NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

2415 EISENHOWER AVENUE

ALEXANDRIA, VIRGINIA 22314

NSF 21-013

Dear Colleague Letter: Non-Academic Research Internships for

Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding Opportunity
October 8, 2020

Dear Colleagues:

Fostering the growth of a globally competitive and diverse research workforce and advancing
the scientific and innovation skills of the U.S. is a strategic objective of the National Science
Foundation (NSF). U.S. global competitiveness depends critically on the readiness of the
Nation's Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce and NSF
seeks to continue to invest in programs that directly advance this workforce. As part of this
effort, a supplemental funding opportunity is available in fiscal years FY 2021 and beyond to
provide graduate students with experiential learning opportunities through research
internships to acquire core professional competencies and skills to support careers in any
sector of the U.S. economy. NSF currently invests in a number of graduate student
preparedness activities and has historically encouraged principal investigators (PIs) to include
such activities in research proposals to NSF. This Dear Colleague Letter (DCL) describes
funding opportunities at NSF to ensure graduate students are well prepared for the 21st-
century STEM workforce.

BACKGROUND

With rapidly accelerating changes in technology-driven global and national economies,

today's graduate students will have a wide choice of career paths to pursue over their
professional lives. NSF's 2020 Science and Engineering Indicators report reveals 81 percent
of master's level STEM graduates and 57 percent of doctoral degree holders in STEM, work
in industry or government. Graduate students have the potential to make important
contributions in careers outside academia, in organizations that include: startup businesses,
small and large corporations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. In addition,
the National Academies Graduate STEM Education for the 21st Century (2018) report further
highlights the need for graduate students to acquire core professional competencies and
transferable skills through experiential learning opportunities such as internships. It is

1
therefore important that graduate students supported by NSF grants be provided training
opportunities to develop skills that prepare them to be successful for a broad range of
academic and non-academic career paths. In addition to deep and broad preparation in their
technical areas of expertise, experience working in collaborative teams and with diverse
individuals, skills and knowledge in communication, innovation and entrepreneurship,
leadership and management, policy and outreach are becoming increasingly valuable for all
sectors of the workforce.

SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITY

NSF will consider supplemental funding requests for up to an additional six months of
graduate student support on active NSF grants with the following goals:

1. To provide graduate students with the opportunity to augment their research

assistantships or NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) fellowships with
non-academic research internship activities and training opportunities that will
complement their academic research training;
2. To allow graduate students to pursue new activities aimed at acquiring professional
development experience that will enhance their preparation for multiple career pathways
after graduation; and
3. To encourage the participation of graduate students from underrepresented groups
such as women, persons with disabilities, underrepresented minorities in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), veterans, and persons from
economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

DESCRIPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES SUPPORTED

The PI/co-PI of an active NSF award may request supplemental funding for one or more
graduate students to gain knowledge, skills and experiences that will augment their
preparation for a successful long-term career through an internship in a non-academic
setting, including the following:

For-profit industry laboratories or industry research and development groups;

Start-up businesses, such as (but not limited to) those funded through the NSF's Small
Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and Small Business Technology
Transfer (STTR) program;
Government agencies (all levels) and National Laboratories;
Museums, science centers, and other informal learning settings;
Policy think-tanks; and
Non-profit organizations.

PIs are encouraged to discuss with the cognizant NSF program director activities that are

2
synergistic with the NSF project scope. It is expected that the graduate student and the PI on
the NSF grant will work together to identify innovative experiences that add the most
educational value for the graduate student through activities that are not already available at
the student's academic institution. Further, it is expected that the internship will be research-
focused in a STEM field or in STEM education research and will be on-site at the host
organization unless a specific exception to this is granted due to extenuating circumstances
by the cognizant program officer.

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible, graduate students must have completed at least one academic year in their
graduate programs (master's or doctoral) and be making satisfactory progress towards the
completion of their degrees.

