NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Pathways into Geoscience (IUSE: GEOPATHS)

The following is a limited submission opportunity with only ONE proposal as a lead institution is allowed. If you are interested in this program please email Michelle Wonsey a single PDF by noon on August 31, 2018 with the following pre-proposal requirements:

1.      A two-page summary that must include your research/project:

a.      goals
b.      objectives
c.       methods, and
d.      a short statement of competitiveness (i.e., what you think will discriminate your proposal from the competition, including anything you have done to pre-position yourself/your team for this funding opportunity)

2.      A pro forma budget, including any cost-sharing and facilities requirements and how you plan to meet them; use template: https://www.umass.edu/research/form/pro-forma-budget-template

3.      A short-form CV for the PI and each senior staff person

4.      Current and Pending Support of PI’s

 

Program Description:

The IUSE: GEOPATHS funding opportunity invites creative proposals to broaden and strengthen the pathways that will engage and retain diverse students in undergraduate and graduate geoscience degree programs and help them receive the necessary skills and competencies for a variety of careers pathways. IUSE: GEOPATHS projects are expected to utilize effective, evidence-based strategies for improving student engagement and retention, and to expose students to meaningful experiences in the geosciences through leveraging of academic and/or non-academic research and instrumentation infrastructure. The underlying hypothesis for this solicitation is that novel, authentic, career-relevant geoscience experiences for larger student populations not only augment existing curricula but will also increase the students’ desire to pursue degrees and geoscience-related careers.

The overarching questions being addressed through this solicitation are:

  • Which strategies are most effective for increasing the number and diversity of students entering the geoscience workforce pipeline?
  • Which approaches are most effective in retaining undergraduate students in the geoscience pipeline?
  • Which activities are most effective in preparing undergraduate geoscience majors for the workforce, and smoothing their transition post-graduation?
  • Which strategies are most effective for increasing the number and diversity of non-geoscience undergraduate majors that pursue post-baccalaureate degrees in geoscience?

IUSE: GEOPATHS projects also offer an opportunity to tap the nation's diverse student talent pool and broaden participation in science and engineering. NSF is particularly interested in increasing the numbers of women, underrepresented minorities, and persons with disabilities in professional experiences related to the geosciences. IUSE: GEOPATHS projects are strongly encouraged to involve students who are members of these groups that are underrepresented in STEM: African Americans, Hispanics, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders. When designing recruitment plans, IUSE: GEOPATHS projects are also encouraged to consider students who are veterans of the U.S. Armed Services.

The IUSE: GEOPATHS solicitation offers two distinct funding Tracks: (1) Engaging students in the geosciences through extra-curricular experiences and training (GEOPATHS-EXTRA) and (2) Improving pathways into the geosciences through institutional collaborations (GEOPATHS-IMPACT).

GEOPATHS-EXTRA Projects

GEOPATHS-EXTRA projects are focused on providing individual undergraduate students with sustained or catalytic experiences that develop their expertise in geoscience, enhance their professional skills, increase their access to professional networks, and demonstrably deepen their interest in, and knowledge of, geoscience career pathways. Introducing students to the geosciences through extra-curricular experiential learning, internships, field trips, and culturally-relevant or problem-based learning scenarios, are well documented as successful approaches for recruitment. More than a decade of empirical research has demonstrated the benefits to students from participating in undergraduate research because it not only socializes undergraduates into scientific thinking and practices, it may also play a significant role in students’ educational and career trajectories, especially among Hispanic/Latino students (e.g., References 19 to 23). AGI reports that more than 80% of bachelor’s and master’s graduates in the geosciences who participated in some form of internship during their education felt it was very important for their academic and professional development; yet, less than half of undergraduate geoscience majors participated in an internship-like experience. Increasing the number and types of opportunities that provide individual undergraduate students with authentic, career-relevant experiences – across all employment sectors – may increase both student engagement and retention in the pipeline. Many academic, private sector and government managed facilities within the geosciences community could be leveraged to provide such experiences.

GEOPATHS-EXTRA proposals can be submitted by institutions of higher education that offer undergraduate courses or bachelor’s degrees in any of the geoscience fields, with some restrictions (see eligibility criteria). GEOPATHS-EXTRA projects are expected to focus on the needs of individual students, primarily by offering cohort-based, extra- or co-curricular experiences that complement the submitting institution’s existing bachelor’s degree curriculum. Each cohort should involve a minimum of six students per institution. Collaborations with other academic and non-academic institutions that create opportunities to expose participating students to a variety of working environments are strongly encouraged, as are collaborations that engage diverse undergraduate students from local community colleges and MSIs. While requests to support academic year undergraduate research as one component of a GEOPATHSEXTRA project will be considered, they must not duplicate the types of undergraduate research experiences that can be supported through the REU Site and Supplement program solicitation.

