Pathways Grant Program Application

Applicants should meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Applicants must be CNS tenure-track, tenured, or professional track faculty members at the time of award.
• Faculty may only receive one grant at a time.

In addition, upon receiving an award, faculty must commit to:

• Regularly consult with the Office of STEM Education Excellence on project details and administration.
• Engage in the Pathways community throughout the funding period through monthly meetings (~5 hours) and serving on the Pathways application review committee (<5 h commitment).
• Submit brief annual progress reports and a final report within two months of the end of the award.

Projects can address a range of challenges and opportunities, including but not limited to:

• Adapting teaching methods that improve students’ experiences and increase students’ learning
• Building supports for students to persist in challenging educational programs
• Enhancing students’ ability to think and act like scientists and mathematicians
• Creating assessments that align with disciplinary and professional skill development
• Aligning student experiences across sections, courses, or disciplines
• Bridging undergraduate learning with career preparation
• Supporting faculty/instructor professional development in at least one of the above activities

Projects with any of the following components will not be funded:

• Projects not focused undergraduate teaching and learning
• Substantial efforts towards conducting research which does not directly inform teaching practices. 
• Activities are funded or have previously been funded through other sources
• Includes planning for or development of new courses not currently offered
• Requires recurring funding beyond the grant timeline to be sustainable into the future

The following categories of expense may be included in the budget. Ensure budget requests are directly related to the proposed project.

• Faculty stipends or course releases. See award tracks for specific limits. 
• Entertainment: May be budgeted to provide food and non-alcoholic beverages for activities which bring together a community of personnel engaged with, or supporting the efforts of, a Pathways grant so long as the activities are outside a scheduled course. Limited to $2k per award.  
• Other expense categories may include: graduate student stipends and tuition (for work on the proposed project), student employee wages, consultation fees/honoraria, materials and supplies, equipment, or professional development fees.  

Note: All budget items should be justified with a clear need and a specific relation to the project, or for faculty effort, a reasonable estimate of time and effort required to complete the project goals should be shared.  

Additional information about award administration will be provided at the time of award.

The two-year Dean’s Teaching Fellowship supports individual CNS faculty seeking to enhance their pedagogical skills and implement changes to one, or more, of their courses. Fellows will receive a $5,000 stipend each year for two years, with additional funding up to $4,000 total for project activities and support from the Pathways community. 

The one-year Bridging Impacts Grant is intended to support a CNS faculty member in developing, assessing, or publishing scholarly projects that demonstrate evidence of impact on undergraduate teaching and learning. Applications from pairs of faculty will be considered on a case-by-case basis and interested pairs are encouraged to contact STEMx to discuss. These grants may serve as a bridge to future applications. Budget per award is not to exceed $8,000 with a maximum of $5,000 in faculty stipends.

The Collaborative Innovation Grant supports groups of faculty working to effect change and improvement of undergraduate learning experiences and success across multiple sections and courses. This award supports activities such as testing out a promising innovation across courses, aligning educational experiences across related sections or courses, or allowing more cohesive or impactful student experiences across a degree plan. This grant may support short-term expenditures during program development, but proposals must be sustainable and not require recurring funding beyond the grant timeline. This grant supports curriculum development over 2 years and carries a maximum budget not to exceed $25,000. A maximum of $20,000 may be spent on faculty stipends respectively for each award type.