Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program | 24 529

Opportunity Information: Apply for 24 529

The National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program is a discretionary grant opportunity aimed at pushing STEM graduate education in new directions through bold, potentially transformative ideas. The program is focused on improving how graduate students in STEM masters and doctoral programs are prepared for the realities of todays workforce, while also building stronger institutional systems that support effective graduate education. At its core, IGE is about generating practical, evidence-based knowledge that can be adapted, tested, refined, and ultimately adopted more broadly across institutions and programs, rather than supporting one-off efforts that stay confined to a single department or campus.

IGE invites two broad types of proposals. The first category centers on designing and implementing approaches that help STEM graduate students build the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed for a wide range of careers. This includes preparation for careers beyond traditional academic pathways and can involve rethinking training structures, professional development, mentoring models, experiential learning, or partnerships that expose students to real-world problem solving. The second category supports research focused on the graduate education system itself, including studies of how graduate education works, what outcomes it produces, and how systemic interventions or policy changes affect students and institutions. In practice, strong IGE projects often connect these two threads by pairing a new training model or structural change with a rigorous plan to study its impacts and produce lessons others can use.

The program emphasizes piloting, testing, and validating novel models or activities, as well as examining systemic innovations with high potential to strengthen the knowledge base on what works in graduate education. The intent is not only to implement an innovation, but to learn from it in a way that enables customization and scaling. IGE is also explicitly attentive to workforce development and broad participation, meaning it values efforts that expand opportunity and improve outcomes for diverse groups of graduate students, while helping institutions increase their capacity to deliver high-quality, equitable graduate training.

Collaboration is a major theme. NSF encourages strategic partnerships with the private sector, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, national laboratories, field stations, teaching and learning centers, informal science organizations, and academic partners. These collaborations can be used to strengthen career-relevant training, provide access to specialized facilities or communities of practice, co-develop curricula or experiential learning opportunities, and ensure that graduate education innovations are grounded in the needs of employers and society.

Eligible applicants are limited to specific organization types. Proposals may be submitted by US-based non-profit, non-academic organizations that are directly tied to research or education, such as independent museums, observatories, research laboratories, and professional societies. Accredited US institutions of higher education may apply as well, including both two-year and four-year colleges (community colleges included), as long as they have a campus located in the United States and are applying on behalf of their faculty. Federally recognized Tribal Nations are also eligible to submit proposals. If a proposal involves funding an international branch campus of a US institution, the submission must clearly explain why work at that international site is necessary, what specific benefits it brings to the project, and why the activities cannot be conducted at the US campus.

Key administrative details from the opportunity listing include the NSF funding opportunity title "Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program" and funding opportunity number 24-529. It uses the grant funding instrument and falls under the Science and Technology and other Research and Development activity category, with CFDA number 47.076. The listed award ceiling is $1,000,000, with an estimated 20 awards expected. The original closing date shown is March 25, 2025, and the opportunity record creation date is January 24, 2024.

• The National Science Foundation in the science and technology and other research and development sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "Innovations in Graduate Education (IGE) Program" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 47.076.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-01-24.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2025-03-25. (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 20 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others.

Apply for 24 529

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