SSTI Digest

With the goal of supporting partnerships that unite the efforts of local school districts with science, mathematics, engineering and education faculties of colleges and universities, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has released the first request for proposals (RFP) for the $160 million Math & Science Partnerships (MSP) initiative. Involvement of additional stakeholders, especially states, is highly encouraged, according to the RFP.



The program seeks to improve student outcomes in high-quality mathematics and science at all levels, from pre-K to 12. By stressing partnerships, MSP emphasizes that mathematicians, scientists and engineers participate in the effort to impact the teacher workforce and to work with teachers and administrators to substantially improve student achievement. NSF expects teachers and higher education faculty, as well as administrators and school guidance counselors, to be significantly involved in proposal development and program implementation.

While 2002 marks the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, it also may be remembered as the first time an agency successfully finagled its way out of SBIR's requirement that 2.5 percent of extramural R&D be awarded to small technology companies.

SSTI sources report the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) managed to insert in the FY 2002 Defense Appropriations Act language rescinding 49.6 percent — $73.8 million — of the agency's SBIR obligation for FY 2002.

The SBIR program typically awards up to $750,000 directly to small firms for research and development leading to the commercialization of new technologies. BMDO is one of eight defense components required to participate in the small-business set-aside.

To create new research centers in FY 2003, the National Science Foundation (NSF) is offering approximately $26 million through its Engineering Research Centers (ERC) Program. 



At least two awards totaling up to $13 million each will be made. The awards, subject to 10 percent cost sharing, will be distributed as follows: $2.5 million (year 1), $3 million (year 2), $3.5 million (year 3), and $4 million (years 4 and 5). 



Each new center will focus on the definition, fundamental understanding, development, and validation of the technologies needed to realize a well-defined class of engineered systems with the potential to spawn whole new industries or radically transform the product lines, processing technologies, or service delivery methodologies of current industries. 

A National Science Foundation (NSF) program to foster significant public/private partnerships and help better position local communities to accommodate new and enhanced research and development is continuing into a second year, NSF announced last month. 



The $14 million in grants awarded last year under NSF's Partnerships for Innovation (PFI) have been supplemented with more than $7 million for 12 new grants in 2001 to cover projects in 11 states involving more than 150 partner organizations. 



The twelve lead institutions receiving new PFI awards include: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland; the University of Alaska, Anchorage; the universities of Maine, Southern Mississippi, Southern California, Pennsylvania and South Dakota; Montana Tech; Michigan Technological University; and Montana State, Northwestern and Wichita State universities. 

The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), through the Mathematics Education Trust, funds special projects that enhance the teaching and learning of mathematics at all levels. An organization valuing the use of instructional technology tools, NCTM currently has at least 10 grant opportunities supporting in-service programs, the improvement of professional competence and other related causes.



Toyota's Investment In Mathematics Excellence (Toyota TIME) grant, for instance, annually awards teachers up to $10,000 for projects that enhance mathematics education within a school. Sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc., through its partnership with NCTM, the Toyota TIME grant is open to K-12 teachers with three years' experience teaching mathematics. The focus of the grant comes on individual students and classrooms rather than on district-wide projects. In 2002, as many as 35 two-year grants totaling up to $350,000, will be awarded to schools at the elementary, middle, and high school levels.

Earlier this week, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced awards estimated to total $65 million over five years to fund six major centers in nanoscale science and engineering. The awards are part of a series of NSF grants – totaling $150 million in fiscal year 2001 alone – for nano research in multiple disciplines. 



The six centers will be located at Columbia and Cornell Universities and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, Harvard University in Massachusetts, Northwestern University in Illinois, and Rice University in Texas.