ca-2023/home    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.",TRUE
2338556,CAREER: Addressing Flood Justice and Equity Impacts of Adaptation and Urban Expansion with Satellite Observations,2025-04-18,University of Arizona,TUCSON,AZ,AZ07,550254,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",CAREER: FACULTY EARLY CAR DEV,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2338556,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2338556_4900,2024-09-01,2025-04-18,85721,ED44Y3W6P7B9,"Floods affect more people than any other natural hazard. To expand urban development, preserve property values, and avoid paying for flood insurance, real estate developers in the US request to remove properties from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regulatory floodplain, often through flood protection infrastructures such as levees and drainage. However, such infrastructures frequently divert floodwaters to others downstream, an effect that has not been well studied. Underserved communities are the most exposed but may not have the tools to challenge their underrepresentation in flood maps or zoning changes. This Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award supports research which aims to advance foundational knowledge by generating observed flood data to measure if and where flood protection infrastructures change flooding patterns as well as who is affected. The project builds capacity for using satellite-based maps to counter unjust actions from flood maps and advocate for more equitable allocation of mitigation funding. This project examines past policies that have contributed to increased flood exposure of underserved communities and sheds light on their long-standing injustice.    As floods impact more people and properties in a changing climate, public policies must evolve to address this growing risk and prioritize protection for the most vulnerable. Current regulatory floodplain maps underrepresent flood risk in part due to reductions though the Letters of Map Revision (LOMR) policy. To evaluate the accuracy of redrawn maps, this project documents where floodplains have been reduced because of LOMR policies and builds a spatial database of flood events from multiple satellite sources between 2001 and 2023. The work will address the question of the extent to which flood protection infrastructures are responsible for amplifying inequality in flood exposure by combining census data with satellite observations and statistical models to assess if the burden of flood risk has shifted among different demographics and communities. The project trains students and staff from environmental justice organizations to co-produce satellite-based AI tools for flood mapping.    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.",TRUE
2230683,NSF Convergence Accelerator Track F: Expert Voices Together: Building Trust in Communication Systems by Addressing Online Abuse and Harassment,2025-04-18,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,5000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",Convergence Accelerator Resrch,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230683,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230683_4900,2022-09-15,2025-04-18,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"This project addresses the links between two significant problems impacting trust in contemporary communication systems: (1) the broad and rapid spread of misinformation and (2) abuse and harassment directed at members of expert communities. Misinformation-driven harassment campaigns have particularly large impacts on those at the forefront of efforts to accurately inform the public, including journalists, scientists, and public health officials. As a result, this harassment undermines confidence in pivotal sources of knowledge and reduces expert participation in the information ecosystem. This project will develop Expert Voices Together (EVT), a socio-technical system that provides real-time support to experts experiencing online harassment. The project will initially focus on supporting journalists, later expanding its reach to other expert communities. EVT aims to support experts in moments of crisis, while also building individual, organizational, and societal capacity to prevent and mitigate harms from online abuse and harassment in the long term.    The team of scientists, technical specialists, psychologists, as well as civil society and media representatives will bring together their expertise in a wide range of fields—including mis-/disinformation studies, data ethics, systems engineering, experimental and clinical psychology, human-computer interaction, case management, journalism and mass communication practice and research—to create a rapid-response socio-technical system that supports journalists and other experts facing online abuse and harassment. The system will comprise a secure, rapid-response technical platform, support from trained case managers, and an intervention “toolkit”. Tailored to meet the specific needs of each user, the EVT toolkit will offer a menu of options, including: (1) personalized assistance with digital safety and security, (2) support monitoring and reporting abuse, and (3) help identifying and building a community care system. Grounded in best practices from trauma-informed care, the community care system in particular is designed to bring together peers, friends, family, colleagues, and mental health care specialists who can provide support for the expert facing online abuse, while also helping to build long-term resilience within social networks, institutions, and society as a whole    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.",FALSE
2240343,Constructing Credible Knowledge and Expertise in Air Pollution Regulation and Monitoring: The Problem of Quantification,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,15598,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240343,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2240343_4900,2023-03-01,2025-08-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Policy initiatives that seek to address the disparate impacts of environmental pollution in historically disadvantaged communities—known as environmental justice (EJ) communities—are increasingly prominent at local, state, and federal levels. However, such initiatives are often grounded in technical and quantitative metrics produced without input from laypeople affected by environmental disparities. Many residents in EJ communities assert that these metrics do not properly capture their knowledge or experience nor address their concerns. This research examines how lay people and technical experts measure pollution differently and investigates how and why communities’ knowledge and experience with pollution are not translated into policy action. The results of this project will be widely disseminated to academic, public, and policy audiences to provide actionable strategies to better incorporate lay knowledge into the development of community-centered public policy.    This research uses case study methods, including semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and archival research, to understand the concerns, perspectives, and practices around air pollution monitoring and evaluation. It investigates novel questions raised in environmental justice policymaking: What happens when technical ways of knowing do not match the lived experiences of laypersons, particularly in historically disadvantaged communities of color? What are the limitations of current policy infrastructure to grapple with these disconnects? Why do they persist? This approach creates space to investigate connections, patterns, and boundaries between lay knowledge, technical policymaking, and strategies to achieve environmental justice. This research builds on studies of how citizens and policymakers work together to develop regulatory standards and examines what happens when these collectively produced metrics don’t reflect affected residents’ concerns. By analyzing debates over credible knowledge in this context, this project will provide insights into how environmental policymaking can take seriously the knowledge claims of affected communities. Beyond these contributions, this study enhances scholarship on community-expert interactions, environmental governance, and the democratization of science and policy.    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.",TRUE
2306265,Collaborative Research: Track 2: Disrupting Engineering Trauma,2025-04-18,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,245079,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306265,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306265_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"This collaborative research project will explore racialized mental health experiences in engineering and apply innovative approaches to promote racial equity in the discipline. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that students, especially the traditionally excluded, have negative experiences that result in high levels of distress that is not clearly visible but can have significant impacts within their collegiate experiences. The proposal addresses three interests of the BPE program: 1) Understand the systemic barriers that prevent traditionally underserved communities from pursuing and succeeding in engineering, 2) Develop innovative methods and projects to significantly impact the recruitment and retention of engineering students, faculty, and employees from traditionally underserved communities, and 3) Design and transform culture to make diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority in the engineering enterprise.     The purpose of the research is to make clear that engineering education, when performed traditionally, can serve as a stressor that is sufficient to (1) cause/initiate subclinical or clinical levels of distress and dysfunction or (2) maintain or exacerbate pre-existing stress reactions. The project guiding research questions include: What are the baseline levels of stress and distress for Black, Latin, and Indigenous (BLI) engineering students, based on their self-identification of critical life events and How do the racialized experiences of BLI students uniquely contribute to their symptoms of distress? To address these questions we will use validated tools from psychology to assess the baseline stress, distress, and traumas of engineering students and follow-up with in-depth interviews with undergraduate BLI students to thematically analyze participants' distressing and traumatizing experiences in engineering education. The intellectual merit of the project includes 1) defining racialized stress, distress, and trauma in engineering, which will expand the engineering and STEM communities' knowledge of the ways default educational practices increase each of these in students; 2) Articulating the intersectional experiences related to mental health that occur within engineering education. 3) Expand the use of existing theories and practice for understanding racialized stress, distress, and trauma, to foster positive mental health and wellbeing for BLI engineering students. The broader impacts of the project includes 1)  Produce a model of BLI engineering students' characterization of trauma related to their engineering education to define and develop measures of stress and trauma in engineering, 2) Identify strategies to reduce educational experiences that lead to traumatic responses for BLI students, and 3) Develop and update engineering education pedagogy by helping engineering faculty recognize how their behaviors or interactions with students may contribute to students' repeated over-exposure to stress that could lead to traumatic responses.    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.",TRUE
2201486,Achieving Critical Transformations in Undergraduate Programs in Mathematics (ACT UP Math),2025-04-18,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,1500000,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201486,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201486_4900,2022-07-01,2025-04-18,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"2201486 Abstract    The disparity in achievement and access for students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEM are well documented, but there remains a lack of attention to what to do with this knowledge and how to measure the impact of improvement efforts beyond pass rates and demographics. While many university mathematics departments value providing diverse, equitable, and inclusive (DEI) student experiences, the faculty often do not have the professional training to engage with DEI work or measure its progress, which can lead to disengagement from these initiatives. Achieving Critical Transformation in Undergraduate Programs of Mathematics is a Level II, Track II ECR Broadening Participation in STEM project. This project aims to conduct foundational research to identify the mechanisms and structures that best support mathematics stakeholders in making data-informed decisions to promote DEI and critically transform introductory mathematics courses and programs. Addressing issues relating to DEI in introductory mathematics courses are important to broadening participation in STEM disciplines. Mathematics departments are not only capable of engaging in these issues and improving the mathematics experiences for students from underrepresented populations but are significantly well-positioned to do so because of the elevated role that mathematics plays in students’ STEM careers, STEM identities, and sense of belonging in the classroom.    This project builds on the strength of two prior national studies of introductory mathematics programs, Progress through Calculus and Student Engagement in Mathematics through an Institutional Network for Active Learning. Researchers can leverage this existing body of quantitative and qualitative data to engage key stakeholders in improvement cycles. This project aims to deploy a Networked Improvement Community (NIC) model to bring together three undergraduate mathematics department teams in partnership with educational researchers to analyze their local data, in comparison to the national sample. Utilizing a NIC framework, researchers will provide professional development and technical assistance to the department team, along with focused research to interview students, faculty, and instructors across these communities to inform departmental transformation efforts, as well as empower sites to develop the structures needed for lasting change. In a broader sense, this project will also serve as a model to assist members of other institutions, including community colleges, and other STEM fields working to address experiences and outcomes related to DEI in STEM education.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain and suggest interventions and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2243109,Examining Blackness in Postsecondary STEM Education through a Multidimensional-Multiplicative Lens,2025-04-18,University of Illinois at Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL07,2781881,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243109,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243109_4900,2022-12-01,2028-05-31,606124305,W8XEAJDKMXH3,"Despite well-intentioned university efforts to support Black undergraduate STEM students, policy and practice reforms run the risk of not appropriately benefiting all Black people due to pervasive, deficit-based assumptions about Black racial identities and the types of structural engagement needed to advance holistic, racial well-being in transformative and sustainable ways. Stated simply, STEM contexts do not adequately support Black undergraduate STEM students because STEM educators and practitioners remain unsure of what Blackness means for individuals, thereby constraining true racial equity endeavors. Contemporary literature regarding race posits instead that embodiment(s) of Blackness differ across multiple dimensions and axes, including ethnic identity (e.g., African American, Caribbean American, Nigerian American), place identity (e.g., South, Midwest), and generational identity (e.g., first-generation, second-generation, third plus generation). Black students from different ethnic and generational identities having varied perceptions of the racial climate and understandings of their STEM experiences. Recognizing the scope of Blackness and its implications for creating and sustaining holistic, heterogenous conceptions of racial equity in STEM, the team will establish a collaborative network among six institutions (two HBCUS, two PWIs, one majority Black institution, and one HSI) located across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions of the US to study how Black undergraduate STEM students’ notions of Blackness vary with respect to these dimensions.     The research team will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods project, integrating mosaic ethnography, survey design and administration of the survey to Black undergraduate STEM students across five states. Through these methods, the students’ conceptions of Blackness will be explored as it relates to their STEM engagement and perspectives of racial equity in STEM. In efforts to foster racial equity in STEM for all Black people, this project will produce tools of analysis (i.e., theories, research methods, qualitative and quantitative measures) and translational products (i.e., professional developments, aminations, infographics) that will change how institutional and organizational policies, practices, and future research treat Black people in STEM, thereby promoting tailored resources and supports to meet Black people’s nuanced needs. The desired outcomes from this work will inform the development and implementation of racial equity focused policies and practices in STEM education, facilitating increased access and sustained engagement in STEM for Black undergraduate students.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2242927,RCN-UBE: Deepening and Expanding the Mission and Outcomes of the Re-Envisioning Culture Network,2025-04-18,University of Illinois at Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL07,500000,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,UBE - Undergraduate Biology Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2242927,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2242927_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,606124305,W8XEAJDKMXH3,"People who identify as Black are disproportionately underrepresented in the number of undergraduate degrees awarded in the biological sciences. This has implications for scientific innovations as it specifically relates to Black people within the United States. This project thus strives to address challenges with retaining and matriculating Black students in the biological sciences by focusing on transforming the culture and context of undergraduate biology teaching and learning. The work builds significantly on the existing Re-Envisioning Culture Network through expanding membership, development of the teaching and mentoring resources, fostering thinktanks to promote continued investigations into innovative approaches, and supporting newly formed collaborations that advance the network goals.    Existing attempts to address the challenge with retaining and matriculating Black students in undergraduate STEM education often propose solutions that focus on either student or faculty development. While beneficial with helping Black students obtain specific resources and opportunities, endeavors focused on student development often fail to address structural and systemic forms of oppression that both explicitly and implicitly impact Black students’ holistic well-being and, thus their success. Though faculty development endeavors focus on interpersonal and professional development that support inclusive or justice-oriented teaching and mentoring, these endeavors often fail to provide tangible resources and sustained infrastructure to ensure faculty members’ successful implementation of said strategies within their classroom spaces. In recognizing these challenges and their implications for Black science learners and the Black community writ large, this project seeks to implement a new approach that strives to transform the culture and context of undergraduate biology education by situating biology teaching and learning within critical, strengths-based frameworks of Blackness. Leveraging critical, strengths-based frameworks of Blackness to create undergraduate biology curricula, lessons, assessments, and teaching resources presents the opportunity to implement and examine the impact that science content, classroom ethos, and pedagogical praxes have on Black students’ success. This project will further investigate innovative ways to address challenges with retaining and matriculating Black students by hosting annual thinktanks and community strategizing endeavors. Lastly, this project will facilitate the formation of new networks and collaborative endeavors that advance research and teaching focused on centering Blackness onto-epistemologies within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics teaching and learning. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).    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.",TRUE
2236374,"Increasing the Effectiveness of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion-Focused Institutional Change Teams through a Community of Transformation",2025-04-18,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,590387,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236374,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2236374_4900,2023-04-01,2025-04-18,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing the effectiveness of organizational change efforts, so that university science and engineering programs are able to attract and retain students and faculty from diverse and minoritized communities, contributing to a more innovative and representative workforce. Change efforts in higher education are challenging, in part because faculty have not received training in organizational change, and in part because effective change needs involvement from diverse stakeholders beyond the professoriate. As a consequence, institutions may continue to use policies and practices that do not effectively address gaps in participation, such as for students of color, women, and people with disabilities. Previous research on organizational change in higher education highlights the importance of social relationships for equipping faculty and other stakeholders to make significant changes to their beliefs and practices. In that vein this project will create a cross-institutional Community of Transformation (CoT) to support university change agents who are working to make changes focused on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in their own departments and institutions. This approach is a particularly good match for JEDI-centered organizational change, which requires not only individual adoption of new practices, but also transformation of institutional structures and practices. Through an innovative approach to community building and storycrafting, the project intends to help CoT members make significant JEDI-centered institutional change efforts, learn from one another’s experiences, and learn effective change strategies towards a more just future. This work aims to advance understanding of how CoTs can help JEDI-oriented institutional change efforts thrive.    This project plans to convene a cross-institutional CoT of JEDI change agents in engineering. Through both virtual and in-person events, participants will increase their resilience and skills in enacting change at their institutions, build community and co-support for each other as change agents, and increase their individual and collective agency to create organizational change. This project hopes to provide key insights into improving faculty’s change agency by integrating professional development into the CoT, fostering relationships through which members will learn from each other, and evaluating how a cross-institutional CoT can improve change agents’ capacity to improve their own departmental and institutional systems to broaden participation in STEM and advance JEDI outcomes. These key insights will be developed through research on the CoT participants and their efforts to promote change. The research team will use narrative and discourse methods to analyze CoT activities and surveys, interviews, and focus groups with CoT members. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.    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.",TRUE
2201796,Collaborative Research: Investigating Gender Differences in Digital Learning Games with Educational Data Mining,2025-04-18,Carnegie-Mellon University,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,1083218,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201796,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201796_4900,2022-07-01,2025-04-18,152133815,U3NKNFLNQ613,"Despite evidence that gender differences in math achievement have narrowed or disappeared in recent decades, stereotypes about men being better than women at math emerge early in childhood and persist through adulthood. These perceptions appear to influence female students’ interest and performance in math, as well as their pursuit of STEM careers. Given the potential motivational benefits of digital learning games, games might provide a pathway for reducing math anxiety for female students while increasing their self-efficacy and interest in math. This project will explore whether digital learning games can lead to less math anxiety and better learning in female students, while not hurting male student learning. It will study learning with two existing digital learning games: Decimal Point, which teaches foundational math concepts (decimal numbers and operations) to 5th and 6th grade students; and Angle Jungle, which targets a similar age range (4th and 5th graders) and has a similar thematic design (i.e., a game map, cartoon characters), but with different game mechanics, content (angles), and instructional approach. The study will explore how and why Decimal Point has, over the course of several experiments spanning multiple years, consistently produced a learning advantage for female students. In doing so, investigators will identify principles regarding the relationship between gender and game features that can be shared with game developers and used in other games, starting with Angle Jungle.    This work will go beyond the traditional gender binary of male and female, analyzing multiple dimensions of gender, including gender identity (e.g., how much students feel like a boy, a girl, both, neither), gender typicality (e.g., How much students like to do the same things as other girls [boys], How much students feel they look like boys [girls]), and gender-typed interests, activities, and traits (e.g., how much a student feels affectionate or adventurous). The study will also investigate two pathways hypothesized to lead to gender differences: first, that the playful features of the games reduce the saliency of the math content, making it less likely to cue math stereotype threat (the stereotype threat hypothesis); and second, that the games’ thematic details are more appealing to learners who identify (more) as females, making the games more engaging for them compared to learners who identify (more) as boys (the engagement hypothesis). In Year 1, educational data mining will be used to infer students’ cognitive and affective processes while playing Decimal Point and compare data to the distinct processes predicted by these two pathways. In Year 2, investigators will assess whether the hypothesized pathways and gender differences replicate in the context of Angle Jungle. In Year 3, hypotheses will be further tested by manipulating Decimal Point’s emphasis on math content in one version of the game and enjoyment and playful features in another. The project will compare learning outcomes between the two versions to more deeply explore the stereotype threat and engagement hypotheses. The ultimate aim of this work is to provide insights into gender-based differences in learning from digital games, providing principles and guidance for other researchers and game designers in developing and revising digital learning games. Thus, the project has the potential to transfer Decimal Point’s success with girls’ learning outcomes to other digital learning games and advance knowledge on the multidimensionality of gender. Furthermore, findings will allow investigators to revise both games and make them available to thousands of late elementary and middle school students across the country. Even during this project, approximately 1,950 students—including many from districts with diverse populations and low math proficiency¬—will benefit from learning with Decimal Point and Angle Jungle.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2222234,STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellows in Participatory and Community-Engaged Research,2025-04-18,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,2230181,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222234,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222234_4900,2022-08-01,2025-04-18,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     The STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program funds postdoctoral awards designed to enhance the research competencies of recent doctoral graduates in STEM, STEM education, and related disciplines to prepare them to engage in STEM education research that advances knowledge in the field. In alignment with that goal this project partners Michigan State University, the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York’s Environmental Science and Forestry campus, and the Sustainable Development Institute of the College of Menominee Nation with two objectives. First is to build STEM education research capacity and advance knowledge in STEM education; and second is to broaden the participation of people of color in the STEM workforce. The project will bring to bear the institutional resources and expertise of the collaborating partners to prioritize the support of six Indigenous STEM education researchers in developing professional knowledge and competencies, preparing them to undertake research that will generate new understandings about best practices in STEM education that serve to increase Indigenous representation in STEM.    The project activities are framed around nine research-based competencies for supporting the comprehensive development of postdoctoral fellows as highly prepared independent STEM education researchers. The complementary resources and roles of the three institutional partners will deliver a blend of traditional and unique experiences customized to support the growth of Indigenous STEM education researchers, especially in the use of participatory community-engaged research methods. The partnership will afford immersion experiences in Indigenous communities for fellows and faculty mentors to further their cultural competence and provide opportunities to engage in authentic participatory research studies investigating STEM education issues of importance to Indigenous people. The involvement of faculty mentors in these activities will expand their perspectives on research and foster the transformation of their STEM and education departments toward environments more welcoming of diverse scholars. The project holds high potential for generating new models for supporting Indigenous scholars, strategies for transforming STEM departments to be more inclusive, and insights on approaches for successfully engaging in research with diverse communities to improve their representation in the STEM workforce.    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.",TRUE
2313996,"Iterative Improvement of a Program for Building Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible Large-scale (IDEAL) Participatory Science Projects",2025-04-18,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,1123487,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313996,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313996_4900,2024-01-01,2027-12-31,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"Many scientific inquiries require the participation of thousands of people across multiple locations to share their observations and local knowledge which together yield discoveries that are otherwise unobtainable. These large-scale public participation in scientific research (PPSR) projects also provide an important opportunity for public engagement in science. However, PPSR projects share a common challenge: public participants tend to be demographically homogeneous (white, wealthy, and highly educated), which limits informal science learning opportunities and produces gaps in the scientific data in terms of race, ability and lived experience. In this project, researchers and practitioners of two national participatory science projects will beta-test a professional development program called Inclusive, Diverse, Equitable, Accessible, Large-scale (IDEAL) participatory science. The program was co-created with practitioners and students who are people of color and/or immigrants, representing a range of gender identities and sexual orientations and neurodivergent individuals alongside facilitators that specialize in helping STEM professionals address social inequities. The IDEAL program supports practitioners in developing self-awareness, readiness, agency, and resources to modify their projects with practices that support belonging, equity, and accessibility. The project will iteratively test the IDEAL program and study whether it can impact practitioners' subsequent behaviors to change project structures to engage an audience of groups of the public that have been historically excluded (e.g., people of color, people with disabilities) from large-scale participatory science projects. This work is led by a partnership of researchers and practitioners from North Carolina State University, Shaw University (an HBCU), University of Arizona (a Hispanic-Serving Institution), and two nation-wide public participation in scientific research projects, Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) and Colorado State University’s Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), and guided by team members and advisors with expertise in diversity, equity, access, and inclusion and racially, ethnically, gender and disability diverse lived experiences.    Over a three-year period, this project will provide, iterate, and test the impact of IDEAL practices with approximately 180 practitioners whose implementation will reach approximately 6,000 public participants. The research will result in evidence-based professional development to support practices for diversity, equity, accessibility, and inclusion in the informal learning context of large-scale participatory sciences. The research will examine self-awareness, readiness, agency, and implementation of new practices by practitioners who beta test the IDEAL program. The team will conduct document analyses of the practitioner products and discourse analysis among the communities of practice supported through the IDEAL program. These methods will be used to detail evidence of IDEAL constructs (e.g., do they describe inclusion or assimilation?), derived constructs related to intended practitioner outcomes (self-awareness, readiness, and agency), and additional emergent themes using content analysis. Retrospective self-reported outcomes will explore practitioner attributions to the IDEAL training, and quantitative comparisons will help the team begin to understand aspects that differ among identity groups. To determine the impacts of the training on broadening participation among PPSR participants, the team will create three comparison groups: IDEAL sites with implementation financial support, IDEAL sites without implementation financial support, and sites without any practitioners trained with the IDEAL Program. Using pre/post surveys across approximately 1,200 public participants, the team will be able to gauge the impact of the IDEAL program on diversity of participant identity groups, participants' sense of belonging to the project, and participants' self-efficacy for science learning and doing. The evidence-based program will be shared widely on freely accessible blogs, websites, and resource centers. Research findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal articles and through public media outlets such as podcasts and a bilingual radio show.    This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2300164,Collaborative Research: Increasing Inclusion and Equity of Minoritized STEM Faculty: Examining the Role of Epistemic Exclusion in Scholar(ly) Evaluation Practices,2025-04-18,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,584383,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300164,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2300164_4900,2023-08-01,2028-07-31,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"The proposed project examines whether and how epistemic exclusion, a form of scholarly devaluation, is a barrier to the full inclusion and participation of women faculty and faculty of color in STEM. Epistemic exclusion occurs when disciplinary biases defining what STEM scholarship is valued are coupled with negative stereotypes about productivity and commitment of individuals based on their social identities to produce unfair evaluation processes. Because many faculty career outcomes (such as hiring, tenure, promotion, and leadership opportunities) are determined by research productivity metrics, research evaluation biases can impact interest, retention, and success in STEM research careers. The focus on scholarly work as a site of devaluation extends prior work on interpersonal forms of exclusion (e.g., social exclusion) in STEM education and research contexts. This knowledge is important for informing the development of individual and systemic level interventions to broaden participation in STEM.    The study will: 1) examine whether the level of epistemic exclusion among STEM faculty varies depending on scholars’ identities and career stage; 2) determine how experiences of epistemic exclusion affect STEM faculty careers; and 3) examine how consequences of epistemic exclusion vary depending on STEM scholars’ identities and career stage. This project will survey of 1800 tenure track STEM faculty at U.S. R1 and R2 universities nationally and hold focus groups of a subsample surveyed. The focus groups will explore how epistemic exclusion is uniquely experienced, understood, and impactful by career stage (early, mid, senior). This work builds on prior work by the research team that developed and validated the Faculty Epistemic Exclusion (FEE) Scale. This research will make significant intellectual contributions including the exploration of a new area of study for researchers interested in issues of fairness and inclusion in STEM education and research environments.     This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in education.    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.",TRUE
2237739,CAREER: Developing a Participatory Model for Elementary Science for Community Change,2025-04-18,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,227694,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237739,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2237739_4900,2023-05-01,2028-04-30,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"Elementary  students  need opportunities to see science as meaningful and relevant to their lives. One way to increase this relevance is with learning experiences that are grounded in community-based questions and inquiries that students identify and carry out themselves. An important contribution of this project is investigating how culturally relevant and community-based science curriculum helps to affirm and develop Black students’ science identities in an urban, elementary classroom. This project will partner with third, fourth and fifth-grade elementary teachers  to create and to investigate such learning experiences. The planned partner for the collaboration is a public, charter school in Detroit. The research will document how teachers and students identify and explore science questions that are drawn from their local community context and use the results of their inquiries to enact local community change. The project will develop resources to help teachers create similar experiences for elementary students in their own communities.     The goal of this project is to design equitable, culturally relevant and community-centered science learning with Black elementary-aged youth and to understand how the learning experience influences their multiple identities, specifically their disposition toward science. This work uses the youth participatory science model to engage students and teachers in the cycle of community-based scientific inquiry. The youth participatory science model engages students in identifying community-based issues, using scientific inquiry to analyze and understand those issues, and then sharing their findings with the broader community. A significant contribution of the project is the adaptation of this model from secondary science classrooms to elementary school. This research will address the following research questions. First, how does a justice and community-centered science curriculum impact the racial, science, and academic identities of Black elementary students within an urban school? Second, through engaging in identity-affirming science instruction, how do Black elementary students view themselves as active participants within the scientific community? The research will include a range of qualitative data to document the design of the curriculum and the experiences of students and teachers. The project includes a partnership with an elementary school and the Black Male Educator Alliance, a community organization based in Detroit, to develop and share the resulting science curriculum.    This CAREER project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.  This award is also funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2305592,ADVANCE Partnership: Leveraging Intersectionality and Engineering Affinity groups in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (LINEAGE),2025-04-18,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,816031,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305592,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305592_4900,2023-08-15,2026-07-31,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"Professional societies play a critical role in the advancement of PhDs in academia and industry by setting standards of excellence through policies and practices. They set the tone for culture and climate within STEM disciplines. For industrial engineering and operations research (IEOR), the two societies that establish field norms are the IISE (Institute of Industrial & Systems Engineers) and INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences). Professional organizations shape engineers’ academic identity and determine what is valued and rewarded in their disciplines. The NSF ADVANCE LINEAGE project will partner with these global professional organizations to address systemic causes of inequity for women of color by integrating positive organizational scholarship (POS) with the Six Sigma DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control) framework.      LINEAGE will evaluate the hypothesis that through these organizations it is possible to transform a field and systemically change culture and climate within the field. Through the co-creation of affinity groups (AG) with IISE and INFORMS, this project aims to achieve systemic changes in academic workplaces and the profession that will improve the recruitment, retention, and success of women of color in these disciplines. This project is informed by prior work to understand the impact of AGs in academia and industry funded by the NSF Directorate for Engineering (NSF 2024569). This prior work provides evidence that AGs have the potential to produce systemic change in academic workplaces and in the professions. The LINEAGE project focuses on AGs in professional societies, rather than individual institutions, because 1) women of color are often the “only” in their home departments, which creates an isolated environment, and 2) professional societies reach individuals at all stages of their careers, from PhD to full professors. LINEAGE will partner with the EBJ NSF INCLUDES funded Aspire Alliance to learn from the iThrive Collective (intentional counterspaces to address issues identified by underrepresented faculty).        The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2315401,Collaborative Research: The Design and Refinement of Modules for Raising Critical Consciousness in Undergraduate Mathematics Teacher Preparation,2025-04-18,North Carolina State University,RALEIGH,NC,NC02,198227,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315401,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315401_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,276950001,U3NVH931QJJ3,"This project aims to serve the national interest by developing modules intended to better prepare prospective grade 6-12 mathematics teachers to teach in increasingly diverse classrooms while advancing prospective teachers’ own STEM learning. This project is significant because research indicates that although student populations in U.S. schools are continuing to increase in diversity, specifically with respect to race, language, and socio-economic status, teachers are predominantly white and need additional resources to develop rich STEM learning experiences that impact outcomes for all learners in STEM fields. This project hopes to advance the knowledge of how best to support prospective mathematics teachers in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach in diverse settings and contribute to ongoing efforts to increase access to much needed research-based resources for mathematics teacher educators. Mathematics teacher educators' use of these resources should advance prospective mathematics teachers’ own STEM learning which should lead to better mathematics instruction in classrooms across the country. As a result, more grade 6-12 students, particularly students from underrepresented groups, will develop an interest in and be prepared to enter STEM fields.     This project will use improvement science methods to design, refine, and study the impact of a series of modules for use in grade 6-12 mathematics teaching methods courses that address prospective teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching in diverse settings as outlined in Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Mathematics. Specifically, the project will address two goals as follows: Goal 1. Design and refine a series of modules developed using critical pedagogies to address: a) the political and historical issues in mathematics education, b) identity, c) critical consciousness, and d) countering unproductive practices that marginalize learners by using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles at three institutions. After the development of each module (Plan), the modules will be enacted in a staggered schedule at each institution (Do) so that between each enactment, data can be shared and analyzed (Study) and revisions can be made (Act). Throughout the design and refinement process advisory board members with expertise in mathematics teacher education, access, equity, culture, justice, curriculum development, and improvement science will provide feedback. The modules will then be shared with mathematics teacher educators who are part of the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (which includes 65 programs, including 11 under-resourced institutions and/or minority-serving institutions) for further refinement and subsequently made available to all mathematics teacher educators. Goal 2. Studying the impact of the modules on prospective teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions will be guided by two research questions: RQ1: What impact does participating in the modules have on pre-service teachers' understanding of countering practices that marginalize learners in mathematics? RQ2: How does the consciousness of secondary pre-service teachers shift while engaged in modules on countering beliefs, attitudes, actions and practices that devalue learners in the context of teaching and learning of mathematics? The project will collect quantitative data using content analysis and pre-and post-module data using the Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancy and Self-Efficacy surveys and qualitative data from prospective teachers assignments and reflections through coding, thematic analysis, and using Mathematics with|in conocimientos to determine how the modules influenced prospective teachers’ multicultural mathematics dispositions, other emergent understandings related to cultural sensitivity, and how prospective teachers’ experiences with the modules created changes in their consciousness. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program has contributed funding to this project.    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.",TRUE
2200838,Addressing historic and systemic racial inequities: Coeur d’Alene land-based STEM education,2025-04-18,Coeur d' Alene Tribe,PLUMMER,ID,ID01,2091864,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200838,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200838_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,838517000,VMMMDTT25GV5,"Improving diversity in STEM fields is key to addressing the critical and complex issues faced by society in the 21st century. Research shows that  only 17% of American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) students continue their education after high school versus 60% of the U.S. population.   AIAN communities experience some of the greatest educational disparities of any racial/ethnic group in STEM subjects and overall academic achievement in both K12 and post-secondary education.  Despite natural resources and environmental careers’ important to tribes, less than 20% of Native Americans graduating from college do so with STEM degrees, with numbers decreasing in the past five years The Coeur d’Alene Tribe faces daunting environmental challenges that threaten its ability to maintain and restore its culture, language and landscape. Tribal members who are proficient in Coeur d’Alene and Western STEM are needed to advance racial equity and address systemic racism in STEM education for Indigenous youth. Increasingly, research is demonstrating how critical the inclusion of Native history and ways of knowing is to attract and retain Native students. Developing interest, and a sense of belonging in the STEM fields must begin before students enter college; this is especially important for Indigenous youth. In alignment with this goal, this project will address systemic racism by integrating historical and present-day events with culturally relevant. The project will advance racial equity through experiential teaching to provide a template for tribal and underrepresented communities wishing to develop a STEM workforce.    This project centers on an Indigenous Scholars program, immersing students in land-based learning to deepen a relationship with their homeland while understanding how legal and political conflicts impact environmental and community health. Students will explore ways of knowing in language, mathematics, science, arts, and society and culture, through sessions led by scholars versed in Indigenous methodologies. Inter-generational mentoring will focus on academic coaching supporting students to see themselves as change agents through their educational achievement. Through a summer youth internship and the production of multi-media documentaries, students will demonstrate knowledge about their aboriginal territory, the impact of external policies and actions on the Tribe, and how STEM fields support self-determination. These components will support students’ understanding of their community’s history and core values and strengthen their sense of agency in protecting resources for future generations. This Tribally-led project will inform researchers how participation in a summer internship designed using critical Indigenous pedagogies of place impacts youth identities as Native STEM learners, and is demonstrated in multimedia documentary products; 2) how intergenerational mentoring and exposure to Indigenous research and scholarship impacts critical consciousness.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. Institutions may include those with significant percentages of low-income undergraduate students.    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.",TRUE
2305370,ADVANCE Adaptation: NYU InterScience-Systemic Changes in Leadership and Climate for Inclusive STEM,2025-04-18,New York University,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,1250000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305370,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305370_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,100121019,NX9PXMKW5KW8,"The New York University’s (NYU) ADVANCE Adaptation project, InterScience, will focus on improving the workplace culture and climate at NYU for all STEM faculty. The project aims to implement new policies and practices that will lead to improved retention, success, satisfaction, and representation of women and women of color who are underrepresented in STEM faculty careers. The InterScience project has three main objectives (1) Develop STEM faculty for leadership roles, in particular as department chairs; (2) Empower department chairs, center leaders, and advocates with critical training; (3) Improve retention, tenure success, satisfaction, and sense of belonging for all STEM faculty. The ADVANCE project will partner with the existing NSF AGEP ELEVATE program which is focused on junior faculty of color. to leverage the work done by both projects.     Because department chairs play a crucial role in mentoring junior faculty, in setting the department climate, in hiring, and in the tenure and promotion process, this project will focus on improving the pathway to this leadership role to ensure it is of interest to STEM faculty from underrepresented groups. The project will develop and implement new policies to improve the attractiveness of the role of chair, create new vice-chair roles, and improve transparency and equity in the procedure to appoint faculty to leadership positions. In addition, the project will provide regular training to Chairs, Advocates, and center directors, create a formalized Diversity Advocates program, and create a range of mentoring and networking programs. The proposed InterScience Center and digital mentoring platform will evolve to include faculty from other New York-area universities and can serve as a model for other universities in the US.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE “Adaptation” awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2225567,Research: Identifying intervention targets to increase mental health help seeking in undergraduate engineers,2025-04-18,University of Kentucky Research Foundation,LEXINGTON,KY,KY06,349591,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225567,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2225567_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,405260001,H1HYA8Z1NTM5,"National data show that engineering students experiencing mental health distress are significantly less likely than their peers to seek professional mental health help. While treatment gaps exist for cisgender men, persons of color, and first-generation students, these group disparities are further pronounced among engineering students. In this study, we aim to address these concerns about mental health treatment underutilization in engineering through a theoretically grounded, multi-institution study of the beliefs influencing professional help seeking in diverse engineering student populations. This project will build on results from an NSF Research Initiation in Engineering Formation grant which focused on developing a survey instrument to measure the key beliefs that influence mental health related help seeking in undergraduate engineering students. Through this work, the instrument will be improved to ensure representation of the beliefs held by students from diverse backgrounds, studying in different institutional contexts. Once improved, the instrument will be used to identify targets for future interventions to increase mental health related help seeking in students at six different institutions across the United States. This improvement in help seeking will improve the mental health and academic outcomes of diverse engineering students, including those with mental health disabilities.    This project will apply a mixed-methods approach to improve and refine the Engineering Mental Health Help-seeking Instrument (EMHHI) based on the Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) to characterize key mental health help-seeking beliefs in diverse undergraduate engineering students. Through this work, we aim to address three research questions: 1) How can the original EMHHI be improved to enhance validity for diverse students in different institutional contexts? 2) How can the improved EMHHI be refined to maintain cross-cultural validity while maximizing feasibility? 3) How can the refined EMHHI be used to create institutional profiles that identify targets for future mental health interventions in diverse student populations? The original EMHHI was designed to measure beliefs relevant to engineering students with diverse identities at the University of Kentucky, a research-focused predominantly White institution. Therefore, this project will ensure that the instrument is inclusive of help-seeking beliefs of diverse students at other institutions. Through collaborations at Prairie View A&M University (a Historically Black College or University) and University of Houston (a Hispanic-serving Institution), we will use focus groups to identify salient belief items to add to the EMHHI. Next, cognitive interviews will enhance the clarity of the instrument. This improved EMHHI will be refined through large-scale data collection at these three institutions, allowing for removal of items that prove insignificant across select demographic subgroups (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, generational status). This will improve the validity, clarity and feasibility of the EMHHI. Finally, the refined EMHHI will be used to collect data at three additional institutions (e.g., private, polytechnic, pre-engineering). We will develop a standardized data collection and analysis protocol for identifying key help-seeking beliefs in a diverse array of engineering students and institutional contexts. Development of interventions based on key beliefs identified through this work could increase help-seeking behavior and shift the mental health norms of the engineering community to be more inclusive and supportive of those in mental health distress.    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.",TRUE
2204540,NSF ADVANCE Catalyst: Tracking Recognition and Engagement of Women in Low-Prestige/High-Workload Service Activities at Kent State University,2025-04-18,Kent State University,KENT,OH,OH14,300000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204540,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2204540_4900,2022-05-01,2025-04-18,442420001,KXNVA7JCC5K6,"Counting is a powerful tool for achieving gender equity because it: (1) motivates organizational change; (2) dispels myths that “gender bias doesn’t happen here”; (3) identifies institutional change targets; (4) creates accountability; and (5) documents the efficacy of change efforts.  Our goal is to build upon previous ADVANCE initiatives by transparently quantifying self-identified intersecting gender and racial/ethnic identities (IGRE identities) to track STEM women faculty’s retention and promotion at Kent State University (KSU). Women complete more high-workload/low-status service tasks, which can be an obstacle to their upward mobility in academia. Therefore, transparently quantifying disparities in service workload is imperative. Relative to men, women are disproportionately more likely to hold service positions with little visibility or prestige. We have empirical evidence that women engage in more service work than men at KSU: A 2017 KSU climate survey found more women (47%) than men (34%) faculty reported feeling burdened by service responsibilities, and women disproportionately comprise undergraduate research mentors. Our proposed online dashboard will aggregate service burden by NSF-recognized STEM fields, rank, and IGREs. We will measure subjective perceptions of the prestige, workload, and fulfillment associated with faculty members’ service activities to identify those STEM fields with the greatest service workload inequities. We will analyze exit interview data collected across the last decade from faculty who separated from the university to determine whether/how their IGRE identities and service burdens contributed to their departure decision. Finally, we will establish a STEM Women’s Support Network to promote community building and mentorship pertaining to service workloads. A key strength of our project is its focus on making institutional change to remedy structural inequities.     Our project addresses service burden, a specific upstream cause of gender inequity, to improve retention and advancement of STEM women faculty at KSU. The specific aim of our project is to transparently quantify inequities in service commitments by intersecting gender and racial/ethnic identities (IGRE identities) while maintaining faculty anonymity. Our approach builds on previous NSF ADVANCE work (NSF Grant #1463898) reporting such transparency is an efficacious intervention for reducing gender disparities in service. The timing is perfect for our project, which will involve quantitative (i.e., online anonymous surveys about service commitments and perceptions) as well as qualitative research methodology (e.g., secondary data analyses of exit interview responses and merit review materials), because it dovetails with KSU's recently released strategic DEI plan. KSU, an eight-campus, doctoral-granting public institution with ~42,000 students, which was recently granted the highest research Carnegie Classification (i.e., R1), is an ideal ADVANCE award recipient. Our diverse research team has strong institutional support. Our central repository of KSU STEM faculty service data will transparently track service commitments by self-identified IGRE identities to improve upward mobility of women STEM faculty through tenure/administration ranks, chipping away at macro-level gender inequalities in the STEM professoriate. Moreover, our approach can be readily adapted to address IGRE inequalities in university and institutional contexts across the world. Other broader impacts include continued transparency in record-keeping beyond the “life” of the grant, amplification of women’s voices, and interdisciplinary research training and dissemination opportunities for trainees at various career stages.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education.    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.",TRUE
2222482,Engineering Societies and the Lived Experiences of Marginalized Aspirants: (Re)imaging Inclusion,2025-04-18,Drexel University,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,300000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222482,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222482_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,191042875,XF3XM9642N96,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    The United States continues to struggle with achieving diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. To address this challenge, U.S. STEM education has seen an increase in programs designed to broaden the participation of students from marginalized communities. A number of these programs aim to support the success of individual students but leave out examinations of the larger, social barriers to STEM participation. For example, engineers who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color, or gender diverse often describe engineering classrooms and workplaces as difficult and unwelcoming. In engineering fields, professional societies can provide an additional layer of support where identity difference is expected, acknowledged, and celebrated.  This study is designed to examine connections between the lived experiences of diverse individuals, the engineering profession, and contemporary diversity programming.     As the U.S. science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education sector continues to grapple with the challenges of advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in academic and employment sectors, these sectors have experienced rapid increases in broadening participation efforts over recent decades. These efforts have aspired to multiple outcomes including increased access, belonging, and retention of students from marginalized communities. However, these efforts focus largely on the experiences of individual students and have left systemic barriers, such as inequitable distributions of resources and discriminatory cultures, less well studied. In engineering fields, professional societies including the National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Women Engineers, and American Indian Science and Education Society serve as centers of empowerment, belonging, mentoring, and development where identity difference is understood, acknowledged, and celebrated. The PI will conduct a series of case studies to address two research questions: (Q1) What roles have engineering societies played in the delineation of racial, ethnic, and gender ideologies of engineering?; and (Q2) How do engineering societies influence the lived experiences of engineering aspirants and professionals of marginalized communities?  The study is designed to examine the intentions and impacts of engineering societies to characterize the relationship between the lived experiences of individuals, academic and industry structures, and contemporary diversity, equity, and inclusion programming.  The project will augment ongoing research through the Engineering PLUS Alliance's Continuous Improvement Data, Evaluation, and Research (CIDER) unit, an NSF INCLUDES funded initiative.     The project responds to the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field.    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.",TRUE
2321243,Impacts of Inclusive Biology Curriculum on Student Attitudes and STEM Interest,2025-04-18,Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville,EDWARDSVILLE,IL,IL13,340528,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321243,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321243_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,620260001,HQ5NMP5HLL53,"The project from Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville will work to update instructional bioscience content in high-school curricula to increase accuracy and decrease sociocultural biases. The proposed project will increase our understanding of how biology instructional content can impact student bioessentialist beliefs and has the potential to contribute foundational knowledge about the epistemology of bioessentialist bias and the process by which these attitudes develop.  There has been limited research into the mechanisms and tools within STEM education that can affect change in prejudicial fundamental attitudes and beliefs about sex, sexuality, and gender. The research instruments and curriculum materials developed as a part of this study as well as the findings will be of use to future practitioners, encourage future research on inclusive education, and create prospective tools for decreasing prejudicial beliefs and implicit biases. Mixed methods analysis will explore whether exposure to inclusive biology lesson plans can change the prevalence of gender essentialist, transphobic, or homophobic attitudes, change STEM and career interest, and whether any of these potential effects vary by student identity, especially for LGBTQ students.    The project plan includes supportive activities for the PI through an aligned professional development plan engaged through trainings, conferences, and the support of expert mentors. These advisors will assist the PI in attaining the skills needed for development as a STEM education researcher and scholar. The effort will be guided by a diverse group of credentialed educators and scientists working in accredited schools and universities. Dissemination will be addressed through communication in STEM professional pathways, including conferences, training, and publications. The project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR:BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.    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.",TRUE
2323037,Expanding Geoscience Research Access For Historically Excluded Communities,2025-04-18,"The Geological Society of America, Inc.",BOULDER,CO,CO02,895841,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Earth Sciences,EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2323037,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2323037_4900,2023-09-01,2026-08-31,803011806,TKBVGF4WK5N5,"This project supports the Geological Society of America (GSA) Graduate Student Research Grants (GSRG) program and its three primary goals: 1) Increase opportunities for students of historically excluded communities to achieve success in research; 2) Build career skills of students through gainful experience with grant writing, project management, and research; and 3) Support graduate student research in the geosciences and strengthen the geoscience workforce. Geoscience research is highly relevant to society throughout the United States and the world, impacting important matters such as natural resources, energy production, climate change, natural hazards, environmental quality, and more. However, geoscience is one of the least diverse scientific fields in the United States. Members of racial/ethnic groups that have been historically excluded from the geosciences make up only ~23% of all U.S. graduate students enrolled in the geosciences, compared to ~38% of U.S. graduate students in other STEM subjects, and ~43% of the overall U.S. population. To address these gaps, GSA aims to enhance its GSRG program with a new Module aimed at increasing the number of students from these historically excluded communities who apply for and receive geoscience research grants. The student grant recipients will use their funding to generate concrete scientific results in a variety of geoscience disciplines, such as paleontology, geophysics, volcanology, and more.    This new Module is part of GSA’s longstanding Graduate Student Research Grant (GSRG) program, which has provided over 20 million dollars to more than 12,000 geoscientists throughout the last 92 years. The key elements of this Module are: 1) Funding the research of an increasing number of graduate students from historically excluded communities; 2) Further leveraging of GSA’s On To the Future (OTF) program, which provides travel funds and mentoring to students from historically excluded communities to help them attend and participate in GSA Connects (GSA’s annual conference); 3) Enhanced outreach to GSA’s student members from historically excluded communities and campus representatives at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs); 4) Continued outreach outside of GSA; and 5) Changes to the GSRG application and scoring process. Over a three-year period, GSA seeks to provide research grants to approximately 1,000 students, with funding through the NSF award as well as from the Geological Society of America (GSA) and the Geological Society of America Foundation (GSAF). GSA plans to provide roughly one quarter of these students with supplemental funding to enable them to travel to scientific conferences to present the results of their research to the broader geoscience community, network with other students and professionals in their field, and participate in professional development activities.    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.",TRUE
2327314,Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: Resource Use as a Mediator of Sociodemographic Disparities in Student Success,2025-04-18,University of New Hampshire,DURHAM,NH,NH01,332246,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327314,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327314_4900,2024-08-01,2025-04-18,038242620,GBNGC495XA67,"From office hours, to textbooks, to mental health counseling, the use of resources is essential to undergraduate STEM students’ academic success. Previous work has revealed significant relationships between students’ use of specific resources and their academic outcomes, and between resource use and sociodemographic factors (e.g., gender identity, socioeconomic status, race). College success rates vary among different student groups in the United States. Student access to resources may contribute to these differences. This project is designed to investigate the resources that undergraduate students use and how that might be related to their success in higher education. Insights will be developed on how students from historically excluded groups engage with resources. This research hopes to benefit society by increasing the participation of historically excluded groups in STEM. The project focuses an intersectional lens on the experiences and needs of marginalized groups in STEM with the goal of influencing higher education policies and procedures.    This project utilizes a novel, multivariate approach to examine relationships among variables. Specifically, this project is designed to test whether student resource use mediates the relationship between sociodemographic factors and academic outcomes. Further, qualitative approaches will be used to probe the relationships between students’ expectations, values, and sociodemographic factors, and ultimately what drives students to use resources. Using Expectancy-Value Theory for Help Sources as a theoretical framework, approximately 4,000 undergraduate students in Introductory Biology courses across seven collaborating institutions will be surveyed. Cluster analysis will identify participants with similar resource use patterns. Resource use clusters will then be used as a mediating variable in a multilevel mediation analysis. Interviews will sample participants from across clusters, sociodemographic characteristics, and academic outcomes. This combination of advanced quantitative methods and intensive qualitative approaches will provide new insights into how and why students use resources. This information is critical to address extant disparities in student outcomes in STEM and aims to use a strengths-based, intersectional approach to do so. The proposed research acknowledges that students often hold multiple, intersecting identities that impact their experiences within higher education. By understanding strategies that historically excluded individuals are currently using to succeed, institutions and instructors can leverage this knowledge to tailor resource recommendations to students’ unique needs and backgrounds.    This project is supported by NSF’s STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) Program with co-funding from The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation. The STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field. The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation through a partnership with the National Science Foundation seeks to promote greater diversity within the STEM/STEM education research workforce.    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.",TRUE
2228216,"Implementation Grant: A Cultural, Learning, and Institutional Model to Accelerate Transformations for Environmental Justice (CLIMATE Justice)",2025-04-18,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,6000000,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228216,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2228216_4900,2023-01-01,2027-12-31,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Effective and equitable solutions to climate change will require a diverse and culturally competent geoscience workforce with a solid foundation in Earth system science, strong technical skills, and transdisciplinary expertise. To address this need, researchers at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) will work across disciplines to develop a Cultural, Learning, and Institutional Model to Accelerate Transformations for Environmental Justice (CLIMATE Justice). The primary goal of the CLIMATE Justice initiative is to transform the culture of the geosciences through building a learning ecosystem that brings on-the-ground challenges of environmental justice and sustainability into the heart of geoscience research and education. The project will approach climate change research in a holistic way that brings together multiple communities and addresses climate impacts and solutions, as well as social and environmental justice, systemic racism, and knowledge imperialism that discounts different ways of knowing. Program activities will center on training diverse cohorts of postbaccalaureate and PhD student fellows in core climate and geoscience skills, as well as community-engaged research and environmental justice. The cross-disciplinary experience with knowledge co-production gained through this project will uniquely position the participants to serve as agents of change in their careers, whether in academia or other fields. The project will have broad impacts for education, workforce development, broadening participation, and building capacity for addressing climate change. It will improve the culture, effectiveness, and economic benefits of geoscience research by creating a model for institutional change that emphasizes community engagement to tackle pressing environmental problems.     The CLIMATE Justice initiative will mobilize a cultural shift in the geosciences through a place-based approach that situates UCI’s global-scale climate research in a local community context. The specific project objectives are to: 1) Train and empower postbaccalaureate and PhD students from historically marginalized communities to pursue graduate education and careers related to climate change, 2) Increase participation of scientists from traditional STEM disciplines in environmental justice and community-engaged research, 3) Build strong cross-disciplinary collaborations between geoscientists and experts from other fields, such as social science, 4) Develop equitable partnerships with community-based organizations, and 5) Transform the culture of geoscience by building a learning ecosystem that spans traditional institutional, disciplinary, and hierarchical boundaries. CLIMATE Justice Fellows will co-develop research projects with community-based organizations focused on addressing climate change and environmental justice in Southern California. Through culturally aware mentorship and authentic community-engaged research experiences, underrepresented minorities and members of other marginalized communities will build scientific identities and a sense of belonging, increasing the diversity of people entering geoscience careers within and outside academia. Through its research and capacity-building goals, this project will have broad impacts for communities dealing with the impacts of climate and environmental change. Furthermore, it will provide a model for transforming the intellectual focus, research culture, and inclusiveness of academic geoscience departments across the United States and beyond.    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.",TRUE
2309308,Collaborative Research: Evaluating Access: How a Multi-Institutional Network Promotes Equity and Cultural Change through Expanding Student Voice,2025-04-18,San Jose State University Foundation,SAN JOSE,CA,CA18,57939,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Physics,Integrative Activities in Phys,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309308,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2309308_4900,2024-02-01,2027-01-31,951125569,LJBXV5VF2BT9,"Addressing the critical issue of representation and equity in the physical sciences requires meaningful cultural change. The Access Network, founded in 2015, directly addresses this national priority by connecting institutions with student-led, equity-oriented programs to share and disseminate research-based strategies and provide support for overcoming common barriers. Through mentored intersite student cohorts and an annual Assembly, Access fosters community, develops student leaders, reinforces institutional memory, and provides a national context, all important factors for sustainability and scalability. At the Network’s core is a unique philosophy that recognizes and elevates students as drivers of change, recognizing them as powerful members of the STEM community and the future leaders of physics.  An innovative evaluation partnership among external evaluators, educational research faculty within the network, and internal student evaluation fellows will document the network’s impacts on student leaders, local sites and individual departments. These activities combine a student-driven, community-based approach with the expertise of external evaluators, resulting in a more complete picture of the model.    This work will directly support students in the Network, at individual institutions, and beyond by: (i) continuously improving Network activities that support the professional development and retention of junior scientists from diverse backgrounds, (ii) cultivating new student leaders, and (iii) growing a repository of materials and best practices that will increase the efficacy of local sites. It will advance knowledge of equity-focused change in the physical sciences and develop infrastructure for robust evaluation to document, understand, and promote Network aspects crucial to success. The novel evaluation partnership proposed among external evaluators, internal evaluation mentors, and student evaluation advance the conception of participatory evaluation and sets a model for programmatic evaluation. More effectively supporting sites in local evaluation enables their sustainability, as they can better understand and communicate their impacts to local stakeholders. Insights from evaluation activities not only result in a more complete picture of the Access Network model, informing improvements to the network, but also benefit others wishing to enact equity-focused cultural change in STEM. The knowledge about effective programs will be especially helpful for those enacting shared leadership models, expanding the critical role students can play in transforming communities.    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.",TRUE
2214203,Affective Virality on Social Media: The Role of Culture and Ideal Affect,2025-04-18,Stanford University,STANFORD,CA,CA16,549926,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214203,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214203_4900,2022-08-01,2025-07-31,943052004,HJD6G4D6TJY5,"Social media platforms allow people around the world to express themselves and communicate with others more quickly than ever. While this convenience and speed has benefits, it also has psychological and societal costs. For instance, research on social media users in the United States (US) suggests that expressions of positive emotions (e.g., happiness) on social media can make other users feel depressed, anxious, and that they are ""missing out,"" while expressions of negative emotions (e.g., disgust, fear, and anger) can increase the spread of misinformation and intensify political polarization. Combating these potential costs requires understanding the unique cultural and emotion-content signatures of social media use. In the US, users post more positive emotional content, and negative emotional content is strongly associated with misinformation and political polarization. This research tests the hypothesis that these emotional patterns reflect American cultural values in general and an American emphasis on positivity in particular. To test these culturally-embedded predictions, the research examines the prevalence and spread of emotional content on social media in the US and Japan. Research findings can inform the development and deployment of social media tools to combat the harmful effects of emotional content on users.    This research specifically examines the prevalence and spread of emotional content on social media and its association with the well-being of users, susceptibility to misinformation, and political polarization in the US and Japan. Study 1 uses computational methods to compare the spread of emotional news posts in US and Japanese social media. Studies 2a-b use survey and experimental methods to examine how users' cultural values influence the prevalence and spread of emotional content. Study 3 examines a potential remedy, testing whether a tool that allows users to control their exposure to emotion content on social media can increase their well-being, decrease their susceptibility to misinformation, and increase their empathy with political outgroups. These studies contribute to the development of defenses to protect against the negative effects of social media use.    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.",FALSE
2317588,Knowledge is Survival: A New History of American Exploration,2025-04-18,"Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno",RENO,NV,NV02,96228,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317588,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317588_4900,2024-07-01,2025-06-30,895570001,WLDGTNCFFJZ3,"This project rethinks the performers, goals, and geopolitical consequences of American exploration. It investigates how and why diverse women and men pursued, interpreted, and reported knowledge amid exploratory travel and how they applied what they learned to help their communities endure a world shaped by colonial violence. The history of exploration is already a topic of immense interest among the American public; indeed, for many Americans, the exploration and peopling of the continent remains the central story of national science and society. The field thus offers a unique opportunity in the history of science, a chance to introduce the public to a far richer cast of knowledge producers through fascinating stories that eschew the triumphant Eurocentrism embedded in popular conceptions of science and exploration. By demonstrating that one of America’s most iconic scientific pursuits was thoroughly diverse from the beginning, this project can help more Americans envision themselves as researchers and, potentially, advance representation in the sciences today.      The overarching goal of this project is to address the following research question: What does American exploration look like when we include all of the peoples who engaged in it? Based on interdisciplinary research, Knowledge is Survival argues that diverse individuals explored North America as an intellectual strategy for resisting domination and destruction. Despite centuries—and, for Indigenous people, millennia—of investigating the continent, non-white explorers have been almost entirely absent from histories of exploration. This neglect has not merely led to an incomplete story but has distorted some of the field’s core premises. Scholars have long emphasized connections between knowledge and power, particularly how ambitions to control lands and peoples engendered exploration and how the knowledge developed through exploration encouraged conquest. However, these connections were only half the story of knowledge, power, and exploration. Far from seeking to rule over others, many American explorers pursued discoveries that promised to help their own people overcome subjection or survive elimination.    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.",TRUE
2411946,Determining Equity Readiness in Higher Education: Empowering Student Success in STEM Education,2025-04-18,University of South Alabama,MOBILE,AL,AL02,1130584,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411946,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411946_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,366083053,QB12VPNQQFE8,"This project will provide a path for ten Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) or new Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) to evaluate, identify and change the policies, processes, and everyday practices that contribute to racial inequities in STEM education. Over nearly two years, these cohort institutions will be guided by experts through evidence-based and theory-informed strategies to reconcile explicit and implicit instances of systemic inequities that exist in their structures, cultures, policies, and practices. This process will significantly impact the experiences and outcomes of students, faculty, and administrators at MSIs, a large and growing sector of institutions whose work is reducing racial equity gaps in STEM degree completion nationally. Products from this project will also broadly benefit PWIs and be immediately useful for campuses that are already or soon to be engaged in equity-centered transformation efforts. The project includes a comprehensive dissemination strategy to create a forum for institutions and stakeholders with similar commitments to discuss, dissect, and advance this approach while adopting and adapting it for their college and university STEM programs.    With an acute focus on improving racial equity among the STEM disciplines, the aim of the Determining Equity Readiness in Higher Education (DERHE): Empowering Student Success in STEM Education project is to develop and test a practical, comprehensive, and evidence-based strategy to identify and cultivate the readiness of IHEs to address systemic inequities within a STEM education context. The following five objectives, informed by racial equity and organizational change scholarship, will help achieve this goal: 1. Engage and enhance campus stakeholders' (faculty, staff, administrators) perspectives on systemic racism and the organizational and institutional factors that mitigate and impede students' achievements in STEM education. 2. Develop, test, and administer a survey of institutional readiness for equity-centered change to assess campus capacities related to addressing systemic racism in STEM education. 3. Use process mapping to evaluate existing organizational, structural, and cultural elements that contribute to racial inequities while providing the strategies to address and re-evaluate these practices to ensure equitable experiences and outcomes across racial groups. 4. Convene stakeholders, educators, policymakers, and practitioners to share promising practices, solicit feedback, and provide recommendations based on emerging and ongoing research findings. 5. Cultivate institutional capacity for increased efficacy, effectiveness, and scalability, as well as capacity-building strategies to ensure that the valuable insights from this project can be implemented by other institutions seeking to promote racial equity in STEM education.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2140867,"Collaborative Research: Black Research Support Network: Studying Change By, With, and For Black Undergraduate Computer Science Faculty & Students at Three Institutions",2025-04-18,University of North Carolina at Charlotte,CHARLOTTE,NC,NC12,769149,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Alliances-Minority Participat.,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140867,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140867_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,282230001,JB33DT84JNA5,"This project will address several aspects of the racial inequities often faced by Black undergraduate students in the field of computer science research, such as access to capital (social and economic), research topics relevant to their experience, hidden curriculum, and threats to belonging. It will tackle systemic barriers through a research support network for Black undergraduates attending two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs; Howard University and Johnson C. Smith University) and one Predominantly White Institution (PWI; University of North Carolina Charlotte), combining multiple evidence-based approaches to provide mutual support towards institutional change that addresses racial inequity. The research support network will include: 1) mentoring by both Black graduate students and Black faculty, 2) culturally and socially relevant research topics and experiences, 3) Black researcher affinity groups, and 4) a Black researcher speaker series. The project will study the impacts of this holistic approach on participating Black undergraduate students’ sense of belonging within the field, computer science research skills, and intention to pursue a graduate career.  Through its evaluation, the project will explore the impacts of the collaboration between HBCUs and a PWI on institutional policies, programs, and practices; impacts on faculty; and Black students’ graduate school applications, acceptances, and financial awards/support. This proposed work will advance the knowledge base for addressing systemic barriers and racial inequities in computer science undergraduate programs while simultaneously evaluating the potential impact these efforts can have on participating institutions and on Black students’ matriculation into graduate school.    The study seeks to answer two main research questions: 1: What are the effects of a Black research support network that is designed to address systemic barriers to Black students pursuing graduate education in computer science? 2: In what ways does a Black research support network promote racial equity for Black undergraduate computer science students? Using a multiple case study research design, the project will examine the impact of a Black research support network on Black undergraduate computing students and faculty at each of the partner universities (two HBCUs and a PWI).  Culturally relevant theories and grounding philosophies will drive the research methods and analyses. Mixed qualitative and quantitative data will be collected throughout the life of the project and analyzed separately per institution utilizing a parallel mixed design. An external evaluator will collect and report data related to the program model, undergraduate participation, and graduate student attendance. Further, the evaluation will explore the impacts of the collaboration between HBCUs and a PWI on systemic institutional changes. The project will share its findings through journal publications and conference presentations as well as webinars, workshops, a website, and social media.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. Institutions may include those with significant percentages of low-income undergraduate students.    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.",TRUE
2339462,CAREER: CAS- Climate -- Air-quality-related environmental justice impacts of decarbonization scenarios,2025-04-18,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,URBANA,IL,IL13,406342,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems",EnvE-Environmental Engineering,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2339462,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2339462_4900,2024-01-01,2028-12-31,618013620,Y8CWNJRCNN91,"The U.S. and other nations are at the beginning of a major technological shift from a fossil fuel-based economy to one driven by non-climate-forcing energy generation. The speed and success of this technology shift (“decarbonization”) depend in part upon whether it is perceived to be implemented equitably with benefits that accrue broadly across society. A major way that energy generation intersects with equity is through ambient air pollution. Ambient air pollution is one of the largest causes of death in the US and globally, with health burdens that are distributed inequitably on both regional and international scales. However, minimal research has thus far been conducted into the air quality and environmental justice implications of different decarbonization strategies. Furthermore, current integrated assessment models, which are used to develop decarbonization strategies, have minimal support for air quality assessment and are not well-suited to quantify environmental inequity. This project will develop a new modeling framework for integrated assessment of climate, air quality, and environmental equity impacts of policy scenarios, and apply the framework in the analysis and evaluation of climate policy. The research targets greatly improved understanding of the co-benefits and dis-benefits of decarbonization policy scenarios, especially as related to environmental equity, both within the US and internationally. It also targets improved understanding of effective methods for educating the general public on climate science and policy. The open-source computational tools to be created aim to facilitate the calculation of air quality co-benefits and related equity by policymakers, sustainability scientists, and others. This goal is to result in a stronger technical grounding for decarbonization policy. Furthermore, as the perception of equity is critical to successful decarbonization, the identification of strategies that mitigate environmental injustice, and the development of educational tools to broadly communicate the benefits of those policies, will contribute to the fight against climate change overall.     Project research will be organized in three Thrusts. Thrust 1 will couple the Global Change Analysis Model (GCAM) with the Intervention Model for Air Pollution (InMAP). GCAM represents linkages between energy, water, land, climate and economic systems. InMAP is a high-resolution, reduced-complexity model of the transport, transformation, and removal of air pollution developed by PI Tessum and widely used to estimate air pollution health and equity impacts of policy interventions. Both GCAM and InMAP have versions that are global- and US-focused and the research will couple the corresponding versions to allow analysis at sub-national US and international scales. Thrust 2 will expand the coupled models developed in Thrust 1 to allow high-resolution integrated assessment. To do this, the research will integrate high-resolution demographic population down-scaling into the resulting model to allow the assessment of how policy scenarios will differentially affect air pollution exposure across different demographic groups. Technology implementation decisions will also be enabled at high spatial resolution within the model, enabling the exploration of intra-urban location-based policy implementation. Thrust 3 will create a machine-learned single-pass GCAM solver that allows the model to run in seconds instead of hours for a subset of possible scenarios, as well as flexible software infrastructure (GCAM-EDU) for building interactive educational experiences.    This CAREER project is jointly supported by the NSF ENG/CBET Environmental Sustainability and Environmental Engineering program.    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.",TRUE
2046856,CAREER: Black and Latinx Parents Leading Reform and Advancing Racial Justice in Elementary Mathematics,2025-04-18,University of Tennessee Knoxville,KNOXVILLE,TN,TN02,594957,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046856,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046856_4900,2021-07-01,2026-06-30,379960001,FN2YCS2YAUW3,"Decades of reform efforts in mathematics education continue to fail Black and Latinx children, in part, because parents are excluded from decisions about school mathematics. Nonetheless, Black and Latinx families often persist in supporting their individual children, but a shift toward collective organizing among parents as change agents in school mathematics is necessary for meeting the needs of every student. This project explores possibilities for localized change led by parents. By making explicit how to foster and increase Black and Latinx parents’ engagement in solidarity with community organizations and teachers, this project could provide a model for other communities and schools seeking to advance racial justice in mathematics education.     Through critical community-engaged scholarship and in collaboration with ten Black and Latinx families, ten teachers, and two community organizations, the research team will co-design and co-study two educational programs aimed at advancing racial justice in elementary mathematics. The first program seeks to build parents’ capacity to catalyze change across classrooms and schools within their local communities; and the second program will provide teacher professional development that supports elementary teachers of mathematics to learn with and from Black and Latinx families. A mixed methods research design that utilizes narrative inquiry and social network analysis will facilitate refinement of the educational program models by addressing two research objectives: (1) to understand the experiences of Black and Latinx parents as they build capacity to lead change and (2) to study the development, nature, and impact of parent-teacher-community partnerships that promote a shared vision for racial justice in mathematics. Findings could extend the field's understanding of community-initiated and community-led change in school mathematics and produce a model that helps ensure increased access and opportunity for Black and Latinx students in mathematics education.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.  This is a Faculty Early Career Development Program project responsive to a National Science Foundation-wide activity that offers the most prestigious awards in support of early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education.    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.",TRUE
2218100,"Collaborative Research: Biocultural context linking the gut microbiome, iron, and reproduction",2025-04-18,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,255134,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Biological Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218100,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2218100_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"The lived and physiologically embedded experience (‘embodiment’) of racism has been proposed to account for health disparities. In the United States there are disproportionately high rates of sickness and death among Black mothers due to iron deficiency anemia. A framework of embodiment, informed by both biocultural and evolutionary considerations, offers a particularly relevant yet understudied lens to look the role of gut health in iron status as a key nexus linking lived experience and reproductive outcomes among U.S. Black women. This project strengthens the relationships between researchers and maternal-child community organizations in the U.S. by engaging a community task force in the design, execution, and dissemination of the research and through the training of underrepresented students in biological anthropology.     This study uses both critical biocultural approach and a life history theory framework to understand how experience, the gut microbiome, iron status, and reproduction interact to create health disparities among women in the U.S. Specifically, this study will assess: 1) whether the gut microbiome is a pathway of embodiment between women’s experiences of racism and their iron status, and 2) factors affecting offspring size, timing of birth, and risk of iron deficiency during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. A longitudinal study design is used that will follow women over time, from early pregnancy to 6 months postpartum; data are collected at four time points regarding women’s experience of racism, stress, diet, iron status biomarkers, microbiome composition and function, and reproductive outcomes. Methods to quantify gut microbiome composition and function include third generation sequencing and metabolomic analysis. We predict that Black women’s social experiences and diet are associated with higher enrichment of pro-inflammatory bacteria, which are in turn associated with poorer iron status and poorer reproductive outcomes for mother and infant. This work, combined with qualitative exploration of the contexts of racism in participants’ lives, will contribute to building a biocultural context for understanding maternal racial health disparities.    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.",TRUE
2201799,Collaborative Research: Investigating Gender Differences in Digital Learning Games with Educational Data Mining,2025-04-18,Harvard University,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,87001,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201799,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201799_4900,2022-07-01,2025-04-18,021385366,LN53LCFJFL45,"Despite evidence that gender differences in math achievement have narrowed or disappeared in recent decades, stereotypes about men being better than women at math emerge early in childhood and persist through adulthood. These perceptions appear to influence female students’ interest and performance in math, as well as their pursuit of STEM careers. Given the potential motivational benefits of digital learning games, games might provide a pathway for reducing math anxiety for female students while increasing their self-efficacy and interest in math. This project will explore whether digital learning games can lead to less math anxiety and better learning in female students, while not hurting male student learning. It will study learning with two existing digital learning games: Decimal Point, which teaches foundational math concepts (decimal numbers and operations) to 5th and 6th grade students; and Angle Jungle, which targets a similar age range (4th and 5th graders) and has a similar thematic design (i.e., a game map, cartoon characters), but with different game mechanics, content (angles), and instructional approach. The study will explore how and why Decimal Point has, over the course of several experiments spanning multiple years, consistently produced a learning advantage for female students. In doing so, investigators will identify principles regarding the relationship between gender and game features that can be shared with game developers and used in other games, starting with Angle Jungle.    This work will go beyond the traditional gender binary of male and female, analyzing multiple dimensions of gender, including gender identity (e.g., how much students feel like a boy, a girl, both, neither), gender typicality (e.g., How much students like to do the same things as other girls [boys], How much students feel they look like boys [girls]), and gender-typed interests, activities, and traits (e.g., how much a student feels affectionate or adventurous). The study will also investigate two pathways hypothesized to lead to gender differences: first, that the playful features of the games reduce the saliency of the math content, making it less likely to cue math stereotype threat (the stereotype threat hypothesis); and second, that the games’ thematic details are more appealing to learners who identify (more) as females, making the games more engaging for them compared to learners who identify (more) as boys (the engagement hypothesis). In Year 1, educational data mining will be used to infer students’ cognitive and affective processes while playing Decimal Point and compare data to the distinct processes predicted by these two pathways. In Year 2, investigators will assess whether the hypothesized pathways and gender differences replicate in the context of Angle Jungle. In Year 3, hypotheses will be further tested by manipulating Decimal Point’s emphasis on math content in one version of the game and enjoyment and playful features in another. The project will compare learning outcomes between the two versions to more deeply explore the stereotype threat and engagement hypotheses. The ultimate aim of this work is to provide insights into gender-based differences in learning from digital games, providing principles and guidance for other researchers and game designers in developing and revising digital learning games. Thus, the project has the potential to transfer Decimal Point’s success with girls’ learning outcomes to other digital learning games and advance knowledge on the multidimensionality of gender. Furthermore, findings will allow investigators to revise both games and make them available to thousands of late elementary and middle school students across the country. Even during this project, approximately 1,950 students—including many from districts with diverse populations and low math proficiency¬—will benefit from learning with Decimal Point and Angle Jungle.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2330886,Doctoral Dissertation Research: Fertility and Reproductive Health Decisions in Response to Climate Change and Adaptation in Greenland,2025-04-18,Montana State University,BOZEMAN,MT,MT01,58000,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Polar Programs,ASSP-Arctic Social Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330886,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2330886_4900,2023-11-15,2025-10-31,59717,EJ3UF7TK8RT5,"This research investigates how climate change and adaptation affect reproductive decision-making by Kalaallit, the Inuit of Greenland. Decisions about reproduction and family size are influenced by availability of social, economic, and natural resources, while climate change is increasingly affecting Inuit ways of life and local economies, including hunting and fishing. Additionally, this work will identify how policymakers consider fertility and reproductive health in climate adaptation planning. In the broader context of global challenges related to fertility and climate change, this research promotes an equitable approach to solving complex problems of natural resource availability and population health. Findings will inform climate adaptation planning in other Arctic contexts, particularly among circumpolar Indigenous communities. This project promotes the National Science Foundation mission to advance historically underrepresented groups in science by engaging women and Kalaallit knowledge holders as partners in research.    This research is based in ecological systems theory and grounded in the principles of community-based participatory research. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with 40 reproductive-aged (18–49 years old) men and women living in two communities in Greenland. Interviews will explore their perspectives on climate change and identify factors that influence their fertility decisions. In-depth interviews will be conducted with 25 key stakeholders and policymakers who work in hunting and fishing industries, ecotourism, government, and healthcare. Interviews will be analyzed with input from a Kalaallit community research partner. Results will be disseminated to community members, scientists, and policymakers in a culturally relevant format, including through a community gathering. Feedback will be collected to contextualize the findings and to identify opportunities for implementation. Research results have implications for Arctic social science research and policy arenas, including healthcare, natural resource economics, and sustainable development.    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.",TRUE
