Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Supplements and Sites

IMPORTANT NOTE: The NSF Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science Supplements and Sites has a limited submission policy. See below for details. If you are interested in applying, please submit this Internal Letter of Intent to Lesley Brown no later than 5pm on Monday, July 23.

Dates:

Internal Intent Deadline: July 23, 2018

Fund Deadline Date: September 19, 2018

Submissions Allowed: 3

Guidelines:

Who May Serve as PI: NSF’s Directorate for Engineering (ENG) and the Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) have joined to support the Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in Engineering and Computer Science program. This program supports active long-term collaborative partnerships between K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, Computer and Information Science, and Mathematics (STEM) in-service and pre-service teachers, full-time community college faculty, and university faculty and students to enhance the scientific disciplinary knowledge and capacity of the STEM teachers and/or community college faculty through participation inauthentic summer research experiences with engineering and computer science faculty researchers. The research projects and experiences all revolve around a focused research area related to engineering and/or computer science that will provide a common cohort experience to the participating educators. The K-12 STEM teachers and/or full-time community college faculty also translate their research experiences and new scientific knowledge into their classroom activities and curricula. The university team will include faculty, graduate and undergraduate students as well as industrial advisors. Involvement of graduate students in support of academic-year classroom activities is particularly encouraged. Partnerships with inner city, rural or other high needs schools are especially encouraged, as is participation by underrepresented minorities, women, veterans, and persons with disabilities. As part of the long-term partnership arrangements, university undergraduate/graduate students will partner with pre-college/community college faculty in their classrooms during the academic year to support the integration of the RET curricular materials into classroom activities. This announcement features two mechanisms for support of in-service and pre-service K-12 STEM teachers and full-time community college faculty: (1) RET supplements to ongoing ENG and CISE awards and (2) new RET Site awards. RET supplements may be included outside this solicitation in proposals for new or renewedENG and CISEgrants or as supplements to ongoing ENG- and CISE-funded projects. RET in Engineering and Computer Science Sites, through this solicitation, are based on independent proposals from engineering and/or computer and/or information science departments, schools or colleges to initiate and conduct research participation projects for K-12 STEM teachers and/or full-time community college faculty.

Who May Serve as PI: The principal investigator of a RET in Engineering and Computer Science Site proposal must have a full-time, tenured or tenure-track faculty appointment within a College/Department of Engineering or Engineering Technology or a College/Department of Computer and/or Information Science broadly defined[including e.g., Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Software Engineering, Networking Science, Informatics] within the submitting U.S. academic institution. The PI must be a full-time Engineering and/or Computer Science faculty member whose primary job responsibilities are research and teaching and not a faculty member who is involved in an administrative capacity such as a dean or outreach coordinator.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 3
Three Site proposals may be submitted per competition by a U.S. academic institution, including a College/Department of Engineering, Engineering Technology, or Computer and/or Information Science as the lead institution. No more than two of the three proposals may have an engineering focus and only one of the three proposals may have a computer and/or information science focus. Potential PIs are advised to contact their institutional office of research regarding processes used to select proposals for submission.

Anticipated Funding Amount: $5,800,000
The total anticipated funding in FY 2018, FY 2019 and FY 2020 for both Sites and Supplements is approximately $5,800,000 per year, subject to the availability of funds. It is anticipated that approximately 9 Site awards will be made per year. The maximum total request for a Site is $600,000 for a duration of up to three years. Supplements are limited to a maximum of $10,000 per teacher and/or community college faculty for a duration of one year subject to the availability of funds.

Estimated Number of Awards: 9