Research in Disabilities Education | Apply Online

Opportunity Summary:

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) program is a discretionary grant opportunity in the Education and Human Resources (EHR) directorate (CFDA 47.076) focused on increasing participation and success for people with disabilities across the full STEM pathway, from secondary school through postsecondary education and into the STEM workforce. The program has supported this mission since 1994, originally operating under the name "Program for Persons with Disabilities." At its core, RDE is designed to strengthen both outcomes and evidence: it funds projects that not only create or improve educational approaches, but also build a rigorous knowledge base about what influences STEM interest, learning, persistence, degree completion, and career choices for students with disabilities.

A central theme of the opportunity is understanding disability-related differences and barriers in STEM learning and in the wider educational, social, and pre-professional experiences that shape student trajectories. RDE places particular emphasis on research that examines the factors affecting academic performance, retention in STEM degree programs, and successful completion of associate, baccalaureate, and graduate STEM degrees. In practice, this means proposals often focus on critical transition points where students with disabilities are most likely to be lost from the pipeline, such as moving from high school to college, from introductory to advanced coursework, from two-year to four-year institutions, and from undergraduate to graduate training. The program also highlights work on effective supports and practices for retaining students with disabilities in undergraduate and graduate STEM programs and improving graduation outcomes.

RDE-funded research is intended to be usable beyond a single campus or intervention. A major expectation is that results will inform and strengthen "Alliances for Students with Disabilities in STEM," which are efforts that implement innovative and scalable practices to increase the number of students with disabilities earning STEM degrees and entering the nations science and engineering workforce. In other words, RDE is not just about studying problems; it is structured to produce findings, evaluation results, and proven practices or products that can be disseminated broadly and help close persistent participation and attainment gaps in STEM for people with disabilities. Strong dissemination is a built-in priority, with an explicit goal of getting validated practices and products into the hands of educators, institutions, and the public.

This specific archived announcement (NSF Publication 09-508; Funding Opportunity Number 09-508) anticipated approximately 24 awards with an estimated total funding amount of $3,000,000. Individual awards were described with a floor of $200,000 and a ceiling up to $3,000,000, indicating the competition could support both moderate-sized and potentially large, multi-faceted efforts depending on the project track and scope. Cost sharing or matching was listed as required, which is important for applicants because it implies the proposing organization would need to document committed resources in addition to NSF funds.

The solicitation also ties RDE to NSF's Innovation through Institutional Integration (I3) initiative, which encourages institutions to integrate NSF-funded projects strategically rather than treating awards as isolated efforts. I3 proposals emphasize coordinated, institution-level thinking about how multiple NSF awards (especially those managed in EHR, though not limited to EHR) can be integrated to create stronger, more sustainable impact. For the referenced fiscal year, I3 proposals were solicited across nine EHR programs: CREST, GSE, HBCU-UP, ITEST, LSAMP, MSP, Noyce, RDE, and TCUP. This matters because an applicant might approach RDE either as a focused disabilities-in-STEM project or as part of a broader institutional integration strategy depending on their track and eligibility.

Eligibility varies by track. For the Alliance, Research, and Demonstration/Enrichment/Dissemination tracks, proposals could come from a range of U.S.-based organizations connected to education or research, including accredited two- and four-year colleges and universities (including community colleges), as well as non-profit non-academic organizations such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, professional societies, and similar entities. For the I3 track, eligibility was limited primarily to accredited institutions of higher education with a U.S. campus, and there was a leadership requirement: the Principal Investigator for an I3 proposal generally had to be the university provost or an equivalent chief academic officer, unless the proposal was exclusively for I3 STEM educational or related research, in which case broader proposer categories described in the NSF Grant Proposal Guide could apply. No PI limit was specified for the other tracks, giving organizations flexibility in choosing project leadership.

Finally, the timeline in the archived notice reflects multiple annual deadlines by project type (for example, Alliance and other tracks had February deadlines, while the original closing date listed for this specific posting was August 25, 2009). The record indicates the opportunity is archived and "waiting for new publication," meaning applicants would need to consult the most current NSF RDE solicitation for active deadlines, updated funding levels, and current program priorities. For access issues, the notice directs users to NSF grants.gov support at grantsgovsupport@nsf.gov.

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