Program Solicitation
NSF 08-516 Replaces Document(s):
NSF 06-608

 Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

March 11, 2008

In furtherance of the President's Management Agenda, NSF has identified programs that will offer proposers the option to utilize Grants.gov to prepare and submit proposals, or will require that proposers utilize Grants.gov to prepare and submit proposals. Grants.gov provides a single Government-wide portal for finding and applying for Federal grants online.

In response to this program solicitation, proposers may opt to submit proposals via Grants.gov or via the NSF FastLane system. In determining which method to utilize in the electronic preparation and submission of the proposal, please note the following:

Collaborative Proposals. All collaborative proposals submitted as separate submissions from multiple organizations must be submitted via the NSF FastLane system. Chapter II, Section D.3 of the Grant Proposal Guide provides additional information on collaborative proposals.

Major changes in CPATH solicitation:

1. Elimination of CISE Distinguished Education Fellow (CDEF) component;

    

2. Streamlined award structure into two distinct tracks,
   Community
   Building and Institutional Transformation;

    

3. Addition of a Conceptual Development and Planning (CDP) grant category in the Institutional Transformation track;

    

4. Combination of former Evaluation, Adoption, and Extension (EAE) and Transformation (T) award categories into a single grant category, Transformative Implementation (TI) in the Institutional Transformation track;

    

5. Inclusion of enhanced language on CPATH evaluation requirements;

    

6. Addition of an emphasis on computational thinking approaches; and

    

7. Addition of language to clarify issues identified in the first competition.

    

Program Title: 

CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education  (CPATH)

Synopsis of Program:

Computing has permeated and transformed almost all aspects of our everyday lives. As computing becomes more important in all sectors of society, so does the preparation of a globally competitive
U.S. workforce with the ability to generate and apply new knowledge to solve increasingly complex problems and understand human behavior. Unfortunately, despite the deep and pervasive impact of computing and the creative efforts of individuals in a small number of institutions, undergraduate computing education today often looks much as it did several decades ago. 

The field of computing has broadened to include applications that often require integration of multidisciplinary domains to support computationally intense e-science environments.  Emerging information technology disciplines offer unique opportunities to develop the next generation of computing education models that respond to technological trends and that meet many stakeholders’ needs and expectations.  At the same time, new transformative educational models have the potential to respond to current challenges such as addressing fluctuating enrollments in undergraduate computing, increasing relevance of educational experiences through industry connections, developing leaders and communities to foster revitalization efforts, and integrating fast-paced computing innovations into the curriculum.    

Future students will expect to see academic pathways that allow them to pursue careers that require blended experiences in multiple disciplines with a strong computational and computing core of knowledge. Models and methods based on computational thinking offer particular promise in meeting these expectations.  Computational thinking involves solving problems and designing complex systems using a range of mental tools reflecting the breadth of the fields of computer science and computing. Computational thinking has already influenced the nature of many scientific disciplines and the range of scientific challenges that can be realistically conquered. Thus, computational thinking skills can provide the basis for transformative models for undergraduate computing education that offer exciting, relevant academic pathways in which students and faculty can thrive.

Through the CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (CPATH) program, NSF's Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is challenging its partners – colleges, universities and other stakeholders committed to advancing the field of computing and its impact - to transform undergraduate computing education on a national scale, to meet the challenges and opportunities of a world where computing is essential to U. S. leadership.

The CPATH vision is of a
U.S. workforce with the computing competencies and skills crucial to the Nation’s health, security and prosperity in the 21^st century. This workforce includes a cadre of professionals with the computing depth and breadth needed for sustained leadership in a wide range of application domains and career fields, and a broader professional workforce with deep knowledge and understanding of critical computing concepts, computational thinking methodologies and techniques.

To achieve this vision, CISE is calling for colleges and universities to work together and with other stakeholders to formulate and implement plans to revitalize undergraduate computing education in the
United States. The full engagement of faculty and other individuals in CISE disciplines will be critical to success.  Successful CPATH projects will be systemic in nature and will demonstrate significant potential to contribute to the transformation and revitalization of undergraduate computing education on a national scale.

