News Release 16-104

Program aims to broaden participation in STEM at national scale, with initial awards totaling nearly $14 million

September 12, 2016

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The National Science Foundation (NSF) has issued its first-ever awards for the NSF INCLUDES program, a comprehensive initiative to enhance U.S. leadership in science and engineering by broadening participation in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

NSF INCLUDES (Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners of Underrepresented Discoverers in Engineering and Science) aims to improve access to STEM education and career pathways at the national scale, making them more widely inclusive to underserved populations. Over the next decade, NSF will expand the program, with the goal of developing a science and engineering workforce that better reflects the diversity of U.S. society.

The initial recipients comprise 37 Design and Development Launch Pilots, funded through two-year grants aimed at supporting projects with the potential to deliver prototypes for bold, new models that broaden participation in STEM. They also include 11 grants for conferences that will explore the development of backbone organizations to support a national network of NSF INCLUDES alliances and partnerships.

"For more than six decades, NSF has funded the development of STEM talent, with the goals of furthering scientific discovery and ensuring the nation's security, economy and ability to innovate. NSF INCLUDES aims to broaden participation in STEM by reaching populations traditionally underserved in science and engineering," NSF Director France Córdova said. "I'm gratified to see such a strong start to this program, which we hope will be an enduring investment in our nation's future in scientific discovery and technological innovation."

NSF has a long history of supporting broadening participation programs. NSF INCLUDES, the latest addition to this portfolio, began after the congressionally mandated NSF Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE) published a report in 2013 recommending "a bold new initiative, focused on broadening participation of underrepresented groups in STEM." As part of the response to that recommendation, NSF incorporated input from critical stakeholders into the design of NSF INCLUDES. The new initiative employs the concept of collective impact, incorporating partners across a variety of sectors to maximize results.

NSF INCLUDES will invest in alliances and partnerships that scale up efforts to broaden STEM participation among underrepresented groups, including women, Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, persons with disabilities, people from rural areas and people of low socioeconomic status. Multi-year NSF INCLUDES alliances will engage partners from private and corporate philanthropy, federal agencies and scientific professional societies.

Building on these initial awards, the program will provide networked testbeds for STEM inclusion, connecting participants and enabling them to determine the key components and approaches that lead to sustainable progress at a national scale.

The 2016 project titles, recipient institutions, and principal investigators are listed below.

Design and Development Launch Pilots

A National Network for Access and Inclusion in Physics Graduate Education

• American Physical Society, Monica J. Plisch

Early Engagement in Research: Key to STEM Retention

• Columbia University, Robert Newton

Early STEM Engagement for Minority Males through a Network of Minority Serving Institutions

• Morgan State University, Jumoke O. Ladeji-Osias
• SRI International, Cindy S. Ziker
• Jackson State University, Kamal S. Ali
• Kentucky State University, Derrick Gilmore
• North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Clay Gloster

STEPs to STEM

• Princeton University, Jannette Carey

Camino a la Ciencia: A Program Designed to Recruit, Retain, and Train Hispanic Women in STEM Disciplines

• Randolph-Macon College, April H. Marchetti

San Francisco: Computing for All Levels & Learners (SF CALL)

• San Francisco State University, Keith J. Bowman

Integrating Indigenous and Western Knowledge to Transform Learning and Discovery in the Geosciences

• University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, Carolyn Brinkworth
• Michigan State University, Kyle Whyte
• University of Arizona, Kevin Bonine

Bay Area Regional Collaboration to Expand and Strengthen STEM (RECESS)

• University of California-San Francisco, Renee Navarro

WeC4Communites (We Compute for our Communities): Community-Focused Computing for Minoritized Youth

• University of Delaware, Lori L. Pollock

Consortium of Minority Doctoral Scholars (CMDS)

• University of Florida, Juan E. Gilbert
• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Jerlando Jackson

Re-Engaging the Disengaged: A Community Centered Approach to Improving STEM Pathways for Underrepresented Students

• University of Illinois at Chicago, Kimberly A. Lawless

Redefining Potential - the Upstate NY Design and Development Pilot for Diverse Student Populations

• University of Rochester, Beth Olivares

Building upon CAHSI's Success to Establish a Networked Community for Broadening Participation of Hispanics in Graduate Studies

• University of Texas at El Paso, Ann Q. Gates

Changing the Face of STEM in the U.S. Virgin Islands through Targeted Interventions to Expand Opportunities and Broaden Participation

• University of the Virgin Islands, Kristin R. Wilson Grimes
• Southern Utah University, Carrie J. Bucklin
• Pennsylvania State University, Monica Medina

Alliance to Strengthen the STEM Tapestry (ASSisT): Motivating Critical Identity Shifts to Weave the STEM Disenfranchised into Science and the Sustainability Workforce

• University of Utah, Nalini Nadkarni

Collaborative Proposal: Coastal Almanac

• University of Washington, Julia K. Parrish
• Western Washington University, Marco B. Hatch
• Oregon State University, Selina S. Heppell

UTAH PREP

• Utah Valley University, Daniel Horns

Strengthening the ASSIST Collaborative to Illuminate Engineering Faculty Pathways

• Great Minds in STEM, Anna M. Park

Increasing Degrees Awarded to African American, Hispanic, Native American and Women Students in Engineering (50K Coalition)

• National Society of Black Engineers, Karl Reid

Enhancing the New Mexico STEM Pipeline -- Design and Development Launch Pilot

• New Mexico State University, Steven Stochaj

Engaging Local Communities in Geoscience Pathways

• Carleton College, Cathryn A. Manduca

Improving STEM Persistence in the First Two Years of College.

