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The Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP) provides awards to Tribal Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native-serving institutions, and Native Hawaiian-serving institutions to promote high quality science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, research, and outreach. TCUP-eligible institutions are predominantly two-year and community colleges. Support is available to TCUP-eligible institutions (see the Additional Eligibility subsection of Section IV of this solicitation) for Planning Grants, Initiation Projects, Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education (BPR) Projects, Targeted STEM Infusion Projects (TSIP), and Research Initiation Awards (RIA). Through these mechanisms, along with collaborations with other National Science Foundation (NSF) units and its work with other organizations, TCUP aims to increase Native individuals' participation in STEM careers and the quality of STEM programs at TCUP-eligible institutions. TCUP strongly encourages the inclusion of activities that will benefit veterans.

Planning Grants provide support to undertake self-analysis of the TCUP-eligible institution's undergraduate STEM programs to identify components that need improvement or enhancement in order to ensure a high-quality undergraduate STEM education.

Initiation Projects provide support to design, implement and assess comprehensive institutional efforts to increase the numbers of STEM students and the quality of their preparation by strengthening STEM education and research. Initiation Projects create and/or adapt and assess innovative models and materials for teaching and learning in STEM, embody knowledge about how students learn most effectively in STEM teaching and learning activities, and bring STEM disciplinary advances into the undergraduate experience.

Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education (BPR) provides support for research projects that seek to create and study new models and innovations in STEM teaching and learning, enhance the understanding of the participation of diverse groups in STEM education and inform education practices and interventions. BPR projects add new research-based strategies and models to broadening participation in STEM and increase the capacity of scholars in TCUP-eligible institutions to conduct this type of research.

Targeted STEM Infusion Projects (TSIP) provide support toward achieving a short-term, well-defined goal that promises to improve the quality of undergraduate STEM education at an eligible institution. Targeted STEM Infusion Projects could, for example, enhance academic infrastructure by systematically adding traditional knowledge to the scope or content of a STEM course, updating curriculum, modernizing laboratory research equipment, or improving the computational network array for research and education.

Research Initiation Awards (RIA) provide support for faculty members in STEM areas at TCUP-eligible institutions to pursue research at an NSF-funded Center, at a research-intensive institution, or at a national laboratory. Awards are intended to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. These awards are particularly appropriate as a means of recruiting and retaining highly qualified scientists and engineers at TCUP-eligible institutions.

Deadline Date: July 21, 2011

website: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5483&org=NSF&sel_org=NSF&from=fund