CPATH will support three types of projects in two major track categories,
Community
Building and Institutional Transformation:

Community
Building Track

• Community
  Building (CB) Grants

   

Institutional Transformation Track:

• Conceptual Development and Planning  (CDP) Grants

   

• Transformative Implementation (TI) Grant

   

Cognizant Program Officer(s):

·         Harriet Taylor, Program Director, Division of Computer and Network Systems, telephone: (703) 292-8950, email: htaylor@nsf.gov

·         Joseph Urban, Program Director, Division of Computing and Communication Foundations, telephone: (703) 292-8910, email: jurban@nsf.gov

·         Sylvia Spengler, Program Director, Division of Information and Intelligent Systems, telephone: (703) 292-8930, email: sspengle@nsf.gov

Applicable Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance (CFDA) Number(s):

• 47.070 --- Computer and Information Science and Engineering

   

Anticipated Type of Award:  Standard Grant or Continuing Grant

Estimated Number of Awards:    17 to  30   total. 10 to 15 Community Building (CB) awards several of which may be focused at the national level; 5 to 10 Conceptual Development and Planning (CDP) Awards; 2 to 5 Transformative Implementation (TI) awards.

Anticipated Funding Amount:   $5,000,000  in FY 2008 pending the availability of funds. CB projects will be funded from levels of $50,000 to a maximum of $500,000 total for durations of up to three years. CDP projects will be funded at levels of $50,000 up to a maximum of $150,000 total for durations of up to two years. TI projects will be funded at levels up to $1,000,000 total for a maximum duration of three years.

Organization Limit: 

Proposals may only be submitted by the following:

·         Organizational limits differ by CPATH project type as defined below:

For CB projects.  GPG eligibility guidelines apply.

For CDP and TI projects.  Universities and two- and four-year colleges (including community colleges) located and accredited in the United States, its territories or possessions, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, that award degrees in a field supported by NSF are eligible to apply for CDP and TI awards. Such organizations also are referred to as academic institutions.

CPATH proposals that describe partnerships with other organizations with a stake in undergraduate computing education are strongly encouraged. Partner organizations may include industry, professional societies, and not-for-profit organizations, amongst others.

PI Limit: 

At least one individual on the project leadership team (PI or co-PI) must be a member of the community served by CISE.

Limit on Number of Proposals per Organization: 

For CDP and TI proposals: an academic institution may submit or participate in no more than one TI and one CDP proposal. There is no organizational limit for CB proposals.

Limit on Number of Proposals per PI: 2 

An individual may participate as PI, Co-PI, or Senior Personnel on at most one CDP or TI proposal.  An individual may also participate as PI, Co-PI or Senior Personnel on at most one CB proposal.

A. Proposal Preparation Instructions

• Letters of Intent: Not Applicable

   

• Preliminary Proposal Submission: Not Applicable

   

·         Full Proposals:

·         Full Proposals submitted via FastLane: NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide, Part I: Grant Proposal Guide (GPG) Guidelines apply. The complete text of the GPG is available electronically on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg.

·         Full Proposals submitted via Grants.gov: NSF Grants.gov Application Guide: A Guide for the Preparation and Submission of NSF Applications via Grants.gov Guidelines apply (Note: The NSF Grants.gov Application Guide is available on the Grants.gov website and on the NSF website at: http://www.nsf.gov/bfa/dias/policy/docs/grantsgovguide.pdf)

B. Budgetary Information

• Cost Sharing Requirements: Cost Sharing is not required under this solicitation.  

   

• Indirect Cost (F&A) Limitations:  Not Applicable

   

• Other Budgetary Limitations: Other budgetary limitations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

   

C. Due Dates

• Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):

   

March 11, 2008

Merit Review Criteria:   National Science Board approved criteria. Additional merit review considerations apply. Please see the full text of this solicitation for further information.

