Conference: Piloting a HSI Research Capacity Building Institute at the Annual Meeting of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU)

Hispanic Association Of Colleges And Universities, San Antonio TX

Investigators

Abstract

With support from the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI Program), this Conference project aims to provide training and technical support to faculty, staff, and administrators from Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) to improve their proposal development skills, particularly in applying for the National Science Foundation's Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Hispanic Serving Institutions grants. The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) will accomplish this by hosting a day-long institute at the HACU 2023 annual conference, targeting under-resourced HSIs that have never submitted or have been unsuccessful with NSF grants. Innovation in STEM depends on a diversity of perspectives in the national scientific workforce. However, many faculty and practitioners at HSIs lack practical experience in developing competitive funding proposals for research and student programming. To increase participation in NSF funding opportunities by HSIs, the proposed institute will systematically train HSI personnel to write a competitive and evidence-based proposal. The institutes expects up to one hundred participants from fifty or more institutions to attend the inaugural event. The proposed institute will provide several hands-on proposal development and writing sessions, led by experts from HSIs. Participants will learn best practices for conceptualizing a compelling project and writing a persuasive proposal, guided by expert mentors during and after the institute. The pilot institute will be evaluated and results will be disseminated in announcements to HACU members through email and social media, and will lead to the institutionalization of an annual research capacity building institute that is offered at subsequent HACU meetings. The HSI Program aims to enhance undergraduate STEM education and build capacity at HSIs. Projects supported by the HSI Program will also generate new knowledge on how to achieve these aims. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.