2208152,REM: Biomaterials and Bioprinting Summer (BBS) School,2025-04-18,University of Connecticut,STORRS,CT,CT02,109940,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Emerging Frontiers,EFRI Research Projects,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2208152,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2208152_4900,2022-03-01,2025-04-18,062699018,WNTPS995QBM7,"This award will enable the Principal Investigator (PI) to support a Biomaterials and Bioprinting Summer (BBS) school research and mentoring program for underrepresented minorities students in STEM. The summer school is designed to provide high school students and undergraduates with hands-on research experience and focused training and mentoring in the emerging field of tissue engineering. The hierarchy-based learning environment involves the principle investigator, graduate students and undergraduates along with new recruits to develop strategies to design biomaterial structures, create tissues and tissue interfaces. Participants will be provided with a tool kit of elementary working knowledge on biomaterials, bioprinting and cells with an intention to build engineered tissue prototypes and technology. During the summer, the participants will implement new designs and strategies to develop tissue-based biomaterials and bio-inks that can be used to develop engineered tissue prototypes.    The project will focus on promoting diversity in engineering, science and technology and will use a mentorship approach that involves providing research experience as well as mentoring participants in professional development, scientific writing, and communications skills development. The PI and graduate student mentors will co-ordinate the research and mentoring plans for the participants that will be individually tailored to each participant’s academic level and skills. Participants of this project will bring new knowledge and demos of prototypes to the classroom that will serve as a tool to create awareness in science and engineering technologies. The immediate benefits would include promotion of STEM careers and address long-term workforce diversity issues in the biomedical science/ engineering related areas. This award seeks to implement a successful mentoring program and create laboratory mentoring demonstrations to attract minority/women students in STEM careers, with a focus on focus on introducing the many career paths that come under the broad area of Biomedical Sciences, Engineering, and technology development.    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.",TRUE
2217741,Center: Track 4: Learning to Serve: A Center for Equity in Engineering at an Emerging MSI,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,1193572,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217741,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217741_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    This project supports the initial steps to create a Center for Equity in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin) with a centering vision that diversity, equity, and inclusion are the responsibility of everyone within the university’s engineering community. The efforts as part of this project lay the groundwork for the center by focusing on recruiting and supporting Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American undergraduate and graduate students. Rather than establishing a catalog of new programs, this effort seeks to learn from partner minority-serving institutions to establish the infrastructure to ultimately support students, staff, and faculty in contributing to building an inclusive culture that provides students opportunities to develop and hone technical and professional skills while also establishing their identities as professional engineers. Funding this effort to establish a Center for Equity in Engineering at UT-Austin will strengthen the engineering workforce by providing equitable pathways for all students, with a particular focus on increasing inclusion of Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American undergraduate and graduate students.    To support our vision, the center will support UT-Austin Engineering faculty, staff, and students in doing the work of DEI as part of their regular jobs and engagement in our community. The objective of the Center is to catalyze a culture change in UT-Austin Engineering by leveraging a servingness learning organization framework to recruit, support, nurture, and matriculate a diverse community of students. An important metric will be to more closely align the representation of Hispanic/Latino and Black/African American engineering undergraduate and graduate students with that of the State of Texas population of 18–22-year-olds. Our efforts are organized around three pillars: (1) new and expanded student, staff, and faculty learning opportunities around integrating equity and inclusion into engineering professional practice, teaching, and an individual’s role in the institution; (2) intentionally designed support structures that acknowledge the priorities of the institution and its individuals, consider these priorities in creating opportunities for participation in outreach and recruiting events, and provide support (including funding) for new initiatives envisioned by members of the UT-Austin Engineering community; and (3) improved and expanded expectations and accountability for all members of the UT-Austin Engineering community, including revisions to student learning outcomes, faculty review processes, staff job descriptions, and recognitions for efforts above and beyond. The information learned from this project will be disseminated to others via presentations, workshops and publications so that the best practices learned from this project can be used elsewhere.    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.",TRUE
2152834,CAS- Climate: CDS&E: Facilitating Sustainable and Fair Transformation of GSI through AI,2025-04-18,Villanova University,VILLANOVA,PA,PA05,499536,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems",EnvE-Environmental Engineering,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2152834,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2152834_4900,2022-06-15,2025-04-18,190851603,EYNYSU6L8ZX6,"As climate change exacerbates environmental challenges associated with urban growth, green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) is a prevalent stormwater mitigation strategy to provide resilience and mitigate the impacts of development on flooding. In parallel, fully sustainable GSI systems must confront the challenges of historically unequitable distribution of infrastructure. The current data revolution has reached municipal stormwater programs; however, these programs are limited by a lack of knowledge of GSI life-cycle dynamics, high performance and emerging computational tools, and how to integrate new science into design and planning decisions. There is a scientific gap in the space formed among GSI design, performance function, and planning decisions that requires bridging hydrologic science, urban planning, and data analytics. This project leverages innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), advancements in the empirical and theoretical understanding of urban hydrologic science, and social data to produce a new model of GSI dynamics that considers social and environmental equity issues. This model will flip the paradigm of infrastructure planning and put the impact on society and the environment on par with engineering solutions to flooding. The model will be made available  for use by public and private practitioners to plan, develop, and manage more sustainable and equitable GSI, and by researchers to deepen convergent knowledge of the complex social issues associated with urban flooding.     The current state of GSI research is ripe for the application of AI techniques to advance GSI knowledge to discern key parameters, optimize GSI design and development, and enable future performance forecasts in a changing environment. For this project, civil engineers, computer scientists, and geographers are joining together to produce a new platform that uses AI in a dynamic environment with multiple data modalities, ranging from their spatial and temporal characteristics to data types. The research framework acknowledges the wider implications of GSI and its high interdependency and connection to the surrounding community and aims to improve  social justice of GSI design through an equity-aware AI model. This project will use a large GSI monitoring relational database (housed at Villanova University) by combining GSI performance data and city-wide open data and applying machine learning methods to develop predictive models applicable across the US. This work targets advancing understanding of GSI dynamics by forecasting the performance of GSIs for a given array of conditions and constraints in urban settings to equitably maximize GSI community benefits. The project will support a diverse faculty team and engage students, urban communities, and industry and academic colleagues by: (1) creating state-of- the-art research and mentoring opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented backgrounds, (2) developing and delivering GSI learning modules for practitioners, and (3) integrating and promoting issues of equity and sustainability within urban stormwater management.    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.",TRUE
2230692,NSF Convergence Accelerator Track F: Course Correct: Precision Guidance Against Misinformation,2025-04-18,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,5000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",Convergence Accelerator Resrch,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230692,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230692_4900,2022-09-15,2025-08-31,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"The NSF Convergence Accelerator supports use-inspired, team-based, multidisciplinary efforts that address challenges of national importance and will produce deliverables of value to society in the near future. This project, Course Correct—Precision Guidance Against Misinformation, is a flexible and dynamic digital dashboard that will help end users such as journalists to (1) identify trending misinformation networks on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok, (2) strategically correct misinformation within the flow of where it is most prevalent online and (3) test the effectiveness of corrections in real time. In Phase II, Course Correct will partner with local, state, national, and international news and fact-checking organizations to test how well the Course Correct digital dashboard helps journalists detect misinformation, correct misinformation, share message interventions containing the verifiable truth into misinformation networks, and verifying the success of the corrections.     This project aims to (1) extend our use of computational means to detect misinformation, using multimodal signal detection of linguistic and visual features surrounding issues such as vaccine hesitancy and electoral skepticism, coupled with network analytic methods to pinpoint key misinformation diffusers and consumers; (2) continue developing A/B-tested correction strategies against misinformation, such as observational correction, using ad promotion infrastructure and randomized message delivery to optimize efficacy for countering misinformation; (3) disseminate and evaluate the effectiveness of evidence-based corrections using various scalable intervention techniques available through social media platforms by conducting small, randomized control trials within affected networks, focusing on diffusers, not producers of misinformation and whether our intervention system can reduce the misinformation uptake and sharing within their social media networks; and (4) scale Course Correct into local, national, and international newsrooms, guided by dozens of interviews and ongoing collaborations with journalists, as well as tech developers and software engineers. By the end of Phase II, Course Correct intends to have further developed the digital dashboard in ways that could ultimately be adopted by other end users such as public health organizations, election administration officials, and commercial outlets.    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.",FALSE
2334954,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: Broadening participation of marginalized individuals to transform SABER and biology education,2025-04-18,University of California - Merced,MERCED,CA,CA13,81069,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334954,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334954_4900,2024-03-01,2029-02-28,953435001,FFM7VPAG8P92,"Professional societies play an important role in providing a platform for sharing research findings and networking. However, most professional societies grapple with issues related to lack of representation and inclusion of members of demographic groups that have historically been underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and career paths. One among these professional societies includes the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER), a leading premier international society with a primary focus on undergraduate biology education research. Scholarship related to this organization impacts every undergraduate biology learning environment. Additionally, members of this organization are also members of other professional societies, which makes SABER a critical lever for advancing systemic changes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion across various biology sub-fields and thus, helping to exert a larger impact on undergraduate biology education.     SABER since its inception and as exemplified by a self-study in 2019, has struggled with issues of diversity and representation at every level of its organizational structure, including key leadership positions. This aspect directly impacts the culture and climate of this society which ultimately affects the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts related to undergraduate biology education. Despite significant changes in its organizational structure, a concerted effort is needed to institute a permanent change related to equity and inclusion. This project aims to enact sustainable change by including diverse perspectives and voices to fundamentally change the culture of the organization and implement initiatives that promote an environment to enable cultural change. The goals of this project are as follows: (1) broadly and systematically advertise and recruit for SABER to broaden its reach to organizations, institutions, and individuals who are not currently aware of SABER, (2) offer travel support for individuals that are members of groups typically underrepresented in biology or who work at historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions to attend the national meeting, (3) offer mentorship related to inclusion to individuals in leadership positions at SABER, and (4) develop networking, mentoring, and leadership opportunities to sustain the involvement of diverse members within SABER. We posit that increasing the number and including the perspectives of underrepresented scientists within SABER will enable a shift in the culture of this society to help advance inclusion by (1) creating welcoming spaces that foster an enhanced sense of belonging and professional growth of diverse individuals, (2) creating a supportive environment for members by developing and empowering environmental stewards within the SABER leadership and by offering them travel support and mentoring activities, and (3) introducing structural changes that will ultimately affect the culture and climate of SABER as an organization to create pathways that diversify the society’s leadership for diverse individuals. Finally, as members of SABER are members of other sub-fields of biology, these efforts will directly impact other professional societies in their efforts to becoming inclusive.    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.",TRUE
2234351,Flourish: A Network for Pre-Tenure Social and Personality Psychologists of Color,2025-04-18,Society for Personality and Social Psychology,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,161159,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234351,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2234351_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,200363902,HHJ7JW5MDEC4,"The fields of social and personality psychology succeed in part because of the diversity of their scientists. However, as scholars of color advance in the field they are less likely to find peers and mentors of color at their respective academic institutions. Reversing these trends is a top priority for personality and social psychological science. This project creates new and continuing opportunities for pre-tenure faculty of color to develop relationships with their peers and to connect with tenured faculty of color who serve as mentors. The activity – Flourish – is a year-round network for pre-tenure social and personality psychologists of color that includes an annual retreat and online workshops throughout the year. The retreat features participant- and mentor-led workshops on professional development, teaching strategies, and research productivity for scholars to strengthen their academic profiles and build a successful case for advancement. Year-round activities feature weekly collaborative writing spaces, quarterly writing retreats, meetings with peers and mentors, and tracking of professional achievements. Since its inception in 2020, Flourish has provided a critical opportunity for retention within higher education and the field of social/personality psychology. Flourish supports an expanding pipeline of scholars who will serve as successful role models for future generations of faculty and scientists.    Faculty of color face unique challenges to advancement that hinder success at their respective institutions. These faculty members experience cultural, geographic, and professional forms of isolation, especially when there are few faculty of color in their department or academic divisions. They can also be tasked with disproportionate amounts of service that disrupt teaching and research productivity, which are essential for career advancement. Strategic initiatives for diversifying science often focus on the recruitment stage but tend to neglect later stages of career development and advancement. Flourish provides confidential spaces for sensitive discussions where tenure-track faculty of color can address challenges and mitigate negative consequences. It also offers spaces for affirming scholars’ positions and promoting their work. The spaces Flourish curates enhance opportunities for tenure-track faculty of color to expand their professional networks through scientific collaborations and their social networks through social support. Workshops dedicated to defining tenure/promotion guidelines, identifying institutional norms, and setting individualized goals provide a clear and precise support path designed to increase the likelihood of successful advancement. The ultimate goal of Flourish is to foster promotion, retention, and inclusion for faculty of color to diversify the field and research of social and personality psychology.    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.",TRUE
2201943,"Immersive, Interdisciplinary, Identity-based Team Science Experiences for Indigenous Graduate Scholars",2025-04-18,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,1325986,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201943,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201943_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project aims to re-imagine the structure and outcomes of STEM research at the graduate level, by providing Immersive, Interdisciplinary, Identity-based Team Science Experiences (IIITSEs) to solve challenges that have emerged as human activity has led to significant impacts on the planet's climate and ecosystems. IIITSEs are collaborative, culturally affirming, and solutions-oriented research projects that center diverse knowledge systems to respond to community needs, support cohorts of racially diverse faculty and students, and promote a just, equitable, diverse, and inclusive campus and community within and beyond the STEM disciplines. The current societal moment has laid bare structural inequities and injustice within the academy. In particular, the system for graduate education in STEM does not foster an environment for Indigenous scholars to thrive. To address this problem, diverse identities, critical scholarship, sovereignty, and self-determination must be centered. This project will engage Indigenous graduate students at Arizona State University in immersive learning experiences led by a faculty cohort of predominantly Indigenous and Latinx scholars. These immersive learning experiences will allow students to develop critical skills in collaboration, communication, and problem solving while also cultivating a space for deep reflection, cultural affirmation, and empowerment. The learning community aims to 1) promote interdisciplinary collaboration in STEM, 2) elevate Indigenous faculty collaboration across disciplines and across the institution, and 3) support culturally affirming research experiences for graduate students in STEM.    The IIITSE concept is underpinned by the inclusive pedagogical approach of the “Four R’s” (Respect, Relevance, Reciprocity, Responsibility) framework for Indigenous student success in higher education. Integration of the 4Rs framework into STEM pedagogy can take many forms, including classroom and research curricula that use cultural knowledge and practices. Such approaches produce positive outcomes of Indigenous student success in undergraduate STEM courses; however, it remains unclear how transferring these principles to graduate-level STEM research will influence student perceptions and outcomes, or how it might translate into lasting institutional changes that support racial equity for Indigenous scholars. This project aims to answer an overarching research question: How does integration of the 4Rs framework into graduate research via IIITSEs improve outcomes and increase racial equity for Indigenous people? The project will evaluate how well the program adheres to the 4Rs, and how the 4Rs relate to racial equity in STEM for graduate Indigenous scholars. Qualitative methods will include interviews of students, faculty, staff, and community members who participate in the IIITSE program. Using the 4Rs approach, racial equity will be enacted through all parts of the research process, while simultaneously studying the progress and sharing findings so that changes to research initiatives can be implemented and transformation of graduate education can be accelerated.    This project is funded by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports projects that promote racial equity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce development through research and practice. Awarded projects center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by the inequities caused by systemic racism in STEM fields. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations.    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.",TRUE
2411641,Collaborative Research: Developing and Testing the Equity Departmental Action Team Model of Racial Equity Focused Departmental Change,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,331572,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411641,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411641_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Given the persistent challenge of racial inequity in STEM, there is a clear need for new models that spur and sustain racial equity change. Successful departmental team-based change efforts demonstrate that change can be created and sustained at the meso level of an institution (i.e., departments, centers, and units as the focus for change). This project will bring together experts in institutional change and experts in advancing racial equity with the goal of combining existing, well tested change models to produce a new, racial equity focused model of change in higher education—the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model. This model will focus on shifting departmental cultures in ways that benefit, and are grounded in the experiences of, those with historically marginalized racial and ethnic identities. This project will advance the scholarship of racial equity by developing, testing, and refining the EDAT model with STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution and disseminating the model through partnership with national higher education associations.    This project will take place in two major phases: 1) development of the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model, and 2) pilot of the EDAT model in STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution, the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver). The development of the new EDAT model will draw from existing change programs, including the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model and the Dialogues and Change Agent programs. It will integrate multiple theories from systems change, social justice change, social psychology change agency, and intergroup contact. Research activities will focus on both the process and impact of the EDAT model. The project will use surveys, focus groups, interviews, and participant journaling to explore the following research questions. RQ1: To what extent do Foundational Experiences prepare EDAT members for racial equity work?  RQ2: What strategies do EDATs deploy when engaging in racial equity work? RQ3: To what extent do EDATs integrate racial equity into departmental culture? Research and program evaluation will be conducted simultaneously with the EDAT implementation so the model can be iteratively refined throughout the project. Dissemination of the model will take place in collaboration with partners from the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities - Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2216704,RaMP: Advancing Indigenous perspectives to address climate vulnerability in the Southwest: research training for and by diverse communities,2025-04-18,Northern Arizona University,FLAGSTAFF,AZ,AZ02,2998230,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,NNA-Navigating the New Arctic,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216704,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216704_4900,2022-08-01,2026-07-31,86011,MXHAS3AKPRN1,"Southwestern landscapes are experiencing intensifying climate stress, which threatens to damage ecosystems beyond their capacity to provide culturally significant ecosystem services. To build the scientific workforce needed to address this challenge, this project delivers a post-baccalaureate research training program which will increase the participation of Indigenous and Latinx students in STEM fields. It provides research experiences in the biological sciences and comprehensive student mentorship. A diverse network of mentors and collaborators, including Indigenous leaders and elders; university and tribal college faculty and graduate students; and partners from non-profit, private, and public sectors will develop an annual research plan. The annual plan will focus on three to five research projects each year to be carried out by a cohort of ten post-baccalaureate fellows. This program will have several important broader impacts for society. 1. Thirty post-baccalaureates will be trained in the conduct of research and allied skills to advance their careers in climate change biology. 2. The training received by mentees and mentors will increase cross-cultural literacy by building the capacity of scientists, conservation leaders, and land managers to better integrate Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. 3. The collaborative research will advance Tribal and agency climate mitigation planning. 4. The program will launch young scientists into careers founded on biological expertise. 5. Research findings will be shared via outreach materials, websites, published in the peer review literature and presented at conferences. 6. Research findings will be applicable to climate change mitigation and aimed at protecting natural resources critical to the culture of underserved communities in the Southwest.     Research projects will focus on integrating ecological, evolutionary, and cultural perspectives to predict and mitigate catastrophic ecosystem transitions. Specifically, the research will address these questions: 1. How does past evolution of tolerance in key foundation species predict limits to their species distributions? 2. How do species interactions constrain the boundaries of species and ecosystems? 3. How does the stability of ecosystem functions depend on community-level responses to climate change? Working from physiological to landscape scales across woodland, rangeland, riparian, and agricultural systems will allow fellows to develop a wide range of skills. Skill development will include field and laboratory experimentation, experimental plantings, biodiversity assessment, population modeling, next generation sequencing, chemical and isotopic analyses, geographic information systems, and remote sensing. Integrated training and development activities for both fellows and mentors will include (1) ecological, evolutionary, and cultural components of climate adaptation, (2) interdisciplinary and quantitative approaches for testing hypotheses from population to landscape ecology, (3) responsible and safe conduct of research, and (4) cross-cultural communication, collaboration, and leadership skills. Recruitment of fellows will be through Tribal Colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions in the southwestern US and use local and national networks serving populations historically underrepresented in biology and natural resources careers. Support and training will be tailored to the background and goals of individual fellows to ensure they are competitive for the next step in their career whether that is entering the environmental biology workforce or continuing to graduate school.    Co-funding for this award is being provided by Navigating the New Arctic (NNA) program one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. NNA supports projects that address convergence scientific challenges in the rapidly changing Arctic, empower new research partnerships, diversify the next generation of Arctic researchers, enhance efforts in formal and informal education, and integrate the co-production of knowledge where appropriate. This award aligns with those goals.    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.",TRUE
2227918,Planning Grant: Collaborative Research: The WinG Collective: An initiative to support Women of Color in the Geosciences,2025-04-18,University of California-Los Angeles,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA36,128127,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2227918,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2227918_4900,2023-03-01,2025-08-31,900244200,RN64EPNH8JC6,"Climate change and environmental issues disproportionately impact low-income communities of color, who are poorly represented in the Geosciences and environmental fields. In particular, women of color (WOC) are currently the largest group in California and projected to become the largest demographic in the United States, yet are amongst the most poorly represented in the Geosciences. This combination of issues forms a crisis in social justice, contributes to rising inequality, and hinders creativity and innovation needed in the environmental and climate workforce. The project leaders will create the WinG Collective, a Women of Color in the Geosciences network that provides community, belonging, access, advocacy, and resources to overcome the obstacles to their success. Initially, the WinG Collective will focus on the University of California and survey the experiences of WOC in the Geosciences. Then, the principal investigators will design and implement a workshop to provide professional development and a supportive community for WOC in the Geosciences. Finally, they will summarize the findings and share with their campuses and science community while also strategizing how to expand nationally.    There are a multitude of studies that document the inadequacies of the current academic system for people of color and proposals targeted to improve retention of historically minoritized students. This planning project is a grassroots approach to discern issues specific to WOC in the Geosciences. The activities align and leverage existing programs; bolster mentoring and training; and explore radical change that promotes the long term success and health of WOC in the Geosciences. The WinG Collective will serve as an incubator for scientific research and collaborations while also championing agents of change with advancing leadership capacity, extending vertical and lateral networks, and guiding best practices for community engagement. The project leaders seek to advance WOC in the Geosciences with a holistic emphasis that includes scientific endeavors and a mentoring network that spans the vertical structure of academia and parallel systems within the University of California system, with potential for longer-term adaptation nationally. Lessons from this planning grant are ones that are relevant to support and advocacy of WOC in the Geosciences nationally.    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.",TRUE
2242057,Daily Watcher Tracking Survey and Monitoring the Effects of War on Public Opinion,2025-04-18,Princeton University,PRINCETON,NJ,NJ12,497624,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Security & Preparedness,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2242057,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2242057_4900,2023-03-15,2026-02-28,085442001,NJ1YPQXQG7U5,"Participation in an external war test ability of leaders in authoritarian regimes to coordinate their policies. Yet survey data often indicates that a majority of citizens in authoritarian regimes continue to support the leader's military operations. To understand authoritarian leader's strategies and the domestic implications of these strategic actions, it is crucial to study how the population perceives the war and how it reacts to developments in real time. The Watcher Tracking Survey is a daily, nationally representative survey of public opinion in an authoritarian state that is involved in an external war. The researchers monitor changes in public attitudes toward a series of political issues related to the war in and political developments inside the state. They also use experimental designs to understand how the government’s propaganda and disinformation campaigns affect citizens’ attitudes and beliefs. Preliminary data suggest that state media outlets are highly effective at spreading false narratives within the population, including online. The Watcher survey has the following Broader Impacts (1) the project provides crucial and real-time information on the state and direction of domestic public opinion in an authoritarian state in a time of war, (2) it sheds light on the effectiveness of state propaganda and disinformation–a major national security concern, and (3) it generates a uniquely large and fine-grained dataset for policymakers and scholars of authoritarian politics.     Scholars still have a weak understanding of the mechanisms by which an authoritarian government shapes public opinion and maintains support, particularly during moments of crisis like external war. Previous public opinion surveys often show that citizens in authoritarian countries support their government's military operations. Yet the infrequency of these surveys made it difficult to draw conclusions about the causes and consequences of changes in public opinion in these countries. To better isolate the effects of individual events and media narratives, the PIs launched the Watcher Tracking Survey, a daily, nationally representative survey of political attitudes and beliefs. The Watcher survey tracks key political indicators over time and uses survey experiments to assess the effects of unfolding propaganda narratives. This method of studying public opinion is more dynamic than traditional surveys, as the treatments respondents receive (e.g., shifting propaganda narratives and military developments) are not predetermined, but rather emerge organically as the war develops. The researchers extend their data collection through 2023 and use a sample size to 500 respondents that enables them to detect shifts in public opinion more precisely. This research makes important contributions to scholarship on topics related to censorship, propaganda, and public opinion in authoritarian regimes. The Watcher data shed light on the mechanisms behind state propaganda and its effects on citizen attitudes. In turn, the research helps scholars understand better how autocrats sustain public support for high-cost endeavors like military campaigns.    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.",FALSE
2315400,Collaborative Research: The Design and Refinement of Modules for Raising Critical Consciousness in Undergraduate Mathematics Teacher Preparation,2025-04-18,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,121215,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315400,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315400_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"This project aims to serve the national interest by developing modules intended to better prepare prospective grade 6-12 mathematics teachers to teach in increasingly diverse classrooms while advancing prospective teachers’ own STEM learning. This project is significant because research indicates that although student populations in U.S. schools are continuing to increase in diversity, specifically with respect to race, language, and socio-economic status, teachers are predominantly white and need additional resources to develop rich STEM learning experiences that impact outcomes for all learners in STEM fields. This project hopes to advance the knowledge of how best to support prospective mathematics teachers in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach in diverse settings and contribute to ongoing efforts to increase access to much needed research-based resources for mathematics teacher educators. Mathematics teacher educators' use of these resources should advance prospective mathematics teachers’ own STEM learning which should lead to better mathematics instruction in classrooms across the country. As a result, more grade 6-12 students, particularly students from underrepresented groups, will develop an interest in and be prepared to enter STEM fields.     This project will use improvement science methods to design, refine, and study the impact of a series of modules for use in grade 6-12 mathematics teaching methods courses that address prospective teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching in diverse settings as outlined in Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Mathematics. Specifically, the project will address two goals as follows: Goal 1. Design and refine a series of modules developed using critical pedagogies to address: a) the political and historical issues in mathematics education, b) identity, c) critical consciousness, and d) countering unproductive practices that marginalize learners by using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles at three institutions. After the development of each module (Plan), the modules will be enacted in a staggered schedule at each institution (Do) so that between each enactment, data can be shared and analyzed (Study) and revisions can be made (Act). Throughout the design and refinement process advisory board members with expertise in mathematics teacher education, access, equity, culture, justice, curriculum development, and improvement science will provide feedback. The modules will then be shared with mathematics teacher educators who are part of the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (which includes 65 programs, including 11 under-resourced institutions and/or minority-serving institutions) for further refinement and subsequently made available to all mathematics teacher educators. Goal 2. Studying the impact of the modules on prospective teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions will be guided by two research questions: RQ1: What impact does participating in the modules have on pre-service teachers' understanding of countering practices that marginalize learners in mathematics? RQ2: How does the consciousness of secondary pre-service teachers shift while engaged in modules on countering beliefs, attitudes, actions and practices that devalue learners in the context of teaching and learning of mathematics? The project will collect quantitative data using content analysis and pre-and post-module data using the Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancy and Self-Efficacy surveys and qualitative data from prospective teachers assignments and reflections through coding, thematic analysis, and using Mathematics with|in conocimientos to determine how the modules influenced prospective teachers’ multicultural mathematics dispositions, other emergent understandings related to cultural sensitivity, and how prospective teachers’ experiences with the modules created changes in their consciousness. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program has contributed funding to this project.    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.",TRUE
2117694,"Source Credibility, Political Identity, and Factual Belief Revision",2025-04-18,University of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,260944,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2117694,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2117694_4900,2021-07-01,2025-06-30,152600001,MKAGLD59JRL1,"How do people learn about facts and revise their beliefs about the world when they learn from others who vary in their political identities and expertise? Can opposing partisans learn effectively from one another? Or do identities interfere with learning because they increase group-based biases? This research broadens our understanding of the potential causes of the polarization of opinion and their cognitive and emotional bases. The research has the potential to lead to more effective means of reducing the spread of misinformation by developing more effective interventions to de-bias learning processes and improve the accuracy of beliefs. As polarized opinions about facts are often at the core of conflicts over important public policies pertaining to the environment, health, technology, and economic welfare, this project contributes knowledge that can increase public support for beneficial policies, the likelihood of policy conflict resolution, and trust in science. The findings also have the potential to improve science communication by designing strategies tailored to address the identity-based biases.     This research seeks to measure partisan source credibility effects on factual learning and to generate evidence disentangling instrumental and social identity mechanisms underlying the political and social dimensions of belief revision processes. The researchers also aim to develop a reliable and simple method for eliciting the dynamics of belief revision through online surveys. In the incentivized experimental framework, the team measures a source’s credibility in terms of the extent to which beliefs change as a function of information from that source, incorporating sources’ identities and characteristics (with real people as information sources) into the structure of a belief updating task. The scholars apply this framework in a series of related studies. Study 1 measures baseline levels of source credibility as a function of partisanship and examines how these baseline levels are correlated with attitudinal measures of partisan identity strength, knowledge, and affective polarization. Study 2 experimentally tests whether partisan bias results from instrumental or social identity mechanisms, disentangling cognition from affect. Study 3 extends our framework to expert sources and beliefs about scientific facts.    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.",FALSE
2233701,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: C-COAST: Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation,2025-04-18,University of The Virgin Islands,CHARLOTTE AMALIE,VI,VI00,91246,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233701,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233701_4900,2023-05-15,2027-04-30,008026004,JTFKX11JLHS8,"Coastal counties are more diverse than non-coastal counties; however, the culture and identities of those who study and manage estuaries and coasts do not reflect these communities. This mismatch diminishes the quality of science and management provided; many coastal professionals lack the lived experiences and knowledge to prioritize issues most impactful to people in coastal areas. Despite widespread recognition that increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is essential to sustaining the nation's capacity for innovation and discovery, there is a widening gap between the total number of marine science graduate degrees granted and degrees granted to those underrepresented in the field. Professional societies play a unique role in facilitating culture change within STEM disciplines by establishing and reinforcing norms and practices that advance greater diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA). They are also important avenues for training students and professionals in relevant skills and in developing networks necessary to progress in their careers. Culture change in professional societies scales up to impacts on members, their home institutions, and beyond. The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) will assist the next generation of coastal and estuarine biologists and related disciplines in navigating the current culture while simultaneously dismantling inequities at the root of low DEIJA in the disciplines through the Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation (C-COAST) program, which will provide professional development, mentoring, and networking to students and professionals at all career stages.    The C-COAST program will harness evidence-based strategies to mitigate inequities and shift culture in the coastal and estuarine sciences through two programs: Rising TIDES Conference Program (RTCP) and Leadership Development Program (LDP). The RTCP is geared towards recruiting and retaining a new generation of estuarine and coastal science professionals. It consists of a 16-month program that supports attendance at the CERF and two additional coastal and estuarine conferences, with virtual meetings in between. The program provides professional and near-peer mentors, training, and networking, in addition to the full suite of scientific conference offerings. The LDP will provide leadership and DEIJA training for current and future leaders by building a dynamic learning community that will prepare emerging leaders to become agents of change while helping current leaders use existing power to address systemic inequities. The goals of C-COAST, from short- to long-term, are to 1): recruit and retain diverse undergraduate and graduate students and provide them professional development, mentorship, and peer networks to support a sense of belonging and identity; 2) educate current leaders on how to be more inclusive and change policies and practices that lead to inequities; and 3) increase the leadership skills of and opportunities for future leaders and prepare them to make policies and practices of CERF and their home institutions more inclusive when they are elevated to positions of power.    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.",TRUE
2140904,Examining Blackness in Postsecondary STEM Education through a Multidimensional-Multiplicative Lens,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,767625,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140904,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140904_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"Despite well-intentioned university efforts to support Black undergraduate STEM students, policy and practice reforms run the risk of not appropriately benefiting all Black people due to pervasive, deficit-based assumptions about Black racial identities and the types of structural engagement needed to advance holistic, racial well-being in transformative and sustainable ways. Stated simply, STEM contexts do not adequately support Black undergraduate STEM students because STEM educators and practitioners remain unsure of what Blackness means for individuals, thereby constraining true racial equity endeavors. Contemporary literature regarding race posits instead that embodiment(s) of Blackness differ across multiple dimensions and axes, including ethnic identity (e.g., African American, Caribbean American, Nigerian American), place identity (e.g., South, Midwest), and generational identity (e.g., first-generation, second-generation, third plus generation). Black students from different ethnic and generational identities having varied perceptions of the racial climate and understandings of their STEM experiences. Recognizing the scope of Blackness and its implications for creating and sustaining holistic, heterogenous conceptions of racial equity in STEM, the team will establish a collaborative network among six institutions (two HBCUS, two PWIs, one majority Black institution, and one HSI) located across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions of the US to study how Black undergraduate STEM students’ notions of Blackness vary with respect to these dimensions.     The research team will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods project, integrating mosaic ethnography, survey design and administration of the survey to Black undergraduate STEM students across five states. Through these methods, the students’ conceptions of Blackness will be explored as it relates to their STEM engagement and perspectives of racial equity in STEM. In efforts to foster racial equity in STEM for all Black people, this project will produce tools of analysis (i.e., theories, research methods, qualitative and quantitative measures) and translational products (i.e., professional developments, aminations, infographics) that will change how institutional and organizational policies, practices, and future research treat Black people in STEM, thereby promoting tailored resources and supports to meet Black people’s nuanced needs. The desired outcomes from this work will inform the development and implementation of racial equity focused policies and practices in STEM education, facilitating increased access and sustained engagement in STEM for Black undergraduate students.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2147818,The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Latinx College Graduates,2025-04-18,University of California - Merced,MERCED,CA,CA13,155725,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Sociology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147818,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147818_4900,2022-07-15,2025-06-30,953435001,FFM7VPAG8P92,"This project investigates the social and economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on first-generation Latinx college graduates aged 25 to 40. Latinx youth are increasingly enrolling in and graduating from college, often with the hope of achieving economic mobility. Yet, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Latinx individuals were more likely to work essential jobs, were unemployed at higher rates, and faced higher death rates, compared to other racial and ethnic groups. This qualitative project considers how Latinx millennial college graduates navigate and are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including their well-being, economic mobility, and family arrangements. Interviews with 61 Latinx college graduates consider how factors such as race, familial income and wealth, citizenship and immigration status, and the need to provide for one’s family, intersect and are shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic. By building on two prior waves of interview data, the project contributes to understanding of the mechanisms that shape social and economic mobility over the life course.    This project is the third wave of a longitudinal study of Latinx millennial first-generation college graduates. The first wave was collected from 60 Latinx college students at three colleges between 2008 and 2010. The second wave of 61 interviews, conducted in 2018 and 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, included participants from the first wave alongside a new sample of alumni. Approximately 73% of participants in the second wave were from the original sample. The study population is diverse, ranging in income, post-secondary education, student loan debt, homeownership, and marital and parental status. Over half of the study population provide some level of financial support to parents and extended family. Wave 3 of the study investigates the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the same college graduates. This research will contribute to understanding of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the largest ethnic minority group in the United States.    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.",TRUE
2140246,"Collaborative Research: Black Research Support Network: Studying Change By, With, and For Black Undergraduate Computer Science Faculty & Students at Three Institutions",2025-04-18,Howard University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,521763,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140246,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140246_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,200590002,DYZNJGLTHMR9,"This project will address several aspects of the racial inequities often faced by Black undergraduate students in the field of computer science research, such as access to capital (social and economic), research topics relevant to their experience, hidden curriculum, and threats to belonging. It will tackle systemic barriers through a research support network for Black undergraduates attending two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs; Howard University and Johnson C. Smith University) and one Predominantly White Institution (PWI; University of North Carolina Charlotte), combining multiple evidence-based approaches to provide mutual support towards institutional change that addresses racial inequity. The research support network will include: 1) mentoring by both Black graduate students and Black faculty, 2) culturally and socially relevant research topics and experiences, 3) Black researcher affinity groups, and 4) a Black researcher speaker series. The project will study the impacts of this holistic approach on participating Black undergraduate students’ sense of belonging within the field, computer science research skills, and intention to pursue a graduate career. Through its evaluation, the project will explore the impacts of the collaboration between HBCUs and a PWI on institutional policies, programs, and practices; impacts on faculty; and Black students’ graduate school applications, acceptances, and financial awards/support. This proposed work will advance the knowledge base for addressing systemic barriers and racial inequities in computer science undergraduate programs while simultaneously evaluating the potential impact these efforts can have on participating institutions and on Black students’ matriculation into graduate school.    The study seeks to answer two main research questions: 1: What are the effects of a Black research support network that is designed to address systemic barriers to Black students pursuing graduate education in computer science? 2: In what ways does a Black research support network promote racial equity for Black undergraduate computer science students? Using a multiple case study research design, the project will examine the impact of a Black research support network on Black undergraduate computing students and faculty at each of the partner universities (two HBCUs and a PWI).  Culturally relevant theories and grounding philosophies will drive the research methods and analyses. Mixed qualitative and quantitative data will be collected throughout the life of the project and analyzed separately per institution utilizing a parallel mixed design. An external evaluator will collect and report data related to the program model, undergraduate participation, and graduate student attendance. Further, the evaluation will explore the impacts of the collaboration between HBCUs and a PWI on systemic institutional changes. The project will share its findings through journal publications and conference presentations as well as webinars, workshops, a website, and social media.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. Institutions may include those with significant percentages of low-income undergraduate students.    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.",TRUE
2040684,A Signal Detection Approach to Understanding Susceptibility to Misinformation,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,423866,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2040684,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2040684_4900,2021-06-01,2025-05-31,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"One of the greatest challenges for the functioning of societies in the information age is the prevalence and impact of misinformation. Concerns over the impact of misinformation have grown considerably as the internet and social media provide a conduit for spreading information widely and rapidly, regardless of its veracity. The current project aims to investigate how people determine whether new information they encounter is correct or incorrect, and how people decide whether to share this information on social media. Using a formal modeling approach called Signal Detection Theory, the research focuses on three aspects of such judgments: (a) the ability to distinguish between correct and incorrect information, (b) general tendencies to treat information as correct vs. incorrect regardless of veracity, and (c) partisan bias involving a tendency to accept information that is consistent with one's personal beliefs and dismiss information that is inconsistent with one's personal beliefs. The findings are expected to provide valuable insights into why people might be susceptible to misinformation and how it might be possible to reduce the spread of misinformation.    Toward this end, the current project investigates how cognitive and motivational factors jointly influence responses to correct and incorrect information. Across a series of 16 studies, the project addresses the following questions: How well can people distinguish between correct and incorrect information? When are decisions to share information on social media influenced by people's perceptions of accuracy? Does more elaborate thinking increase people's ability to distinguish between correct and incorrect information? How does elaborate thinking influence partisan bias in responses to belief-congruent and belief-incongruent information? How does greater confidence about one's personal values influence accuracy and partisan bias? How do echo chambers and prior exposure to information influence people's susceptibility to misinformation? How effective is debunking in reducing susceptibility to misinformation? How does the source of information influence responses to correct and incorrect information? How can partisan bias in responses to correct and incorrect information be reduced? Project activities also involve training students on using signal detection methods to investigate how people judge information. The project helps to address societal problems that stem from misinformation by investigating the psychological processes that make people susceptible to misinformation.    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.",FALSE
2233205,RCN-UBE Summit: A New Landscape for Undergraduate Biology Education,2025-04-18,Colorado State University,FORT COLLINS,CO,CO02,100000,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,UBE - Undergraduate Biology Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233205,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233205_4900,2022-09-01,2025-11-30,805212807,LT9CXX8L19G1,"Broadening participation by increasing student diversity in academic science disciplines has shown limited progress over the last decade and recruitment and retention issues persist for those students historically underrepresented in science. In the RCN-UBE (Research Coordination Networks in Undergraduate Biology Education) program, over 50 collaborative networks of academic institutions work together to address undergraduate biology education and broadening participation in the sciences. The conference, RCN-UBE Summit: Creating New Landscapes in Undergraduate Biology Education, will bring together RCN-UBE network participants to explore how networks of institutions can work together to change the demographics of the science disciplines. The conference will convene science practitioners, educators, and university faculty to evaluate the role of networks in shifting the science enterprise towards a more inclusive approach by reaching across multiple institutional types from minority serving institutions, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and larger research institutions.     In the Summit, RCN-UBE network participants will present best practices and engage in facilitated workshop sessions to discuss topics in undergraduate education and broadening participation in the sciences. Each workshop session will also explore opportunities for new networks, especially those led by smaller and minority institutions, to form within a supportive environment of existing networks. Case studies and other materials will be presented to generate ideas and potential solutions to engage diverse students as participants in the production of scientific knowledge, and to develop innovative ways to increase the use of this knowledge in formal and informal science educational settings. This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).    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.",TRUE
2314434,"Collaborative Research: Electoral Systems, Suburbanization, and Representation",2025-04-18,Stanford University,STANFORD,CA,CA16,57433,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314434,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314434_4900,2023-08-01,2025-07-31,943052004,HJD6G4D6TJY5,"One traditional solution to electoral concerns about constituent representation in local government is to abolish large multi-member districts and create smaller, single-winner electoral districts, some of which are designed to encompass minority neighborhoods. While this traditional remedy might help under some conditions, there is a strong possibility that it may not work as well in rapidly changing metro areas. Such areas are common, as residents migrate to and from city centers and suburban neighborhoods. Some suburban areas have become heterogeneous, while others have become homogeneous. In such contexts, because of the nature of candidate recruitment, the traditional remedy of creating smaller/single-winner districts could backfire and limit the effectiveness of potential remedy for identified representational concern. This study explores the conditions under which minority representation can be achieved in the context of ongoing suburbanization and gentrification. The study will also make a wealth of fine-grained data available to researchers and members of the public through a user-friendly web interface.       The study explores the conditions under which descriptive and substantive representation can be achieved in the context of ongoing suburbanization and gentrification, paying special attention to two of the most important electoral systems used for local governance: multi-seat at-large and single-member district plurality.  Specifically, the project will include a large-scale data collection effort combining population demographics, candidate characteristics, institutional structure, and policy outcomes for 88 municipalities and 22 school districts from 1970 to the present. The project team will conduct representative surveys of voters, elected officials, and past candidates. Data will be analyzed to identify the conditions under which minorities run for local office and are successful as well as the conditions under which descriptive representation leads to substantive representation. As time-honored tools for protecting minority voting rights and representation are being invalidated by courts, these data will provide crucial evidence regarding new reform efforts relevant to many urban areas around the country.    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.",TRUE
2126030,NSF ADVANCE Catalyst: Equity in STEM at Miami University,2025-04-18,Miami University,OXFORD,OH,OH08,299947,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2126030,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2126030_4900,2022-05-15,2025-04-30,450561846,T6J6AF3AM8M8,"This NSF ADVANCE Catalyst Award to Miami University, Equity in STEM at Miami University (ESTEAM), will support data collection and self-assessment to identify systemic inequities that impact STEM faculty related to gender, race, and international status.  These inequities may be magnified during times of crisis, like the COVID- 19 pandemic. Miami University is an R2 public liberal arts university located on three local campuses in Hamilton, Middletown, and Oxford, Ohio. These campuses work to enhance the socio-economic, cultural, and racial diversity of the student body–something that benefits from diverse faculty. While Miami creates a vibrant learning community for students, the expectation for Miami faculty to be both exemplary teachers and research scholars creates demands on faculty that can lead to burnout. These demands may disproportionately impact faculty equity on the basis and intersectionality of gender, race, and international status. This project aims to identify and evaluate stressors both quantitatively and qualitatively through examination of institutional data on hiring and salaries; on institutional policies and practices on hiring, promotion and tenure, parental and family leaves, and research leaves; and on institutional tools used to evaluate teaching and research successes. Also, this project will evaluate how inequities may have been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic.    The goals of this project are 1) to lay the foundation for strategic recruitment and retention of faculty across gender, race, and international status by identifying barriers and structural impediments that impact STEM diversity, and 2) to set the stage for institutional transformation beyond the grant period to reduce inequities that hinder these groups of faculty during and outside of a global crisis. The research team will examine institutional data, and conduct surveys and in-person interviews. The results of this assessment aim to help reshape policies that will support retention and recruitment of diverse faculty. The data acquired in this study will be reported using multi-media methods, including technical peer-reviewed journal articles; conference presentations; and an ESTEAM website. STEM faculty at Miami will have opportunities to be involved in two programs initiated by this project: 1) An ESTEAM Faculty Learning Community that will review and discuss literature on equity in higher education, identify potential solutions for successful recruiting, retention, and promotion of diverse faculty, and develop ESTEAM Presentation Modules on STEM-diversity that can be shared with administrators, faculty, and students; and 2) a “STEM-Equity” mentoring program, which will aim to improve the climate for all STEM faculty. Results from this mentorship approach will be documented and distributed to other universities through the university’s ESTEAM website and through scholarly work.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education.    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.",TRUE
2122682,"PFI-TT: A system to secure and verify location, time, metadata, and authenticity of digital images and videos",2025-04-18,CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice,NEW YORK,NY,NY12,266000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Industrial Innovation,PFI-Partnrships for Innovation,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2122682,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2122682_4900,2021-07-15,2025-04-18,100191007,NGK8GHNABTB8,"The broader impact/commercial potential of this Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is in creating transparency in business transactions that involve data (image and videos) that have news, forensic and evidentiary value. As the technology to manipulate images and create fake videos has become more accessible, the public trust of photos and videos as evidence has been eroding. This project combats this problem by creating a process to prove that images are not fake or manipulated. This is achieved by a secure application that can be used to capture images or videos and instantly register a proof of origin (location, time, and metadata) and forensic identification of the data on the blockchain. This process may restore trust in any business transaction which uses photos or videos as evidence.  The commercial value is to both public entities such as in law enforcement and in service businesses required to store images for proof of delivery, inspection, completion of work, etc. Finally, this technology helps online news agencies to enable public verification of news stories, restoring public trust on local digital news platforms.         The proposed project builds a system to store proof of origin of data on a blockchain-backed storage system, creating a chain of custody that begins at the time of data creation (such as when a smart phone or camera is used to record a video or take a picture). The process seeks to differentiate between verifiable media and fake media, the latter of which may combat misinformation in online platforms. The intellectual merit is in the development of a novel perceptual hashing algorithm that can achieve 98% precision in detecting tampered images from a mix of original and compressed or enhanced copies; a smart contract that supports confidentiality and integrity of the data and the auditability and accountability of the storage system, while allowing erasure of data to support the Right to be Forgotten.  The technology also develops a novel database auditing process to solve the paradox between openness of a public blockchain and data producer’s right to privacy.  The goal of this research and development project is to build an end-to-end platform that supports media registration and verification to support the business logic for a variety of public and private entities.    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.",FALSE
2243733,"MS PHD'S Access, Inclusion, and Mentoring (AIM) in Geosciences Program",2025-04-18,East Central University,ADA,OK,OK04,164796,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2243733,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2243733_4900,2023-06-01,2025-10-31,748206915,K1SEVXA32CE3,"For twelve years Minorities Striving and Pursuing Higher Degrees of Success in Earth System Science (MS PHD’S) provided professional development, networking opportunities and cohort support via membership within a virtual community comprised of peers, junior- and senior-level researchers and educators. MS PHD’S became a model program within the geoscience community. The current effort seeks to convene subject matter experts, program mentors, staff, mentees and business and industry partners as a planning team to orchestrate the next phase of the program - MS PHD’S Access, Inclusion, and Mentoring (AIM) in Geosciences.  The planning team will finalize the MS PHD’S AIM in Geoscience Program’s structure and activities to meet the needs of participants as they move into an even more dynamic, tech-savvy, post-COVID work/learning environment. With support, the planning team will develop the blueprint necessary to launch MS PHD’S AIM as a robust intervention to advance NSF’s mission to promote the progress of science; to advance national health, prosperity and welfare.      The MS PHD’S Access, Inclusion, and Mentoring (AIM) in Geosciences Program (MS PHD’S AIM) will support NSF’s mission to promote the progress of science; to advance national health, prosperity and welfare. Given the continued need to facilitate the support and continued professional development for the next generation of geoscience scholars from historically excluded groups, this effort seeks to plan the implementation of the program with the following goals in mind: review past program activities; develop guidance based on current literature; identify and recruit key organizations and individuals; assist in development efforts to achieve sustainability of the initiative; develop specific strategies to enhance broader impacts; ideate possible connections with other STEM fields; and create virtual tools for sustained participant engagement and information sharing.    This project is jointly funded by NSF's Geoscience Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLDEN) and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).    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.",TRUE
2321219,Challenging Cultural Norms through Asset-focused Narratives: Examining Intersecting Stigmatized Identities from Graduate Student and Faculty Perspectives in the Natural Sciences,2025-04-18,University of Rhode Island,KINGSTON,RI,RI02,369579,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2321219,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2321219_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,028811974,CJDNG9D14MW7,"Given the national need for a compositionally diverse and culturally competent workforce in the field of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), higher education has begun to recognize that cultural norms must change to create a welcoming environment for all in STEM fields. This project aims to create greater understanding of how to broaden participation in biology, chemistry, and physics by (1) examining how graduate students with more than one potentially stigmatizing identity marker (e.g., religion, race/ethnicity, and gender) perceive the culture and climate of academic STEM, (2) foregrounding asset-based narratives of graduate students of color, and (3) leveraging faculty mentors’ equity-minded mentoring practices. This project is also designed to build capacity in STEM education research by expanding the principal investigator’s skills with research design and the use of theory to inform data collection and analysis.     The core of the project is a qualitative study examining the experiences of biology, chemistry, and physics graduate students of color and their faculty mentors regarding culture, climate, and mentoring approaches in the academy. Data collection will involve semi-structured individual interviews with students and faculty mentors as well as in-depth focus groups with students.  Participants will be drawn from a range of institutions with different minority-serving status and levels of research activity. Concepts from theories of professional science identity, intersectionality, and equity-minded mentoring will inform data analysis.  One of the salient characteristics of science identity is that it relates to multiple other identities, such as gender identity, religious identity, and ethnic identity. Thus, to fully consider the role multiple underlying identities play in shaping science identity, this study seeks to leverage the concept of intersectionality as both a conceptual framework and a methodological tool. This study also seeks to identify mentoring/ mentee practices that can be used to cultivate a learning environment in which graduate students of color can thrive. Throughout the project, the principal investigator will be mentored by both an individual mentor and an advisory board. In the latter stages of the project, modules for graduate student orientation and faculty mentor training programs will be developed. These modules will strive to showcase asset-based narratives of graduate students of color with interactive, positive examples of embracing cultural and social identities in a transformative manner. Further, these group-specific and discipline-specific training modules will aim to provide faculty mentors training in managing interpersonal relationships with mentees from diverse backgrounds and in recognizing marginalized forms of capital that may challenge pre-established disciplinary norms. The project is supported by NSF’s EDU Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.    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.",TRUE
2425934,RCN: Augmenting Intelligence Through Collective Learning,2025-04-18,Santa Fe Institute,SANTA FE,NM,NM03,494313,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Sci of Lrng & Augmented Intel,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2425934,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2425934_4900,2024-09-01,2028-08-31,875018943,M8SBQ7NVNAH4,"The goal of this project is to create a multidisciplinary network of researchers to explore the potential and challenges of new technologies in fostering collective learning. Collective learning, defined as the ability of human groups to adapt cognitive strategies and social networks to learn from each other, is essential in today's rapidly evolving world. By examining collective learning through the lens of new technologies, the project will develop a theoretical framework to guide the design of technology-enhanced learning environments, create tools to study collective learning in various contexts, and design technological platforms that promote effective collective functioning. These efforts support education, foster diversity, and benefit society by improving coordinated action and decision-making processes. The project's outcomes will provide the groundwork for addressing critical contemporary obstacles such as misinformation, conflicting agendas, and social fragmentation that hinder collective efforts to tackle global challenges, including climate change, distrust in science, political instability, and economic inequality.    The project is structured around three interconnected themes.  The first theme focuses on developing a theoretical base that integrates existing collective adaptation frameworks with human-AI systems. This framework will address challenges such as multi-task satisficing, path dependence, and collective myopia, considering the influence of new technologies on collective learning processes. The second theme explores how online research platforms, combined with AI agents, can be utilized to investigate the dynamics of collective learning. It involves developing and coordinating platforms to study the co-evolution of social learning strategies, network structures, and the problems faced by collectives. The integration of AI agents in these platforms aims to mitigate challenges such as participants being overburdened and to enable large-scale experiments on interactions between human and artificial intelligence. This theme also examines potential challenges in using AI, such as ensuring the reliability of AI agents, addressing potential biases in AI behavior, and maintaining ethical standards in AI-human interactions. The third theme combines insights from the first two themes to design and implement platforms that facilitate effective collaboration, knowledge sharing, and decision-making. The goal is to create digital spaces that enhance trust and collective efficacy, ultimately leading to more beneficial societal outcomes. The successful implementation of this project will overcome disciplinary silos, address U.S.-centric research limitations, leverage new technologies to foster diverse, inclusive collaborations, and bridge the gap between academic research and real-world community needs.    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.",FALSE
2203422,NSF ADVANCE Catalyst: Evaluation and Assessment of Gender Leadership Equity and Support,2025-04-18,Benedictine University,LISLE,IL,IL11,300000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2203422,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2203422_4900,2022-05-01,2025-04-30,605322851,C2VYCKBGJBG1,"Benedictine University (BenU) will implement a NSF-ADVANCE Catalyst project Evaluation and Assessment of Gender, Leadership, Equity, and Support (EAGLES) to investigate barriers that exist along the STEM faculty career pathway hindering successful hiring, advancement, and leadership of women, persons with disabilities, persons who identify as LGBTQ+, and peers excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs). BenU recognizes that hiring and retaining diverse faculty is important in education and mentorship of the growing diverse student population and their success in STEM; however, a low number of diverse STEM faculty, especially at small, primarily undergraduate institutions, carry additional “unwritten” service resulting in an imbalance skewed towards service rather than scholarship. EAGLES aims to evaluate the processes before, during, and after BenU STEM faculty are hired through collection of faculty perceptions regarding current hiring, promotion process, and career flexibility policies to identify significant factors that can deter successful hiring and advancement.  In collaboration with ADVANCE networks and leadership, this project aims to develop strategies and guidelines on career flexibility, hiring, and retention that can better account for the equitable distribution of service expected of the low percentage of diverse faculty at small, primarily undergraduate institutions.    The goal of this ADVANCE Catalyst project is to address these inequities within BenU STEM by undertaking an extensive institutional assessment that will guide a data-driven strategic plan to 1) increase inclusive hiring policies and practices, 2) increase and improve faculty career flexibility, and 3) promote leadership advancement for marginalized groups in STEM (female, persons with disabilities, persons who identify as LGBTQ+, and PEERs). The institutional assessment will include data collection and analysis via external consulting reviews and internal reviews (e.g. faculty climate and perception surveys). The assessment will be supported through the guidance of an Advisory Board of internal and external academic and administrative leaders. The project’s findings will be broadly disseminated across BenU and through open source platforms that peer institutions can use. The broader impacts of the project will enable an expansion of essential training in DEI and collaborative efforts to address inequities at BenU. The project’s outcomes aim to provide systemic changes that dovetail with current university efforts and promote the inclusion of talented and experienced females, PEERs, persons with disabilities, and persons who identify as LGBTQ+ among STEM faculty. Implementation of the findings aims to align the diversity of the BenU faculty with its diverse student population.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst'' awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education.    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.",TRUE
2331287,Expanding Access to Graduate Education and the Advanced STEM Workforce,2025-04-18,Council of Graduate Schools,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,1169896,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ExLENT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331287,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331287_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,200361173,CU3UNKJBXGM3,"Increasing the competitiveness of the American STEM workforce depends on recruiting a larger and more diverse group STEM graduate students from across the United States, including those from historically underrepresented groups: racial and ethnic minorities, gender minorities in specific STEM fields, students from U.S. regions with disproportionately low STEM graduate degree attainment, persons with disabilities, first-generation students, low-income students, and veterans. This project will support this goal through the expansion of the National Name Exchange (NNE), a well established program that connects underrepresented undergraduate students with institutions seeking to diversify their graduate programs. Through research and communication activities, the project has the potential to remove barriers to STEM graduate study in three ways. First, it will provide a technological platform for expanding the recruitment of graduate students from underrepresented groups. Second, research using NNE data will be used to understand gaps in student pathways to STEM graduate programs and inform both national and university strategies for recruiting and supporting underrepresented students. Third, the project will design, test and continuously improve resources to support prospective graduate students and universities seeking to recruit them to STEM graduate programs.    This project seeks to accelerate the recruitment of graduate students from underrepresented groups. By expanding an existing technological infrastructure for connecting underrepresented graduate students with STEM graduate programs, the project will generate data needed to deepen our understanding of gaps and interruptions in student pathways to graduate school and to remedy these interruptions with information and resources. The data collected from student enrollees in the NNE will be matched with National Student Clearinghouse records to determine whether and on what time frame NNE participants enroll in a graduate program. Using logistic regression, the research team will explore the impact of minoritized status, self-reported undergraduate GPA, undergraduate research experiences, Carnegie classification and other aspects of undergraduate institution type. By exploring the probability of matriculation at different intervals following expected undergraduate degree completion, it will be possible to consider how these demographic and educational factors affect pathways into graduate   study. In addition to generating data that will help universities improve their recruitment efforts, the project’s assessment activities will help NSF determine the effectiveness of this technological and data infrastructure for accelerating and scaling the participation of underrepresented students in STEM graduate programs.    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.",TRUE
2314092,"Conference: Equity, Innovation, and STEAM - Strengthening the R&D Connections",2025-04-18,Texas Southern University,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,236606,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314092,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314092_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,770044501,HYYJJ5ZP7CR9,"STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math) continues to grow in the informal science learning field, with a wide variety of findings from researchers and practitioners. There is a significant need to assess where this nascent field is in relation to equity and what are the critical next steps that should be taken. Research shows: (1) a need to develop more mutually supportive links in this work between researchers and practitioners; (2) a need to address equitable access, framing, and design in STEAM informal science learning; and additionally, (3) that STEAM engages underserved populations in STEM. This can, potentially, help provide needed diversity in the STEM workforce, along with creative and innovative thinking skills essential to success. Texas Southern University, in partnership with the Innovation Collaborative, will convene a two-year five-phase working conference project to address these issues. This conference project is housed on an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) campus that has a museum studies program and a university museum. A core group of diverse leading STEAM informal science learning researchers and practitioners will help lead the project. They will assemble diverse teams representing the broad spectrum of informal science learning institutions. During the two years, these participants will immerse themselves in equity, choose and frame the six most important topics to address, and investigate these topics through virtual and in-person components. This conference project can serve as a model for other fields to develop an approach and next steps relating to equity, especially as it integrates research and practice.    The goals of this research are to develop: 1) a cohesive approach, integrating research and practice, to the most salient issues regarding equity in STEAM informal science learning; and 2) an effective model for a STEAM informal science learning conference project to address equity. All targeted outcomes will be iteratively measured using equitable, culturally responsive evaluation techniques. The project findings will be disseminated through traditional and nontraditional means with a focus on reaching a wide variety of diverse audiences. At the conclusion of this process, there will be a more cohesive view of where the STEAM informal science learning field is in relation to equity that will inform next steps that will benefit a broad spectrum of underserved populations. This conference project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2230615,"PIRE: Climate risk, pollution, and childhood inequalities in low- and middle-income countries",2025-04-18,University of Pennsylvania,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,1485510,Standard Grant,OD,Office of the Director,International Science and Engineering,PIRE- Prtnrshps Inter Res & Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230615,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230615_4900,2023-01-01,2025-12-31,191046205,GM1XX56LEP58,"Concern is rapidly increasing about accelerating climate changes and their implications for the health and welfare of children. In a recent press release, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that approximately one billion children are at extremely high risk of experiencing impacts of the climate crisis; many will experience multiple climate shocks combined with poor essential services such as water, sanitation and healthcare. At the same time, while air pollution is decreasing in many high-income countries and some middle-income countries, it remains very high in large areas of low- and middle-income countries in which the majority of the world’s children reside. Children from poorer countries and from economically and socially marginalized groups within countries may be particularly vulnerable to climatic and environmental hazards. To date, there has not been a global study of the degree to which the ill effects of extreme climate and air pollution exposures are borne differently by children according to individual, family, and overall country characteristics. Focusing on low- and middle-income countries, this project advances and disseminates scientific knowledge about how global childhood inequalities condition both the risks of experiencing climate hazards and extreme air pollution and the implications, once exposed. Project partners include faculty members and students at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Houston and researchers at the Asian Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Regional Institute for Population Studies in Ghana, UNICEF, and the World Bank. These research partnerships will inform analyses and provide direct support for dissemination of findings to stakeholders in a position to support interventions or advise on policy. In addition, these collaborations will provide global engagement and training opportunities to a diverse group of students and emerging scholars.    This project establishes university-international agency collaborations to investigate how global childhood inequalities condition risks of climatic and environmental hazards exposure; implications, once exposed; and capacity to buffer ill effects. These collaborations will facilitate data-sharing, collaborative analysis, feedback between academic researchers and the policy community, and training for future generations of interdisciplinary population scientists. The project team will link population, environmental, and climate hazard data and consider possible differences across groups defined by household, community, and country socioeconomic status (SES), demographic group, gender, and health/nutrition status. We will apply novel group-based climate/environmental measures to investigate the distributional patterns of ambient risks among intersecting regional and sociodemographic groups. In addition, the team will adopt statistical and machine learning techniques to investigate the heterogeneous effects of climate/environmental risks along the full distribution of child human capital outcomes given observed SES and demographic characteristics. Finally, the team will develop accessible data portals that will provide policy makers, researchers, and interested citizens with frequently updated and real-time global and regional maps of changing patterns of inequalities along the environment, population, and human capital axes across time and space.    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.",TRUE
2336484,"Broadening Participation in STEM Graduate Degrees and the U.S. STEM Workforce:  Understanding Application, Admissions, And Matriculation in STEM Graduate Education",2025-04-18,Council of Graduate Schools,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,4662695,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",ExLENT,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336484,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2336484_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,200361173,CU3UNKJBXGM3,"Maintaining US leadership in fields such as advanced manufacturing, advanced wireless, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, quantum information science, semiconductors, and microelectronics depends on the talents of a diverse STEM workforce. Currently, there is a paucity of information about the pathways students follow into STEM graduate education and on to the scientific workforce. This project will collect data on applications, admissions, and matriculation in graduate study for both international and domestic students and explore how pathways into graduate study differ by gender, race/ethnicity, citizenship status, disability status, veteran status, field of study, and degree level. By examining differences between groups in the number of applications submitted, the number of acceptances offered, and the likelihood that if admitted a potential student will actually enroll and pursue a degree, data will help to identify where investments of resources and improvements in recruitment and admission practices can have the greatest effects on increasing the size, diversity, and vitality of the advanced STEM workforce. The study will also explore the important role international students play in STEM graduate education and careers and explore the relationship between enrollment of international students and those of U.S. domestic students, particularly from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM fields.    Little information exists today that documents trends in graduate program applications, admissions, and matriculation for domestic students. This project will answer the following questions: What are the key trends in graduate program applications, offers of admission, and matriculation for domestic and international students by degree level and broad and fine field of STEM study? Has the proportion of women and racially and ethnically underrepresented students changed over time by broad and fine STEM field? Are there differences in aggregated graduate applications, offers of admission, and matriculation in STEM by sociodemographic and gender groups? Do acceptance and matriculation rates differ by field of study and citizenship status? Among U.S. domestic students, are there differences in acceptance and matriculation rates by gender, race/ethnicity, and field of study? To the extent possible, differences in acceptance and matriculation rates by socioeconomic, first generation, veteran, and disability status will also be explored by fields of STEM study. The findings will provide a robust portrait of graduate application, admission, and matriculation rates of students in STEM fields such as advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and quantum information science. This project will also examine the role that international students play in STEM graduate education and explore the relationship between enrollment of international students and those of U.S. domestic students.    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.",TRUE
2141345,Threat is Distinct from Valence as a Source of Biased Shoot Behaviors toward Black Men,2025-04-18,Florida State University,TALLAHASSEE,FL,FL02,413000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141345,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2141345_4900,2022-05-01,2026-04-30,323060001,JF2BLNN4PJC3,"Black men confront a higher relative risk of being shot by police officers than do Latinos, Asian-American men, or White men in the US. Addressing negative beliefs about Black men is an overly simplistic solution because negative beliefs exist about many groups, and yet police shootings disproportionally affect Black men relative to men of other races and ethnicities. This project examines whether the act of shooting occurs quickly and frequently against Black male targets because of an automatic mental association linking Black men and threat, rather than because of a general negative bias. This idea is guided by a model that distinguishes the role of threat (risk of harm) from negative valence (disliking) in reactions to others. The threat vs. valence distinction provides a more nuanced understanding of the maintenance, pervasiveness, and ultimate expression of reactions that contribute to anti-Black shooter behavior. A greater understanding of race-based shooter bias is vital in the present where recent events have made clear the potential deadly consequences of anti-Black prejudice.    The project includes a series of studies that assess automatic mental associations that people have by using state-of-the-art judgment tasks, physiological responses, and shoot behaviors as assessed in an immersive virtual reality shooting task. Several of the studies measure the associations that people have of Black vs. White with threat vs. negativity and test how the relative strength of these associations directly predict shooting behavior. One study relies on the creation of novel associations about unfamiliar target groups to determine if threat associations drive shooting behavior more generally, beyond associations with Black men. A final study disrupts mental associations of Black men with threat (vs. disrupting general Black-negative associations) to determine whether this reduces race-based shooting behavior. The PI has established connections with several police stations to involve officers as research participants and to disseminate findings and feedback among police departments. The project provides a firm understanding of how threat associations contribute to race-based shooter bias and suggests a means by which to begin to redress the negative repercussions of such biases.    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.",TRUE
2327257,Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: Scholars in the Margins: Historically Excluded Postdoctoral Experiences in STEM,2025-04-18,University of Rhode Island,KINGSTON,RI,RI02,328223,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327257,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327257_4900,2024-03-01,2025-04-18,028811974,CJDNG9D14MW7,"There is an urgent need to provide supportive and welcoming environments for individuals pursuing STEM career pathways to ensure that the United States meets its full potential in providing world-class educational experiences and an educated citizenry.  Faculty members from marginalized backgrounds can serve vital roles in increasing the rates of persistence of students in STEM educational programs and STEM careers.  In the United States, postdoctoral scholars in STEM fields currently have strikingly low representation of individuals with Black or African American, Hispanic or Latine, Native American, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander identities. For early-career STEM scholars, postdoctoral experiences can be one of the most important and immediate considerations when individuals are deciding whether or not to continue working in academia. Few studies exist that characterize the postdoctoral experiences of scholars with marginalized identities.  This project aims to study the effects of professional and personal environments of postdoctoral scholars from minoritized backgrounds on self-efficacy, STEM identity, sense of belonging, research interests, communication outcomes, and career goals.  This research is designed to inform the development and implementation of inclusive training spaces.  The researcher has developed partnerships with scientific and professional societies that serve postdoctoral scholars.      Understanding the unique ways in which science identity relates to intersectional identities is vitally important to broaden participation, and it is a critical gap in the literature on postdoctoral scholars. Early studies have shown that environmental contexts in which postdoctoral scholars feel affirmed and valued can help counter exclusionary STEM cultural norms and build a sense of belonging. There is no extant research to suggest the mechanisms by which the broader scientific community contributes to STEM identity validation in postdoctoral scholars, nor the extent to which this is a factor. This project aims to examine the influence of academic institutions and scientific societies on postdoctoral scholar retention. The research framework integrates the Communication Theory of Identity, STEM Identity Theory, and Social Cognitive Career Theory. This study is designed to conduct interviews with postdoctoral scholars from marginalized backgrounds to examine the relationship between their professional and personal environments and their self-efficacy, STEM identity development, sense of belonging, challenges in their fields, general interests, and science communication outcomes. The study also aims to examine participants’ intended STEM career pathways. Interview findings are intended to inform the design of a related survey. Findings will also be used to co-create a guide with partnering organizations and collaborators to inform postdoctoral training spaces with evidence-based approaches and mentorship that specifically centers marginalized postdoctoral scholars.     This project is funded by the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field.    This project is partially funded by The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation through a partnership with the National Science Foundation to promote greater diversity within the STEM/STEM education research workforce.    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.",TRUE
2233707,Implementation: Implementation of the BIMS Tidal Wave Program,2025-04-18,BLACK IN MARINE SCIENCE,SPOKANE,WA,WA05,1997452,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233707,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233707_4900,2023-04-01,2028-03-31,992010580,SM8RSLFHWRC5,"Scientific societies play a significant role in the dissemination of research, and the creation of collaborative groups; however the lack of diversity at scientific meetings serves as a major crux to the advancement of ocean science and conservation. Systematic barriers increase the difficulty for researchers of color to attend and successfully maneuver these conferences. Often, those researchers who do attend are one of a handful and their experiences can be riddled with isolation, making it hard to truly engage in meeting sessions and activities. To increase diversity and engagement of scientists of color at ocean science conferences and reduce negative experiences stemming from seclusion, the non-profit Black in Marine Science (BIMS) introduces The BIMS Tidal Wave. The goals of this project are to 1) provide a cohort of scientists the networking and technical skills needed to successfully present at a conference, 2) incorporate contributions of researchers of color in ocean science conferences including a conference hosted by the BIMS Institute and 3) increase cohesion among allies and Black professionals who focus on ocean conservation and research. Each year, a cohort of Black marine scientists at varied educational levels (undergrad to graduate) and professions (academic, government, private sector) will be selected to attend one ocean science conference. Prior to each conference participants will partake in a series of workshops focused on presenting research, networking, and successful mentor-mentee interactions. After each conference, cohorts will receive post-conference training that will assist participants in publishing their research and forming collaborative bonds for future research.    As a means of improving the diversity and experience of Black marine scientists at scientific conferences, the nonprofit organization Black in Marine Science introduces The BIMS Tidal Wave. This program aims to expand the diversity of marine science conference participation and society membership in a stepwise fashion, supporting 40 students, and both early & late career professionals in presenting research at two marine science meetings each year. Moving past the experience of being isolated and excluded at conferences, the goal is that participants in The Tidal Wave Program feel a boost in confidence and in a sense of belonging by having new skills, resources, and cohort support. These fundamental changes will alter the experience of both Black scientists and other attendees at the conference. Prior to the meetings, the program will provide hands-on networking and professional development workshops including the resources, support, and skills needed to navigate a conference successfully. These workshops will strengthen relationships and mutual support among participants, thereby increasing the sense of comfort and ease of attending. Pertinent scientific meetings have been selected to represent an array of sub-disciplines within ocean policy and research, ensuring that Black peoples’ research contributions are heard and have a seat at the table. At the conferences, we will facilitate opportunities for participants to network with one another, as well as with members and leadership of the host society. In the final year of the grant, the BIMS institute will host a culminating conference, exclusive to Black marine science professionals and allies. The BIMS Tidal Wave will ultimately change the face of scientific conferences and enrich the experiences of Black marine scientists who attend these conferences.    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.",TRUE
2121853,Collaborative Research: HNDS-I: The Digital Society Project: Infrastructure for Measuring Internet Politics,2025-04-18,Brandeis University,WALTHAM,MA,MA05,106311,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human Networks & Data Sci Infr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121853,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121853_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,024532728,MXLZGAMFEKN5,"Issues such as internet freedom, cybersecurity, misinformation, and the polarization caused by social media are central to modern life. They play a key role in social life, politics, and the strength of democracy around the world. Yet measuring how these issues affect political events in online spaces is hard. Scholars do not know what factors matter most. This project will produce tools and data to help study problems in the online world that affect state security, business risk, and daily life.       This grant supports infrastructure to collect data from around the world on cybersecurity, internet freedom, disinformation, coordinated information operations, and the politicization and polarization of social media. The project builds a global pool of experts who will provide data each year. It also advances methods to ensure that these data are valid. The project links the data to a massive set of political tweets, coded by place. Scholars and others can access these data through an online interface and open-source software. This project can help us learn how states monitor, alter, and control online space. This research is critically important to the US government, aid and human rights groups, and private industry. Policy makers can also rely on this project to better understand how, and where, to step in to curb internet-driven political violence, stop the spread of disinformation, reduce electoral manipulation, and enhance government accountability. Civil society groups can use assessments of online freedom and cybersecurity to improve human rights surveillance. Firms can use the data to reduce harm caused by their social media platforms. Finally, teachers and students can use this project to better understand politics in a digital world, equipping citizens to safely traverse the modern information landscape.    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.",FALSE
