Pennsylvania Space Consortium Seed Grant Funding
Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium Seed Grant Proposal Form
Overview: The Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium is providing funding for affiliates and other commonwealth institutions of higher education to continue, expand, or develop new programming. Complete the following proposal and submit to Dr. Chris House at chrishouse@psu.edu. Proposals will be awarded based upon merit and funding availability. Funding requests are limited to $5,000. Please review the background information and appendices to assist with your proposal. We will accept proposals on a rolling basis starting as soon as possible and extending until December 1, 2008. Please note the grant focus should be on Higher Education and Research Infrastructure programming.
Background information needed for the grant proposal:
Outcome 1: Contribute to the development of the STEM workforce in disciplines needed to achieve NASA’s strategic goals (Employ and Educate)
Outcome 2: Attract and retain students in STEM disciplines through a progression of educational opportunities for students, teachers, and faculty (Educate and Engage)
- Student-based programs must demonstrate quantitatively how the program increases enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in your consortium.
Outcome 3:Build strategic partnerships and linkages between STEM formal and informal education providers that promote STEM literacy and awareness of NASA’s mission (Engage and Inspire
SMART Goals
- Specific – Please provide enough detail about your proposal to help us to know exactly what will be done.
- Measurable – Your goal should be such that when you are through you have some tangible evidence of completion (metrics) to indicate success in the area.
- Acceptable – Aligned with the NASA guiding documents (e.g. 2006 NASA Strategic Plan, 2006 NASA Education Strategic Coordination Framework, The Vision for Space Exploration, and the national Space Grant goals and objectives).
- Realistic – Set appropriate targets based on your budget level.
- Time Frame – Include short-term and long-term goals. Keep in mind that this is year 4 of a 5 year grant based on the period of performance for each consortium. This should be included in the proposal and reflected in the budget information provided
Proposal Format and Content
The Seed Grant proposal should be organized in such a way that reflects clear alignment with the NASA Education Outcomes.
While there is no page limitation for the proposal, please be judicious while maintaining an adequate level of detail throughout all sections.
Please prepare your proposal using the following format:
Title Page – include the name of the affiliate/organization, the name, address, phone/fax numbers, and e-mail of PI.
1. Body of Proposal
- State the intended Education Outcome 1, 2, 3
- SMART Goals and Objectives
- Metrics by which you will measure the accomplishment of the goals, including diversity and underrepresented minority student participation targets.
- Brief Description of Projects, Activities, and/or Collaborations (include a discussion of how the proposed suite of activities will contribute toward achieving your stated goals).
- Management Strategy – briefly describe the management strategy that will be employed to accomplish the stated goals.
2. Budget
3. Budget Justification: Narrative and Details
Appendix A
The following objectives have been developed under each of the NASA Education Outcomes above. All NASA programs (including Space Grant, from the national level) will report their contributions to these objectives.
[We are working to insure that we can collect the necessary reporting data (Output, Outcome, and Efficiency Measures) for the PART through CMIS. A few adjustments will be made to CMIS data entry forms; we will let you know what those changes when they are made.]
Outcome 1 Objectives
1.1 Faculty and Research Support – Provide NASA competency-building education and research opportunities for faculty, researchers, and post-doctoral fellows.
1.2 Student Support – Provide NASA competency-building education and research opportunities to develop qualified undergraduate and graduate students who are prepared for employment in STEM disciplines at NASA, industry, and higher education.
1.3 Student Involvement Higher Education – Provide opportunities for groups of post-secondary students to engage in authentic NASA-related mission-based R&D activities.
1.4 Course Development – Develop NASA-related course resources for integration into STEM disciplines.
1.5 Targeted Institution Research and Academic Infrastructure – Improve the ability for targeted institutions to compete for NASA research and development work.
Outcome 2 Objectives
2.1 Educator Professional Development—Short Duration – Provide short duration professional development and training opportunities to educators, equipping them with the skills and knowledge to attract and retain students in STEM disciplines.
2.2 Educator Professional Development—Long Duration – Provide long-duration and/or sustained professional development and training opportunities to educators that result in deeper content understanding and/or competence and confidence in teaching STEM disciplines.
2.3 Curricular Support Resources – Provide curricular support resources that use NASA themes and content to a) enhance student skills and proficiency in STEM disciplines; b) inform students about STEM career opportunities; c) communicate information about NASA’s mission activities.
2.4 Student Involvement K-12
Provide K-12 students with authentic first-hand opportunities to participate in NASA mission activities, thus inspiring interest in STEM disciplines and careers
Provide opportunities for family involvement in K-12 student learning in STEM areas.