This opportunity is open to PIs (and co-PIs) who are supporting graduate students through an
active NSF award. A PI for an active GRFP fellowship (not the GRFP fellow) should contact
GRFP regarding specific GRFP requirements before submitting a supplemental funding
request on behalf of a GRFP fellow. PIs with grants from the Directorate for Computer and
Information Science and Engineering (CISE), the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical
Sciences (MPS), and the Office of Integrative Activities (OIA) must follow the special
conditions listed in the table below. The Directorate for Engineering (ENG), Directorate for
Biological Sciences (BIO), Directorate for Geosciences (GEO) and Directorate for Social,
Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) do not have limitations or special conditions.

Participating Participating Divisions or Special Conditions

Directorates Programs
or Offices

Directorate This opportunity is open only Only doctoral candidates may apply.
for Computer to active awards within the Internships will involve multi-disciplinary
and Office of Advanced activities that pursue development of
Information Cyberinfrastructure (OAC); innovative cyberinfrastructure approaches
Science and projects funded by other CISE specific to advancing science and
Engineering divisions are not eligible. engineering research.
(CISE)

Directorate All Divisions In the Divisions of Astronomical Sciences

for and Mathematical Sciences only doctoral
Mathematical candidates may apply.
and Physical
Sciences
(MPS)

3
Office of Established Program to PIs of EPSCoR Research Infrastructure
Integrative Stimulate Competitive Improvement (RII) awards are not eligible
Activities Research (EPSCoR) to apply.
(OIA) Supplement requests are encouraged
from any NSF-funded PIs located in
EPSCoR-eligible jurisdictions. Eligible
requests submitted to the original funding
directorate will be considered for EPSCoR
co-funding support.

SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING REQUEST PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Each supplemental funding request must include the INTERN DCL title and DCL number in
the summary section of the proposal and include the following components:

1. A two-page summary that describes the internship. The request must include a concise
statement from the graduate student describing how the activity will better prepare the
graduate student to enter the workforce.

2. A resume of the graduate student (up to 2 pages) that contains (but not limited to) the
following information:
a. Educational Preparation
i. Institution
ii. Major
iii. Year of study (1st year, 2nd year, etc.)
b. Summary of graduate coursework completed
c. Professional employment history
d. Publications
e. Other information relevant to the proposed internship

Students requesting support by funding described in this DCL are encouraged to

register for an ORCID ID and for this identifier to be provided to NSF in the student's
resume. The resume must be included in the PI's annual and final project reports under
Special Requirements. ORCID® (https://orchid.org/) is an open, non-profit, community-
driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a
transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. An
ORCID identifier provides a unique and persistent digital identifier to distinguish
individual researchers. While NSF encourages the use of an ORCID ID, submission of
the ORCID ID is optional.

3. A letter of collaboration from an authorized official at the organization which will host the

4
 student that describes the internship opportunity and the mentoring that will be provided
to the student during the internship. This letter should include a statement confirming
that neither the graduate student nor the PI has a financial interest in the organization
hosting the internship.

4. A letter from the PI that confirms that the student meets the eligibility requirements
specified in this DCL. The letter must describe how the proposed internship activity will
contribute to the student's graduate education experience and how it may impact time to
degree. The PI must describe activities that are synergistic with the scope of the PI's
NSF Grant to be supplemented.

5. The NSF awardee and the organization hosting the graduate student must agree in
advance as to how intellectual property (IP) rights will be handled. A signed agreement
on IP (including publication and patent rights) must be submitted prior to the award of
the supplemental funding. NSF is responsible neither for the agreement reached nor the
IP information exchanged between the NSF awardee and the host organization.

6. A budget and a clear justification for all requested budget costs.

SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING AMOUNT

The total amount of funding requested must not exceed $55,000 per student per six-month
period. NSF plans to fund up to approximately 260 supplements in each fiscal year starting
with FY 2021, depending on the availability of funds.