2314915,Collaborative Research: Advancing Collaborations for Equity in Marine and Climate Sciences,2025-04-18,George Mason University,FAIRFAX,VA,VA11,1200524,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314915,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314915_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,220304422,EADLFP7Z72E5,"Marine and climate sciences (MCS) scientists play an important role in society because of their focus on both local and global issues affecting the environment and people. Yet MCS are some of the least diverse STEM disciplines, including limited change in the number of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in MCS over the past 40 years. Climate and culture in MCS have been identified as actively contributing to the low participation and retention of BIPOC individuals in the disciplines and their disparate academic and professional outcomes, through gatekeeping, professional barriers, and other obstacles. The purpose of this research project is to examine how Woods Hole Collaborative Network (WHCN) researchers and administrators advance collaborations for equity in MCS and what processes are employed for developing equity-driven and anti-racist educational collaborations, infrastructures, and pathways. Project outcomes will span individual, institutional, and disciplinary level transformations.       This research project will investigate the WHCN, a multi-organizational collaboration between six predominantly white institutions located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The project focuses on three questions: (1) What features among the WHCN promote or inhibit institutional and disciplinary transformation? (2) In what ways has the WHCN pursued equitable collaborations and how has their collaboration evolved over time? (3) What effective and ineffective features of the WHCN’s initiatives can inform MCS collaborations? Drawing from nearly 20 years of WHCN’s programmatic efforts, researchers will utilize an instrumental case study to center the context and processes of a bounded case, with organizations (e.g., institutions) and individuals (e.g., students, scientists, and affiliated staff) as units of analyses. An instrumental case aligns with the project’s goal to develop a model that maps the process and infrastructure for transformation. The research design includes: (1) BIPOC storytelling and standpoint centering through qualitative interviews and qualitative network mapping with Woods Hole-affiliated BIPOC students, scientists, and alumni; (2) organizational and historical analysis through observations of WHCN initiatives, historical analysis of WHCN’s development, and analysis of student data, documented policies, activities, goals and procedures related to WHCN; and (3) model development, which will reflect a replicable and scalable model for equity-centered support in STEM collaborations.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activities (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EDU Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EDU in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2314918,Collaborative Research: Advancing Collaborations for Equity in Marine and Climate Sciences,2025-04-18,Temple University,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA02,399997,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314918,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314918_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,191226104,QD4MGHFDJKU1,"Marine and climate sciences (MCS) scientists play an important role in society because of their focus on both local and global issues affecting the environment and people. Yet MCS are some of the least diverse STEM disciplines, including limited change in the number of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in MCS over the past 40 years. Climate and culture in MCS have been identified as actively contributing to the low participation and retention of BIPOC individuals in the disciplines and their disparate academic and professional outcomes, through gatekeeping, professional barriers, and other obstacles. The purpose of this research project is to examine how Woods Hole Collaborative Network (WHCN) researchers and administrators advance collaborations for equity in MCS and what processes are employed for developing equity-driven and anti-racist educational collaborations, infrastructures, and pathways. Project outcomes will span individual, institutional, and disciplinary level transformations.       This research project will investigate the WHCN, a multi-organizational collaboration between six predominantly white institutions located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The project focuses on three questions: (1) What features among the WHCN promote or inhibit institutional and disciplinary transformation? (2) In what ways has the WHCN pursued equitable collaborations and how has their collaboration evolved over time? (3) What effective and ineffective features of the WHCN’s initiatives can inform MCS collaborations? Drawing from nearly 20 years of WHCN’s programmatic efforts, researchers will utilize an instrumental case study to center the context and processes of a bounded case, with organizations (e.g., institutions) and individuals (e.g., students, scientists, and affiliated staff) as units of analyses. An instrumental case aligns with the project’s goal to develop a model that maps the process and infrastructure for transformation. The research design includes: (1) BIPOC storytelling and standpoint centering through qualitative interviews and qualitative network mapping with Woods Hole-affiliated BIPOC students, scientists, and alumni; (2) organizational and historical analysis through observations of WHCN initiatives, historical analysis of WHCN’s development, and analysis of student data, documented policies, activities, goals and procedures related to WHCN; and (3) model development, which will reflect a replicable and scalable model for equity-centered support in STEM collaborations.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activities (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EDU Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EDU in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2310698,"Planning: Advancing Geosciences Cultural Change in Access, Diversity, and Inclusion via History of Geology and Environmental Justice (ADI Geo-History)",2025-04-18,Mississippi State University,MISSISSIPPI STATE,MS,MS03,200000,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310698,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2310698_4900,2023-04-01,2026-03-31,39762,NTXJM52SHKS7,"The Geosciences are one of the least diverse of the sciences, and representative voices and stakeholders are needed as the discipline navigates scientific and societal issues of national concern. The Advancing Geosciences’ Cultural Change in Access, Diversity, and Inclusion via History of Geology and Environmental Justice project (ADI Geo-History) supports participation of students with diverse identities by engaging them in the history of Earth Sciences from non-traditional perspectives. The Geological Society of America (GSA) and the History of Earth Sciences Society (HESS) collaborate to involve students from historically excluded groups in their professional societies, increasing not only students’ participation in the Geosciences, but also broadening the culture of the respective societies. ADI Geo-History recruits college students with diverse identities and supports their participation in the Geological Society of America annual conference, with accompanying field excursions that focus on exposing full histories of resource extraction and its impact on humans and the landscape. Students will experience virtual mentoring sessions before and after the conference with professional geoscientists of diverse identities. Following GSA, student scholars will prepare outreach materials for their home institutions based on what they have learned through their conference participation and fieldtrip experience. ADI Geo-History delivers a proof-of-concept to engage Geosciences-associated professional societies in activities that promote diversity and diversify society membership with the intention to expand this effort in the near future.     The Advancing Geosciences’ Cultural Change in Access, Diversity, and Inclusion via History of Geology and Environmental Justice project (ADI Geo-History) is a 2-year planning effort emerging from the Geosciences ASCEND RCN (NSF #2037271) and spearheaded by the History of Earth Sciences Society (HESS), an affiliated Geological Society of America (GSA) society. The proposed effort conceptualizes a sustained initiative to diversify the HESS membership and encourage participation of diverse identities in documenting and telling the history of Earth Science from non-traditional perspectives. For this effort, the PIs will implement experimental field trips/short courses and sessions for the 2023/2024 GSA Connects annual meetings (Pittsburgh, PA; Anaheim, CA), and engage students with diverse identities to focus on acknowledging, understanding, and accurately portraying the history of resource extraction and the legacy of extractive activities in the geosciences. ADI Geo-History will demonstrate a proof-of-concept to engage Geosciences-associated professional societies in activities that promote diversity and diversify society membership. As such, Geosciences-associated societies become active agents in developing their diversity profile, build social capital among diverse communities, broaden professional networks, and welcome diverse perspectives into professional societies.    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.",TRUE
2214011,Collaborative Research: From Culture to Child: How collective perceptions of affective divergence shape interracial relationships in middle childhood,2025-04-18,University of Hawaii,HONOLULU,HI,HI01,245626,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214011,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214011_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,968222247,NSCKLFSSABF2,"Racial segregation, tension, and discrimination continue to persist in U.S. society. This project examines how racial discord may spread from culture to child. This project uses a new paradigm to examine how subtle--but recurring--depictions of interracial discord on children’s television contribute to the erosion of children’s interracial relationships in middle childhood (7 to 10 years of age). The proposed studies not only aim to identify a cause of interracial discord among children but may also inform media based interventions for improving children’s interracial relationships.    This project focuses on televised depictions of emotional discord in cross-race interactions as one potential cultural source of racial bias. A preliminary study documented how children’s television programming consistently depicts ""shared"" expressions of emotion in same-race interactions but not cross-race interactions. Exposure to this pattern of affective divergence may influence children's interracial beliefs and behaviors. In three proposed experiments, the investigators test this causal relationship using the cultural snapshots paradigm. Children between 7 and 10 years of age are randomly assigned to view brief television clips depicting (a) affective divergence, (b) affective convergence (shared emotion in both same-race and cross-race interactions), or (c) no humans (control). Exposure to affective divergence (relative to other conditions) is expected to cause children to experience reduced interracial empathy and increased negative expectations for interracial interactions. The researchers predict that this latter effect will cause reductions in children’s supportive and friendly behaviors toward other-race peers. The research team will also assess moderator and mediator variables, allowing for nuanced hypothesis-tests of this general prediction. Ultimately, these studies seek critical information about the causes of racial discord in children and a potential means for reducing such discord.    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.",TRUE
2318338,Empowering Undergraduate Engineers Towards Inclusive Institutional Change Through Research and Organizing,2025-04-18,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,500000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318338,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318338_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project aims to empower students to create inclusive institutional change at Florida International University’s College of Engineering and Computing. Existing diversity support strategies tend to provide students with services to improve their academic performance or retention. While this support is important, it can limit students’ sense of agency and feeling that they have a voice in their university, which is an important element of inclusion. The significance of this project will come from the implementation of a JEDI (Justice Equity Diversity and Inclusion) Ambassador program which will focus on student empowerment in STEM at Florida International University. Students will have a paid position to conduct either research, leadership, or organizing projects, and they will receive regular mentorship, and have well-scaffolded opportunities to give feedback to administrators, faculty, and other community members on practical solutions for fostering a more inclusive student-centered educational environment. The work will contribute to knowledge about this novel approach to inclusive institutional change, help better understand the opportunities and challenges associated with student empowerment, and generate important insights about inclusion at HSIs. The project’s broader impact will help create inclusive change at Florida International University’s College of Engineering and Computing while also disseminating the project insights widely for translation. The project anticipates future expansions with partners at local and national 2-year and 4-year institutions.    The JEDI model will create a yearlong cohort-based student advocacy ambassador program focused on education research and organizing by undergraduate engineering students. Engineering education faculty and student support personnel will partner to establish the program. The project goals aspire to (1) create a program to train undergraduate engineering and computing students for this role, (2) mentor students in Youth Participatory Action Research projects to create insights and impacts towards inclusive change and (3) scaffold students to share their project work with stakeholders. Students will select from three specific model projects: (1) interview study with marginalized student population, (2) gateway course study on inequities in success rates, and (3) development of programming and initiatives in partnership with student organizations. Although projects will differ in focus, the research team anticipates outcomes related to insightful research products and impactful programming towards inclusion. In addition to creating the novel program, the research team will use a Design-Based Research Methodology to understand and enable the evidence-based design of the program; and will use critical discourse analysis to investigate participating students’ empowerment and sense of agency and to understand the impact of the JEDI program on stakeholder views and actions. Each student project will disseminate their work at a student project showcase including local stakeholders. In addition, students will be encouraged to create faculty and advisor development resources, publish at conferences, and conduct presentations to student organizations which includes sharing them on social media. Further, the principal investigators will publish on the program’s structure, process, and success at national conferences and in journals. Via a yearly reflection meeting, the project will share the process of JEDI with additional stakeholders to prepare for translation and expansion. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.    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.",TRUE
2422305,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: C-COAST: Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation,2025-04-18,University of Rhode Island,KINGSTON,RI,RI02,106151,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2422305,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2422305_4900,2024-02-01,2027-04-30,028811974,CJDNG9D14MW7,"Coastal counties are more diverse than non-coastal counties; however, the culture and identities of those who study and manage estuaries and coasts do not reflect these communities. This mismatch diminishes the quality of science and management provided; many coastal professionals lack the lived experiences and knowledge to prioritize issues most impactful to people in coastal areas. Despite widespread recognition that increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is essential to sustaining the nation's capacity for innovation and discovery, there is a widening gap between the total number of marine science graduate degrees granted and degrees granted to those underrepresented in the field. Professional societies play a unique role in facilitating culture change within STEM disciplines by establishing and reinforcing norms and practices that advance greater diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA). They are also important avenues for training students and professionals in relevant skills and in developing networks necessary to progress in their careers. Culture change in professional societies scales up to impacts on members, their home institutions, and beyond. The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) will assist the next generation of coastal and estuarine biologists and related disciplines in navigating the current culture while simultaneously dismantling inequities at the root of low DEIJA in the disciplines through the Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation (C-COAST) program, which will provide professional development, mentoring, and networking to students and professionals at all career stages.    The C-COAST program will harness evidence-based strategies to mitigate inequities and shift culture in the coastal and estuarine sciences through two programs: Rising TIDES Conference Program (RTCP) and Leadership Development Program (LDP). The RTCP is geared towards recruiting and retaining a new generation of estuarine and coastal science professionals. It consists of a 16-month program that supports attendance at the CERF and two additional coastal and estuarine conferences, with virtual meetings in between. The program provides professional and near-peer mentors, training, and networking, in addition to the full suite of scientific conference offerings. The LDP will provide leadership and DEIJA training for current and future leaders by building a dynamic learning community that will prepare emerging leaders to become agents of change while helping current leaders use existing power to address systemic inequities. The goals of C-COAST, from short- to long-term, are to 1): recruit and retain diverse undergraduate and graduate students and provide them professional development, mentorship, and peer networks to support a sense of belonging and identity; 2) educate current leaders on how to be more inclusive and change policies and practices that lead to inequities; and 3) increase the leadership skills of and opportunities for future leaders and prepare them to make policies and practices of CERF and their home institutions more inclusive when they are elevated to positions of power.    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.",TRUE
2327319,"Postdoctoral Fellowship: STEMEdIPRF: Examining how faculty awareness of systemic barriers and growth mindset influences students' belonging, self-efficacy, and success in STEM",2025-04-18,University of Massachusetts Amherst,AMHERST,MA,MA02,192092,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2327319,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2327319_4900,2024-05-01,2025-04-18,010039252,VGJHK59NMPK9,"Traditional STEM college programs are based on cultural norms that do not account for the experiences of students with identities that are historically underrepresented in STEM. In practice, these norms may create hidden challenges to underrepresented students’ success over the course of their STEM education. This project is designed to look at college instructors as agents for change in STEM education by studying (a) their attitudes about the flexible nature of intelligence (i.e., growth mindset) and (b) their awareness of systemic barriers in STEM. Combined, these attitudes could influence the ways instructors engage in culturally relevant teaching practices and make meaning of student behaviors. This research will be of significance in advancing knowledge about STEM learning and learning environments that increase diversity, equity, and inclusion in classrooms. This project also has implications for broadening participation in STEM fields by directly studying students’ experiences as they relate to STEM instructor’s attitudes. Overall, this research could contribute to STEM instructor’s professional development and help to address the needs of an increasingly diverse student population.    This study is designed to examine how STEM faculty’s awareness of systemic barriers in STEM education and growth mindset beliefs influence undergraduate students’ success in STEM. Existing quantitative research has not identified the independent contributions of these faculty attitudes for their engagement with culturally relevant teaching pedagogies, and the resulting implications for STEM students’ outcomes. Findings from this project could provide preliminary support that analysis of multiple dimensions of STEM faculty’s attitudes is crucial for addressing existing challenges to underrepresented student success. This project has three phases: 1) STEM faculty complete an online experimental survey to examine whether their awareness of systemic bias and growth mindset influences their causal attributions for an academically struggling underrepresented student. 2) Faculty and student recruitment from introductory STEM college courses to complete a survey at the beginning of the academic semester (Time 1), and students complete a follow-up survey at the end of the academic semester (Time 2). Findings are designed to examine whether faculty’s attitudes influence students’ belonging, self-efficacy, and expectations for future STEM success. 3) An online experimental design to examine whether an experimental manipulation of a hypothetical faculty member’s attitudes will influence underrepresented and traditional undergraduate students’ STEM interest, self-efficacy, and course success. Additional analysis will also be conducted in each study to explore differences by faculty and student race, gender, social class, and sexuality. This research could have important implications for STEM education by illuminating the influence of these attitudes for faculty’s causal attributions of academically struggling students; the direct implications for students’ classroom experiences; and students’ resulting attitudes about STEM. Overall, this research is designed to transform STEM education research by highlighting the critical roles of both individual and systemic factors for undergraduate student success.    This project is funded by the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field.    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.",TRUE
2222453,Collaborative Research: The Dynamics of Cross-Gender Interracial Interactions,2025-04-18,Indiana University,BLOOMINGTON,IN,IN09,241615,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222453,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222453_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,474057000,YH86RTW2YVJ4,"As the United States becomes more diverse, the opportunities for interracial interactions — contact between people from different racial and ethnic groups — has subsequently increased. Positive interracial contact is associated with many societal benefits including reductions in prejudice and discrimination. Extensive work demonstrates, however, that interracial, compared to same-race, interactions are stressful, in part, because they increase the likelihood of experiencing social identity threat — being devalued based on one’s social group membership. Recent research suggests that people’s experiences during interracial interactions are further shaped by the gender of one’s interaction partner. To have a more complete understanding of interracial interactions and to develop interventions that foster positive interracial interactions, it is important to understand how gender and racial/ethnic background together shape people’s experiences in these interactions. This project forwards and evaluates a novel, theoretically based model of the effects of cross-gender interracial interactions on people’s experiences in these interactions. To move us closer to a potential intervention, we also examine whether the specific types of goals that people bring into an interracial interaction influences participants’ interaction experiences.     This project uses an experimental approach to examine the effects of cross-gender interracial interactions on people’s affect, cognition, and behavior. In particular, we will test whether participants’ gender and race/ethnicity in addition to an interaction partner’s gender and race/ethnicity together shape people’s experiences in these interactions. The research also investigates whether an interaction partner's goals for the interaction (learning or performance goals) influences people’s interaction experiences. It is hypothesized that people will have report more negative experiences in cross-gender relative to gender-matched interracial interactions, however, people’s negative interaction experiences will be attenuated when their partner adopts a learning goal prior to the interaction. This research is poised to offer novel insights about how to promote comfortable and rewarding experiences in all interracial interactions.    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.",TRUE
2233343,Collaborative Research: DESIGN: Co-creation of affinity groups to facilitate diverse & inclusive ornithological societies,2025-04-18,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,288563,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233343,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233343_4900,2023-05-01,2026-04-30,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"Professional societies serve as major hubs for networking, professional development, financial support, recognition of leadership, and dissemination of science. Diversity initiatives can increase access to the field associated with the society, but they may have limited success in improving the inclusion of marginalized members who lack a sense of community or feel their voices are not heard. One way to instigate cultural change from the ground up is to develop affinity groups where members of historically excluded communities can develop support networks based on common experiences and identities. Such affinity groups can go beyond “one-shot” social events at conferences to build long-lasting communities and connection. This project will develop a mechanism to co-create affinity groups within ornithology that can serve to support members of historically excluded communities, amplify their voices, and empower them to help change the culture of ornithology. This project involves close collaboration between three major US ornithological societies (American Ornithological Society, Wilson Ornithological Society, and Association for Field Ornithologists) to jointly support and elevate marginalized members in ornithology. The ultimate goal is to transform ornithology into an inclusive discipline that leverages the talents of the diverse communities of learners, scientists and practitioners to solve urgent problems in ecology, conservation and environmental justice.     A recent diversity assessment conducted by the American Ornithological Society revealed that many members from historically excluded groups feel a weaker sense of belonging, feel that their voices are not heard, and that they are not valued. These components comprise key elements of transformative resilience: a framework for not only increasing the persistence of individuals from marginalized groups, but to create paths for institutional transformation. This project aims to design a process for co-creating affinity groups—i.e., identity-based groups created by and for members from historically excluded communities—that facilitate transformative resilience. The co-creation process engages marginalized members to imagine an ornithological community where they belong and are valued, and then creates affinity groups based on those visions through a series of workshops with emerging leaders of the communities. The project sets up vast potential for implementing activities that broadens support to historically excluded communities, including targeted professional development, leadership development, improved communication, and social support. The project will have four other categories of broader impacts: (1) fostering stakeholder engagement among three ornithological societies, non-profit organizations, governmental agencies, and minority-serving institutions and societies; (2) providing educational and training opportunities in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) for a postdoctoral scholar and summer Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program undergraduate scholars; (3) disseminating findings of the project beyond academia; and (4) broadening the diversity of scholars who are engaged in DEIJ research.    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.",TRUE
2325593,Social justice training in graduate engineering education through critical civic engagement,2025-04-18,Iowa State University,AMES,IA,IA04,499169,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Innovations in Grad Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2325593,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2325593_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,500112103,DQDBM7FGJPC5,"Engineers make decisions that inadvertently have impacts on society particularly in the way they shape structural inequities, but these social justice outcomes are often invisible in engineering education. The neglect of social justice is especially troubling because history is replete with engineering projects that have exacerbated inequalities. Previous approaches to enhance social justice attitudes and beliefs are nascent in engineering and have primarily focused on in-class curricula targeted at increasing awareness of inequities. Prior research of the project team has shown that these approaches are important but present limitations in their capacity to enhance social justice action. It is hypothesized that learning about social justice in the classroom, in isolation from communities and the injustices they face, is limiting. This National Science Foundation Innovations of Graduate Education (IGE) award to Iowa State University (ISU) will test if engaging social justice curriculum in collaboration with marginalized communities and civic partners changes students’ social justice attitudes and desire to act upon those injustices. This project will encourage engineering students to think critically about some of the most challenging social issues, i.e., racism, sexism, and other forms of social inequities. This project proposes a model for social justice action. It addresses the limitations of current educational interventions which overfocus on changing social justice attitudes but not action. The project will directly impact approximately 250 graduate engineering students.    This project closes the gap between social justice curriculum and the places where social injustices take place through a new model called critical civic engagement (CCE). CCE emphasizes community-driven collaboration wherein students learn from both in and with marginalized communities and civic partners. The CCE model will consist of ten modules implemented across four graduate engineering courses at ISU during two consecutive semesters. The CCE curriculum will be implemented in close partnership with marginalized communities and civic partners. The CCE model posits that co-production and civic engagement are foundational to social justice. If proven correct, this model will outline specific steps to help graduate instructors create sites of social justice. The pedagogical tools in this project will help bridge the power gap between graduate education and the places where injustices happen. The CCE model’s rigor will be reflected through improvements in the following student outcomes: (1) critical consciousness in engineering, (2) moral development, (3) intersectional consciousness, (4) personal beliefs about diversity, (5) self-assessment of critical consciousness and curriculum, and (6) qualitative assessment of the course.    The Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program is focused on research in graduate education. The goals of IGE are to pilot, test and validate innovative approaches to graduate education and to generate the knowledge required to move these approaches into the broader community.    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.",TRUE
2221996,SBP: Collaborative Research: Culturally Relevant Mentorship for Enhancing STEM Identity and Career Interests,2025-04-18,Texas Tech University,LUBBOCK,TX,TX19,208818,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221996,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2221996_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,79409,EGLKRQ5JBCZ7,"In STEM education, mentorship has become an important means of increasing the participation of underrepresented minoritized (URM) students, including women, Native/Black/Latinx Americans, persons with disabilities, bilingual students, and low-socioeconomic status (SES) youth. This B2 3.0 project will identify new constructs of culturally relevant mentorship (CRM), develop new survey instruments for assessing CRM, and examine the associations between CRM and STEM identity and career interest of URM students. The findings will offer insights for practitioners and policymakers to target resources and design interventions that can improve STEM outcomes of URM students through CRM. This project will also support research publications and NSF proposal submissions of faculty and doctoral students at MSIs, as well as strengthen collaborative networks among STEM education and social/behavioral science researchers through a STEM coalition that involves more than 30 pre-college STEM programs and 10 MSIs across the country.    This B2 3.0 project, co-led by researchers at both MSIs and non-MSIs, will make substantive contributions to knowledge in the fields of mentorship, social psychology, and broadening participation in STEM. It integrates cross-disciplinary theoretical perspectives to identify novel CRM constructs and link them to URM students’ STEM identity and career interests. It also addresses one of the most critical measurement needs in mentorship research and STEM education by developing and validating two new sets of CRM survey scales for mentors and mentees. Specifically, this project will conduct: (1) a comparative case study to explore and describe important CRM constructs and case types of mentors for URM adolescents; (2) a multi-step scale development study to develop and validate two new sets of CRM survey instruments for mentors and mentees; and (3) a large-scale survey study with a diverse sample to analyze the relationships between mentors’ CRM practices and URM mentees’ CRM perceptions, STEM identity, and STEM career interest.    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.",TRUE
2045937,Collaborative Research: Socialization Competencies and Youth Outcomes in Response to Racial Violence,2025-04-18,Washington University,SAINT LOUIS,MO,MO01,302902,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2045937,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2045937_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,631304862,L6NFUM28LQM5,"Given the historical and persistent crisis of racial discrimination and violence enacted against Black communities in America, Black parents have unique considerations to prepare their children to cope with potential racial bias and discrimination in schools, neighborhoods, and community settings. Yet, there is less research on how parents' race-related experiences influence their competency in transmitting information to their children about processing and coping with widely publicized instances of racial discrimination and violence. This project will examine how Black parents perceive racially violent incidents in their immediate communities, their own interpersonal experiences with racial discrimination, their parenting practices around racial socialization, and the coping strategies parents use to impact their child’s academic and well-being outcomes. The findings will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the ways racial/ethnic minority families' navigate oppressive social contexts and support the positive development of their children.     Recent widely publicized incidents of police brutality highlight the intersecting systems of inequality, injustice, and racism in the United States, elucidating a need for research documenting how Black families process and respond to such events. This study is a longitudinal, mixed methodological investigation of Black families' vulnerability to or resilience against marginalization, focusing on parenting practices and adolescent developmental trajectories. The three-year project involves two phases of research with Black parents and adolescents: (1) annual survey data to examine the influence of parents' race-related experiences and racial socialization competencies on adolescent outcomes, and (2) in-depth qualitative analysis exploring parents’ perceptions of the factors that shape their parenting practices and racial socialization competencies. The findings will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how Black families navigate racially oppressive social contexts and shed light on family processes for racial/ethnic minorities in the U.S. more broadly.    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.",TRUE
2314894,Identifying Systemic Racism in Mathematics Teacher Education:  Building a Cross-Site Community with Preservice Teachers of Color,2025-04-18,Texas State University - San Marcos,SAN MARCOS,TX,TX15,389377,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314894,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314894_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,786664684,HS5HWWK1AAU5,"This project will make significant contributions to racial equity in STEM by identifying and describing forms of systemic racism inherent in mathematics teacher education programs (MTEPs). Racialized mathematics teaching practices are systemic in elementary mathematics classrooms, and the impacts of systemic inequities in K-12 mathematics education both deter students from diverse backgrounds from becoming interested in math, reducing their likelihood of engaging in STEM; and affect students’ identities by devaluing or erasing their diverse cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Since teachers are the key to ensuring racial equity in classrooms, identifying racialized mathematics experiences must begin with mathematics teacher education programs. In this innovative study, a project team comprised of mathematics teacher educators of color (MTECs) will collaborate with 12-15 Preservice Teachers of Color (PTOCs), in authentic partnership, from three unique MTEPs (at an HBCU, an HSI, and a PWI) to form a cross-site Critical Mathematics Professional Learning Community (CMPLC). By documenting PTOCs’ racialized mathematics experiences across three sites, the project will: (1) gather fundamental knowledge on the racialized mathematical learning and teaching experiences of PTOCs, (2) build knowledge of racialized mathematics experiences and their overall impact on the preparation of PTOCs, and (3) inform teacher education programs across content and contexts. As Black and Latinx scholars with extensive experience in teacher education, the project team conceptualized this creative project to illuminate new ways of nourishing and affirming PTOCs’ racial identities and cultural strengths in mathematics teacher education.    The project team will collaborate with participating PTOCs to analyze data generated from focus groups, individual interviews, CMPLC conversations, journals, and field notes using interpretative phenomenology analysis, case study methodology, and thematic analysis. Participating PTOCs’ students, especially the culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms, will benefit from this project by receiving increased opportunities to learn mathematics in ways that bolster their STEM identities. The project will fill a gap in the research literature by: (1) increasing the knowledge on the mathematics teacher preparation of PTOCs; (2) centering the voices and experiences of PTOCs and mathematics teacher educators of color in a cross-racial and cross-cultural project; and (3) bringing unique perspectives to the design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of findings about both our own experiences and those of PTOCs, as a PI team composed entirely of MTECs. By attaining a deeper understanding of PTOCs’ mathematics learning experiences, we advance racial equity by exposing racist teaching practices that disadvantage historically marginalized students and identifying changes in teacher education that will identify and address practices that obstruct racial equity in STEM.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EHR Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering,  and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of  supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the  collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program contributed to the funding of this project.    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.",TRUE
2334679,DESIGN: Driving Culture Change in a Federation of Biological Societies via Cohort-Based Early-Career Leaders,2025-04-18,Federation of Amer Societies For Exper Biology,ROCKVILLE,MD,MD08,499568,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334679,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334679_4900,2024-04-01,2026-03-31,208529839,CLHCSTHHSX25,"Scientific societies can play a major role in creating a professional culture that is welcoming to individual researchers who are from groups historically excluded from science. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) is an association of 26 member societies in the biological sciences and will use its resources and connections to drive this culture change to benefit diverse early-career researchers. A federated approach across multiple societies is valuable to expanding the reach of the project, allowing FASEB to affect culture change on a larger scale in biology through its member societies. In this project, FASEB will analyze and define barriers to inclusivity in the entrenched culture and identify mechanisms to overcome these barriers. In addition, the project will provide mentorship, support, and leadership training to cohorts of early-career researchers from historically excluded populations and assist them in engaging in society roles. Through this mechanism of increased involvement, leadership, and recognition of their efforts, participants will develop a sense of belonging and grow to serve as change agents as they develop as leaders in their home societies. With new cohorts forming annually, this culture change impact will continue to grow over the years.    This project aims to change the current culture of biological societies that negatively affects diverse early-career researchers. The cultural focus is on active participation in society activities; the ability to enter society leadership positions; and invitations into cultural norms needed for retention in a research career, such as networking, collaborative grant applications, publications, and conference attendance. The project objectives are to (1) document the current baseline related to current policies and practices and recommendations to promote inclusion from FASEB’s member societies; (2) pilot a cohort-based project for early-career researchers that provides mentorship, support, and leadership training and demonstrates increased engagement in societies, sense of belonging, and ability to serve as a change agent; and (3) create an infrastructure for change through identified strategies, resource sharing across member societies, and outreach. Strategies to address barriers will serve as the foundation for future support to be shared across societies and will provide a framework for the participants to act as change agents. Evaluation data from the pilot implementation will provide preliminary evidence of the effectiveness of initiating culture change through mentoring, leadership training, and virtual community support. Project data will examine the effectiveness of propagating resources and change strategies through multiple societies using a federated approach.    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.",TRUE
2505222,Developing Champions of Diversity with Appreciative Inquiry and Computational Simulation (CHAMPIONS),2025-04-18,The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,EDINBURG,TX,TX15,280566,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2505222,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2505222_4900,2024-11-01,2026-07-31,785392909,L3ATVUT2KNK7,"The CHAMPIONS (Developing Champions of Diversity with Appreciative Inquiry and Computational Simulation) project aims to address the persistent lack of diversity in the geosciences field by taking a unique and inclusive approach. By embracing the principles of belonging, accessibility, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (BAJEDI), this project seeks to empower geosciences faculty to become catalysts for change within their departments. The significance of this project lies in its bottom-up approach, which emphasizes compassion, empathy, and the lived experiences of individual faculty members. By creating a positive and inclusive environment that values diverse viewpoints and experiences, the project aims to foster a sense of empowerment for underrepresented minority (URM) faculty, enabling them to lead from within and drive sustained progress in broadening participation outcomes.    The CHAMPIONS project will be implemented through a three-step process. 1) Convene an appreciative inquiry summit that engages geosciences faculty in identifying challenges and desired BAJEDI outcomes within their departments. This qualitative approach allows for a comprehensive understanding of the specific obstacles and opportunities that exist in each unique context. 2) Develop a computational simulation model that will be informed by the data collected from the summit. The model will simulate the long-term impacts of bottom-up interventions on BAJEDI outcomes in the geosciences. 3) Deploy the model to serve as a decision-making tool, training faculty in systemic and long-term thinking when addressing BAJEDI issues. By enabling faculty to visualize the potential effects of their interventions, the project aims to foster intentional and effective strategies.    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.",FALSE
2148705,Collaborative Research: Enhancing MPOWIR to Build a Diverse and Inclusive Oceanography Workforce,2025-04-18,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,147021,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Ocean Sciences,PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148705,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148705_4900,2022-04-01,2026-03-31,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"MPOWIR (Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention) is a community-led program aimed at providing mentoring to junior women and other marginalized and underrepresented genders (herein referred to women+) in physical oceanography to improve their retention in the field. Since its inception in 2007, MPOWIR has made substantial contributions to decreasing the attrition of women+ physical oceanographers. However, MPOWIR’s work is far from being done. Shifting demographics, the impact of COVID-19 on the careers of women+, and longstanding structural inequities remain challenges to retention. This project would sustain and enhance MPOWIR for another 4 years. It seeks to improve retention through a series of interrelated objectives that include: (1) providing continuity of mentoring from a woman’s+ career transition from graduate school to postdoctoral years to the early years of her permanent job, (2) providing mentorship training to MPOWIR participants, (3) fostering a sense of community in physical oceanography, (4) broadening participation in MPOWIR by providing training and professional development opportunities to all those who self-identify as physical oceanographers, and (5) engaging a cross-section of stakeholders to develop a shared vision for the next decade of MPOWIR. To meet the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, MPOWIR aims to enhance its design by incorporating a few new initiatives to provide additional professional development opportunities and support to the community of mentors and peers that MPOWIR has helped build over the past 16 years, and lead to improvement in the overall culture of the physical oceanography community.    Specifically, this funding supports the following MPOWIR activities:  1. Pattullo Conference held biannually, brings ~25 junior women+ physical oceanographers together with 12 senior physical oceanographers of all genders for a 2.5 day meeting focused on discipline-based mentoring.  2. Mentoring groups of ~6 junior and 2 senior women+ physical oceanographers meet for a monthly teleconference, for the purpose of confidential, personalized mentoring.  3. MPOWIR website serves as a repository of resources for mentoring and physical oceanography careers.  4. MPOWIR webinars and virtual discussions held semi-annually, focus on topics of particular interest to those in the early stages of a physical oceanographer’s first position, provide continued support for previous participants, expand gender neutral participation, and connect to the broader scientific community.  5. Townhalls held at large conferences, such as the Ocean Sciences Meeting, provide a forum for dissemination of information and communication with the whole oceanographic community.  6. Databases and surveys are conducted to assess the effectiveness of MPOWIR activities, determine community mentoring needs, and evaluate progress in retention.  7. NEW - Mentorship training for mentors and mentees who participate in MPOWIR.  8. NEW - Virtual Professional Development Conference held in the intervening years between Pattullo conferences with the aim of broadening participation, expanding training, and networking opportunities.  9. NEW - External program evaluation and strategic planning to assess the impact of MPOWIR and establish a shared vision with the oceanographic community for the next decade of the program.    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.",TRUE
2428058,Collaborative Research: ATD: Hawkes Process-Based Causal Relationship Discovery For Complex Threat Detection and Forecasting,2025-04-18,University of California-San Diego,LA JOLLA,CA,CA50,44630,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,ATD-Algorithms for Threat Dete,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2428058,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2428058_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,920930021,UYTTZT6G9DT1,"This project develops novel causality-guided approaches for reliable threat detection and forecasting in complex event streams. Understanding causality is crucial because it allows us to identify the true drivers behind anomalies and pinpoint critical events that will significantly impact future event streams. For instance, to swiftly adapt to extreme climate shifts, it is essential to detect unusual earth movements or severe weather patterns that causally induce these shifts. Recognizing these causal relationships enables the implementation of preemptive countermeasures and enhances long-term forecasting. Similarly, in the context of information hazards, identifying latent patterns in social media posts that causally drive the spread of misinformation is vital. Understanding these causal drivers allows for quicker assessment and recognition of future threats, making it possible to take timely and effective action to ensure public safety. Moreover, the benefits of such methods extend far beyond security applications. They can unlock mechanistic insights into scientific event streams like neural activities, enriching the collection of techniques for scientific discovery.    This project opens new lines of research, expanding the domain and scope of algorithmic threat detection. Specifically, it focuses on three key research topics: (1) causal inference for observed event streams with latent confounders and nonstationarity, (2) causal representation learning for latent event streams, and (3) causal anomaly detection and long-term forecasting. Leveraging the Hawkes process model—a self-exciting point process model—the investigators will establish a formal framework to determine when and how causal links can be inferred from partially observed and potentially non-stationary event sequences. The identified causal relationships will enable comprehensive situational awareness while pinpointing anomalies and providing long-term forecasts. The mathematical theory, algorithms, and software produced through this research will be transformational. This project aims to establish a foundational understanding of causality for algorithmic threat detection, provide principled algorithms for analyzing complex event streams, and broaden the application of these methods to diverse social and scientific domains.    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.",FALSE
2314433,"Collaborative Research: Electoral Systems, Suburbanization, and Representation",2025-04-18,Washington University,SAINT LOUIS,MO,MO01,324762,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AIB-Acctble Institutions&Behav,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314433,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314433_4900,2023-08-01,2025-07-31,631304862,L6NFUM28LQM5,"One traditional solution to electoral concerns about constituent representation in local government is to abolish large multi-member districts and create smaller, single-winner electoral districts, some of which are designed to encompass minority neighborhoods. While this traditional remedy might help under some conditions, there is a strong possibility that it may not work as well in rapidly changing metro areas. Such areas are common, as residents migrate to and from city centers and suburban neighborhoods. Some suburban areas have become heterogeneous, while others have become homogeneous. In such contexts, because of the nature of candidate recruitment, the traditional remedy of creating smaller/single-winner districts could backfire and limit the effectiveness of potential remedy for identified representational concern. This study explores the conditions under which minority representation can be achieved in the context of ongoing suburbanization and gentrification. The study will also make a wealth of fine-grained data available to researchers and members of the public through a user-friendly web interface.       The study explores the conditions under which descriptive and substantive representation can be achieved in the context of ongoing suburbanization and gentrification, paying special attention to two of the most important electoral systems used for local governance: multi-seat at-large and single-member district plurality.  Specifically, the project will include a large-scale data collection effort combining population demographics, candidate characteristics, institutional structure, and policy outcomes for 88 municipalities and 22 school districts from 1970 to the present. The project team will conduct representative surveys of voters, elected officials, and past candidates. Data will be analyzed to identify the conditions under which minorities run for local office and are successful as well as the conditions under which descriptive representation leads to substantive representation. As time-honored tools for protecting minority voting rights and representation are being invalidated by courts, these data will provide crucial evidence regarding new reform efforts relevant to many urban areas around the country.    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.",TRUE
2208797,Broadening Participation in the CyberCorps(R) Scholarship for Service Program,2025-04-18,Northeastern University,BOSTON,MA,MA07,1601827,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,CYBERCORPS: SCHLAR FOR SER,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2208797,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2208797_4900,2022-07-15,2025-04-18,021155005,HLTMVS2JZBS6,"Despite the high demand for cybersecurity professionals, progress in recruiting members of populations historically underrepresented in the computing field has been limited. In order to meet this demand and ensure a robust cybersecurity workforce, a more inclusive and diverse workforce is needed. This project aims to address this need and serve the national interest by broadening participation in the NSF’s CyberCorps® Scholarship for Service (SFS) program. Northeastern University’s Center for Inclusive Computing (CIC) will work with SFS institutions to build inclusive environments and increase the representation of students of all races, ethnicities, and genders earning cybersecurity graduate degrees. Specifically, CIC will empower SFS institutions to build bridge programs that connect graduate degree-seeking individuals from populations, who have been historically underrepresented in computing, to advanced degrees in cybersecurity. Such bridge programs will enable the participation of individuals, who may have their undergraduate degrees in subject areas other than computing, to pursue higher education in cybersecurity at SFS project sites. Creating a path for a demographically and socio-economically broader population to access cybersecurity graduate degree programs is critical to strengthening and diversifying the cybersecurity workforce. Over a three-year period, the CIC will work with two cohorts of up to eight SFS institutions (i.e., for a potential total of 16 institutions) to identify and implement strategies that have been shown effective in attracting, retaining, and graduating students who identify as women, Black, African American, Latino(a), Hispanic or Indigenous.     The CIC was created in 2019 as a national effort to increase the representation of women of all races and ethnicities in computing. In addition to supporting institutions financially, the CIC provides program management, technical consulting, data collection, and visualization services. The objectives of this project are to leverage CIC's experience with increasing the participation of women in computing and apply it more broadly to increase the diversity and number of all students participating in SFS projects, with particular attention to those seeking graduate degrees. To achieve these objectives, the CIC will issue a call for proposals to all SFS institutions interested in and committed to building a bridge program. For selected institutions, the project team will conduct in-person site visits involving current students and SFS scholars, cyber faculty, advisors, teaching assistants, and the relevant chair(s), dean(s), or provost(s). The project team will develop a summary report to share with the institution and NSF. The report will summarize findings and recommendations on the interventions the CIC believes will lead to a meaningful change in demographic diversity. The CIC will also support the implementation of selected institutions over a two-year period, providing coaching and support and connecting institutions with consultants with deep expertise in related areas. Consultants’ areas of expertise will include but not be limited to recruiting, marketing, student mentoring and support, relevant industry engagement, and curriculum development.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2222452,Collaborative Research: The Dynamics of Cross-Gender Interracial Interactions,2025-04-18,CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice,NEW YORK,NY,NY12,221000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222452,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222452_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,100191007,NGK8GHNABTB8,"As the United States becomes more diverse, the opportunities for interracial interactions — contact between people from different racial and ethnic groups — has subsequently increased. Positive interracial contact is associated with many societal benefits including reductions in prejudice and discrimination. Extensive work demonstrates, however, that interracial, compared to same-race, interactions are stressful, in part, because they increase the likelihood of experiencing social identity threat — being devalued based on one’s social group membership. Recent research suggests that people’s experiences during interracial interactions are further shaped by the gender of one’s interaction partner. To have a more complete understanding of interracial interactions and to develop interventions that foster positive interracial interactions, it is important to understand how gender and racial/ethnic background together shape people’s experiences in these interactions. This project forwards and evaluates a novel, theoretically based model of the effects of cross-gender interracial interactions on people’s experiences in these interactions. To move us closer to a potential intervention, we also examine whether the specific types of goals that people bring into an interracial interaction influences participants’ interaction experiences.     This project uses an experimental approach to examine the effects of cross-gender interracial interactions on people’s affect, cognition, and behavior. In particular, we will test whether participants’ gender and race/ethnicity in addition to an interaction partner’s gender and race/ethnicity together shape people’s experiences in these interactions. The research also investigates whether an interaction partner's goals for the interaction (learning or performance goals) influences people’s interaction experiences. It is hypothesized that people will report more negative experiences in cross-gender relative to gender-matched interracial interactions; however, people’s negative interaction experiences will be attenuated when their partner adopts a learning goal prior to the interaction. This research is poised to offer novel insights about how to promote comfortable and rewarding experiences in all interracial interactions.    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.",TRUE
2148704,Collaborative Research: Enhancing MPOWIR to Build a Diverse and Inclusive Oceanography Workforce,2025-04-18,University of Rhode Island,KINGSTON,RI,RI02,579183,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Ocean Sciences,PHYSICAL OCEANOGRAPHY,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148704,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148704_4900,2022-04-01,2026-03-31,028811974,CJDNG9D14MW7,"MPOWIR (Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention) is a community-led program aimed at providing mentoring to junior women and other marginalized and underrepresented genders (herein referred to women+) in physical oceanography to improve their retention in the field. Since its inception in 2007, MPOWIR has made substantial contributions to decreasing the attrition of women+ physical oceanographers. However, MPOWIR’s work is far from being done. Shifting demographics, the impact of COVID-19 on the careers of women+, and longstanding structural inequities remain challenges to retention. This project would sustain and enhance MPOWIR for another 4 years. It seeks to improve retention through a series of interrelated objectives that include: (1) providing continuity of mentoring from a woman’s+ career transition from graduate school to postdoctoral years to the early years of her permanent job, (2) providing mentorship training to MPOWIR participants, (3) fostering a sense of community in physical oceanography, (4) broadening participation in MPOWIR by providing training and professional development opportunities to all those who self-identify as physical oceanographers, and (5) engaging a cross-section of stakeholders to develop a shared vision for the next decade of MPOWIR. To meet the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, MPOWIR aims to enhance its design by incorporating a few new initiatives to provide additional professional development opportunities and support to the community of mentors and peers that MPOWIR has helped build over the past 16 years, and lead to improvement in the overall culture of the physical oceanography community.    Specifically, this funding supports the following MPOWIR activities:  1. Pattullo Conference held biannually, brings ~25 junior women+ physical oceanographers together with 12 senior physical oceanographers of all genders for a 2.5 day meeting focused on discipline-based mentoring.  2. Mentoring groups of ~6 junior and 2 senior women+ physical oceanographers meet for a monthly teleconference, for the purpose of confidential, personalized mentoring.  3. MPOWIR website serves as a repository of resources for mentoring and physical oceanography careers.  4. MPOWIR webinars and virtual discussions held semi-annually, focus on topics of particular interest to those in the early stages of a physical oceanographer’s first position, provide continued support for previous participants, expand gender neutral participation, and connect to the broader scientific community.  5. Townhalls held at large conferences, such as the Ocean Sciences Meeting, provide a forum for dissemination of information and communication with the whole oceanographic community.  6. Databases and surveys are conducted to assess the effectiveness of MPOWIR activities, determine community mentoring needs, and evaluate progress in retention.  7. NEW - Mentorship training for mentors and mentees who participate in MPOWIR.  8. NEW - Virtual Professional Development Conference held in the intervening years between Pattullo conferences with the aim of broadening participation, expanding training, and networking opportunities.  9. NEW - External program evaluation and strategic planning to assess the impact of MPOWIR and establish a shared vision with the oceanographic community for the next decade of the program.    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.",TRUE
2214387,Collaborative Research: Variables Influencing the Efficacy of Civilian Oversight Commissions,2025-04-18,Emory University,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,135695,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cultural Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214387,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214387_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,303221061,S352L5PJLMP8,"In response to the present conflicts surrounding policing, local and national organizations and policy makers have called for increasing civilian oversight and supervision of police departments as one approach to improving police-community relations. Civilian oversight commissions are locally constructed, making it difficult to effectively assess the impact of these commissions on a broader scale. This project is centered in three counties across the US to ask: what factors shape local oversight practices, and what can we learn from these different entities that can be used to effectively assess outcomes across diverse commissions? Selecting sites with distinctive racial dynamics and varying structures of civilian-led police oversight commissions, this project focuses on the varied histories, forms, practices, and successes and failures of civilian oversight. Investigators and student researchers analyze the variations in discourses and practices to understand the specific implementations of civilian oversight of police and to gauge the potential value of civilian oversight commissions on a broader scale. This project will train graduate and undergraduate students in quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.    The project uses team-based multi-sited ethnography to study and analyze locally specific features of oversight commissions including their institutional structures, histories, and institutional dynamics. This project develops methods to offer comparative insights into the ways in which oversight commissions operate, with particular attention to what demographic variables are predictive of participation. Tracking the issues that oversight committees engage, researchers will develop theories of the forms through which commissions address community relations and policing. The mere establishment of civilian oversight may be a first step toward a public democratic forum, but this study explores civilian oversight commissions as an institution that can survey possible avenues of accountability and reform, while simultaneously reinscribing the power and influence of policing.    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.",TRUE
2222427,Interdisciplinary Research on New Immigration and Curricula Development,2025-04-18,Spelman College,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,231736,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222427,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222427_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,303144399,ES69D58DJPE7,"Social studies classrooms play a critical role in teaching students about countries outside of their home country, and yet there is very little comprehensive information on what and how students learn about the home countries of new immigrants. This project investigates how lessons about the home countries and regions of new immigrants are taught to students in the country that receives these new immigrants. The PIs use a city with a rich history of both immigration and civil rights activism to situate their case study that examines the sociological and anthropological implications of incorporating lessons about new immigrants' home countries into pedagogical practices of  the classroom. Additionally, the project will investigate the impact of an interdisciplinary methods workshop at four historical black colleges/universities (HBCUs) that will bring researchers from across the country to collaborate and exchange methodological innovations.    This research uses interdisciplinary methods to assess the following: 1) how lessons on the home countries and regions of new immigrants are designed and articulated in the middle school curricula of the country that receives these new immigrants; 2) how teachers actually present this material in their middle school classrooms; 3) how students are receive lessons on these countries and regions; and 4) the impact of an interdisciplinary workshop on undergraduate students at three minority-serving institutions. Both qualitative and quantitative methods, including interviews, surveys, and ethnography, will be used to address these research questions. This project will advance knowledge in the fields of sociology, anthropology, and education. It will also provide research training and scientific publishing opportunities for underrepresented students at an all-women's MSI and foster interdisciplinary collaborations among faculty at three other MSIs. The research will contribute to broader national conversations on inclusion and curricula, and will be disseminated nationally through the development of curricular materials.    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.",TRUE
2146984,Collaborative Research: Using Causal Explanations and Computation to Understand Misplaced Beliefs,2025-04-18,Stevens Institute of Technology,HOBOKEN,NJ,NJ08,206682,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2146984,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2146984_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,070305906,JJ6CN5Y5A2R5,"Causal explanations provide answers to why an event happened. Beliefs in causal explanations (for example, investing in new technologies will cause your available money for retirement to increase) guide which behaviors to engage in for the future (e.g., invest in crypto-currency). But people can – and often do – believe causal explanations of the world that are wrong. Understanding what in the nature of an incorrect causal explanation makes it believable is critically important for teaching people to reject incorrect explanations of events. In this work, the PIs investigate what makes incorrect causal explanations of events appealing to people and what encourages the adoption of these misplaced beliefs. Holding incorrect causal explanations can have critically damaging effects, such as people pursuing health treatments that are ineffective or investing in financial strategies that do not pay out. It is therefore important to better understand what makes incorrect causal explanations appealing so strategies can be deployed to counteract their adoption. In the work, the PIs conduct a series of studies to provide a strong understanding of what in the nature of a causal explanation makes it appealing. Across studies, the PIs explore many different causal elements of explanations. Using their results, the PIs then make a preliminary attempt to reduce endorsement of incorrect causal explanations. This research has a broader impact on science by involving students in research that has a strong translational component. Such research helps students connect science to the real-world, growing their interest in science and critical thinking at large. Additionally, the proposed work will have broader impacts on science literacy by isolating what in scientific explanations may make them more or less likely to be believed.     The PIs use psychological methods from the causal explanation literature to study perceptions of a wide range of misplaced and incorrect causal explanations. These methods include having people read explanations and rate how compelling, satisfying, and believable the explanations are. In addition, participants in these studies make judgments about the causal structure of the explanations, such as how many causal factors the explanations include, how complex the explanations are, and how many events the explanations can explain. The PIs use large samples of online participants to ensure that people with many different beliefs are being included in the studies. In each study, the PIs have participants rate incorrect causal explanations (e.g., “eating sugar is the main cause of type 2 diabetes”) as well as fact-based causal explanations of the same events (e.g., “type 2 diabetes has multiple causes, including being overweight and having a genetic predisposition”). This comparison allows for isolation of what is unique about misplaced explanations. Using machine learning, the researchers investigate the degree to which there are characteristic structures of factual and misinformation explanations, beyond how they are perceived (e.g., the complexity of causal structure), which may allow for more automatic differentiation between these explanation types. Finally, the PIs use their findings to create a set of behavioral studies where they alter how explanations are presented to explore the degree to which presentation impacts endorsement of the explanations. Specifically, the PIs create new causal explanations that manipulate the causal elements that were most predictive of endorsement for incorrect causal beliefs in earlier experiments (e.g., complexity, number of causal factors). The goal is to see if by changing these important causal elements, endorsement of incorrect beliefs can be reduced. Through these studies we can learn more generally how to prevent the uptake of incorrect information in favor of fact-based explanations.    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.",FALSE
2201904,From Black Boys to Men in a Multiyear STEM Education Intervention and Mixed Methods Research Project,2025-04-18,Bowie State University,BOWIE,MD,MD05,3163527,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Advanced Tech Education Prog,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201904,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201904_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,207159465,WMEEHCAPGR65,"Conceptualizing a community-based model that enhances the recruitment, engagement, and transition to STEM teaching roles for Black male students while retaining and advancing Black male teachers is critical to addressing their significant and historically disproportionate representation in teaching careers. The project explores systemic barriers that dissuade Black male students from pursuing STEM majors and takes a strength-focused approach to fostering a critical mass of Black male STEM teachers. This project will advance foundational knowledge by developing conceptual and methodological frameworks that interrogate the systemic barriers in the STEM teacher staffing challenge, while expanding the possibilities of motivating Black boys and men in STEM fields. This project leverages the work of authentic partnerships between academic institutions (Prince George's County Public Schools, Prince George’s County Community College and Bowie State University) and their various industry and community partners to increase the number of Black boys and men in postsecondary schools and professional settings. This applied study has the potential to impact how school systems, community colleges, and four-year universities work together to develop tiered approaches to recruiting and retain Black boys and men in STEM education.    Through mixed methods designs, this project investigates Black male students’ STEM pathways from middle school to the STEM teaching profession through various programmatic efforts. Efforts include community-centered outreach, early clinical teaching experiences for undergraduate students, and professional development for participating STEM teachers and mentors. This multi-institutional engages Black boys and men in STEM from across the career path continuum, attends to many gaps in the research literature pertaining to racialized experiences of Black boys and men in STEM education, specifically: 1) how systemic racism impacts their recruitment, development, attrition, retention and advancement; and 2) how Black male students’ individual and collective racialized experiences in a STEM education program should inform evidence-based strategies for recruiting Black middle school boys to become STEM teachers. Further, it sheds light on the impact of Black men mentors of Black male students on STEM education and career pathways.     This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2141326,SBP: Collaborative Research: The impact of naturally occurring and experimentally manipulated interracial contact on social cognition,2025-04-18,University of Delaware,NEWARK,DE,DE00,420931,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141326,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2141326_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,197131324,T72NHKM259N3,"Persistent racial tension in the US has led to renewed interest in reducing prejudice along racial lines. A prominent paradigm to address racial bias has been to create opportunities for people of different races to have contact with each other. Interracial contact can be an efficient intervention, but it is unlikely to work as intended without a firm understanding of the exact conditions that reduce racial bias. How deep must contact be? Is it sufficient for people in one group to merely see those of other groups, without any effort to recognize each person (i.e., mere exposure)? Is it necessary to see individuals frequently enough to recognize them without knowing anything else about them (i.e., perceptual individuation)? Or is it essential to interact with someone enough to acquire personal information about them (i.e., knowledge-based individuation)? This project provides a rigorous analysis of these three forms of interracial contact to test whether the extent of contact – while holding constant positivity of contact – can influence peoples' perceptions and evaluations of others, which can have downstream consequences for reducing racial prejudice.    The primary aim of this project is to examine how different forms of contact shape racial bias on visual perception of faces, spontaneous judgments, evaluations, and beliefs. Study 1 tests how naturally occurring experiences of interracial contact over a lifetime account for the categorization and evaluation of racial information and for beliefs about other racial groups. Study 2 examines the same categorizations, evaluations, and beliefs, while experimentally manipulating the type of exposure to others. Study 3 utilizes pupillometry and eye-tracking methods to indicate the salience of others' faces after having different forms of contact. Together these studies stand to transform our understanding of whether, how, and why interracial contact could be an effective way to reduce racial prejudice.    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.",TRUE
2224247,Collaborative Research: Promoting Equity in Early Mathematics Education for Latinx Children in Head Start Programs,2025-04-18,TERC Inc,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,969616,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224247,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224247_4900,2023-05-15,2025-04-18,021401339,GSLCJ3M62XX1,"Mathematics learning in early childhood lays a foundation for ongoing engagement with math and STEM, supports development across a variety of other domains like reading, and is an important predictor of long-term academic achievement. Given the importance of early math, researchers and educators have created a variety of classroom-focused resources to support mathematical learning, thinking, and skill development. However, many of these resources do not take into account the important roles that parents, and the home learning environment play in supporting math learning and engagement. Current efforts also do not go far enough in countering deficit perspectives on families and moving beyond engagement strategies and activity structures based primarily on cultural models of learning from White, monolingual, middle- and upper-class communities. To achieve a new vision of equitable math learning in early childhood, it is important to disrupt power hierarchies between minoritized families and schools and reposition parents as central to children’s mathematics learning. Educators and researchers must also reconceptualize traditional ideas about math that are rooted in histories of marginalization and discrimination.    To advance approaches for addressing these systemic barriers, the project, Viviendo Matematicas, will conduct an equity-informed design-based implementation research (DBIR) study with the goal of developing a potentially transformative model for collaborating with Latinx families and early childhood educators to shape a more equitable vision of mathematics education in the preschool years.  Partnering with Head Start educators in Portland, OR, and New York, NY and Latinx parents with preschool-age children (3–5 years) who are Head Start eligible based on the  household's lower income, the project will extend prior equity work by using dialogic and asset-based approaches to amplify existing math knowledge and practices within families, broaden our collective understanding and appreciation of mathematics inside and outside the classroom, and identify design principles for parent educator collaborations that can be shared with other communities. Through the iterative, community-based design process, the project will deliver: (a) a strength-based framework describing Latinx early childhood math practices, (b) a program model and associated resources for supporting parent-educator math dialogue groups, and (c) design principles and theoretical frameworks underlying the dialogue program and how it supports a more equitable vision of math learning. By reorganizing traditional relationships between parents and school, the project seeks to empower Latinx parents and families as equal partners and advocates for their children’s education, as well as support the creation of sustainable resources for Head Start programs in our communities that align with families’ goals and values.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2318513,Participatory Water Science and Resistance to Extractivism,2025-04-18,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,364409,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318513,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318513_4900,2023-10-01,2026-09-30,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"Indigenous environmental justice (EJ) movements increasingly use citizen science (CS) for environmental monitoring. This project examines how as part of CS, EJ movements strategically incorporate water science to produce new knowledge, and whether and how the incorporation of water science shapes the outlooks and capacities of Indigenous water defenders to address potential threats to Indigenous communities’ health, livelihoods, and territories.    This participatory project is a collaboration between a political anthropologist, a biosystems engineer, an environmental chemist, a medical geographer, Indigenous community organizations and governments and allied-NGOs, as well as community scientists. Interviews will be conducted to examine how Indigenous EJ movements use water science to not only address development, but to also shape the knowledge, ethics, and skills of movement participants. The project supports community access to water science and environmental mapping, develops a collaborative methodology for training community scientists, provides substantial graduate student training, organizes local meetings and conferences, and shares findings with environmentalists, academics, professionals, government agencies, and international audiences.    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.",TRUE
2407056,"Compounded Disadvantage: Race, Criminal Record, and Access to Justice in Immigration Courts",2025-04-18,Duke University,DURHAM,NC,NC04,195766,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Law & Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2407056,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2407056_4900,2023-12-01,2025-06-30,277054640,TP7EK8DZV6N5,"For immigrants, even minor and relatively routine interactions with law enforcement—such as a traffic stop—can dramatically increase the chances of detention and deportation.  This is true even for lawful permanent residents and those with deep social ties to the United States.  Detention and deportation are widely recognized as devastating life events with enduring negative consequences not only for the individuals, but also for their families and surrounding communities.  Yet because there is no right to government-appointed counsel for immigrants in removal proceedings, most immigrants lack legal representation.  As a result, immigrants in removal proceedings are one of the most vulnerable, yet least legally protected groups in our justice system.  This project investigates how these immigrants fare in our immigration court system once they enter the immigration adjudication process.  Such an investigation is critical to developing policies that promote a more fair and equitable justice system that ensures access to justice for all individuals in the United States.    This project will address three key questions.  First, are there racial/ethnic disparities in case outcomes in removal proceedings for immigrants with criminal history?  Second, what is the role of judicial bias in generating racial and ethnic disparities in these case outcomes?  Third, are immigrants of color less likely to have legal representation in these proceedings, and are the benefits of legal representation smaller for them even when they are represented?  To address these questions, this project will collect and analyze several major datasets on immigration court cases and immigration judges in the United States.  This unique dataset will widely expand the study of immigration adjudication across multiple disciplines including law, public policy, sociology, political science, criminology, and other related fields.  In addition, findings from this research will generate new insights about how racial disparities across multiple legal institutions can have mutually reinforcing effects that generate compounded disadvantage for marginalized communities.    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.",TRUE
2336806,"CAREER: Thriving in Context: Bridging Academic, Social, and Psychological Wellbeing among Black College Women to Increase STEM Retention (Broadening Participation and Persistence)",2025-04-18,Washington University,SAINT LOUIS,MO,MO01,384031,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336806,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2336806_4900,2023-10-01,2026-08-31,631304862,L6NFUM28LQM5,"Academic motivation has received more attention regarding Black women’s STEM retention. Yet, psychosocial processes, particularly those tied to discrimination, are crucial to understanding how Black women navigate university contexts. What is less clear is under what conditions and in what ways, individual factors and institutional resources, operate as protective factors for Black women’s STEM retention. How might attention to social and psychological phenomenon shed light on academic motivation and STEM retention among Black women? The present CAREER proposal draws on an integrated program of research and education to: (1) focus specifically on how, in addition to academic ability, social and psychological wellbeing are largely neglected, but powerful influences on Black women’s STEM retention; (2) investigate key moderators of the relationships between Black women’s perceptions of institutional climate and STEM persistence; and (3) explore how Black women cultivate networks of personal and institutional support to offset identity-based marginalization and thrive. This work was supported by the Developmental Sciences program and the Education and Human Resources Core Research program.    The project includes two phases of research and an educational plan that will benefit a range of stakeholders, including educators, scholars, and community organizations. The first phrase involves mixed methodological data collection with annual surveys and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Black undergraduate women at two local institutions (PWI and HBCU) over a 4-year period. The second phase involves design-based research with administrators at both universities to develop a comprehensive set of practical resources for future cohorts of Black undergraduate women. The current study will expand developmental theories of college student adjustment to create a student thriving framework that examines individual and institutional-level factors as key aspects of STEM achievement and retention. In addition, the findings will inform institutional efforts on helping Black women thrive in STEM contexts, and use a multi-tiered approach with Black women STEM majors, faculty in STEM departments, and university leaders.    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.",TRUE
2306150,CAREER: GIVEN-Gaming Intervention of Values Engineers Need,2025-04-18,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,481935,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306150,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306150_4900,2022-10-01,2027-07-31,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"The field of engineering has realized marginal success in achieving diversity goals regardless of investments of money, research, and time. The GIVEN project will create a new efficient approach to training engineering faculty about diversity in STEM. An important outcome for the GIVEN project is to increase faculty engagement and expand diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts beyond faculty from underserved and marginalized groups. Engineering faculty, despite being aware of diversity issues, generally lack knowledge and have limited resources to intervene or make change to engage with DEI efforts. The GIVEN project is a foundation to provide engineering faculty with the needed resources to meaningfully engage with DEI concepts and could revolutionize DEI training and engineering faculty professional development. This project will measure engineering faculty beliefs about DEI with an online platform or gaming tool. The gaming tool will track the evolution of engineering faculty beliefs about diversity and the research team will assess the impact of the gaming tool with both surveys and individual interviews. This project will encourage engineering faculty to engage with campus diversity efforts through reflection of their role and provide information resources to develop personalized strategies to contribute to local DEI efforts. The GIVEN project will create a tool to evaluate the beliefs of engineering faculty who are charged with educating the next generation of engineering professionals. The project aligns with NSF Broadening participation funding program by developing an innovative method and project to significantly impact the recruitment and retention of engineering faculty. The project will also catalyze the transformation of the engineering culture to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion.    This mixed-methods multi-case study seeks to understand engineering faculty beliefs about DEI and develop a gaming intervention to catalyze their engagement with DEI efforts. The study is framed by basic values theory to answer the following research questions:    RQ1. What beliefs and values do engineering faculty hold about diversity, equity, and inclusion?   RQ2. How do faculty values and beliefs about DEI impact their approach to integrate DEI into their professional activities?  RQ3. How does the gaming intervention impact engineering faculty values and beliefs about DEI?    This proposal will initiate a national conversation about the role of engineering faculty in promoting diversity and inclusion. Specifically, the project will develop an online gaming tool that can provide asynchronous access to a DEI training instrument tailored for engineering faculty. The synergistic activities of research and teaching will provide a medium to introduce the DEI concepts into the engineering culture, curriculum, and classroom. The results of the study will increase the engineering faculty engagement with DEI efforts. Through their gaming and communities of practice (COP) interactions participants will develop a tailored individualized understanding of what it takes to implement DEI concepts into their faculty activities. Finally, the results of the study will update our understanding of strategic approaches for broadening participation and how faculty can effectively teach diverse students in STEM. The study will provide an exemplar for improving diversity and inclusion initiatives that various institution types can model.    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.",TRUE
2046045,Collaborative Research: Socialization Competencies and Youth Outcomes in Response to Racial Violence,2025-04-18,University of North Carolina Greensboro,GREENSBORO,NC,NC06,142035,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2046045,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2046045_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,274125068,C13DF16LC3H4,"Given the historical and persistent crisis of racial discrimination and violence enacted against Black communities in America, Black parents have unique considerations to prepare their children to cope with potential racial bias and discrimination in schools, neighborhoods, and community settings. Yet, there is less research on how parents' race-related experiences influence their competency in transmitting information to their children about processing and coping with widely publicized instances of racial discrimination and violence. This project will examine how Black parents perceive racially violent incidents in their immediate communities, their own interpersonal experiences with racial discrimination, their parenting practices around racial socialization, and the coping strategies parents use to impact their child’s academic and well-being outcomes. The findings will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the ways racial/ethnic minority families' navigate oppressive social contexts and support the positive development of their children.     Recent widely publicized incidents of police brutality highlight the intersecting systems of inequality, injustice, and racism in the United States, elucidating a need for research documenting how Black families process and respond to such events. This study is a longitudinal, mixed methodological investigation of Black families' vulnerability to or resilience against marginalization, focusing on parenting practices and adolescent developmental trajectories. The three-year project involves two phases of research with Black parents and adolescents: (1) annual survey data to examine the influence of parents' race-related experiences and racial socialization competencies on adolescent outcomes, and (2) in-depth qualitative analysis exploring parents’ perceptions of the factors that shape their parenting practices and racial socialization competencies. The findings will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how Black families navigate racially oppressive social contexts and shed light on family processes for racial/ethnic minorities in the U.S. more broadly.    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.",TRUE
2233702,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: C-COAST: Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation,2025-04-18,California State University-Long Beach Foundation,LONG BEACH,CA,CA42,31867,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233702,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233702_4900,2023-05-15,2027-04-30,908154670,P2TDH1JCJD31,"Coastal counties are more diverse than non-coastal counties; however, the culture and identities of those who study and manage estuaries and coasts do not reflect these communities. This mismatch diminishes the quality of science and management provided; many coastal professionals lack the lived experiences and knowledge to prioritize issues most impactful to people in coastal areas. Despite widespread recognition that increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is essential to sustaining the nation's capacity for innovation and discovery, there is a widening gap between the total number of marine science graduate degrees granted and degrees granted to those underrepresented in the field. Professional societies play a unique role in facilitating culture change within STEM disciplines by establishing and reinforcing norms and practices that advance greater diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA). They are also important avenues for training students and professionals in relevant skills and in developing networks necessary to progress in their careers. Culture change in professional societies scales up to impacts on members, their home institutions, and beyond. The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) will assist the next generation of coastal and estuarine biologists and related disciplines in navigating the current culture while simultaneously dismantling inequities at the root of low DEIJA in the disciplines through the Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation (C-COAST) program, which will provide professional development, mentoring, and networking to students and professionals at all career stages.    The C-COAST program will harness evidence-based strategies to mitigate inequities and shift culture in the coastal and estuarine sciences through two programs: Rising TIDES Conference Program (RTCP) and Leadership Development Program (LDP). The RTCP is geared towards recruiting and retaining a new generation of estuarine and coastal science professionals. It consists of a 16-month program that supports attendance at the CERF and two additional coastal and estuarine conferences, with virtual meetings in between. The program provides professional and near-peer mentors, training, and networking, in addition to the full suite of scientific conference offerings. The LDP will provide leadership and DEIJA training for current and future leaders by building a dynamic learning community that will prepare emerging leaders to become agents of change while helping current leaders use existing power to address systemic inequities. The goals of C-COAST, from short- to long-term, are to 1): recruit and retain diverse undergraduate and graduate students and provide them professional development, mentorship, and peer networks to support a sense of belonging and identity; 2) educate current leaders on how to be more inclusive and change policies and practices that lead to inequities; and 3) increase the leadership skills of and opportunities for future leaders and prepare them to make policies and practices of CERF and their home institutions more inclusive when they are elevated to positions of power.    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.",TRUE
2335236,"Collaborative Research: Design: Strengthening Inclusion by Change in Building Equity, Diversity and Understanding (SICBEDU) in Integrative Biology",2025-04-18,University of California - Merced,MERCED,CA,CA13,29017,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335236,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2335236_4900,2024-03-15,2026-02-28,953435001,FFM7VPAG8P92,"While scientific societies have tried to increase diversity through several outreach mechanisms, it has become abundantly clear that systemic changes that impact culture are required to effect true change within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This project will develop how the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), a professional scientific society that is inherently integrative and focused on early career scientists, can lead the way in such transformative cultural changes. To be effective in advancing the pursuit and dissemination of relevant and timely biological knowledge to the public, membership demographics in SICB should reflect that of society. The goal of SICB’s Strengthening Inclusion by Change in Building Equity, Diversity and Understanding (SICBEDU) program is to create a more welcoming and inclusive scientific society that will more organically grow the number of URGs within the membership of the society, helping to enhance their career opportunities as future researchers within SICB disciplines. SICB’s Broadening Participation (BP) Committee has laid the necessary foundation for the success of this culture changing SICBEDU effort. A preponderance of literature suggests that until URGs feel truly included and validated as scientists these increases in diversity are unlikely to lead to true cultural change within STEM fields.    SICBEDU plans to build a SICB IDEA community by providing Inclusive, Diversity, Equity, and Acceptance (IDEA) training to the executive committee, which includes division chairs, creating a leadership that engages the society's membership in developing a more equitable and inclusive scientific home for each member, especially those that are traditionally underrepresented. The proposed activities will train leadership such that they become role models for members and provide the necessary tools to implement IDEA. Additionally, SICBEDU will provide development activities centered around IDEA to enable future participation in leadership roles and build community within the society. SICBEDU further educates and guides current members by providing IDEA-based workshops plus important community-building activities. Workshops and integrative activities will be aimed at promoting dialogue among SICB members about the benefits of having a diverse society and working together to build a welcoming and inclusive community of integrative and comparative biologists. SICBEDU activities are invested in training scientists in pioneering ways that will enable future STEM scholars to lead the charge for integrating IDEA into this field of science. The short-term goal is to increase the IDEA knowledge base and support in the society by 10% a year, while the long-term goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive space that allows for creativity, sharing/exchanging ideas, and addresses difficult solutions in STEM amongst the diverse membership. SICBEDU activities provide an avenue that acknowledges complex societal problems and utilizes diverse opinions from different backgrounds to find innovative solutions.    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.",TRUE
2314101,Black Representation - Authoring STEM Stories for Climate Risk Preparedness,2025-04-18,Knology Ltd.,NEW YORK,NY,NY10,249995,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314101,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314101_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,100052738,F2M1YNYFKKL3,"Discussions of climate science have become more common in children's literature in recent years. Studies show that books and other media can teach children effective techniques for managing the risks they and their families face from floods, fires, excessive heat, and other weather-related disasters. However, Black voices and stories are rare within this literature, despite the fact that these disasters are more likely to impact areas home to communities of color. To address this imbalance, this conference project will bring together Black children's media creators with climate scientists and developmental psychologists to promote climate science story making that speak to the concerns, circumstances, and experiences of Black audiences. Expertise in the science of climate change and children's development will be captured in a podcast series that will be used to spark conversations and explorations for making children's stories during three hybrid convenings organized using a participant-driven (unconference) format. The intention for these convenings is to lay a foundation for the production of climate science children's media that supports the unique needs of Black families, helping them and their children prepare for and respond to a multitude of environmental threats.    This conference project is a collaboration between Knology, the Highlights Foundation, the National Black Child Development Institute, and the Association of Children's Museums. Across three, two-day unconferences, Black climate scientists, developmental psychologists, informal learning practitioners, authors, illustrators, and publishers will develop strategies for creating climate-related STEM content that are relevant to the lived and future experiences of Black families and children. Their deliberations will address four central questions: (1) What kinds of STEM-related knowledge should be incorporated into children's climate change literature? (2) What is known about existing methods for bringing discussions about climate risk preparedness into early learning spaces and places, and how applicable are these for popular media directed at Black communities, families, and children? (3) What visual and textual storytelling techniques are best suited to the task of centering Black presences in such a way that affirms Black life and nurtures Black children's relationships with the natural world? (4) How can children's literature serve as a vehicle for dismantling anti-Blackness in early environmental education? By working together before, during, and after the unconference convenings, participants will create and publish a suite of resources (including a library of research briefs, a podcast series, conference proceedings, reports, and a guidebook) to help Black media makers develop characters, plot arcs, and story outlines that Black families can use to talk with their children about climate science. The project's outputs will help support making children's media that is better suited to the experiences of Black families, and that contributes to a broader awareness of STEM careers among children of color. With a focus on centering equity and building climate resilience in communities that have been marginalized, this conference focuses on supporting children's media creators and draws attention to the significant role they hold in engaging young children and their families in dialogue on critical issues of climate change and the behaviors and mindsets towards adaptation, mitigation, and resilience.    This Conference project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2236814,Clarifying the Role of Inflammation in Social Prejudice,2025-04-18,University of Arkansas,FAYETTEVILLE,AR,AR03,199974,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236814,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2236814_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,727013124,MECEHTM8DB17,"A fact of social life is that people consider some individuals in their social environments to be members of their own group (the “ingroup”) and others to be members of other groups (the “outgroups”). Often, this categorization results in social biases, including prejudice and discrimination toward outgroups. People categorize others as outgroup members along such dimensions of human variability as gender, disability, race, ethnicity, or ancestry. Biases stemming from these categorizations may ultimately contribute to hate crimes and other negative forms of social interaction. Decades of theory development and research in the social and behavioral sciences have produced a good understanding of the individual differences and situational factors associated with heightened biases. Much less is known about neurobiological processes that may underlie such biases. This project investigates the role of immune system activity in how people process and respond to social information. An increase in immune system activity is common when people are ill or responding to threat. It is the body’s way of fighting infection. Yet, its consequences may extend far beyond the physiological, impacting the way people think and feel about others. One practical implication relates to the practice of “presenteeism” – the practice of working while sick. This is common in corporate and medical settings, and may adversely affect high-stakes decision making and evaluations of others.    This project combines social psychology with psychoneuroimmunology to examine how immune system activation may change the way people perceive others in their social environments. It focuses on social cognitive processes that may contribute to more negative evaluations of people from other cultural groups. An experimental approach is used to manipulate immune system activity as a result of a vaccine injection. Vaccines help develop immunity in the long-run. But within the first twenty-four hours people’s bodies respond to the vaccine with a general inflammatory response. It is hypothesized that this general inflammatory response will be associated with more social bias against people from cultural backgrounds other than one’s own. The research also tests specific social cognitive processes that may underpin this effect, such as greater ingroup favoritism and/or outgroup derogation, altered perception of who belongs to one’s ingroup versus the outgroup, greater likelihood of stereotype application, and increased heuristic processing. The project clarifies how an important biological process can lead to social prejudice, and helps to inform broader societal policies associated with sick leave.    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.",TRUE
