Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program | DE FOA 0002013

Opportunity Information: Apply for DE FOA 0002013

The Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program (MSIPP) is a discretionary grant opportunity from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), specifically the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Office of Science under its Academic Alliances and Partnerships subprogram. Its central purpose is to fund academic programs that help build NNSA's next-generation technical workforce. The program is designed to strengthen the pipeline of highly trained STEM graduates and researchers who can support NNSA's national security mission, including work connected to NNSA laboratories and production plants. A key idea behind MSIPP is not only producing talent for NNSA hiring needs, but also growing a strong external community of scientists and engineers at universities who can provide peer review, competition, and broader research capacity in technical areas that matter to NNSA.

MSIPP focuses on aligning university capacity-building and workforce development with DOE/NNSA mission areas. The opportunity emphasizes four success factors that guide what strong projects should accomplish. First, it aims to strengthen and expand STEM capacity at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs), including improving research experience in NNSA/DOE mission-relevant fields. Second, it prioritizes collaborations between MSIs and NNSA/DOE laboratories and plants, with an emphasis on meaningful scientist-to-scientist engagement, visible technical participation by MSI faculty in DOE/NNSA activities, and direct access to DOE/NNSA facilities that can support STEM research and training. Third, it seeks to increase the number of minority students completing STEM degrees. Fourth, it aims to increase the number of minority graduates and postdoctoral researchers who ultimately enter the DOE/NNSA STEM workforce. Taken together, these goals reflect a program that is both workforce-oriented and institutional-development oriented, trying to make MSIs stronger long-term contributors to national technical priorities while also expanding participation of underrepresented groups in STEM.

In practical terms, MSIPP supports efforts at institutions such as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), and Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). Eligible applicants include public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, private institutions of higher education, and federally recognized Native American tribal governments. The funding instrument is a grant, and the activity category is education, though the program description makes clear that education and research capacity-building are closely linked, especially when projects involve technical collaborations and facility access with DOE/NNSA entities.

For this specific funding announcement (Funding Opportunity Number DE FOA 0002013, Assistance Listing/CFDA 81.123), the agency anticipated making about four awards, with an award ceiling of up to $1,000,000. The opportunity was originally posted on December 17, 2018, with an original closing date of February 15, 2019. Overall, MSIPP is best understood as a targeted federal investment intended to strengthen MSIs, expand minority participation in advanced STEM education and research, and connect that talent and institutional capacity directly to DOE/NNSA mission needs through sustained partnerships with national labs and production facilities.

• The Department of Energy, NNSA in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Minority Serving Institutions Partnership Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 81.123.
• This funding opportunity was created on Dec 17, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Feb 15, 2019. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $1,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 4 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Private institutions of higher education.

Apply for DE FOA 0002013

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