NSF Awards Grants For CHIPS, Tech Workforce, And The Future Of Work

This summer time, the U.S. Nationwide Science Basis (NSF) introduced two units of awards to develop assist for group and technical faculty job coaching referring to rising applied sciences and industries– the Enabling Partnerships to Improve Innovation Capability (EPIIC) and the Experiential Studying for Rising and Novel Applied sciences (ExLENT) packages.

Because the passage of the CHIPS & Science Act of 2022 and the creation of the Know-how, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate, NSF’s first new arm in over thirty years, the federal company has doubled down on its funding workforce growth for rising know-how fields

NSF has particularly targeted on supporting group schools, minority-serving establishments, and non-research universities, together with liberal arts schools and regional public universities. Though a lot work should be completed to develop assist to establishments past analysis universities, the strikes thus far have been a robust begin because the company builds its workforce growth chops.

Neighborhood and technical schools, minority-serving establishments, or rising analysis universities can win an NSF EPIIC grant to strengthen institutional processes, insurance policies, and packages to assist partnerships for technology-based financial growth and regional innovation ecosystems. EPIIC grants assist partnerships of those establishments with trade, financial growth entities, and R&D organizations, similar to federal laboratories or analysis universities. This funding is very distinctive for group schools, which obtain a lot much less funding per scholar than universities, though they serve a better proportion of working-class and underrepresented populations.

In the meantime, NSF ExLENT funds related partnerships to create or scale hands-on, work-based studying alternatives similar to internships, challenge capstones, and pre-apprenticeship coaching in rising know-how fields. The grant program may assist profession exploration or immersive experiences for these new to STEM disciplines.

These new funding packages construct off prior expertise from NSF’s Superior Technological Schooling program, which has awarded almost $1.5 billion to greater than 500 schools supporting the STEM workforce because it launched in 1992.

Each packages made inaugural awards in 2023, which included awards to group and technical schools. The 2024 set of awardees additionally options a number of 2-year establishment awardees.

This previous July, NSF introduced $30 million in ExLENT grants to the subsequent cohort set of recipients. These establishments included Cleveland State Neighborhood School, Northern Virginia Neighborhood School, Kapiʻolani Neighborhood School inside the College of Hawaii System, Georgia Piedmont Technical School, Roane State Neighborhood School, Chippewa Valley Technical School, Grand Rapids Neighborhood School, and Wake Technical Neighborhood School.

In August, NSF introduced $18.6M in EPIIC grants to its second crop of awardees.

EPIIC awards went to establishments similar to Cuyahoga Neighborhood School, Georgia Piedmont Technical School, Madison Space Technical School, North Arkansas School, Northeast State Technical Neighborhood School, NorthWest Arkansas Neighborhood School, Owens State Neighborhood School, Spartanburg Neighborhood School, and Tidewater Neighborhood School.

How the CHIPS Act Empowered NSF to Increase Neighborhood School Assist

Underneath CHIPS Act packages, NSF funding is bringing a “second of change” for group and technical schools. Most individuals know group schools as switch establishments to universities or locations for coaching for conventional occupations throughout allied well being, IT, manufacturing, and the expert trades.

More and more, schools are coaching for rising industries in areas like biotechnology, synthetic intelligence, electrical and autonomous autos, quantum computing, superior manufacturing, and inexperienced power jobs.

Neighborhood schools can be vital to the success of America’s Twenty first-century industrial coverage. Their reasonably priced, accessible, and versatile construction positions them to make sure a robust, expert technical workforce. They can assist guarantee various entry to rising tech hubs and assist rebuild the hollowed-out center class by broader entry to jobs within the innovation financial system.

Then again, most NSF funding has traditionally gone to analysis universities to assist basic and utilized analysis, supporting almost 250 Nobel Prize-winning researchers. Whereas that mission is vital, the creation of the brand new Know-how, Innovation, and Partnerships directorate and the growth of NSF’s mission to deal with know-how growth and financial progress has required the company to assume otherwise about its assist of non-research universities.

An underappreciated contribution of the CHIPS Act was catalyzing a shift in funding streams, mindsets, and technique for workforce growth on the company.

NSF Prepares Schools for Partnerships and Bigger Awards — if Congress permits it

The affect of those federal grant packages goes past supporting the speedy wants of schools and their college students. In addition they lay the groundwork for the way forward for regional financial and workforce growth — and extra substantive involvement of recent sorts of establishments.

NSF EPIIC and ExLENT are each aligned with the key know-how focus areas Congress enshrined within the CHIPS & Science Act. Congress’ focus areas function know-how growth roadmap priorities for the NSF’s new know-how arm’s utilized analysis, know-how growth, and workforce missions.

EPIIC and ExLENT place schools to be robust companions for bigger grant awards, such because the Regional Innovation Engines program, which gives as much as $160 million over ten years to catalyze financial growth consortiums. Created by the CHIPS legislation, NSF Engines goals to nurture industries round rising know-how areas spanning good agriculture, quantum computing, cybersecurity, biotechnology, and synthetic intelligence.

The Biden administration introduced the inaugural NSF Engine awards at Forsyth Technical Neighborhood School in North Carolina. All ten awards embrace greater than twenty-two group and technical schools as named companions.

Named within the CHIPS legislation, NSF Engines is the broadest funding in place- and technology-based financial growth since Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Act and created land-grant universities in every U.S. state on the peak of the Civil Warfare.

Talking at New America, a non-partisan think-tank, this June, NSF Director Sethuraman Panchanathan touted the chance for group and technical schools, stating that “not one of the Regional Innovation Engines can be profitable if we do not have the capability of the expert technical workforce unleashed at full power and full scale, in every single place.”

That stated, in March Congress walked again on its promise within the CHIPS Act however reducing the NSF’s funds by $800 million, hamstringing the company’s capability to see by its position in CHIPS implementation and its assist of group faculty companions and others supported by the brand new directorate’s grants like HBCUs and minority-serving establishments.

Becoming a member of enterprise and universities, group faculty leaders have spoken out towards the cuts and have urged Congress to comply with by on CHIPS targets. Congress might want to acceptable funds to match the authorizations laid out for the company within the CHIPS invoice if assist growth is to be sustained.

Nonetheless, the company continues to place out new solicitations which presents a possibility for group and technical schools in addition to subsequent era partnerships and tech workforce coalitions.

NSF is presently searching for purposes for its subsequent spherical of NSF Engines. Full proposals are as a result of NSF on February 11, 2025. NSF EPIIC’s subsequent deadline can be January 21, 2025. The NSF ExLENT program has but to open its subsequent funding solicitation.

Schools curious about following grant funding alternatives can go to the NSF’s Know-how, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate’s web site and subscribe to its e-newsletter.