Purpose: to support scholarships for academically talented students demonstrating financial need enabling them to enter the STEM workforce or STEM graduate school following completion of an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate-level degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics disciplines. 

Goals: 

• Improved educational opportunities for STEM students
• Increased retention of STEM students to degree attainment
• Improved support programs for STEM students
• Increased numbers of well-educated and skilled employees in technical areas of national need

Scholarship Students Expected to Receive at Least One of the Following:

• Receive an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree in one of the S-STEM disciplines
• Transfer from an associate degree program to a baccaulareate degree program or from an undergraduate program to a graduate program in one of the S-STEM disciplines
• Successfully pass one or more of an institution's self-identified attrition points

Scholarships Students Must:

• Be U.S. Citizens, Nationals, or Permanent Residents
• Be enrolled full-time in a program leading to an associate, baccalaureate, or graduate degree in one of the following disciplines:
  • biological sciences (except medicine and other clinical fields)
  • physical sciences, including physics, chemistry, astronomy, and materials science
  • mathematical sciences
  • computer and information sciences
  • geosciences
  • engineering
• Be part of a natural student cohort that is likely to associate during the scholarship period

Cost Sharing: Prohibited
Award Amounts: 5-Year Awards of up to $600,000 total direct costs, with max annual budgets of up to $225,000 in direct costs, to fund individual scholarships of up to $10,000 per year (depending on financial need) and associated administrative/support costs.
Estimated Number of Awards: 80 to 100
Organizational Limit: An institution may submit one proposal from each constituent school or college that awards degrees in an eligible field. At UM, one proposal may be submitted for each of the following schools:

• College of Liberal Arts
• School of Engineering

In addition, the following schools might be able to submit proposals, depending on interpretation of solictiation guidelines:

• School of Pharmacy
• Graduate School
• Honors College
• Applied Sciences
• Schools of Business

Internal Pre-Proposals: Those interested in being considered for one of the limited institutional slots should prepare a pre-proposal consisting of the following:

• Title and List of PI and co-PI's
• 1-page NSF-style project summary
• Abbreviated (5 page) NSF-style project description, including, at a minimum, the following sections:
  • b. Project Objectives and Plans
    • Including degree(s) for which scholarships will be provided
    • Quantified expected outcomes
    • Anticipated award/ask amount and project duration
    • Approach
  • c. Significance of Project and Rationale
  • f. Student Selection Process and Criteria
• If this is a resubmission of a previously reviewed NSF S-STEM proposal, please provide an additional section of up to 2 pages summarizing the scores and reviews of the previous proposal, and identifying how the reviewer comments will be addressed in this proposal.
• Signed statement of support from the Dean of the appropriate degree-granting school or college (e.g., Dean of Liberal Arts, Dean of Engineering).
  NOTE: Each Dean should only support one proposal, or, if supporting multiple proposals, should clearly indicate which of the proposals has the highest priority from the Dean.
• Signed agreement by PI to meet all internal submission deadlines if selected, or else risk being "bumped" by an alternate proposal
• Signed agreement by PI to, if selected by NSF for funding, allow ORSP to share non-sentitive parts of the successful proposal with future S-STEM proposal developers at UM; or, if not selected for funding, to share NSF reviews with ORSP.

Key Dates:

6/6/2012:    ORSP Seminar on NSF S-STEM Program and Approaches (3 p.m. Butler Auditorium)
6/7/2012:    ORSP Webinar on NSF S-STEM Program and Approaches (9 a.m. online)
6/30/2012:  Pre-proposals due to ORSP (see requirements above)
7/7/2012:    ORSP will announce which pre-proposals to move forward to full proposals (as slot-holders or alternates)
7/30/2012:  Full project summary and 15-page project description due to ORSP
8/1//2012:    All final proposal components due to ORSP
8/14/2012:  Full Proposal Due to NSF

Full Solicitiation: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5257