2411644,Collaborative Research: Developing and Testing the Equity Departmental Action Team Model of Racial Equity Focused Departmental Change,2025-04-18,Tulane University,NEW ORLEANS,LA,LA01,62551,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Centers for Rsch Excell in S&T,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411644,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411644_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,701185665,XNY5ULPU8EN6,"Given the persistent challenge of racial inequity in STEM, there is a clear need for new models that spur and sustain racial equity change. Successful departmental team-based change efforts demonstrate that change can be created and sustained at the meso level of an institution (i.e., departments, centers, and units as the focus for change). This project will bring together experts in institutional change and experts in advancing racial equity with the goal of combining existing, well tested change models to produce a new, racial equity focused model of change in higher education—the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model. This model will focus on shifting departmental cultures in ways that benefit, and are grounded in the experiences of, those with historically marginalized racial and ethnic identities. This project will advance the scholarship of racial equity by developing, testing, and refining the EDAT model with STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution and disseminating the model through partnership with national higher education associations.    This project will take place in two major phases: 1) development of the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model, and 2) pilot of the EDAT model in STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution, the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver). The development of the new EDAT model will draw from existing change programs, including the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model and the Dialogues and Change Agent programs. It will integrate multiple theories from systems change, social justice change, social psychology change agency, and intergroup contact. Research activities will focus on both the process and impact of the EDAT model. The project will use surveys, focus groups, interviews, and participant journaling to explore the following research questions. RQ1: To what extent do Foundational Experiences prepare EDAT members for racial equity work?  RQ2: What strategies do EDATs deploy when engaging in racial equity work? RQ3: To what extent do EDATs integrate racial equity into departmental culture? Research and program evaluation will be conducted simultaneously with the EDAT implementation so the model can be iteratively refined throughout the project. Dissemination of the model will take place in collaboration with partners from the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities - Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2121898,MCA: Partnering Land and communities for equitable and inclusive STEM learning,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Idaho,MOSCOW,ID,ID01,227519,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121898,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121898_4900,2021-09-15,2025-04-18,838449803,QWYKRJH5NNJ3,"The goal of the project is to explore Land education pedagogy and its curriculum and pedagogical innovations in the preparation of Native and non-Native educators to engage Native and non-Native students in environmental STEM education on Indigenous lands. The investigator will implement a professional development plan focused on pedagogical innovations within various teacher education and environmental STEM learning programs to (a) understand the tools and technologies that can support these innovations and (b) develop new research methods for understanding the impact of these innovations on individuals, communities, and socio-ecological systems. The research  builds on the investigator’s prior inquiries on culturally connected identity and how technology can be used to deepen observation skills and communicate to broader audiences while not distracting from students’ engagement. The project will advance this knowledge and build new collaboration through network engagement.      The research project uses the Actor Network Theory and Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies to frame the research design and approach. There are four driving questions: (1) What affordances does Land education pedagogy offer in creating inclusive and epistemologically diverse STEM learning environments, building more equitable relationships to particular places and to socio-ecological systems, and impacting the diversity of the STEM workforce? (2) What tools and technologies can assist in sustaining long-term, mutually beneficial relationships to support the preparation of Native and non-Native educators who will engage in educational strategies that lead to diverse STEM workforce on indigenous lands? (3) What are the impacts of a Land education pedagogy on individual students’ sense of belonging and STEM identity, communities of educators’ approaches to STEM engagement, and the health of broader socio-ecological systems?  Data will be collected from K-12 and graduate students using autoethnographies, photovoice and symbol-based reflections, observations, and network mapping. Evidence will be analyzed using content and discourse analysis.  The research findings will inform programs that employ Land education pedagogy to shape more equitable and inclusive environmental STEM education for students and teachers and to increase STEM persistence among underrepresented populations.    The project is funded by the Mid-Career Advancement Program that enables scientists and engineers to substantively advance their research program and career trajectory.    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.",TRUE
2237867,CAREER: Centering the Engineering Identity of Black Men to Enhance Representation and Degree Completion,2025-04-18,University of Houston,HOUSTON,TX,TX18,282660,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EPE-Expanding Part. in Engring,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237867,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2237867_4900,2023-08-01,2028-07-31,772043067,QKWEF8XLMTT3,"This project seeks to strengthen the future U.S. engineering workforce by enabling and encouraging the participation of all citizens in the engineering enterprise, particularly Black men. According to the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) Engineering & Engineering Technology by the Numbers 2020 Report, Black men represented 2.8% of those who earned engineering bachelor's degrees. The lack of representation of Black men in engineering exemplifies the broader absence of voices from underserved populations whose knowledge, lived experiences, and perspectives hold the potential to address society's most complex issues. Through this project, the persistence and participation of Black men in engineering will be impacted. The goal of the education and research plan will be to uncover the engineering identity trajectories of Black men at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) over time. This will include developing a national virtual and face-to-face mentoring network that introduces Black male engineering majors to mentors in industry, government, and academia to form a cohort-styled community for emotional support, which will enhance their persistence and build their sense of belonging. Nearly 200 Black men enrolled in the College of Engineering at the University of Houston will be impacted over the duration of the project.    Based on the dearth of literature that has sought to elucidate the nuanced experiences of Black men in engineering, especially at HBCUs and HSIs, this work will employ a longitudinal, multi-method study design which will include Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis and photovoice to determine their engineering identities and to elucidate how those identities can be supported. Research questions include 1) How do Black male engineering undergraduate students come to identify themselves as engineers over time? 2) In what ways do Black male engineering undergraduate students in HSIs and HBCUs describe their engineering identities? 3) In what ways does a Black Male Engineering Mentoring Network support resiliency, engagement in communities of practice, building social capital, and engineering identity?; and  4) How can project-inspired engineering identity conversations facilitate practices that support positive and inclusive engineering identities? By centering the voices of Black men, through the integrated research and education plan, this work will inform the engineering education community about avenues for enhancing representation and degree completion for Black men. Dissemination of the project results through publications in open-access formats, posting on the project's Instagram page, and annual novel photovoice photo exhibit/symposium will impact thousands of stakeholders and offer tangible ways that institutions can support and retain Black men in engineering. In addition, the findings from this project will inform conversations around diversity and student support in engineering for a broader audience, including faculty, staff, students, industry partners, and the public.    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.",TRUE
2200323,ADVANCE Catalyst: Organizational Change for Gender Equity in STEM Academic Professions,2025-04-18,CSUB Auxiliary for Sponsored Programs Administration,Bakersfield,CA,CA20,299949,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200323,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200323_4900,2022-08-15,2025-07-31,933111022,VJQPUC5YLK87,"As the nation continues to focus on the importance and significance of diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators within higher education, many universities are taking a closer look at their hiring practices and their culture of equity and inclusion. Evidence suggests that a diverse STEM workforce is essential to the education of future scientists. Addressing systemic barriers to developing a diverse and supported STEM faculty, particularly for women and women of color, requires transformative change at all recruitment, promotion, and retention levels. In the interest of emphasizing a focus on intersectionality, we will refer to women, women of color, queer women, and women with intersectional marginalized identities in STEM fields as womxn faculty in STEM. Even though the number of womxn receiving doctorates in the sciences is increasing, research has shown that womxn in academia are less likely than men to be recruited, promoted, and retained in STEM departments. Womxn who become STEM faculty members in tenure-track positions are often promoted slower than men into leadership positions because of a variety of barriers in the workplace. Resistance to programs that attempt to correct gender bias and an inclination to devalue or dismiss research on the biases that womxn in STEM face continue to persist. This situation calls for a transformative approach to an institution's culture.     This project aims to increase female-identifying STEM faculty recruitment, hiring, promotion, and retention. This project aims to focus on three goals directly addressing each area of recruitment, retention, and promotion: (1) implement rigorous data tracking for each stage of faculty recruitment and hiring practices, (2) explore perceptions and realities of equity and transparency in faculty teaching and service loads, and (3) review policies and practices related to tenure and promotion to leadership. The project will result in a collaboratively developed five-year plan to enhance and support faculty diversity in STEM at CSUB.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education.    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.",TRUE
2336815,Collaborative Research: Socialization Competencies and Youth Outcomes in Response to Racial Violence,2025-04-18,Washington University,SAINT LOUIS,MO,MO01,211350,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2336815,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2336815_4900,2023-10-01,2025-09-30,631304862,L6NFUM28LQM5,"Given the historical and persistent crisis of racial discrimination and violence enacted against Black communities in America, Black parents have unique considerations to prepare their children to cope with potential racial bias and discrimination in schools, neighborhoods, and community settings. Yet, there is less research on how parents' race-related experiences influence their competency in transmitting information to their children about processing and coping with widely publicized instances of racial discrimination and violence. This project will examine how Black parents perceive racially violent incidents in their immediate communities, their own interpersonal experiences with racial discrimination, their parenting practices around racial socialization, and the coping strategies parents use to impact their child’s academic and well-being outcomes. The findings will provide a more comprehensive understanding of the ways racial/ethnic minority families' navigate oppressive social contexts and support the positive development of their children.     Recent widely publicized incidents of police brutality highlight the intersecting systems of inequality, injustice, and racism in the United States, elucidating a need for research documenting how Black families process and respond to such events. This study is a longitudinal, mixed methodological investigation of Black families' vulnerability to or resilience against marginalization, focusing on parenting practices and adolescent developmental trajectories. The three-year project involves two phases of research with Black parents and adolescents: (1) annual survey data to examine the influence of parents' race-related experiences and racial socialization competencies on adolescent outcomes, and (2) in-depth qualitative analysis exploring parents’ perceptions of the factors that shape their parenting practices and racial socialization competencies. The findings will provide a more comprehensive understanding of how Black families navigate racially oppressive social contexts and shed light on family processes for racial/ethnic minorities in the U.S. more broadly.    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.",TRUE
2217708,Collaborative Research: BPE Track 3 Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation in Engineering Hub,2025-04-18,North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University,GREENSBORO,NC,NC06,165305,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217708,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217708_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,27411,SKH5GMBR9GL3,"This NSF Track 3 Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) project aims to address the resilience, identity formation, and academic outcomes of minorities in engineering through the ""Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation (Minority-MAP) in Engineering Hub’s infrastructure, resources sharing, community engagement, and evidence-based inclusive mentoring. The hub will leverage an all-access, open-platform called the Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub) to dynamically foster inclusive mentoring through a community of practice in engineering. The project’s catalytic activities are expected to democratize minority representation in engineering through the hub’s data and technology ecosystem that will connect student mentees with faculty and industry mentors and employers in the Minority-MAP network. The iMAP Hub will positively impact the completion rates of students pursuing engineering degrees and improve the career preparation of engineering students at participating minority serving institutions, thereby enhancing the diversity of the US engineering workforce. The project will employ the interest of HBCUs, leading companies, and non-profit organizations to collaboratively transform the human capital via inclusive mentoring, thus creating a culture change towards an impactful, resilient career. This effort aligns with the NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering’s mission to strengthen the future U.S. engineering workforce.    This project will be led by Center for Engineering Excellence at Morgan State University, in collaboration with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Jackson State University, STEMconnector, and Ziker Research. The goals of the project are to: 1) recruit 100 student mentees and faculty or industry mentor pairs by 2024, to test and refine an innovative mentoring platform called Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub); 2) curate, develop, and expand inclusive mentoring resources and activities to include 300 student mentees at 10 minority-serving institutions by 2027; 3) develop and implement a framework to identify gaps in the hub’s inclusive mentoring practices through formative and summative evaluations; 4) provide professional development to support implementing culturally responsive, inclusive mentoring practices at annual Summer Institutes, and develop and refine online student, faculty, and industry training resources for evidence-based inclusive mentoring practices delivered through an online repository that is integrated into the iMAP Hub platform by 2024; and 5) share findings and presentations during annual Summer Institutes, STEMconnector's Annual STEM Summits, Million Women Mentors Summits, and annual Post-Secondary Innovation Labs as a strategy for growing the network and expanding iMAP Hub services. Proposed research efforts will investigate the aspects of mentoring that promote the development of an engineering identity and have the potential to improve the persistence and retention of underrepresented groups in engineering. Methods will include data collection from multiple sources, including data analytics using iMAP usage data, survey reports from all participants, and observations of mentor-mentee activities. Outcomes related to changes in engineering identity, career awareness, and professional skills will be measured through pre- and post-surveys informed by the Engineer Identity Survey (EIS), interview protocols, and observations. The iMAP Hub’s resources and research findings will be disseminated through a dedicated website, conference presentations, workshops, newsletters, publications, and social media. The project team will scale the network of mentors and mentees by working with STEMconnector's membership which includes over 100 industry partners and MSI universities.    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.",TRUE
2309309,Collaborative Research: Evaluating Access: How a Multi-Institutional Network Promotes Equity and Cultural Change through Expanding Student Voice,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,275464,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Physics,Integrative Activities in Phys,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309309,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2309309_4900,2024-02-01,2027-01-31,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"Addressing the critical issue of representation and equity in the physical sciences requires meaningful cultural change. The Access Network, founded in 2015, directly addresses this national priority by connecting institutions with student-led, equity-oriented programs to share and disseminate research-based strategies and provide support for overcoming common barriers. Through mentored intersite student cohorts and an annual Assembly, Access fosters community, develops student leaders, reinforces institutional memory, and provides a national context, all important factors for sustainability and scalability. At the Network’s core is a unique philosophy that recognizes and elevates students as drivers of change, recognizing them as powerful members of the STEM community and the future leaders of physics.  An innovative evaluation partnership among external evaluators, educational research faculty within the network, and internal student evaluation fellows will document the network’s impacts on student leaders, local sites and individual departments. These activities combine a student-driven, community-based approach with the expertise of external evaluators, resulting in a more complete picture of the model.    This work will directly support students in the Network, at individual institutions, and beyond by: (i) continuously improving Network activities that support the professional development and retention of junior scientists from diverse backgrounds, (ii) cultivating new student leaders, and (iii) growing a repository of materials and best practices that will increase the efficacy of local sites. It will advance knowledge of equity-focused change in the physical sciences and develop infrastructure for robust evaluation to document, understand, and promote Network aspects crucial to success. The novel evaluation partnership proposed among external evaluators, internal evaluation mentors, and student evaluation advance the conception of participatory evaluation and sets a model for programmatic evaluation. More effectively supporting sites in local evaluation enables their sustainability, as they can better understand and communicate their impacts to local stakeholders. Insights from evaluation activities not only result in a more complete picture of the Access Network model, informing improvements to the network, but also benefit others wishing to enact equity-focused cultural change in STEM. The knowledge about effective programs will be especially helpful for those enacting shared leadership models, expanding the critical role students can play in transforming communities.    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.",FALSE
2217681,"Planning: Track 1: Curriculum and Advancements in Recruitment, Education, and Engineering Retention (CAREER)",2025-04-18,Boise State University,BOISE,ID,ID02,99808,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217681,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217681_4900,2022-07-15,2025-04-18,837250001,HYWTVM5HNFM3,"The goal of the proposed planning effort is to develop the partnerships and institutional mechanisms necessary so that within five years, the Boise State University College of Engineering can engage Idaho's underserved Latinx population as a Hispanic ""serving college."" The focus of the work is particularly crucial in the region as Idaho is one of the fastest-growing states in the country, Boise State University is the largest public university with the largest engineering college in the state, and the Boise metropolitan area in southern Idaho contains the state's three largest cities by population. The Latinx population is approximately 13% and is the largest underserved population in Idaho, with the majority in southern Idaho. The university is also located in the state capitol, a vigorous center for government, business, and innovation. This planning effort focuses on strengthening pathways, ensuring community, and changing the culture so Boise State serves transfer students from Idaho community colleges.    The emphasis of the work is on the concept of ""servingness,"" which research has correlated to positive academic, non-academic, and student experience outcomes at Hispanic-serving Institutions (HSIs). The team already engages with the College of Western Idaho (CWI) and the College of Southern Idaho (CSI). CWI is an emerging HSI, and CSI just became an HSI in 2021. Planning work will advance knowledge of organizational development, the servingness framework, and its study and application to help emerging institutions build an identity as an HSI that serves rather than merely enrolling Hispanic students. The team will examine potentially transformative features: improving pathways and placement for students transferring from community colleges, intentional community building practices, and the cultural shifts required to educate and incentivize faculty to employ inclusive teaching practices. As the planning effort moves toward best practices, this experience can contribute to the literature and introduce practical solutions to other universities in partnership with community colleges. Broader impacts include meeting the needs of our Latinx population, representing 24% of the state's growth over the last decade. This community has also provided 31% employment growth since 2009. Idaho has a low percentage of students attending college (40%), and many area high schools are designated Title 1 and rural; many of these students may  initially attend community colleges. The knowledge and partnerships gained from this proposal are imperative to increase the number of these students seeking an additional educational opportunity at four-year institutions. Other universities can also gain from findings resulting from this effort about math placement, curriculum complexity, and cultural change. Finally, the effort will help strengthen partnerships with community colleges, helping Idaho become more of a transparent system that students can easily navigate.    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.",TRUE
2318357,Conference: Building International Scholarship in 4S-Affiliated Journals: A Writing Workshop for Junior Scholars,2025-04-18,Drexel University,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,49837,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,AccelNet - Accelerating Resear,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318357,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318357_4900,2023-07-15,2026-01-31,191042875,XF3XM9642N96,"Building International Scholarship in 4S-Affiliated Journals: A Writing Workshop for Junior Scholars    The interdisciplinary field of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) has become increasingly internationalized over the past decade. This is a welcome transformation and is reflected in a range of institutional changes including in the content and editorship of the expanded number of journals affiliated with the largest professional society of the field, the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S). However, there remains tremendous potential to further internationalize the field. Inequities in publishing and mentorship – which impact historically marginalized scholars in all disciplines – have been well documented; efforts to eradicate these inequities are crucial given that robust knowledge production and technology innovation requires barrier-free exchange and opportunities for all.     To work toward the goal of internationalizing the authorship pool and bringing STS journals into deeper conversation, a “Publishing in STS” workshop led by a team of editors at 4S-affiliated journals will be held. This workshop will be held immediately before the 4S meeting in November 2023, and will focus on mentoring Early Career Researchers. The workshop will include sessions with the full group that allow students and junior scholars to hear insights and experiences from the journal editors, who are also senior scholars in the field. Topics will include information on the peer-review process and how editors are working to make the review community more diverse and inclusive; insight on English language standards and ideas about publishing in multiple languages; and commentary on resources available for professional development related to publishing in international contexts. The second day of the workshop will focus on small- group sessions in which attendees will receive highly-engaged feedback on a draft article manuscript from the journal editors and from their peers - a conversation that will continue after the Workshop, as editors follow up on the progress of attendees and ongoing peer support is encouraged.    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.",TRUE
2240535,SPARKing Representation in Cognitive Science,2025-04-18,Tufts University,MEDFORD,MA,MA05,239553,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240535,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2240535_4900,2023-08-01,2026-07-31,021555519,WL9FLBRVPJJ7,"African American, Latina/o/e/x/, and Indigenous students and researchers are underrepresented in cognitive psychology and cognitive sciences. These fields of study generally focus on understanding how the mind represents and manipulates knowledge and how these mental representations and processes are realized in the brain. With its focus on understanding how humans perceive, think, and communicate, cognitive psychology and training in cognitive psychology and/or the cognitive sciences positions individuals for careers ranging from academia to industry, specializing in topics from artificial intelligence to business and marketing. Cognitive fields are a centerpiece of future jobs growth; the aim in this proposal is to support the development of a diverse work force.  The SPARK Society supports learners and researchers at all ranks (undergraduate, graduate, early career, senior scholars) with the overarching goal of creating a support infrastructure to help historically marginalized individuals excel in this field of study. Support is provided in the form of group mentoring, peer-to-peer mentoring, and dissemination of informational resources across multiple platforms. Improving experiences of historically marginalized scholars helps create a more just society. The Spark Society partners with several national conferences for cognitive scientists, allowing for community building for historically marginalized scholars and providing mentoring wherever they are located. This creates a sense of belonging and has the potential to reduce feelings of isolation that drive historically marginalized learners and researchers away from the field.    The mentorship model is supplemented by evaluative measures, including analyses of PhD programs. Understanding how changes in graduate program recruitment and requirements have impacted changes in the compositional diversity of cognitive science and cognitive psychology programs, and by developing clear methodologies to identify why historically marginalized scholars are largely absent from field-wide leadership, will allow for more targeted development of effective programs to support training in the field and create a space where leadership is an open and desirable avenue. The research will focus on developing methodologies that allow for evaluation of graduate policy effectiveness in recruitment of historically marginalized students. Central to this aim is identification of relevant programs, coding of policy changes related to recruitment, and consideration of outcomes (i.e., program completion, job placement). Development of methodologies that assess the impact of policy change on graduate student diversity and identify drivers hindering diversity in leadership are important steps towards the long-term goals of creating a more diverse and inclusive field of study and accompanying workforce.    This project is also supported by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.    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.",TRUE
2233790,"Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: EVOLVED - Embedding a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity in the Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies",2025-04-18,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,122673,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233790,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233790_4900,2023-07-15,2027-06-30,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"EVOLVED (Embed a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity) is a comprehensive and integrated set of activities that embeds the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the backbone of the Consortium of Aquatic Sciences Societies (CASS). CASS membership includes 20,000+ aquatic scientists from all career stages working across academic, government, and industry sectors. CASS initiated transformative diversity, equity, and inclusion work through a 2021 BIO-LEAPS planning grant, which laid the groundwork for EVOLVED. In that process, CASS leadership demonstrated a collective commitment to equity and inclusion and a desire to elevate this work to one of CASS’s primary priorities. The EVOLVED program will focus its work in 3 areas: (1) developing programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), (2) re-envisioning CASS’s values, exploring biases and assumptions, and reexamining culture, to transform the CASS climate into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) building organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. The project includes a comprehensive mixed-method evaluation of all major initiatives. Together, the EVOLVED activities will catalyze cultural change at multiple levels: across CASS as a collective, in single societies, and by individual members within societies.     The EVOLVED program will embed diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the cultural fabric of environmental, ecological, and organismal biology-focused aquatic sciences.  This program will develop, implement, and assess activities that scale-up equity driven advancement across three levels of action: individual members, societies, and the CASS collective. EVOLVED will mechanistically link structural and cultural change aimed at breaking down major barriers to building diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within a consortium of professional, scientific societies and serve as a model for transformative culture change at the collective consortium level. To operationalize this, EVOLVED will: (1) build programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used in this proposal to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM), (2) re-envision values and mental models within CASS to transform its culture into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) build organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. Broader impacts of this work include increased engagement with minority-serving institutions within CASS, integration of DEI-focused values within individual CASS societies, and adoption of DEI-centric policy, management, and conservation work across the CASS collective. The proposed activities broaden participation of underrepresented groups in environmental biology disciplines; ensure more diverse voices are involved in biology-focused policy, conservation, and planning; and ultimately foster disciplinary excellence and environmental justice.    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.",TRUE
2308532,Collaborative Research: Track 4: Developing Equity-Minded Engineering Practitioners (DEEP),2025-04-18,Morgan State University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,400000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308532,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2308532_4900,2023-08-01,2025-04-18,212510001,KULSKCCZJT27,"This NSF Track 4 Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) project aims to catalyze a culture change in the education of the next generation of engineers. The Developing Equity-Minded Engineering Practitioners (DEEP) Center will engage reflective and proactive practitioners toward creating cultural, structural, and pedagogical changes across the engineering discipline and beyond. The strategy for systemic change is to educate, equip, engage, and empower instructional faculty, with effective research-based practices for inclusive, equitable, and transparent learning. The DEEP Center will create a central, visible hub for professional development, organizational learning, and collaboration through communities of practice across the educational ecosystem of faculty and instructors. The DEEP Center will positively impact the retention and success of students, particularly those from racial and ethnic backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in engineering. DEEP focuses on fixing the system rather than fixing the student. In so doing, DEEP will strengthen the future U.S. Engineering workforce with the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of inclusive excellence so that they can research, develop, and innovate the best solutions for 21st century global challenges.    The DEEP Center will be led by the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in collaboration with Mitchell School of Engineering at Morgan State University (MSU). The goal of this center is to develop faculty change agents at UIUC and MSU who will foster equitable and inclusive teaching and learning environments for students The project objectives are to: (1) co-develop, co- pilot, and collect a repository of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) instructional examples for faculty to adapt and infuse in their own curricula; (2) collaborate in equity-minded communities of practice; (3) implement an effective analytical framework for assessing and integrating inclusive STEM teaching and learning, and (4) articulate, evaluate, and share a model for collaboration between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and predominantly white institutions (PWIs) around increasing the infusion of DEI into undergraduate engineering education that includes faculty exchange and co-teaching of courses. The guiding research questions are focused on understanding the impact of the DEEP model (peer-facilitated professional development and equity-minded communities of practice) to lead to changes in the knowledge, attitude, behaviors, and effectiveness (KABE) of teaching personnel. The evaluation will use a mixed methods approach to gain a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the project. Appropriate evaluation instruments will be used to assess changes in DEEP participants’ KABE in fostering equitable and inclusive engineering learning environments. Data collection activities will include a review of instructor and course evaluation system data from participating teaching personnel, interviews with teaching personnel, focus groups with students to gauge experiences and impacts, observations of in-person professional development and teaching personnel classes, and surveys assessing perceived quality of DEEP implementation and outcomes. Project outcomes will include the creation of a repository of DEI lesson examples to be shared publicly, a guidebook on forming an HBCU/MSI-PWI partnership and sharing lessons learned, workshops for colleagues at UIUC and MSU, and virtual webinars to the broader engineering education community. Because of our focus on systemic change, we plan to share project outcomes with engineering administration, institutional leadership at MSU and UIUC, and nationally. The success of this project will bridge the gaps between top-down policy reforms requiring DEI contributions and bottom-up faculty efforts across multiple institutions to develop and execute equitable and inclusive teaching practices.    This project is co-funded by the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP), which provides awards to strengthen STEM undergraduate education and research at HBCUs. This project is also co-funded by NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, which seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance and sustain systemic change to broaden participation in STEM at scale.    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.",TRUE
2229008,ADVANCE Catalyst: Faculty Resources and Opportunities for Growth in STEM,2025-04-18,Texas Christian University,FORT WORTH,TX,TX12,299975,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2229008,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2229008_4900,2023-02-01,2025-04-18,761290001,MJCLFGKGULP5,"The ADVANCE Catalyst grant will support Texas Christian University’s effort to determine how it has implicitly influenced the inequities found in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments. By identifying barriers and bridges for women STEM faculty, this project aims to produce institutional change that will impact not only STEM, but also all women faculty at TCU. More broadly, as any institution develops an environment of equity as the norm, graduates of master and doctoral programs will enter their academic careers with a mindset of equity which has the potential to increase the number of women STEM faculty. In addition, systemic change (with an increase in the number of women faculty) has the potential to enhance infrastructure for research and education on our campus. The analysis and resulting five-year strategic plan may ground the work of other private universities with similar demographics and historical contexts.    The Texas Christian University ADVANCE Catalyst project is grounded in the robust literature of three academic areas; challenges for women in higher education (especially STEM), intersectionality, and self-studies in higher education. Combining these bodies of work, the focus is on understanding the institution’s role in cultivating challenges and disparate work contexts for intersectional women faculty. This project will consider the other identities and positions held by women/females to understand their positionality. The short-term goal is to conduct a self-study to identify systemic factors that impede equity and inclusion of women in STEM, paying particular attention to the ways intersectional analyses will inform understandings of women’s experiences on campus given that those differences make a material difference in their lives as derived from their diverse identities. A key strength of the project is the qualitative focus on understanding the barriers/bridges when women STEM faculty are seen as a complex being who are more than their gender. Research questions include: (1) What are the barriers and bridges for recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining women/female faculty in STEM? (2) What are the most significant intersections for women faculty for recruiting, hiring, promoting, and retaining within STEM? The long-term goal is to implement the five-year strategic plan and document the efficacy of institutional change efforts.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at an academic, non-profit institution of higher education.    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.",TRUE
2209643,Conference: Equity and Inclusion in Open Access Publishing: Workshop to explore barriers and solutions,2025-04-18,Ecological Society of America,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,99549,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Environmental Biology,Ecosystem Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2209643,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2209643_4900,2022-05-15,2025-04-30,200363415,DBRGTD7EY3M1,"Three significant and intertwined changes in the ecological research landscape are occurring: new commitments to removing barriers that exclude scientists of diverse backgrounds, availability of open data streams, and a shift towards Open Access (OA) publishing through author-pays models. Given the importance of scholarly publishing in hiring and promotion, barriers to publishing could undermine or negate other interventions and programs to recruit and retain diverse scholars in environmental biology. Therefore, the Ecological Society of America (ESA) proposes a community survey and a workshop to explore barriers to full participation of a wide diversity of Ecology and Environmental Biology scientists in publishing research, with particular attention to potential impacts of the shift to Open Access publishing models.       The objectives of this workshop and community survey are to 1) raise awareness of the intersection between open science and diversity, equity, and inclusion, 2) evaluate the current state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in publishing (including identifying data gaps), 3) gather data about potential barriers to publishing Open Access, and 4) provide a forum for stakeholders to identify solutions to potential barriers. The goals of the workshop are to convene society and publishing leaders to examine the current status of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the publishing process, to explore rising concerns that transitioning to Open Access could exacerbate inequalities in scholarly publishing and to discuss strategies to alleviate financial burden associated with publishing. This workshop will have significant broader impact on the Ecology and Environmental Biology community by 1) Facilitating networking and conversation around diversity, equity, and inclusion in publishing in the Ecology and Environmental Biology society and publishing leaders, 2) Providing additional data on the impact of author publishing charges and how the charges affect authors’ decisions on where and when to publish, 3) Identifying best practices and pitfalls when moving towards fully Open Access publishing models, and 4) Identifying characteristics of different funding models to support authors publishing Open Access articles.    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.",TRUE
2237564,CAREER: Using Equity Metrics and Reflective Engagement to Transform Engineering Classrooms Towards Racial Equity,2025-04-18,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,323674,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EPE-Expanding Part. in Engring,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2237564,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2237564_4900,2023-08-01,2025-04-18,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"Within efforts to broaden racially minoritized (e.g., Black, Latinx, indigenous) students’ participation in engineering, equity in undergraduate classrooms is a critically important part of student pathways. Although students frequently experience marginalization in the everyday engineering classroom, in general, engineering professors are not engaging as active change agents for racial equity in their own classroom. This CAREER project will research ways to shift classroom inequities across multiple institutional contexts and will incorporate lessons learned into broader education programs and resources. The project aligns with a Broadening Participation in Engineering program goal to transform engineering classroom culture to promote equity and inclusion, which will have substantial impact on the formation and professionalization of Black, Latinx, and Indigenous engineers. This project’s research plan will address key limitations in the field of engineering education research. Typical DEI research is disconnected from educational practice and does not examine processes to change everyday inequities. This project will model a novel form of broadening participation research which is embedded in classroom practice to gain fundamental understandings of the mechanisms that recreate everyday inequities. The education plan will incorporate findings from the research study into a theater-based intervention for faculty, to practice classroom engagement that notices, interprets, and acts in ways that improve equity in the local setting. Publications, research methods tools, and facilitation guides developed from the project will be shared on a website platform called the Equity Toolbox that can be used by faculty, faculty developers, and education researchers who focus on broadening participation in engineering. To build capacity to broaden the project’s positive societal impact, the PI will host a summer training for early career researchers who want to center equity and action in their research.    Drawing on the theory of cultural production, the project will discern mechanisms for the reproduction of racial inequity in everyday engineering classrooms and will test ways to shift these settings towards equitable outcomes. The project will integrate critical ethnographic methodology and faculty engagement in an innovative empirical approach utilizing an equity metric as a focal point to engage faculty learning. The research team will collaborate with faculty instructors to define an equity metric that relates to a dimension of the classroom practice and share feedback with the faculty, creating a feedback loop for the faculty to improve the classroom practice over time. Equity metrics will include three major prototypes: participation in classroom discourse, level of background knowledge required in lecture, and team or partner roles and participation. The faculty engagement facilitation approach will emphasize positionality, reflective dialogue, and an iterative design research approach to classroom practice. The research team will embed one semester in each of 4 university contexts that have contrasting demographic and institutional characteristics (including Hispanic Serving, Predominantly White, Historically Black, public, private, doctoral university, and community college). In a cross-institutional analysis combining data from classroom observations and faculty engagement sessions, the research team will study 1) faculty learning trajectories on racial equity, 2) strategies and practices that improve classroom racial equity, and 3) similarities and differences across institutional and demographic contexts. This project will catalyze efforts to combine the nuanced insights of qualitative research, the communicative importance of quantitative metrics, direct engagement with faculty, and built capacity with education researchers to lead the way towards a sea change for equity in engineering classrooms.    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.",TRUE
2145961,CAREER: Better Together: Leveraging the Shared Commitment of Community Colleges and HBCUs to Optimize Black Engineering Student Pathways,2025-04-18,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,646092,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EPE-Expanding Part. in Engring,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145961,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2145961_4900,2022-03-01,2028-02-29,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"While much of the emphasis on broadening participation in engineering has focused on students who attend PWI and mostly four-year institutions, Black engineering undergraduate enrollment and graduation rates have declined in recent years. At the same time, community colleges (CCs) as well as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have consistently graduated Black engineers at comparatively much higher rates. In addition, in previous studies, Black engineering undergraduates who initially enroll in CCs have reported positive experiences when transferring to HBCUs. This suggests that CC-to-HBCU pathways may be an overlooked opportunity for graduating more Black engineers. Building on this evidence, this CAREER project will assemble stakeholders from CCs and HBCUs to collaboratively develop a shared vision for maximizing the potential of these pathways. This project will: 1) Collect baseline data on the current state of trends, challenges, and opportunities in the CC-HBCU engineering infrastructure; 2) Document the steps that CCs and HBCUs undertake to move toward this shared vision; 3) Explore evolving processes as CCs and HBCUs develop and execute strategies to optimize these pathways. This project will result in a novel framework to help HBCUs, other minority-serving institutions, and PWIs partner with CCs to find innovative solutions for broadening participation in engineering. From an education perspective, the study will also produce modules developed from the framework that offer guidance on how four-year HBCUs and other four-year schools can better partner with CCs to improve Black engineering student pathways. In addition, the project will position faculty, staff, and administrators as leaders in improving these pathways by guiding them through workshops focused on collective impact and institutional change.    Despite the advancement in understanding the CC to four-year engineering college pathway for students, few scholars have explored the potential of CCs and four-year HBCUs to work together to maximize Black engineering student persistence, transfer, and graduation rates. This CAREER project addresses this gap by centering CCs and HBCUs as leaders in educating future Black engineers, and will leverage the collective strengths that each type of institution individually brings to broadening participation efforts. Participants will include faculty, staff, and/or administrators representing the 15 engineering degree-granting HBCUs, as well as their feeder CCs. Using an action research approach that is grounded in collective impact and Kezar’s theoretical frameworks on institutional change, my research objectives will involve the collection and analysis of: 1) Descriptive statistics that establish the current state of CC to HBCU engineering pathways, including trends, challenges, and opportunities in this space; 2) Focus group and observational data that document how participants collaborate to articulate and refine a shared vision for maximizing the potential of these pathways; 3) Focus group and observational data that document CC-HBCU collaborative efforts during interventions at select sites during this project. The educational objectives of this project are to: 1) Inform participants of promising practices drawn from other studies that focus on engineering CCs, transfer, and retention; 2) Introduce collective impact to faculty, staff, and administrators as a tool for maximizing collaborations in the CC-HBCU context; and 3) Develop an organizational framework that other engineering institutions, including other minority-serving institutions and predominately White institutions, can use in collaboration with CCs to increase Black engineering student enrollment and graduation. The long-term goal will be to test the capacity of this framework in future studies to increase the number of Black and other underrepresented students who first enroll in CCs.    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.",TRUE
2306262,Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Factors Affecting Latina Engineering Student Decisions to Enter Graduate School or Engineering Career Pathways,2025-04-18,University of Florida,GAINESVILLE,FL,FL03,149989,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306262,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306262_4900,2023-08-01,2025-07-31,326111941,NNFQH1JAPEP3,"This project aims to serve the national interest by improving understanding of the social, cultural, educational, and institutional parameters affecting matriculation of Latina engineering students into graduate engineering programs.  The work will improve understanding of the complex psycho-social processes contributing to the persistent underrepresentation of Latinx and Hispanic students across STEM fields and the existence of a gender gap that is larger than found in the general population. Latinx and Hispanic students in STEM come from the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. However, they are extremely underrepresented in terms of STEM degrees, especially at the graduate level. This research helps correct this situation, by providing critically needed insights to draw more Latina students into STEM graduate programs and eventually into the professorial ranks.    This project will improve understanding of the complex factors affecting the career decisions of Latina engineering students and their likelihood to enter graduate engineering study.  Two research questions are posed: RQ1: How do Latina engineering students describe the factors related to their decision, decision processes, or intentions to enter graduate school and/or engineering career pathways? RQ2: How do Latina engineering students describe the social, cultural, educational, and institutional experiences that impact their decision, decision process, or intentions to enter graduate school and/or engineering career pathways? An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach will be employed.  Phase 1 is quantitative with an emphasis on institutional integration using the modified Collegiate Achievement Model.  Results from phase 1 are used to inform the qualitative phase 2 which shifts the theoretical framework to the Community Cultural Wealth Model to center the complexities and assets of the participants’ lived experiences.  This is done specifically to provide broader, richer insights into both the institutional integration issues and the cultural and social perspectives behind the factors and experiences impacting Latina engineering student graduate study and career pathway decisions.    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.",TRUE
2325476,Planning grant: Expanding academic Careers through Inclusive Transitions in Environmental Science,2025-04-18,University of New Mexico,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,NM01,300000,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2325476,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2325476_4900,2023-10-01,2026-03-31,871310001,F6XLTRUQJEN4,"As the relationships between people and the planet are interwoven with cultural heritage and community, diversifying the environmental workforce is of pressing importance. Differences in experience bring unique questions, approaches to problems, greater collaborative creativity, and innovation; however, the geosciences are the least diverse STEM field based on graduate student enrollment. This planning grant, Expanding academic Careers through Inclusive Transitions in Environmental Science, aims to expand, foster, and embed institutional support for diverse scholars in the environmental and geosciences at the University of New Mexico–an R1, Minority Serving Institution (MSI) situated in an arid, high-desert setting. This award will support activities to build inclusive career-stage transitions for diverse scholars in environmental science, empowering them through the theory of self-authorship to disrupt historical and ongoing power structures within the environmental and geosciences. In this way, the researchers will develop the necessary conditions to achieve the principles of Collective Impact at UNM and across a network of minority-serving institutions in the US Southwest.     This project will holistically support diverse scholars by increasing institutional capacity for inclusive mentorship and research through training and workshops; create near-peer networking opportunities to promote social belonging; and develop equitable and substantive local professional partnerships. This will lay the groundwork for a full program implementation that would support year-long programming for two cohorts at critical career transition points: from bachelors to graduate studies or professional career (post-baccalaureate scholars) and from PhD to academic faculty or non-academic research career (postdoctoral scholars). This award will pilot summer programming for cohorts at each of these stages, and train faculty mentors in inclusive mentoring strategies, including development and use of a tailored Individual Development Plan for diverse scholars in environmental science. This planning stage will also be used to develop professional and academic networks to collaboratively support these goals across Minority Serving Institutions in the U.S. Southwest. The project is grounded in critical constructivism and self-authorship theory. Critical constructivism is based on the assumption that knowledge and understanding of reality–including identities of self–are based on interactions with and experiences of the world including those experiences that are socially, culturally, and historically inflected. The project's transformational programming will support both cognitive dimensions of self-authorship and interpersonal and intrapersonal development to facilitate self-authorship, taking the historical power structures found in the geosciences into account.    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.",TRUE
2050608,Noyce Scholar Retention in Racially and Culturally Non-dominant Communities: Studying the Relationship between Partnerships and Persistence in the Teaching Profession,2025-04-18,American University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,800000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2050608,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2050608_4900,2021-10-01,2025-04-18,200168003,H4VNDUN2VWU5,"This project aims to serve the national need to increase the diversity of the STEM teacher workforce by understanding the factors that contribute to STEM teacher retention. This project investigates how the quality of Research-Practice Partnerships that support Noyce Scholars influences persistence and retention of both teachers of Color and White teachers in high-need schools serving racially and culturally non-dominant communities. The research team aims to investigate how the three Noyce program components -  teacher preparation, induction/mentoring, professional development - and the collaborative nature of those teacher development components (i.e., partnerships) affect Noyce Scholars’ persistence in high-need schools serving racially and culturally non-dominant communities. This project includes the study of six Noyce projects at Bowie State University, George Washington University, Mercy College, Montgomery College, the University of Maryland, and American University.    The principal investigator (PI) team seeks to identify differences, and the extent to which the three components contribute to such differences, in persistence and retention in teaching between Scholars of Color and White Scholars. The study is framed through the lens of determining how the Scholars have experienced race, racism, and power within the three Noyce program components described above and how these experiences influenced their retention in the six Noyce projects and in teaching. In particular, the PI team seeks to develop deeper understanding of how the experiences of serving in racially and culturally non-dominant communities interact with the Scholars’ individual teacher preparation, induction, and professional development experiences at each institution. The research design also examines in what ways, if at all, the partnerships created to support the three Noyce program components have influenced the persistence and retention of Noyce Scholars of Color. Such partnerships include those between STEM departments and schools/colleges of education, and between Noyce teacher preparation programs and high-need school districts, and other partners. Finally, the research team also asks: What is the quality of the partnerships, how are the quality of the partnerships related to the three Noyce program components, and how the partnership itself influences teacher persistence and retention in schools serving racially and culturally nondominant communities? The research team will use a mixed methods approach that includes surveys of Scholars, and Noyce program and partner program faculty and staff. Structured, semi-structured, and empathy interviews with selected members of those groups will be conducted. In addition, a multi-case comparison of at least two teacher preparation programs with robust partnership components will occur. The results of this study are intended to provide evidence-based insights into the influence partnerships have on STEM teacher persistence and retention and how to improve partnerships for the benefit of all stakeholders. Results will be disseminated to practitioner and research audiences including STEM education programs. This Track 4: Noyce Research project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the persistence, retention, and effectiveness of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.    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.",TRUE
2310991,"Collaborative Research: HSI-Hubs: Intersectionality as Inquiry & Praxis: Race, Class, Gender & Ethnicity for Student Success in STEM",2025-04-18,CUNY City College,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,604088,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2310991,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2310991_4900,2023-08-01,2028-07-31,100319101,L952KGDMSLV5,"With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this HUB Project aims to convene The University of New Mexico (UNM), New Mexico State University (NMSU), Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), City College, The City University of New York (CCNY-CUNY), Lehman College (Lehman-CUNY), Hostos Community College (Hostos-CUNY) to re-envision data and equity metrics, convene communities of practice and transform narratives about advancing equity in STEM. Institutions of higher education define underserved students using one-dimensional status metrics (e.g., first-generation college, PELL, gender, Native American, African-American and Hispanic/Latinx, etc.). Yet, research shows this is insufficient for documenting and eliminating inequities (McCall 2001; Irizarry 2015; López, Erwin, Binder & Chavez 2018). There is an urgent need to operationalize intersectionality as a new angle of vision for strategic planning and equitable distribution of resources (e.g., admissions, degrees earned, department/institutional culture shift, state-level funding formulas/distribution of resources, federal data collection and accountability metrics/IPEDS, etc.). Intersectionality (attention to the mutual constitution of race, gender, class, ethnicity and other axes of inequality as analytically distinct and simultaneous systems of power, oppression, resistance in a given sociohistorical and institutional context) is a powerful tool for making inequities visible and helping institutions of higher education create effective actions for advancing undergraduate student success in STEM and beyond.     Our HSI-hub is a multi-faceted resource, connector and catalyst for enduring system-wide equity transformations that incubate the promise of intersectionality for knowledge production and policy for equity impact. Our synergistic and phased deliverables include: 1.) HSI STEM Data and Policy Network for Action; 2.) HSI STEM Communities of Practice: Faculty Fellows and Stakeholders Advancing Equity Through Intersectionality; and 3.) HSI STEM Centering Intersectionality as Equity through Narrative Change, Communication Strategies and Publications. Our deliverables include a dedicated website, policy briefs, and academic. Project products will be archived in the UNM digital repository, tagged under the following subjects: “Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs),” “Intersectionality,” “Equity,” “Higher Education,” “Student Success,” and “Metrics.” The repository is accessible to anyone with internet access. In order to increase visibility and impact, select data and project materials, will be converted to a format suitable for upload to JSTOR-FORUM and OMEKA databases and catalogued in WorldCat. Acknowledging the importance of intersectionality for advancing equity, without a strategic plan to remove barriers and redistribute resources for advancing student success, is a missed opportunity. “Taking a truly intersectional approach will enable us to think and act differently to remove systemic barriers to education” (Harpur, Szucs & Willox 2022:14). The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims.    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.",TRUE
2147325,Collaborative Research: Digital Archives and Indigenous Afterlives of Scientific Objects,2025-04-18,Emory University,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,84062,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147325,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147325_4900,2022-05-01,2026-04-30,303221061,S352L5PJLMP8,"At a moment when universities, museums, and archives are grappling with questions of how to responsibly manage and care for scientific collections created under unequal power dynamics, this project explores the role of digital access in understanding these histories, redressing associated harms, and envisioning new and more equitable forms of research for groups that have been marginalized. Through the collaborative construction of a digital archive, this project responds to requests from Indigenous communities for the return of scientific materials such as photographs, audio recordings, and publications that document their lives and communities. It explores the potential of digital infrastructures to enable communities’ control of materials that document them, according to their norms for sharing and protecting knowledge. Analysis of the ways participants experience and see themselves in relation to scientific research will help future researchers better respond to subjects’ and communities’ priorities. This project will provide resources, training, and a model for undergraduate and graduate students to pursue research in the social and natural sciences. It will contribute to broader initiatives that engage scientists, data repositories, and archival materials to democratize access and engagement in scholarly work while maintaining respect for Indigenous and local knowledge systems.    Drawing on methodological insights from Indigenous studies that prioritize reciprocal foundations of knowledge, this project will develop a methodology to effectively examine asymmetries in knowledge production, helping scholars learn how to incorporate reciprocity and care into their work. Using data collected through community consultation, semi-structured interviews, and ethnography of the construction and use of the digital archive, this research will offer theoretical insights into: (1) The potentials and pitfalls of re-using already-collected materials; (2) How approaches to archives and collections that reconfigure power dynamics and permit community-based reinterpretation can result in new knowledge about history and science; (3) How digital returns of scientific materials can contribute to community-defined research and inform human sciences research with Indigenous communities more broadly. In addition to science and technology studies scholars and historians of science, this project will be of interest to librarians, archivists, museum professionals, and others dedicated to privacy and justice in the collection and use of human data. Findings will inform research design across a wide range of fields in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, as well as policy and practice related to human subject’s research regulation.    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.",TRUE
2217477,BPE Track 3 Inclusive Mentoring Hub: Raices Institute for Transformative Advocacy (RITA),2025-04-18,University of Florida,GAINESVILLE,FL,FL03,799994,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217477,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217477_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,326111941,NNFQH1JAPEP3,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    This NSF-BPE Track 3: Inclusive Mentoring Hub project, called Raíces Institute for Transformative Advocacy (RITA) will equip engineering contingent faculty (adjuncts, part-timers, and non-tenure track), who are Black, Indigenous, People of Color of all intersecting identities (BIPOCx), to form their own transformative grassroots advocacy strategies for attaining equity in promotion pathways and working conditions at their hiring academic institutions. Project objectives center around: developing authentic mentor/mentee relationships, learning/developing transformative individual/collective advocacy plans, and raising awareness for the promotion and/or working conditions of BIPOCx contingent faculty in engineering. Due to the scant attention paid to contingent faculty, this population is severely understudied and undersupported. In the United States alone, there are ~1.5 million faculty employed in higher education out of which over 46% are contingent, the majority composed of marginalized groups, creating a missed opportunity to broaden participation. To broaden participation, our nation needs to leverage a diverse and inclusive science and engineering enterprise to secure economic, national security, and jobs of the future. This project attends to all aspects of this national need. Contingent faculty typically serve fundamental undergraduate courses and large class sizes, indirectly impacting the educational experience of students. Yet, continual stresses of an unstable and non-permanent contingent workforce with limited professional development, promotion opportunities, and benefits, negatively affects higher education. Literature suggests that contingent faculty struggle with implementing evidence-based teaching and mentoring to students because they are either juggling multiple courses in multiple institutions to ‘make ends meet’ or handle multiple service responsibilities with little-to-no support to assist students fully. RITA serves as one of the early studies into the realities and circumstances of contingent faculty in engineering with the aim to generate knowledge, provide recommendations and strategies for institutional action to support, and provide equitable working conditions for these faculty. This project will, by extension benefit numerous undergraduate engineering students who are enrolled in many of these contingent faculty-led courses.    RITA will develop a grassroots-initiated, knowledge-generating, inclusive mentoring hub where first-hand, experiential information acquired from the BIPOCx contingent faculty in engineering will be strategically shared with key decision-makers at their institutions. While not all paths lead to promotion, we argue that all contingent faculty need better working conditions. This project is a partnership between the University of Florida (a Hispanic-Emerging Institution), Virginia Tech (a Predominantly White Institution), and Morehouse College (a Historically Black College and University). These institutions will create a series of professional development and mentoring opportunities to assist two cohorts of contingent engineering faculty (Phase 1- 12 faculty and Phase 2- 12 faculty) to create individual and collective advocacy plans alongside a repertoire of mentors, evaluators, and professional development experts. Through an implementation research methodology called participatory action research (PAR), RITA’s key research question to be answered is: How can BIPOCx contingent faculty in engineering be mentored, at the grassroots, towards transformative advocacy plans for attaining promotion and/or equitable working conditions? PAR will require a series of collaborative planning, acting, and reflection activities between the BIPOCx contingent faculty and their mentors to design and enact advocacy plans in a safe space and environment. Journals, logbooks, and other reflective materials will be collected and analyzed using phenomenographically-inspired approaches. The coded and de-identified information will yield multiple practices, recommendations, and strategies that will be assembled into an Online Repository and shared via podcasts for widespread dissemination. This work will significantly: (1) inform the understudied scholarship on how to support these contingent faculty in engineering; and (2) lay the foundation for an action agenda that alters the trajectory of these faculty by raising awareness for the promotion and/or working conditions of BIPOCx contingent faculty in engineering.    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.",TRUE
2215153,The Racialized Basis of Trait Judgments from Faces,2025-04-18,Indiana University,BLOOMINGTON,IN,IN09,499819,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2215153,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2215153_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,474057000,YH86RTW2YVJ4,"People commonly make inferences about others based on their facial expressions.  Facial cues are used to gauge others’ emotional expressions (such as happiness or anger) and to make inferences about others’ traits (such as trustworthiness or competence).  These judgments are important because they affect decisions in such areas as employment, healthcare or criminal trials.  Facial cues are also used by others to make inferences about a person’s race.  This project focuses on the idea that perceivers may sometimes use the very same facial cues to draw inferences both about a person’s traits and about their race.  As a result, perceivers who are evaluating another person’s traits based on facial cues may actually be evaluating that person based on variations in race.  The proposed Race-Trait Overlap model suggests that the same facial features are used to infer race and traits, which helps to account for causes and consequences of biases in trait inferences from faces.  The ultimate aim of the research is to better understand how racial prejudice works in the mind, and to identify ways of reducing such biases.    This program of research investigates how people may employ racialized facial cues (such as skin tone) to infer others’ traits.  One set of experiments seeks to establish evidence for the Race-Trait Overlap hypothesis.  Another demonstrates that these effects are qualified both by individual differences and group differences.  A third set investigates how these overlap effects can be reduced by decoupling perceivers’ representations of traits from their representations of race.  The Race-Trait Overlap model yields multiple novel and testable predictions.  For example, the model suggests that these effects exist in the minds of perceivers, which means that changing perceivers’ mental representations should change the overlap.  The project offers several methodological advances, and carries important implications for how facial analytics are used in business and industry.  The model helps to account for emerging evidence of social bias in machine learning algorithms that utilize facial cues, and points the way to reducing such bias.    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.",TRUE
2315041,Collaborative Research: Black Girls as Creators: an intersectional learning ecosystem toward gendered racial equity in Artificial Intelligence education,2025-04-18,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,2404767,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315041,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315041_4900,2023-10-01,2028-09-30,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"This project will work with artificial intelligence (AI) creators and Black girls, aged 9-14, to expand the range of perspectives and voices that are a part of AI technology. The project will include after school and summer camps for both Black girls and the AI creators to work together on the design and creation of AI projects.      This project examines two research questions. One is theoretical: What are design principles for an intersectional AI learning ecosystem? With this question the PIs explore Black girls' experiences with AI learning ecosystems, and how they can enact the constructs of intersectionality (critical reflection, action, accountability). Findings related to question 1 will help them develop a framework for intersectional professional development for AI professionals that is specific to how racial equity can be realized in AI learning; and, help them create new curricula that integrates AI; and, develop a framework for how to integrate PD, with curricula and technologies in AI spaces in order to create a more cohesive learning ecosystem. Research question 2 focuses on implementation: What are practical implementation guidelines for community organizations to integrate curricula and professional development into an intersectional AI learning ecosystem? The findings from this question will facilitate the development of resources for AI educators and community organizations. The findings from this project will be of interest to technology educators, AI professionals, the broader STEM education field, and community organizations that provide STEM education.      This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2233703,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: C-COAST: Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation,2025-04-18,University of Southern Mississippi,HATTIESBURG,MS,MS04,12121,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233703,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233703_4900,2023-05-15,2027-04-30,394060001,M1K8LJAET5R1,"Coastal counties are more diverse than non-coastal counties; however, the culture and identities of those who study and manage estuaries and coasts do not reflect these communities. This mismatch diminishes the quality of science and management provided; many coastal professionals lack the lived experiences and knowledge to prioritize issues most impactful to people in coastal areas. Despite widespread recognition that increasing the participation of groups underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is essential to sustaining the nation's capacity for innovation and discovery, there is a widening gap between the total number of marine science graduate degrees granted and degrees granted to those underrepresented in the field. Professional societies play a unique role in facilitating culture change within STEM disciplines by establishing and reinforcing norms and practices that advance greater diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and accessibility (DEIJA). They are also important avenues for training students and professionals in relevant skills and in developing networks necessary to progress in their careers. Culture change in professional societies scales up to impacts on members, their home institutions, and beyond. The Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation (CERF) will assist the next generation of coastal and estuarine biologists and related disciplines in navigating the current culture while simultaneously dismantling inequities at the root of low DEIJA in the disciplines through the Changing the Culture of our Occupations to Achieve Systemic Transformation (C-COAST) program, which will provide professional development, mentoring, and networking to students and professionals at all career stages.    The C-COAST program will harness evidence-based strategies to mitigate inequities and shift culture in the coastal and estuarine sciences through two programs: Rising TIDES Conference Program (RTCP) and Leadership Development Program (LDP). The RTCP is geared towards recruiting and retaining a new generation of estuarine and coastal science professionals. It consists of a 16-month program that supports attendance at the CERF and two additional coastal and estuarine conferences, with virtual meetings in between. The program provides professional and near-peer mentors, training, and networking, in addition to the full suite of scientific conference offerings. The LDP will provide leadership and DEIJA training for current and future leaders by building a dynamic learning community that will prepare emerging leaders to become agents of change while helping current leaders use existing power to address systemic inequities. The goals of C-COAST, from short- to long-term, are to 1): recruit and retain diverse undergraduate and graduate students and provide them professional development, mentorship, and peer networks to support a sense of belonging and identity; 2) educate current leaders on how to be more inclusive and change policies and practices that lead to inequities; and 3) increase the leadership skills of and opportunities for future leaders and prepare them to make policies and practices of CERF and their home institutions more inclusive when they are elevated to positions of power.    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.",TRUE
2305600,Collaborative Research: ADVANCE PARTNERSHIP: STEM Intersectional Equity in Departments (SIEDS): A Partnership for Inclusive Work Cultures,2025-04-18,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,214888,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305600,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305600_4900,2023-10-15,2028-09-30,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"The STEM Intersectional Equity in Departments (SIEDS) project brings three universities, Michigan State University, The Ohio State University, and Wayne State University into a partnership to develop, implement, and assess a Toolkit for Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Departmental Culture. The research literature indicates that all faculty thrive when they work in environments that support the “whole person.” The toolkit will help department leaders create and sustain positive departmental environments that lead to success for all faculty.  The project will empower department leaders so that they can, create assessments that credit faculty for their work in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice (DEIJ) (Inclusive Assessment), promote a “whole person” approach to recognizing and supporting faculty needs (Support across the Faculty Lifecycle), and cultivate future leaders with DEIJ-focused skills and strategies (Diversifying Leadership).    The SIEDS toolkit will 1) identify and address biases during promotion, tenure, and other evaluation processes to create inclusive assessment; 2) recognize the ways that work- and life- tasks interact to build healthy department cultures; 3) expand conceptualizations and measurements of hidden and low-promotable work tasks to increase the recognition and valuing of these time-consuming tasks; and 4) create materials to support leadership development. The toolkit and lessons learned will be shared at the Great Lakes Consortium Convening annually. In project year four, the toolkit is expected to be adapted by the consortium members, reaching all the R1 and R2 universities in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. This adaptation will be evaluated in the final year of the project, which will help improve the toolkit for other institutions and identify implementation issues that may need to be addressed.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education and non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2140262,"ADVANCE Catalyst: Truman College ADVANCE Catalyst Participatory Action Research- Building a sense of ""voice"" among STEM faculty",2025-04-18,City Colleges of Chicago Harry S Truman College,CHICAGO,IL,IL09,274762,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140262,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140262_4900,2022-08-15,2025-04-18,606406063,L3EXK4J98JQ1,"This project will focus on faculty in STEM departments compared to non-STEM departments and uncover any persistent negative perceptions of historically marginalized groups, especially in the STEM departments. The project will examine which female-identifying STEM faculty feel they have a voice in their departments and research the significance of those perceptions in the context of protected classes (e.g., race, religion) and positions in the institution. The project seeks to answer who feels unheard, why that might be the case, and how intersectional identities impact those experiences. This work is important to Harry S Truman College because the college has been deeply engaged in equity work since 2017, but the focus has always been on the student experience. This has left little room for curiosity about faculty experience. And while Harry S. Truman College offers the perspective of an already ethnically diverse college, it nevertheless struggles with persistent and systematic inequity. Additionally, the project will consider which interventions are most likely to increase a sense of belonging or voice and pilot interventions as part of a 5-year STEM Faculty Equity Plan.    Using a combination of focus groups, individual interviews, and a survey, the project will answer three questions: 1) who are the faculty that report feeling unheard, and why is this the case; 2) how do intersectional identities impact their experiences on campus; and 3) what immediate interventions could be piloted to increase sense of voice and belonging? The project will use a mixed methods research approach to prepare a foundational and intersectional report on faculty sense of belonging and voice. The findings will propel future investigation into faculty inequities, known barriers, and promising interventions. Harry S. Truman College wants to uncover any significant disruption between the sense of belonging and voice of faculty in traditionally privileged identities (i.e., white, male) and female-identifying faculty intersected with additional underrepresented identities (e.g., race, national origin, tenure status, etc.). The high-level objectives for this project are to uncover critical inequities and address them with an intersectional lens. The project will create artifacts for easy sharing of information within the higher education community and the ADVANCE network, including a diversity of identities among faculty. The project will privilege experiences in STEM teaching that have traditionally been excluded and build power on the margins by inviting these individuals to lead research and pilot interventions.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide    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.",TRUE
2330923,"Collaborative Research: Indigenous Northern Landscapes, Visual Repatriation, and Collaborative Knowledge Exchange",2025-04-18,University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus,FAIRBANKS,AK,AK00,214931,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Polar Programs,ASSP-Arctic Social Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330923,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2330923_4900,2023-12-01,2026-11-30,997750001,FDLEQSJ8FF63,"Historical landscape photographs in museum and archival collections are critical resources for identifying and characterizing environmental shifts due to climate change and other factors. Repatriation or return of these cultural heritage resources to Indigenous communities assists local stakeholders in assessing changes over time, formulating plans to address and respond to future changes, thus reducing risk and enhancing community resilience. This project, in collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA), creates a unique opportunity for the Iñupiat of Arctic Alaska and Ainu peoples of northern Japan to participate in a visual repatriation project and engage in community-centered heritage resource management. This project advances understanding of the processes of social and environmental change and resultant impacts on Indigenous peoples and fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers and Indigenous communities in Alaska and Japan.    This collaborative project employs diverse methods, including story mapping, repeat photography, oral history interviews, and photovoice to advance understanding of environmental change and foster intergenerational dialogue among Indigenous communities. Project activities include workshops and cultural exchanges, and community knowledge curation by Iñupiaq and Ainu community participants, co-authoring and co-editing a catalogue of historical photographs, and co-publishing peer-reviewed articles. This project advances Indigenous research sovereignty and cultural heritage repatriation efforts through knowledge co-production and builds collaborative relationships among the circumpolar communities.    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.",TRUE
2314916,Collaborative Research: Advancing Collaborations for Equity in Marine and Climate Sciences,2025-04-18,Salem State University,SALEM,MA,MA06,327270,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314916,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314916_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,019705348,P2EJM45BLZN6,"Marine and climate sciences (MCS) scientists play an important role in society because of their focus on both local and global issues affecting the environment and people. Yet MCS are some of the least diverse STEM disciplines, including limited change in the number of Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) in MCS over the past 40 years. Climate and culture in MCS have been identified as actively contributing to the low participation and retention of BIPOC individuals in the disciplines and their disparate academic and professional outcomes, through gatekeeping, professional barriers, and other obstacles. The purpose of this research project is to examine how Woods Hole Collaborative Network (WHCN) researchers and administrators advance collaborations for equity in MCS and what processes are employed for developing equity-driven and anti-racist educational collaborations, infrastructures, and pathways. Project outcomes will span individual, institutional, and disciplinary level transformations.       This research project will investigate the WHCN, a multi-organizational collaboration between six predominantly white institutions located in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. The project focuses on three questions: (1) What features among the WHCN promote or inhibit institutional and disciplinary transformation? (2) In what ways has the WHCN pursued equitable collaborations and how has their collaboration evolved over time? (3) What effective and ineffective features of the WHCN’s initiatives can inform MCS collaborations? Drawing from nearly 20 years of WHCN’s programmatic efforts, researchers will utilize an instrumental case study to center the context and processes of a bounded case, with organizations (e.g., institutions) and individuals (e.g., students, scientists, and affiliated staff) as units of analyses. An instrumental case aligns with the project’s goal to develop a model that maps the process and infrastructure for transformation. The research design includes: (1) BIPOC storytelling and standpoint centering through qualitative interviews and qualitative network mapping with Woods Hole-affiliated BIPOC students, scientists, and alumni; (2) organizational and historical analysis through observations of WHCN initiatives, historical analysis of WHCN’s development, and analysis of student data, documented policies, activities, goals and procedures related to WHCN; and (3) model development, which will reflect a replicable and scalable model for equity-centered support in STEM collaborations.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activities (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EDU Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EDU in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2231729,CAREER: We Dare Defend Our Rights: The Political Use of Law in the Enforcement of Voting Rights,2025-04-18,Tulane University,NEW ORLEANS,LA,LA01,384681,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2231729,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2231729_4900,2022-07-01,2027-04-30,701185665,XNY5ULPU8EN6,"Recent elections have shown that political organizations still matter. The Civil and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960’s made racially exclusionary practices illegal; nevertheless, they did not automatically enforce rights. Whites subsequently adapted and deployed new methods of political exclusion. The contemporary social and political context is different, but the ambiguity and indeterminacy of voting rights are not. State voter ID laws, limits on early voting, restrictions on registration, voter roll purges, disenfranchisement, and gerrymandering have become ordinary yet systemic barriers to minority participation. Voting rights are again being challenged and new de jure and de facto voter suppression techniques are again on the rise. Yet so too are the number of political organizations attempting to build, sustain, and employ the strategic capacity necessary for successful legal mobilization. Understanding how the Alabama Democratic Conference developed, sustained, and employed statewide strategic capacity and effectively capitalized on the support structure for legal mobilization for over twenty years will inform our understanding of social movement theory and provide insights that can be adapted to fit the needs of rights advocacy groups across the United States and in other western-style democracies. This research project will create a repository of research materials on minority political organizations and their legal campaigns. A short documentary will be created and disseminated to a wide audience, from local to national civic and political organizations and from secondary schools to graduate seminars. Lastly, this research project will incorporate underrepresented students at all stages of the research, increasing their sense of belonging, which is highly correlated with academic outcomes, and imparting research and job readiness skills.    This CAREER award focuses on collecting and analyzing data on how a minority political organization sustained a statewide legal campaign for over twenty years (1965-1989) culminating in the most successful political usage of law to enforce voting rights in American history. To guide examination of the ADC, this project relies on prior social movement research under two theoretical headings: the support structure for legal mobilization and strategic capacity. This research project will employ grounded theory, an interpretative analytic approach, and snowball sampling as a complimentary research strategy. This project will provide insight into unresolved questions about how different elements of the support structure for legal mobilization are correlated with successful insurgency at both the state and federal levels. This analysis will advance our understanding of the mechanisms through which strategic capacity is created and our understanding of leadership and organizational structures as sources of strategic capacity. Finally, this research will advance our understanding of how different aspects of strategic capacity interact with the different elements of the support structure for legal mobilization at the state and federal level. In truth, we do not know much about the legal campaigns of minority voting rights organizations. This research project will fill this crucial gap in the socio-legal research literature and answer key questions regarding the political use of law for political purposes.    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.",TRUE
2330922,"Collaborative Research: Indigenous Northern Landscapes, Visual Repatriation, and Collaborative Knowledge Exchange",2025-04-18,Syracuse University,SYRACUSE,NY,NY22,424332,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Polar Programs,ASSP-Arctic Social Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2330922,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2330922_4900,2023-12-01,2026-11-30,13244,C4BXLBC11LC6,"Historical landscape photographs in museum and archival collections are critical resources for identifying and characterizing environmental shifts due to climate change and other factors. Repatriation or return of these cultural heritage resources to Indigenous communities assists local stakeholders in assessing changes over time, formulating plans to address and respond to future changes, thus reducing risk and enhancing community resilience. This project, in collaboration with the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and the Exchange for Local Observations and Knowledge of the Arctic (ELOKA), creates a unique opportunity for the Iñupiat of Arctic Alaska and Ainu peoples of northern Japan to participate in a visual repatriation project and engage in community-centered heritage resource management. This project advances understanding of the processes of social and environmental change and resultant impacts on Indigenous peoples and fosters collaboration and knowledge exchange among researchers and Indigenous communities in Alaska and Japan.    This collaborative project employs diverse methods, including story mapping, repeat photography, oral history interviews, and photovoice to advance understanding of environmental change and foster intergenerational dialogue among Indigenous communities. Project activities include workshops and cultural exchanges, and community knowledge curation by Iñupiaq and Ainu community participants, co-authoring and co-editing a catalogue of historical photographs, and co-publishing peer-reviewed articles. This project advances Indigenous research sovereignty and cultural heritage repatriation efforts through knowledge co-production and builds collaborative relationships among the circumpolar communities.    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.",TRUE
2239067,CAREER: Ethnic-racial discrimination influences on neural representation of threat learning in Latina girls: A multivariate modeling approach,2025-04-18,University of California-Riverside,RIVERSIDE,CA,CA39,481485,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Build and Broaden,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239067,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2239067_4900,2023-04-01,2028-03-31,925210001,MR5QC5FCAVH5,"Children and adults of Mexican descent in the United States are often exposed to discrimination. Discrimination has negative effects on many physical and mental health outcomes, including stress and anxiety. About one third of teen girls are affected by stress and anxiety, and rates among Latina teens in particular have risen over the last few years. However, we know little about how mental health problems like anxiety increase over that time and whether they do so by affecting brain development. Latina girls experience many forms of unfair treatment based on race, family and cultural characteristics, and gender, and are therefore at risk for experiencing stress and anxiety. This study examines whether repeated exposure to unfair treatment during the early teenage years affects how Latina girls learn to distinguish threat from safety, and how parents can play a role in protecting their daughters from the harmful effects of discrimination. The transition between childhood and the early teenage years is an especially important period to study as brain regions related to threat and safety learning are still developing. This study is among the first to include new methods that allow us to compare children’s brain patterns when they view different social and emotional scenes. By using these new methods over time, this research examines how repeated discrimination can affect brain function and lead to anxiety, stress, and feelings of lack of safety. We focus on the unique experiences of Latina girls growing up in Southern California and their parents, who are shaped by their cultural identities and their experiences of discrimination. Doing so leads to a better understanding of community health and brain development, and it informs more effective practices and policies that address the needs of families across the region and the country.     Ethnic-racial discrimination—defined as differential treatment of individuals on the grounds of ethnic or racial group membership, is a salient reality and threat for minoritized youth. The immigration policy contexts and the discourse around it has heightened Latinxs’ experiences with ethnic-racial discrimination and an overwhelming majority of Latinx individuals report being subjected to unfair treatment based on their ethnic background. When a child experiences ethnic-racial discrimination, the brain identifies it as a stressor requiring immediate response, but over time, it also becomes a learned process that creates anticipation and heightened threat vigilance towards possible future exposures. For minoritized youth, little is known about how mental health problems like anxiety accumulate over that time and whether they do so by altering trajectories of brain development. A nascent literature has shown that Latina girls, specifically, demonstrate higher rates of untreated anxiety diagnoses relative to other racial and ethnic groups. The goal of this longitudinal study is to examine neurobiological pathways through which cumulative experiences of ethnic-racial discrimination may be associated with integrity of brain networks that detect and regulate threat responses in Latina girls. We use latent change score models to identify perceptual and emotional contributions to threat and safety learning in Mexican-identifying Latina girls during late middle childhood and early adolescence via behavior and multivariate neuroimaging, and examine the independent and interactive influence of ethnic-racial discrimination experiences and parental socialization on neural signatures of heightened threat vigilance and overgeneralization—the inaccurate classification of safe stimuli as threatening. The novel conceptualization of threat and safety learning posits that maintaining flexible distinctions between threat and safety without inappropriately attributing threats to non-harmful stimuli, depends on safety representations not only in previously identified emotion neurocircuitry, but also in higher-order visual areas, affecting how a child perceives her environment. The model also specifies the influence of ethnic-racial discrimination experiences on girls’ neural representations of threat and safety. Understanding how such experiences affect representations of threat and safety is a crucial next step for the science of threat learning in childhood, particularly in this underrepresented population.    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.",TRUE
2444914,I-Corps: Translation Potential of an Online Healthcare Information (OHI) Trust Badge,2025-04-18,Northern Kentucky University,NEWPORT,KY,KY04,50000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,I-Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2444914,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2444914_4900,2024-11-15,2025-10-31,410990001,LN53C9E23GH6,"The broader impact of this I-Corps project is the development of an online knowledge recommender tool and trust badge for consumers. Health misinformation remains a serious societal threat. Since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, reports show on average that 8 out of 10 Americans search for online healthcare information (OHI), and 4 out of 10 Americans cannot correctly identify false healthcare claims. The goal of the new technology is to help alleviate confusion amongst consumers caused by the overwhelming amount of OHI, and to help OHI providers boost their reputation as a trustworthy source. The tool is designed to combat misinformation by proactively serving a wide spectrum of stakeholders who regularly deal with OHI content. The I-Corps project will focus on the specific issues and public challenges of endorsements in addition to fact checking of OHI content and contributing to a better understanding of the needs of people who use and/or provide OHI content. This solution serves as a foundation for a consultancy service providing platform offering advice plus training to OHI consumers and OHI providers.    This I-Corps project utilizes experiential learning coupled with a first-hand investigation of the industry ecosystem to assess the translation potential of a software tool that will serve online healthcare information (OHI) users by providing machine learning-based classification and certification of OHI content trustworthiness. Research has shown that machine learning-based classifiers can process OHI claims and classify them as fact or fake, but such solutions have not been directly integrated into web browsers and have been trained with primarily textual cues from mostly unimodal datasets. This technology addresses these limitations and is designed as a machine learning driven online knowledge recommender tool, prototyped as a web extension utility, which can be directly embedded into web browsers to seamlessly report trustworthiness of any OHI content. the solution is designed as a trust badge model for easy certification of web content and can function both as an online content classifier. This capability may allow both OHI consumers and OHI providers to validate and tag OHI websites' trustworthiness. Additionally, the solution is trained with multimodal data, that includes both textual and visual cues (e.g., image elements, graphic contents, and infographics), unlike existing solutions that do not include visual cues or image artifacts.    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.",FALSE
