The NSF IUSE-EHR Program: What's New (and Old) About It, and Resources for Geoscience Proposers

Abstract:

The NSF Division of Undergraduate Education recently released a new solicitation for the IUSE program -- the latest iteration in a succession of funding programs dating back over 30 years (including the Instrumentation and Laboratory Improvement Program (ILI), the Course and Curriculum Development Program (CCD), the Course Curriculum and Laboratory Improvement Program (CCLI), and the Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education Program (TUES). All of these programs sought/seek to support high quality STEM education for majors and non-majors in lower- and upper-division undergraduate courses. The current IUSE-EHR program is described in a 2-year solicitation that includes two tracks: Engaged Student Learning, and Institutional & Community Transformation. Each track has several options for funding level and project duration. A wide range of activities can be proposed for funding, and the program recognizes the varying needs across STEM disciplines.

Geoscientists and other potential IUSE proposers are strongly encouraged to form collaborations with colleagues that conduct educational research and to propose projects that build upon the educational knowledge base in the discipline as well as contribute to it. Achieving this may not be immediately obvious to many geoscientists who have interests in improving student learning in their courses, but are not fluent in the scholarship of education in their field. To lower the barriers that have historically prevented larger numbers of geoscientists from developing their ideas into competitive education-related proposals, we have explored strategies for building and leveraging partnerships, sought to identify available resources for proposers, and explored a range of strategies for engaging and supporting larger numbers of potential geoscience proposers.