Awards will be made as cooperative agreements to Minority Serving Institutions. The period of performance for an award is up to 3 years. Prospective proposers are requested to submit any questions in writing to
[email protected] no later than 10 business days before the proposal due date so that NASA will have sufficient time to respond. Only accredited Minority Serving Institutions in the United States are eligible to apply for this NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN). Proposers to this CAN are required to have the following, no later than the due date: 1) a Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) number, 2) a valid registration with the System for Award Management (SAM) [formerly known as the Central Contractor Registry (CCR)], 3) a valid Commercial And Government Entity (CAGE) Code, 4) a valid registration with NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System (NSPIRES) (this also applies to any entities proposed for sub-awards or subcontracts.) Consult Appendix N Section 3 for more eligibility information. NASAs Office of Educations mission is to advance high quality STEM education. Through this solicitation, NASA is strengthening involvement with higher education institutions to ensure that NASA can meet future workforce needs in STEM fields. Participation in NASA projects and research stimulates increasing numbers of students to continue their studies at all levels of the higher education continuum and earn advanced degrees in these critical fields. The goals of the MEIs are to: Engage with MSI(s) to bring high performing undergraduate students, who plan to teach STEM, to NASA Centers for one week to interact with NASA missions and SMEs. Engage participating future educators with NASA experts to collaborate and provide the most advanced and innovative pre-service/alternate route experiences possible. Inspire future educators to help NASA communicate with students for years to come. Reach underserved and underrepresented populations and institutions. The specific objectives of the MEIs are to: Engage future educators enrolled in MSIs in NASA-unique, authentic STEM experiences affiliated with NASA missions and facilitated by NASA SMEs. Train these future educators in the use of evidence-based instructional practices that provide students with rich, NASA-unique STEM learning opportunities. Funded proposals shall showcase and leverage NASAs unique contributions in STEM fields to NASA-related careers, enhance students academic experiences, and/or improve future educators abilities to engage and teach their students. Each MEI will incorporate innovative approaches for development and delivery of instructional materials and professional learning experiences that capture the interest of future educators and actively involve participants in relevant NASA STEM content and applications. The proposed instructional materials and experiences shall be evidence-based and support K-12 STEM teaching and learning. Proposers are highly encouraged to identify and form partnerships with institutions interested in participating in the dissemination of programs, strategies, and materials. Every institution that intends to submit a proposal to this CAN, including the proposed prime award or any partner whether an informal education institution, other non-profit institutions, state and local Government agencies, and other organizations that will serve as sub-awardees or contractors, must be registered in NSPIRES. Electronic submission of proposals is required by the due date and must be submitted by an authorized official of the proposing organization. Such registration must identify the authorized organizational representative(s) who will submit the electronic proposal. All principal investigators and other participants (e.g. co-investigators) must be registered in NSPIRES regardless of submission system. Potential proposers and proposing organizations are urged to access the system(s) well in advance of the proposal due date(s) of interest to familiarize themselves with its structure and enter the requested information. Electronic proposals may be submitted via the NASA proposal data system NSPIRES or via Grants.gov. Organizations that intend to submit proposals via Grants.gov must be registered 1) with Grants.gov and 2) with NSPIRES. Additional programmatic information for this CAN may develop before the proposal due date. If so, such information will be added as a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ) or formal amendment to this CAN and posted on http://nspires.nasaprs.com . It is the proposers responsibility to regularly check NSPIRES for updates to this CAN.