Broadening Participation Research Initiation Grants in Engineering

The Directorate for Engineering (ENG) at the National Science Foundation offers a research initiation grant funding opportunity with the goal of broadening participation to all engineers including members from underrepresented groups and persons with disabilities in the engineering disciplines.These grants are intended to increase the diversity of researchers in engineering disciplines to initiate research programs early in their careers, including those from underrepresented groups, engineers at minority serving institutions, and persons with disabilities.By providing these funding opportunities, ENG intends to further broaden participation of engineering researchers who share NSF's commitment to diversity in the following ways:Expand the population of role models who will interact with an increasingly diverse student population, the workforce of the future.Increase the number of engineering researchers at minority serving institutions actively and competitively engaged in research as independent investigators, thereby creating new research opportunities for students from underrepresented groups and persons with disabilities.Fund engineering research projects that use innovative ways to attract and retain members of underrepresented groups and persons with disabilities to careers in engineering.Awards are for 24 months and are limited to a maximum of $175,000 total costs (direct plus indirect). Principal Investigators must be U.S. citizens or lawfully admitted U.S. permanent residents at the time of application; visa-holders are not eligible.