Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Directorate for STEM Education (IUSE: EDU)

Updated Oct 20, 2026

Grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation, open to any type of applicant. Closes Jan 20, 2027, 92 days left.

Opportunity number	23-510
Agency	U.S. National Science Foundation
Funding type	Grant
Field	Science, technology and other research and development
Award ceiling	$2.0 million
Award floor	$200,000
Total program funding	$61.0 million
Cost sharing or matching	Not required
Assistance listing	47.076
Posted	Oct 20, 2022
Closes	Jan 20, 2027 (92 days left)
Add the deadline to	Google Calendar

Who can apply

Unrestricted: any type of applicant

Description

Synopsis of Program: The fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) hold much promise as sectors of the economy where we can expect to see continuous vigorous growth in the coming decades. STEM job creation is expected to outpace non-STEM job creation significantly, according to the Commerce Department, reflecting the importance of STEM knowledge to the US economy.

The National Science Foundation (NSF) plays a leadership role in developing and implementing efforts to enhance and improve STEM education in the United States. Through the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) initiative, the agency continues to make a substantial commitment to the highest caliber undergraduate STEM education through a Foundation-wide framework of investments.

The IUSE: EDU is a core NSF STEM education program that seeks to promote novel, creative, and transformative approaches to generating and using new knowledge about STEM teaching and learning to improve STEM education for undergraduate students. The program is open to application from all institutions of higher education and associated organizations. NSF places high value on educating students to be leaders and innovators in emerging and rapidly changing STEM fields as well as educating a scientifically literate public.

In pursuit of this goal, IUSE: EDU supports projects that seek to bring recent advances in STEM knowledge into undergraduate education, that adapt, improve, and incorporate evidence-based practices into STEM teaching and learning, and that lay the groundwork for institutional improvement in STEM education. In addition to innovative work at the frontier of STEM education, this program also encourages replication of research studies to produce deeper knowledge about the effectiveness and transferability of findings.

IIUSE: EDU also seeks to support projects that have high potential for broader societal impacts, including professional development for instructors to ensure adoption of new and effective pedagogical techniques that meet the changing needs of students, and projects that promote institutional partnerships for collaborative research and development. For all the above objectives, the National Science Foundation invests primarily in evidence-based and knowledge-generating approaches to understand and improve STEM learning and learning environments and prepare STEM majors for the workforce.

In addition to contributing to STEM education in the host institution(s), proposals should have the promise of adding more broadly to our understanding of effective teaching and learning practices. The IUSE: EDU program features two tracks: (1) Engaged Student Learning and (2) Institutional and Community Transformation.

Full announcement and how to apply on Grants.gov

Science, technology and other research and development grants right now

There are 99 open federal grants in science, technology and other research and development that small businesses may apply for; 46 close within 30 days. The median award ceiling is $1.2 million; this grant offers up to $2.0 million. The agencies offering the most are Defense Health Agency Contracting Activity - DHACA, U.S. National Science Foundation and National Institute of Justice. Grants in this field stay open a median of 154 days.

Who has won this program before

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology $111.2 million · from Aug 15, 2021
Regents Of The University Of Michigan $50.8 million · from Sep 1, 2022
William Marsh Rice University $47.1 million · from May 1, 2024
Trustees Of Boston University $39.3 million · from Oct 1, 2017
Trustees Of The University Of Pennsylvania, The $33.1 million · from Sep 1, 2022

The largest grants and cooperative agreements under assistance listing 47.076 with funding activity since Oct 1, 2025, from USAspending.gov. Amounts are each award's total.