This project, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), is designed to provide support and professional development for STEM educators and other leaders from two-year colleges (2YCs) across the western United States to prepare competitive proposals for the NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (S-STEM) program. The mission of the S-STEM program is to increase the number of STEM degrees earned by students in American colleges and universities. The program provides grant funds to institutions of higher education to support the efforts of low-income, academically talented STEM majors. The support includes scholarships for students and funds to implement and assess evidence-based curricular and co-curricular practices that enhance the STEM learning environments for the students.

To increase the number of S-STEM grants to two-year colleges, this project will offer a two-day virtual proposal preparation workshop in June 2021, along with pre and post-workshop support to enhance the efficiency and outcomes of the workshop activities. The primary goal of the workshop is to facilitate the submission of competitive S-STEM proposals in 2022 from the colleges that participate. Two representatives from each college will be invited to participate in the workshop. One of the representatives must be teaching in a STEM discipline supported by the S-STEM program.