Call for Participation 2004

Universities Space Research Association (USRA), through the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Earth Science Enterprise and the Office of Education’s Minority University Research and Education Programs, seeks the participation of interdisciplinary teams of university and college faculty and staff in an Earth System Science Education Program for the 21st Century (ESSE 21). The mission of ESSE 21 is to engage scientists and educators in the collaborative interdisciplinary development and offering of courses and learning resources focused on understanding and application of Earth system and global change science in the undergraduate classroom and laboratory. Within its mission, ESSE 21 motivates and effects systemic change by supporting the adoption of courses, curricula and degree programs in Earth system and global change science in colleges and universities. Also within a focused effort of its mission, ESSE 21 expands and broadens the nation’s offerings of Earth system and global change science by mutually engaging both majority and under represented institutions of higher learning. Its infrastructure supports exchanges and collaborations among faculty and scientists within and among majority/minority educational institutions, and with NASA programs and scientists. Selected proposal teams will join twelve college and university teams funded by ESSE 21 in 2003. See http://esse21.usra.edu for more information.

This Call for Participation (CFP) solicits proposals from universities and colleges who wish to participate in ESSE 21 by offering courses and curricula in Earth system and global change science and developing interdisciplinary learning resources for the classroom through collaboration across disciplines. This Call will result in the selection of approximately six college and university teams to receive grants of up to $35K/year for each of two years. At least three of the teams selected are expected to be from minority institutions. Support is subject to availability of NASA funds. Participants who actively contribute to the ESSE 21 community will be supported to participate at team meetings and events for the duration of the Program. This Call also seeks the participation of ESSE 21 Associates - academic, commercial, government or foreign institutions and organizations not seeking financial support, but desiring to formally participate in ESSE 21 community discussions, workshops and meetings.

Dear Colleague Letter

Call for Participation

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Instructions for electronic proposal submission

Questions and answers (Updated 2/24/2004)

Relevant documents and links

ESSE 21 Home Page

ESSE 21, sponsored by NASA through the Universities Space Research Association, is a collaborative education program offering small grants to engage an interdisciplinary community of faculty and scientists in the development of courses, curricula and degree programs and sharing of learning resources focused on the fundamental understanding and application of Earth system principles for the undergraduate and first year graduate classroom and laboratory.

ESSE 21 encourages participation from a wide range of undergraduate institutions - two year city, community, technical and tribal colleges, four year liberal arts colleges and research universities

ESSE 21 proposals should offer to develop and implement courses, learning modules, curricula, degree programs or other learning experiences in Earth system and global change science at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as develop or extend institutional capacity for Earth system science education in general.

Non-U.S. and government organizations and institutions may not apply for funding, but are encouraged to participate as ESSE 21 Associates via short letter proposal

ESSE 21 intends to select via peer review six teams to begin work as the third cadre of the Program in the spring semester of the 2004/5 academic year.

ESSE 21 seeks to actively engage underrepresented academic communities. At least three of the six teams selected are expected to be from accredited postsecondary minority institutions as defined by the Dept of Education (http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/edlite-minorityinst.html)

ESSE 21 proposals:

* Must address Earth system and global change science learning at the undergraduate or undergraduate/graduate level

* Must be submitted from an interdisciplinary team of at least two different disciplines, either from the same or different institutions

* Must agree to waive institutional overhead fees, or propose cost sharing (other than faculty salary) of an amount equal to or greater than institutional overhead fees if they cannot be waived

* Must include a budget signed by an appropriate institutional representative not exceeding $35,000 per year for each of two years

* Must offer and implement a means to evaluate the success of the effort, both as a formative assessment and summative evaluation of the educational impact, following guidelines provided in the CFP

* Should identify NASA resources being used, or resources being sought, as part of the ESS course or resource offerings

* Should identify how the ESS content being taught builds upon and/or develops STEM skills, and how students are being encouraged to pursue ESS or STEM careers as a result of their participation


* Should not request more than 1 month/year of faculty salary support except under unusual circumstances

* Should not request funds for travel - program travel support will be provided separately. Mileage allowance for local travel may be requested if the team is not co-located.

* Should not request funds for major research equipment. Equipment requests of under $5000 from grant support that aids in classroom and laboratory teaching will be considered (e.g. projection equipment) but must be matched by institutional support.

* Should identify the intent to participate and compete as a Level 1 (entry level), Level 2 (intermediate) or Level 3 (advanced) institution as defined in the CFP

* Should identify a NASA collaborator (either at a NASA center or within a project supported by NASA) or request assistance in identifying a NASA collaborator

* Should not exceed 10 pages in length (exclusive of cover page, abstract, CVs and other supporting materials)

* Should be submitted electronically as a PDF or MS Word file following instructions on the ESSE 21 web site - institutional signature pages or complete proposals may be mailed if necessary

Proposal Principal Participants and partners must agree:

* to share freely the learning resources developed with their ESSE 21 support
* to submit learning resources developed to the NASA ESE education product peer review
* to contribute proactively to the ESSE 21 community dialog and faculty exchange
* to participate in the annual ESSE 21 3-day team meeting
* to submit an annual report detailing the progress of the teaming effort and the numbers of students impacted in the classroom and otherwise

Schedule:

January 26, 2004 Call for Participation released
February 27, 2004 E-mail of intent to propose requested (to esse21@usra.edu)
April 1, 2004 Proposals due by midnight local time
May 14, 2004 Selections announced
June 26-30, 2004 (tentative) ESSE 21 annual team meeting
October 1, 2004 Cadre 3 institutional sub-awards in place