Financial Assistance to Establish five NOAA Cooperative Science Centers at Minority Serving Institutions

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NOAA's Office of Education (OEd), Educational Partnership Program (EPP) with Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) solicits applications from accredited postsecondary MSIs to establish five NOAA Cooperative Science Centers (CSCs). These five CSCs are designed to create collaborative partnerships among MSIs and NOAA's Line Offices. NOAA's mission as stated in the FY2009-2014 NOAA Strategic Plan, is ``[t]o understand and predict changes in Earth's environment and conserve and manage coastal and marine resources to meet our nation's economic, social, and environmental needs.'' The Uniform Resource Locator for NOAA Strategic Planning is http:// www.ppi.noaa.gov/strategic_planning.html. Additional information about NOAA may be found on the Web site: http://www.noaa.gov. Each NOAA Cooperative Science Center must conduct education and research that directly supports NOAA's mission. The purpose of these CSCs at MSIs is to: (1) Educate students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields related to the CSCs' research areas to increase the number and diversity of NOAA's and the nation's STEM workforce; (2) conduct research in collaboration with NOAA scientists and engineers to better understand the significance of changes in the Earth's oceans, coasts, Great Lakes, weather and climate; and, (3) build capacity and sustainability in NOAA-relevant STEM areas at all center institutions. The CSCs are to leverage existing education and research program capabilities to train and graduate students in NOAA- mission STEM fields including broader disciplines (e.g., economics and social sciences). The CSCs are to build sustainable capacity, maintaining newly established curricula, as well as upgraded research facilities that will enhance their ability to conduct NOAA education and research that contributes to a pipeline of students trained in STEM fields. The EPP is designed to enhance capacity at MSIs that educate, train, and graduate students in STEM fields and to increase environmental literacy by establishing partnerships with academia, the private sector, and other state, tribal and local agencies. Additional program details may be found on the Web site: http://www.epp.noaa.gov. Interested applicants should be responsive to both the notice in the Federal Register and the Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO) announcement. A PDF version of both the Federal Register Notice and the FFO are available at http://www.epp.noaa.gov/.

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