Fostering Interdisciplinary Research on Education | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

Fostering Interdisciplinary Research on Education (FIRE) is a National Science Foundation grant opportunity (NSF Publication/Funding Opportunity Number 10-541) designed to help researchers break out of their home disciplines and build the expertise needed to do stronger, more rigorous research on STEM learning and education. FIRE is introduced as a new strand within the NSF Research and Evaluation on Education in Science and Engineering (REESE) program (NSF 09-601), with the expectation that after this initial competition it would be folded into the broader REESE solicitation. The core idea is that many of the hardest problems in STEM education are complex and multi-layered, and solving them often requires theories, methods, and analytic tools that no single discipline holds on its own.

The program has two connected goals. The primary goal is to stimulate innovative interdisciplinary work that advances theoretical, methodological, and analytic approaches for understanding major STEM education issues of national importance. In practice, this means FIRE is not just looking for another study of an education problem; it is looking for projects that use cross-disciplinary training and collaboration to develop better ways of asking questions, gathering evidence, and interpreting results in STEM education research. The secondary goal is workforce-oriented: expanding and strengthening the community of investigators who are capable of conducting high-quality STEM education research. FIRE explicitly treats investigator development as part of the project outcome, not as an informal side benefit.

A defining feature of FIRE is that every proposal must include both a research component and a professional development component. To meet the professional development aim, the applying investigator is expected to learn a new field that will strengthen their STEM education research capacity, and they must partner with a mentoring scientist in that target field. Structurally, the investigator who is seeking to learn the new discipline must serve as the Principal Investigator (PI), while the mentor serves as the Co-Principal Investigator (Co-PI). While the project can involve multiple collaborators, the solicitation requires naming one individual as the designated Co-PI mentor. Eligibility is described broadly (with details referenced in the solicitation), and investigators may apply at any point after completing graduate training, meaning the opportunity is open across post-graduate career stages rather than limited to early-career researchers.

From a funding and logistics standpoint, FIRE is a discretionary NSF grant competition in the Science and Technology and other Research and Development category, under CFDA 47.076 (Education and Human Resources). NSF anticipated making about five awards, with an estimated total program funding level of $1,000,000. Individual awards have an indicated floor of $400,000, and the program states there is no cost sharing or matching requirement. The original and current closing date listed for full proposals was May 20, 2010, and the opportunity was posted on February 24, 2010.

For access and administrative help, the announcement points applicants to NSF Publication 10-541 and provides support contact guidance, including NSF Grants.gov support (grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov) for difficulties accessing the full announcement electronically or issues related to linking to the funding notice.

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