MEMBER ADVISORY

June 6, 2022

U.S. Department of Energy Announces Grant Opportunities for its RENEW Initiative

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science has announced several grant funding opportunities as part of its Reaching a New Energy Sciences Workforce (RENEW) Initiative.

Several funding opportunities, such as Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR-RENEW), Basic Energy Sciences (BES-RENEW), and RENEW: Isotope Training, Research, and Development at Minority Serving Institutions, are specifically for MSIs, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

RENEW aims to build foundations for Office of Science (SC) research at institutions historically underrepresented in the SC research portfolio. RENEW leverages SC’s unique national laboratories, user facilities, and other research infrastructures to provide training opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and faculty at academic institutions underrepresented in the U.S. science and technology ecosystem.

For more information about these opportunities, click here.

U.S. Department of Education Opens Grant Competition for the Open Textbooks Pilot Program

The U.S. Department of Education has announced it is accepting applications for the Open Textbooks Pilot Program. This opportunity is available to institutions of higher educations, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions.

The deadline for applications is July 25, 2022. For more information about the program, click here. The application form can be found here.

The Open Textbooks Pilot Program funds projects to make textbooks for postsecondary courses more financially accessible to low-income students. Access to open textbooks and open educational resources creates a more equitable learning environment: institutions can freely distribute these resources and provide students access to high-quality, up-to-date, and relevant content and materials; and access to open resources can empower faculty to customize learning materials to better meet the needs of their students.

Ideal projects will identify existing gaps in the open textbook marketplace, demonstrate how consortia of schools could collaborate to close those gaps, and how access to open textbooks would improve student success. Awards for this program range from $500,000 to $2,000,000.  Applications from Minority-Serving Institutions and community colleges will be prioritized.

For additional information, contact:

Kurrinn Abrams

Education Program Specialist

400 Maryland Ave, SW, 2nd Floor

Washington, DC 20202

Telephone: (202) 987-1920

Email: kurrinn.abrams2@ed.gov.

U.S. Department of Education Announces Grant Competitions for Institute of Education Sciences Grants

The U.S. Department of Education has announced several grant opportunities from the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), including two from the National Center for Education Research, and two from the National Center for Special Education Research.

The two National Center for Education Research grants support projects to develop new education research methods and the two National Center for Special Education Research grants support educational opportunities for students with special needs. A Federal Register Notice describing the various competitions can be found here.

Eligible institutions, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions , may begin submitting applications for these grant competitions when they become available on June 30, 2022. The final deadline for applications is September 8, 2022.

The IES National Center for Education Research (NCER) is conducting two of the grant competitions: Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences and Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking.

The Research Training Programs in the Education Sciences competition accepts applications for projects involving early career mentoring for faculty at Minority Serving Institutions  using data science methods.  Awards for this program range from $80,000 to $266,000.  For more information on this competition, contact Katina Stapleton, IES Education Research Analyst, at katina.stapleton@ed.gov or at (202) 245-6566.

Using Longitudinal Data to Support State Education Policymaking accepts applications for projects about state agencies’ use of longitudinal data to close opportunity and achievement gaps for students across all stages of education. Longitudinal data enables state agencies to implement evidence-based policies to improve student success.  Awards for this competition range from $100,000 to $333,000.  For more information on this competition, contact Allen Ruby, Associate Commissioner for Policy and Systems, at allen.ruby@ed.gov or at (202) 245-8145.

The IES National Center for Special Education Research is conducting the other two grant competitions: the Special Education Research competition and the Research Training Programs in Special Education competition.

The Special Education Research competition accepts applications for projects addressing school readiness, family engagement for students with disabilities, as well as postsecondary education and workforce opportunities for students with disabilities. Awards for this competition range from $200,000 to $760,000.  For more information on this competition, visit the NCSER site, or contact Emily Weaver at emily.weaver@ed.gov or at (202) 245-7114.

The Research Training Programs in Special Education competition accepts applications for projects to train special educators to provide early career development and mentoring for their students. Awards for this competition range from $100,000 to $200,000.  For more information on this competition, contact Katherine Taylor, Education Research Analyst, at katherine.taylor@ed.gov or at (202) 245-6716.

HACU Member Advisories are a service of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)