Outcome 3 Objectives
3.1 Resources
Provide informal education support resources that use NASA themes and content to 1) enhance participant skills and proficiency in STEM disciplines; 2) inform participants about STEM career opportunities; 3) communicate information about NASA’s mission activities
Develop a significant pool of qualified presenters of NASA aerospace content interacting with a large number of participants.
3.2 Professional Development for Informal Education Providers – Provide opportunities to improve the competency and qualifications of STEM informal educators, enabling informal educators to effectively and accurately communicate information about NASA activities and access NASA data for programs and exhibits.
3.3 Informal Education Provider Involvement Opportunities
Develop a national pool of qualified informal educators with experience in NASA-mission and related activities
Engage informal educators using NASA themes to enable them to 1) enhance participant skills and proficiency in STEM disciplines; 2) inform participants about STEM career opportunities; 3) communication information about NASA’s mission activities.
Establish and maintain a single informal education network for accessing NASA materials that has the flexibility for Special Interest Groups to function as a subset of the larger network.
II. FY 2008 Programmatic Guidance
This guidance clarifies the direction that has been presented at regional and national meetings this past year or has been included in previous budget calls. Throughout the development of your proposal, thoughtfully consider each of these items to strategically invest the appropriate level of funding to ensure consistency and alignment with the objectives of the Space Grant program and the NASA Office of Education. Appendix C contains links to guiding documents which can provide you with additional information.
Education Framework The Education Outcomes form a critical component of the Education Strategic Coordination Framework (Appendix A). The Framework guides the planning, implementation, and assessment of the NASA Education portfolio. The Framework provides a coordinated tool to describe the Overarching Philosophy and Operating Principles for NASA education. Higher education projects serve as major links in the student pipeline used to address the education outcomes.
Linkages In addition to direct contributions to Outcome 1, NASA Education projects are expected to look for synergy and continuity of efforts with other NASA Education projects that are mapped to this same Outcome as well as to other NASA Education projects and activities identified as “engage” and “inspire”. Thus, strategic linkages within the Higher Education program as well as projects and activities in Elementary and Secondary and Informal Education support the progression of education opportunities for students. Space Grant is in a unique position to be the “pump in the STEM pipeline” by drawing students into NASA’s missions and grooming them to be the STEM workforce of the future through unparalleled hands-on experiences.
Workforce Development Workforce development remains an important area of emphasis for the Agency and Space Grant. The intent is that you will work with the members of your consortium to view your existing programs through a workforce development lens, making adjustments, if necessary. You should consider workforce development as a thread throughout your programs, much like the emphasis on diversity that is inherent throughout your program design and evaluation.
Diversity For student awards through your Fellowship/Scholarship, Higher Education, and Research Infrastructure programs, you are required to provide a specific target for participation of underrepresented minority students. This target must be consistent with the enrollment percentage for your state as per the National Center of Education Statistics Digest http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables/dt06_212.asp . Recall that Asian students are not underrepresented in STEM fields and should not be included in your target; the enrollment percentage may be adjusted from NCES statistic to reflect this cohort of students.
Minority Serving Institutions Please be particularly attentive to opportunities for meaningful involvement of minority-serving institutions (Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Other Minority Universities, and institutions of higher education that have a higher enrollment of minority students) in the activities of your consortium. Often the scientific and technical talent of the faculty and students at these institutions are underutilized in the development of the broader aerospace research capabilities. Lessons-learned demonstrate that Space Grant is a catalyst for synergy between the institution(s) and NASA as well as among the membership of the consortium. Partnerships with minority-serving institutions provide a critical link between the institution and NASA – access to the discussions and exposure to the opportunities. Describe how your consortium will seek opportunities to develop new relationships as well as sustain and strengthen existing institutional relationships with minority-serving institutions. Research-based, institutional relationships need not be limited by state boundaries.
Pre-College If your consortium is proposing to allocate funds in support of pre-college programs, the emphasis should be the on development of pre-service and/or in-service educators in the formal and informal educational arenas. Proposed student-based programs must demonstrate quantitatively how the program will increase enrollment in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Please include a discussion regarding collaboration with the NASA Explorer Schools or other NASA pre-college education programs, as appropriate.
Informal Education Space Grant Public Service programs described in your proposal must be aligned with the NASA guidance for Informal Education.
The intent of Informal Education is to increase learning, to educate students, educators and the general public on specific STEM content areas, and to expand the nation’s future STEM workforce. In addition to intent, the informal education projects must also include at least two of the following components:
We anticipate the primary goals, objectives, and metrics for Outcome 1 will relate to your Fellowship/Scholarship, Higher Education, and Research Infrastructure programs; Outcome 2 will be primarily the balance of your Higher Ed programs as well as Pre-College; Outcome 3 will be your General Public and External Relations programs.