Specific activities that might be supported through the GEOPATHS-EXTRA track include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Creating mentored geoscience-related internships, externships, or apprenticeship programs in collaboration with the private sector
  • Providing students with service-learning or community-based opportunities related to the geosciences
  • Establishing and conducting novel support programs aimed at retaining diverse students in geosciences
  • Partnering with large research facilities, to provide students with hands-on training and experience using sophisticated geoscience instrumentation, large data sets, and/or models
  • Engaging students in large, ongoing, and separately funded field-based research campaigns and subsequent data analysis and synthesis
  • Creating competitions and prizes that offer capstone experiences at large or unique geoscience research facilities
  • Engaging pre-service science teachers in activities that foster their interest in becoming secondary earth science teachers
  • Providing experiences that help pre-college students transition more successfully into undergraduate geoscience programs
  • Establishing new multi-year, academic-year geoscience research opportunities for cohorts of undergraduate students at the awardee institution
  • Offering accessible field experiences for students with sensory, physical, or intellectual disabilities; this includes intentional engagement of students with “less apparent” disabilities, high functioning undergraduate students on the autism spectrum and students in STEP-like transition programs

Proposals submitted to this track should build on the evidence base for effective strategies for undergraduate engagement, recruitment and retention, particularly among underrepresented student populations. Similarly, they should be designed to contribute to the evidence base through formative and summative assessment and documenting the impacts of the experiences on student attitudes, learning outcomes, and persistence in the pipeline. Competitive proposals will clearly articulate how the proposed activities scaffold to, and integrate with, the academic program(s); carefully describe methods for recruitment and selection of students; and, discuss professional development activities that better prepare faculty and other professional participants for their roles as mentors/supervisors.

GEOPATHS-IMPACT Projects

GEOPATHS-IMPACT projects are expected to establish new, or strengthen existing, institutional partnerships and collaborations that provide sustainable pathways and support mechanisms for facilitating transitions of undergraduate students at critical junctions: between high school and undergraduate geoscience programs; between two-year undergraduate institutions and four-year institution geoscience degree programs; between baccalaureate degrees in geoscience and the geoscience workforce; or, between baccalaureate degrees (in any field) and post-baccalaureate geoscience programs. GEOPATHS-IMPACT projects are expected to focus less on the engagement of individual students in the geosciences and focus more on implementing systemic and sustainable approaches that can increase access to geoscience education and research opportunities and open doors to education and career pathways over time. The emphasis is on using NSF funding to establish programs, structures, and collaborations that can have lasting impact. For example, formal articulation agreements, e.g., between four-year and two-year institutions, can ease student transfers into geoscience bachelor’s degree programs. Education and research collaborations between institutions may also help first and second year students, who might otherwise not encounter geoscience before deciding on a major, explore the possibilities within the field. Providing reliable and current information about career paths and opportunities, as well as sustained mentoring, networking, and professional development are also important strategies in helping students make the transition from undergraduate to graduate study and beyond. In addition, proposers seeking to develop institutional collaborations between two-year colleges and four-year programs that involve geoscience technician training are directed to NSF’s Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program.

  • Specific activities that might be supported through the GEOPATHS-IMPACT track include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Cross-listing and/or co-teaching introductory geosciences classes between 2-year and 4 year institutions
  • Convening small workshops or strategic planning activities to establish new institutional collaborations
  • Designing and testing novel bridge programs that help post-undergraduate students from non-geoscience fields transition into geoscience graduate programs
  • Formalizing collaborations between geoscience departments and education schools that strengthen the preparation of preservice geoscience teachers
  • Conducting novel outreach programs aimed at recruiting more diverse students into undergraduate and graduate geoscience pathways
  • Creating mechanisms to engage upper level high school or community college students in experiences that demonstrate the geosciences as a viable career path before applying for college admission or transfer to a 4-year program
  • Creating summer bridge programs that expose incoming undergraduate freshmen to the geosciences Leveraging large research infrastructure (e.g., ships, Critical Zone Observatories) to expose non-geoscience and pre-service teacher majors to geoscience content and opportunities
  • Creation of enrichment programs that develop undergraduate skills required by the evolving job market for geoscientists and increase their matriculation into jobs classified as geoscience
  • Developing career-aligned collaborations between academia and the local private sector or state/local government that facilitate transitions between undergraduate programs and the geoscience workforce
  • Creating mechanisms to engage students with sensory, physical, or intellectual disabilities, including “less apparent” disabilities in accessible field and research experiences;

Proposers seeking to engage students at two-year institutions through this track are reminded of some of the specific barriers to attainment that these students must confront. These include: limited knowledge about college navigation; financial concerns; insufficient academic preparation, especially in math; misalignment of core courses across community colleges and four-year schools; limited advising, orientation, and mentoring; constraints affecting the academic and social integration of working students; and lack of self-efficacy.

Competitive proposals submitted to the GEOPATHS-IMPACT track will show evidence that all institutional partners are committed to and have been engaged intellectually in the design and execution of the proposed work. It is also important that proposals not only include details on the transition that the project would enhance, but also demonstrate that the infrastructure is in place to foster the success of students once they transition to the new academic stage. A management plan, a sustainability plan, and a plan for tracking students should be described. Proposals seeking funds to support an existing institutional collaboration must clearly demonstrate the effectiveness of current activities being implemented through the partnership and identify the gaps that would be addressed if additional resources were made available.

Sponsor Deadline:

Letter of Intent – September 21, 2018
Full Proposal – November 19, 2018