Grants / National Science Foundation / U.S. National Science Foundation

NSF 21-576: Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate

Closed Closed Opportunity NSF 21-576 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Major Research Instrumentation Program: (MRI) (NSF 27-500). Status: Closes January 29, 2027 (83 days left). It is in our archive of U.S. National Science Foundation notices from 2025.

• Award ceiling$4.4 million
• Award floor$400
• Total funding$4.4 million
• Expected awards32
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeGrant

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

• Others (see text field entitled "Additional Information on Eligibility" for clarification)

*Who May Submit Proposals: Proposals may only be submitted by the following: -Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs): Two- and four-year IHEs (including community colleges) accredited in, and having a campus located in the US, acting on behalf of their faculty members. Special Instructions for International Branch Campuses of US IHEs: If the proposal includes funding to be provided to an international branch campus of a US institution of higher education (including through use of sub-awards and consultant arrangements), the proposer must explain the benefit(s) to the project of performance at the international branch campus, and justify why the project activities cannot be performed at the US campus.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past STEM Education (formerly Education and Human Resources) awards averaged $932,576; this notice allows up to $4.4 million per award.
• Most of the program's money (90% over five years) went to colleges and universities.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

The NSF's Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program contributes to the National Science Foundation's objective to foster the growth of a more capable and diverse research workforce.1Through this solicitation, the NSF seeks to build on prior AGEP work, and other research and literature concerning racial and ethnic equity, in order to address the AGEP program goal to increase the number of historically underrepresented minority faculty in STEM.2Furthering the AGEP goal requires advancing knowledge about new academic STEM career pathway models, and about evidence-based systemic or institutional change initiatives to promote equity and the professional advancement of the AGEP populations who are pursuing, entering and continuing in non-tenure and tenure-track STEM faculty positions. The use of the term "historically underrepresented minority" reflects language from Congress, and in the context of the AGEP program, the AGEP populations are defined as STEM doctoral candidates, postdoctoral scholars and faculty, who are African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders. The terms for these racial and ethnic populations are derived from the US government's guidance for federal statistics and administrative reporting. At the graduate student level, only doctoral candidates are included because they have greater potential to enter a faculty position within the project duration time frame. Improving equity and inclusion is critical to advancing STEM faculty, educating America’s future STEM workforce, fostering individual opportunity and contributing to a thriving U.S. economy. The NSF AGEP program, therefore, seeks to fund grants that advance and enhance the systemic factors that support equity and inclusion and, consequently, mitigate the systemic inequities in the academic profession and workplace. The AGEP program goal to increase the number of historically underrepresented minority faculty is bolstered by the National Science Board’s Vision 2030: Vision for the Future.3 Systemic and organizational inequities may exist in areas such as policy and practice as well as in institutional, departmental, laboratory and classroom culture and climate.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, NSF 27-500, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.