AGEP - GEO webinar, August 2 at 3 pm EDT

Forwarded webinar and program announcement from Greg Anderson, NSF:

Dear GEO community,

The NSF Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) would like to call to your attention the Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP) program (NSF 12-554, see http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf12554). AGEP is committed to the national goal of increasing the numbers of under-represented minorities (URMs), including African Americans, Hispanic Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, as well as URMs with disabilities in the science and engineering workforce. In particular, the AGEP program focuses on graduate education and postdoctoral training.

We are bringing this program to your attention now because AGEP allows alliances to be built around a single science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) discipline area or a subset of STEM disciplines and interdisciplinary areas, such as Geosciences. Additionally, alliance partners can now include other entities besides institutions of higher education, such as industry, professional societies, non-profit organizations, national labs, and research centers.

Increased URM participation in advanced STEM education and training is critical for supporting the development of a diverse professional STEM workforce, especially a diverse STEM faculty who serve as the intellectual, professional, personal, and organizational role models that shape the expectations of future scientists and engineers. To achieve this long-term goal, the AGEP program will support the development, implementation, study, and dissemination of innovative models and standards of graduate education and postdoctoral training that are designed to improve URM participation, preparation, and success in STEM career paths.

AGEP intends to support the following types of projects:

• AGEP-Transformation - Strategic alliances of institutions and organizations to develop, implement, and study innovative evidence-based models and standards for STEM graduate education, postdoctoral training, and academic STEM career preparation that eliminate or mitigate negative factors and promote positive practices for URMs.

• AGEP-Knowledge Adoption and Translation (AGEP-KAT) - Projects to expand the adoption (or adaptation) of research findings and evidence-based strategies and practices related to the participation and success of URMs in STEM graduate education, postdoctoral training, and academic STEM careers at institutions of higher education.

• AGEP-Broadening Participation Research in STEM Education (AGEP-BPR) - Investigator-initiated empirical research projects that seek to create and study new theory-driven models and innovations related to the participation and success of URMs in STEM graduate education, postdoctoral training, and academic STEM careers at institutions of higher education.

We envision, for example, an AGEP-Transformation project that would help catalyze the development of innovative alliances among GEO grantees, including centers, facilities, and research groups, to improve graduate education and postdoctoral training.

The AGEP proposals are due October 30, 2012. For further information, please see the following links.

AGEP Program Page: http://www.nsf.gov/funding/pgm_summ.jsp?pims_id=5474&org=HRD&from=home

AGEP Solicitation (12-554): http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf12554

Frequently Asked Questions for AGEP Solicitation (12-071): http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2012/nsf12071/nsf12071.pdf

In order to familiarize you with this solicitation, we invite you to a webinar on August 2, 2012 from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time co-hosted by the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) and the Division of Human Resource Development (HRD). The webinar will consist of three parts:

• An introduction by GEO Acting Assistant Director
• An overview of the AGEP program by Jessie DeAro, AGEP Program Director, HRD
• Audience question and answer session

The webinar will be hosted using Microsoft Office Live Meeting software.
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For additional information about this webinar you may contact:
AGS: Therese Moretto Jorgensen (TJorgens@nsf.gov)
EAR: Lina Patino (Lpatino@nsf.gov)
GEO: Jill Karsten (jkarsten@nsf.gov)
OCE: Lisa Rom (elrom@nsf.gov) or Larry Weber (Lweber@nsf.gov)

We thank you in advance for your interest in this program.

Sincerely,

Marge Cavanaugh, Acting Assistant Director
Michael Morgan, Division Director AGS
Jun Abrajano, Acting Division Director EAR
David Conover, Division Director OCE

Directorate for Geosciences
U.S. National Science Foundation