Funding-NSF Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program 2009; deadline Jan. 20, 2009

The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors and professionals to become K-12 mathematics and science teachers. The program provides funds to institutions of higher education to support scholarships, stipends, and academic programs for undergraduate STEM majors and post-baccalaureate students holding STEM degrees who commit to teaching in high-need K-12 school districts.   A new component of the program supports STEM professionals who enroll as NSF Teaching Fellows in master's degree programs leading to teacher certification by providing academic courses, professional development, and salary supplements while they are fulfilling a four-year teaching commitment in a high need school district.  This new component also supports the development of NSF Master Teaching Fellows by providing professional development and salary supplements for exemplary math and science teachers to become Master Teachers in high need school districts.

Because the University of Kentucky already has a funded Noyce Teacher Scholarship award, this notification is for the Innovation through Institutional Integration or I cubed (I³) track only.

Program Website: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5733

Innovation through Institutional Integration or I cubed (I³) is an integrative, cross-cutting effort that enables faculty, administrators, and others in institutions to think and act strategically about the creative integration of NSF-funded awards, with particular emphasis on awards managed through programs in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR), but not limited to those awards. This effort has the following interrelated goals:

• Increase synergy and collaboration across NSF-funded projects and within/between institutions, towards an educational environment where artificial boundaries are significantly reduced and the student experience is more fully integrated;      
• Expand and deepen the impact of NSF-funded projects and enhance their sustainability; 
• Provide additional avenues to broaden participation through workforce development, especially for those underrepresented in STEM research and education; attend to seamless transitions across critical educational junctures; and/or provide more effectively for a globally engaged workforce;
• Promote innovative programming, policies, and practices to encourage the integration of STEM research and education; and
• Encourage STEM educational or related research in domains that hold promise for promoting intra- or inter-institutional integration and broader impacts.   

Proposals that facilitate either (a) inter-institutional or (b) intra-institutional efforts are encouraged.  Proposals may be submitted by (a) a single institution to address intra-institutional goals only or (b) an institution acting on behalf of an institutional partnership to address inter-institutional goals.

Proposals are expected to incorporate a depth and quality of creative, coherent, and strategic actions that extend beyond commonplace approaches to normal institutional operations.  Proposals may also be submitted for research on institutional integration or other closely related themes articulated in the goals above. 

For additional information see the I-Cubed FAQ: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2008/nsf08027/nsf08027.jsp

Because an institution may submit only one application to the I Cubed initiative, UK has implemented an internal selection process.

Individuals planning to submit a proposal to I Cubed are asked to send the following information electronically to Kris Hobson (hobson@email.uky.edu) in the Office of the Provost and a copy to their Dean by Tuesday, January 20, 2009:

1. Names and departments of Project Director and team members
2. Brief project description (2 pages max.) – project vision, goals, anticipated outcomes, and evaluation plan

A committee will be convened to review this information and make recommendations as to the University’s selected applicant in time for electronic submission to NSF for the February 24, 2009 deadline.