ALLOWABLE COSTS UNDER THIS DCL

Funds may be used to support travel, tuition and fees, health insurance, additional stipend
and temporary relocation costs for the graduate student. Additional stipends are not allowed
for GRFP fellows on tenure but a stipend will be considered for fellows on reserve equal to
the monthly rate of the GRFP stipend. Up to $2,500 may be used for the PI or the graduate
research fellow's advisor to travel to work with the host organization in co-mentoring the
student during the internship. Up to $2,500 may be used for materials and supplies to support
the student during the internship. The grantee is permitted to request indirect costs in
accordance with their approved/negotiated indirect cost rate. The total requested budget
cannot exceed the limits listed under the "Supplement funding amount" section above. Note:
Spousal and dependent travel are not supported.

PERIOD OF SUPPORT

The supplement funding will provide up to six months of support for an internship. Up to two
supplemental funding requests may be submitted on a grant per student. This would allow

5
the student up to two internship periods up to six months each (i.e., a maximum of 12 months
per student).

DUE DATES

Supplemental funding requests may be submitted at any time with a target date of April 15th
for each Fiscal Year.

SUBMISSION & REVIEW

Requests for supplemental funding must be submitted electronically via Research.gov. A PI

on an NSF grant should contact his/her cognizant program director prior to submission.
GRFP INTERN supplement requests are submitted by the GRFP PI, not by the GRFP fellow
or the fellow's research advisor. Requests for supplemental funding submitted in response to
this DCL will be reviewed internally by NSF Program Officers. All supplements are subject to
(a) the availability of funds, and (b) merit review of the supplemental funding request.

SPECIAL AWARD CONDITION

Intellectual Property Rights: Internships under this DCL are considered equivalent to
traineeships. The National Science Foundation claims no rights to any inventions or writings
that might result from its traineeship awards. However, trainees should be aware that NSF,
another Federal agency, or some private party may acquire such rights through other support
for particular research. Also, trainees should note their obligation to include an
Acknowledgment and Disclaimer in any publication.

POLICY OR CODE ADDRESSING HARASSMENT

Awardees are required to have a policy or code of conduct that addresses sexual
harassment, other forms of harassment, and sexual assault. The awardee should work with
the Host Organization to ensure that the Host Organization also has a policy or code of
conduct that addresses sexual harassment, other forms of harassment, and sexual assault,
including reporting and complaint procedures, and to confirm that such policy both covers
and protects INTERN students interacting with the Host Organization. The awardee should
also coordinate with the Host Organization to provide orientation to graduate students to
cover expectations of behavior to ensure a safe and respectful environment, and to review
the awardee and host organization's policy or code of conduct addressing sexual
harassment, other forms of harassment, and sexual assault, including reporting and
complaint procedures. For additional information, see the NSF policies at
https://new.nsf.gov/stopping-harassment.

For further information on this DCL, please contact:

6
 ENG: Dr. Prakash G. Balan ([email protected])
BIO: Dr. Sally E. O'Connor ([email protected])
CISE/OAC: Dr. Ashok Srinivasan ([email protected])
EDU: GRFP PIs should contact [email protected] and Dr. Joel Schildbach
([email protected]) for further information. All other EDU PIs should contact the
cognizant program officer on the NSF grant and copy Dr. Christopher L. Hill
([email protected])
GEO: Dr. Bernard M. Grant ([email protected])
MPS: The cognizant program officer on the NSF grant.
SBE: Dr. Josie Miranda ([email protected])
OIA/EPSCoR: Dr. Andrea Johnson ([email protected])

Sincerely,

Simon Malcomber, Acting Assistant Director

Directorate for Biological Sciences (BIO)

Margaret Martonosi, Assistant Director

Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE)

James L. Moore, Assistant Director

Directorate for STEM Education (EDU)

Susan S. Margulies, Assistant Director

Directorate for Engineering (ENG)

Alexandra R. Isern, Assistant Director

Directorate for Geosciences (GEO)

Sean Jones, Assistant Director

Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS)

Sylvia M. Butterfield, Acting Assistant Director

Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE)

Alicia J. Knoedler, Office Head

Office of Integrative Activities (OIA)