2231202,GP-UP: Workshop to build collaboration & participation across DE&I programs in Ocean Science,2025-04-18,University of South Florida,TAMPA,FL,FL15,49906,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Ocean Sciences,SPECIAL EMPHASIS PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2231202,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2231202_4900,2022-08-15,2025-06-30,336205800,NKAZLXLL7Z91,"The University of South Florida will organize and support a  two-day conference for representatives of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs in ocean sciences who will map the landscape of programs and opportunities designed to encourage underrepresented students to pursue ocean STEM careers. A primary goal is to identify existing programs in this space, what audience(s) they reach, and where the gaps or connection points are between programs.  A secondary goal of the workshop is to identify ways to provide increased access to at-sea training and experiences, as well as shoreside experiences, especially at the undergraduate level where opportunities are lacking.     This conference will support the development of new long-term collaborations focused on supporting the engagement of under-represented students in ocean sciences. The workshop will seek to mitigate barriers to advancement of under-represented students in ocean sciences and to identify pathways that support student advancement in ocean science careers. The results of the workshop will be disseminated in a report, and the PI will seek to publish an information item about the workshop results in a major ocean science journal. The collaborative plan that emerges from it will aid all DE&I programs in ocean science. The workshop report will help existing and new programs, institutions, and individuals interested in advancing DE&I in ocean sciences by identifying best practices, gaps and opportunities, and potential collaborators.    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.",TRUE
2150680,"Collaborative Research: Chemistry Education Research through the Lens of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Conference",2025-04-18,Southern Utah University,CEDAR CITY,UT,UT02,23489,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150680,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150680_4900,2023-11-01,2025-04-18,847202415,C8WLYVK4EYL1,"Critical modern scholarship argues that discipline-based education research (DBER), such as chemistry education research (CER), is limited in its theoretical underpinnings and focuses on deficit-based methodologies. To promote a more equitable and inclusive scientific community that embraces and supports scientists from marginalized groups, the project team will design and implement a virtual conference to bring together Chemistry Education Research (CER) scholars and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) experts from within chemistry and other fields to enhance the capacity of CER scholars to carry out research and teaching centered on DEI practices. This conference will include presentations, workshops, and share-out sessions to learn, acquire tools, and build the capacity for scholars to enact equity-centered practices in research and teaching.    To address critical DEI issues permeating the chemistry education field, the virtual conference will include 1) presentations by invited DEI research experts from various STEM disciplines, 2) working sessions to explore research methods and identify future directions of DEI-focused CER, and 3) share-out sessions. Participants will reflect on their own experiences and the climate in the field. Attendees will reflect on the ethics of studying students from marginalized groups, learn about research methods that move beyond deficit-model frameworks, and identify changes to improve the climate in the field and to ensure that scholars from marginalized groups are supported. This conference will encompass three main pillars to: (1) promote chemistry education practices centered around equity principles, (2) demonstrate how DEI principles can inform chemistry education research, and (3) break down academic silos to facilitate interdisciplinary knowledge sharing and skill building. Equity is central to these issues and permeates through all three pillars. The conference organizers will utilize a community organizing framework and strategies to inform the design of conference activities that will draw community members together to build capacity to enact DEI practices within the chemistry education community and motivate action. An external evaluator will assess the success of the project and assist the project team in understanding how attendees use their learning and the supports provided by the conference to begin to break down barriers.    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.",TRUE
2317076,Conference: IEC Asset Driven Equitable Partnership (ADEP) Workshop,2025-04-18,"Inclusive Engineering Consortium, Inc.",WILMETTE,IL,IL10,49997,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317076,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317076_4900,2023-08-01,2025-04-18,600911836,NK6BUB2WU7Q7,"The IEC Asset Driven Equitable Partnerships (ADEP) Workshop offers Core Members of the Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) the opportunity to explore ideas for identifying, utilizing and building on existing assets for research and education in cooperation with collaborators from Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs), government and industry. The mission of IEC is to enable electrical and computer engineering (ECE) programs at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) produce more and better prepared graduates by building partnerships with PWIs, industry, and government agencies. These partnerships must be equitable with all voices being heard and all relevant assets identified and utilized. This has led IEC to address what makes an asset-driven equitable partnership and how to develop and sustain such partnerships. This workshop will be a major step in implementing ideas developed within IEC to collectively address common opportunities and problems by more fully and productively utilizing Asset Based Equitable Partnerships to graduate more and better prepared minority engineers; increase efficiency and productivity at MSIs; and develop a sustainable and effective infrastructure to support minority students, faculty and staff. In time, the IEC effort will grow and the model being developed can be replicated and implemented for other disciplines.    The overall Inclusive Engineering Consortium (IEC) vision is to be a collaboration of Minority Serving Institutions Working as One to Advance the ECE Enterprise. It has become clear that there is a need to get a representative set of Core MSI Members in the same room as potential colleagues from PWIs, industry and government to specifically address the barriers to real collaboration and identify the kind of long-term investments required on both sides to achieve success. Workshop participants will develop strategies that join IEC Core, Affiliate, and Corporate members together to create the organizational support structure and activities necessary to realize IEC’s grand vision. For such collaborations to work, the partners must know one another, commit to one another, invest in one another, and take responsibility for one another’s success. Equitable partnerships are built on mutual investment, respect, and clear identification of each partner's assets. This includes tangible resources like funding or expertise and intangible assets like relationships and networks. When partners work equitably with one another, all voices are heard and considered in decision-making, and partners work together to achieve specific, mutually agreed upon outcomes.    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.",TRUE
2305476,SCC-IRG Track 2: Equitable-Access Flood Modeling for Timely and Just Adaptation in the Near and Long Term,2025-04-18,University of Miami,CORAL GABLES,FL,FL27,1507549,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2305476,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2305476_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,331462509,KXN7HGCF6K91,"Climate change is intensifying flood risks, with profound socioeconomic consequences. Equitable flood adaptation is designed to offer greater and/or more lasting benefits to overburdened communities than past projects in a warming climate. In pursuit of this goal, this Smart and Connected Communities Integrative Research Grant (SCC-IRG) project develops and tests a new paradigm of flood adaptation marked by innovation in access to, and use of, an interactive, fast flood risk simulation tool. The project aims to produce new knowledge about the role and effectiveness of collaborative models in promoting social justice and environmental well-being. Widespread adoption has the potential to make future solutions to be more time-sensitive, equitable, and effective for different communities and hazard types.    Flooding dynamics are complex and uncertain, decision-making is limited by social, political, and institutional constraints, and participatory processes are very time-consuming. This project brings together experts in civil engineering, adaptation sciences, and regional planning to (a) overcome technical barriers in flood risk simulation that have been limiting collaborative exploration by communities, notably the ability to predict flood impacts at fine resolution and at regional scales for a wide range of scenarios, and (b) measure if and how a new sociotechnical framework can improve outcomes such as increasing participation of marginalized populations, shortening planning timelines, and more equitably distribution of benefits and resources across groups and neighborhoods over time. Linking a digital engagement platform to a fast-response flood simulation tool could represent a breakthrough innovation for more equitably responding to climate change. The framework, if successful, could be broadly applied at neighborhood to regional scales to aid in climate change adaptation.    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.",TRUE
2349282,Planning: FIRE-PLAN: Exploring fire as medicine to revitalize cultural burning in the Upper Midwest,2025-04-18,SHAKOPEE MDEWAKANTON SIOUX COMMUNITY,PRIOR LAKE,MN,MN02,159222,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Environmental Biology,Population & Community Ecology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2349282,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2349282_4900,2024-05-01,2026-04-30,553729077,G11HL1HD82Z4,"This planning project-- Fire as Medicine-- aims to develop training and knowledge development for Indigenous land management practitioners to promote healthy ecosystems and communities. Indigenous people used fire for centuries to not only ensure ample supplies of important resources, such as food and fiber materials, but also to connect with the land. European colonization changed the close connections between Indigenous people and fire. Today, many land management agencies use prescribed fire to achieve several goals, but these efforts often have limited cultural value for Tribal communities. This project first seeks to understand the cultural context of burning in Indigenous lands and what Indigenous peoples aim to achieve in terms of both ecological and cultural objectives. In developing this research the project provides knowledge, training, and resources to conduct culturally-meaningful burns that are safe and effective. Strong connections with the Tallgrass Prairie and Oak Savanna Fire Science Consortium and the USDA Agricultural Research Service ensure broad dissemination and use by a large stakeholder community in the region.    Many Indigenous communities believe regaining control of fire in their landscapes will help heal damage passed down from generation to generation. This project develops capacity for underrepresented communities in the Upper Midwest to understand and implement cultural burning themselves. Specifically, listening sessions with elders and land managers in Indigenous communities aim to inform what is currently known and practiced with respect to cultural burning across the upper Midwest, and identify barriers, knowledge gaps, and under-developed opportunities that currently limit cultural burning. Following the listening sessions, common themes are presented to a focus group of regional Indigenous stakeholders to identify priorities for education and training to be addressed in subsequent phases of the Fire as Medicine project. The team facilitates the development of an Indigenous model of fire regimes based on Traditional Ecological Knowledge for the prairies and woodlands of the Upper Midwest and adjacent regions in Canada. The project includes under-represented groups in all stages of the project development, implementation, and dissemination.    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.",TRUE
2201930,Spatial Justice in Physics Teaching and Learning,2025-04-18,Western Washington University,BELLINGHAM,WA,WA02,471586,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201930,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201930_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,982255996,U3ZFA57417D4,"This project will prepare scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians who understand how to address the roles of race and racism in physics education. This project seeks to address racism in physics by building knowledge about the spatiality of injustice in physics teaching and learning environments – how racism gets inscribed in space, including the physical layout of the classroom, the policies and practices that shape instructional approaches and student-teacher interactions, and the ways students and faculty think about and are allowed to “take up” or inhabit space. Spatiality is an often-ignored dimension in justice work, which more often attends to historical and sociological dimensions. The spatiality of injustice focuses on how injustice can be embedded in space. The overall goal of this project is to support physics instructors, students, and researchers to build an awareness of how racism shapes physics teaching and learning spaces to transform how the discipline is taught in higher education.    The research team will partner with undergraduate students to conduct in-depth case studies of physics classrooms, bringing existing methods to the study of STEM spaces and developing new methodological tools that can be applied to other STEM disciplines. The project will analyze video from physics classrooms, interviews with physics students, and other artifacts to identify how and to what extent issues of race arise in physics classrooms and how space is experienced and negotiated by physics students. The project will produce design principles for more racially and spatially just physics teaching and learning, methodological tools that can be used by STEM researchers, artistic renderings of reimagined learning spaces (counter-maps), reflections on anti-racist practices and authentic participant research, and publications and presentations that share project insights.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2309310,Collaborative Research: Evaluating Access: How a Multi-Institutional Network Promotes Equity and Cultural Change through Expanding Student Voice,2025-04-18,Chicago State University,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,16292,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Physics,Integrative Activities in Phys,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309310,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2309310_4900,2024-02-01,2027-01-31,606281598,PJ66MZ7MFZ16,"Addressing the critical issue of representation and equity in the physical sciences requires meaningful cultural change. The Access Network, founded in 2015, directly addresses this national priority by connecting institutions with student-led, equity-oriented programs to share and disseminate research-based strategies and provide support for overcoming common barriers. Through mentored intersite student cohorts and an annual Assembly, Access fosters community, develops student leaders, reinforces institutional memory, and provides a national context, all important factors for sustainability and scalability. At the Network’s core is a unique philosophy that recognizes and elevates students as drivers of change, recognizing them as powerful members of the STEM community and the future leaders of physics.  An innovative evaluation partnership among external evaluators, educational research faculty within the network, and internal student evaluation fellows will document the network’s impacts on student leaders, local sites and individual departments. These activities combine a student-driven, community-based approach with the expertise of external evaluators, resulting in a more complete picture of the model.    This work will directly support students in the Network, at individual institutions, and beyond by: (i) continuously improving Network activities that support the professional development and retention of junior scientists from diverse backgrounds, (ii) cultivating new student leaders, and (iii) growing a repository of materials and best practices that will increase the efficacy of local sites. It will advance knowledge of equity-focused change in the physical sciences and develop infrastructure for robust evaluation to document, understand, and promote Network aspects crucial to success. The novel evaluation partnership proposed among external evaluators, internal evaluation mentors, and student evaluation advance the conception of participatory evaluation and sets a model for programmatic evaluation. More effectively supporting sites in local evaluation enables their sustainability, as they can better understand and communicate their impacts to local stakeholders. Insights from evaluation activities not only result in a more complete picture of the Access Network model, informing improvements to the network, but also benefit others wishing to enact equity-focused cultural change in STEM. The knowledge about effective programs will be especially helpful for those enacting shared leadership models, expanding the critical role students can play in transforming communities.    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.",TRUE
2140905,Examining Blackness in Postsecondary STEM Education through a Multidimensional-Multiplicative Lens,2025-04-18,North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University,GREENSBORO,NC,NC06,908881,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,S-STEM-Schlr Sci Tech Eng&Math,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2140905,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2140905_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,27411,SKH5GMBR9GL3,"Despite well-intentioned university efforts to support Black undergraduate STEM students, policy and practice reforms run the risk of not appropriately benefiting all Black people due to pervasive, deficit-based assumptions about Black racial identities and the types of structural engagement needed to advance holistic, racial well-being in transformative and sustainable ways. Stated simply, STEM contexts do not adequately support Black undergraduate STEM students because STEM educators and practitioners remain unsure of what Blackness means for individuals, thereby constraining true racial equity endeavors. Contemporary literature regarding race posits instead that embodiment(s) of Blackness differ across multiple dimensions and axes, including ethnic identity (e.g., African American, Caribbean American, Nigerian American), place identity (e.g., South, Midwest), and generational identity (e.g., first-generation, second-generation, third plus generation). Black students from different ethnic and generational identities having varied perceptions of the racial climate and understandings of their STEM experiences. Recognizing the scope of Blackness and its implications for creating and sustaining holistic, heterogenous conceptions of racial equity in STEM, the team will establish a collaborative network among six institutions (two HBCUS, two PWIs, one majority Black institution, and one HSI) located across the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Southwest, and Midwest regions of the US to study how Black undergraduate STEM students’ notions of Blackness vary with respect to these dimensions.     The research team will conduct an exploratory sequential mixed methods project, integrating mosaic ethnography, survey design and administration of the survey to Black undergraduate STEM students across five states. Through these methods, the students’ conceptions of Blackness will be explored as it relates to their STEM engagement and perspectives of racial equity in STEM. In efforts to foster racial equity in STEM for all Black people, this project will produce tools of analysis (i.e., theories, research methods, qualitative and quantitative measures) and translational products (i.e., professional developments, aminations, infographics) that will change how institutional and organizational policies, practices, and future research treat Black people in STEM, thereby promoting tailored resources and supports to meet Black people’s nuanced needs. The desired outcomes from this work will inform the development and implementation of racial equity focused policies and practices in STEM education, facilitating increased access and sustained engagement in STEM for Black undergraduate students.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2230494,NSF Convergence Accelerator Track F: Online Deception Awareness and Resilience Training (DART),2025-04-18,SUNY at Buffalo,AMHERST,NY,NY26,5000000,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""","Technology, Innovation and Partnerships",Convergence Accelerator Resrch,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230494,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230494_4900,2022-09-15,2025-04-18,142282577,LMCJKRFW5R81,"As one of the most vexing problems of the century, we are witnessing the escalating speed, scale, and level of sophistication of online deception (spear phishing and catfishing scams, personal information hunting schemes, fake content, impersonation, and disinformation on social media) that have severe consequences (ransomware attack, financial loss, and breach of private information). The most vulnerable demographic is older adults, who are disproportionately targeted for online exploitation, manipulation, and fraud resulting in significant financial loss and emotional distress. Deception Awareness and Resilience Training (DART) aims to equip older adults with the tools they need to recognize various forms of online deception and help others in their social circle avoid or mitigate harm. Designed by experts in education, psychology, communication, cybersecurity, and media studies, the DART curriculum contains high-quality and timely synthetic contents and real-world scenarios. The DART project team includes experts in psychology, communications and media, economics, cybersecurity, computer science, game design, synthetic media, and aging studies. DART deliverables will be developed by a professional development team and tested with older adults.    The DART system consists of two complementary components: (1) DART Learn: a web-based structured, dynamic, and self-paced learning program on online deceptions. (2) DART Practice: an interactive social media simulation that provides a safe and realistic platform for the users to practice what they learned about online deception. (3) DART Play: a set of simple, fun mobile Games on mobile platforms (iOS and Android) designed to familiarize older adults with common deceptions.    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.",FALSE
2240900,DDRIG: Intimate Crises: The history of notions of sexuality and gender in the 19th and 20th century,2025-04-18,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,15070,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2240900,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2240900_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"This research delves into the history of the legal and social regulation of, and the production of knowledge, around human bodies and sexuality. The goal is to uncover the ways in which modern state institutions, legal frameworks, shifting material relations, and the reception and translation of medical knowledge, transformed conceptions of sexuality during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Hegemonic narratives have sought to obfuscate not only the contemporary existence of non-normative sexual experiences in certain national contexts, but also aimed to bury any historical traces of non-normative forms of gender and sexuality. This dissertation project documents the history and shifting perceptions of sexual diversity and explores how and why attitudes toward this diversity were historically transformed in different national contexts.    By conducting archival research to examine the pre-colonial to post-colonial periods, the project aims to answer the following questions: (1) How did the historical ‘otherizing’ of non-normative sexuality take shape and contributed to the marginalization of those “others”? (2) How did the ‘otherizing’ depend (or not) on the widely accepted thesis surrounding the emergence and translation of ‘medicalized’ understandings of sexuality in the nineteenth century? (3) In a colonial and post-colonial context, how did certain forms of sexual expression become criminalized? (4) How did the structural marginalization of certain types of sexuality manifest itself and impact public health of e.g., populations impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic? Project findings will contribute toward a doctoral dissertation, a book manuscript, and the data generated will be archived to facilitate future research on these topics.    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.",TRUE
2217745,Track 3: Increasing Minority Presence within Academia through Continuous Training at Scale (IMPACTS),2025-04-18,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,799882,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217745,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217745_4900,2022-08-01,2025-04-18,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    Despite concerted efforts to diversify engineering academia, the engineering professoriate remains primarily White and male. In order to counter the disproportionate representation of engineering faculty who are members of underrepresented groups (URGs; i.e., women and STEM-underrepresented minority populations), an Inclusive Mentoring (IM) Hub will be established. The IM Hub will be designed to aid in the preparation, persistence, and promotion of URG engineering faculty through the creation of a mentorship network of technically similar and otherwise strategic emeriti faculty mentors (primarily White males) and demographically similar senior faculty mentors. The two sets of mentors will be expected to cross-pollinate and assist one another to become more effective mentors from their unique vantage points as engineering academic leaders. For example, the senior URG faculty will counsel the emeriti faculty (who are expected to primarily be of non-URG populations due to the demographic realities of the engineering professoriate) regarding the distinct differences one encounters in engineering academia as a woman and/or person of color. Increasing Minority Presence within Academia through Continuous Training (IMPACT) at Scale (IMPACTS) will leverage the seed successes and lessons garnered during the development of IMPACT as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) Project (Awards 15-42728 and 15-42524) and an INCLUDES Design, Development and Launch Pilot (DDLP) (Award 17-44500). The IM Hub will target 25-30 engineering faculty mentees per year. The intended outcome, wherein retired and senior engineering faculty mentor, support, and advocate for the next generation of URG engineering faculty, has the potential to significantly impact the engineering faculty ecosystem. The implicit benefit of IMPACTS will involve a stronger and more diversified STEM professoriate and workforce, given that larger numbers of student talent would be taught and trained by a more empowered diversity of faculty. Additionally, the project will advance knowledge on the value of an IM Hub designed as a mentorship network, which has the capacity to broaden participation, inclusivity, and equity in engineering academia.    The American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE) will provide the core means of soliciting participation in IMPACTS across U.S. engineering academia, as well as using prior constructs to implement and monitor the IM Hub. In order to advance knowledge on the IMPACTS participants’ experience and factors related to sustained participation and perpetuation of such mentorship, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs will implement a multi-phased phenomenological mixed-methods study. The research primarily will target the hypothesized effectiveness of engaging emeriti faculty, in tandem with senior URG faculty, in the mentorship of URG faculty mentees. The use of professional goals progression, interviews, and surveys will be key in documenting success. Finally, Georgia Tech will provide overarching project leadership and will aid implementation and expansion.    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.",TRUE
2233342,Collaborative Research: DESIGN: Co-creation of affinity groups to facilitate diverse & inclusive ornithological societies,2025-04-18,University of Nebraska-Lincoln,LINCOLN,NE,NE01,211435,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233342,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233342_4900,2023-05-01,2026-04-30,685032427,HTQ6K6NJFHA6,"Professional societies serve as major hubs for networking, professional development, financial support, recognition of leadership, and dissemination of science. Diversity-focused initiatives can increase access to the field associated with the society, but they may have limited success in improving the inclusion of marginalized members who lack a sense of community or feel their voices are not heard. One way to instigate cultural change from the ground up is to develop affinity groups where members of historically excluded communities can develop support networks based on common experiences and identities. Such affinity groups can go beyond “one-shot” social events at conferences to build long-lasting communities and connection. This project will develop a mechanism to co-create affinity groups within ornithology that can serve to support members of historically excluded communities, amplify their voices, and empower them to help change the culture of ornithology. This project involves close collaboration between three major US ornithological societies (American Ornithological Society, Wilson Ornithological Society, and Association for Field Ornithologists) to jointly support and elevate marginalized members in ornithology. The ultimate goal is to transform ornithology into an inclusive discipline that leverages the talents of the diverse communities of learners, scientists, and practitioners to solve urgent problems in ecology, conservation, and environmental justice.     A recent diversity assessment conducted by the American Ornithological Society revealed that many individuals from historically excluded groups feel a weaker sense of belonging, feel that their voices are not heard, and feel that they are not valued. These components comprise key elements of transformative resilience: a framework for not only increasing the persistence of individuals from marginalized groups, but to create paths for institutional transformation. This project aims to design a process for co-creating affinity groups—i.e., identity-based groups created by and for members from historically excluded communities—that facilitate transformative resilience. The co-creation process engages marginalized members to imagine an ornithological community where they belong and are valued, and then creates affinity groups based on those visions through a series of workshops with emerging leaders of the communities. The project sets up vast potential for implementing activities that broadens support to historically excluded communities, including targeted professional development, leadership development, improved communication, and social support. The project will have four other categories of broader impacts: (1) fostering stakeholder engagement among three ornithological societies, non-profit organizations, governmental agencies, and minority-serving institutions and societies; (2) providing educational and training opportunities in diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) for a postdoctoral scholar and summer Multicultural Academic Opportunities Program undergraduate scholars; (3) disseminating findings of the project beyond academia; and (4) broadening the diversity of scholars who are engaged in DEIJ research.    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.",TRUE
2218101,"Collaborative Research: Biocultural context linking the gut microbiome, iron, and reproduction",2025-04-18,University of Florida,GAINESVILLE,FL,FL03,219800,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Biological Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218101,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2218101_4900,2022-09-01,2026-08-31,326111941,NNFQH1JAPEP3,"The lived and physiologically embedded experience (‘embodiment’) of racism has been proposed to account for health disparities. In the United States there are disproportionately high rates of sickness and death among Black mothers due to iron deficiency anemia. A framework of embodiment, informed by both biocultural and evolutionary considerations, offers a particularly relevant yet understudied lens to look the role of gut health in iron status as a key nexus linking lived experience and reproductive outcomes among U.S. Black women. This project strengthens the relationships between researchers and maternal-child community organizations in the U.S. by engaging a community task force in the design, execution, and dissemination of the research and through the training of underrepresented students in biological anthropology.     This study uses both critical biocultural approach and a life history theory framework to understand how experience, the gut microbiome, iron status, and reproduction interact to create health disparities among women in the U.S. Specifically, this study will assess: 1) whether the gut microbiome is a pathway of embodiment between women’s experiences of racism and their iron status, and 2) factors affecting offspring size, timing of birth, and risk of iron deficiency during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum. A longitudinal study design is used that will follow women over time, from early pregnancy to 6 months postpartum; data are collected at four time points regarding women’s experience of racism, stress, diet, iron status biomarkers, microbiome composition and function, and reproductive outcomes. Methods to quantify gut microbiome composition and function include third generation sequencing and metabolomic analysis. We predict that Black women’s social experiences and diet are associated with higher enrichment of pro-inflammatory bacteria, which are in turn associated with poorer iron status and poorer reproductive outcomes for mother and infant. This work, combined with qualitative exploration of the contexts of racism in participants’ lives, will contribute to building a biocultural context for understanding maternal racial health disparities.    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.",TRUE
2217780,Broadening Participation in STEM,2025-04-18,The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley,EDINBURG,TX,TX15,1199998,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217780,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217780_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,785392909,L3ATVUT2KNK7,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    Hispanics represent one of the fastest growing populations in the US, yet one of the least represented in engineering. This project aims to address the systemic inequities that hinder the participation and advancement of Hispanics in engineering along the engineering career continuum, including the social/family, education and professionalization systems. Broadening the participation of URMs in engineering serves the national interest of strengthening America’s STEM workforce and global competitiveness. As the nation’s second largest Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), the Center for Equity in Engineering (CEE) is uniquely positioned to increase the participation of Hispanics in the engineering workforce. First, the project will expand the pipeline by providing Hispanic students and their families with early exposure to culturally relevant role models and engineering content.  This objective will be accomplished through programs like Familia Engage, summer engineering camps for high school girls, and a teachers & counselors forum.  Second, the project will create an inclusive collegiate experience that promotes students’ success through curricular reform and trainings for faculty and students, some to be co-led by students themselves.  Third, the project will create deeper professional/career, leadership, and research development opportunities.  The team strives to increase the placement rates of our students in the engineering workforce through connections with professional associations and employers.  It is the expectation that other institutions will learn from the strategies to increase the number of engineering graduates and use of theoretical frameworks to inform curricula and policy changes.     The GOAL of the Center for Equity in Engineering: Engage, Educate, Enrich (CEE-E3) is to increase enrollment, retention, and advancement rates of Hispanic students in engineering higher education. The vision is to be a national model for inclusion, professional preparation, and success of Hispanic and other URM students, particularly Latinas, in engineering careers. The CEE-E3 encompasses three focus areas (in line with the three objectives outlines above): 1) K-12 Outreach (ENGAGE); 2) Education & Training (EDUCATE) and 3) Professional & Research Experiences (ENRICH). The project will focus on both academic and non-academic outcomes for students, as informed by the Garcia’s “Servingness” model.  Drawing on the frameworks of biculturalism, culturally relevant pedagogy, and community cultural wealth, the project will introduce and explore Hispanic cultural values as they relate the norms of science & engineering teaching and to the professionalization of the engineering workforce.  Using mixed methods, the project will document and explore students’ self-efficacy and resiliency, as well as students’ and their families’ exposure to role models along the career pipeline.  The project will leverage a board partnership with major universities, engineering professional societies, community colleges, K-12 systems, non-profits, engineering employers and alumni.  It will expand URTGV’s student educational opportunities through an R1-institution collaboration to create the Alliance for Student Participation in Research Experiences for Hispanics (ASPIRE Hispanics). The project team will introduce students to role models, professional networks, and ongoing personal and career development through professional society partners.  Finally, through the national Equity in Engineering Education Summit, the project will share promising practices with institutions serving Hispanic populations so that they can replicate or adapt the best practices at their home campuses.    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.",TRUE
2201810,"Collaborative Research: A qualitative inquiry into sex/gender narratives in undergraduate biology and their impacts on transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming students",2025-04-18,Colorado State University,FORT COLLINS,CO,CO02,313026,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201810,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201810_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,805212807,LT9CXX8L19G1,"This project examines how a more accurate curriculum about the diversity of sexes found across species, the role of the environment in sex determination, and the complex relationship between sex and gender can create a more inclusive environment for transgender, non-binary, and gender non-conforming (TNG) students in undergraduate biology courses. Research indicates that rather than emphasizing the diversity of strategies and experiences that organisms have around sex, gender, and orientation, biology courses often inaccurately categorize sex and gender as binary. The oversimplification of sex and gender into binary categories can make biology classrooms particularly challenging for TNG students. Early data suggest that how sex and gender topics are represented in the biology curriculum impacts TNG students’ sense of belonging and interest in biology. Understanding TNG students’ experiences with biology content will support the design of interventions and curriculum inclusive of both TNG and intersex students. This project will also help all biology students develop inclusive and scientifically accurate understandings of sex and gender.  Finally, this work will positively impact the career competencies of all biology majors who will need skills and knowledge to work with diverse patients, stakeholders, and teams.      Guided by master narrative theory, the goals of this project are to: 1) explore how sex and gender are currently represented in the undergraduate biology content, 2) describe the impact this content has on classroom climate and belonging for TNG students, and 3) characterize the current efforts of biology instructors to create a more inclusive climate for TNG students. Master narrative theory deciphers how messages in the cultural environment become internalized and impact the development of personal identity. The sample will include TNG students with diverse racial/ethnic and social identities along with biology instructors recruited from a variety of institutions. Data collected will include participant interviews (recorded and transcribed), participant baseline demographic surveys, course observations (e.g., video recordings), and course artifacts (e.g., lesson plan, assessment questions). Feminist phenomenology, qualitative content analysis, and document analysis will be used to analyze the data. The anticipated outcomes of this project include (a) identifying aspects of biology content that could influence the sense of belonging of TNG students and impact the career competency of  all biology majors, (b) describing factors that can help or hinder instructors as they try to create more inclusive and accurate biology curricula related to sex and gender, and  (c) creating professional development materials to support instructors who design lessons around biology topics related to sex and gender.     This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2141313,"Collaborative Research: The Angry Crowd Bias: Social, Cognitive, and Perceptual Mechanisms",2025-04-18,University of Denver,DENVER,CO,CO01,302713,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141313,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2141313_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,802104711,WCUGNQQ8DZU1,"Most people believe they see the world and those around them accurately. However, the way people initially perceive others is often inaccurate and systematically biased towards negative perceptions. For example, when first exposed to faces that are hard to see or that have subtle expressions, people report that these faces look threatening (even when they are not). This project examines a bias to judge unfamiliar others in crowds as being angry. This research tests whether a perceiver's bias to judge others as angry depends on the others' race and gender, whether the others are alone or in a crowd, and the perceiver's own beliefs about race and gender. Racial and gender bias in crowd perception is not simply an academic issue. Crowds have been at the center stage of protest and social unrest moments that are causing vastly divergent interpretations of current events. This project reveals who may be most susceptible to negative crowd biases, the underlying visual and cognitive process that cause biased judgments, and the malleability of these biases.     This research utilizes state-of-the-art methods and statistical tools to examine visual attention to faces, and bias and accuracy in emotion judgments (specifically, eye-tracking data, signal detection methods, and drift-diffusion modeling). The approach makes it possible to track visual patterns – for example, which faces people look at first in a crowd, how long they look at each face, whether they ignore anyone, whether faces appear alone or in a crowd – all of which are likely to be affected by the racial and gender features of the faces. Newly-developed materials include an extensive set of computer-generated faces that have been designed with precise variations in gender and racial features. Tracking visual patterns and judgements of these computer-generated faces can establish at what point, for whom, and why bias occurs for crowd perception. Additional materials include a representative set of crowd images from real-life settings (i.e., published in popular news sources), which help to advance an understanding of how people perceive and react to crowds they typically encounter as part of their daily lives.    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.",TRUE
2216268,"Braiding Opportunities in Training, Advocacy, and Networking for Young Scientists  (BOTANY Scientists)",2025-04-18,Weber State University,OGDEN,UT,UT01,297407,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216268,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216268_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,844081014,ZAVDUCLBZG77,"This project aims to serve the national interest by establishing practices to improve student mindset and persistence in botany. Given the importance of botany to agriculture, land and natural resource management, conservation, and mitigating climate change it is imperative that students pursing these areas have a strong understanding of botany. Given the broad scale of these issues it is important that we recruit and retain students from diverse backgrounds into the field. Therefore, this project will investigate academic, social, and research support interventions under which improved learning occurs for persons excluded because of their ethnicity or race (PEERs). Through a multifaceted approach to engage student learning, this project will build on educational practices that are demonstrably effective and extend and explore these in novel ways.  These include, in part, actively working with students who have community ties, upending the commonly used pipeline model to one that encompasses the manners in which the vast majority of students approach higher education and success, and incorporating outreach to K-12 educators in botany.  Additionally, strategic partnerships will be developed with native Utah nations, the Utah Native Plant Society and Zion National Park.  Emerging from this project will be a model to better understand the most useful interventions to help students reach their academic and career goals in botany.    This project intends to integrate six approaches to improve recruitment and retention in botany: 1) early intervention in K-12 via development and implementation of educational and outreach materials, 2) a summer bridge program to help with transition to college, 3) early introduction to research through botanical and ecological field experiences at Zion National Park, 4) peer mentorship, 5) academic training utilizing active-learning practices for teachers across Utah, and 6) appropriate self-assessment to revise and identify the best (combination of) practices.  A Bayesian approach will be employed to evaluate the combination of intervention strategies in order to generate novel information on which combinations of recruitment and retention interventions lead to greater success in botany. As such, this project offers a new analytical lens that can be used to address long-standing questions on best practices for broadening participation in botany. Collectively, these approaches will help increase access to and participation in higher education for PEERs in an important area of study and will aid students more broadly in reaching a successful career in botany. The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning Level 1, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.    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.",TRUE
2214217,Collaborative Research: HNDS-R: Dynamics and Mechanisms of Information Spread via Social Media,2025-04-18,CUNY City College,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,328068,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human Networks & Data Sci Infr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214217,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214217_4900,2022-08-15,2025-07-31,100319101,L952KGDMSLV5,"There has never been so much information available at everyone’s fingertips than there is today. Unfortunately, with so much information  comes a lot of misinformation that can be spread to human populations and adopted by them as the truth. Understanding how information flows and its impact on human behavior is important for determining how to protect society from the effects of misinformation, propaganda, and “fake news.”   This project traces how information spreads on social media channels and how ideas, opinions, and beliefs change as they spread.  Conducting this research requires combining concepts from computational social sciences, computer science, sociology, and statistics to understand the fundamentals of information spread in social media    This project develops a new approach to the study of information diffusion that brings together several different mechanisms for information flow.  Together these are used to analyze how information spreads in social media.  The research has two main goals: First, it will spot and predict opinion trends and identify users’ polarization on topics of broad interest to society (e.g., climate change or the Covid-19 pandemic). Second, it will track information propagation to understand its role in shaping opinion trends and identify the factors that are important for its spread and adoption. The researchers have access to a large amount of data that permits them to build and test large-scale models of information diffusion.  The outcomes of this project include new computer algorithms that are capable of understanding information flow in social media and new avenues for research in the science of information spread and diffusion.    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.",FALSE
2317573,Collaborative Research: Conference: Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative,2025-04-18,Brown University,PROVIDENCE,RI,RI01,155785,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317573,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317573_4900,2024-01-01,2026-12-31,029129100,E3FDXZ6TBHW3,"The Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative (MSIDI) is a collaboration among US mathematical sciences institutes to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences. The member institutes include the American Institute of Mathematics, the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, and the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute. In this project MSIDI will organize ten scientific conferences and workshops with the long-term goal of enhancing research capacity in the US by increasing scientific and networking activities for mathematicians from underrepresented groups, increasing opportunities for mentoring and identifying role models for early career researchers from underrepresented groups, and highlighting the successes of mathematical scientists from those groups.    The proposed conferences include one Blackwell-Tapia conference, one Infinite Possibilities conference, one LatMath conference, three Modern Math workshops, one workshop on Mathematics on Racial Justice, two Roots of Unity conferences, and one Applied Mathematics skills Improvement for Graduate studies Advancement conference. These conferences are complementary to the core activities of the institutes and are important for the goal of increasing participation in key activities that are integral to a career in the mathematical sciences, as well as in the institutes' core programs. Each conference will be organized by one lead institute in collaboration with all MSIDI member institutes. More information can be found on the MSIDI webpage at https://www.mathinstitutes.org/diversity.    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.",TRUE
2121852,Collaborative Research: HNDS-I: The Digital Society Project: Infrastructure for Measuring Internet Politics,2025-04-18,University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,CHAPEL HILL,NC,NC04,256075,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human Networks & Data Sci Infr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2121852,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2121852_4900,2021-09-01,2025-08-31,275995023,D3LHU66KBLD5,"Issues such as internet freedom, cybersecurity, misinformation, and the polarization caused by social media are central to modern life. They play a key role in social life, politics, and the strength of democracy around the world. Yet measuring how these issues affect political events in online spaces is hard. Scholars do not know what factors matter most. This project will produce tools and data to help study problems in the online world that affect state security, business risk, and daily life.       This grant supports infrastructure to collect data from around the world on cybersecurity, internet freedom, disinformation, coordinated information operations, and the politicization and polarization of social media. The project builds a global pool of experts who will provide data each year. It also advances methods to ensure that these data are valid. The project links the data to a massive set of political tweets, coded by place. Scholars and others can access these data through an online interface and open-source software. This project can help us learn how states monitor, alter, and control online space. This research is critically important to the US government, aid and human rights groups, and private industry. Policy makers can also rely on this project to better understand how, and where, to step in to curb internet-driven political violence, stop the spread of disinformation, reduce electoral manipulation, and enhance government accountability. Civil society groups can use assessments of online freedom and cybersecurity to improve human rights surveillance. Firms can use the data to reduce harm caused by their social media platforms. Finally, teachers and students can use this project to better understand politics in a digital world, equipping citizens to safely traverse the modern information landscape.    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.",FALSE
2334953,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: Broadening participation of marginalized individuals to transform SABER and biology education,2025-04-18,University of North Georgia,DAHLONEGA,GA,GA09,138184,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334953,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334953_4900,2024-03-01,2029-02-28,305970001,GZYPDGXHXDB3,"Professional societies play an important role in providing a platform for sharing research findings and networking. However, most professional societies grapple with issues related to lack of representation and inclusion of members of demographic groups that have historically been underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and career paths. One among these professional societies includes the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER), a leading premier international society with a primary focus on undergraduate biology education research. Scholarship related to this organization impacts every undergraduate biology learning environment. Additionally, members of this organization are also members of other professional societies, which makes SABER a critical lever for advancing systemic changes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion across various biology sub-fields and thus, helping to exert a larger impact on undergraduate biology education.     SABER since its inception and as exemplified by a self-study in 2019, has struggled with issues of diversity and representation at every level of its organizational structure, including key leadership positions. This aspect directly impacts the culture and climate of this society which ultimately affects the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts related to undergraduate biology education. Despite significant changes in its organizational structure, a concerted effort is needed to institute a permanent change related to equity and inclusion. This project aims to enact sustainable change by including diverse perspectives and voices to fundamentally change the culture of the organization and implement initiatives that promote an environment to enable cultural change. The goals of this project are as follows: (1) broadly and systematically advertise and recruit for SABER to broaden its reach to organizations, institutions, and individuals who are not currently aware of SABER, (2) offer travel support for individuals that are members of groups typically underrepresented in biology or who work at historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions to attend the national meeting, (3) offer mentorship related to inclusion to individuals in leadership positions at SABER, and (4) develop networking, mentoring, and leadership opportunities to sustain the involvement of diverse members within SABER. We posit that increasing the number and including the perspectives of underrepresented scientists within SABER will enable a shift in the culture of this society to help advance inclusion by (1) creating welcoming spaces that foster an enhanced sense of belonging and professional growth of diverse individuals, (2) creating a supportive environment for members by developing and empowering environmental stewards within the SABER leadership and by offering them travel support and mentoring activities, and (3) introducing structural changes that will ultimately affect the culture and climate of SABER as an organization to create pathways that diversify the society’s leadership for diverse individuals. Finally, as members of SABER are members of other sub-fields of biology, these efforts will directly impact other professional societies in their efforts to becoming inclusive.    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.",TRUE
2308517,Center: Track 4 Center for Engineering Equity Throughout the Student Collegiate Experience,2025-04-18,Colorado School of Mines,GOLDEN,CO,CO07,1199988,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308517,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2308517_4900,2023-07-15,2025-04-18,804011887,JW2NGMP4NMA3,"Historically, women and people of color have shouldered a disproportionate burden for leading equity efforts in STEM. Despite these efforts, there are still many groups who are underrepresented in STEM. Nationwide, women make up the majority of bachelor’s degrees awarded overall, at 57%, but only 38% of them graduate with bachelor’s degrees in a STEM field. Students coming from underrepresented groups receive bachelor’s degrees in STEM at lower rates: 15% for both Hispanic students and Pacific Islanders, 14% for American Indian and Alaska Natives and 12% for Black students. There are a number of underserved and underrepresented groups that are often invisible to these statistics (e.g., persons with disabilities, veterans, persons who identify with the LGBTQ+ community, and low-income first-generation). The Center for Engineering Peer Equity Throughout the Student Collegiate Experience at Colorado School of Mines will establish a framework that trains a wide range of students as peer leaders who promote equity in STEM. This center aligns with the NSF program mission which states that there has been a growing recognition of the need to create and support an inclusive and innovative engineering profession for the 21st Century. Doing so requires an understanding of how engineers from all communities are formed and how they can be supported to successfully obtain both the technical and professional skills needed to solve complex, often critical, problems facing today’s society. The Center will support students from a wide variety of diverse backgrounds, well beyond the usual and visible categories based on gender, race, and ethnicity, but also including veteran status, first generation students, and differently abled students. Peer leaders will come from all areas of the student experience, including athletics, fraternity and sorority life, housing, and student clubs. The training program will cultivate a broad sense of shared responsibility for fostering equity and will enroll the entire community as advocates and allies in changing our STEM culture by integrating equity and allyship into a peer-leadership program.     This Center will stand up infrastructure and demonstrate a successful STEM-wide approach to peer education and allyship that changes culture and outcomes for all students, and in particular, underrepresented students. A research and assessment program will evaluate effective strategies for transformation of STEM culture driven by student peer educators and leaders. Center research will address the novel integration of funds of knowledge (FOK) in peer educator and ally training and assess whether this approach helps engineering students in the development of their professional engineering identity. Centering FOK helps students traditionally underrepresented and underserved in STEM develop stronger engineering identities. This is believed to be the first approach to develop a formal ally training model for college students at the scale of an entire campus. This Center will create reproducible models for these best practices and evaluate their impact, reproducibility, validity, reliability, and effectiveness. The outcomes would catalyze significant change in STEM culture; a much-needed transformation for STEM.    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.",TRUE
2324696,"SBP: CAREER: Race, Gender, and the Science of Science",2025-04-18,University of Missouri-Columbia,COLUMBIA,MO,MO03,343952,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2324696,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2324696_4900,2023-01-01,2026-06-30,652113020,SZPJL5ZRCLF4,"The ""science of science"" has recently exploded in popularity as researchers turn scientific methods of investigation around to investigate the practice of science itself. While some attention has been paid to issues of marginalization and representation, these concerns have generally not been brought to bear on other questions within the science of science regarding how to enhance scientific progress. The research component of this project fills the resulting gaps in our understanding. The project demonstrates when attempts to improve science not only further entrench (or even amplify) current injustices, but backfire, ultimately impeding scientific progress. Moreover, it examines how ideas spread throughout diverse communities, both providing insight into how current inequities hinder scientific progress and illuminating questions surrounding belief spread and polarization. Finally, it uncovers hidden, unsuspected roadblocks for marginalized groups and suggests potential remedies, promoting diversity in scientific fields. This research component is intertwined with teaching and outreach components, with initiatives including the development of courses discussing diverse methods used to investigate scientific practice (e.g., from philosophy, history, sociology, science of science), a national workshop for members of underrepresented/marginalized groups intending to pursue research in the science of science, and innovative K-12 STEM programming which demonstrates the importance of diversity in action.    This project employs tools from evolutionary game theory and network science to provide a picture of how aspects of social identity, e.g. race and gender, matter both to scientific progress and to how researchers scientifically investigate the institution of science. These tools, which capture the dynamics of scientists' interactions and the structure of scientific communities, enable the project to integrate insights from feminist philosophy of science with insights from science of science, to the benefit of both fields. Many theories in the science of science take for granted that there are the same credit incentives, chances of work being published and cited, etc. for all scientists, regardless of social identity. Yet, as has long been recognized within feminist philosophy of science, these considerations matter: researchers are excluded or marginalized according to social identity, and scientific progress is hampered by the resulting lack of diverse ideas and perspectives. This project reveals how our understanding of how to achieve well-functioning science can change drastically once social identity is taken into account. Meanwhile, the scientific tools used in this project have clear power to illuminate questions of interest to feminist philosophers of science, e.g. how communication networks within scientific communities influence knowledge generation.    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.",TRUE
2242643,Toward Equitable Power Infrastructure Resilience,2025-04-18,Louisiana State University,BATON ROUGE,LA,LA06,363852,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation",DRRG-Disaster Resilience Res G,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2242643,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2242643_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,708030001,ECQEYCHRNKJ4,"This Disaster Resilience Research Grant (DRRG) project models power grid resilience equity by considering the hardships faced by different communities and integrating these hardships into the protection of power infrastructure against flood-induced hazards. The project focuses on proactively safeguarding power substations against flooding, taking into account the social consequences of power outages. By doing so, this project brings transformative change for approaches to solving policy-making problems in power systems. The intellectual merits of the project include advancing the understanding of power outages in diverse communities and developing equity-aware optimization approaches for planning actions conducted by utility companies. The broader impacts of the project include contributing to the definition and integration of equity considerations in power grid planning, benefiting the nation as a whole, but with a focus on New Orleans, a region on the front lines of climate change with diverse populations and disparities in wealth and infrastructure distribution. Additionally, the project includes multiple educational and outreach activities aimed at promoting equity and encouraging the participation of underserved and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) students in STEM fields.    This project makes valuable contributions to the fields of power grid and disaster resilience. It integrates the hardships experienced across all communities, including the disadvantaged, into the assessment of power outage impacts and incorporates equity considerations into power grid hardening policies. By adopting an equity-risk-aware optimization approach, the project aims to minimize inequitable socio-economic impacts of extreme weather events. This Disaster Resilience Research grant project provides a better understanding of differential community hardships resulting from power outages and develop innovative concepts such as equity value at risk to mitigate the impact of power grid failures. Computationally efficient solution approaches can facilitate the adoption of equity-risk-aware optimization by decision-makers, ensuring the practicality and applicability of the research findings.    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.",TRUE
2448939,Collaborative Research: Planning: Track 1 for Catalyzing a Paradigm Shift towards an Inclusive Engineering for Community Development,2025-04-18,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,42080,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2448939,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2448939_4900,2024-11-15,2025-04-18,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"This planning grant will enable the development of a competitive and collaborative Centers for Equity in Engineering (CEE) Phase I project proposal. The Center proposal  seeks to enable the research and practice of an Engineering for Community Development (ECD) that provides transformational experiences to all students, especially students of color. Through creating a distributed center across selected partner institutions, we are seeking to initiate and sustain a shift within ECD towards the principles of inclusive pedagogy. Such a shift will eliminate the limitations of traditional ECD, which can often exclude groups of peoples, reinforce stereotypes, and leave partner communities wanting more. Replacement with an inclusive ECD can specifically provide for students of color, their assets, and their needs while positively impacting partner communities to strengthen efforts of broadening participation in engineering. In conducting this research, we will understand the ways in which the limitations of service-learning’s ability to equitably educate all students can be overcome. More specifically, if service-learning is going to support the education of students from minoritized backgrounds, then we must research ECD with respect to the specific needs of students from these various backgrounds. This work will impact students, community partners, and institutions of higher education through promoting ECD that is inclusive to all, where students from historically minoritized demographics will be supported through transformational experiences that encourage them to remain and succeed in engineering.         Through strengthening and creating a broad array of inclusive and culturally relevant ECD approaches, contexts, and data collection methods the research performed by the Center will enable effort across the research-to-practice cycle that systematically includes historically marginalized students and communities into ECDinitiatives. To accomplish this goal and maximize the chances of a funded proposal, the following primary objectives will be met within the planning proposal: Align core team through regular virtual meetings; Articulate core concept of research; Develop initial Delphi prompts; Plan and perform discovery phases of a Delphi method; Conduct an intensive two day workshop; And write and refine proposal using information from first two phases of Delphi. This effort will produce new knowledge on what an inclusive ECD is and how it can be accomplished in practice. Through supporting inclusive and culturally relevant ECD practice, students from historically minoritized demographics will be supported to obtain transformational outcomes within ECD initiatives and by extension increase the likelihood to remain and succeed in engineering. Ultimately, as promoted by the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the White House, federally funded research will, moving forward, try to include community knowledge and interest from its inception (generating research questions) to its conclusion (research deliverables) (National Academies, 2022). Hence, this inclusion of communities in research and design that ECD offers will challenge STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education at large to develop a student workforce capable of effectively interacting and co-developing with local communities and being diverse enough to empathize with the realities and challenges of racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse communities. Through developing and exploring inclusive and culturally relevant ECD contexts, this planning grant, and in turn, the full grant, can enable the use of ECD problem domains and contexts that critically engage issues of marginalization and social justice to promote diverse and equitable ECD participation within engineering education. Collectively, these impacts will strengthen engineering institutions’ ability to serve as vehicles for broadening participation.    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.",FALSE
2214740,Using storytelling and a justice oriented STEM after-school club as critical tools for cultivating African American youths' STEM identities,2025-04-18,Clemson University,CLEMSON,SC,SC03,1739515,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214740,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214740_4900,2022-08-01,2028-01-31,296340001,H2BMNX7DSKU8,"This Innovations in Development project explores radical healing as an approach to create after-school STEM programming that welcomes, values and supports African American youth to form positive STEM identities. Radical healing is a strength-based, asset centered approach that incorporates culture, identity, civic action, and collective healing to build the capacity of young people to apply academic knowledge for the good of their communities. The project uses a newly developed graphic novel as a model of what it looks like to engage in the radical healing process and use STEM technology for social justice. This graphic novel, When Spiderwebs Unite, tells the true story of an African American community who used STEM technology to advocate for clean air and water for their community. Youth are supported to consider their own experiences and emotions in their sociopolitical contexts, realize they are not alone, and collaborate with their community members to take critical action towards social change through STEM. The STEM Club activities include mentoring by African American undergraduate students, story writing, conducting justice-oriented environmental sciences investigations, and applying the results of their investigations to propose and implement community action plans. These activities aim to build youth’s capacity to resist oppression and leverage the power of STEM technology for their benefit and that of their communities.     Clemson University, in partnership with the Urban League of the Upstate, engages 100 predominantly African American middle school students and 32 African American undergraduate students in healing justice work, across two youth-serving, community-based organizations at three sites. These young people assume a leadership role in developing this project’s graphic novel and curriculum for a yearlong, after-school STEM Club, both constructed upon the essential components of radical healing. This project uses a qual→quant parallel research design to investigate how the development and use of a graphic novel could be used as a healing justice tool, and how various components of radical healing (critical consciousness, cultural authenticity, self knowledge, radical hope, emotional and social support, and strength and resilience) affect African American youths’ STEM identity development. Researchers scrutinize interviews, field observations, and project documents to address their investigation and utilize statistical analyses of survey data to inform and triangulate the qualitative data findings. Thus, qualitative and quantitative data are used to challenge dominant narratives regarding African American youth’s STEM achievements and trajectories. The project advances discovery and understanding of radical healing as an approach to explicitly value African Americans’ cultures, identities, histories, and voices within informal STEM programming.    This award is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences    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.",TRUE
2317572,Collaborative Research: Conference: Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative,2025-04-18,Mathematical Sciences Research Institute,BERKELEY,CA,CA12,111805,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317572,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317572_4900,2024-01-01,2026-12-31,947205070,LWLJAPATKEL8,"The Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative (MSIDI) is a collaboration among US mathematical sciences institutes to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences. The member institutes include the American Institute of Mathematics, the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, and the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute. In this project MSIDI will organize ten scientific conferences and workshops with the long-term goal of enhancing research capacity in the US by increasing scientific and networking activities for mathematicians from underrepresented groups, increasing opportunities for mentoring and identifying role models for early career researchers from underrepresented groups, and highlighting the successes of mathematical scientists from those groups.    The proposed conferences include one Blackwell-Tapia conference, one Infinite Possibilities conference, one LatMath conference, three Modern Math workshops, one workshop on Mathematics on Racial Justice, two Roots of Unity conferences, and one Applied Mathematics skills Improvement for Graduate studies Advancement conference. These conferences are complementary to the core activities of the institutes and are important for the goal of increasing participation in key activities that are integral to a career in the mathematical sciences, as well as in the institutes' core programs. Each conference will be organized by one lead institute in collaboration with all MSIDI member institutes. More information can be found on the MSIDI webpage at https://www.mathinstitutes.org/diversity.    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.",TRUE
2313609,RAPID: Mathematics Within the Tapestry of Civic Engagement Discourse,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,199944,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313609,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313609_4900,2023-05-01,2025-04-18,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"Quantitative measures and their interpretations play a significant role in school administrators’ and community members’ argumentation during civic discourses. In the public sphere, quantitative measures have long been used to signal logic and objectivity to mathematical models and characterizations of phenomena, which disproportionately affect Communities of Color. The effects have had historical and contemporary implications with respect to school change, including closures, mergers, and funding allocations. This study provides an opportunity to understand how mathematical ideas and discourses are weaved into civic engagements of communities.    A richer understanding of mathematics within the tapestry of civic discourses is needed. Employing an ethnographic research design, the overarching research question is: What mathematical ideas are used by school district personnel and community members during discussions of school district change? This research will focus on the following three specific objectives: 1) Analyze and compare mathematical discourses by community members, district personnel, and policy makers; 2) Develop a data-driven conceptual framework for understanding (a) the mathematics used during civic engagement and (b) the perpetuation of mathematics as neutral, ahistorical, objective; and 3) Design video cases emphasizing the use of racial and mathematical discourses for developing teachers’, students’, and leaders’ conocimiento, knowledge and consciousness, with respect to civil engagement.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2147284,Collaborative Research: Digital Archives and Indigenous Afterlives of Scientific Objects,2025-04-18,New Jersey Institute of Technology,NEWARK,NJ,NJ10,302085,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147284,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147284_4900,2022-05-01,2026-04-30,071021824,SGBMHQ7VXNH5,"At a moment when universities, museums, and archives are grappling with questions of how to responsibly manage and care for scientific collections created under unequal power dynamics, this project explores the role of digital access in understanding these histories, redressing associated harms, and envisioning new and more equitable forms of research for groups that have been marginalized. Through the collaborative construction of a digital archive, this project responds to requests from Indigenous communities for the return of scientific materials such as photographs, audio recordings, and publications that document their lives and communities. It explores the potential of digital infrastructures to enable communities’ control of materials that document them, according to their norms for sharing and protecting knowledge. Analysis of the ways participants experience and see themselves in relation to scientific research will help future researchers better respond to subjects’ and communities’ priorities. This project will provide resources, training, and a model for undergraduate and graduate students to pursue research in the social and natural sciences. It will contribute to broader initiatives that engage scientists, data repositories, and archival materials to democratize access and engagement in scholarly work while maintaining respect for Indigenous and local knowledge systems.    Drawing on methodological insights from Indigenous studies that prioritize reciprocal foundations of knowledge, this project will develop a methodology to effectively examine asymmetries in knowledge production, helping scholars learn how to incorporate reciprocity and care into their work. Using data collected through community consultation, semi-structured interviews, and ethnography of the construction and use of the digital archive, this research will offer theoretical insights into: (1) The potentials and pitfalls of re-using already-collected materials; (2) How approaches to archives and collections that reconfigure power dynamics and permit community-based reinterpretation can result in new knowledge about history and science; (3) How digital returns of scientific materials can contribute to community-defined research and inform human sciences research with Indigenous communities more broadly. In addition to science and technology studies scholars and historians of science, this project will be of interest to librarians, archivists, museum professionals, and others dedicated to privacy and justice in the collection and use of human data. Findings will inform research design across a wide range of fields in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, as well as policy and practice related to human subject’s research regulation.    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.",TRUE
2217732,Collaborative Research BPE track 3: Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation in Engineering Hub,2025-04-18,ZIKER ENTERPRISES LLC,SAN JOSE,CA,CA16,50000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217732,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217732_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,951256341,HAG2XKD5GZ44,"This NSF Track 3 Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) project aims to address the resilience, identity formation, and academic outcomes of minorities in engineering through the ""Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation (Minority-MAP) in Engineering Hub’s infrastructure, resources sharing, community engagement, and evidence-based inclusive mentoring. The hub will leverage an all-access, open-platform called the Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub) to dynamically foster inclusive mentoring through a community of practice in engineering. The project’s catalytic activities are expected to democratize minority representation in engineering through the hub’s data and technology ecosystem that will connect student mentees with faculty and industry mentors and employers in the Minority-MAP network. The iMAP Hub will positively impact the completion rates of students pursuing engineering degrees and improve the career preparation of engineering students at participating minority serving institutions, thereby enhancing the diversity of the US engineering workforce. The project will employ the interest of HBCUs, leading companies, and non-profit organizations to collaboratively transform the human capital via inclusive mentoring, thus creating a culture change towards an impactful, resilient career. This effort aligns with the NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering’s mission to strengthen the future U.S. engineering workforce.    This project will be led by Center for Engineering Excellence at Morgan State University, in collaboration with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Jackson State University, STEMconnector, and Ziker Research. The goals of the project are to: 1) recruit 100 student mentees and faculty or industry mentor pairs by 2024, to test and refine an innovative mentoring platform called Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub); 2) curate, develop, and expand inclusive mentoring resources and activities to include 300 student mentees at 10 minority-serving institutions by 2027; 3) develop and implement a framework to identify gaps in the hub’s inclusive mentoring practices through formative and summative evaluations; 4) provide professional development to support implementing culturally responsive, inclusive mentoring practices at annual Summer Institutes, and develop and refine online student, faculty, and industry training resources for evidence-based inclusive mentoring practices delivered through an online repository that is integrated into the iMAP Hub platform by 2024; and 5) share findings and presentations during annual Summer Institutes, STEMconnector's Annual STEM Summits, Million Women Mentors Summits, and annual Post-Secondary Innovation Labs as a strategy for growing the network and expanding iMAP Hub services. Proposed research efforts will investigate the aspects of mentoring that promote the development of an engineering identity and have the potential to improve the persistence and retention of underrepresented groups in engineering. Methods will include data collection from multiple sources, including data analytics using iMAP usage data, survey reports from all participants, and observations of mentor-mentee activities. Outcomes related to changes in engineering identity, career awareness, and professional skills will be measured through pre- and post-surveys informed by the Engineer Identity Survey (EIS), interview protocols, and observations. The iMAP Hub’s resources and research findings will be disseminated through a dedicated website, conference presentations, workshops, newsletters, publications, and social media. The project team will scale the network of mentors and mentees by working with STEMconnector's membership which includes over 100 industry partners and MSI universities.    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.",TRUE
2222147,STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellows in Participatory and Community-Engaged Research,2025-04-18,SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry,SYRACUSE,NY,NY22,128764,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222147,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222147_4900,2022-08-01,2025-04-18,132102712,LVVEB3CF8MB8,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     The STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program funds postdoctoral awards designed to enhance the research competencies of recent doctoral graduates in STEM, STEM education, and related disciplines to prepare them to engage in STEM education research that advances knowledge in the field. In alignment with that goal this project partners Michigan State University, the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the State University of New York’s Environmental Science and Forestry campus, and the Sustainable Development Institute of the College of Menominee Nation with two objectives. First is to build STEM education research capacity and advance knowledge in STEM education; and second is to broaden the participation of people of color in the STEM workforce. The project will bring to bear the institutional resources and expertise of the collaborating partners to prioritize the support of six Indigenous STEM education researchers in developing professional knowledge and competencies, preparing them to undertake research that will generate new understandings about best practices in STEM education that serve to increase Indigenous representation in STEM.    The project activities are framed around nine research-based competencies for supporting the comprehensive development of postdoctoral fellows as highly prepared independent STEM education researchers. The complementary resources and roles of the three institutional partners will deliver a blend of traditional and unique experiences customized to support the growth of Indigenous STEM education researchers, especially in the use of participatory community-engaged research methods. The partnership will afford immersion experiences in Indigenous communities for fellows and faculty mentors to further their cultural competence and provide opportunities to engage in authentic participatory research studies investigating STEM education issues of importance to Indigenous people. The involvement of faculty mentors in these activities will expand their perspectives on research and foster the transformation of their STEM and education departments toward environments more welcoming of diverse scholars. The project holds high potential for generating new models for supporting Indigenous scholars, strategies for transforming STEM departments to be more inclusive, and insights on approaches for successfully engaging in research with diverse communities to improve their representation in the STEM workforce.    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.",TRUE
2247636,Latinas Resistance Behaviors in Engineering Programs at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs): An Intersectional View,2025-04-18,"Loyola University Maryland, Inc.",BALTIMORE,MD,MD02,498271,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2247636,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2247636_4900,2023-07-01,2025-04-18,212102601,FV5AVEGVTUE4,"Latinas’ experiences in engineering programs can be unique due to the multiple layers of challenges and assets in their science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) journey: being a woman, being Latinx, being a bilingual speaker of Spanish and English. The disparities in Latinas’ engineering access and attainment are the result of historically oppressive racist and sexist structures embedded in STEM space that perpetuate sexism and racism. However, there is limited research on the nuanced experiences of how Latinas resist inequities in different STEM educational settings and how they succeed. Another major shortcoming of the current literature on Latinx STEM education is that they are mostly viewed from a deficit perspective. This project aims to investigate how Latinas choose to engage in various resistance behaviors in different engineering cultures and campus climates and how these different cultures and campus climates influence their resistance. This project uses an anti-deficit view to interpret and make meaning of the experiences and assets that may have impacted Latinas’ resistance and persistence in engineering programs. Findings from this study can be used to develop inclusive policies and counseling strategies to broaden the participation of Latinas and increase theirpersistence in STEM at both Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs).     Guided by a combination of LatCrit theory of resistance, intersectionality, and Cultural Wealth Model (CWM), the goal of this project is to investigate how Latinas choose to engage in various resistance behaviors in different engineering cultures and campus climates and how these different STEM cultures and campus climates influence their resistance. Specific research questions include: (1) How do Latinas engage in different resistance behaviors in undergraduate engineering programs? (2) How do different engineering cultures and campus climates at Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) influence Latinas’ resistance behaviors in engineering programs? and (3) How do Latinas’ intersectional identities and their cultural wealth influence their resistance behaviors in different engineering cultures and campus climates? Using an interpretive phenomenological design, this project will conduct individual interviews with Latina students and qualitative surveys with faculty members and administrators from three PWIs and three HSIs in California, Florida, and Texas. Expected findings include more nuanced information about Latinas’ resistance behaviors in engineering programs at PWIs and HSIs. Through sharing finding reports with participating institutions and broader STEM and Latinx communities, this study will provide needed information to promote Latinas’ access and persistence in engineering programs. PWIs and HSIs could utilize the findings from this study to develop retention and recruitment policies and practices to broaden the participation and promote equity and inclusion for underrepresented minority students majoring in engineering and entering STEM careers.    This project is supported  by  NSF's EDUCore  Research  (ECR)  program.  The ECR program emphasizes  fundamental  STEM  education  research  that  generates foundational  knowledge  in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and  enduring:  STEM  learning  and  STEM  learning  environments, broadening  participation  in  STEM,  and  STEM workforce development.    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.",TRUE
2420721,A Community-Engaged Approach to Addressing Vaccine Information Integrity: An Examination of the Role of Social Media Influencers,2025-04-18,National Opinion Research Center,CHICAGO,IL,IL07,375000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science of Science,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2420721,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2420721_4900,2024-08-01,2026-07-31,606035713,MPYFY5UMSDP4,"Vaccine hesitancy is a top threat to global health and people’s personal health and well-being. Social media is a fertile breeding ground for inaccurate or misleading health-related information, which often disproportionately affects communities of color. The approval of a new vaccine in 2023 to protect pregnant persons and their newborns from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) represents an opportunity to study the emergence and diffusion of such discussions on social media in near real-time; begin to explore and address racial and socioeconomic disparities in RSV vaccine knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs; and contribute to the science of effective science communication. By collaborating with influencers to frame and create messages to address misconceptions and inaccurate information related to this new vaccine, this community-based participatory design intervention study explores how peer-to-peer messages can address vaccine hesitancy and understand the impact of social media influencers of color as opinion leaders in their communities in addressing the integrity of vaccine information. This study contributes to the science of health communication by identifying effective methods for engaging influencers as novel messengers and disseminating credible, evidence-based vaccine information that can advance health equity. The findings contribute to the knowledge base about supporting vaccine information integrity and public health and well-being and provide actionable strategies for researchers, practitioners, and decision makers.     The researchers use social listening tools collect, code, and analyze posts and comments from social media platforms to identify and analyze emerging narratives about the RSV vaccine on social media. They use quantitative results (e.g. frequency of various themes) to identify key narratives and qualitative descriptions of the content and inform the development of message frames to address concerns articulated in those narratives. Eight lifestyle influencers to collaborate with the research team to co-develop a set of message frames and social media posts based on the narratives identified through social listening. Influencers recruit a sample of their followers ages 18-45 who are planning to or able to become pregnant (n=30 each, total N=240) to complete a baseline survey. Surveys track the effects of influencer posts over time and explore outcomes related to susceptibility, knowledge, risk perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and vaccination intentions. Results include a communications protocol with a set of recommendations and best practices for engaging social media influencers and developing messages that support vaccine information integrity.    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.",FALSE
2236596,"CAREER: Broadening Participation in Resilience Education, Research, and Practice by Leveraging Organizational Resources to Address Racial Identity Threats",2025-04-18,William Marsh Rice University,Houston,TX,TX09,242919,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,SoO-Science Of Organizations,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236596,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2236596_4900,2023-05-01,2028-04-30,770051827,K51LECU1G8N3,"As racial identity threats are inextricably linked to individuals’ sense of self, understanding how leaders and organizations can help to address these experiences will benefit many. When resources (e.g., time, energy, money, esteem) are threatened or lost, individuals experience stress, and when employees’ struggle with managing identity-related threats, team productivity and organizational effectiveness suffer. This project examines the connection between organizational resources and individual resilience. The investigator uncovers the role that organizations play in the employee resilience process and identifies specific organizational resources that are effective at bolstering employee safety and health despite the presence of racial identity threats. Knowledge generated from this award offers insights for organizational science and for workforce diversity and performance.    Experiences that threaten one’s resources contribute to negative organizational outcomes. When threats are tied to an identity (e.g., race), they can lead to inequality and further group disparities. Racial identity threats occur in multiple forms, ranging from environmental (e.g., mega-threats: negative, large-scale, diversity-related episodes that receive significant media attention) to interpersonal (e.g., microaggressions: daily verbal or behavioral indignities that denigrate individuals from racial minority groups). The role that organizations play in supporting employee resilience—continued behavioral and psychological goal pursuit despite adversity—to racial identity threats is unknown. Thus, this project identifies the organizational proactive resources (continually available resources present before a threat, e.g., race-based employee resource groups) and protective resources (resources made available after a threat that are meant to diminish strain responses, e.g., paid therapy) that shape key psychological mechanisms that predict employee resilience: identity safety (i.e., feeling like one’s identity will not evoke harm) and emotional exhaustion (i.e., feelings of being emotionally drained). The investigator qualitatively (Study 1: in-depth, structured interviews) and quantitatively (Study 2: longitudinal, weekly surveys) assesses the role of organizational resources in fostering employee resilience among employees who belong to stigmatized racial groups.    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.",TRUE
2220724,SBP: Social Identity Threat and Motivational Direction,2025-04-18,University of California-Santa Barbara,SANTA BARBARA,CA,CA24,373108,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2220724,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2220724_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,931060001,G9QBQDH39DF4,"People who belong to groups, statuses, or categories that have been targets of prejudice and discrimination will experience frequent social identity threat – reminders that their social grouping or identity is viewed unfavorably by others. A common belief within social psychology is that social identity threat increases worry, hopelessness, and anger. Although these reactions all reflect negative emotions, these emotions do not motivate behavior in the same manner. For instance, when someone is feeling worry and hopelessness they might want to withdraw from the situation (flight in the classic fight/flight response distinction). However, when someone is experiencing anger they might be motivated to approach the situation (fight not flight). The current research uses methods from social psychology and neuroscience to examine how incidents of prejudice differentially influence people's emotional reactions and motivations, such as being inclined to take action or instead withdrawing. This novel framing of emotional reactions is significant because it suggests responses that may protect against prejudice and discrimination.    This research involves a series of studies that combine self-report and brain imaging methods to assess emotional reactions when observing prejudiced behavior by others. Across all of these studies, participants observe a person's social identity being threatened in a way that is either blatant, such as being called a racist name, or in a way that is more ambiguous, such as being criticized in a way that might or might not be driven by prejudice. One study uses brain imaging (EEG) and questionnaires to test whether perceiving a blatant form of prejudice increases a person's anger and brain activity associated with motivations to approach a situation, more so than when perceiving an ambiguous form of prejudice. Another study uses fMRI brain imaging to examine whether the proposed anger-related approach motivation linked to blatant prejudice has spillover effects for how people process rewards, such as money, since past research has noted that approach motivation increases sensitivity to rewards. A final study examines whether perceiving blatant prejudice versus ambiguous prejudice increases persistence on a task because anger increases approach motivation and approach motivation is related to persistence. This project also provides unique mentoring and professional networking opportunities specifically aimed at broadening the participation of students who are underrepresented in social and affective neuroscience and who bring important perspectives given their own elevated risk for experiencing discrimination. This research has the potential to shift current ways of understanding social identity threat and can inform efforts to boost resilience in communities targeted by prejudice and discrimination.    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.",TRUE
2315178,"Co-designing STEM Education with Communities: Centering History, Heterogeneity, Power, and Place",2025-04-18,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,2288255,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Information Technology Researc,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315178,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315178_4900,2023-09-15,2029-02-28,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"This project examines the historical and contemporary manifestations and possibilities of a diasporic Black community’s aspirations for STEM educational justice in Evanston, Illinois, a racially diverse suburb of Chicago with a longstanding, diverse, and dynamic Black community. Evanston made news with plans to reopen a campus-model community school in its historically Black 5th Ward of the city. The project will work in close partnership with the local school district, the city, as well as Black families and community partners, to support the efforts to design equitable STEM opportunities for the new school and adjoined community center. The project will advance key knowledge in culturally sustaining STEM learning and teaching, through a specific focus on Black diasporic epistemologies, cultural values, and pedagogical design. The project will make near-term impacts on the educational experiences of Black youth in Evanston and beyond the local context. Teaching and learning resources (as well as in-depth case studies of resource use in classrooms and out-of-school-time (OST) contexts) will be freely available for educators and researchers across the nation. The co-design partnership approach that coordinates efforts across the school district including numerous in- and out-of-school stakeholders, will make substantive contributions to the overlapping fields of racial equity, STEM education, and school reform, while providing an example of the significance of community research-practice partnerships as a methodological intervention.     The project will investigate how a research-community-practice partnership (RCPP) model focused on history/ethnography, project co-design, and systems co-design can facilitate more equitable and culturally sustaining STEM learning experiences for Black youth and their families. The RCPP will create tools and processes centering Black community goals and values within in-school and out of school STEM ecologies in Evanston. The project will make empirical and theoretical contributions in multiple areas of scholarship. Analysis of archival and oral histories will make important contributions to the scholarly record on how Black families and communities have understood STEM education as part of their decades long struggle towards equity, economic mobility, and justice. The ethnographic study will advance a robust social scientific understanding of the localized nature of how Black families and communities are actively organizing towards STEM educational justice in local contexts. Methodologically, the family interviews will contribute to novel methods for studies of interplay among culture and child cognition and identity. The systems RCPP work will create new knowledge in institutional theory and organizational change, as well as how educational technologies can support community empowerment. Overall, the project will make important contributions to the study of Black educational histories and futures, and the field of Black Education Studies more broadly.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2411640,Collaborative Research: Developing and Testing the Equity Departmental Action Team Model of Racial Equity Focused Departmental Change,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Denver-Downtown Campus,DENVER,CO,CO01,564214,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411640,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411640_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,802042055,M6CXZ6GSJW84,"Given the persistent challenge of racial inequity in STEM, there is a clear need for new models that spur and sustain racial equity change. Successful departmental team-based change efforts demonstrate that change can be created and sustained at the meso level of an institution (i.e., departments, centers, and units as the focus for change). This project will bring together experts in institutional change and experts in advancing racial equity with the goal of combining existing, well tested change models to produce a new, racial equity focused model of change in higher education—the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model. This model will focus on shifting departmental cultures in ways that benefit, and are grounded in the experiences of, those with historically marginalized racial and ethnic identities. This project will advance the scholarship of racial equity by developing, testing, and refining the EDAT model with STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution and disseminating the model through partnership with national higher education associations.    This project will take place in two major phases: 1) development of the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model, and 2) pilot of the EDAT model in STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution, the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver). The development of the new EDAT model will draw from existing change programs, including the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model and the Dialogues and Change Agent programs. It will integrate multiple theories from systems change, social justice change, social psychology change agency, and intergroup contact. Research activities will focus on both the process and impact of the EDAT model. The project will use surveys, focus groups, interviews, and participant journaling to explore the following research questions. RQ1: To what extent do Foundational Experiences prepare EDAT members for racial equity work?  RQ2: What strategies do EDATs deploy when engaging in racial equity work? RQ3: To what extent do EDATs integrate racial equity into departmental culture? Research and program evaluation will be conducted simultaneously with the EDAT implementation so the model can be iteratively refined throughout the project. Dissemination of the model will take place in collaboration with partners from the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities - Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2331195,Compass Pilot,2025-04-18,PUBLIC POLICY LAB,BROOKLYN,NY,NY10,2109800,Cooperative Agreement,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,SBIR Outreach & Tech. Assist,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2331195,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2331195_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,112018319,TME7WQZZS794,"The intention of the Compass Pilot is to explore opportunities that will increase access to and participation in federal seed fund programs by underrepresented groups. Scientific and technical innovation plays a critical role in addressing societal challenges, such as healthcare disparities, environmental issues, and economic inequalities. Yet those most affected by these societal challenges tend to benefit less from U.S. federal seed fund programs. Indeed, a smaller proportion of applicants to these programs come from underrepresented groups than is relative to their share of the U.S. population. Multiple federal funders have invested in outreach efforts, but the lack of innovators from underrepresented groups accessing seed fund and research programs remains a persistent and significant issue. Historical and systemic injustices have led to generational wealth gaps, limited access to higher education, and segregated social networks, preventing some from having the scope and means to pursue funding in science and technology. Structural biases within funding programs’ outreach, application, and review processes may also present significant barriers to access. Applicants from diverse groups may not even be aware of these programs because of limited outreach, and when they do learn of these opportunities, they may not have access to the contextual information and support required to navigate such complex processes. While this is not an exhaustive list of all the barriers for diverse teams attempting to bring their innovations to market, these observations provide the impetus for the proposed work. These issues occur at a systemic level, but targeted and co-designed initiatives — which are the intended outputs of the Compass Pilot - can make significant differences over time.      Though other projects are aimed at bringing more under-represented populations into existing programs, this project is focused on co-designing tools and solutions with underrepresented communities. The Compass Pilot brings together the best practices of three private sector innovation approaches human-centered design, lean impact design, and agile development — to seed fund programming.  The project team, comprising staff from the Public Policy Lab (PPL) and ConstructEd Studio, will collaborate with innovators from diverse groups and subject-matter experts following PPL’s human-centered design methodology, which includes agile development best practices. At the outset, the project team will engage in qualitative research with innovators and other stakeholders to define existing challenges, brainstorm preliminary ideas, and prioritize potential tools. The team will then co-design tools with a “co-design cohort” of innovators from underrepresented groups. Next, these tools will be piloted by a “pilot cohort” of additional innovators and evaluated, using lean impact methods, to assess efficacy and value. Lastly, pilot learnings will be incorporated into a final set of tools. PPL and ConstructEd’s phased approach, which has been tested across a range of service design projects, will allow the team to follow a systematic process while also being responsive to participants’ feedback. Rather than predicting what the final outputs will be at the outset, the team will work with stakeholders in iterative cycles through which interventions are discovered and refined along the way. This process ensures that final outputs are rooted in the needs and opportunities that arise during research, co-designed with entrepreneurial innovators from historically underrepresented groups.    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.",TRUE
