Between 2000 and 2011, the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to provided technical assistance to current and potential grantees in the Foundation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP). The goal of HBCU-UP is to ensure that graduates of these institutions are prepared to successfully pursue advanced STEM degrees or to enter the Nation’s science and engineering workforce upon graduation.

The QEM HBCU-UP project addresses the under-representation and the under-preparation of minorities in STEM by focusing on a group of institutions that award a significant percentage of the STEM baccalaureate degrees earned by African Americans. The project focuses on enhancing participating institutions’ capacity to develop competitive proposals, successfully implement funded projects, improve STEM program planning, and incorporate proven strategies for effective STEM teaching and learning.

Foundation support is enabling the QEM Network to:

• Annually conduct a two-day proposal development and evaluation workshop in the fall prior to the HBCU-UP Program’s annual deadline and a one-day follow-up workshop after HBCU-UP Program award decisions are announced, to discuss next steps for institutions that submitted proposals year’s competition, whether or not their proposals successfully merited a grant award.
• Provide technical assistance to new grantees through campus visits to observe project activities and to make recommendations to help ensure that their projects are unfolding as planned. During the visits, critical needs identified during the first year of project implementation will be addressed. The visits also will serve to assist in the development of strategies to address unanticipated barriers that may have developed.
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• Conduct a special-focused workshop each year to build and further strengthen institutional capacity in STEM. The special workshops will focus respectively on HBCU-UP targeted infusion and STEM education research proposals; designing STEM teacher preparation programs that produce graduates well-prepared to provide high quality STEM instruction at the K-12 level, particularly in mathematics; and effective STEM instructional strategies.

• Maintain a listserv for HBCU-UP Project Directors as well as links at QEM’s Website to potential sources of federal and non-federal support to assist grantee institutions in sustaining and institutionalizing the successful elements of their HBCU-UP projects.

Joint HBCU-UP/TCUP RIA Workshop

The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) and its Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP), conducted a proposal development workshop for the Research Initiation Awards (RIA) track offered by each program on Friday and Saturday, January 27-28, 2012, at the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel BWI Airport in Baltimore, MD. The final agenda along with links to the presentations made could be found here (create link to agenda and presentations).

Research Initiation Awards (RIA) provide support to pursue research at an NSF-funded major research center; a research-intensive institution; or a national laboratory. The awards, with support available for up to two years, are designed to: further a faculty member’s research capability and effectiveness; improve research and teaching at his or her home institution; and involve undergraduate students in research experiences.

QEM/NSF MOST RECENT HBCU-UP WORKSHOPS

WORKSHOP	LOCATION	DATE	AGENDA
Workshop on Evidence-based STEM Instructional Strategies Supported by the National Science Foundation	Baltimore, MD	November 9-10, 2012	AGENDA
QEM Education Research Project Professional Development and Mentoring Program Session V	Arlington, VA	August 10-11, 2012	AGENDA
QEM Education Research Project Professional Development and Mentoring Program Session IV	New Orleans. LA	June 1-2, 2012	AGENDA	PDM Biosketches
HBCU-UP/TCUP Research Initiation Awards (RIA) Workshops	Baltimore, MD	January 27-28, 2012	AGENDA
HBCU-UP Proposal Follow-up Workshop	Baltimore, MD	October 22, 2011	AGENDA
HBCU-UP Proposal Development Workshop	Baltimore, MD	October 21-22, 2011	AGENDA
Education Research Proposal Workshop for Faculty at HBCUs	Baltimore, MD	September 30- October 1, 2011	AGENDA
QEM Education Research Project Professional Development and Mentoring Program Session III	Baltimore, MD	August 4-5, 2011	AGENDA
FY 2010 Proposal Follow-up Workshop	Baltimore, MD	November 20, 2010	AGENDA

NSF Contacts:
Toni Edquist: tedquist@nsf.gov
Danielle Kittrell: dkittrel@nsf.gov
Claudia Rankins: crankins@nsf.gov

Created and Maintained by: The Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network
1818 N Street, NW, Suite 350
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202/659-1818
Fax: 202/659-5408
For questions or comments email us at
qemnetwork@qem.org