Website National Science Foundation (NSF)
The NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program solicitation was revised for the FY2025 competition, and prospective Principal Investigators are encouraged to read the solicitation carefully.
UCI was awarded a Track 2 grant in biotechnology in 2025. Therefore, Track 2 applications will be accepted this cycle, but must not be in the discipline of biotechnology. Applications in this discipline will again be accepted beginning in 2028.
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.
Award Information
- Awards for Track 1 (Institutional Capacity Building) projects may not exceed $2,000,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.
- Awards for Track 2 (Implementation Projects) projects may not exceed $2,000,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.
- Awards for Track 3 (Inter-institutional Consortia) projects may not exceed $5,000,000 total for a maximum duration of 6 years.
Eligibility
- Disciplinary fields in which research is funded by NSF, including technology fields associated with the S-STEM-eligible disciplines (e.g., biotechnology, chemical technology, engineering technology, information technology, etc.), 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.
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 across the Tracks (and preference will be given to UCI-led proposals); therefore, interested applicants should submit (via the UCI Review application system) the following by Wednesday, November 12th :
- 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 November 3, 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 3, 2026.
Questions about our internal campus review process may be directed to Director of Research Development, Mike Gallo at magallo@uci.edu .