Alliances for Broadening Participation in STEM | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) grant opportunity titled Alliances for Broadening Participation in STEM (ABP) is a portfolio-style solicitation designed to increase the number of students who successfully complete high-quality STEM degree programs and move into advanced study and careers. It brings together several connected NSF efforts under one umbrella: the Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP), the LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Activity, LSAMP educational research projects, and the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP). Across all components, the central goal is to broaden participation and improve outcomes for groups that have historically been underrepresented in STEM, specifically African Americans, Alaskan Natives, Native Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Pacific Islanders. A major theme of the opportunity is not only supporting students directly, but also transforming STEM education through innovative academic strategies, structured experiences, and institutional change.

ABP is built around the idea of a coherent pathway that starts at the undergraduate level and continues through graduate education, the doctorate, and ultimately entry into the STEM professoriate and research workforce. The LSAMP program is the primary entry point, emphasizing the creation and strengthening of broad-based alliances. These alliances typically include multiple academic institutions and may also involve school districts, state and local government partners, and private-sector organizations, all working together to increase both the diversity and the quality of the STEM workforce. LSAMP is fundamentally collaborative and regional/national in nature, aiming to scale impact beyond a single department or campus by building shared infrastructure for recruitment, retention, academic support, research engagement, and degree completion.

The LSAMP Bridge to the Doctorate (BD) Activity is positioned as a continuation mechanism for students who have been supported through LSAMP as undergraduates and who are moving into STEM graduate programs. The BD component provides substantial financial support for students who matriculate into eligible STEM graduate programs at alliance sites, with support available for up to two additional years of graduate study. Importantly, eligibility to apply for BD funding is restricted to senior LSAMP alliances, defined here as alliances with ten or more years of continuous LSAMP funding, reflecting NSF's intent that BD awards build on mature, well-established alliance structures.

AGEP focuses on the graduate-to-professoriate end of the pipeline. Its purpose is to increase the success of underrepresented STEM graduate students through doctoral completion and to prepare them for productive careers as faculty and research professionals. In addition to student preparation and professional development, AGEP places strong emphasis on institutional transformation, particularly changes in policies, practices, mentoring structures, and academic culture that influence recruitment, retention, degree progress, and career placement of doctoral students. In other words, AGEP is not just about helping individual students navigate the system; it is also about changing the system so it becomes more effective and equitable over the long term.

A distinct, related element in this solicitation is Innovation through Institutional Integration (I3). I3 projects are intended to help institutions integrate and strategically align multiple NSF-funded awards, especially those administered through NSF's Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR). The goal is to move beyond isolated grant activities and instead coordinate programs, data, leadership, and campus structures so that combined investments produce stronger, more sustainable outcomes. For the referenced fiscal year, proposals advancing I3 goals were solicited across nine EHR programs: CREST, GSE, HBCU-UP, ITEST, LSAMP, MSP, Noyce, RDE, and TCUP. This reflects NSF's interest in leveraging existing work and creating campus-level coherence across initiatives that often address different parts of the STEM education ecosystem.

From an administrative and funding standpoint, this opportunity (Funding Opportunity Number 10-522) is offered as a discretionary, science and technology research and development program using a cooperative agreement funding instrument. The solicitation anticipated about 32 awards, with an estimated total funding level of $29,000,000. Individual awards could range from $200,000 (floor) up to $5,000,000 (ceiling). There is no stated cost sharing or matching requirement, which can lower barriers for institutions that may have limited capacity to provide institutional matching funds.

Eligibility depends on the specific component. For LSAMP alliance proposals, only baccalaureate-producing institutions may serve as lead institutions. For LSAMP BD proposals, only senior-level LSAMP alliances with at least ten years of continuous LSAMP support may apply. LSAMP educational research proposals may be submitted by accredited U.S. universities and two- and four-year colleges (including community colleges) on behalf of their faculty, emphasizing that this track is centered on rigorous educational research rather than only program implementation. I3 eligibility is generally limited to accredited U.S.-based institutions of higher education with a campus located in the United States, with an important exception: if an I3 proposal is exclusively for STEM educational or related research, then broader proposer categories recognized in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide may be eligible.

The solicitation also sets expectations about who should lead proposals as Principal Investigator (PI), signaling NSF's focus on institutional commitment and high-level accountability. For LSAMP and LSAMP BD, NSF indicates that the President or Provost of the lead institution should serve as PI, with any alternative arrangement requiring a full explanation. This requirement underscores that LSAMP and BD are intended to be institution-wide strategic efforts rather than projects driven only at the departmental or individual faculty level. Co-PIs from partner institutions may be included as appropriate. By contrast, for LSAMP educational research proposals, the eligible PI is typically the cognizant faculty member(s) who will conduct the research or who is responsible for the educational research project. For I3 proposals, the PI must be the university provost or equivalent chief academic officer unless the proposal is exclusively for I3 STEM educational or related research, in which case the leadership requirement can differ.

Key dates in the solicitation reflect multiple proposal tracks with different deadlines. The posted date was December 24, 2009, with creation noted as April 22, 2010. The original and current closing date for LSAMP and LSAMP Educational Research proposals was October 8, 2010, while the BD proposals were due March 24, 2010, and I3 proposals were due April 7, 2010. The CFDA number associated with the opportunity is 47.076 (Education and Human Resources), and the issuing agency is NSF. For full details, NSF directed applicants to NSF Publication 10-522 and provided guidance to contact grants.gov support for access issues.

Overall, ABP is best understood as a coordinated set of NSF investments that aims to create continuous, better-supported pathways into and through STEM education for underrepresented groups, while also producing publishable knowledge about what works and pushing institutions to integrate efforts and change practices at scale. It combines direct student-focused support (especially through LSAMP and BD), doctoral and faculty-career preparation plus institutional culture change (through AGEP), and strategic alignment of NSF-funded activities (through I3), all aligned toward the broader objective of diversifying and strengthening the STEM workforce and professoriate.

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