2318293,Investigating STEM Identity and Belonging Among STEM-Interested Hispanic Students Participating in a First-Year Experience Course,2025-04-18,Lehigh Carbon Community College,SCHNECKSVILLE,PA,PA07,200000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318293,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318293_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,180782502,NEYTKEM6HN99,"With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this project will investigate promising practices that demonstrate potential to increase the number of Hispanic students earning degrees in STEM fields. Hispanic students are entering higher education at unprecedented rates but are enrolling in STEM programs at lower rates than their peers. This gap may be partially explained through factors such as the lack of Hispanic representation among STEM professionals and faculty, a lack of awareness about STEM careers, and persistent financial barriers. This pilot project at Lehigh Carbon Community College in Pennsylvania will introduce Hispanic students to STEM fields and careers through the Aspira STEM Track, offering hands-on activities, guest speakers, group discussions, and peer mentoring. Through this work, the college will explore the impacts of these activities on student retention, sense of belonging, and knowledge of STEM academic and career pathways. Anticipated outcomes include more Hispanic students will enroll in STEM programs and report a greater sense of belonging and connection to their chosen field of study.    Lehigh Carbon Community College aims to create a community of mutual support among 30-40 STEM-interested Hispanic students in the Aspira STEM Track. This project will make use of a fourteen-week, one-credit hour course where cohorts of first-year students participate in active learning exercises, such as group work, data analysis and problem-solving activities including mini labs, to increase their awareness of STEM fields and careers. Through journaling, group discussions, guest speakers, and peer mentoring, the program will empower students to develop a sense of belonging and connection to the STEM community on- and off-campus. Interventions including scholarships and peer mentoring will promote equity by providing financial support, mentorship, and connection to academic resources for students participating in the Aspira STEM Track and intending to enter a STEM career path. Additional faculty professional development will increase inclusive teaching practices within the college’s STEM disciplines. It is anticipated that through the Aspira STEM Track: (1) At least 80% of students will be retained in a STEM program from semester-to-semester; (2) At least 90% of students will report greater understanding of STEM academic and career pathways; (3) At least 80% of students will report a greater sense of belonging; and (4) At least 75% of STEM faculty will be educated on inclusive teaching practices. A meta-analysis of qualitative and quantitative student data will be completed through the project and will add to the current literature on Hispanic belonging and STEM identity on-campus. This project is funded by the HSI Program, which aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education, broaden participation in STEM, and build capacity at HSIs.    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.",TRUE
2300380,ADVANCE Partnership: New Jersey Equity in Commercialization Collective (NJECC),2025-04-18,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,1118016,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300380,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2300380_4900,2022-12-15,2025-04-18,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"The New Jersey Equity in Commercialization Collective (NJECC) will address gender equity issues in academic technology commercialization (patenting, licensing, and startup creation) by focusing on the elimination of systemic institutional and entrepreneurial eco-system barriers. Key barriers to equity and inclusion in STEM commercialization and entrepreneurship include systemic cultural perceptions, training and reward structures, and patenting/ technology transfer activities at academic institutions. It is important to recognize and redress these inequities, not only as a matter of fairness but also because the lack of diversity in entrepreneurship diminishes the diversity of new ideas and hurts US technological innovation and economic competitiveness. To achieve systemic change in this area, the project will leverage a robust partnership of organizations across the state of New Jersey. The NJECC will be led by New Jersey Institute of Technology in collaboration with the NJ Commission on Science, Innovation and Technology; NJEdge (NJ’s non-profit technology services provider and member-driven consortium); New Jersey City University; Princeton University; Rowan University; Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey; Seton Hall University; Stevens Institute of Technology; and St. Peters University. Working together, the NJECC project partners will aim to significantly increase the diversity of STEM faculty researchers who participate in New Jersey’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. In turn, developing innovation pathways for new and diverse innovators will foster economic growth and the availability of new products and services that are important to society.     The NJECC project will include two main initiatives: (1) training for Gatekeepers (academic Tech Transfer, Venture Development and Entrepreneurial offices) on methods to reduce barriers that hinder the participation of women and underrepresented minorities in commercialization activities and (2) the establishment of NJ statewide inclusive network development programs (showcases and conferences). In addition, NJECC will link these planned activities with the NJIT NSF-funded CyberCorps @ Scholarship for Service grant, the Secure Computing Initiative, to increase diversity and innovation in the crucial area of cybersecurity. Over the course of the project, these initiatives will aim to generate sustainable, intentional strategies for increasing the diversity of the academic innovator pool—strategies that then can be institutionalized across the state and beyond. The NJECC will aim to significantly reduce key barriers to equity and inclusion in STEM commercialization and entrepreneurship and will significantly increase the diversity of NJ STEM faculty researchers who participate in New Jersey’s entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. The collaboration will also extend the existing infrastructures and resources of the less-resourced institutions through access to the resources of the other participating institutions. In addition, this project will aim to stimulate the ongoing collection of patenting and invention disclosure data, disaggregated by gender, race/ethnicity, and other identity dimensions. The NJECC team will use a variety of channels to disseminate project findings and strategies for systemic change, including but not limited to 1) print, digital, and social media; 2) national/regional conference presentations (NSF events, AUTM, UEDA, EdgeCon) and 3) relevant academic journals and resource libraries (TechTransfer Tactics, ARC Network).    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.    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.",TRUE
2228205,Implementation grant: Community Resilience integrated into an Earth System  Science Learning Ecosystem (CRESSLE),2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,5558674,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228205,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2228205_4900,2023-06-01,2028-05-31,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    Project CRESSLE, Community Resilience integrated into an Earth System Science Learning Ecosystem, will partner University of Texas (UT) geoscience researchers and community members to create a learning environment that is welcoming to researchers, underserved and under-resourced community members, and students while supporting close collaboration on research using Earth System Science in service of communities. Our ecosystem integrates theory and successful practice with four integrated strategies: 1) Discovery Research, to assess assets and needs in both underserved communities and UT geoscientists, 2) a Community of Practice, joining UT and underserved communities in cohorts to address issues around four research themes (Water Resources, Climate Resilience, Land Use and Air Quality), 3) advancement of our successful Scientist in Residence program to train and inspire early career researchers, and 4) development of Informal Geoscience Learning experiences co-designed by the cohorts. These four strategies will build a rigorous and inclusive Participatory Research (PR) program facilitated by the Community of Practice that will co-design and co-produce research to address community resilience and sustainability challenges, centered on Environmental Justice.     We apply a PR approach to long-standing institutional, cultural, and scientific challenges to the resilience and sustainability of communities facing impacts on the natural resources of water, climate, land use and air quality. Based on the successes of PR in other disciplines, CRESSLE will test the idea that PR integrating our four strategies and applying geoscience to address environmental resilience can produce four key outcomes: 1) increase engagement of underserved persons in geoscience careers; 2) increase research productivity and career pathways for early career geoscientists; 3) produce enduring university-community partnerships, and 4) help understand environmental justice problems and potential solutions on the neighborhood scale.    For Project CRESSLE, the team identified communities that are economically disadvantaged and overburdened by pollution and under investment in housing, transportation, water and wastewater infrastructure, and healthcare. These neighborhoods have been subject to disproportionate environmental impacts. Further, university researchers conducting research projects have not fully engaged the stakeholders who were affected by the research. We propose that CRESSLE will transform the culture of the geoscience community and advance underserved and under-resourced communities' ability to address resilience issues using geoscience by including different perspectives in the geoscience workforce, building university community connections, and advancing methods for PR and informal geoscience learning experiences that engage and transform the STEM discipline of geoscience. We will develop a best practices model that will be disseminated locally and nationally and support career development of early-career researchers through PR opportunities, professional development training, and mentoring. The goals of our career development and dissemination plan are to: 1) expand the implementation of our innovative approach to enhance engagement of underserved and under-resourced communities in geoscience PR, 2) gain institutional and community endorsement and private/corporate support for sustaining our efforts beyond NSF support; and 3) ""normalize"" CRESSLE activities as a step towards transforming the culture of the geoscience community.    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.",TRUE
2411999,Racial Equity: STEM in your Neighborhoods: Leveraging Community Stories from Past and Present to Define a Narrative for the Future.,2025-04-18,Reuben H. Fleet Science Center,SAN DIEGO,CA,CA50,3057609,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411999,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411999_4900,2024-09-15,2029-02-28,921011625,TLXAGAMX9J25,"The stories of people of color who make contributions to STEM often go unnoticed, with the exception of the few who gain mainstream attention.  To challenge the pervasive narratives and shed light on the value of everyday citizens’ contributions in STEM, this project will highlight stories and the STEM identities of historically marginalized communities in local contexts. The STEM in Your Neighborhood (SiYN) project will: 1) establish equitable ways for the racially and culturally diverse communities to work together to ensure community engagement, 2) engage approximately in participatory STEM-story sharing, 3) develop community-authored STEM narratives by working with an intergenerational analysis team and residents in participatory exercises to explore story patterns, and 5) disseminate findings within the community and nationally.     The primary research questions for this project are: 1) Which forms of capital emerge in community-authored narratives? and 2) How do different forms of cultural capital relate to feelings of belonging, competence, and autonomy? The proposed research methodology relies on a transformational mixed-methods design that centers the experiences of marginalized communities and generates knowledge and understanding of the processes and principles required to shift perspectives of STEM to reclaim community ownership. Participants and community members will benefit from a better understanding of systemic racism and structural barriers to STEM engagement.  The project achieves broader impacts by: 1) developing a system to support community STEM-story collection and interpretation, 2) freely disseminating the research findings and knowledge gained from evaluation of effectiveness at establishing equitable processes and products, and 3) packaging and providing easy access to the community-authored STEM narrative ""toolkit"".    This project is funded by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU) via the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2144506,CAREER: Advancing Equity in Middle School Mathematics by Engaging Students and Families of Color in Participatory Design Research,2025-04-18,University of Wisconsin-Madison,MADISON,WI,WI02,702535,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2144506,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2144506_4900,2022-05-15,2027-04-30,537151218,LCLSJAGTNZQ7,"Schools and districts around the country seek to address racial inequities, yet vast disparities in learning opportunities, outcomes, and experiences persist. Furthermore, those who bear the heaviest burdens of racial injustice—namely, students of color and their families—are rarely meaningfully included in conceptualizing and implementing equity-oriented initiatives. Policymakers and administrators have often treated curricular and pedagogical change as something that should be done to or for these students and families, not with or by them. The proposed project seeks to investigate the possibilities and challenges of using a participatory approach to research and design, centering Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and Hmong students and their families in imagining and creating change. This approach has the potential to disrupt inequitable practices of mathematics education as well as undemocratic processes for making decisions about mathematics education. Further, it will be a catalyst for developing racially just practices and processes in mathematics education. This CAREER award is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12), which seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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. This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity), which supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.    This project will generate new knowledge about the possibilities and limitations of participatory design research (PDR) as a method for advancing equity in mathematics education through PDR cycles at three middle schools over the five years of the project. These cycles include families of color participating in mathematical activity, sharing their experiences, collecting data germane to their experiences, and making recommendations to create more equitable practices and policies in mathematics education. Thus, PDR cycles provide a more democratic and egalitarian means of understanding and addressing social problems than traditional research methods. Educational activities culminating from this research include the development of graduate-level curriculum related to PDR. This project will also contribute groundbreaking evidence of how families, educators, and school leaders can use PDR to shift power dynamics and make systemic change in mathematics education by centering the voices and knowledge of students of color and their families. It will add to the small body of literature regarding how students of color and their families understand racial equity and justice in mathematics education. Their perspectives are essential to inform equity- and justice-oriented research and practice.    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.",TRUE
2228064,Planning Grant: Moving Forward Together - Transforming Arctic Geosciences for Alaska Native Sovereignty and Science,2025-04-18,University of Alaska Fairbanks Campus,FAIRBANKS,AK,AK00,300000,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228064,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2228064_4900,2023-02-01,2025-07-31,997750001,FDLEQSJ8FF63,"With this 2.5 year planning grant, the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) will lay the foundation for graduate geoscience education that is attractive to and supportive of Alaska Native, first-generation, and other students from underrepresented communities. Utilizing Indigenous methodologies and principles of knowledge co-production, the project leaders prioritize building partnerships across and beyond campus with Indigenous communities and leadership which requires a focus on process, dialogue, relationships, and respect. This transformative approach will converge the presently siloed disciplines of geosciences, social sciences, and Indigenous studies present at UAF and in the broader science community. The primary project partners are the UAF Alaska Native Success Initiative, the UAF Department of Equity and Compliance, and the First Alaskans Institute. In addition, the program will bring together currently disparate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion groups across the UAF campus, existing student groups such as Geoscientists of Color (GeoColor), the UAF faculty accelerator, and other related projects at UAF such as the NSF Tamamta Project and the Alaska Arctic Observatory and Knowledge Hub. This effort will include activities that will lay the foundation for a CTGC implementation proposal that is centered around convergence of entities, disciplines, and initiatives across and beyond the UAF campus, institutionalizing a teaching, learning, and research environment that is inclusive of multiple ways of knowing, and contextualizing the transformation of geosciences at UAF within diverse and specific educational opportunities, including experiential and cross-cultural learning. Activities will include a program of workshops, training, dialogues, and establishing the basis and framework for a mentoring program and a culture camp.    Momentum has been building in the Geosciences at UAF toward institutional transformation and a new, transdisciplinary graduate degree program in Earth System Science is currently under institutional review. One important aspect of this program is the solid integration of sustainability science and the human dimension through a Sustainability Concentration. The proposed activities will be directly integrated into this  transdisciplinary Sustainability Concentration of the newly designed Earth System Science program at UAF. The thematic focus is rapid change in the Arctic including climate change, impacts, and adaptation as well as hazard mitigation. Alaska Native peoples are especially vulnerable to climate extremes, with values and identity rooted in deep relationality between humanity and the natural world and compounding impacts arising from historical legacies of colonization and splintered governance that complicate response efforts. The climate is warming in northern latitudes at over twice the rate of other parts of the globe. Rural and Alaska Native communities throughout the state, many of which are accessible only by air or water, are among the most vulnerable, facing threats to key areas of concern such as salmon, large mammals, human health, and community infrastructure from extreme events such as flooding, high winds, erosion, increased rainfall, increased wildfire, and more extreme weather. Thus, there is an urgent need for Indigenous expertise in addressing these issues in Alaska and the Arctic.    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.",TRUE
2212690,Collaborative Research: Track 2: Disrupting Engineering Trauma,2025-04-18,University of Cincinnati Main Campus,CINCINNATI,OH,OH01,249303,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2212690,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2212690_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,452202872,DZ4YCZ3QSPR5,"This collaborative research project will explore racialized mental health experiences in engineering and apply innovative approaches to promote racial equity in the discipline. The central hypothesis of this proposal is that students, especially the traditionally excluded, have negative experiences that result in high levels of distress that is not clearly visible but can have significant impacts within their collegiate experiences. The proposal addresses three interests of the BPE program: 1) Understand the systemic barriers that prevent traditionally underserved communities from pursuing and succeeding in engineering, 2) Develop innovative methods and projects to significantly impact the recruitment and retention of engineering students, faculty, and employees from traditionally underserved communities, and 3) Design and transform culture to make diversity, equity, and inclusion a priority in the engineering enterprise.     The purpose of the research is to make clear that engineering education, when performed traditionally, can serve as a stressor that is sufficient to (1) cause/initiate subclinical or clinical levels of distress and dysfunction or (2) maintain or exacerbate pre-existing stress reactions. The project guiding research questions include: What are the baseline levels of stress and distress for Black, Latin, and Indigenous (BLI) engineering students, based on their self-identification of critical life events and How do the racialized experiences of BLI students uniquely contribute to their symptoms of distress? To address these questions we will use validated tools from psychology to assess the baseline stress, distress, and traumas of engineering students and follow-up with in-depth interviews with undergraduate BLI students to thematically analyze participants' distressing and traumatizing experiences in engineering education. The intellectual merit of the project includes 1) defining racialized stress, distress, and trauma in engineering, which will expand the engineering and STEM communities' knowledge of the ways default educational practices increase each of these in students; 2) Articulating the intersectional experiences related to mental health that occur within engineering education. 3) Expand the use of existing theories and practice for understanding racialized stress, distress, and trauma, to foster positive mental health and wellbeing for BLI engineering students. The broader impacts of the project includes 1)  Produce a model of BLI engineering students' characterization of trauma related to their engineering education to define and develop measures of stress and trauma in engineering, 2) Identify strategies to reduce educational experiences that lead to traumatic responses for BLI students, and 3) Develop and update engineering education pedagogy by helping engineering faculty recognize how their behaviors or interactions with students may contribute to students' repeated over-exposure to stress that could lead to traumatic responses.    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.",TRUE
2343858,The Information-Attention Tradeoff: Toward an Understanding of the Fundamentals of Online Attention,2025-04-18,University of California-San Diego,LA JOLLA,CA,CA50,271179,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2343858,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2343858_4900,2024-03-15,2027-02-28,920930021,UYTTZT6G9DT1,"The internet and social media play a critical role as information sources for a large majority of US adults. However, online platforms are not just informative spaces. They are competitive arenas that pursue clicks and views, which could lead to the spread of inaccurate information. This research provides new evidence that contributes to an increasingly important policy debate: how can we harness the advantages of the digital era while mitigating its risks? By examining how digital content is crafted to captivate audiences and how users allocate their attention in such domains, this research enhances our understanding of the fundamentals of online attention. These insights are used to test various strategies to enhance the informational value of content without compromising its appeal. The resulting findings will provide insights into the impact of social media on information dissemination in society.    This research advances the study of information transmission and human attention, by developing a new, scalable experimental paradigm that combines field and lab experimental data. This paradigm expands existing paradigms based on sender-receiver games, resulting in a new methodological approach to study online attention and information. The proposed research combines behavioral data with text analysis and machine learning techniques, to comprehensively assess the multifaceted effects of the interaction between suppliers and consumers of information. Using the experimental data, the project tests interventions and develops a theoretical framework to elucidate the mechanisms by which attention is captured and allocated, ultimately shaping the resulting information transmission.    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.",FALSE
2221994,SBP: Collaborative Research: Culturally Relevant Mentorship for Enhancing STEM Identity and Career Interests,2025-04-18,Claremont Graduate University,CLAREMONT,CA,CA28,157291,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2221994,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2221994_4900,2022-10-01,2025-09-30,917115909,N34CXJCDNDU1,"In STEM education, mentorship has become an important means of increasing the participation of underrepresented minoritized (URM) students, including women, Native/Black/Latinx Americans, persons with disabilities, bilingual students, and low-socioeconomic status (SES) youth. This B2 3.0 project will identify new constructs of culturally relevant mentorship (CRM), develop new survey instruments for assessing CRM, and examine the associations between CRM and STEM identity and career interest of URM students. The findings will offer insights for practitioners and policymakers to target resources and design interventions that can improve STEM outcomes of URM students through CRM. This project will also support research publications and NSF proposal submissions of faculty and doctoral students at MSIs, as well as strengthen collaborative networks among STEM education and social/behavioral science researchers through a STEM coalition that involves more than 30 pre-college STEM programs and 10 MSIs across the country.    This B2 3.0 project, co-led by researchers at both MSIs and non-MSIs, will make substantive contributions to knowledge in the fields of mentorship, social psychology, and broadening participation in STEM. It integrates cross-disciplinary theoretical perspectives to identify novel CRM constructs and link them to URM students’ STEM identity and career interests. It also addresses one of the most critical measurement needs in mentorship research and STEM education by developing and validating two new sets of CRM survey scales for mentors and mentees. Specifically, this project will conduct: (1) a comparative case study to explore and describe important CRM constructs and case types of mentors for URM adolescents; (2) a multi-step scale development study to develop and validate two new sets of CRM survey instruments for mentors and mentees; and (3) a large-scale survey study with a diverse sample to analyze the relationships between mentors’ CRM practices and URM mentees’ CRM perceptions, STEM identity, and STEM career interest.    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.",TRUE
2213870,Collaborative Research: From Culture to Child: How collective perceptions of affective divergence shape interracial relationships in middle childhood,2025-04-18,University of Denver,DENVER,CO,CO01,254374,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,DS -Developmental Sciences,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2213870,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2213870_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,802104711,WCUGNQQ8DZU1,"Racial segregation, tension, and discrimination continue to persist in U.S. society and this project examines how racial discord may spread from culture to child. This project uses a new paradigm to examine how subtle—but recurring—depictions of interracial discord on children’s television contribute to the erosion of children’s interracial relationships in middle childhood (~7 to 10 years of age). The proposed studies not only aim to identify a cause of interracial discord among children but may also inform media based interventions for improving children’s interracial relationships.    This project focuses on televised depictions of emotional discord in cross-race interactions as one potential cultural source of racial bias. A preliminary study documents that children’s television programming consistently depicts “shared” expressions of emotion in same-race interactions but not cross-race interactions. Exposure to this pattern of affective divergence may influence children’s interracial beliefs and behaviors. In three proposed experiments, this causal relationship is tested using the cultural snapshots paradigm. Children aged 7-10 years are randomly assigned to view brief television clips depicting (a) affective divergence, (b) affective convergence (shared emotion in both same-race and cross-race interactions), or (c) no humans (control). Exposure to affective divergence (relative to other conditions) is expected to cause children to experience reduced interracial empathy and increased negative expectations for interracial interactions, and in turn, cause reductions in children’s supportive and friendly behaviors toward other-race peers. Moderator and mediator variables are also measured, allowing for nuanced hypothesis-tests. Ultimately, these studies provide critical information about the causes of racial discord in children and a potential means for reducing such discord.    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.",TRUE
2334952,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: Broadening participation of marginalized individuals to transform SABER and biology education,2025-04-18,Arizona State University,TEMPE,AZ,AZ04,206492,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334952,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334952_4900,2024-03-01,2029-02-28,852813670,NTLHJXM55KZ6,"Professional societies play an important role in providing a platform for sharing research findings and networking. However, most professional societies grapple with issues related to lack of representation and inclusion of members of demographic groups that have historically been underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and career paths. One among these professional societies includes the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER), a leading premier international society with a primary focus on undergraduate biology education research. Scholarship related to this organization impacts every undergraduate biology learning environment. Additionally, members of this organization are also members of other professional societies, which makes SABER a critical lever for advancing systemic changes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion across various biology sub-fields and thus, helping to exert a larger impact on undergraduate biology education.     SABER since its inception and as exemplified by a self-study in 2019, has struggled with issues of diversity and representation at every level of its organizational structure, including key leadership positions. This aspect directly impacts the culture and climate of this society which ultimately affects the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts related to undergraduate biology education. Despite significant changes in its organizational structure, a concerted effort is needed to institute a permanent change related to equity and inclusion. This project aims to enact sustainable change by including diverse perspectives and voices to fundamentally change the culture of the organization and implement initiatives that promote an environment to enable cultural change. The goals of this project are as follows: (1) broadly and systematically advertise and recruit for SABER to broaden its reach to organizations, institutions, and individuals who are not currently aware of SABER, (2) offer travel support for individuals that are members of groups typically underrepresented in biology or who work at historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions to attend the national meeting, (3) offer mentorship related to inclusion to individuals in leadership positions at SABER, and (4) develop networking, mentoring, and leadership opportunities to sustain the involvement of diverse members within SABER. We posit that increasing the number and including the perspectives of underrepresented scientists within SABER will enable a shift in the culture of this society to help advance inclusion by (1) creating welcoming spaces that foster an enhanced sense of belonging and professional growth of diverse individuals, (2) creating a supportive environment for members by developing and empowering environmental stewards within the SABER leadership and by offering them travel support and mentoring activities, and (3) introducing structural changes that will ultimately affect the culture and climate of SABER as an organization to create pathways that diversify the society’s leadership for diverse individuals. Finally, as members of SABER are members of other sub-fields of biology, these efforts will directly impact other professional societies in their efforts to becoming inclusive.    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.",TRUE
2317571,Collaborative Research: Conference: Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative,2025-04-18,University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,182559,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317571,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317571_4900,2024-01-01,2025-04-18,606375418,ZUE9HKT2CLC9,"The Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative (MSIDI) is a collaboration among US mathematical sciences institutes to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences. The member institutes include the American Institute of Mathematics, the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, and the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute. In this project MSIDI will organize ten scientific conferences and workshops with the long-term goal of enhancing research capacity in the US by increasing scientific and networking activities for mathematicians from underrepresented groups, increasing opportunities for mentoring and identifying role models for early career researchers from underrepresented groups, and highlighting the successes of mathematical scientists from those groups.    The proposed conferences include one Blackwell-Tapia conference, one Infinite Possibilities conference, one LatMath conference, three Modern Math workshops, one workshop on Mathematics on Racial Justice, two Roots of Unity conferences, and one Applied Mathematics skills Improvement for Graduate studies Advancement conference. These conferences are complementary to the core activities of the institutes and are important for the goal of increasing participation in key activities that are integral to a career in the mathematical sciences, as well as in the institutes' core programs. Each conference will be organized by one lead institute in collaboration with all MSIDI member institutes. More information can be found on the MSIDI webpage at https://www.mathinstitutes.org/diversity.    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.",TRUE
2411643,Collaborative Research: Developing and Testing the Equity Departmental Action Team Model of Racial Equity Focused Departmental Change,2025-04-18,Colorado State University,FORT COLLINS,CO,CO02,130178,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Centers for Rsch Excell in S&T,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411643,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411643_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,805212807,LT9CXX8L19G1,"Given the persistent challenge of racial inequity in STEM, there is a clear need for new models that spur and sustain racial equity change. Successful departmental team-based change efforts demonstrate that change can be created and sustained at the meso level of an institution (i.e., departments, centers, and units as the focus for change). This project will bring together experts in institutional change and experts in advancing racial equity with the goal of combining existing, well tested change models to produce a new, racial equity focused model of change in higher education—the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model. This model will focus on shifting departmental cultures in ways that benefit, and are grounded in the experiences of, those with historically marginalized racial and ethnic identities. This project will advance the scholarship of racial equity by developing, testing, and refining the EDAT model with STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution and disseminating the model through partnership with national higher education associations.    This project will take place in two major phases: 1) development of the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model, and 2) pilot of the EDAT model in STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution, the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver). The development of the new EDAT model will draw from existing change programs, including the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model and the Dialogues and Change Agent programs. It will integrate multiple theories from systems change, social justice change, social psychology change agency, and intergroup contact. Research activities will focus on both the process and impact of the EDAT model. The project will use surveys, focus groups, interviews, and participant journaling to explore the following research questions. RQ1: To what extent do Foundational Experiences prepare EDAT members for racial equity work?  RQ2: What strategies do EDATs deploy when engaging in racial equity work? RQ3: To what extent do EDATs integrate racial equity into departmental culture? Research and program evaluation will be conducted simultaneously with the EDAT implementation so the model can be iteratively refined throughout the project. Dissemination of the model will take place in collaboration with partners from the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities - Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2214216,Collaborative Research: HNDS-R: Dynamics and Mechanisms of Information Spread via Social Media,2025-04-18,Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute,TROY,NY,NY20,336644,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Human Networks & Data Sci Infr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214216,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214216_4900,2022-08-15,2025-07-31,121803590,U5WBFKEBLMX3,"There has never been so much information available at everyone’s fingertips than there is today. Unfortunately, with so much information  comes a lot of misinformation that can be spread to human populations and adopted by them as the truth. Understanding how information flows and its impact on human behavior is important for determining how to protect society from the effects of misinformation, propaganda, and “fake news.”   This project traces how information spreads on social media channels and how ideas, opinions, and beliefs change as they spread.  Conducting this research requires combining concepts from computational social sciences, computer science, sociology, and statistics to understand the fundamentals of information spread in social media    This project develops a new approach to the study of information diffusion that brings together several different mechanisms for information flow.  Together these are used to analyze how information spreads in social media.  The research has two main goals: First, it will spot and predict opinion trends and identify users’ polarization on topics of broad interest to society (e.g., climate change or the Covid-19 pandemic). Second, it will track information propagation to understand its role in shaping opinion trends and identify the factors that are important for its spread and adoption. The researchers have access to a large amount of data that permits them to build and test large-scale models of information diffusion.  The outcomes of this project include new computer algorithms that are capable of understanding information flow in social media and new avenues for research in the science of information spread and diffusion.    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.",FALSE
2332263,CLIMA/Collaborative Research: Equitable Adaptive Strategies for Flood Protection Infrastructure under Current and Future Compound Hazards,2025-04-18,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,325267,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,"Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation","HDBE-Humans, Disasters, and th",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2332263,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2332263_4900,2023-11-01,2025-04-18,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"Over two-thirds of the American population lives in counties protected against flooding by the levee system. Historically underserved and socially vulnerable communities (HUSVCs) are particularly at risk due to their high exposure and barriers to mitigation. This award supports a transdisciplinary research project to explore climate-informed strategies for equitable adaptation of levees under compound hazards to address these challenges. The research project aims to ensure the resilience of the nation's aging levees while meeting the needs of HUSVCs. The findings will contribute to levee safety and durability subject to the current and future climate conditions. The project translates advances in climate science and modeling into easily understandable information for engineers and decision-makers.    The project has three main objectives: identifying vulnerabilities and disparities within leveed communities; developing theoretical frameworks integrating compound hazards into engineering design and risk assessment, and determining equitable climate adaptation strategies based on technical, socioeconomic, and policy factors. The researchers hypothesize that neglecting the compounding effects of multiple hazards in a changing climate underestimates the risk of levee failure and its disproportionate effect on HUSVCs. The goal is to inform both soft and hard levee adaptation measures that are technically sound, socially just, and economically feasible. The team engages local HUSVCs to understand their needs, priorities, and perceived risks, while also promoting flood risk awareness and preparation. In the pilot communities, stakeholders and community leaders provide important feedback to refine these measures.     This project is supported by the Humans, Disasters, and the Built Environment (HDBE) Program and the Engineering for Civil Infrastructure (ECI) Program of the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation (CMMI) of the Directorate for Engineering (ENG).    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.",TRUE
2247071,Collaborative Research: Planning: Track 1 for Catalyzing a Paradigm Shift towards an Inclusive Engineering for Community Development,2025-04-18,Colorado School of Mines,GOLDEN,CO,CO07,37405,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2247071,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2247071_4900,2023-06-15,2025-04-18,804011887,JW2NGMP4NMA3,"This planning grant will enable the development of a competitive and collaborative Centers for Equity in Engineering (CEE) Phase I project proposal. The Center proposal  seeks to enable the research and practice of an Engineering for Community Development (ECD) that provides transformational experiences to all students, especially students of color. Through creating a distributed center across selected partner institutions, we are seeking to initiate and sustain a shift within ECD towards the principles of inclusive pedagogy. Such a shift will eliminate the limitations of traditional ECD, which can often exclude groups of peoples, reinforce stereotypes, and leave partner communities wanting more. Replacement with an inclusive ECD can specifically provide for students of color, their assets, and their needs while positively impacting partner communities to strengthen efforts of broadening participation in engineering. In conducting this research, we will understand the ways in which the limitations of service-learning’s ability to equitably educate all students can be overcome. More specifically, if service-learning is going to support the education of students from minoritized backgrounds, then we must research ECD with respect to the specific needs of students from these various backgrounds. This work will impact students, community partners, and institutions of higher education through promoting ECD that is inclusive to all, where students from historically minoritized demographics will be supported through transformational experiences that encourage them to remain and succeed in engineering.         Through strengthening and creating a broad array of inclusive and culturally relevant ECD approaches, contexts, and data collection methods the research performed by the Center will enable effort across the research-to-practice cycle that systematically includes historically marginalized students and communities into ECDinitiatives. To accomplish this goal and maximize the chances of a funded proposal, the following primary objectives will be met within the planning proposal: Align core team through regular virtual meetings; Articulate core concept of research; Develop initial Delphi prompts; Plan and perform discovery phases of a Delphi method; Conduct an intensive two day workshop; And write and refine proposal using information from first two phases of Delphi. This effort will produce new knowledge on what an inclusive ECD is and how it can be accomplished in practice. Through supporting inclusive and culturally relevant ECD practice, students from historically minoritized demographics will be supported to obtain transformational outcomes within ECD initiatives and by extension increase the likelihood to remain and succeed in engineering. Ultimately, as promoted by the Office of Science and Technology Policy of the White House, federally funded research will, moving forward, try to include community knowledge and interest from its inception (generating research questions) to its conclusion (research deliverables) (National Academies, 2022). Hence, this inclusion of communities in research and design that ECD offers will challenge STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education at large to develop a student workforce capable of effectively interacting and co-developing with local communities and being diverse enough to empathize with the realities and challenges of racially, ethnically, and socio-economically diverse communities. Through developing and exploring inclusive and culturally relevant ECD contexts, this planning grant, and in turn, the full grant, can enable the use of ECD problem domains and contexts that critically engage issues of marginalization and social justice to promote diverse and equitable ECD participation within engineering education. Collectively, these impacts will strengthen engineering institutions’ ability to serve as vehicles for broadening participation.    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.",TRUE
2315402,Collaborative Research: The Design and Refinement of Modules for Raising Critical Consciousnessin Undergraduate Mathematics Teacher Preparation,2025-04-18,Pennsylvania State Univ University Park,UNIVERSITY PARK,PA,PA15,79599,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315402,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315402_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,168021503,NPM2J7MSCF61,"This project aims to serve the national interest by developing modules intended to better prepare prospective grade 6-12 mathematics teachers to teach in increasingly diverse classrooms while advancing prospective teachers’ own STEM learning. This project is significant because research indicates that although student populations in U.S. schools are continuing to increase in diversity, specifically with respect to race, language, and socio-economic status, teachers are predominantly white and need additional resources to develop rich STEM learning experiences that impact outcomes for all learners in STEM fields. This project hopes to advance the knowledge of how best to support prospective mathematics teachers in developing the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to teach in diverse settings and contribute to ongoing efforts to increase access to much needed research-based resources for mathematics teacher educators. Mathematics teacher educators' use of these resources should advance prospective mathematics teachers’ own STEM learning which should lead to better mathematics instruction in classrooms across the country. As a result, more grade 6-12 students, particularly students from underrepresented groups, will develop an interest in and be prepared to enter STEM fields.     This project will use improvement science methods to design, refine, and study the impact of a series of modules for use in grade 6-12 mathematics teaching methods courses that address prospective teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions for teaching in diverse settings as outlined in Standards for the Preparation of Teachers of Mathematics. Specifically, the project will address two goals as follows: Goal 1. Design and refine a series of modules developed using critical pedagogies to address: a) the political and historical issues in mathematics education, b) identity, c) critical consciousness, and d) countering unproductive practices that marginalize learners by using Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles at three institutions. After the development of each module (Plan), the modules will be enacted in a staggered schedule at each institution (Do) so that between each enactment, data can be shared and analyzed (Study) and revisions can be made (Act). Throughout the design and refinement process advisory board members with expertise in mathematics teacher education, access, equity, culture, justice, curriculum development, and improvement science will provide feedback. The modules will then be shared with mathematics teacher educators who are part of the Mathematics Teacher Education Partnership (which includes 65 programs, including 11 under-resourced institutions and/or minority-serving institutions) for further refinement and subsequently made available to all mathematics teacher educators. Goal 2. Studying the impact of the modules on prospective teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions will be guided by two research questions: RQ1: What impact does participating in the modules have on pre-service teachers' understanding of countering practices that marginalize learners in mathematics? RQ2: How does the consciousness of secondary pre-service teachers shift while engaged in modules on countering beliefs, attitudes, actions and practices that devalue learners in the context of teaching and learning of mathematics? The project will collect quantitative data using content analysis and pre-and post-module data using the Culturally Responsive Teaching Outcome Expectancy and Self-Efficacy surveys and qualitative data from prospective teachers assignments and reflections through coding, thematic analysis, and using Mathematics with|in conocimientos to determine how the modules influenced prospective teachers’ multicultural mathematics dispositions, other emergent understandings related to cultural sensitivity, and how prospective teachers’ experiences with the modules created changes in their consciousness. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program has contributed funding to this project.    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.",TRUE
2148920,"Memorialization, Contested Knowledge, and the Sociopsychological Impacts of Disinformation in the Context of COVID-19",2025-04-18,George Washington University,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,398317,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cultural Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2148920,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2148920_4900,2022-06-01,2025-05-31,200520042,ECR5E2LU5BL6,"The waves of infection and variants of SARS-CoV-2 causing social disruption, sickness, and death continue to reveal a crisis in scientific expertise and authority, as well as the widespread politicization of the pandemic among policymakers and their constituents. This project examines how disinformation (the intentional airing of misleading information), misinformation (falsehoods), and the “infodemic” (a condition of excessive information that makes the solution to a problem more difficult to achieve), influence how individuals and communities in the United States mourn the dead. It focuses on how people manage their social and psychological lives when COVID-19 deaths are variously mourned, dismissed, or blamed on others in a politically fractious environment. The study contributes to understanding the social impact of misinformation and informs public policy responses to both the current pandemic and future public health crises that result in mass fatality, incomplete mourning, and politicized death. The project will also train eighteen graduate and undergraduate students in scientific research methods over the course of the three-year study.    While most studies of public debates focus on texts, such as political speeches, newspaper and scholarly articles, this project explores what behaviors, in the context of the pandemic, have become central to the experience of mourning, and how mourners seek accountability in homes, cemeteries, grief counseling sessions, rituals, virtual commemorations, and social media posts, among other venues. In doing so, it addresses: (1) how COVID-19 misinformation has shifted over the course of its evolution; (2) how contested knowledge has shaped the mourning process for COVID-19 victims and their families; (3) how COVID-19 mourners have defined and pursued accountability in their efforts to counter misinformation; and (4) how altered burial, funeral, and commemorative practices affect mourning. Through social media analysis, in-person and virtual ethnographic engagement, and in-depth interviews, the project analyzes claims and counterclaims in their linguistic, media, and social relational contexts of use. Data and findings will contribute to anthropological understanding of ritual, particularly its efficacy in a contested environment, as well as provide important insight into the processes and consequences of incomplete mourning during a prolonged public health crisis.    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.",TRUE
2233789,"Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: EVOLVED - Embedding a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity in the Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies",2025-04-18,Clemson University,CLEMSON,SC,SC03,584724,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233789,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233789_4900,2023-07-15,2027-06-30,296340001,H2BMNX7DSKU8,"EVOLVED (Embed a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity) is a comprehensive and integrated set of activities that embeds the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the backbone of the Consortium of Aquatic Sciences Societies (CASS). CASS membership includes 20,000+ aquatic scientists from all career stages working across academic, government, and industry sectors. CASS initiated transformative diversity, equity, and inclusion work through a 2021 BIO-LEAPS planning grant, which laid the groundwork for EVOLVED. In that process, CASS leadership demonstrated a collective commitment to equity and inclusion and a desire to elevate this work to one of CASS’s primary priorities. The EVOLVED program will focus its work in 3 areas: (1) developing programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), (2) re-envisioning CASS’s values, exploring biases and assumptions, and reexamining culture, to transform the CASS climate into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) building organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. The project includes a comprehensive mixed-method evaluation of all major initiatives. Together, the EVOLVED activities will catalyze cultural change at multiple levels: across CASS as a collective, in single societies, and by individual members within societies.     The EVOLVED program will embed diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the cultural fabric of environmental, ecological, and organismal biology-focused aquatic sciences.  This program will develop, implement, and assess activities that scale-up equity driven advancement across three levels of action: individual members, societies, and the CASS collective. EVOLVED will mechanistically link structural and cultural change aimed at breaking down major barriers to building diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within a consortium of professional, scientific societies and serve as a model for transformative culture change at the collective consortium level. To operationalize this, EVOLVED will: (1) build programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used in this proposal to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM), (2) re-envision values and mental models within CASS to transform its culture into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) build organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. Broader impacts of this work include increased engagement with minority-serving institutions within CASS, integration of DEI-focused values within individual CASS societies, and adoption of DEI-centric policy, management, and conservation work across the CASS collective. The proposed activities broaden participation of underrepresented groups in environmental biology disciplines; ensure more diverse voices are involved in biology-focused policy, conservation, and planning; and ultimately foster disciplinary excellence and environmental justice.    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.",TRUE
2234708,Planning: BPE TRACK 1: DISRUPTING RACIALIZED PRIVILEGE IN THE STEM CLASSROOM,2025-04-18,Georgia Tech Research Corporation,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,99791,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234708,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2234708_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,303186395,EMW9FC8J3HN4,"Understanding whiteness and white supremacy as deeply ingrained in the past, present and future of U.S. higher education and, therefore, subverting these toxic systems is essential to creating a more equitable educational system. The goal of the project is to develop a series of STEM Justice online workshops to foster engagement and facilitate the building of an engineering community of practice committed to disrupting racialized privilege, and subsequently better prepared to challenge unequal access to resources and opportunities in engineering.  Cultural norms and racialized economic disparities in the United States create an inequitable status quo, privileging whites and the concept of whiteness, while disenfranchising people of color. This project will increase competency and readiness for action by making visible how racialized inequity and privilege can minimize the participation of students with non-centered identities. The workshops developed in this project provides online tools and resources for STEM professionals to reflect on and respond to their own educational environment by developing an innovative pedagogical method, mode of delivery, and project to significantly impact the recruitment and retention of engineering faculty. The STEM faculty and professional development will address calls from the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine to improve students' experiences. This project supports the transformation of the engineering culture to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion and can have a long-term impact on expanding the STEM work force by disrupting and preventing opportunity loss due to systems of white supremacy. Overall, the project aligns with NSF Broadening Participation funding program.    Four, one-hour recorded modules that will include all handouts and support material necessary to enhance participant learning and achieve three learning outcomes (LO) will be developed. LO 1: Each participant will be able to define, compare, and contrast a collection of core critical terms associated with each module. LO 2: Each participant will be able to articulate how the critical aspect of each module is relevant to their specific individual context, and with a specific focus on the interpersonal, institutional, and social power dynamics at play. LO 3: Each participant will be able to develop a plan to actively respond in an equity-sustaining way to their specific individual context based on the provided module resources. Following the plan for dissemination, recruitment, training, and follow-up with participants this proposal will initiate a national conversation about addressing racial inequity and white supremacy in the STEM profession and classroom. The outcomes from this proposal will advance knowledge and produce an asynchronous teaching tool to educate STEM professionals to define and develop personalized approaches to manage implicit, explicit, environmental, and pedagogical aspects of racialized privilege in their STEM classroom. The online resource give access to STEM professionals beyond the team’s current professional networks where colleagues can proceed through the content at their own pace, rather than be constrained to the limited workshop time allotment during a professional society conference.  By developing specific practices that can foster healing and sustained equity pedagogies, to improve the experiences of STEM students with non-centered identities by exposing STEM faculty beyond the American Society for Engineering Education conference to content and equity sustaining pedagogical tools. Finally, workshops will empower STEM faculty and administrators who want to address racial inequity but do not have the knowledge or resources to make change in their own educational environment.    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.",TRUE
2222278,Examining Undergraduate Research Experiences of Latinx STEM Students in Research Intensive HSIs and Emerging-HSIs,2025-04-18,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,300000,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,Postdoctoral Fellowships,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2222278,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2222278_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     This postdoctoral fellowship research project will undertake a comparative study of undergraduate research experiences for Latinx students at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) using an asset-based framework and Chicana/Latina feminist epistemology and the ""platicas methodology"" (or informal conversations). The study is expected to provide insights about the campus context of HSIs that influence STEM retention of Latinx students through their participation in undergraduate research experiences. In addition to conducting a research project, the fellow will implement a professional development plan designed to expand her methodological training in quantitative (social network analysis) and mixed methods research design and to gain pedagogical and mentoring tools to work with diverse students. The fellow’s future research directions include investigating the intersectional identities of Latinx students in STEM and exploration of STEM graduate pathways that embrace Latinx culture.     The study aims to examine the social and cultural assets that Latinx use in two research-intensive HSI settings. Guided by asset-based frameworks, Rendon’s Latinx STEM Success Model, and the Community-Centered STEM Identity Model, the project will employ both a qualitative culturally relevant methodology known as ""platicas,"" and a quantitative methodology based in social network analysis. A transformative design was chosen, as this study aims to use culturally relevant methods with a marginalized student group (Latinx students in STEM) with the goal of transforming STEM outcomes. In addition, a Chicana/Latina Feminist epistemology will provide an overarching framework for the study. The study provides an intersectional approach by centering Latinx STEM students who are also first-generation college students. It line of inquiry holds potential to provide insights into the unique campus context of HSIs in advancing STEM retention through participation in undergraduate research experiences.    The project responds to the STEM Education Postdoctoral Research Fellowship (STEM Ed PRF) program that aims to enhance the research knowledge, skills, and practices of recent doctorates in STEM, STEM education, education, and related disciplines to advance their preparation to engage in fundamental and applied research that advances knowledge within the field.    This project is partially funded by The Kaleta A. Doolin Foundation through a partnership with the National Science Foundation to promote greater diversity within the STEM/STEM education research workforce.    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.",TRUE
2216721,RaMP: Understanding Nature and Los Angeles Biodiversity (UNLAB) through Museum Collections and Field-based Research,2025-04-18,Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Foundation,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA37,2982873,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,RaMP-Res & Mentoring Postbac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216721,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216721_4900,2022-10-01,2026-09-30,900074057,UKB4JJ1M1647,"The postbaccalaureate mentoring program Understanding Nature and Los Angeles Biodiversity through Museum Collections and Field-based Research (UNLAB) will facilitate biodiversity research, mentorship, professional development, and educational enrichment for mentees. The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County will host and mentor UNLAB mentees in research projects focused on Southern California biodiversity in the context of a changing planet. Research will investigate this theme within three related tracks: biodiversity before humans; biodiversity introduced, removed, or geographically changed by humans; and biodiversity responses to humans. Projects will include modern species and fossils, those on land and in the ocean, and both animals and plants, providing broad-ranging insights and varied experiences for mentees. Results from mentees' guided research will have implications for local conservation and management as well as for understanding how humans shape biodiversity more broadly. Mentors and UNLAB’s extended network of professionals at the Natural History Museum and throughout the greater Los Angeles area will foster mentee confidence and competence in a number of different STEM career opportunities. Basing UNLAB in a public museum setting will allow mentees to develop a broad range of scientific and communication skills that they can apply to continuing their formal education or the career of their choice.    A comprehensive understanding of the consequences of anthropogenic change on Earth’s biodiversity requires research that spans paleontological, historical, and modern timescales. UNLAB mentee research projects are taxonomically diverse, collections-based, and purposefully varied. They address biotic responses to anthropogenic disturbances using genetics and genomics, morphometrics, community science as well as behavioral, morphological, faunal, and spatial analyses. Research outcomes are relevant to land use decisions as well as to understanding the phenomena of biotic homogenization and species introduction, floral and faunal community change, extinction, species fragmentation, and urban evolution. The variety and interconnected nature of UNLAB mentee projects will allow for within-cohort collaboration and broadly relevant results. UNLAB will provide mentorship under an inclusion, diversity, equity, and access framework, and will keenly focus on developing professional skills that complement traditionally emphasized research skills. Thus, UNLAB and its theme of biodiversity in a time of anthropogenic change will prepare mentees - as scientists, analysts, and educators - for a STEM workforce that must contend with the consequences of a changing planet.    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.",TRUE
2303732,ADVANCE Adaptation: Advancing and Maintaining Equity in STEM (AMES),2025-04-18,Bradley University,PEORIA,IL,IL17,993878,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2303732,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2303732_4900,2023-08-01,2025-04-18,616250001,D3ZVNXBL1DJ7,"The Advancing and Maintaining Equity in STEM (AMES) ADVANCE Adaptation project at Bradley University (BU) will implement interventions to improve campus climate and develop policies and procedures that can be used across Bradley University and in other predominantly undergraduate institutions (PUIs) to recruit and retain science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty from all backgrounds. To address campus climate, the AMES project will implement two initiatives; 1) an Advocates & Allies program (developed by North Dakota State University) to address implicit bias, improve understanding of systemic and interpersonal forms of discrimination, and build advocacy and intervention skills among faculty, and 2) a Diversity, Equity, and Solidarity (IDEAS) Program to increase awareness of and appreciation for broadening participation and fairness in STEM through regular and highly visible campus events and communications.      The AMES project is designed to shift the BU campus climate toward a culture of fairness, mutual respect, and non-discrimination. The project also seeks to address the systemic barriers that contribute to the lack of participation in academic careers and hinder success for all STEM faculty. To address systemic structural issues, the project aims to 1) engage faculty in the revision of annual review processes and tenure, promotion, and retention policies, 2) create and implement a dashboard to better track faculty data along multiple dimensions and build accountability for institutional change, and 3) develop and pilot ADVANCE-informed Chair Training (ACT) to provide STEM chairs with training in areas that impact hiring, workload, retention, and promotion. The AMES project outcomes including tools, and curricular materials will be disseminated to regional and national audiences through publications, conference presentations, and its publicly accessible website.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Adaptation"" awards provide support for the adaptation and adoption of evidence-based strategies to academic, non-profit institutions of higher education as well as non-academic, non-profit organizations.    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.",TRUE
2150364,REU Site: STEM Education Research through a Social Justice Lens,2025-04-18,TERC Inc,CAMBRIDGE,MA,MA05,348540,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,AISL,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150364,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150364_4900,2022-03-15,2025-04-18,021401339,GSLCJ3M62XX1,"This REU Site award to TERC, located in Cambridge, MA, will support the training of eight students for ten weeks during the summers of 2023-2025. Students will perform research in the field of informal STEM education. Their projects will have a theme of advancing social justice and equity. The social justice theme aims to attract students to STEM education research, as evidence suggests students value working toward equity and social change. Students will conduct independent research projects and will learn appropriate research methods. Student supports will include mentoring, networking, peer relationships, research communications practice, and seminar participation. These professional development offerings will incorporate social justice approaches. Student research results may potentially contribute to the knowledge base of broadening participation in informal STEM learning.    Through their independent research projects, graduated supports, and culturally responsive mentoring, the project has potential to impact participants abilities to make gains in the development of independent research skills, especially social justice–informed research methods, and gain awareness of ethics and related careers while developing an identity as an educational researcher. Students who are rising juniors and seniors majoring in STEM, STEM education, or a social science discipline will be recruited nationally. To specifically reach students underrepresented in STEM, recruitment will leverage TERC’s network of national STEM organizations that support these populations as well as local educational institutions. The annual application deadline will be in mid-January, and participants will be selected based on their limited opportunities for similar research at their home institutions and aspirations to enter the STEM education field. Outcomes of the three cohorts will be evaluated based on self-assessment and observed growth as emergent researchers in response to mentoring and professional development. Students will be tracked after the project in order to determine student career paths. Students will be asked to respond to an automatic email sent via the NSF reporting system. More information is available by visiting https://www.terc.edu/work-with-us/terc-scholars-intership-program/ or by contacting Stephen D. Alkins, PhD.    This REU site is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) and the Discovery Research PreK-12 (DRK-12) programs. It supports the AISL program goals to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. It supports the DRK-12 program goal of enhancing the learning and teaching of STEM by preK-12 students and teachers.    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.",TRUE
2238410,CAREER: Learning from Black Intellectualism: Broadening Epistemic Foundations in Engineering Education to Empower Black Students and Faculty,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,153285,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2238410,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2238410_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"The current discourse around the minimal presence of Black people in engineering is framed in terms of underrepresentation–the disparity between Black people’s demographic representation in the general populace and within the discipline. However, this narrative preserves Whiteness by passively neglecting the culture of racism in engineering.  A discourse centered on who can be physically included without engaging the implications of power in knowledge production neglects the ways Black people are forced to give meaning to their experiences through the lens of Whiteness. Recent scholarship within engineering education suggests a need for (1) a modern, reparatory framework for helping engineering faculty and students understand political implications of engineering knowledge; and (2) an equity-focused resource to foster constructive evaluation of teaching. This project will provide race-conscious resources paired with discussion and tools to assist faculty in translating the research into practice in ways that feel authentic to them. The evaluation tool will help faculty implement reliable and timely mechanisms for understanding how students experience their learning environments in ways that support actionable change. Furthermore, this work aligns with the Broadening Participation in Engineering program because it will increase faculty’s sense of belonging in engineering by connecting with other faculty who desire to increase equity, and by providing support which affirms the value and importance of this work. Additionally, the integration of students’ voices into decision-making processes and the integration of cultural and political considerations enhances the inclusion of non-White engineering students.      This CAREER project will 1) examine the effects of recasting engineering knowledge through the legacy of Black intellectualism, and 2) advance educational justice by countering the epistemic violence within engineering and its sense-making practices. The anticipated outcomes of this study will equip engineering faculty with tools for equitable instruction, and more importantly, enhance Black students’ sense of belonging by bridging the gap between their engineering learning and social reality. Fugitive pedagogy will be used to investigate engineering faculty epistemic norms and explore ways to reconstruct disciplinary knowledge through Black intellectualism. The project will implement a social design experimentation methodology to study how engineering education can be transformed toward epistemic equity. Epistemic equity is operationalized through the idea of re-politicizing–grappling with cultural and political implications of technical systems–engineering courses and curriculum. The overarching question guiding the research plan is: How can Black intellectualism be used to re-politicize engineering pedagogy? Engineering faculty will develop a schema (Phase 1), engage in revising a course based on the schema (Phase 2), and develop a teaching evaluation tool to assess the outcomes (Phase 3). Phases 2 and 3 will be repeated in an iterative cycle three times, centering faculty and student voice is the hallmark of the integrated research and education plans. The findings from this project will be disseminated through workshops on partnership with the University of Michigan’s Office of Culture, Community, and Equity (OCCE), Center for Research on Learning & Teaching in Engineering (CRLT-ENGIN), and the American Society for Engineering Education’s Commission on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (CDEI).    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.",TRUE
2304691,Planning: SOEST Wahine Awards,2025-04-18,University of Hawaii,HONOLULU,HI,HI01,199997,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304691,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2304691_4900,2023-08-15,2026-07-31,968222247,NSCKLFSSABF2,"The University of Hawai‘i’s (UH) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) is the State of Hawai‘i’s largest producer of geoscience graduates. This planning grant will fund the initial conceptualization of the SOEST Wahine Awards, a new competitive small grants program, to support professional development activities of women (wahine) faculty, staff, post-doc and students in the at SOEST. The justification for focusing on women is to level the academic playing field, as systematic gender disparities tend to impact women’s ability to achieve and advance at the same rate as men.  This project builds out from an existing NSF GEOPAths award in two important ways: (1) financially supporting the activities included in IDPs and (2) broadening the eligibility for professional development funding beyond students to include women post-docs, faculty and staff.    University of Hawai‘i’s (UH) School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) Wahine Awards will be a small, competitive grants program, which will support professional development activities for women in SOEST, particularly for the women mentees and mentors. The overarching goal of SOEST Wahine Awards is to support women’s career development by engaging in the following four objectives: (1) Fund activities that enhance women’s technical or professional skills; (2) Enhance women’s ability to secure future funding; (3) Expand and strengthen the Women-in-SOEST grassroots organization and the SOEST mentoring network; and (4) Broaden participation of women in geoscience, including Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders and other underrepresented women of color.    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.",TRUE
2233509,Design: Microbiology Leaders Evolving & Accountable to Progress,2025-04-18,American Society For Microbiology,WASHINGTON,DC,DC00,499985,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233509,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233509_4900,2023-03-15,2025-10-31,200362904,LJDQSS1E5ST7,"The American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM’s) Microbiology Leaders Evolving and Accountable to Progress (mBio LEAP) project is designed to support and elevate inclusive diversity with equity, access, and accountability (IDEAA). IDEAA is ASM’s holistic approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). The mBio LEAP project is meant to elevate IDEAA within the microbial sciences and across the broader science, technology, engineering, and mathematics community (STEM) and will complement ASM’s existing programs, such as the Future Leaders Mentoring Fellowship (FLMF) and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minoritized Scientists (ABRCMS). While FLMF and ABRCMS work to empower and mentor scientists from historically underrepresented groups, mBio LEAP will empower leaders within the microbial sciences to influence the cultures and climates of their respective sectors and organizations. The mBio LEAP project seeks to educate and train leaders in IDEAA, increasing their skills and ability to drive change. By focusing on leaders, mBio LEAP will increase the potential for organizational change and the embodiment of IDEAA principles at ASM and across the microbial sciences.    The mBio LEAP project will work with leaders by (1) promoting deep individual introspection, (2) facilitating peer group exchanges, and (3) providing a space where participants can practice knowledge and skills to ensure the training goes beyond awareness to action. The project goals are to expand intercultural awareness, transform practices, and encourage and inspire microbiology leaders to embrace and promote IDEAA. The project will use a training-of-leaders (ToL) model to provide a structure for long-term sustainability and engagement in IDEAA, connecting with leaders through an interactive, peer-group format to cultivate knowledge and understanding. The ToL program will strive to increase participants' awareness and understanding of IDEAA, develop best practices for integrating IDEAA in STEM, and promote IDEAA within the microbial sciences. The project’s three objectives are to (1) design and develop the IDEAA ToL program and curriculum, (2) recruit participants and pilot the ToL program and curriculum, and (3) revise the IDEAA ToL program and curriculum resources using a mixed-method design. The project’s design phase will produce a curriculum and resources for a comprehensive, data-driven, scalable ToL program that will enable the participating leaders to serve as IDEAA change agents. The program's resources will be open source and disseminated within the microbiology and STEM communities.    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.",TRUE
2230723,"PIRE: Co-Creating Research and Education Capacities to Understand, Visualize and Mitigate Climate-Change Impact Cascades and Inequities in Central Mexico",2025-04-18,Clark University,WORCESTER,MA,MA02,1499365,Standard Grant,OD,Office of the Director,International Science and Engineering,PIRE- Prtnrshps Inter Res & Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230723,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230723_4900,2023-04-01,2026-03-31,016101400,LD3WUVEUK2N5,"The news brings more and more reports of the growing impacts of climate change around the world: shrinking water reservoirs, severe drought, flooding, forest fires and dangerous heat waves, to name a few. These impacts are beyond human experience, catching us off-guard and therefore are causing catastrophic losses to lives, livelihoods, and properties. To make matters worse, one impact often has a domino effect or ""impact cascade"". It is becoming clear that, while climate change will impact us all, some of us are more at risk than others. Those living of the ‘edges’ of society, under social and economic stress, will suffer the most and are the least prepared. This project mobilizes diverse partners and social groups in the U.S. and Mexico to understand, visualize, and address the myriad impacts of climate change on water resources, ecosystems, food and agriculture, health, and livelihoods - in and around Mexico City. It also reveals how these impacts vary across populations and landscapes.  The researchers integrate diverse data - including rainfall, temperature, population, land use/land cover - and tools to anticipate future impacts.  The overarching goal is to create new ways to simulate and virtually inhabit future climate change/impact scenarios to be used by communities and policy makers to implement mitigation measures.  This project, thus, re-imagines the way research, policy, community action, and education can join forces to address climate change and social justice.  Its outcomes will be applicable not only in the U.S. and Mexico, but globally. The project also supports the training of graduate students at Clark University, notably from underrepresented groups in science, and outreach to the public.     How do diverse social groups co-create a shared understanding of complex climate-change impact cascades to water, ecosystems, food, health, livelihoods? How do we map and model impact inequities? How do we transform governance and social learning to chart sustainable, socially just, climate-resilient pathways? Here, the team works in a setting powerfully emblematic of this global climate and sustainability challenge: Mexico-Lerma-Cutzamala Hydrological Region, that includes Mexico City. To respond, for the first time, their approach  combines four components in synergy: C1) Co-creation with partners (including pilot communities) of an open-source GIS/Remote Sensing-based Regional Climate-Change Atlas to map and spatially analyze social, climate and environmental conditions; C2) Co-creation of a System Dynamics Model informed by GIS, representing interactions/impacts among climate change, water, population, urbanization, land-use/land cover change, ecosystems, food, health, and livelihoods – and revealing of impact inequities and injustice; C3) Piloting of eXtended Reality (XR) decision analysis, simulating climate-change/development scenarios diverse stakeholders can inhabit virtually and interact with in groups, informed by C1 and C2; C4) Integration of research and education such that they reinforce each other, including the co-creation of courses and field research that U.S. students and their peers in Mexico can experience together as learning teams.    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.",TRUE
2314893,Identifying Systemic Racism in Mathematics Teacher Education:  Building a Cross-Site Community with Preservice Teachers of Color,2025-04-18,Alabama A&M University,NORMAL,AL,AL05,343789,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314893,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314893_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,357627500,JDVGS67MSLH7,"This project will make significant contributions to racial equity in STEM by identifying and describing forms of systemic racism inherent in mathematics teacher education programs (MTEPs). Racialized mathematics teaching practices are systemic in elementary mathematics classrooms, and the impacts of systemic inequities in K-12 mathematics education both deter students from diverse backgrounds from becoming interested in math, reducing their likelihood of engaging in STEM; and affect students’ identities by devaluing or erasing their diverse cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Since teachers are the key to ensuring racial equity in classrooms, identifying racialized mathematics experiences must begin with mathematics teacher education programs. In this innovative study, a project team comprised of mathematics teacher educators of color (MTECs) will collaborate with 12-15 Preservice Teachers of Color (PTOCs), in authentic partnership, from three unique MTEPs (at an HBCU, an HSI, and a PWI) to form a cross-site Critical Mathematics Professional Learning Community (CMPLC). By documenting PTOCs’ racialized mathematics experiences across three sites, the project will: (1) gather fundamental knowledge on the racialized mathematical learning and teaching experiences of PTOCs, (2) build knowledge of racialized mathematics experiences and their overall impact on the preparation of PTOCs, and (3) inform teacher education programs across content and contexts. As Black and Latinx scholars with extensive experience in teacher education, the project team conceptualized this creative project to illuminate new ways of nourishing and affirming PTOCs’ racial identities and cultural strengths in mathematics teacher education.    The project team will collaborate with participating PTOCs to analyze data generated from focus groups, individual interviews, CMPLC conversations, journals, and field notes using interpretative phenomenology analysis, case study methodology, and thematic analysis. Participating PTOCs’ students, especially the culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms, will benefit from this project by receiving increased opportunities to learn mathematics in ways that bolster their STEM identities. The project will fill a gap in the research literature by: (1) increasing the knowledge on the mathematics teacher preparation of PTOCs; (2) centering the voices and experiences of PTOCs and mathematics teacher educators of color in a cross-racial and cross-cultural project; and (3) bringing unique perspectives to the design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of findings about both our own experiences and those of PTOCs, as a PI team composed entirely of MTECs. By attaining a deeper understanding of PTOCs’ mathematics learning experiences, we advance racial equity by exposing racist teaching practices that disadvantage historically marginalized students and identifying changes in teacher education that will identify and address practices that obstruct racial equity in STEM.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EHR Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering,  and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of  supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the  collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program contributed to the funding of this project.    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.",TRUE
2313979,The Cultural Roots of STEM: A Synthesis of Non-Western STEM Learning Paradigms,2025-04-18,Exploratorium,SAN FRANCISCO,CA,CA11,598218,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313979,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313979_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,941111455,DGTRD5QN3PL7,"Despite efforts to foster inclusivity in Informal Science Learning (ISL), achieving equity remains challenging. Learners and professionals in the ISL field predominantly experience science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) through a Eurocentric or Western paradigm, which reinforces and seeks to normalize the perspectives and practices of privileged groups who have historically dominated STEM fields. Learners/professionals with worldviews and ways of learning different from what is presented as normative in STEM may experience exclusion, face difficulties, or be pressured to assimilate, which may add barriers to their engagement and success in STEM. While there is a growing commitment in ISL to broadening participation in STEM, genuine diversity cannot be attained if current efforts continue to revolve around a dominant paradigm. This research synthesis project will review, summarize, and interpret existing research and knowledge on non-Western STEM knowledge, worldviews, and ways of knowing. It will also provide evidence-based resources for promoting diverse ways of learning and doing STEM in Informal Science Learning (ISL) environments. These resources will enhance awareness, expand conversations, and advance research on pluralistic STEM knowledge systems among ISL professionals. This project is led by the Exploratorium with contributions from a national advisory panel.    The project's overarching research question is: What are the extent, range, and nature of existing literature on the heterogeneity of STEM knowledge systems and ways of knowing? To answer this question, the research team will follow a three-phase approach guided by a Community Engagement in Research framework. Phase 1 will be a scoping review to systematically collate and catalog existing research on non-Western STEM knowledge, ways of knowing, and sense-making. In Phase 2, project advisors and selected community knowledge brokers--professionals from community-based and other organizations and/or individuals who have a foot in the ISL world and a foot in marginalized communities of color--will participate in a professionally-facilitated consultation exercise. The goal of this stakeholder consultation is to validate the findings from Phase 1 and identify topics and research questions for further exploration. Based on this consultation exercise, the research team will conduct a synthesis study tailored to address the identified research questions. Phase 3 will consist of two virtual facilitated convenings. The convenings will engage members from historically marginalized communities of color, science museum practitioners, and project advisors to collectively interpret and discuss Phase 1 and 2 synthesis results. The main objective of Phase 3 activities is to collectively identify knowledge gaps in the current literature to inform future research and propose evidence-based design principles and recommendations that reflect and support diverse worldviews and ways of knowing. In summary, the project will generate these deliverables: (1) Reports of the project's synthesis findings; (2) A research agenda identifying primary research necessary for the promotion of onto-epistemic heterogeneity [multiple ways of knowing and being] in ISL; and (3) Community-informed strategies, and design principles to encourage exploration of the affordances of multicultural STEM knowledge, ways of knowing, and sense-making in ISL. The project will contribute to the National Science Foundation's strategic goal of broadening participation in STEM learning and careers by providing a research foundation and pathway for both marginalized communities of color and privileged, dominant communities to explore and embrace multiple ways of knowing without compromising their cultural identities.     This Synthesis project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2306263,Collaborative Research: Research Initiation: Factors Affecting Latina Engineering Student Decisions to Enter Graduate School or Engineering Career Pathways,2025-04-18,Northwestern University,EVANSTON,IL,IL09,50000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306263,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306263_4900,2023-08-01,2025-07-31,602080001,EXZVPWZBLUE8,"This project aims to serve the national interest by improving understanding of the social, cultural, educational, and institutional parameters affecting matriculation of Latina engineering students into graduate engineering programs.  The work will improve understanding of the complex psycho-social processes contributing to the persistent underrepresentation of Latinx and Hispanic students across STEM fields and the existence of a gender gap that is larger than found in the general population. Latinx and Hispanic students in STEM come from the fastest growing ethnic minority in the United States. However, they are extremely underrepresented in terms of STEM degrees, especially at the graduate level. This research helps correct this situation, by providing critically needed insights to draw more Latina students into STEM graduate programs and eventually into the professorial ranks.    This project will improve understanding of the complex factors affecting the career decisions of Latina engineering students and their likelihood to enter graduate engineering study.  Two research questions are posed: RQ1: How do Latina engineering students describe the factors related to their decision, decision processes, or intentions to enter graduate school and/or engineering career pathways? RQ2: How do Latina engineering students describe the social, cultural, educational, and institutional experiences that impact their decision, decision process, or intentions to enter graduate school and/or engineering career pathways? An explanatory sequential mixed methods approach will be employed.  Phase 1 is quantitative with an emphasis on institutional integration using the modified Collegiate Achievement Model.  Results from phase 1 are used to inform the qualitative phase 2 which shifts the theoretical framework to the Community Cultural Wealth Model to center the complexities and assets of the participants’ lived experiences.  This is done specifically to provide broader, richer insights into both the institutional integration issues and the cultural and social perspectives behind the factors and experiences impacting Latina engineering student graduate study and career pathway decisions.    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.",TRUE
2145011,"CAREER: Developing Informed Portraits of the Educational Experiences of Homeless, Black High-Achieving Adolescents",2025-04-18,University of Chicago,CHICAGO,IL,IL01,398732,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2145011,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2145011_4900,2022-04-01,2027-03-31,606375418,ZUE9HKT2CLC9,"Existing educational inequities produce complex challenges for Black students, particularly in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) classrooms. Black students who show promise for success in STEM while experiencing homelessness find themselves particularly marginalized at the intersection of race and class. The purpose of this project is to center the voices and experiences of Black, high achieving homeless adolescents to better understand the resources and strengths they possess, as well as those they draw on from schools and communities of support to enhance their positive development and achievement of educational and occupational aspirations. This deep exploration into the educational experiences of these students, with emphases on STEM coursework and pathways, will offer pointed guidance in how to better engage those students and ensure their successful persistence through high school and beyond. The project will also support graduate and undergraduate students in STEM education research as well as sharing findings with partner school districts as part of the educational integration plan. This research project is supported by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. This project is also supported by the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity), which supports projects that advance racial equity in STEM education and workforce development through research and practice.     This qualitative, life course-focused study examines the educational experiences of Black, high-achieving homeless Black students. Life-coursed focused research employs semi-structured interviews that focus on how students make sense of pivotal life experiences within societal and personal contexts; in this case, the project highlights students’ experiences with STEM learning at the intersections of race, ability, and homelessness with 100 Black students via semi-structured interviews. The project is guided by  overarching aims: 1) to create “informed portraits” that document the specific and unique educational experiences of Black, high achieving homeless high school students; 2) to evaluate how well current policies intended to define homelessness and provide support to all students experiencing homelessness address or meet the particular needs of these students; 3) to develop evidence-informed policy and practice recommendations for educational stakeholders in order to increase STEM achievement outcomes and to reduce STEM-specific inequities for Black high-achieving homeless adolescents. The results of this research will assist educators, practitioners, policymakers, and scholars in understanding the personal, social, and community-based assets of housing insecure students alongside the unique challenges they face in pursuing their educational aspirations.    This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    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.",TRUE
2233788,"Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: EVOLVED - Embedding a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity in the Consortium of Aquatic Science Societies",2025-04-18,SUNY College at Oneonta,ONEONTA,NY,NY19,88281,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2233788,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2233788_4900,2023-07-15,2027-06-30,138202685,KBTNGWV8WML7,"EVOLVED (Embed a Vision to Operationalize, Lift up, and Value Equity and Diversity) is a comprehensive and integrated set of activities that embeds the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the backbone of the Consortium of Aquatic Sciences Societies (CASS). CASS membership includes 20,000+ aquatic scientists from all career stages working across academic, government, and industry sectors. CASS initiated transformative diversity, equity, and inclusion work through a 2021 BIO-LEAPS planning grant, which laid the groundwork for EVOLVED. In that process, CASS leadership demonstrated a collective commitment to equity and inclusion and a desire to elevate this work to one of CASS’s primary priorities. The EVOLVED program will focus its work in 3 areas: (1) developing programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), (2) re-envisioning CASS’s values, exploring biases and assumptions, and reexamining culture, to transform the CASS climate into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) building organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. The project includes a comprehensive mixed-method evaluation of all major initiatives. Together, the EVOLVED activities will catalyze cultural change at multiple levels: across CASS as a collective, in single societies, and by individual members within societies.     The EVOLVED program will embed diversity, equity, inclusion, access, and justice into the cultural fabric of environmental, ecological, and organismal biology-focused aquatic sciences.  This program will develop, implement, and assess activities that scale-up equity driven advancement across three levels of action: individual members, societies, and the CASS collective. EVOLVED will mechanistically link structural and cultural change aimed at breaking down major barriers to building diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within a consortium of professional, scientific societies and serve as a model for transformative culture change at the collective consortium level. To operationalize this, EVOLVED will: (1) build programming to serve members of underrepresented groups (broadly used in this proposal to refer to individuals from communities that are historically underrepresented in STEM), (2) re-envision values and mental models within CASS to transform its culture into a welcoming and open forum for diverse peoples and perspectives, and (3) build organizational infrastructure to support and sustain CASS's cultural evolution. Broader impacts of this work include increased engagement with minority-serving institutions within CASS, integration of DEI-focused values within individual CASS societies, and adoption of DEI-centric policy, management, and conservation work across the CASS collective. The proposed activities broaden participation of underrepresented groups in environmental biology disciplines; ensure more diverse voices are involved in biology-focused policy, conservation, and planning; and ultimately foster disciplinary excellence and environmental justice.    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.",TRUE