• Associated Universities, Inc./National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Sue A. Heatherly

A Collective Impact Approach to Broadening Participation in the STEM Professoriate

• Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, Howard J. Gobstein

South East Alliance for Persons with Disabilities in STEM (SEAPD-STEM)

• Auburn University, Overtoun M. Jenda
• Alabama State University, Carl S. Pettis
• Tuskegee University, Mohammed A Qazi
• Vanderbilt University, Maithilee Kunda

(STEM)^3: Scaling (STEM)^2

• California State University-Fullerton Foundation, Mark S. Filowitz

Mississippi Alliance for Women in Computing (MAWC)

• Mississippi State University, Sarah B. Lee

Designing for Diversity: A Networked Improvement Community for Broadening the Participation of Black and Latino Youth in Computational Careers

• New York Hall of Science, Margaret Honey

Building Diverse and Integrative STEM Continua Using Socio-Environmental Systems In and Out of Neighborhoods (DISCUSSION)

• North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, Gregory D. Goins
• North Carolina Central University, Caesar Jackson

Indigenous Women Working Within the Sciences (IWWS)

• Northern Michigan University, April Lindala

Northern New Mexico STEM Mentor Collective

• Northern New Mexico College, Steven J. Cox

QEM Design & Development Launch Pilot (DDLP) Project in Partnership with HBCUs and TCUs

• Quality Education for Minorities Network, Shirley McBay

STEM Core Initiative

• Saddleback College, Frank Gonzalez

Creating Academic Pathways in STEM (CAPS): A Model Ecosystem for Supporting Two-Year Transfer

• University of Colorado at Boulder, Sarah M. Miller

An Integrated Approach to Retain Underrepresented Minority Students in STEM Disciplines

• University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc., Suzanne E. Barbour
• Clark-Atlanta University, Jaideep Chaudhary
• Florida International University, Shekhar Bhansali
• Fort Valley State University, Sarwan Dhir
• Savannah State University, Mohamad Mustafa

Creating a Diverse STEM Pathway with Community Water Research

• University of Maine, Mohamad T. Musavi

WATCH US (Women Achieving Through Community Hubs) in the United States

• University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Judy L. Walker

CIRTL INCLUDES - Toward an Alliance to Prepare a National Faculty for Broadening Success of Underrepresented 2-Year and 4-Year STEM Students

• University of Wisconsin-Madison, Robert D. Mathieu
• Iowa State University, Craig Ogilvie
• Michigan State University, Leslie Gonzales
• University of California-Los Angeles, Erin Sanders
• University of Georgia Research Foundation Inc., Judy Milton
• University of Pittsburgh, Mary Besterfield-Sacre
• University of Texas at El Paso, Benjamin Flores

Conferences

High-Leverage Problems, Useful Data, Formative Evaluation, Effective Communication

• SRI International, Timothy Podkul

Informing the Design of the INCLUDES Alliances and National Network: An Intersectionality Approach

• National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity Education Foundation, Mimi Lufkin

California STEM INCLUDES Conference and Network

• University of California-Irvine, Michael Dennin

NSF INCLUDES Conference Grant

• University of Cincinnati Main Campus, Kathie Maynard

Collaborative Research: Envisioning Impact

• NORC at the University of Chicago, Sarah-Kathryn McDonald
• TERC Inc., Joni Falk

Accelerating Data-Driven Collaboration for Large-Scale Progress

• University of Missouri-Kansas City, Alexis Petri

NSF INCLUDES Conference on Multi-Scale Evaluation in STEM Education

• University of Tennessee Knoxville, Louis Gross

Bridging Engineering Science and Technology (BEST)

• University of Akron, Brian Davis

Conference to Advance the Collective Impact of Retention and Continuation Strategies for Hispanics and Other Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Fields

• University of California-Merced, Marjorie Zatz

The Technical and Human Infrastructure to Support Collective Impact of the INCLUDES Program at the Alliance and Network Levels

• American Association for the Advancement of Science, Shirley Malcom

Collective Impact as a Pathway to Reinvigorate Broadening Participation in STEM

• University of California-San Diego, Kim Barrett

-NSF-

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  NSF INCLUDES awardee Caesar Jackson of North Carolina Central University works with a student.
  Credit and Larger Version

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Media Contacts
Rob Margetta, NSF, (703) 292-2663, email: rmargett@nsf.gov

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The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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