Award Conditions:   Standard NSF award conditions apply

Reporting Requirements:   Standard NSF reporting requirements apply

Summary of Program Requirements

1. Introduction

    

2. Program Description

    

3. Award Information

    

4. Eligibility Information

    

5. Proposal Preparation and Submission Instructions

    

1. Proposal Preparation Instructions

    

2. Budgetary Information

    

3. Due Dates

    

4. FastLane/Grants.gov Requirements

    

6. NSF Proposal Processing and Review Procedures

    

1. NSF Merit Review Criteria

    

2. Review and Selection Process

    

7. Award Administration Information

    

1. Notification of the Award

    

2. Award Conditions

    

3. Reporting Requirements

    

8. Agency Contacts

    

9. Other Information

    

Computing has permeated and transformed almost all aspects of our everyday lives.  As computing becomes more important in all sectors of society, so does the preparation of a globally-competitive
U.S. workforce with knowledge and understanding of critical computing concepts, methodologies, and techniques. Computational thinking is rapidly becoming an essential skill for students in all disciplines. Unfortunately, despite the deep and pervasive impact of computing and the creative efforts in a small number of institutions, undergraduate computing education today often looks much as it did several decades ago.   To date, undergraduate computing education has been highly heterogeneous, and has suffered from a lack of recognized leaders or mechanisms for identifying leaders.  Often, the small grassroots communities that have emerged flounder due to lack of leadership, administrative support or other resources needed to help them flourish.  To enable systemic changes within institutions, among groups of institutions, and at the national level, leaders must be nurtured, communities supported, and educational and organizational change catalyzed and sustained. The CPATH program seeks to promote projects that will revitalize undergraduate computing education on a broad scale and develop innovative academic partnerships and pathways that will prepare undergraduates to enter, lead, and thrive in the challenging workplaces and computing environments of the future. 

The CISE Pathways to Revitalized Undergraduate Computing Education (CPATH) vision is of a
U.S. workforce with the computing competencies and skills crucial to the Nation’s health, security and prosperity in the 21^st century. This workforce includes a cadre of professionals with the computing depth and breadth needed for sustained U.S. leadership in a wide range of application domains and career fields, and a broader professional workforce with deep knowledge and understanding of critical computing concepts, computational thinking methodologies and techniques.

To achieve this vision, NSF’s Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE) is challenging colleges and universities to work together and with others with a stake in undergraduate computing education, including industry, professional societies and other types of organizations, to formulate and implement plans to transform undergraduate computing education to meet the challenges and opportunities of our 21^st century world.  Critical to this work is the full engagement of faculty and other individuals representing CISE disciplines. 

In the aggregate, CPATH projects will:

• Enable implementation of integrative models for undergraduate computing education that are replicable across a variety of programs and institutions, and have a high probability of adoption on a national scale;

   

• Foster the integration of computational thinking approaches into all undergraduate academic disciplines;

   

• Nurture emerging undergraduate computing education communities and leaders to ensure a continuing sustained focus on innovation in computing education;

   

• Provide models for new multi-disciplinary programmatic pathways for undergraduate computing education;

   

• Contribute to the development of a diverse, agile workforce with the computing knowledge essential to
  U.S. leadership in the global innovation enterprise;

   

• Promote the formation of partnerships among academic institutions, industry and other organizations with a stake in the revitalization of undergraduate computing education; and

   

• Develop exemplar pathways for institutions to reinvigorate undergraduate computing education.

   

In the FY 2008 competition, CISE will support CPATH awards in two tracks,
Community
Building and Institutional Transformation, as defined below.

Community
Building Track

The
Community
Building track provides support for development of communities distributed across many institutions and organizations who are focused on common goals and activities to revitalize undergraduate computing education. This might include a topical focus, pedagogical focus, geographical focus, or any other common framework that defines the community of stakeholders actively working on revitalizing undergraduate computing education. Community building can take place within and across disciplines or within blended multi-disciplinary groups. Community building activities focus on developing, nurturing, supporting, and sustaining the group through ongoing active involvement of a diverse set of community participants.

Many community members will be actively engaged in producing pilot activities at their own institutions and in building community resources and support structures to share their experiences, models, and expertise in the area of common interest.
Community
Building Projects may lead to the development of focused institutional transformation projects at one or more of the institutions of the participating faculty.

