Website National Science Foundation
The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program solicitation was revised for the FY2024 competition, and prospective Principal Investigators are encouraged to read the solicitation carefully.
Among the main changes are the following:
- Evaluation plan logic models may be included either as a supplementary document or as part of the project description.
- The required data table summarizing the pool of potential scholars at each participating institution may be included either as a supplementary document or as part of the project description.
- The calculation of scholars’ unmet need now reflects the Student Aid Index, which will replace EFC in the 2024-25 FAFSA.
Goal of the S-STEM Program
The main goal of the S-STEM program is to enable low-income students with academic ability, talent or potential to pursue successful careers in promising STEM fields. Ultimately, the S-STEM program seeks to increase the number of academically promising low-income students who graduate with a S-STEM eligible degree and contribute to the American innovation economy with their STEM knowledge. Recognizing that financial aid alone cannot increase retention and graduation in STEM, the program provides awards to institutions of higher education (IHEs) not only to fund scholarships, but also to adapt, implement, and study evidence-based curricular and co-curricular1 activities that have been shown to be effective supporting recruitment, retention, transfer (if appropriate), student success, academic/career pathways, and graduation in STEM.
S-STEM Eligibility
- Projects supporting scholars studying in disciplinary fields in which NSF provides research funding are eligible to apply to the S-STEM program, with the following exclusions:
- Clinical degree programs, including medical degrees, nursing, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, physical therapy, and others not funded by NSF, are ineligible degrees.
- Business school programs that lead to Bachelor of Arts or Science in Business Administration degrees (BABA/BSBA/BBA) are not eligible for S-STEM funding.
- Masters and Doctoral degrees in Business Administration are also excluded.
S-STEM Webinar
- The S-STEM program team will host webinars in which key features and expectations of the S-STEM program will be discussed. Information regarding the webinars will be posted to the S-STEM program webpage.
NSF Limited Submission guidelines
- An institution may submit up to two proposals in any track (either as a single institution or as sub awardee or as a member of an inter-institutional consortia project) for a given S-STEM deadline. Multiple proposals from an institution must not overlap with regard to S-STEM eligible disciplines.
- Please note: Restrictions of eligibility to submit proposals covering degrees in disciplines already funded by S-STEM active awards made to the same institution remain in effect.
UCI Internal Competition Guidelines
UCI may submit only two nominations (and preference will be given to UCI-led proposals); therefore, interested applicants should submit (via the UCI Review application system) the following by Thursday, November 14th:
- Two Page project summary outlining the proposed scholarship program, and its Broader Impacts, and the intended recipients of the scholarships.
- Brief CV (up to 3 pages) from the project PI, and from key Co-PIs (if applicable).
An ad hoc committee will then be convened to review the internal applications, and the selected candidates will be notified during the week of December 9, 2025, which will give candidates ample time to develop full proposals to meet the Tracks 1, 2 & 3 and collaborative planning projects deadline of March 4, 2025.
Questions about our internal campus review process and the UCI Review application portal may be directed to Mike Gallo in the Office of Research at magallo@uci.edu.
To apply for this funding opportunity please visit uci.infoready4.com.