2144978,CAREER: Sustainable Racial Equity: Creating a New Generation of Engineering Education DEI Leaders,2025-04-18,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,335644,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2144978,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2144978_4900,2022-05-01,2027-04-30,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).     The Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program is a National Science Foundation-wide activity that supports early-career faculty who have the potential to serve as academic role models in research and education, to lead advances in the mission of their department or organization, and to build a foundation for a lifetime of leadership in integrating education and research. This CAREER project aims to explore the beliefs, experiences, educational training, and research that supports the development of effective engineering education leaders who are assuming roles focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). Advancing equity and broadening the participation of historically marginalized populations in engineering remain a priority for sustaining U.S. global leadership and economic progress. DEI initiatives, programs, and research are increasing in number across the country in an effort to better understand and dismantle the challenges. However, many DEI efforts are developed in isolation and are not supported by strong institutional commitment and policy. Results from this work will advance understanding of DEI issues, approaches, and effective institutional implementation and will prepare the next generation of DEI leaders to promote long-term, sustainable racial equity initiatives.    Three primary objectives guide this research effort. First, is to understand DEI leaders’ perceptions, knowledge, and challenges around their roles. Second is to examine the extent to which those perceptions compare and contrast with graduate students and early career faculty members from groups who have been historically underrepresented in their participation in STEM fields of study. Third, is to develop training and faculty development programs to prepare the next generation of DEI leaders. Data will be collected in the first phase of the project by conducting interviews with DEI leaders at multiple institutions and contrasting their experiences with a document analysis of institutional DEI programs, policies, awards, and incentives. In a subsequent phase the project will use a survey, based on results from phase one, to examine the beliefs and practices of engineering faculty members and graduate students from groups historically marginalized in engineering. Training and faculty development are the focus of phase three, which includes the preparation of senior PhD students and early-career faculty members in engineering not only for DEI positions, but also for research, teaching, mentoring, and enhancing student understanding of DEI issues.    This project is funded by the Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) program, with the support of the NSF Racial Equity Program Description.    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.",TRUE
2141289,"Collaborative Research: The Angry Crowd Bias: Social, Cognitive, and Perceptual Mechanisms",2025-04-18,University of Tennessee Knoxville,KNOXVILLE,TN,TN02,272286,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Social Psychology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2141289,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2141289_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,379960001,FN2YCS2YAUW3,"Most people believe they see the world and those around them accurately. However, the way people initially perceive others is often inaccurate and systematically biased towards negative perceptions. For example, when first exposed to faces that are hard to see or that have subtle expressions, people report that these faces look threatening (even when they are not). This project examines a bias to judge unfamiliar others in crowds as being angry. This research tests whether a perceiver's bias to judge others as angry depends on the others' race and gender, whether the others are alone or in a crowd, and the perceiver's own beliefs about race and gender. Racial and gender bias in crowd perception is not simply an academic issue. Crowds have been at the center stage of protest and social unrest moments that are causing vastly divergent interpretations of current events. This project reveals who may be most susceptible to negative crowd biases, the underlying visual and cognitive process that cause biased judgments, and the malleability of these biases.     This research utilizes state-of-the-art methods and statistical tools to examine visual attention to faces, and bias and accuracy in emotion judgments (specifically, eye-tracking data, signal detection methods, and drift-diffusion modeling). The approach makes it possible to track visual patterns – for example, which faces people look at first in a crowd, how long they look at each face, whether they ignore anyone, whether faces appear alone or in a crowd – all of which are likely to be affected by the racial and gender features of the faces. Newly-developed materials include an extensive set of computer-generated faces that have been designed with precise variations in gender and racial features. Tracking visual patterns and judgements of these computer-generated faces can establish at what point, for whom, and why bias occurs for crowd perception. Additional materials include a representative set of crowd images from real-life settings (i.e., published in popular news sources), which help to advance an understanding of how people perceive and react to crowds they typically encounter as part of their daily lives.    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.",TRUE
2143867,CAREER: Enabling Transformational Service-Learning in Engineering through Critically Reflexive Practice,2025-04-18,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,362867,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143867,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2143867_4900,2022-09-01,2027-08-31,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"This CAREER project will substantially help improve the education of future engineers by preparing them to address societal challenges in meaningful ways. Undergraduate engineering coursework is heavily focused on technical preparation. However, in addition to technical skills, engineers should learn how to understand and address the needs and perspectives of the people who will be impacted by their technical solutions. This project will address this need by focusing on service-learning, that is, courses where engineering students work with communities outside of the university to help resolve a local challenge. The great benefit of service-learning is that students can learn to be socially responsible engineering professionals while positively impacting local communities. However, in practice, service-learning is very difficult which can lead to harmful impacts on the student and community participants. When not performed carefully, these courses can teach students to dismiss community perspectives and treat communities as laboratories rather than as collections of people with unique social, cultural, and historical backgrounds. Within this problem, this project will help ensure that the way engineering service-learning courses are taught maximizes benefits for all participants through transformational service-learning. More specifically, this project will investigate how instructors develop the skills, attitudes, and knowledge they need to design and implement transformational service-learning.     To pursue transformational service-learning, it is necessary that educators acknowledge the substantial role that race, power, and privilege play within this pedagogy. To support educators’ understanding of the role of these factors in service-learning, a promising approach involves first developing educators’ critical reflexivity: the process by which an educator creates an internal dialog and evaluates their own positionality to articulate its impact on educational processes and outcomes. This project will engage the framework of critical reflexivity, addressing research questions that explore (1) service-learning engineering educators’ descriptions of their assumptions about service-learning and their own positionalities within this context, (2) the way these assumptions and positionalities impact their approaches to teaching service-learning, and (3) the impact that critical reflexivity has in supporting transformational service-learning outcomes. This investigation will begin with interviews, and findings will be used to engage educators from a community of practice that focuses on reflection and action to produce further knowledge. The results will inform the development, assessment, and validation of a short course and guidebook to propagate this new knowledge while also refining this project’s findings. Along with dissemination through publications and conferences, this propagation approach enables widespread impact of these outcomes by closely engaging potential adopters, thereby increasing the likelihood that they will pursue transformational service-learning. Through partnering with large networks of engineering and service-learning educators both nationally and internationally, these products will be used to promote a paradigm shift in engineering service-leaning towards impactful community-oriented approaches. This CAREER project will create new knowledge about (a) how SL engineering educator positionality and assumptions hinder and enable service-learning practice; (b) how critical reflexivity influences engineering educators’ adoption of approaches to elicit transformational service-learning; and (c) how engineering educators can develop service-learning coursework to achieve transformational impacts for social justice and equity across marginalized communities. Collectively, these outcomes will lead to the development of engineering civic-minded engineering citizens who equitably engage with local communities and are prepared for resolving complex societal challenges.    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.",TRUE
2214455,Collaborative Research: Variables Influencing the Efficacy of Civilian Oversight Commissions,2025-04-18,Eastern Michigan University,YPSILANTI,MI,MI06,164421,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cultural Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214455,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214455_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,481972264,STFNT4KCCDU3,"In response to the present conflicts surrounding policing, local and national organizations and policy makers have called for increasing civilian oversight and supervision of police departments as one approach to improving police-community relations. Civilian oversight commissions are locally constructed, making it difficult to effectively assess the impact of these commissions on a broader scale. This project is centered in three counties across the US to ask: what factors shape local oversight practices, and what can we learn from these different entities that can be used to effectively assess outcomes across diverse commissions? Selecting sites with distinctive racial dynamics and varying structures of civilian-led police oversight commissions, this project focuses on the varied histories, forms, practices, and successes and failures of civilian oversight. Investigators and student researchers analyze the variations in discourses and practices to understand the specific implementations of civilian oversight of police and to gauge the potential value of civilian oversight commissions on a broader scale. This project will train graduate and undergraduate students in quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.    The project uses team-based multi-sited ethnography to study and analyze locally specific features of oversight commissions including their institutional structures, histories, and institutional dynamics. This project develops methods to offer comparative insights into the ways in which oversight commissions operate, with particular attention to what demographic variables are predictive of participation. Tracking the issues that oversight committees engage, researchers will develop theories of the forms through which commissions address community relations and policing. The mere establishment of civilian oversight may be a first step toward a public democratic forum, but this study explores civilian oversight commissions as an institution that can survey possible avenues of accountability and reform, while simultaneously reinscribing the power and influence of policing.    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.",TRUE
2055375,Ideological Roadblocks to Diversifying STEM: Resistance and Allyship in STEM Diversity and Inclusion Efforts,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,559600,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2055375,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2055375_4900,2021-07-01,2025-04-18,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Ideological Roadblocks to Diversifying STEM: Resistance and Allyship in STEM Diversity and Inclusion Efforts    The aim of this project is to break important ground in STEM inequality research by better understanding how powerful and privileged groups in STEM respond to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in their workplaces and professions. Despite the millions of dollars invested each year in DEI-related training, recruitment, and retention efforts, STEM fields have struggled to diversify demographically and culturally. Much research over the last few decades has sought to understand the interactional and institutional-level biases that disadvantage women, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals in STEM. Yet, these biases are not the only ways in which inequality and under-representation are perpetuated. Central to STEM’s stalled diversification are sources of resistance to organizational and institutional changes that seek to advance equity. Such resistance can block both the effective implementation of existing DEI efforts and the development of new initiatives that would bring deeper structural and cultural transformations. This project seeks to investigate resistance to DEI efforts among the population with the greatest structural and cultural power in STEM. While many individuals in powerful social groups are personally committed to equity and inclusion, others may disagree with, and even actively resist, DEI efforts in their organizations and professions. The goal of this project is to map the wider landscape of cultural schemas that individuals in powerful social groups use to make sense of DEI efforts and to express their resistance to or support for those efforts.     Using an innovative combination of analysis of existing survey data, interviews with a representative sample of individuals in powerful social groups STEM professionals, and a survey experiment, the empirical goals of this project are to (1) investigate resistance to and support for DEI efforts relative to their peers, (2) document the roadblock schemas (or shared cultural models) that individuals in powerful social groups may use to frame such resistance to DEI efforts, and (3) test interventions that attempt to destabilize adherence to these roadblock schemas and, by extension, resistance to DEI efforts. In doing so, this project would offer critical insights to assist academic institutions, workplaces, and professional societies in designing strategies to overcome those roadblocks and promote more effective DEI efforts. Such an investigation may also contribute to STEM inequality, cultural sociology, and sociology of professions literatures by illustrating how cultural norms of professional integrity, which seem on their face to be a degree removed from issues of inclusion or inequality, can serve as powerful tools of resistance to diversification within professions. Broadly, understanding the cultural frameworks that powerful social groups use to defend their privilege and resist change is vital for overcoming the stalled diversification of STEM and advancing race, gender, and LGBTQ equality therein.    This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.    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.",TRUE
2402141,I-Corps: Virtual Reality Training Platform for Increasing Awareness of Unconscious Bias in Industry Decision-Making,2025-04-18,Western Kentucky University,BOWLING GREEN,KY,KY02,50000,Standard Grant,TIP,"""Technology, Innovation and Partnerships""",Translational Impacts,I-Corps,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2402141,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2402141_4900,2024-02-15,2025-04-18,421011000,U5GMACGETKJ1,"The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of an innovative training program designed to heighten self-awareness of potential biases in workforce decision making. This product has applications to a host of industries where employees may be subject to biases that can influence decision making outcomes. Practitioners and training facilitators in fields such as health and human services, child and adult welfare agencies, educational institutions, and licensing and accreditation organizations largely recognize the need to better engage with clients from increasingly diverse backgrounds and interests. In response, agencies and educational entities are actively seeking ways to address issues of decision-making bias among professionals. Traditional training (i.e., seminars, written case studies, use of live actors), is typically done in physical spaces, may not be easily accessible, and can therefore be costly. The proposed product can be accessed remotely which lifts many logistical barriers to consumers. By providing evidence to support the efficacy and viability of the product, expected outcomes may include improved practitioner knowledge, skills, and competencies. This will likely enhance service delivery, reduce work related stressors, and decrease workforce challenges with the goal of increasing effectiveness of service delivery and quality of life for the client/customer/employee.    This I-Corps project is based on the development of an evidence-based simulation program to prepare current and future point-of-care/contact professionals (such as welfare workers, health providers, law enforcement officers, public service/first responders, educators, etc.) to become more aware of and responsive to their unconscious bias. This product allows participants to examine potential unconscious biases using real-time simulated virtual experiences. In many industries, clients often engage in systems with professionals who have inadequate training in recognizing unconscious bias in their practice. This lack of awareness, and thus decreased likelihood for responsiveness, increases the risk of negative impacts on decision making. In addition to targeting increased awareness of unconscious bias, this innovative training may also help to reduce workforce turnover, and therefore, the repeated expense of hiring and onboarding new professionals. Given that the impact of unconscious bias in decision making often results in financial cost to organizations, negative service outcomes, and challenges with recruitment/retention, the product offers a potential cost-effective and accessible means to help address numerous pain points.    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.",TRUE
2411642,Collaborative Research: Developing and Testing the Equity Departmental Action Team Model of Racial Equity Focused Departmental Change,2025-04-18,West Virginia University Research Corporation,MORGANTOWN,WV,WV02,205534,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Centers for Rsch Excell in S&T,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411642,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411642_4900,2024-09-01,2029-08-31,265052742,M7PNRH24BBM8,"Given the persistent challenge of racial inequity in STEM, there is a clear need for new models that spur and sustain racial equity change. Successful departmental team-based change efforts demonstrate that change can be created and sustained at the meso level of an institution (i.e., departments, centers, and units as the focus for change). This project will bring together experts in institutional change and experts in advancing racial equity with the goal of combining existing, well tested change models to produce a new, racial equity focused model of change in higher education—the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model. This model will focus on shifting departmental cultures in ways that benefit, and are grounded in the experiences of, those with historically marginalized racial and ethnic identities. This project will advance the scholarship of racial equity by developing, testing, and refining the EDAT model with STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution and disseminating the model through partnership with national higher education associations.    This project will take place in two major phases: 1) development of the Equity Departmental Action Team (EDAT) model, and 2) pilot of the EDAT model in STEM departments at a Minority Serving Institution, the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver). The development of the new EDAT model will draw from existing change programs, including the Departmental Action Team (DAT) model and the Dialogues and Change Agent programs. It will integrate multiple theories from systems change, social justice change, social psychology change agency, and intergroup contact. Research activities will focus on both the process and impact of the EDAT model. The project will use surveys, focus groups, interviews, and participant journaling to explore the following research questions. RQ1: To what extent do Foundational Experiences prepare EDAT members for racial equity work?  RQ2: What strategies do EDATs deploy when engaging in racial equity work? RQ3: To what extent do EDATs integrate racial equity into departmental culture? Research and program evaluation will be conducted simultaneously with the EDAT implementation so the model can be iteratively refined throughout the project. Dissemination of the model will take place in collaboration with partners from the American Association of Colleges and Universities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities - Association of Public and Land-grant Universities.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2201928,Developing a Scalable Measure of Inclusive STEM Teaching Practices for Diverse Institutions,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,863113,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201928,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201928_4900,2022-10-01,2026-09-30,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"Recently, psychological research on broadening participation in STEM has shifted from student-focused interventions (e.g., belonging or growth mindset interventions given to students) to context-focused interventions (aimed at instructors to create cultures of belonging or growth). Tools for evaluating the changes in instructors’ practices induced by these programs have been lacking, however. Popular self-report methods for instructors can be biased due to faulty recall or social desirability bias, while more intensive observational methods are cumbersome and difficult to sustain. In addition, existing measures tend to be developed within one type of institution and may underemphasize inclusive practices from instructors at historically Black colleges and universities and Hispanic-serving institutions. These limitations have slowed progress toward the discovery of programs that could broaden participation in STEM. The present proposal seeks to develop a scalable, trustworthy system of instructor- and student-reports that could be the backbone for research evaluating the next generation of context-focused interventions.     This project will develop novel measures of inclusive postsecondary STEM teaching practices that create an experience of belonging and motivation for members of minoritized groups. Measures of inclusive practices will be developed using optimal survey design, including semi-structured interviews and cognitive pretesting co-developed with both instructors and students. The measures will be simultaneously developed and refined across three universities: at a predominantly white-serving institution, a predominantly Hispanic-serving institution, and a historically-Black university. This cross-site validation will ensure that measures are sensitive to the variability in students’ experiences and increase their potential application. The sensitivity of these measures in capturing the frequency and quality of practices will be validated using third-party observations, repeated student-report surveys, and course completion outcomes. A machine-learning algorithm, Bayesian Additive Regression Trees (BART), will inform the choice of the optimal number of practices items that minimize respondent burden while maximizing prediction. The resulting measures will be widely disseminated to unlock the creative potential of scientists and practitioners developing inclusive practices by allowing them to learn what is working, and why.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in education.    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.",TRUE
2234510,SBP: The Role of Apologies in Promoting Intergroup Relations,2025-04-18,University of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,409197,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,SBP-Science of Broadening Part,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2234510,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2234510_4900,2023-05-01,2026-04-30,152600001,MKAGLD59JRL1,"Black Americans are aware of the legacy of racial discrimination in the United States and how inequalities persist with undesirable consequences. Indeed, intergroup interactions can carry racial overtones and incorporate distrust. One context where this distrust might be especially problematic involves interpersonal conflict situations. If left unresolved, these conflicts can jeopardize people's relationships, home and work environments, and physical and psychological health. Although decades of research have demonstrated that an apology is often the key to resolving these conflicts, apologies are only effective if they are perceived by victims as sincere acts of remorse -- a perception that suffers under low levels of trust. Thus, apologies from majority group transgressors to minority group victims might be less effective at promoting reconciliation because they are perceived as untrustworthy and insincere. The current project systematically examines how interpersonal apologies function in intergroup situations.     This program of research examines when apologies are more effective at promoting intergroup reconciliation, whether trust in the apologizer and perceived apology sincerity help explain intergroup differences in apology effectiveness, and whether the benefits of cross-group apologies can be increased by contextual features that reduce victims' expectations of racial bias. This work studies whether majority group transgressors can convey apology sincerity, and in turn enhance cross-race conflict resolution, by offering sincere apologies. This research sheds light on whether, when, and why apologies function differently in cross-race dyads, thus contributing to our understanding of barriers to reconciliation in important intergroup contexts.    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.",TRUE
2326811,RAPID: Co-Developing a Community-Based Science Education Curriculum Framework for Disaster Justice and Resilience: A Response to the 2022 Buffalo Blizzard,2025-04-18,SUNY at Buffalo,AMHERST,NY,NY26,100000,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2326811,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2326811_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,142282577,LMCJKRFW5R81,"This RAPID project responds to the Buffalo blizzard of 2022 (Buffalo, NY) by developing, with and for the community, a science education curriculum framework focused on disaster justice and resilience. This project will document the science education human and social impact of the blizzard by capturing the experiences, reflections, and needs of science teachers, Black and Brown community leaders, and families who were directly affected. This project is important for two main reasons. First, this extreme weather event exposed persistent economic and social injustices, as well as racial and class divides that place marginalized populations at a greater risk during extreme weather events. Second, the blizzard exposed glaring gaps in disaster education, and specifically disaster risk, reduction, and resilience in science education in the US. To address these gaps, the team will document the experiences, reflections, and needs of the Buffalo community. Also, the team will work with the community to develop a science education framework that will inform formal and informal community-based disaster justice and resilience in Buffalo and beyond. Findings from this project will be shared in the science education and climate justice spaces, and via community-designed forums and panels, and through multimodal media. Overall, this project will inform justice-oriented science education as well as disaster preparation and resilience that center the voices and humanity of those who are most vulnerable and impacted by disasters.    This proposed work is framed by understandings of disaster resilience and disaster justice to promote science education for social justice in response to the Buffalo blizzard. Understanding the process of recovery after a disaster is critical to building resilience to future disasters. The role of education in building disaster resilience is critical, as emphasized by the U.N. Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030. This RAPID project has three main objectives: First, the team will conduct interviews with science teachers, community leaders, and families to document their experiences and reflections on the Buffalo blizzard in relation to weather and climate curriculum and instructional approaches and needs; community approaches to preparedness and needs, family needs, school support, and resources; cultural and racial impacts of climate-related disasters (in terms of loss of life and geographical impacts); and justice/injustice, resilience, and emotions. Second, the team will convene a coalition of science teachers, community leaders, families, science education researchers and scientists to discuss key findings from the interviews and identify overarching themes. Third, the team will develop guidelines for a science education curriculum framework on disaster justice and resilience for use in/out of school, co-developed with people who were directly impacted by the Buffalo blizzard. A social design-based experiment (SDBE) approach will guide this project. This iterative approach is appropriate for addressing urgent problems that impact vulnerable students and communities. The core principles of SDBE relevant to this project focus on history and historicity; the bringing of the past into the present; the use of a dynamic model of culture; an emphasis on resilience and change; and an end goal of transformation and sustainability. The main data sources are individual semi-structured interviews, coalition discussions, and artifacts (e.g., articles, news reports). This project aims to broaden the participation of urban science teachers serving approximately 500 K-12 students in schools that were impacted by the blizzard, Black and Brown community leaders working in youth services, public health, climate justice, food (in)security, and equitable mobility organizations; and Black and Brown families living in communities most impacted by the blizzard. This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2200748,ADVANCE Catalyst: Advancing kaulike (equity) focusing on STEM intersectional experiences at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.,2025-04-18,University of Hawaii,HONOLULU,HI,HI01,309998,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2200748,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2200748_4900,2022-07-15,2025-04-18,968222247,NSCKLFSSABF2,"As one of six US institutions that is a land-, sea-, space-, and sun-grant institution, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM) attracts many STEM professionals who want to explore, innovate, study, share, and educate in our rich ecosystems. Yet, by the numbers, the presence of women in the STEM academic professions is low. STEM fields that include diverse peoples are more effective at achieving optimal solutions, innovating, and competing in the market. The NSF ADVANCE Catalyst at UHM will add to the existing and rich body of knowledge about the intersectional experiences of women in STEM at a geographically-isolated, island-based, indigenous-serving, R1 university.  An institutional self-assessment will be conducted to investigate supports and barriers to advancements by women faculty in STEM, pilot potential activities towards an organizational change strategy around tenure and promotion, and develop a five-year STEM faculty equity plan. The project will focus on the experiences of na wāhine or women, in particular Native Hawaiian, Filipino and other underrepresented groups who center their experience as women in STEM academic professions at UHM. The project will inform future gender equity models at other minority- and indigenous-serving institutions, and provide support for their work toward systemic change that improves career outcomes for women faculty in the STEM disciplines.     The project takes a feminist, intersectional approach to examine women’s experience in STEM professions, and intends to situate islandness as a mediating variable. Methods include the collection and analysis of institutional data, the implementation of a structured unbiased questionnaire, and focus group interviews.  This project will provide UHM with strategic plans for increasing the number of underrepresented, wāhine faculty in the STEM fields through modified recruitment, retention, and promotion practices, including revamping the UHM Tenure and Promotion process, mentoring, and creating pathways to hiring UHM graduates into faculty positions. The project has four major communication strategies including (i) internal communication to executive leadership, deans, directors, STEM faculty, staff, and students, (ii) a website established under the Office of the Provost on the main UHM website with relevant details and links to resources and publications, (iii) sharing lessons learned, products and materials with the ARC Network on a quarterly basis, and (iv) external dissemination through the submission of articles for consideration in high impact journals and presentations at relevant conferences.     The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions. Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate. ADVANCE ""Catalyst"" awards provide support for institutional equity assessments and the development of five-year faculty equity strategic plans at academic, non-profit institutions of higher education.    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.",TRUE
2230083,EAGER: SaTC: Shifts in Misinformation Topics on Social Media: Manipulators Masquerading as Humans,2025-04-18,Kent State University,KENT,OH,OH14,199786,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2230083,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2230083_4900,2022-07-01,2025-12-31,442420001,KXNVA7JCC5K6,"__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________    EAGER: SaTC: CORE: Small: Shifts in misinformation topics on social media: manipulators masquerading as humans    The spread of misinformation on social media can result in major consequences to the health, wellbeing, and stability of the general public. A wide range of topics are vulnerable to misinformation, varying from medical misinformation to political misinformation. Accounts that spread misinformation can be broadly classified into two categories: (1) those who do so unintentionally (i.e., individuals who believe in the misinformation that they spread) and (2) those who do so with the aim of being deliberately deceptive (i.e., agents of disinformation “masquerading” as humans). Those in the former category typically spread misinformation on a constrained number of topics (i.e., either medical or political, but not both), focusing on what they care about as individuals. However, agents of disinformation may be incentivized by malicious third-party actors to spread misinformation across an unconstrained variety of topics, with the objective of prompting widespread instability among the general public. This project analyzes misinformation spread on social media to distinguish third-party-incentivized agents of disinformation from other, more benign accounts.    To achieve this goal, the team will examine data from Twitter to identify accounts that switched rapidly between spreading medical misinformation to spreading political misinformation during the first half of 2022. A machine learning framework will be designed to learn from linguistic features that are unique to this subset of accounts, which will then be used to develop a classification tool to label accounts across the broader Twittersphere (i.e., pre-2022 and post-2022) as “potential agents of disinformation”. The team will also characterize what fraction of misinformation spread during the first half of 2022 was attributable to such third-party-incentivized agents. All algorithms developed over the course of the project will be shared openly with the broader scientific community to facilitate efforts towards countering disinformation on social media.    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.",FALSE
2335235,"Collaborative Research: Design: Strengthening Inclusion by Change in Building Equity, Diversity and Understanding (SICBEDU) in Integrative Biology",2025-04-18,California State University-Fresno Foundation,FRESNO,CA,CA20,443813,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2335235,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2335235_4900,2024-03-15,2026-02-28,937261852,CJSRSPWTJUH7,"While scientific societies have tried to increase diversity through several outreach mechanisms, it has become abundantly clear that systemic changes that impact culture are required to effect true change within science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. This project will develop how the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology (SICB), a professional scientific society that is inherently integrative and focused on early career scientists, can lead the way in such transformative cultural changes. To be effective in advancing the pursuit and dissemination of relevant and timely biological knowledge to the public, membership demographics in SICB should reflect that of society. The goal of SICB’s Strengthening Inclusion by Change in Building Equity, Diversity and Understanding (SICBEDU) program is to create a more welcoming and inclusive scientific society that will more organically grow the number of URGs within the membership of the society, helping to enhance their career opportunities as future researchers within SICB disciplines. SICB’s Broadening Participation (BP) Committee has laid the necessary foundation for the success of this culture changing SICBEDU effort. A preponderance of literature suggests that until URGs feel truly included and validated as scientists these increases in diversity are unlikely to lead to true cultural change within STEM fields.    SICBEDU plans to build a SICB IDEA community by providing Inclusive, Diversity, Equity, and Acceptance (IDEA) training to the executive committee, which includes division chairs, creating a leadership that engages the society's membership in developing a more equitable and inclusive scientific home for each member, especially those that are traditionally underrepresented. The proposed activities will train leadership such that they become role models for members and provide the necessary tools to implement IDEA. Additionally, SICBEDU will provide development activities centered around IDEA to enable future participation in leadership roles and build community within the society. SICBEDU further educates and guides current members by providing IDEA-based workshops plus important community-building activities. Workshops and integrative activities will be aimed at promoting dialogue among SICB members about the benefits of having a diverse society and working together to build a welcoming and inclusive community of integrative and comparative biologists. SICBEDU activities are invested in training scientists in pioneering ways that will enable future STEM scholars to lead the charge for integrating IDEA into this field of science. The short-term goal is to increase the IDEA knowledge base and support in the society by 10% a year, while the long-term goal is to create a welcoming and inclusive space that allows for creativity, sharing/exchanging ideas, and addresses difficult solutions in STEM amongst the diverse membership. SICBEDU activities provide an avenue that acknowledges complex societal problems and utilizes diverse opinions from different backgrounds to find innovative solutions.    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.",TRUE
2309255,"Track 1: Conference - Two Means to an End, Broadening participation research and practice - CAREER panel and workshop for DEIA leaders",2025-04-18,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,98543,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309255,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2309255_4900,2023-03-15,2025-04-18,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"The vision of the CoNECD (pronounced, “connected”) Conference is to provide a forum for exploring current research and practices to enhance diversity and inclusion of all underrepresented populations in the engineering and computing professions including gender identity and expression, race and ethnicity, disability, veterans, LGBTQ+, 1st generation and socio-economic status. The CoNECD Conference is dedicated to all the diverse groups that comprise our engineering and computing workforce. The purpose of this project is twofold: 1) to enable the hosting of a panel of CAREER awardees at the CoNECD Conference and 2) to provide a preconference workshop to bring together Engineering Diversity Leaders (EDLs) from engineering academic units for a workshop to enhance both their DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) skillsets and enable the creation of a community of professionals. The Faculty Early CAREER Development Program (CAREER) is an NSF-wide program recognized as one of the most prestigious awards supporting early career faculty research efforts. It recognizes the importance of early academic career development and emphasizes the importance of the link between research and education. Research results in this area must be broadly shared with practitioners and other researchers to reap the full benefits of the research outcomes. EDLs are tasked with fostering inclusive environments and attending to retention and recruitment efforts at the undergraduate, graduate, and/or faculty levels. Additionally, they serve a community that includes pre-college, undergraduate, and graduate students and faculty and staff. However, being brought in as leaders and experts in their field, more is needed to know about the degree of support, professional development opportunities, and community these individuals have within their respective colleges and universities that pertain directly to their responsibilities. Bringing together researchers in this space and providing practical knowledge through information sharing in a workshop setting can be pivotal for practitioners in DEI leadership.      This project will enable knowledge and community sharing of current practices in broadening participation through DEI leadership work with those charged with achieving this goal. It is expected that this will enable the practitioners to navigate political, resource-driven, and new environments that will increase the numbers of underrepresented and underserved individuals who engage in engineering and computing. Creating a community of DEI leaders in engineering/engineering technology academic units will facilitate sharing of ideas and best practices, as well as the development of mentoring relationships. The work conducted by EDLs is critical in achieving the stated goals and vision of equity, inclusion, and diversity at the college of engineering/technology level. Their work can be far-reaching in a college’s attempt to fulfill its strategic plans for DEI. For many colleges, these roles are new positions and relatedly have a limited body of research to reference for experiences, best practices, and community development. It is vital to cultivate and encourage a community of support for these individuals by connecting individuals with each other to share knowledge and history. This community of practice can share necessary tools, resources, and support to further their career goals and work successes. Additionally, we must bridge the research-to-practice divide. By bringing practitioners and researchers into the same space via the CoNECD conference, this project will enable greater communication between these groups and aid in disseminating research to those most suitable to implement interventions based on the research outcomes.    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.",TRUE
2314892,Identifying Systemic Racism in Mathematics Teacher Education:  Building a Cross-Site Community with Preservice Teachers of Color,2025-04-18,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,644642,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314892,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314892_4900,2023-10-01,2025-04-18,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"This project will make significant contributions to racial equity in STEM by identifying and describing forms of systemic racism inherent in mathematics teacher education programs (MTEPs). Racialized mathematics teaching practices are systemic in elementary mathematics classrooms, and the impacts of systemic inequities in K-12 mathematics education both deter students from diverse backgrounds from becoming interested in math, reducing their likelihood of engaging in STEM; and affect students’ identities by devaluing or erasing their diverse cultural backgrounds and perspectives. Since teachers are the key to ensuring racial equity in classrooms, identifying racialized mathematics experiences must begin with mathematics teacher education programs. In this innovative study, a project team comprised of mathematics teacher educators of color (MTECs) will collaborate with 12-15 Preservice Teachers of Color (PTOCs), in authentic partnership, from three unique MTEPs (at an HBCU, an HSI, and a PWI) to form a cross-site Critical Mathematics Professional Learning Community (CMPLC). By documenting PTOCs’ racialized mathematics experiences across three sites, the project will: (1) gather fundamental knowledge on the racialized mathematical learning and teaching experiences of PTOCs, (2) build knowledge of racialized mathematics experiences and their overall impact on the preparation of PTOCs, and (3) inform teacher education programs across content and contexts. As Black and Latinx scholars with extensive experience in teacher education, the project team conceptualized this creative project to illuminate new ways of nourishing and affirming PTOCs’ racial identities and cultural strengths in mathematics teacher education.    The project team will collaborate with participating PTOCs to analyze data generated from focus groups, individual interviews, CMPLC conversations, journals, and field notes using interpretative phenomenology analysis, case study methodology, and thematic analysis. Participating PTOCs’ students, especially the culturally and linguistically diverse students in their classrooms, will benefit from this project by receiving increased opportunities to learn mathematics in ways that bolster their STEM identities. The project will fill a gap in the research literature by: (1) increasing the knowledge on the mathematics teacher preparation of PTOCs; (2) centering the voices and experiences of PTOCs and mathematics teacher educators of color in a cross-racial and cross-cultural project; and (3) bringing unique perspectives to the design, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of findings about both our own experiences and those of PTOCs, as a PI team composed entirely of MTECs. By attaining a deeper understanding of PTOCs’ mathematics learning experiences, we advance racial equity by exposing racist teaching practices that disadvantage historically marginalized students and identifying changes in teacher education that will identify and address practices that obstruct racial equity in STEM.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EHR Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering,  and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of  supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the  collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship program contributed to the funding of this project.    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.",TRUE
2317569,Collaborative Research: Conference: Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative,2025-04-18,University of California-Los Angeles,LOS ANGELES,CA,CA36,215820,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317569,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317569_4900,2024-01-01,2025-04-18,900244200,RN64EPNH8JC6,"The Mathematical Sciences Institutes Diversity Initiative (MSIDI) is a collaboration among US mathematical sciences institutes to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the mathematical sciences. The member institutes include the American Institute of Mathematics, the Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics, the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics, the Institute for Mathematical and Statistical Innovation, and the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute. In this project MSIDI will organize ten scientific conferences and workshops with the long-term goal of enhancing research capacity in the US by increasing scientific and networking activities for mathematicians from underrepresented groups, increasing opportunities for mentoring and identifying role models for early career researchers from underrepresented groups, and highlighting the successes of mathematical scientists from those groups.    The proposed conferences include one Blackwell-Tapia conference, one Infinite Possibilities conference, one LatMath conference, three Modern Math workshops, one workshop on Mathematics on Racial Justice, two Roots of Unity conferences, and one Applied Mathematics skills Improvement for Graduate studies Advancement conference. These conferences are complementary to the core activities of the institutes and are important for the goal of increasing participation in key activities that are integral to a career in the mathematical sciences, as well as in the institutes' core programs. Each conference will be organized by one lead institute in collaboration with all MSIDI member institutes. More information can be found on the MSIDI webpage at https://www.mathinstitutes.org/diversity.    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.",TRUE
2150727,"Collaborative Research: Chemistry Education Research through the Lens of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Conference",2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,21741,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150727,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150727_4900,2023-11-01,2025-04-18,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"Critical modern scholarship argues that discipline-based education research (DBER), such as chemistry education research (CER), is limited in its theoretical underpinnings and focuses on deficit-based methodologies. To promote a more equitable and inclusive scientific community that embraces and supports scientists from marginalized groups, the project team will design and implement a virtual conference to bring together Chemistry Education Research (CER) scholars and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) experts from within chemistry and other fields to enhance the capacity of CER scholars to carry out research and teaching centered on DEI practices. This conference will include presentations, workshops, and share-out sessions to learn, acquire tools, and build the capacity for scholars to enact equity-centered practices in research and teaching.    To address critical DEI issues permeating the chemistry education field, the virtual conference will include 1) presentations by invited DEI research experts from various STEM disciplines, 2) working sessions to explore research methods and identify future directions of DEI-focused CER, and 3) share-out sessions. Participants will reflect on their own experiences and the climate in the field. Attendees will reflect on the ethics of studying students from marginalized groups, learn about research methods that move beyond deficit-model frameworks, and identify changes to improve the climate in the field and to ensure that scholars from marginalized groups are supported. This conference will encompass three main pillars to: (1) promote chemistry education practices centered around equity principles, (2) demonstrate how DEI principles can inform chemistry education research, and (3) break down academic silos to facilitate interdisciplinary knowledge sharing and skill building. Equity is central to these issues and permeates through all three pillars. The conference organizers will utilize a community organizing framework and strategies to inform the design of conference activities that will draw community members together to build capacity to enact DEI practices within the chemistry education community and motivate action. An external evaluator will assess the success of the project and assist the project team in understanding how attendees use their learning and the supports provided by the conference to begin to break down barriers.    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.",TRUE
2315456,Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Breaking the Bubble - The Determinants and Effects of Contact,2025-04-18,Stanford University,STANFORD,CA,CA16,25000,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Economics,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315456,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315456_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,943052004,HJD6G4D6TJY5,"The disconnect between political groups has grown rapidly in the last decades, in the United States and in other democracies. The mistrust between people holding different political views increasingly affects the selection of one’s friends, partners, and workplace. These trends, which appear to be closely linked to social segregation across party lines may pose a threat to the functioning of democratic institutions. Existing research suggests that individuals with different political opinions rarely interact. This lack of contact between distinct groups of partisans may lead to inaccurate stereotypes about individuals whose views differ from our own; and people may increasingly think of the political party they support as their social group. This project aims to answer two research questions: under which circumstances does exposure to political opponents lead to durable reductions in partisan mistrust? Which factors determine partisans’ interest to get in contact with individuals holding different views? To answer these questions, this project draws on several large-scale field experiments that facilitate conversations between supporters of opposing parties. The findings from this study will also inform interventions aimed at reducing discrimination between social groups.    The research team conducts a series of field experiments to examine the causal effect of contact between political opponents. In the experiments, a randomly selected treatment group of participants is matched for up to two-hour long online conversations. The causal effect of conversations and its persistence is estimated using a series of surveys administered over the course of six months after the intervention. The surveys include incentivized measures of political attitudes, partisan labor-market discrimination, and other relevant metrics. The research team examines the mechanisms that account for the causal effects of contact by randomizing participants into several treatments that vary features of the intervention, such as attributes of the assigned partner, the goal of the interaction, and nudges to guide conversation topics. This project thereby sheds light on the underpinnings of the link between contact and partisan mistrust and paves the way for a better design of future interventions aimed at reducing partisan mistrust. Finally, the research team elicits subjects’ willingness to engage in contact under various treatment conditions using incentive-compatible methods. This project will thereby inform future interventions by pinning down the factors driving people’s interest in making contact with individuals holding views different from their own.    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.",TRUE
2300165,Collaborative Research: Increasing Inclusion and Equity of Minoritized STEM Faculty: Examining the Role of Epistemic Exclusion in Scholar(ly) Evaluation Practices,2025-04-18,University of North Texas,DENTON,TX,TX13,173474,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300165,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2300165_4900,2023-08-01,2028-07-31,762051132,G47WN1XZNWX9,"The proposed project examines whether and how epistemic exclusion, a form of scholarly devaluation, is a barrier to the full inclusion and participation of women faculty and faculty of color in STEM. Epistemic exclusion occurs when disciplinary biases defining what STEM scholarship is valued are coupled with negative stereotypes about productivity and commitment of individuals based on their social identities to produce unfair evaluation processes. Because many faculty career outcomes (such as hiring, tenure, promotion, and leadership opportunities) are determined by research productivity metrics, research evaluation biases can impact interest, retention, and success in STEM research careers. The focus on scholarly work as a site of devaluation extends prior work on interpersonal forms of exclusion (e.g., social exclusion) in STEM education and research contexts. This knowledge is important for informing the development of individual and systemic level interventions to broaden participation in STEM.    The study will: 1) examine whether the level of epistemic exclusion among STEM faculty varies depending on scholars’ identities and career stage; 2) determine how experiences of epistemic exclusion affect STEM faculty careers; and 3) examine how consequences of epistemic exclusion vary depending on STEM scholars’ identities and career stage. This project will survey of 1800 tenure track STEM faculty at U.S. R1 and R2 universities nationally and hold focus groups of a subsample surveyed. The focus groups will explore how epistemic exclusion is uniquely experienced, understood, and impactful by career stage (early, mid, senior). This work builds on prior work by the research team that developed and validated the Faculty Epistemic Exclusion (FEE) Scale. This research will make significant intellectual contributions including the exploration of a new area of study for researchers interested in issues of fairness and inclusion in STEM education and research environments.     This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in education.    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.",TRUE
2214482,Collaborative Research: Variables Influencing the Efficacy of Civilian Oversight Commissions,2025-04-18,San Diego State University Foundation,SAN DIEGO,CA,CA51,143958,Continuing Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,Cultural Anthropology,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2214482,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2214482_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,921821901,H59JKGFZKHL7,"In response to the present conflicts surrounding policing, local and national organizations and policy makers have called for increasing civilian oversight and supervision of police departments as one approach to improving police-community relations. Civilian oversight commissions are locally constructed, making it difficult to effectively assess the impact of these commissions on a broader scale. This project is centered in three counties across the US to ask: what factors shape local oversight practices, and what can we learn from these different entities that can be used to effectively assess outcomes across diverse commissions? Selecting sites with distinctive racial dynamics and varying structures of civilian-led police oversight commissions, this project focuses on the varied histories, forms, practices, and successes and failures of civilian oversight. Investigators and student researchers analyze the variations in discourses and practices to understand the specific implementations of civilian oversight of police and to gauge the potential value of civilian oversight commissions on a broader scale. This project will train graduate and undergraduate students in quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis.    The project uses team-based multi-sited ethnography to study and analyze locally specific features of oversight commissions including their institutional structures, histories, and institutional dynamics. This project develops methods to offer comparative insights into the ways in which oversight commissions operate, with particular attention to what demographic variables are predictive of participation. Tracking the issues that oversight committees engage, researchers will develop theories of the forms through which commissions address community relations and policing. The mere establishment of civilian oversight may be a first step toward a public democratic forum, but this study explores civilian oversight commissions as an institution that can survey possible avenues of accountability and reform, while simultaneously reinscribing the power and influence of policing.    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.",TRUE
2332964,"Conference: Advancing AI in Science Education (AASE): A Comprehensive Approach to Equity, Inclusion, and Three-Dimensional Learning",2025-04-18,University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc,ATHENS,GA,GA10,99821,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2332964,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2332964_4900,2024-02-01,2026-01-31,306021589,NMJHD63STRC5,"In the 21st century, the educational landscape is undergoing a seismic shift, with Artificial Intelligence (AI) emerging as a pivotal force reshaping the contours of teaching and learning, especially in the realm of science education. As educators, policymakers, and researchers grapple with the challenges and opportunities presented by this technological juggernaut, this project underscores the imperative to weave AI's transformative potential seamlessly with the foundational principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). The vision driving this initiative is twofold: harnessing the unparalleled capabilities of AI to revolutionize educational experiences while ensuring that these innovations are accessible, relevant, and beneficial to every student, irrespective of their background or circumstances. By energizing the cutting-edge advancements of AI with the timeless values of DEI, this project envisions a future where education is not only technologically advanced but also deeply equitable, adaptable, and centered on the holistic development of students. The overarching ambition is to chart a course where the next generation, regardless of socio-economic, racial, or cultural backgrounds, can fully tap into the myriad benefits that AI-infused science education offers.    This project is anchored in a comprehensive, multi-pronged strategy designed to delve deep into the multifaceted dimensions of AI's role in science education. Drawing from a rich reservoir of insights, including the visionary perspectives articulated by the U.S. Department of Education and groundbreaking research spearheaded by current luminaries, the initiative is poised to craft a strategic roadmap for the seamless, effective, and equitable integration of AI into science education. Central to this endeavor is the project's unwavering commitment to three-dimensional learning, an avant-garde feature of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). This innovative approach, harmoniously aligned with AI and DEI, promises a comprehensive educational experience that transcends traditional pedagogical boundaries, fostering a learning environment that is both immersive and inclusive. The project's methodology is characterized by its collaborative spirit and iterative nature. Through a series of strategic community-led workshops, participants from diverse backgrounds will converge to share insights, challenges, and strategies, fostering a rich tapestry of perspectives. This collaborative ethos extends to in-depth research initiatives, where participants, ranging from seasoned experts to budding scholars, will embark on exploratory journeys to unravel the nuances of AI in science education. Continuous feedback loops, characterized by rigorous reviews and refinements, will ensure that the project's outputs remain aligned with its DEI-centric vision.    This project is funded by the Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) that seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2111199,Using Novel Instructional Materials to Improve Students' Detection of Pseudoscience in Decision-Making about Socially-relevant Real World Issues,2025-04-18,Texas A&M University,COLLEGE STATION,TX,TX10,599870,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2111199,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2111199_4900,2021-09-01,2025-04-18,778454375,JF6XLNB4CDJ5,"As a result of their coursework, undergraduate students are in a unique position to detect scientific misinformation or disinformation campaigns, often referred to as pseudoscience.  Many issues sit at the intersection of scientific knowledge and everyday society, and these issues are particularly vulnerable to pseudoscience.  This project aims to serve the national interest of developing a scientifically literate citizenry.  It will do so by producing instructional materials that aim to mitigate the growing influence of pseudoscience.  The instructional materials will (1) highlight the harmful impacts of pseudoscience on decision-making, (2) promote accurate science content knowledge related to the issue, (3) foster trust in the scientific community, and (4) improve students' ability to detect pseudoscience.  The project intends to improve the functional scientific literacy of undergraduate students, thus preparing them to effectively use scientific evidence and approaches in their lives.      The project team at Texas A&M University will develop twelve sets of instructional materials that each focus on a different socioscientific issue and contain three components: (1) a primer describing the science that is relevant to the issue, (2) a story addressing the historical and contemporary pseudoscience surrounding the issue, and (3) a sample case study.  The materials will be used by more than 20,000 undergraduate students in science majors and non-majors courses at the University.  The twelve socioscientific topics have been identified by the project team to ensure a seamless fit into existing courses in both face to face and online modalities.  Knowledge generated from this project will help to answer questions about the relationships between student demographics, social factors, pseudoscientific views, science attitudes, and their socioscientific related choices.  The project team will explore how exposure to the various components of the instructional materials affects students’ conceptions and attitudes regarding scientific evidence and conclusions, the nature of science, and pseudoscience.  Results from this project will be freely disseminated through a newly developed website, as well as via science education listservs and professional conferences.  The NSF IUSE: EHR Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through the Engaged Student Learning track, the program supports the creation, exploration, and implementation of promising practices and tools.    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.",FALSE
2147258,Collaborative Research: Digital Archives and Indigenous Afterlives of Scientific Objects,2025-04-18,University of Iowa,IOWA CITY,IA,IA01,111903,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2147258,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2147258_4900,2022-05-01,2026-04-30,522421316,Z1H9VJS8NG16,"At a moment when universities, museums, and archives are grappling with questions of how to responsibly manage and care for scientific collections created under unequal power dynamics, this project explores the role of digital access in understanding these histories, redressing associated harms, and envisioning new and more equitable forms of research for groups that have been marginalized. Through the collaborative construction of a digital archive, this project responds to requests from Indigenous communities for the return of scientific materials such as photographs, audio recordings, and publications that document their lives and communities. It explores the potential of digital infrastructures to enable communities’ control of materials that document them, according to their norms for sharing and protecting knowledge. Analysis of the ways participants experience and see themselves in relation to scientific research will help future researchers better respond to subjects’ and communities’ priorities. This project will provide resources, training, and a model for undergraduate and graduate students to pursue research in the social and natural sciences. It will contribute to broader initiatives that engage scientists, data repositories, and archival materials to democratize access and engagement in scholarly work while maintaining respect for Indigenous and local knowledge systems.    Drawing on methodological insights from Indigenous studies that prioritize reciprocal foundations of knowledge, this project will develop a methodology to effectively examine asymmetries in knowledge production, helping scholars learn how to incorporate reciprocity and care into their work. Using data collected through community consultation, semi-structured interviews, and ethnography of the construction and use of the digital archive, this research will offer theoretical insights into: (1) The potentials and pitfalls of re-using already-collected materials; (2) How approaches to archives and collections that reconfigure power dynamics and permit community-based reinterpretation can result in new knowledge about history and science; (3) How digital returns of scientific materials can contribute to community-defined research and inform human sciences research with Indigenous communities more broadly. In addition to science and technology studies scholars and historians of science, this project will be of interest to librarians, archivists, museum professionals, and others dedicated to privacy and justice in the collection and use of human data. Findings will inform research design across a wide range of fields in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, as well as policy and practice related to human subject’s research regulation.    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.",TRUE
2306176,"Research Initiation: Understanding Team Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Undergraduate Engineering Design Projects",2025-04-18,Miami University,OXFORD,OH,OH08,198651,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2306176,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2306176_4900,2023-08-15,2025-04-18,450561846,T6J6AF3AM8M8,"The overwhelming majority of engineering activities in research, design, and manufacturing are accomplished by teams, and this approach is prevalent across sectors as varied as biomedical, aerospace, and consumer goods.  High task complexity means that the teams are often multi-disciplinary and quite possibly global in composition and reach. Managing this inherent diversity is critical to team effectiveness. This project seeks to advance the research on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) specific to teamwork dynamics in engineering design teams by exploring the influence of diversity and equity practices on inclusion within the undergraduate engineering design process. Additionally, it also aims to support a community of emerging researchers dedicated to conducting engineering education research. Students’ ability to engage effectively in diverse teams is a key competency to advance holistic engineering formation. Understanding the connection between team-based engineering design and DEI will be instrumental in shaping current and future engineering professionals, by helping prepare engineers who are responsive to the evolving needs of the workforce with a mindset of being equally open and accessible to all. The findings of this project are expected to help uncover valuable insights into how engineering teams work and learn together. Ultimately, by strategically incorporating DEI practices, we can create more functional and effective groups that positively impact student success, particularly by enhancing the ability of marginalized students to participate and thrive.     Grounded in the Framework for Participation, this project will develop an understanding of the differences between high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams in undergraduate engineering design collaborations, in terms of team diversity and equity practices, among other factors that influence team dynamics. Further, critical factors that are associated with the positive and negative outcomes of inclusion will be identified to build the theoretical framework for the PI’s long-term research goal to study collaborative design behavior modeling with DEI considerations. The following exploratory research questions will be studied: What are the differences between the high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams with respect to their diversity? What are the differences between the high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams with respect to their equity practices? What are the differences in class-related variables between the high-inclusion and low-inclusion teams (such as student academic levels, collaboration modality, and project types? This project will utilize a mixed-methods approach to closely study team members’ behaviors in project collaboration through classroom data organically collected (i.e., without intentional interventions or influence on team formation from researchers) over the course of three semesters from more than 300 students. Together, the quantitative and qualitative analyses will provide a more comprehensive understanding of what aspects of diversity and equity have been effective, or ineffective, in promoting collaboration inclusion. Furthermore, this project seeks to uncover the mechanisms and reasons behind these findings, providing insights that can inform potential intervention strategies for promoting DEI in engineering design team collaboration. This project will be led by a principal investigator who is an engineering faculty member with mentorship from a team of experienced STEM education researchers.    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.",TRUE
2217718,Collaborative Research BPE track 3: Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation in Engineering Hub,2025-04-18,Morgan State University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,430000,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EDA-Eng Diversity Activities,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2217718,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2217718_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,212510001,KULSKCCZJT27,"This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).    This NSF Track 3 Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) project aims to address the resilience, identity formation, and academic outcomes of minorities in engineering through the ""Minority Mentoring for Advancement and Participation (Minority-MAP) in Engineering Hub’s infrastructure, resources sharing, community engagement, and evidence-based inclusive mentoring. The hub will leverage an all-access, open-platform called the Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub) to dynamically foster inclusive mentoring through a community of practice in engineering. The project’s catalytic activities are expected to democratize minority representation in engineering through the hub’s data and technology ecosystem that will connect student mentees with faculty and industry mentors and employers in the Minority-MAP network. The iMAP Hub will positively impact the completion rates of students pursuing engineering degrees and improve the career preparation of engineering students at participating minority serving institutions, thereby enhancing the diversity of the US engineering workforce. The project will employ the interest of HBCUs, leading companies, and non-profit organizations to collaboratively transform the human capital via inclusive mentoring, thus creating a culture change towards an impactful, resilient career. This effort aligns with the NSF Broadening Participation in Engineering’s mission to strengthen the future U.S. engineering workforce.    This project will be led by Center for Engineering Excellence at Morgan State University, in collaboration with North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Jackson State University, STEMconnector, and Ziker Research. The goals of the project are to: 1) recruit 100 student mentees and faculty or industry mentor pairs by 2024, to test and refine an innovative mentoring platform called Inclusive Mentoring to Advance Participation Hub (iMAP Hub); 2) curate, develop, and expand inclusive mentoring resources and activities to include 300 student mentees at 10 minority-serving institutions by 2027; 3) develop and implement a framework to identify gaps in the hub’s inclusive mentoring practices through formative and summative evaluations; 4) provide professional development to support implementing culturally responsive, inclusive mentoring practices at annual Summer Institutes, and develop and refine online student, faculty, and industry training resources for evidence-based inclusive mentoring practices delivered through an online repository that is integrated into the iMAP Hub platform by 2024; and 5) share findings and presentations during annual Summer Institutes, STEMconnector's Annual STEM Summits, Million Women Mentors Summits, and annual Post-Secondary Innovation Labs as a strategy for growing the network and expanding iMAP Hub services. Proposed research efforts will investigate the aspects of mentoring that promote the development of an engineering identity and have the potential to improve the persistence and retention of underrepresented groups in engineering. Methods will include data collection from multiple sources, including data analytics using iMAP usage data, survey reports from all participants, and observations of mentor-mentee activities. Outcomes related to changes in engineering identity, career awareness, and professional skills will be measured through pre- and post-surveys informed by the Engineer Identity Survey (EIS), interview protocols, and observations. The iMAP Hub’s resources and research findings will be disseminated through a dedicated website, conference presentations, workshops, newsletters, publications, and social media. The project team will scale the network of mentors and mentees by working with STEMconnector's membership which includes over 100 industry partners and MSI universities.    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.",TRUE
2332232,PRIMES: Researching and Teaching Mathematics of Fairness and Equity,2025-04-18,Morehouse College,ATLANTA,GA,GA05,365861,Standard Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,INFRASTRUCTURE PROGRAM,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2332232,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2332232_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,303143773,KTE2MFWTKAE5,"Over the past several decades, formal mathematical models have contributed increasingly to advances in political science, and over these years mathematicians and economists have joined forces with political scientists to study timely and important issues, including fair representation in legislatures and multimember districts - in which multiple candidates rather than only one are elected to represent a jurisdiction - to produce legislative bodies more reflective of voting populations. The Principal Investigator will make significant contributions to public and civic discourse and advance understanding of the nature of U.S. representative democracy, including responses to the gerrymandering of districts for partisan gain and loss in state and local jurisdictions. Beyond this scholarly inquiry, the project will increase engagement of Black men in coursework and collaborative mathematical research, specifically in the mathematics of fairness and equity, an area closely connected to the social justice aims of Morehouse College, a historically Black college.    This project will advance research in the mathematics of voting and representation. The PI examines the potential of multimember electoral districts, in conjunction with supporting election methods, to yield fair representation. One facet of this work is to consider fairness to individuals in a population through spatial models, in which the ideals of voters are represented by points in m-dimensional space where each coordinate of an m-dimensional point in a ""policy space"" represents the position of the citizen on a particular issue or interest. Spatial models in politics are well studied, but less so for multimember districts with multiple candidates elected simultaneously. The PI will develop and extend theoretical and experimental work on spatial models of multimember district elections. Beyond this thrust, other research results will arise more broadly from research collaborations established with other mathematical scientists during the Algorithms, Fairness, and Equity scientific program at the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute.    The project is funded jointly by the Infrastructure program of the Division of Mathematical Sciences and the Historically Black Colleges and Universitites-Excellence in Research (HBCU-EiR) Program.    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.",TRUE
2300166,Collaborative Research: Increasing Inclusion and Equity of Minoritized STEM Faculty: Examining the Role of Epistemic Exclusion in Scholar(ly) Evaluation Practices,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,649931,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2300166,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2300166_4900,2023-08-01,2028-07-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"The proposed project examines whether and how epistemic exclusion, a form of scholarly devaluation, is a barrier to the full inclusion and participation of women faculty and faculty of color in STEM. Epistemic exclusion occurs when disciplinary biases defining what STEM scholarship is valued are coupled with negative stereotypes about productivity and commitment of individuals based on their social identities to produce unfair evaluation processes. Because many faculty career outcomes (such as hiring, tenure, promotion, and leadership opportunities) are determined by research productivity metrics, research evaluation biases can impact interest, retention, and success in STEM research careers. The focus on scholarly work as a site of devaluation extends prior work on interpersonal forms of exclusion (e.g., social exclusion) in STEM education and research contexts. This knowledge is important for informing the development of individual and systemic level interventions to broaden participation in STEM.    The study will: 1) examine whether the level of epistemic exclusion among STEM faculty varies depending on scholars’ identities and career stage; 2) determine how experiences of epistemic exclusion affect STEM faculty careers; and 3) examine how consequences of epistemic exclusion vary depending on STEM scholars’ identities and career stage. This project will survey of 1800 tenure track STEM faculty at U.S. R1 and R2 universities nationally and hold focus groups of a subsample surveyed. The focus groups will explore how epistemic exclusion is uniquely experienced, understood, and impactful by career stage (early, mid, senior). This work builds on prior work by the research team that developed and validated the Faculty Epistemic Exclusion (FEE) Scale. This research will make significant intellectual contributions including the exploration of a new area of study for researchers interested in issues of fairness and inclusion in STEM education and research environments.     This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent challenges in education.    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.",TRUE
2414042,Research: Characterizing Gendered Socialization of Early Career Civil Engineers to Promote Inclusive Practices and Retention of a Diverse Workforce,2025-04-18,Washington State University,PULLMAN,WA,WA05,306959,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EngEd-Engineering Education,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2414042,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2414042_4900,2024-02-01,2025-04-18,991640001,XRJSGX384TD6,"There is a pressing need to better understand the high rates of attrition from engineering careers, particularly within their first decade on the job. Therefore, this project will examine the organizational socialization of newcomer civil engineers and will focus specifically on how the socialization process is gendered in ways that contribute to attrition from the profession. It will build on a previous longitudinal study on the same topic and will continue the long-term work of developing processes of acculturation to the engineering profession that are compatible with intersecting non-normative identities by refining and expanding an empirically-supported and engineering-specific model of gendered socialization. The integrated education and research plan will yield a dramatic impact on the field of engineering education by prioritizing the importance of underutilized gender theories, enrolling men in gender research and systems change, and addressing the gap in research on engineering workplaces. Other than the original study that this project builds on, no existing research has systematically examined the gendered organizational socialization experiences of newcomer men and women engineers. Ultimately, this project will facilitate greater equity in the socialization of newcomer engineers in order to decrease attrition from engineering careers and broaden participation of underrepresented groups in engineering. Furthermore, this project will contribute simultaneously to the fields of engineering education, engineering studies, organizational studies, and gender studies, among others.    The objectives of this project will be to refine and expand a theoretical model of gendered socialization in civil engineering workplaces and to create research-based interventions for more inclusive socialization. The study will involve two groups of participants. Group 1 will be early career civil engineers from around the country who have been participating in a similar study since 2018. They work in engineering firms, as well as in governmental organizations at the federal, state, and county levels. When the project begins, they will be in the fifth and sixth years of their careers. For this group, mixed-methods data will be collected longitudinally for three years through bi-monthly Individual Socialization Logs (an instrument developed during the course of the previous project) and twice-yearly in-depth interviews. The survey and interviews will explore their experiences in the workplace, including their biggest challenges, the most important things they are learning, their most memorable interactions, and their relationships with co-workers. Findings will be used to refine and expand the model that was created based on the first few years of their careers. Group 2 will be former early career civil engineers who left the engineering profession for a non-engineering career. They will participate in a one-time interview that will explore the reasons they left engineering, thought processes and timelines leading to that decision, what they think about their decisions now, workplace experiences that could have made a difference, and ways university could have better prepared them. From this data, a typology of the reasons for leaving and organizational socialization factors that played a role will be created. That typology will then be compared to the existing theoretical model and survey instrument to determine what additions need to be made to both in light of the experiences of those who have left civil engineering. Project outcomes will include identification and characterization of facets of organizational socialization (e.g., practices, processes, relationships and social networks) that are gendered, including how they are gendered intersectionally. Research findings and the model based on them will be utilized to create professional formation materials for civil engineering professionals. The professional formation materials will be implemented nationally and locally.    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.",TRUE
2315043,Collaborative Research: Black Girls as Creators: an intersectional learning ecosystem toward gendered racial equity in Artificial Intelligence education,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Arlington,ARLINGTON,TX,TX25,363986,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ITEST-Inov Tech Exp Stu & Teac,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315043,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315043_4900,2023-10-01,2028-09-30,760199800,LMLUKUPJJ9N3,"This project will work with artificial intelligence (AI) creators and Black girls, aged 9-14, to expand the range of perspectives and voices that are a part of AI technology. The project will include after school and summer camps for both Black girls and the AI creators to work together on the design and creation of AI projects.      This project examines two research questions. One is theoretical: What are design principles for an intersectional AI learning ecosystem? With this question the PIs explore Black girls' experiences with AI learning ecosystems, and how they can enact the constructs of intersectionality (critical reflection, action, accountability). Findings related to question 1 will help them develop a framework for intersectional professional development for AI professionals that is specific to how racial equity can be realized in AI learning; and, help them create new curricula that integrates AI; and, develop a framework for how to integrate PD, with curricula and technologies in AI spaces in order to create a more cohesive learning ecosystem. Research question 2 focuses on implementation: What are practical implementation guidelines for community organizations to integrate curricula and professional development into an intersectional AI learning ecosystem? The findings from this question will facilitate the development of resources for AI educators and community organizations. The findings from this project will be of interest to technology educators, AI professionals, the broader STEM education field, and community organizations that provide STEM education.      This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF's core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2308531,Collaborative Research: Track 4: Developing Equity-Minded Engineering Practitioners (DEEP),2025-04-18,University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign,URBANA,IL,IL13,800000,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,Eddie Bernice Johnson INCLUDES,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2308531,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2308531_4900,2023-08-01,2025-04-18,618013620,Y8CWNJRCNN91,"This NSF Track 4 Broadening Participation in Engineering (BPE) project aims to catalyze a culture change in the education of the next generation of engineers. The Developing Equity-Minded Engineering Practitioners (DEEP) Center will engage reflective and proactive practitioners toward creating cultural, structural, and pedagogical changes across the engineering discipline and beyond. The strategy for systemic change is to educate, equip, engage, and empower instructional faculty, with effective research-based practices for inclusive, equitable, and transparent learning. The DEEP Center will create a central, visible hub for professional development, organizational learning, and collaboration through communities of practice across the educational ecosystem of faculty and instructors. The DEEP Center will positively impact the retention and success of students, particularly those from racial and ethnic backgrounds that are historically underrepresented in engineering. DEEP focuses on fixing the system rather than fixing the student. In so doing, DEEP will strengthen the future U.S. Engineering workforce with the knowledge, beliefs, and practices of inclusive excellence so that they can research, develop, and innovate the best solutions for 21st century global challenges.    The DEEP Center will be led by the Institute for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access (IDEA) in the Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in collaboration with Mitchell School of Engineering at Morgan State University (MSU). The goal of this center is to develop faculty change agents at UIUC and MSU who will foster equitable and inclusive teaching and learning environments for students The project objectives are to: (1) co-develop, co- pilot, and collect a repository of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) instructional examples for faculty to adapt and infuse in their own curricula; (2) collaborate in equity-minded communities of practice; (3) implement an effective analytical framework for assessing and integrating inclusive STEM teaching and learning, and (4) articulate, evaluate, and share a model for collaboration between Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and predominantly white institutions (PWIs) around increasing the infusion of DEI into undergraduate engineering education that includes faculty exchange and co-teaching of courses. The guiding research questions are focused on understanding the impact of the DEEP model (peer-facilitated professional development and equity-minded communities of practice) to lead to changes in the knowledge, attitude, behaviors, and effectiveness (KABE) of teaching personnel. The evaluation will use a mixed methods approach to gain a comprehensive, in-depth understanding of the project. Appropriate evaluation instruments will be used to assess changes in DEEP participants’ KABE in fostering equitable and inclusive engineering learning environments. Data collection activities will include a review of instructor and course evaluation system data from participating teaching personnel, interviews with teaching personnel, focus groups with students to gauge experiences and impacts, observations of in-person professional development and teaching personnel classes, and surveys assessing perceived quality of DEEP implementation and outcomes. Project outcomes will include the creation of a repository of DEI lesson examples to be shared publicly, a guidebook on forming an HBCU/MSI-PWI partnership and sharing lessons learned, workshops for colleagues at UIUC and MSU, and virtual webinars to the broader engineering education community. Because of our focus on systemic change, we plan to share project outcomes with engineering administration, institutional leadership at MSU and UIUC, and nationally. The success of this project will bridge the gaps between top-down policy reforms requiring DEI contributions and bottom-up faculty efforts across multiple institutions to develop and execute equitable and inclusive teaching practices.    This project is co-funded by NSF’s Eddie Bernice Johnson Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) Initiative, which seeks to motivate and accelerate collaborative infrastructure building to advance and sustain systemic change to broaden participation in STEM at scale.    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.",TRUE
2317283,"Promoting Student Success through a Social, Academic, and Institutional Support System in Engineering Education",2025-04-18,Northern Arizona University,FLAGSTAFF,AZ,AZ02,408927,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,HSI-Hispanic Serving Instituti,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2317283,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2317283_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,86011,MXHAS3AKPRN1,"With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI) Program, this Track 2 project will develop and study a sustainable system of academic, institutional, and social supports (i.e., formal peer-mentoring program) for first-year engineering students at the University of Texas El Paso. The Promoviendo el Éxito Estudiantil a través de un Sistema de Apoyo (PromESA) model offers educational and personal support for students by providing mentees with tutoring, advising and connections to available university services. Equally importantly, the project will provide social-emotional support, provide opportunities to build friendships, and affirm students’ sense of belonging, particularly for Latinx students. PromESA components will specifically account for students’ intersecting identities (e.g., gender, first-generation college student status, cultural heritage). Research findings will inform efforts to provide academic, institutional, and social support for under-served populations while addressing the lack of a sense of belonging experienced by Latinx students in engineering education.    This project will implement a holistic, socio-culturally responsive peer-mentoring program adapted from the evidence-based Promotores de Educación Program developed at California State University at Long Beach. This multidimensional initiative will be guided by four objectives. First is to increase students’ sense of belonging by incorporating holistic, socio-culturally responsive practices into training and professional development for faculty and peer mentors. Second is to build awareness of Latinx cultural assets and values into the landscape of the piloting department. Third is to increase participating students’ retention, persistence, and academic performance in their engineering degree programs. Fourth is to establish structures and policies to institutionalize major project components beyond the award period. The embedded action research effort will use a combination of qualitative and participatory research methods to offer a fuller understanding of the impact of peer-mentoring programs for students from historically minoritized/marginalized populations.  The research will specifically examine how such programs can impact participants and narrow the knowledge gap on the impacts of peer-mentoring programs for Latinx students pursuing engineering degrees, particularly when leveraging their cultural strengths and their intersectional identities. Furthermore, the knowledge generated will provide the engineering education research community with a deeper understanding of the unique experiences and perspectives of Latinx students.    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.",TRUE
2239348,CAREER: BLACK-LATINX RESOURCES IN COMMUNITY-LED ENGINEERING: INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF LANGUAGE AND CULTURE,2025-04-18,Tufts University,MEDFORD,MA,MA05,177067,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,NSF Research Traineeship (NRT),https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239348,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2239348_4900,2023-09-01,2028-08-31,021555519,WL9FLBRVPJJ7,"Engineering develops solutions for diverse populations and to do this well we need engineers that reflect the communities they serve. However, many groups, such as Latinx/é and Black-Latinx/é, remain severely underrepresented in the discipline. Traditionally, students from underrepresented groups have felt pressure to assimilate because their own experiences are rarely legitimized neither in the classroom nor in the profession, resulting in missed opportunities for engineering and society to benefit from the creative insights these individuals can contribute. This leads to imperfect engineering design solutions with real-life consequences for those who are overlooked and for society at large. The education of engineers thus needs to explicitly incorporate the perspectives of students and their communities to pave the way for broadening notions of what it means to be an engineer and who can become one. All students have life experiences that they can build on as they learn engineering competencies. However, it is not yet well understood how exactly the learning process of developing connections between experiences and engineering works. This is particularly true for learners such as Black-Latinx/é who are often made invisible, overlooked, and rarely the center of engineering practice and research. Across three geographically and demographically diverse institutional contexts, this CAREER project will develop foundational understandings of how learners make connections between engineering practices and community practices (including language and culture) and will incorporate the lessons learned into developing a community-led pedagogical approach in engineering. The project will include learners from all races and ethnicities but also pay particular attention to Black-Latinx/é students. This project aligns with the Broadening Participation in Engineering program goal to transform learning environments for the participation and inclusion of traditionally underserved populations in STEM through research and collaborations.    This project will engage students in engineering thinking and practices (e.g., applying principles of engineering design) within three community-led courses. Students will learn ways of doing engineering as they engage in real-world examples inspired by the realities, histories and traditions of Afro-Latinx/é people. The work will draw on the rightful presence framework and theories of learning in engineering. Through three comparative case studies of institutions implementing a community-led engineering approach focused on Black-Latinx/é communities, this project will answer three sets of questions on community practices, students’ learning and identity development, as well as learning environments: (1) What kinds of language and cultural practices in Black-Latinx/é communities are associated with engineering practices? (2) What language and cultural practices do Black-Latinx/é students, and others of different racial and ethnic backgrounds, develop in community-led engineering courses? (3) What features and resources in the distinct learning environments influence the development of the rightful presence of Black-Latinx/é students in engineering and how these resources support learners? To answer these questions, the project will build on theories related to the roles that language and culture play in how people learn and analyze responses to surveys, interviews, observations and journal entries for each of the cases. The data will be analyzed using a variety of techniques, ranging from constant comparative approach from the grounded theory tradition to factor analysis and analysis of variance. Beyond the seven faculty members at participating institutions and 120 students directly engaging in the community-led engineering courses, the project will share the theoretical findings and design principles of the pedagogical approach with graduate students and the 300+ engineering faculty members at the partner universities, K-12 teachers, as well as the broader community. This dissemination intends to empower faculty and teachers across the country to adapt these ideas in creating learning environments for the rightful presence of Black-Latinx students and other groups who may not see themselves reflected in STEM.       This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2201798,Collaborative Research: Investigating Gender Differences in Digital Learning Games with Educational Data Mining,2025-04-18,University of Pennsylvania,PHILADELPHIA,PA,PA03,213887,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201798,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201798_4900,2022-07-01,2025-04-18,191046205,GM1XX56LEP58,"Despite evidence that gender differences in math achievement have narrowed or disappeared in recent decades, stereotypes about men being better than women at math emerge early in childhood and persist through adulthood. These perceptions appear to influence female students’ interest and performance in math, as well as their pursuit of STEM careers. Given the potential motivational benefits of digital learning games, games might provide a pathway for reducing math anxiety for female students while increasing their self-efficacy and interest in math. This project will explore whether digital learning games can lead to less math anxiety and better learning in female students, while not hurting male student learning. It will study learning with two existing digital learning games: Decimal Point, which teaches foundational math concepts (decimal numbers and operations) to 5th and 6th grade students; and Angle Jungle, which targets a similar age range (4th and 5th graders) and has a similar thematic design (i.e., a game map, cartoon characters), but with different game mechanics, content (angles), and instructional approach. The study will explore how and why Decimal Point has, over the course of several experiments spanning multiple years, consistently produced a learning advantage for female students. In doing so, investigators will identify principles regarding the relationship between gender and game features that can be shared with game developers and used in other games, starting with Angle Jungle.    This work will go beyond the traditional gender binary of male and female, analyzing multiple dimensions of gender, including gender identity (e.g., how much students feel like a boy, a girl, both, neither), gender typicality (e.g., How much students like to do the same things as other girls [boys], How much students feel they look like boys [girls]), and gender-typed interests, activities, and traits (e.g., how much a student feels affectionate or adventurous). The study will also investigate two pathways hypothesized to lead to gender differences: first, that the playful features of the games reduce the saliency of the math content, making it less likely to cue math stereotype threat (the stereotype threat hypothesis); and second, that the games’ thematic details are more appealing to learners who identify (more) as females, making the games more engaging for them compared to learners who identify (more) as boys (the engagement hypothesis). In Year 1, educational data mining will be used to infer students’ cognitive and affective processes while playing Decimal Point and compare data to the distinct processes predicted by these two pathways. In Year 2, investigators will assess whether the hypothesized pathways and gender differences replicate in the context of Angle Jungle. In Year 3, hypotheses will be further tested by manipulating Decimal Point’s emphasis on math content in one version of the game and enjoyment and playful features in another. The project will compare learning outcomes between the two versions to more deeply explore the stereotype threat and engagement hypotheses. The ultimate aim of this work is to provide insights into gender-based differences in learning from digital games, providing principles and guidance for other researchers and game designers in developing and revising digital learning games. Thus, the project has the potential to transfer Decimal Point’s success with girls’ learning outcomes to other digital learning games and advance knowledge on the multidimensionality of gender. Furthermore, findings will allow investigators to revise both games and make them available to thousands of late elementary and middle school students across the country. Even during this project, approximately 1,950 students—including many from districts with diverse populations and low math proficiency¬—will benefit from learning with Decimal Point and Angle Jungle.    This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest intervention and innovations to address persistent.    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.",TRUE
2316154,Project Incubation: Training Undergraduates in Collaborative Research Ethics,2025-04-18,Oberlin College,OBERLIN,OH,OH05,89922,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Multidisciplinary Activities,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2316154,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2316154_4900,2024-02-01,2026-01-31,440741057,ZY4LY6PDKLM1,"This incubation award supports a team of researchers from diverse disciplines at a liberal arts college and Historically Black Colleges and Universities who will work with community partners in Alabama to develop curricular materials and a pilot workshop on the ethics of research. The project’s aim is to develop a network of researchers to respond to community directions rooted in best practices to facilitate justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in environmental research. Inclusion of community partners as knowledge keepers and mentors – and as co-creators of the project’s goals – offers a unique opportunity to develop ethical and responsible methods of collaborative research design and practice and to model such partnerships, with the goal of empowering communities. The project team will recruit and train a diverse group of students in best practices for collaboration to create actionable guidelines for environmental justice communities, ethics boards, and educational institutions. The project will enable faculty, undergraduates, and community partners to learn from one another, with the shared intention of benefiting communities in Alabama and training students on research ethics and environmental justice.     The team will use a three-phase process to develop and validate a new framework for training students in the ethics of community-engaged research. The remote planning phase will create the framework by utilizing community-engaged approaches to center the voices of local community members and organizers to develop ethical and responsible methods of collaborative research design. In the synergy phase, researchers, students, and community leaders will work together to refine and disseminate the initial framework through collaborative coursework. At the workshop phase, students will learn best practices for collaboration with environmental justice communities as well as methods of geospatial data, environmental pollutant sampling, and oral narrative data collection using software tools. The project will pilot a curriculum and methodology for training a diverse cohort of undergraduates in ethical research with environmental justice communities, its synergy with environmental change and climate mitigation and adaptation, and best practices for facilitating institutional commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Outcomes of the project will be assessed and refined through an iterative online process with community members, organizers, and partners.    This project is funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences and managed by the ER2 Program of the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences.    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.",TRUE
