NSF INCLUDES initiative invites proposals for Design and Development Launch Pilots, which are pilot projects that represent bold, innovative ways to solve broadening participation challenges in STEM. Each Launch Pilot will be funded for up to two years, for a maximum of $300,000. Successful pilots will deliver models or prototypes, including measurement/data infrastructures, enabling collective efforts aimed at increasing the active participation of those who have been traditionally underserved and underrepresented in particular STEM fields or across all fields of STEM.
Teams of organizations might come together locally, regionally, nationally, by disciplinary focus, or by other multisector categories. Key to a successful proposal will be the identification of a specific goal and measurable objectives, and an argument that the set of partners being assembled includes all who are needed to successfully address the objective. The plan must articulate its potential for expansion if funded as a NSF INCLUDES Alliance. (See Section V for more information about preparing NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot proposals.) Researchers and practitioners at minority serving institutions are strongly encouraged to participate in this activity given their experience and expertise in broadening participation.
These planning and start-up activities are aimed at engaging appropriate communities in testing the feasibility of developing and implementing a comprehensive plan and process for change, creating a support infrastructure involving shared measurement and technologies, and identifying other support mechanisms for sustaining the efforts. Early in the first year, the partners are expected to refine their collective commitment to a common set of objectives and plans to achieve them. No later than the second year, successful teams are expected to carry out and report on the results of projects to demonstrate their ability to implement a collective impact-style approach to address the selected broadening participation challenge. Successful Design & Development Launch Pilots are expected to share their goals and plans with one another, the broader community, and a NSF INCLUDES Backbone organization, enabling all to learn from their pilot project experiences. This effort will facilitate the formation of NSF INCLUDES Alliances.