Community
Building Projects

Community
Building (CB) awards will support efforts that bring a diverse group of stakeholders together to develop, nurture, and sustain communities that are actively engaged with a common intellectual focus or goals related to revitalization of undergraduate computing education.
Community
Building projects have four central elements: community focus and goals, leadership development, well-planned activities for ongoing engagement and broadening of communities, and clear support of the communities involved.  These elements should be clearly documented in CPATH CB proposals. Typical community building projects involve a team of leaders, rather than a single PI, and include documentation of relevant prior activities related to the community that is being served. Community building efforts focused on multidisciplinary communities that blur traditional bounds of computer science are particularly encouraged.

The scope of CB activities is deliberately broad and can involve a range of activities. Activities must be designed in the context of the current state of the community served or engaged, as well as with full awareness of prior work already underway within the community.   In the development of community building proposals, PIs may wish to consider the following: strategies for broad faculty engagement should be articulated in all projects; all projects should include plans for sustainable implementation within the participating organizations and institutions; in projects including industry stakeholders, industry partners should actively participate in the education activities as well as the research activities of the participating institutions and faculty; projects with international components should clearly articulate a strategy to prepare students for participation in a global economy; and, projects involving workshops and national forums should include active ongoing engagement of the target communities after the workshops and clear goals for the sustained development and support of the communities, as well as follow-up and dissemination activities. 

All projects in the community building track are encouraged to include secondary teachers and students in meaningful ways motivated by the project goals.  Projects that build communities focused on the integration of computational thinking approaches into the curriculum at the undergraduate level with outreach connections to secondary schools are specifically encouraged. 

Projects must include plans for evaluation and assessment of the project to effectively document both successes and failures, as well as for sustainability of the communities beyond the period of funding.  CISE encourages proposers to develop and implement creative strategies likely to result in transformative activities at institutional, local, regional and/or national levels and across all institution types.  Community building projects may lead to the development of focused transformative implementation projects at one or more of the institutions.  The transformative implementation projects that result will by design include broader institutional participation and a shared vision for institutional transformation. 

Institutional Transformation Track

The Institutional Transformation Track provides support for single institutions or coordinated groups of multiple institutions to develop and implement transformative models of innovative undergraduate computing education within the participating institution or institutions. Institutional Transformation projects include not only curricular reform, but also institutional infrastructure and administrative reform, and clear participation of broad groups of faculty within each institution in the transformative activities.  Projects that may result in new and innovative pathways for faculty and student participation in undergraduate computing education are particularly encouraged.

The Institutional Transformation Track includes two project types: Conceptual Development and Planning (CDP) projects and Transformative Implementation (TI) projects. Together these two types of projects form a pathway for institutional revitalization of undergraduate computing education.  CDP awards support the first steps in conceptual design and planning prior to large scale institutional implementation.  TI awards support full implementation of models, usually preceded by extensive planning pilot activities.   Investigators should assess the readiness state of the institution to determine which of the two project categories (CDP or TI) to pursue.

CDP awards provide support for institutions at early stages of their transformative process.  Some institutions will require one to two years of support for initial activities within the institution to develop the basic conceptual design for institutional transformation and corresponding implementation plans. Other institutions with a clear agreement on their transformative conceptual design will require support for a one year implementation planning phase. It is expected that CDP projects will result in concrete plans and institutional commitments for implementing the models designed and that a well formulated CPATH Transformative Implementation proposal will be developed.

TI awards provide support for large scale implementation and institutionalization of innovative models for revitalizing undergraduate computing education at one or more participating institutions. Investigators must document institutional readiness for the implementation, including prior conceptual development and planning, any prior pilot activities, and institutional commitment for the implementation.    TI awards may involve basic implementation at a particular institution or extension of a prior implementation within an institution combined with adaptation and adoption implementation at other institutions.

The two Institutional Transformation award types, Conceptual Development and Planning (CDP) and Transformative Implementation (TI), are defined below.

Conceptual Development and Planning (CDP) Projects.

Conceptual Development and Planning (CDP) awards will support the institutional groundwork preparation for institutional transformative implementation activities. CDP grants support conceptual design and planning for innovative programs and academic structures involving collaborative computing-intensive disciplinary units or groups of faculty. CDP activities must be targeted at moving multiple departments or schools within a single institution or group of institutions towards transformative learning which goes beyond the more common process of assimilative learning.  