2428059,Collaborative Research: ATD: Hawkes Process-Based Causal Relationship Discovery For Complex Threat Detection and Forecasting,2025-04-18,Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor,ANN ARBOR,MI,MI06,33435,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Mathematical Sciences,ATD-Algorithms for Threat Dete,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2428059,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2428059_4900,2024-09-01,2027-08-31,481091015,GNJ7BBP73WE9,"This project develops novel causality-guided approaches for reliable threat detection and forecasting in complex event streams. Understanding causality is crucial because it allows us to identify the true drivers behind anomalies and pinpoint critical events that will significantly impact future event streams. For instance, to swiftly adapt to extreme climate shifts, it is essential to detect unusual earth movements or severe weather patterns that causally induce these shifts. Recognizing these causal relationships enables the implementation of preemptive countermeasures and enhances long-term forecasting. Similarly, in the context of information hazards, identifying latent patterns in social media posts that causally drive the spread of misinformation is vital. Understanding these causal drivers allows for quicker assessment and recognition of future threats, making it possible to take timely and effective action to ensure public safety. Moreover, the benefits of such methods extend far beyond security applications. They can unlock mechanistic insights into scientific event streams like neural activities, enriching the collection of techniques for scientific discovery.    This project opens new lines of research, expanding the domain and scope of algorithmic threat detection. Specifically, it focuses on three key research topics: (1) causal inference for observed event streams with latent confounders and nonstationarity, (2) causal representation learning for latent event streams, and (3) causal anomaly detection and long-term forecasting. Leveraging the Hawkes process model—a self-exciting point process model—the investigators will establish a formal framework to determine when and how causal links can be inferred from partially observed and potentially non-stationary event sequences. The identified causal relationships will enable comprehensive situational awareness while pinpointing anomalies and providing long-term forecasts. The mathematical theory, algorithms, and software produced through this research will be transformational. This project aims to establish a foundational understanding of causality for algorithmic threat detection, provide principled algorithms for analyzing complex event streams, and broaden the application of these methods to diverse social and scientific domains.    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.",FALSE
2315023,Collaborative Research: Overcoming Isolation and Scholarly Devaluation by Bolstering the Collective Agency of Black Discipline-Based Education Researchers,2025-04-18,Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,BLACKSBURG,VA,VA09,1095344,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,AGEP,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315023,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315023_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,240603359,QDE5UHE5XD16,"There is a growing need for scholars specializing in discipline-based education research (DBER) due to the importance of STEM in preparing the technical workforce and a science-literate citizenry. DBER is defined as a collection of related research fields (e.g., physics, biology, engineering, computer science) executing basic and applied research centered on education research questions anchored in the context of their specific field of study. The proposed project aims to advance understanding and mitigate the impact of systemic racism on the collective agency of Black scholars engaged in DBER focused on engineering and computer science. The project team conceptualizes systemic racism as the complex array of practices, policies, and systems of evaluation that contribute to the de facto segregation and scholarly devaluation of Black scholars. This combination of challenges presents obstacles for scholars working to maximize their potential impact as change agents within their disciplines. This project aims to examine how systemic racism restricts scholars' impact and shapes their individual and collective agency. The long-term goals of the project are to foster collaboration among STEM education researchers who are geographically dispersed across the country; build capacity for culturally-competent STEM education research and dissemination; enhance the visibility of the work done by Black scholars; and advocate for field-level changes to practices and policies that reinforce systemic racism.    The main goal of this project is to advance understanding of the impact systematic racism has on the individual and collective agency of Black scholars engaged in DBER. The research team will use an asset-based, trauma-informed, community-oriented approach. First, the project team will collect, compile, analyze, and visualize data about the population of Black DBER scholars. Second, the project will interview a cross-generational subset of late-, mid-, and early-career Black scholars about the workplace challenges encountered during their professional journey and the tactics used to overcome them. Finally, the project will scaffold new collaborations between discipline-based education researchers through workshops focused on forming and sustaining productive research collaborations. This project is designed to expand prior literature about discipline-based education research to include substantial considerations of race or racism. The research design guiding this study will leverage and foster authentic partnerships among Black scholars engaged in DBER. This study design may also serve as a model for subsequent studies on collective agency.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2135328,Collaborative Research: Research: Early-Career Engineers Experiences with Equity and Ethics as They Transition to Practice and Implications for Formation of Engineers,2025-04-18,Colorado State University,FORT COLLINS,CO,CO02,159038,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,ER2-Ethical & Responsible Res,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2135328,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2135328_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,805212807,LT9CXX8L19G1,"Transportation systems, computing algorithms, and healthcare devices are among the many designs, products, and systems developed by the engineering profession that have important impacts on society. The decisions made by engineers can help advance fairness and justice in society, or these decisions can increase and build upon existing inequities leading to adverse consequences for minoritized populations. Furthermore, the engineering profession is a field with a history of exclusion where People of Color, people with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and white women remain underrepresented after years of effort to increase diversity. To address these concerns about engineering practice, we need to understand and then transform how new engineers form their attitudes and behaviors around social equity and inclusion in the workplace. Engineering students learn about the ethical obligations of engineers to benefit humanity while they are in school, and it is becoming more common for engineering students to learn specifically about how diversity, equity, and inclusion are important to the engineering profession. And hiring organizations might also provide learning opportunities on issues of diversity and inclusion with various goals such as creating more inclusive environment. In this project we will study new engineers, in their first five years of practice, to learn how these engineers are using lessons from school and the messages they receive in the workplace to shape their professional behavior at a key transitional stage. The ultimate goal of this study is to help develop ethical and equity minded engineers who are prepared to use their professional work to enhance fairness in society and in engineering workplaces.    This project will use a sequential mixed methods design including a national survey and interviews. The research process will document the perceptions and experiences of early-career engineers involving equity and ethics and their preparedness to address these issues based on their learning experiences at both engineering school and the workplace. Our research seeks to answer the following questions: 1) What aspects of their academic preparation and exposure to issues of equity and ethics do early-career engineers find relevant and use in their professional work? 2) What are early-career engineers’ experiences of on-the-job learning related to equity and ethics and what types of resources are available to support these learning experiences? 3) What are the perceptions of early-career engineers about equity and ethics and their importance in interpersonal interactions in the work environment? 4) What are the perceptions of early-career engineers about equity and ethics and their importance in the professional work of engineers? In addition, what experiences/situations have contributed to these perceptions? And 5) To what extent and in what ways do early-career engineers with different social identities have differing views and motivation to act on issues of equity and ethics in engineering? We will use our findings to create learning activities (such as videos) based on the situations where our participants encountered decisions with equity and ethics implications. These activities can be used by engineering instructors to incorporate realistic early-career situations involving equity and ethics in undergraduate education. This project has an advisory board including members of professional societies and industry who will help guide the study and convey our findings to organizations that can use our findings to shape early-career professional development of engineers.    This project is jointly funded by the Research in the Formation of Engineers (RFE) and the Ethical and Responsible Research (ER2) programs.    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.",TRUE
2314307,Voces de Esperanza (Voices of Hope): An Exhibit and Framework for Supporting Climate Change Conversations with Latine Audiences,2025-04-18,Oregon Museum of Science and Industry,PORTLAND,OR,OR01,2098013,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,OFFICE OF MULTIDISCIPLINARY AC,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2314307,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2314307_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,972143356,CLUFG5P4B554,"This Integrating Research and Practice project leverages museum exhibits as unique family learning spaces to promote community engagement in critical climate change conversations. Most science centers have not been adequately equipped to help diverse learners engage in climate change conversations, in part because tested climate communication approaches have not included culturally-specific strategies. This project will develop an exhibit design framework to specifically address that need. Through equitable, culturally-driven co-development and evaluation strategies that include Latine(x/o) community members in all aspects of project development, this project will offer Latine(x/o) youth and families opportunities to build awareness of and skills in climate change conversations that can foster climate actions in their communities. AB Cultural Drivers (ABCD) and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will collaborate with community members through a Colaborativo (a community collaborative), formed through partner organization, Adelante Mujeres. Together they will work toward the development and evaluation of a 500-800 sq. ft. bilingual (Spanish-English) museum exhibit, document and develop resources to help others in the informal science learning (ISL) field co-create and co-evaluate learning experiences, and co-develop an exhibit design framework that forefronts Colaborativo processes and identifies culturally-specific strategies to support climate conversations, especially among Latine(x/o) exhibit visitors.     Knowledge-building evaluation will investigate Colaborativo processes, exhibit design for climate conversations, and the visitor experience at the exhibit. All evaluation questions, outcomes, methods, and interpretations will be selected with the Colaborativo, with support from evaluation team members. Leveraging existing expertise and experience in community based participatory research, the team will use, and document for others to use, project management and navigation structures that help community groups form, be creative, and exercise their power to achieve results. The project will explore Colaborativo members' sense of belonging and leadership and project team members' understanding of practices that foster belonging for community partners and members. Methods for Colaborativo processes may include journaling, photovoice, and interviews that could be qualitatively coded for themes. The exhibition will integrate prior science communication research in climate anxiety, hope, and belonging which include well-tested approaches to starting climate change conversations and keeping them open. Drawing on participatory popular education and community based participatory research activities, the Colaborativo will shape learning experiences for the participants. Evaluation for exhibit experiences will likely explore perceptions of personal and community climate change relevance, skills for engaging in climate change conversations, and climate action communication skills to inform exhibit development through front end, formative, remedial, and summative phases. Methods may include 100 naturalistic observations, 100 interviews, and video observations of 25 families, and participants will be recruited from regional Latine(x/o)-focused organizations. The resulting resources for public and professional audiences will be informed by Colaborativo-led review that includes all project team members and external review from project advisors. Resources for community members will illustrate and support climate change conversations, and be developed to capture interest--a graphic one-sheet, a facilitation guide, and a video guide. In addition to the exhibit design framework, resources for professionals are expected to include toolkits for others to use to implement a Colaborativo approach, infographics, and videos to summarize project findings for the ISL field.    This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which supports projects that: (a) contribute to research and practice that considers informal STEM learning's role in equity and belonging in STEM; (b) promote personal and educational success in STEM; (c) advance public engagement in scientific discovery; (d) foster interest in STEM careers; (e) create and enhance the theoretical and empirical foundations for effective informal STEM learning; (f) improve community vibrancy; and/or (g) enhance science communication and the public's engagement in and understanding of STEM and STEM processes.    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.",TRUE
2143173,CAREER: An Asset-based Longitudinal and Intersectional Analysis of Black Women’s Experiences within Informal and Formal Engineering Education,2025-04-18,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,547447,Continuing Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EPE-Expanding Part. in Engring,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2143173,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2143173_4900,2022-03-15,2025-04-18,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"As of 2017, Black women made up 7.2% of the college-age population but only 1% of engineering degree recipients. These alarming percentages represent a reversal of educational trends, which indicate that, for bachelor’s degree attainment, across all disciplines and ethnic groups, Black women are the most educated group compared to their male counterparts. From an asset-based standpoint, Black women who persist in engineering: (1) had representation in the form of mentors and role models, (2) had access to inclusive formal and/or informal STEM education and, (3) were in supportive organizational and institutional climates. Although research in these areas has increased, it has primarily been within formal settings. With children spending about 81.5% of their waking hours outside of formal education and underrepresented minorities (URMs) representing 61% of those students (24% of whom are Black), it’s imperative to further explore their experiences in these settings, especially longitudinally and, specifically within informal engineering educational settings. Given growing STEM workforce demands, national-level broadening participation efforts and the need to further understand the formation of Black women as engineers, this project will consist of the development of a longitudinal database with profiles of Black women who have completed engineering degrees and participated within an informal engineering program. Throughout this five-year CAREER proposal, Black women’s participation within the Summer Engineering Experience for Kids (SEEK) program, hosted by the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE), and other experiences related to their educational journey, will be studied. Since 2017, over 5,000 mentor teachers and 20,000 students across the U.S. cities have participated in SEEK.     In collaboration with NSBE, a three phased approach will be conducted. Phase I: development of a database with participant profiles using longitudinal demographic and survey data results. Phase II: qualitative interviews will be conducted with results added to participant profiles.  Phase III: data from previous phases will be examined and validated through the support and guidance of external experts. Results will be shared with K-12, higher education and industry stakeholders through the education professional development. Using intersectionality, social and cultural capital, and anti-deficit achievement as theoretical frameworks, the following research questions will be answered: (RQ1) To what extent does participation within informal and formal engineering education develop over time to impact Black women’s formation as engineers towards degree completion? (RQ2) How do individual, institutional, and cultural factors within the interchange of informal and formal engineering education contribute to Black women’s formation as engineers and persistence in engineering degree programs? This project is transformative in that it will acknowledge the non-monolithic state of Black women (i.e. specific engineering degree obtained, cultural differences, age at degree completion, institution type attended, etc.) and experiences along their journeys. Second, in terms of the methods, leveraging large data sets from coeducational and single-sex, informal engineering sites to develop participant profiles within a single database and analyzing them longitudinally is a strategy that has not been done. Third, the theoretical framing with intersectionality as a base and with social and cultural capital through an asset-based approach is novel and transformative. Through the educational professional development, best practices found will advance research efforts and provide K-12, university and industry stakeholders with in-depth knowledge of tools that can be implemented through their programmatic efforts. Results will impact efforts to increase interest in, recruitment of and support for the persistence of Black women and girls in engineering education. Four dissemination workshops will allow asset-based results to be shared with an even broader, more diverse audience including organizations such as ASEE, SHPE, SWE, ACA, WEPAN, ACLU and professional engineering societies.    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.",TRUE
2313849,Collaborative Research: Inspiring Networks and Sustainability of Postsecondary Inclusivity and Racial Equity with the Computing Alliance of HSIs,2025-04-18,University of Texas at El Paso,EL PASO,TX,TX16,880459,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,CSforAll-Computer Sci for All,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2313849,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2313849_4900,2022-10-01,2027-09-30,799688900,C1DEGMMKC7W7,"The Inspiring Networks and Sustainability of Postsecondary Inclusivity and Racial Equity (INSPIRE) project will address the significant problem of sustaining equity-centered student success practices that attempt to mitigate systemic inequities within the STEM and STEM education enterprise. Studies of organizational sustainability of such practices are rare, particularly in Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) and other Minority-Serving Institutions. Also, few such initiatives have been sustained significantly over time. The Computing Alliance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (CAHSI), a 16-year-old consortium of 40 HSI computer science departments and other partners dedicated to improving racial equity, is one rare long-lasting initiative in this arena. Studying this consortium provides the opportunity to inform organizational change and adaptive strategies to mitigate often long-standing institutional practices that have led to inequitable participation in the computing field. INSPIRE’s goals are to (1) strengthen understanding of equity-centered student success strategies to mitigate systemic inequities in the computing enterprise, (2) support organizational sustainability of equity-centered student success strategies in HSIs, and (3) extend a transferable model of equity-centered student success in computing to other institutions.    The project aims to achieve three primary outcomes. First, to advance research on equity-centered student success practices that mitigate institutional racism and advance racial equity in computing. Second, to create a platform to elevate and give voice to student-, staff-, faculty-, and administrator-developed practical approaches to integrate and sustain these strategies. Finally, to develop a transferable and culturally sustaining model of organizational transformation. The project’s scope includes mixed methods quantitative and qualitative research with CAHSI computing departments. The INSPIRE team will also strive to build capacity in these computing departments to sustain organizational change toward racial equity. The approach will include quantitative surveys, qualitative interviews, and in-depth qualitative case studies of four CAHSI departments. The case studies will involve interviews and observations to study how key stakeholders encounter challenges and opportunities to implementing and sustaining equity-centered practices. These stakeholders include faculty, administrators, staff, and students. The project team will share data and generate feedback to build departments’ capacity to sustain equity-oriented organizational change during these activities. One expected result is an enhanced understanding of equity-centered student success strategies and the organizational conditions that hinder or enhance the adoption and sustainability of these strategies. Another is a model of computing student success to mitigate institutional racism in computing and STEM at all institutions. The INSPIRE team will disseminate research and professional development through webinars, publications, presentations, and interactive workshops. Dissemination will focus on inclusive and equitable departmental practices, such as community-building and intersectional approaches to learning and research, that can be directly applied to raise minoritized students’ computing success. Dissemination efforts will address audiences in multiple roles, including students, staff, faculty, and administrators.     This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate. Institutions may include those with significant percentages of low-income undergraduate students.    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.",TRUE
2304844,An Immersive GEO-Revolution Adventure Experience for HBCU Undergraduates,2025-04-18,Morgan State University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,273918,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2304844,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2304844_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,212510001,KULSKCCZJT27,"The History, Geography & Museum Studies Department at Morgan State University in Baltimore City, USA will operate a two-year pilot bridge program involving 20 undergraduates of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The pilot aims to assist these students in transitioning to graduate-level degree programs in geography, the geosciences, and geospatial sciences. The targeted undergraduates will have had preparation and demonstrate substantial promise for graduate study in those discipline fields through completed elective and required coursework in relevant major and minor degree programs. HBCUs located in the Chesapeake region of the United States are the principal talent pools of the program, and are inclusive of Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Howard University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. The aim of the program is to equip the next generation of scientists representing geography, the geosciences, and geospatial sciences with conceptual and practical tools that serve to produce culturally relevant solutions to water hazards and climate change matters of an environmental, political, and economic quality. Those matters most often disproportionately impact people of color residing in urban, suburban, and coastal environments. The program will provide classroom-based and virtual workshops emphasizing leadership principles and values espoused by geographers, geoscientists, geospatial scientists, and those in other disciplines. Additionally, field-based study opportunities are offered to help participants formulate a higher degree of understanding towards scientific research and advocacy relating to water hazard mitigation in Baltimore City and elsewhere in the Chesapeake region that reflect past, present, and forecasted climate change exposures of variable cause and consequence which lead oftentimes to disasters of small and extreme proportions. By combining training workshops and field study exercises relating to water hazards and climate change in different environment types, particularly for those who encounter institutional and other place-based constraints, the program has great potential to stand as a model example of leadership development for people of color to empower themselves to be scientists who hold in the highest regard and practice principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion within the academy and beyond through their research and citizenship duties. Furthermore, the program may offer non-participating HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions across the United States functional approaches for increasing their number of undergraduates who intentionally seek and view the acquisition of advanced degrees in the disciplines of program focus as the means for greater representation and leadership across other scientific fields of endeavor and in the larger society.        This two-year pilot bridge program serves to build the quantity and quality of United States graduate students of color in geography, the geosciences, and geospatial sciences through hands-on research training exercises, expert guidance, and mentoring support. The program targets those enrolled at HBCUs located in the Chesapeake region who possess a major as well as moderate relationship with the disciplines of focus through degree enrollment status and coursework completion yet may lack additional stimuli, supports, and pathways towards graduate-level study. The program aims to enable target students to go beyond traditional classroom structures and embark on field research adventures that contribute to building their: (1) comprehension of scientific viewpoints in geography, geosciences, and geospatial sciences relating to water hazards and climate change; (2) confidence in the use of scientific research instruments towards knowledge production for policymaking and practice purposes; and (3) communication skills for public awareness campaigns in close proximity and equal partnership with city neighborhood residents, community-based nonprofit organizations, government agencies, professional organizations, local and national conservation groups and institutes, and environment-centered laboratories. Three principles defining program suggest that: (1) high-touch field-based research experiences are effective learning and career development pathways towards environmental matters like water hazards and climate change; (2) the chances for graduate program application and enrollment success with the disciplines of focus rise when HBCU undergraduates receive intentional and caring support; and (3) community-university partnerships lead to better science and discovery towards greater public understanding and implementation of culturally responsive approaches towards dealing with variable and disproportionate water hazard and climate change impacts when people of color in cities, suburbs, and coastal towns across the Chesapeake region and perhaps beyond its boundaries are centered in such work.    This project is jointly funded by the Geoscience Opportunities for Leadership in Diversity (GOLD-EN) Program and the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Excellence in Research (HBCU-EiR) Program.    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.",TRUE
2334832,DESIGN: Reforming organizational culture across Biology using a Community of Care framework,2025-04-18,Chapman University,ORANGE,CA,CA40,494256,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334832,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334832_4900,2024-03-01,2026-02-28,928661005,EN9DMTETW3N1,"In order to fully serve a diverse community of researchers, professionals, and educators in the Biological Sciences, the organizational structure of scientific societies and their programmatic decisions should emphasize a culture of community building and inclusive mentoring, alongside of scientific discovery. This project proposes that societies must expand from their “communities of practice”, which center on science, to incorporate “communities of care”, which center on people. The researchers have already developed and tested a three-stage approach for scientific society leadership that includes education, reflection, and guided action planning within this conceptual framework. This project will engage 5 US-based scientific societies in a series of critically evaluated listening sessions, workshops, and events that address both internal structures (society leadership) and external structures (journal and conference organization). Using this approach, the researchers will coordinate the initial implementation and evaluations for actionable opportunities with “community of care”-guided goals in each of these scientific societies. This project encompasses broader impacts by working to change discipline-level cultural values and through its direct support of over 100 scientists from diverse backgrounds and career-stages.    This project has already generated buy-in from 5 US-based conference societies and their journals, which demonstrates proof of concept for the Biology community’s commitment to new, evidence-based approaches for inclusion. The guided action planning will draw from the expertise of existing evidence-based strategies developed in informal learning and corporate settings for community building. A major strength of this parallel approach is that it will catalyze a broader movement around proven cultural change methods than a single society can otherwise drive. Using a modular, flexible approach rooted in sociological and psychological peer-reviewed research will allow the researchers to generate support from societies’ leadership and membership who are invested in seeing their communities become more diverse, inclusive, and equitable but do not have the social and emotional tools or abundant resources to do so in a sustainable way.    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.",TRUE
2244144,REU Site: FIRE: Facilitating Inclusive Research Experiences in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science,2025-04-18,University of Pittsburgh,PITTSBURGH,PA,PA12,410216,Standard Grant,ENG,Engineering,Engineering Education and Centers,EWFD-Eng Workforce Development,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2244144,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2244144_4900,2023-09-01,2025-04-18,152600001,MKAGLD59JRL1,"This is a three-year new proposal for an REU Site titled, ""REU Site: FIRE: Facilitating Inclusive Research Experiences in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science” at the University of Pittsburgh. Ten students each year will conduct research related to mechanical engineering and material science. The goal is to determine and validate best practices that will help address gaps in URM students attending graduate school and change the culture at their institution. To address the well-documented gender- and race-gaps in engineering graduate school, this REU program focuses on the “leak” in the pipeline that occurs between undergraduate and graduate school.  The project will develop validated practices for reducing barriers for students, building on existing research in STEM inclusion, and lessons learned from prior summer research programs. Multiple mentors will be assigned to each student. This strategy will create an encouraging and professional environment. Interactive workshops for professional, technical, and social skills will help build lasting social and professional networks for the students as well as the mentors. The project will build the confidence, skills, and networks of diverse undergraduates and foster a more inclusive culture among faculty and REU students as they pursue graduate studies.    This is a three-year new proposal for an REU Site titled, ""REU Site: FIRE: Facilitating Inclusive Research Experiences in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science” at the University of Pittsburgh. Ten students each year will conduct research related to mechanical engineering and material science. Two complementary strategies will be applied to broaden representation in ME/MSE graduate school: 1) Build the confidence, skills, and networks of diverse undergraduates; 2) Foster a more inclusive culture among faculty and graduate students. The plan for the program is to recruit ten diverse undergraduate students per year through the REU and to pair these with an internally-funded cohort of students from the University of Pittsburgh. The program will also directly include faculty members, graduate students as technical mentors and undergraduate students as peer mentors, thus fostering change within a large segment of the department. The program will develop validated practices for reducing barriers for these students, building on existing research in STEM inclusion, and lessons learned from prior summer research programs. Multiple coordinated and trained mentors per student will create an encouraging and professional environment. Interactive workshops for professional, technical, and social skills will help build lasting social and professional networks for the students as well as the mentors. This work will further develop and disseminate validated best practices for addressing the undergraduate-to-graduate school pipeline “leaks” and, ultimately, increase the diversity in the pool of mechanical engineers and materials scientists with graduate degrees, for the purpose of fostering greater diversity of faculty in these programs.    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.",TRUE
2228135,Planning Grant: Collaborative Research: The WinG Collective: An initiative to support Women of Color in the Geosciences,2025-04-18,University of California - Merced,MERCED,CA,CA13,81304,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228135,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2228135_4900,2023-03-01,2025-08-31,953435001,FFM7VPAG8P92,"Climate change and environmental issues disproportionately impact low-income communities of color, who are poorly represented in the Geosciences and environmental fields. In particular, women of color (WOC) are currently the largest group in California and projected to become the largest demographic in the United States, yet are amongst the most poorly represented in the Geosciences. This combination of issues forms a crisis in social justice, contributes to rising inequality, and hinders creativity and innovation needed in the environmental and climate workforce. The project leaders will create the WinG Collective, a Women of Color in the Geosciences network that provides community, belonging, access, advocacy, and resources to overcome the obstacles to their success. Initially, the WinG Collective will focus on the University of California and survey the experiences of WOC in the Geosciences. Then, the principal investigators will design and implement a workshop to provide professional development and a supportive community for WOC in the Geosciences. Finally, they will summarize the findings and share with their campuses and science community while also strategizing how to expand nationally.    There are a multitude of studies that document the inadequacies of the current academic system for people of color and proposals targeted to improve retention of historically minoritized students. This planning project is a grassroots approach to discern issues specific to WOC in the Geosciences. The activities align and leverage existing programs; bolster mentoring and training; and explore radical change that promotes the long term success and health of WOC in the Geosciences. The WinG Collective will serve as an incubator for scientific research and collaborations while also championing agents of change with advancing leadership capacity, extending vertical and lateral networks, and guiding best practices for community engagement. The project leaders seek to advance WOC in the Geosciences with a holistic emphasis that includes scientific endeavors and a mentoring network that spans the vertical structure of academia and parallel systems within the University of California system, with potential for longer-term adaptation nationally. Lessons from this planning grant are ones that are relevant to support and advocacy of WOC in the Geosciences nationally.    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.",TRUE
2201929,Spatial Justice in Physics Teaching and Learning,2025-04-18,Seattle Pacific University,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,526070,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2201929,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2201929_4900,2022-09-01,2025-04-18,981191997,ZGJNCLDUKDR3,"This project will prepare scientists, mathematicians, engineers, and technicians who understand how to address the roles of race and racism in physics education. This project seeks to address racism in physics by building knowledge about the spatiality of injustice in physics teaching and learning environments – how racism gets inscribed in space, including the physical layout of the classroom, the policies and practices that shape instructional approaches and student-teacher interactions, and the ways students and faculty think about and are allowed to “take up” or inhabit space. Spatiality is an often-ignored dimension in justice work, which more often attends to historical and sociological dimensions. The spatiality of injustice focuses on how injustice can be embedded in space. The overall goal of this project is to support physics instructors, students, and researchers to build an awareness of how racism shapes physics teaching and learning spaces to transform how the discipline is taught in higher education.    The research team will partner with undergraduate students to conduct in-depth case studies of physics classrooms, bringing existing methods to the study of STEM spaces and developing new methodological tools that can be applied to other STEM disciplines. The project will analyze video from physics classrooms, interviews with physics students, and other artifacts to identify how and to what extent issues of race arise in physics classrooms and how space is experienced and negotiated by physics students. The project will produce design principles for more racially and spatially just physics teaching and learning, methodological tools that can be used by STEM researchers, artistic renderings of reimagined learning spaces (counter-maps), reflections on anti-racist practices and authentic participant research, and publications and presentations that share project insights.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EHR Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Funds for EHR Racial Equity are pooled from programs across EHR in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2315148,Investigating and Fostering STEM Entrepreneurship Among Racially Minoritized Undergraduate Students,2025-04-18,Johns Hopkins University,BALTIMORE,MD,MD07,1502338,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,Hist Black Colleges and Univ,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315148,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315148_4900,2023-10-01,2028-09-30,212182608,FTMTDMBR29C7,"Racially minoritized (RM) entrepreneurs face significant challenges due to various factors, such as limited access to entrepreneurship education, a lack of capital sources, and discriminatory social networks. This project aims to investigate entrepreneurship among both RM and non-RM students, while also implementing interventions to address these issues. The project will use comprehensive survey and focus groups to explore RM and non-RM students’ motivations, attitudes, practices, behaviors, and prior experience in STEM entrepreneurship. The project will use the findings from this study to provide tailored training, workshops, and coaching in entrepreneurship to address the specific challenges faced by marginalized groups. Given that STEM fields are crucial to the future of the US and its economy, diversifying STEM is essential for fostering innovation. This project holds direct public interest, as it seeks to ensure equitable access to the rewards of successful entrepreneurship, thereby improving innovation and creativity of the STEM ecosystem.     The theoretical framework guiding this project is the Equity Ethic (McGee, 2020). The survey will be conducted in year 1 of the project. Other activities in the program include summer virtual training, three-day in-person summits consisting of patent workshops and additional in-depth patent coaching for select participants. Additionally, in the fifth year, business coaches will be assigned to aid potential entrepreneurs with business incorporation. The ultimate objective is to train the next generation of RM business owners and facilitate their integration into the STEM ecosystem. The intended outcomes for the target audience encompass several goals: establishing limited liability companies (LLCs), increasing the retention rate of racially minoritized (RM) groups in STEM fields, generating financial prosperity through business ownership, promoting STEM innovation that challenges systemic racism, developing an entrepreneurship curriculum tailored for RM individuals, and augmenting the pool of RM STEM entrepreneurs who actively contribute to a more equitable STEM ecosystem.    This project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2302773,Collaborative Research: Developing and Researching K-12 Teacher Leaders Enacting Anti-bias Mathematics Education,2025-04-18,University of Texas at Austin,AUSTIN,TX,TX25,585290,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2302773,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2302773_4900,2023-01-01,2025-04-18,787121139,V6AFQPN18437,"There is increased recognition that engaging all students in learning mathematics requires an explicit focus on anti-bias mathematics teaching. Teachers, even with positive intentions, have biases, causing them to treat students differently and impacting how they distribute students’ opportunities to learn in K-12 mathematics classrooms. Research is needed to examine models of mathematics teacher professional development that explicitly addresses bias reduction. The goal of this project is to study the design and development of community-centered, job-embedded professional development for classroom teachers that supports bias reduction. The project team will partner with three school districts serving racially, ethnically, linguistically, and socio-economically diverse communities, for a two-year professional development program. The aim is to reduce bias through: analyzing and designing mathematics teaching with colleagues, students, and families to create classrooms and schools based on community-centered mathematics; engaging in anti-bias teaching routines; and building relationships with parents, caretakers, and community members. The project team will study teacher leader professional development, including the professional development model, framework, and tools, along with what teacher leaders across district contexts and grade-levels take up and use in their instructional practice.  This will potentially have wider implications for supporting more equitable mathematics teaching and leadership. Project activities, resources, and tools will be shared with the broader community of mathematics educators and researchers for use in other contexts.     The goal of this two-phase, design based research project is to iteratively design and research teacher leaders’ (TLs) participation in community-centered, job-embedded professional development and investigate their subsequent impact on classrooms, schools, and districts. The project builds on the existing Math Studio professional development model to create a Community Centered Math Studio, integrating the Anti-bias Mathematics Education Framework into the work. The project seeks to understand how the professional development model supports the development of teacher leaders' knowledge, dispositions, and practices for teaching and leading anti-bias mathematics education, and how teachers' subsequent classroom practice can cultivate students' mathematical engagement, discourse, and interests. The project will measure aspects of teacher knowledge and classroom practice by integrating existing classroom observation rubrics and STEM interest surveys to assess the impact on teacher classroom practice and student outcomes. The project will engage 12 TLs and approximately 60 additional teachers working with those TLs in two years of professional development using the Community Centered Math Studio Model to support anti-bias mathematics teaching. Data will be collected for all teachers related to their participation in the professional learning, with six teachers being followed for additional data collection and in-depth case studies. The project's outcomes will contribute to theories of how TLs build adaptive expertise for teaching and leading to reduce bias in classrooms, departments, schools, and districts. In addition, the project will contribute new and adapted research instruments on anti-bias teaching and leading. The research outcomes will add to the growing research base that describes the nature of equitable mathematics teaching in K-12 classrooms and increases access to meaningful mathematics for students, teachers, and communities.    The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2334955,Collaborative Research: IMPLEMENTATION: Broadening participation of marginalized individuals to transform SABER and biology education,2025-04-18,Florida International University,MIAMI,FL,FL26,143926,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,LEAPS-Leading Cultural Change,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334955,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334955_4900,2024-03-01,2029-02-28,331992516,Q3KCVK5S9CP1,"Professional societies play an important role in providing a platform for sharing research findings and networking. However, most professional societies grapple with issues related to lack of representation and inclusion of members of demographic groups that have historically been underrepresented in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and career paths. One among these professional societies includes the Society for the Advancement in Biology Education Research (SABER), a leading premier international society with a primary focus on undergraduate biology education research. Scholarship related to this organization impacts every undergraduate biology learning environment. Additionally, members of this organization are also members of other professional societies, which makes SABER a critical lever for advancing systemic changes related to diversity, equity, and inclusion across various biology sub-fields and thus, helping to exert a larger impact on undergraduate biology education.     SABER since its inception and as exemplified by a self-study in 2019, has struggled with issues of diversity and representation at every level of its organizational structure, including key leadership positions. This aspect directly impacts the culture and climate of this society which ultimately affects the implementation of diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts related to undergraduate biology education. Despite significant changes in its organizational structure, a concerted effort is needed to institute a permanent change related to equity and inclusion. This project aims to enact sustainable change by including diverse perspectives and voices to fundamentally change the culture of the organization and implement initiatives that promote an environment to enable cultural change. The goals of this project are as follows: (1) broadly and systematically advertise and recruit for SABER to broaden its reach to organizations, institutions, and individuals who are not currently aware of SABER, (2) offer travel support for individuals that are members of groups typically underrepresented in biology or who work at historically black colleges and universities and other minority serving institutions to attend the national meeting, (3) offer mentorship related to inclusion to individuals in leadership positions at SABER, and (4) develop networking, mentoring, and leadership opportunities to sustain the involvement of diverse members within SABER. We posit that increasing the number and including the perspectives of underrepresented scientists within SABER will enable a shift in the culture of this society to help advance inclusion by (1) creating welcoming spaces that foster an enhanced sense of belonging and professional growth of diverse individuals, (2) creating a supportive environment for members by developing and empowering environmental stewards within the SABER leadership and by offering them travel support and mentoring activities, and (3) introducing structural changes that will ultimately affect the culture and climate of SABER as an organization to create pathways that diversify the society’s leadership for diverse individuals. Finally, as members of SABER are members of other sub-fields of biology, these efforts will directly impact other professional societies in their efforts to becoming inclusive.    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.",TRUE
2309307,Collaborative Research: Evaluating Access: How a Multi-Institutional Network Promotes Equity and Cultural Change through Expanding Student Voice,2025-04-18,Rochester Institute of Tech,ROCHESTER,NY,NY25,195917,Continuing Grant,MPS,Mathematical and Physical Sciences,Physics,Integrative Activities in Phys,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2309307,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2309307_4900,2024-02-01,2027-01-31,146235603,J6TWTRKC1X14,"Addressing the critical issue of representation and equity in the physical sciences requires meaningful cultural change. The Access Network, founded in 2015, directly addresses this national priority by connecting institutions with student-led, equity-oriented programs to share and disseminate research-based strategies and provide support for overcoming common barriers. Through mentored intersite student cohorts and an annual Assembly, Access fosters community, develops student leaders, reinforces institutional memory, and provides a national context, all important factors for sustainability and scalability. At the Network’s core is a unique philosophy that recognizes and elevates students as drivers of change, recognizing them as powerful members of the STEM community and the future leaders of physics.  An innovative evaluation partnership among external evaluators, educational research faculty within the network, and internal student evaluation fellows will document the network’s impacts on student leaders, local sites and individual departments. These activities combine a student-driven, community-based approach with the expertise of external evaluators, resulting in a more complete picture of the model.    This work will directly support students in the Network, at individual institutions, and beyond by: (i) continuously improving Network activities that support the professional development and retention of junior scientists from diverse backgrounds, (ii) cultivating new student leaders, and (iii) growing a repository of materials and best practices that will increase the efficacy of local sites. It will advance knowledge of equity-focused change in the physical sciences and develop infrastructure for robust evaluation to document, understand, and promote Network aspects crucial to success. The novel evaluation partnership proposed among external evaluators, internal evaluation mentors, and student evaluation advance the conception of participatory evaluation and sets a model for programmatic evaluation. More effectively supporting sites in local evaluation enables their sustainability, as they can better understand and communicate their impacts to local stakeholders. Insights from evaluation activities not only result in a more complete picture of the Access Network model, informing improvements to the network, but also benefit others wishing to enact equity-focused cultural change in STEM. The knowledge about effective programs will be especially helpful for those enacting shared leadership models, expanding the critical role students can play in transforming communities.    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.",TRUE
2204380,ADVANCE Partnership: Advancing Gender Equity in Computing and Engineering Academic Professions through Multi-Organization Collaboration,2025-04-18,University of Colorado at Boulder,Boulder,CO,CO02,1249271,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2204380,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2204380_4900,2022-08-15,2025-04-18,803090001,SPVKK1RC2MZ3,"The project team seeks to significantly advance organizational change for gender equity in STEM, particularly in computing and engineering academic professions. Recent data indicates that 26% of tenured faculty in STEM are women, which dwindles further when specifically looking at engineering and computing faculty (17%). For this project, the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) will partner with the Women in Engineering ProActive Network (WEPAN) and the Aspire Alliance to address the systemic barriers women face in computing and engineering academic workplaces. This project seeks to leverage collective impact practices and directly enhance the experiences and career opportunities of intersectionally diverse women in computing and engineering academic workplaces nationally. The approach is by unifying organizations that collaboratively provide resources to address systemic and structural change and targeting policies, practices, and norms in computing and engineering academic workplaces. The project aims to raise awareness, and increase the adoption of effective, research-based diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) change efforts among higher education administrators, faculty, and staff, who then become institutional change leaders. The project team plans to adapt evidence-based resources and programs to better—and more comprehensively—address systemic issues related to recruiting and retaining intersectionally diverse women in computing and engineering workplaces at multiple institutional levels (institution, college, department, program).    The primary goal of this project is to lay the foundation for the creation and widespread utilization of a first-of-its-kind, scalable software decision support platform specifically designed to empower computing and engineering departments to implement systemic, sustainable approaches to creating inclusive cultures in the academic workplace. Working together, the partner organizations seek to 1) integrate their evidence-based resource collections; 2) curate these resources into sub-collections aligned with the NCWIT Academic Workplace Systemic Change Model; 3) build out and scale an easy-to-use online platform, which embeds the curated resource sub-collections, to guide computing and engineering departments through the process of developing strategic and intersectional approaches for addressing systemic barriers to creating inclusive cultures; and 4) deploy a guided, community-based professional development and strategic planning experience for computing and engineering departments. The project and collaborative infrastructure plans are based on established theories of organizational change and relevant research. The project team seeks to utilize insights generated through targeted focus groups and a community-based professional development program to enable the creation and refinement of contextually relevant, easily adopted resources that can be shared on a national scale. Sound quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods will be utilized throughout the project.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence-based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.    The NSF ADVANCE program is designed to foster gender equity through a focus on the identification and elimination of organizational barriers that impede the full participation and advancement of diverse faculty in academic institutions.  Organizational barriers that inhibit equity may exist in policies, processes, practices, and the organizational culture and climate.  ADVANCE ""Partnership"" awards provide support for projects that scale-up evidence based systemic change strategies to enhance gender equity for STEM faculty regionally or nationally.    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.",TRUE
2241070,"Collaborative Research: SaTC: CORE: Small: Targeting Challenges in Computational Disinformation Research to Enhance Attribution, Detection, and Explanation",2025-04-18,Syracuse University,SYRACUSE,NY,NY22,220000,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2241070,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2241070_4900,2023-03-01,2025-04-18,13244,C4BXLBC11LC6,"The use of social media has accelerated information sharing and instantaneous communications. The low barrier to entering social media enables more users to participate and keeps them engaged longer, incentivizing individuals with a hidden agenda to spread disinformation online to manipulate information and sway opinion. Disinformation, such as fake news, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories, has increasingly become a hindrance to the functioning of online social media as an effective channel for trustworthy information. Cases are emerging where deliberately fabricated disinformation is weaponized to divide people and create detrimental societal effects. Therefore, it is imperative to understand disinformation and systematically investigate how to improve resistance against it, considering the tension between the need for information and security and protection from disinformation. The project aims to study the scientific underpinnings of disinformation and develop a computational framework to attribute, detect, and explain disinformation to inform policymaking.     The project involves fundamentally transforming the process to combat disinformation by developing new knowledge and a systematic computational framework to address major (provenance, data, and explanaibility) challenges of detecting online disinformation.  The techniques developed combine interdisciplinary theories and computational algorithms to help policymakers and social media users address disinformation. The project outcomes help advance state-of-the-art research on disinformation and introduce style-based and graph-based optimization methods that can determine the source of disinformation and its characteristics, disinformation detection methods requiring minimal data or supervision by harnessing multimodal data and high-level social context relations, and interpretable detection techniques that rely on well-established psychological and cognitive theories, and enable human interactions to enhance detection and explanation. More broadly, the project contributes to data mining, machine learning, graph mining, and text mining research as well social science research in communication and journalism on credibility, transparency, and disinformation mitigation.    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.",FALSE
2150922,"Developing Digitally-rich Urban Teacher Leaders: Fostering and Sustaining a STEM Culture of Belonging, Access, Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion",2025-04-18,University of Rochester,ROCHESTER,NY,NY25,2047099,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,Robert Noyce Scholarship Pgm,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2150922,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2150922_4900,2022-10-01,2027-09-30,146113847,F27KDXZMF9Y8,"The project aims to serve the national need of developing highly effective STEM teacher leaders, referred to a Master Teaching Fellows, prepared to be agents of change around issues of belonging, access, justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in STEM teaching and learning. The disruptions in school operations experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic have made even more visible serious inequities that exist in K-12 schools, and even more so in schools serving high-need students – calling for action to address these issues. The proposed project addresses these issues by first expanding the knowledge and skills in inclusive teaching practices of participating experienced and exemplary STEM teachers. This is accomplished through graduate coursework and content-focused coaching from professional mentors. To further broaden impact, the project supports the development of participating teachers’ skills and dispositions as teacher leaders and supports them in enacting their leadership.  Their leadership is intended to assist other STEM teachers in creating safe, inclusive, and culturally responsive STEM learning environments. Coursework and mentored leadership experiences will help teachers develop these skills. Through this project, participating teachers are prepared to leverage digitally-rich resources into their teaching and to posses increased expectations in STEM for all students regardless of identity markers, including race, gender, sexual orientation, language, ability, and economic background. Through an action research project, participating teachers become more reflective practitioners and identify opportunities for self-improvement that will impact student learning.    This project in the Warner School of Education & Human Development at the University of Rochester includes partnerships with the Rochester City School District, Elmira City School District, Jamestown City School District, and the Rochester Museum & Science Center. The project aims to recruit a cadre of 19 grade 7-12 exemplary and experienced mathematics and science teachers from across the three partner districts in Western New York for a five-year program leading to an MS in Inclusion and Special Education, along with advanced certificates in Teacher Leadership, Urban Teaching & Leadership, and Digitally-Rich Teaching and Learning in K-12 Schools. Fellows selected to the program are engaged in a continuous leadership seminar series to further develop their leadership skills and mentored in implementing a change project in their home district. Fellows also receive focused mentoring on coaching and professional learning. The external evaluation is designed to examine in what ways the project develops participating teachers’ digitally-rich teaching practices, culturally sustaining pedagogical practices, and teacher leadership practices. This Track 3: Master Teaching Fellowships project is supported through the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program (Noyce). The Noyce program supports talented STEM undergraduate majors and professionals to become effective K-12 STEM teachers and experienced, exemplary K-12 teachers to become STEM master teachers in high-need school districts. It also supports research on the effectiveness and retention of K-12 STEM teachers in high-need school districts.    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.",TRUE
2318247,Social and Political Dynamics of Lab-Community Relations,2025-04-18,SUNY at Stony Brook,STONY BROOK,NY,NY01,263266,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Social and Economic Sciences,Science & Technology Studies,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2318247,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2318247_4900,2023-08-01,2025-09-30,117940001,M746VC6XMNH9,"This project aims to enhance the effectiveness of national scientific facilities. Such facilities are essential to implement national scientific, technological, medical, and educational ambitions. But their effectiveness can sometimes be compromised by frictions with surrounding communities, particularly if the facilities are engaged in research that can be perceived as potentially threatening, such as if they handle chemical, radiological, or biological hazards. Occasionally these frictions erupt into major conflicts that negatively impact the facilities or communities; sometimes, for instance, important and safely operating facilities have been terminated by politicians or administrators when the facilities have failed to address community concerns in a satisfactory way. Such frictions cannot be attributed to lack of scientific literacy or to political and other agendas; these frictions are generally due to the fact that individuals inside and outside the scientific facility rely on different sets of voices as expert, authoritative, and trustworthy. In an age of Big Science, understanding the dynamics of lab-community interaction is crucial to advancing national, scientific, and public interests.

This project identifies, collects, and evaluates information about the key voices regarded as authoritative by different communities around each facility. It includes interviews with stakeholders, collecting media coverage, and attending community meetings.  The aim is to build a “map” of what might be called the “acoustical landscape” around various scientific facilities – which voices are considered authoritative by which groups – and to study the dynamics of lab-community relations by comparing the maps.  The general scientific value of this project is that it may change conceptions of what it means to plan, construct, operate, and even be a large scientific facility. It may change notions of Big Science and its impact, of how expertise circulates within and among various groups, and the training of scientists intending to work in Big Science facilities.",TRUE
2334206,Collaborative Research: Travel: Geosciences United - A joint Technical Conference of the National Association of Black Geoscientists and the American Geophysical Union,2025-04-18,University of Arkansas,FAYETTEVILLE,AR,AR03,71250,Standard Grant,GEO,Geosciences,Ocean Sciences,S&CC: Smart & Connected Commun,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2334206,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2334206_4900,2023-09-01,2025-08-31,727013124,MECEHTM8DB17,"The National Association of Black Geoscientists (NABG) and the American Geophysical Union (AGU) will host a joint student-centered conference. The two organizations will host a technical conference with the theme “Geosciences United: Collaborating for a Sustainable and Equitable Future at the 42nd NABG Annual Technical Conference”. Requested support will defray registration, travel and subsistence expenses of approximately forty student participants. The conference will be held at the AGU headquarters in Washington D.C. on 27-30 September 2023 as a hybrid event (in-person and virtual). The PIs expect that this conference will attract attendees representing many of the federal agencies because of its central location at AGU headquarters in Washington, DC. In addition, the PIs will actively recruit a national cadre of students from minority serving institutions (MSIs) and other institutions who are majoring in geoscience disciplines representing atmospheric sciences, geoscience, marine sciences, and environmental sciences. Students will present research and participate in other activities of the conference. The objective is to expand the disciplinary representation of NABG to include more students from MSIs interested in the broader disciplines of Geosciences and to build new relationships to unite geosciences disciplines.    During the past year, land-falling hurricanes and extreme drought/extreme flooding, and wildfires directly impacted the U.S. Thus, the relevance of atmospheric and environmental sciences to NABG members and their employers presents obvious opportunities to broaden the disciplinary areas of NABG while also engaging a broader audience of scholars and students in these disciplines. This meeting builds on successful efforts to improve the diversity of the geoscience workforce since 2009 and serves as an opportunity for academic institutions, government agencies, and the energy/environmental industry to recruit students from underrepresented groups to STEM disciplines and employment in the national geosciences workforce.    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.",TRUE
2301115,Collaborative Research: Examining the Longitudinal Development of Pre-Service Elementary Teachers’ Equitable Noticing of Children’s Mathematical Thinking,2025-04-18,University of Texas at San Antonio,SAN ANTONIO,TX,TX20,158787,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2301115,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2301115_4900,2023-08-15,2027-07-31,782491644,U44ZMVYU52U6,"Preparing teachers to create equitable mathematics classrooms is an ongoing challenge for teacher education. This begins with helping teachers focus on children's strengths and identities as mathematics learners. Then, teachers need to be able to respond to children's experiences, knowledge, and mathematical reasoning when planning and teaching. This is particularly important for groups that have been historically marginalized in mathematics (e.g., Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian American Pacific Islander). Teachers also need to consider how they can create change in their schools and districts for equitable mathematics teaching and learning. There is a need for resources for teacher education programs to help pre-service teachers learn about equitable mathematics approaches to teaching and learning. The project will also develop modules, resources, and tools for exploring how teachers' understanding of equity changes from their last year of the preparation program into their first year of teaching. The tools and resources can be shared with other teacher education programs.     The project builds upon prior research about the use and development of micromodules to help preservice teachers develop positive attitudes towards mathematics, practice equitable noticing of mathematics and understand the sociopolitical influences on teaching and learning. An important component of equitable noticing is helping teachers recognize how children's identities, language and mathematical reasoning are central to learning. The research questions examine how instructional experiences for preservice teachers influence their equitable professional noticing and how teaching practices continue once they are first-year teachers. The longitudinal study uses an embedded mixed methods approach that collects data in mathematics teaching methods courses, student teaching and the first year of teaching. The research will incorporate the following data sources: an assessment suite called Multiple Assessments for Noticing Equitably (MANE), a video-based think-aloud protocol, semi-structured interviews, and other artifacts of the teacher education experience.    This project is supported by NSF's EDU Core Research (ECR) Program and the Discovery Research preK-12 Program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The Discovery Research preK-12 program (DRK-12) seeks to significantly enhance the learning and teaching of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) by preK-12 students and teachers, through research and development of innovative resources, models, and tools. 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.    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.",TRUE
2228173,Implementation Grant: Implementing Novel Solutions for Promoting cultural change In geoscience Research and Education (INSPIRE),2025-04-18,Columbia University,NEW YORK,NY,NY13,5921936,Continuing Grant,GEO,Geosciences,"Research, Innovation, Synergies, and Education",GOLD-GEO Opps LeadersDiversity,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2228173,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2228173_4900,2022-11-01,2027-10-31,100277922,F4N1QNPB95M4,"Implementing Novel Solutions for Promoting Cultural Change In Geoscience Research & Education (INSPIRE) program delivers a multi-faceted solution for transforming culture, shifting power, and authentically engaging underserved communities within the transdisciplinary earth and environmental sciences. INSPIRE will mentor, train, and develop early-career researchers and professionals historically underrepresented in the geosciences. By strengthening relationships between research institutions and Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), INSPIRE will decolonize geoscience, prioritize engagement of communities through co-design of research programs, and promote the equitable sharing of geoscientific knowledge broadly across our nation. INSPIRE will foster a just, equitable, and inclusive geoscience research community that reflects the diversity of the nation and is rooted in multi-directional listening and knowledge transfer.    INSPIRE will focus on two cohort populations of future geoscience leaders at the transition points where they are often lost: 1) prior to graduate school; and, 2) prior to tenure. Bridge Scholars (post-baccalaureates) will be supported and trained through a climate-focused Bridge-to-PhD program that will include enrolling in graduate-level classes, participating in research, and launching an evidence-based self-affirmation component, the Armor Project. Visiting Fellows (early career faculty/researchers at MSIs) will gain skills and experience for developing community-focused geoscience research through their home institutions with collaborative support from - and partnerships with - Columbia University scientists. Reciprocal visits from Columbia hosts/mentors to the Visiting Fellow home institutions will be an integral part of their collaboration and will strengthen institutional partnerships. Participants from both cohorts will engage with communities in New York City to gain experience with community-focused co-design of geoscience research. The Columbia geoscience community, including its alumni, will participate in coordinated action of mentoring and support, and will offer networking opportunities to members of both cohorts. A Council of Cultural Advisors of scientists and scholars from MSIs and BIPOC leaders in STEM will provide guidance and feedback on program directions through communications and biannual meetings. Together with their mentors, host and collaborators, INSPIRE’s 14 Visiting Fellows and 16 Bridge Scholars will become agents of change who will propagate aspects of this novel research and education ecosystem into multiple institutions.     INSPIRE will deliver novel solutions for systemic change and cultural transformation long overdue in the geosciences. It will support and sustain Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA)-centered programs, and will create resources and opportunities for new programs to flourish. The envisioned cultural transformation will increase the creativity, equity, relevance, and impact of geoscience.    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.",TRUE
2146983,Collaborative Research: Using Causal Explanations and Computation to Understand Misplaced Beliefs,2025-04-18,Lehigh University,BETHLEHEM,PA,PA07,367047,Standard Grant,SBE,"""Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences""",Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences,"Decision, Risk & Mgmt Sci",https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2146983,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2146983_4900,2022-06-01,2026-05-31,180153008,E13MDBKHLDB5,"Causal explanations provide answers to why an event happened. Beliefs in causal explanations (for example, investing in new technologies will cause your available money for retirement to increase) guide which behaviors to engage in for the future (e.g., invest in crypto-currency). But people can – and often do – believe causal explanations of the world that are wrong. Understanding what in the nature of an incorrect causal explanation makes it believable is critically important for teaching people to reject incorrect explanations of events. In this work, the PIs investigate what makes incorrect causal explanations of events appealing to people and what encourages the adoption of these misplaced beliefs. Holding incorrect causal explanations can have critically damaging effects, such as people pursuing health treatments that are ineffective or investing in financial strategies that do not pay out. It is therefore important to better understand what makes incorrect causal explanations appealing so strategies can be deployed to counteract their adoption. In the work, the PIs conduct a series of studies to provide a strong understanding of what in the nature of a causal explanation makes it appealing. Across studies, the PIs explore many different causal elements of explanations. Using their results, the PIs then make a preliminary attempt to reduce endorsement of incorrect causal explanations. This research has a broader impact on science by involving students in research that has a strong translational component. Such research helps students connect science to the real-world, growing their interest in science and critical thinking at large. Additionally, the proposed work will have broader impacts on science literacy by isolating what in scientific explanations may make them more or less likely to be believed.     The PIs use psychological methods from the causal explanation literature to study perceptions of a wide range of misplaced and incorrect causal explanations. These methods include having people read explanations and rate how compelling, satisfying, and believable the explanations are. In addition, participants in these studies make judgments about the causal structure of the explanations, such as how many causal factors the explanations include, how complex the explanations are, and how many events the explanations can explain. The PIs use large samples of online participants to ensure that people with many different beliefs are being included in the studies. In each study, the PIs have participants rate incorrect causal explanations (e.g., “eating sugar is the main cause of type 2 diabetes”) as well as fact-based causal explanations of the same events (e.g., “type 2 diabetes has multiple causes, including being overweight and having a genetic predisposition”). This comparison allows for isolation of what is unique about misplaced explanations. Using machine learning, the researchers investigate the degree to which there are characteristic structures of factual and misinformation explanations, beyond how they are perceived (e.g., the complexity of causal structure), which may allow for more automatic differentiation between these explanation types. Finally, the PIs use their findings to create a set of behavioral studies where they alter how explanations are presented to explore the degree to which presentation impacts endorsement of the explanations. Specifically, the PIs create new causal explanations that manipulate the causal elements that were most predictive of endorsement for incorrect causal beliefs in earlier experiments (e.g., complexity, number of causal factors). The goal is to see if by changing these important causal elements, endorsement of incorrect beliefs can be reduced. Through these studies we can learn more generally how to prevent the uptake of incorrect information in favor of fact-based explanations.    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.",FALSE
2239194,CAREER: Socio-Algorithmic Foundations of Trustworthy Recommendations,2025-04-18,"University of Maryland, College Park",COLLEGE PARK,MD,MD04,429788,Continuing Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Computer and Network Systems,Special Projects - CNS,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2239194,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2239194_4900,2023-02-01,2028-01-31,207425100,NPU8ULVAAS23,"Social media are now the main source of news for the majority of Americans and for billions of people worldwide. The recommendation algorithms employed by these platforms are designed to maximize views and clicks by finding engaging content, which in turn often ends up amplifying stories from dubious news sources, conspiracy theories, and unverified rumors. Older adults are a demographic increasingly turning to social media as a way to stay informed and are especially vulnerable to online misinformation.    This situation is especially concerning for partisan news consumers, who have a tendency to engage with information that conforms to their beliefs, regardless of its accuracy. The objective of this research is to build a simulated social media platform that will allow researchers to test more robust news recommendation algorithms designed to improve the news consumption of social media users while recommending content that is still relevant to them. The project will include studies of how older adults engage with the news on major social media platforms and whether alternative algorithms would improve the quality of their news consumption.     This project is based on the observation that ranking the news by (either predicted or achieved) popularity creates a self-sustaining cycle that prioritizes pro-attitudinal information regardless of its quality. To break this loop, the project tests the hypothesis that prioritizing content that generates engagement in diverse audiences will improve the trustworthiness of recommendations. The project will explore the relevant dimensions under which the heterogeneity of an audience provides a good signal for news quality. The technical contributions will include a set of new regularization techniques to incorporate audience diversity of news sources into content recommendation methods, a quantitative evaluation of the effect of different re-ranking methods on the quality of the information diet of news consumers, especially older consumers, and a new experimental methodology on counterfactual ranking with high ecological validity.    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.",FALSE
2236163,"Increasing the Effectiveness of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion-Focused Institutional Change Teams through a Community of Transformation",2025-04-18,University of New Mexico,ALBUQUERQUE,NM,NM01,609429,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Undergraduate Education,IUSE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2236163,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2236163_4900,2023-04-01,2025-04-18,871310001,F6XLTRUQJEN4,"This project aims to serve the national interest by increasing the effectiveness of organizational change efforts, so that university science and engineering programs are able to attract and retain students and faculty from diverse and minoritized communities, contributing to a more innovative and representative workforce. Change efforts in higher education are challenging, in part because faculty have not received training in organizational change, and in part because effective change needs involvement from diverse stakeholders beyond the professoriate. As a consequence, institutions may continue to use policies and practices that do not effectively address gaps in participation, such as for students of color, women, and people with disabilities. Previous research on organizational change in higher education highlights the importance of social relationships for equipping faculty and other stakeholders to make significant changes to their beliefs and practices. In that vein this project will create a cross-institutional Community of Transformation (CoT) to support university change agents who are working to make changes focused on justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (JEDI) in their own departments and institutions. This approach is a particularly good match for JEDI-centered organizational change, which requires not only individual adoption of new practices, but also transformation of institutional structures and practices. Through an innovative approach to community building and storycrafting, the project intends to help CoT members make significant JEDI-centered institutional change efforts, learn from one another’s experiences, and learn effective change strategies towards a more just future. This work aims to advance understanding of how CoTs can help JEDI-oriented institutional change efforts thrive.    This project plans to convene a cross-institutional CoT of JEDI change agents in engineering. Through both virtual and in-person events, participants will increase their resilience and skills in enacting change at their institutions, build community and co-support for each other as change agents, and increase their individual and collective agency to create organizational change. This project hopes to provide key insights into improving faculty’s change agency by integrating professional development into the CoT, fostering relationships through which members will learn from each other, and evaluating how a cross-institutional CoT can improve change agents’ capacity to improve their own departmental and institutional systems to broaden participation in STEM and advance JEDI outcomes. These key insights will be developed through research on the CoT participants and their efforts to promote change. The research team will use narrative and discourse methods to analyze CoT activities and surveys, interviews, and focus groups with CoT members. The NSF IUSE: EDU Program supports research and development projects to improve the effectiveness of STEM education for all students. Through its Institutional and Community Transformation track, the program supports efforts to transform and improve STEM education across institutions of higher education and disciplinary communities.    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.",TRUE
2329420,WORKSHOP: WiGRAPH - Women in Graphics Research 2023,2025-04-18,University of Washington,SEATTLE,WA,WA07,44360,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2329420,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2329420_4900,2023-07-15,2025-04-18,981951016,HD1WMN6945W6,"WiGRAPH is an ACM SIGGRAPH Community Group that aims to broaden the network of women researchers in Computer Graphics.  Its mission is to increase the number of women pursuing cutting-edge research in the field by creating supportive environments where women researchers can interact with each other and seek role models, mentorship, and encouragement.  WiGRAPH offers a range of opportunities, including research panels, networking spaces, and an online article series that highlights the journeys and accomplishments of inspiring women researchers.  The Rising Stars program is a series of workshops designed to empower women who are finishing their PhD and about to enter the job market, providing them with resources that can help them pursue research careers in the field and achieve their goals, thereby creating a more inclusive and diverse research community that can drive innovation and progress in the field.    The program is designed to empower and inspire young women in Computer Graphics research.  Through a series of workshops and panels, it provides practical advice on how to pick research topics, pursue research questions, and navigate the industry/academic markets. This is particularly important for women researchers, especially those from underrepresented groups, who face unique challenges and obstacles in their careers. The program includes a range of workshops covering topics such as networking, negotiation, and career development, all of which are relevant to women researchers.  Participants also have the opportunity to network with each other and build relationships with potential mentors and sponsors, creating a supportive community that can help women researchers thrive.  Overall, the program provides women researchers with the tools they need to succeed, whether in industry or academia.    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.",TRUE
2225095,BCSER: Examining inclusive science communication education as a tool to empower historically disadvantaged STEM students,2025-04-18,Colorado State University,FORT COLLINS,CO,CO02,346658,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Equity for Excellence in STEM,ECR:BCSER Capcity STEM Ed Rscr,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225095,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2225095_4900,2022-12-15,2025-04-18,805212807,LT9CXX8L19G1,"Broadening participation in STEM is critical on many levels, from the equity perspective of removing barriers for success for people from historically excluded groups and from the perspective of increasing knowledge in the field of STEM. Both people and scientific endeavors benefit from increasing inclusion. However, evidence indicates that students who experience marginalization due to their socioeconomic status, first generation college attendance, or race and ethnicity are underrepresented in STEM and face challenges for retention and career success in STEM. Various mechanisms have been explored to help retain diverse students in STEM, including active learning in the classroom and faculty mentoring programs. Such mechanisms are necessary but insufficient for overcoming barriers to full participation of students from groups that are marginalized in STEM. This project aims to examine how training in inclusive science communication may be a tool that empowers students to grow in factors like science identity and self-efficacy, which are correlated with increased STEM retention. This project is novel and significant in that it capitalizes on the interdisciplinary topic of science communication as an additional mechanism for engaging students in STEM. Inclusive science communication explicitly centers inclusion, equity, and intersectionality. Helping students to see inclusive science communication as a tool to solve societal problems and to recognize themselves as having valuable perspectives to contribute to science may help students have the desire and confidence to continue in STEM. Additionally, science communication is a competency that will prepare students for diverse jobs in STEM and STEM-adjacent fields.    This project has two goals. First, the researchers aim to develop and implement inclusive science communication trainings scaffolded throughout the four-year curriculum for students in bioscience and engineering programs. This wide scope will enable many students to benefit from the inclusive science communication training. The researchers will analyze how these trainings improve student factors like science identity that are correlated with STEM retention. Second, the researchers plan to pair more experienced students with first year students to co-construct science communication deliverables. This will provide near-peer mentoring opportunities for the students as well as facilitate practical application of inclusive science communication trainings. The researchers will evaluate how this mentorship and application programming affects science attitude, science communication skills, and career aspirations of both groups of students. Through both of these project components, researchers will be able to assess how inclusive science communication trainings, whether in the classroom or in smaller group application activities, impact different groups of students and supports student success in STEM.    The project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research Building Capacity in STEM Education Research (ECR: BCSER) program, which is designed to build investigators’ capacity to carry out high-quality STEM education research.    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.",TRUE
2411129,"Community-Situated Data Practices in Multiethnic, Youth-Led Research Partnerships",2025-04-18,Michigan State University,EAST LANSING,MI,MI07,1736866,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,Discovery Research K-12,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2411129,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2411129_4900,2024-09-15,2029-08-31,488242600,R28EKN92ZTZ9,"Broadening STEM research and education to include the cultural epistemologies (i.e., perspectives that guide how one sees the world) of racially, ethnically, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse communities prompts a wider range of approaches and more imaginative responses to societal challenges. This project supports multiethnic youth in expanding epistemologies, methodologies, and evidence-based practices by developing and cultivating Critical, Community-situated Data Practices (CCDPs). These practices will support how diverse youth collect, analyze, represent, and communicate data within and about their communities. This work contributes to the emerging literature in data science, and it has implications for how diverse students participate in and contribute to the field. The project will foster youth agency and future interests in doing research in about data science.      The research team is guided by the research questions: 1) What happens when multiethnic and immigrant youth enact CCDPs alongside adult collaborators while they engage in youth participatory action research (YPAR) projects about issues of importance to them?; 2) How might the centering of youth participants’ epistemologies and attending to relationality and discourses of adultism within CCDPs help to conceptualize frameworks and design methodological approaches and practices more appropriate to YPAR collaborations than typical academic practices used in academia?; and 3) How does networking with youth and adult collaborators in additional YPAR contexts inform the researchers’ understandings of how to leverage youths’ CCDPs in their own YPAR projects and in other contexts? The team will conduct a multi-year qualitative research study with diverse youth across two research sites to explore how youth enact CCDPs as they design YPAR projects related to their lived experiences. Additionally, the team will also create a network of YPAR groups that will convene to discuss and get critical feedback about the theory- and evidenced-based frameworks, educative case studies, and guiding principles they collaboratively design as part of the multi-year research study.    This project is funded by the EDU Racial Equity in STEM Education activity, which is supported by the Directorate for STEM Education (EDU). This activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",FALSE
2224674,Collaborative Research: Engaging Marginalized Groups to Improve Technological Equity,2025-04-18,George Mason University,FAIRFAX,VA,VA11,439380,Continuing Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings,ECR-EDU Core Research,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2224674,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2224674_4900,2023-06-15,2028-05-31,220304422,EADLFP7Z72E5,"This collaborative project investigates the lack of diverse, representative datasets and insights in the development and use of technology. It explore the effects of disparities on the ability of technologists (e.g., practitioners, designers, software developers) to develop technology that addresses and mitigates systemic societal racism and historically marginalized individuals’ ability to feel seen and heard in the technology with which they engage. The implications of this project are threefold: 1) it supports building relationships between technologists and technology users by understanding the values that most impact historically marginalized communities’ engagement and data contributions; 2) given access to more diverse data and insights, the project provides technologists with interventions that empower them to make use of these data and insights in practice; 3) lastly, the work provides support and affirmation for the technologists who are already making these explicit considerations in their work without the adequate support. More broadly, insights from this project can be applied in practice to promote racial equity and ensure systemic racism is an explicit consideration in STEM education and workforce development by incorporating more equitable practices in technologists’ workflow.    This study seeks to answer three main research questions: 1) What are the barriers to engaging and amplifying marginalized voices in technological spaces and data sets for both technologists and users? 2) How can marginalized groups be engage when designing and developing data-centric systems without sacrificing their safety, security, and trust? 3) What does it look like to provide interventions for engaging the margins to technologists without compromising the safe spaces for marginalized groups? Using a multi-modal approach, the project will examine how researchers and technologists can best learn to engage in data-centric research with marginalized communities in an ethically and socially responsible manner that centers the rights and values of the communities of interest. Culturally relevant approaches and grounding philosophies will drive the research methods and analyses. Through surveys, semi-structured interviews, design workshops utilizing a combination of participatory design and community-based approaches, as well as case study analysis to collect qualitative and quantitative data, the research team will develop an intervention that supports technologists in responsible engagement. Aside from real-world implementation, this project will share its findings through academic and community-facing venues, such as journal publications, conference presentations, op-eds, blogs, workshops, and social media.    This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education program (EDU Racial Equity). The program supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This program aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity program in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2315024,Collaborative Research: Overcoming Isolation and Scholarly Devaluation by Bolstering the Collective Agency of Black Discipline-Based Education Researchers,2025-04-18,Ohio State University,COLUMBUS,OH,OH03,378441,Standard Grant,EDU,STEM Education,Graduate Education,ADVANCE,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2315024,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2315024_4900,2023-09-15,2025-04-18,432101016,DLWBSLWAJWR1,"There is a growing need for scholars specializing in discipline-based education research (DBER) due to the importance of STEM in preparing the technical workforce and a science-literate citizenry. DBER is defined as a collection of related research fields (e.g., physics, biology, engineering, computer science) executing basic and applied research centered on education research questions anchored in the context of their specific field of study. The proposed project aims to advance understanding and mitigate the impact of systemic racism on the collective agency of Black scholars engaged in DBER focused on engineering and computer science. The project team conceptualizes systemic racism as the complex array of practices, policies, and systems of evaluation that contribute to the de facto segregation and scholarly devaluation of Black scholars. This combination of challenges presents obstacles for scholars working to maximize their potential impact as change agents within their disciplines. This project aims to examine how systemic racism restricts scholars' impact and shapes their individual and collective agency. The long-term goals of the project are to foster collaboration among STEM education researchers who are geographically dispersed across the country; build capacity for culturally-competent STEM education research and dissemination; enhance the visibility of the work done by Black scholars; and advocate for field-level changes to practices and policies that reinforce systemic racism.    The main goal of this project is to advance understanding of the impact systematic racism has on the individual and collective agency of Black scholars engaged in DBER. The research team will use an asset-based, trauma-informed, community-oriented approach. First, the project team will collect, compile, analyze, and visualize data about the population of Black DBER scholars. Second, the project will interview a cross-generational subset of late-, mid-, and early-career Black scholars about the workplace challenges encountered during their professional journey and the tactics used to overcome them. Finally, the project will scaffold new collaborations between discipline-based education researchers through workshops focused on forming and sustaining productive research collaborations. This project is designed to expand prior literature about discipline-based education research to include substantial considerations of race or racism. The research design guiding this study will leverage and foster authentic partnerships among Black scholars engaged in DBER. This study design may also serve as a model for subsequent studies on collective agency.     This collaborative project is funded through the Racial Equity in STEM Education activity (EDU Racial Equity). The activity supports research and practice projects that investigate how considerations of racial equity factor into the improvement of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce. Awarded projects seek to center the voices, knowledge, and experiences of the individuals, communities, and institutions most impacted by systemic inequities within the STEM enterprise. This activity aligns with NSF’s core value of supporting outstanding researchers and innovative thinkers from across the Nation's diversity of demographic groups, regions, and types of organizations. Programs across EDU contribute funds to the Racial Equity activity in recognition of the alignment of its projects with the collective research and development thrusts of the four divisions of the directorate.    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.",TRUE
2216826,Community of Neighboring and National Entrepreneurial Centers and Trainees (CONNECT) Network,2025-04-18,St. Catherine University,SAINT PAUL,MN,MN04,75000,Standard Grant,BIO,Biological Sciences,Biological Infrastructure,UBE - Undergraduate Biology Ed,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2216826,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2216826_4900,2022-09-01,2025-08-31,551051750,RQJ5KM1LQ935,"This project aims to serve the national interest by building a vibrant and diverse network of educators, innovators, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders to incorporate biosciences entrepreneurship into undergraduate biology curricula. There is a special focus on the inclusion of women and entrepreneurs of color, as these groups of professionals are still underrepresented in both input and outcomes of entrepreneurial activities in general and in the biosciences in particular, despite having reached parity in science and engineering bachelor’s degrees.     Through three project objectives, each with objective-specific activities, the CONNECT network creates its vibrant, inclusive community space where educators, students, and entrepreneurs of color collaborate, and share resources and best practices for incorporating the emerging field of biosciences entrepreneurship into undergraduate biology education. First the network will be established by offering multiple opportunities for in-person and virtual gatherings, such as CONNECTions (CONNECT - Innovation Online Networks), and cross-institutional and multidisciplinary journal clubs focused on bioscientific entrepreneurship. Second, a sharable database, and the foundation for a strong data-driven follow-up project, will be established by performing a survey-based needs assessment among the CONNECT participants. This will form the initial directive for the ideal future state of undergraduate biology education in relation to biosciences entrepreneurship. And thirdly, the project will host the first annual workshop called CONNECT-ED, which will allow the CONNECT participants to actively share data and insights. The incubator network will collaborate in future years to launch a biosciences entrepreneurship curriculum to fill this gap. By teaching undergraduate STEM students to see their ideas as innovations and giving them the tools to commercialize their ideas, we will not only train future biosciences entrepreneurs but also develop strategic thinkers. It is expected that students who think more strategically about their career paths will be more likely to ask critical questions, be comfortable with failures, iterations, and course-corrections, and more likely to persist in the STEM pipeline through their improved navigation skills. Until we can change the current macro-systems that disadvantage BIPOC women in STEM and devalue their innovations, we aim to build micro-systems and communities of practice that lift up and learn from these leaders.   This project is being jointly funded by the Directorate for Biological Sciences, Division of Biological Infrastructure, and the Directorate for Education and Human Resources, Division of Undergraduate Education as part of their efforts to address the challenges posed in Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action (http://visionandchange/finalreport/).    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.",TRUE
2210842,Collaborative Research: HCC: Designing Technologies for Marginalized Communities,2025-04-18,University of California-Irvine,IRVINE,CA,CA47,90626,Standard Grant,CISE,Computer and Information Science and Engineering,Information and Intelligent Systems,HCC-Human-Centered Computing,https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2210842,https://www.usaspending.gov/award/ASST_NON_2210842_4900,2022-10-01,2025-04-18,926970001,MJC5FCYQTPE6,"This award supports research that examines the experiences of marginalized community members who are going through significant life changes. It focuses on how augmented reality can address social and behavioral factors underlying such changes. The project designs, builds, and evaluates technologies to address these challenges by including marginalized community members as partners in each stage of the project. It is expected to improve society more broadly by increasing equity and inclusion in the public sphere by advancing (1) understanding of how technologies represent and distort individual identities; (2) the impact of these technologies on people’s physical, mental, and economic well-being; and (3) methods for and examples of technology designs that are more equitable and inclusive.  It also provides research training for underrepresented students. The results of this research will be of interest to policy makers, educators, and the general public.      This research increases scientific knowledge in Human-Computer Interaction and Social Computing about how technology can contribute to addressing challenges faced by people who are traditionally left out of design processes. The interdisciplinary team of researchers uses participatory design and qualitative research to study, build, and evaluate technologies to support marginalized communities. This research is expected to yield the following outcomes: 1) a comprehensive framework describing current gaps in technological innovation for people experiencing a significant life change; 2) design recommendations for how technology can address the needs and challenges of marginalized individuals; 3) innovative, human-centered augmented reality prototypes and techniques for supporting subcommunities in society; and 4) guidelines and heuristics for inclusive augmented reality. This is expected lead to potentially transformative theoretical and practical insights that extend Human-Computer Interaction research; it will do so by incorporating what we learn via technology designed with and for people who are not traditionally part of design processes.    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.",TRUE