Institutions just beginning transformative processes may wish to start with a CPATH CDP project proposal. Funds can be requested for developing faculty collaborative groups, convening workshops and focused activities for designing conceptual frameworks, gaining faculty and administrative organizational support, and laying the foundation for the infrastructure changes needed to realize the implementation of the institutional transformative vision for undergraduate computing education.   CDP projects are expected to address ALL planning aspects essential to the preparation of a strong CPATH Transformative Implementation (TI) project.

Transformative Implementation (TI) Projects.

Transformative Implementation projects have a focus on transformation at a single institution or group of institutions. Single institution TI grants must engage multiple academic units or disciplines. TI awards also support the work of multiple institutions committed to the implementation of common or related models of undergraduate computing education.   All TI projects are expected to include outreach to broader institutional communities as the projects and models mature, including the participation of secondary teachers and students as appropriate within the context of the project.

TI awards will support advanced development and assessment of innovative undergraduate computing education reform within and across higher educational academic institutions.  TI grants will support the implementation of innovative, integrative models for undergraduate computing education that have potential to serve as national models.  TI projects are expected to:

• Implement innovative, integrative organizational models for undergraduate computing education at one or more institutions;

   

• Provide new or enhanced programmatic pathways for undergraduate computing education;

   

• Create sustainable changes in culture and practice within the participating organizations;

   

• Serve as models and resources for the national computing community;

   

• Extend already implemented innovative undergraduate computing education models and/or approaches to additional institutions; and

   

• Evaluate the success and impact of the models being implemented.  

   

TI projects must include a comprehensive evaluation plan involving external evaluators with the expertise to conduct project evaluation and to oversee quasi-experimental evaluation projects as part of a CPATH programmatic evaluation.  Funds must be requested for the project evaluator to attend an annual evaluator meeting organized by NSF. Evaluation should comprise at least 10% of the total budget of TI projects.  Evaluation of most TI projects will involve contact with students and faculty. For that reason, it is likely that PIs will need to request and receive Human Subjects Certification from their institutions if their projects are funded.

CPATH is focused on systemic change impacting the nature, delivery, support infrastructure, and administration of undergraduate computing education. Successful TI proposals will fully address organizational as well as curricular issues. There must be a detailed plan for sustainability of the undergraduate computing education model that is the basis for the proposed implementation effort.  Funding will reflect active participation from all stakeholders rather than a single academic group.  For TI projects, letters of support included in the Supplementary Documents Section of the proposal are required as one method of documenting institutional and community support.

CPATH will fund implementation of innovative models for undergraduate computing education that can serve as sustainable national models. CPATH encourages the development of TI projects that accomplish one or more of the following:

• Produce outcomes that are transportable to varieties of programs and institutions and have a high probability of adoption at a broad range of institutions;

   

• Foster computational thinking models rather than general computer or information literacy across the undergraduate curriculum;

   

• Involve community college, industrial, and/or international partnerships;

   

• Develop innovative models of institutional organization and administration for undergraduate computing education;

   

• Streamline traditional pathways through undergraduate computer science programs;

   

• Address global competitiveness issues; and

   

• Foster faculty collaborations across disciplines and cooperative mechanisms for delivering integrated, interdisciplinary undergraduate computing-centric programs.

   

Additional information relevant to all CPATH projects:

It is likely that many CPATH projects will have a curricular component. However, strong CPATH proposals will  extend well beyond the simple writing of a curriculum and passive dissemination through a web site.  The incremental revision of existing courses, such as the introductory computing course sequence, does not satisfy the goals of CPATH. Curricular efforts must be broad and inclusive.  They must include active engagement of a community and an ongoing community component. Typically, a CPATH curricular component would be broader than a single course, single workshop, single faculty member, or single institution.  While some TI projects may involve a single institution, it is expected that in the final years a significant outreach effort to other institutions or a broader faculty community is included in project plans.  Curricular efforts need to be described and justified within the context of other related efforts and the national need for the proposed project.

All CPATH projects must include evaluation and assessment of components that can effectively document both successes and failures. Awardees must set and meet measurable goals and collect evidence to determine progress