Service Enterprise Systems (SES)

The SES program supports research on strategic decision making, design, planning, and operation of commercial, nonprofit, and institutional service enterprises with the goal of improving their overall effectiveness and cost reduction. The program has a particular focus on healthcare and other similar public service institutions, and emphasizes research topics leading to more effective systems modeling and analysis as a means to improved planning, resource allocation, and policy development.

Deadline(s): September 1 - October 1, Annually January 15 - February 15, Annually

What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)

Research on Gender & STEM

The Research on Gender in Science and Engineering program supports efforts to understand and address gender-based differences in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and workforce participation through research, the diffusion of research-based innovations, and extension services in education that will lead to a larger and more diverse domestic science and engineering workforce. Typical projects will contribute to the knowledge base addressing gender-related differences in learning and in the educational experiences that affect student interest, performance, and choice of careers; how pedagogical approaches and teaching styles, curriculum, student services, and institutional culture contribute to causing or closing gender gaps that persist in certain fields.

Expected Number of Awards:	22
Estimated Total Program Funding:	$5,000,000

Deadline: Feb. 9, 2011

Education Innovation grants

[From Philanthropy News Digest] Honoring a commitment to people who have pledged to see the new documentary Waiting for "Superman," about the crises facing the nation's public schools, the NewSchools Venture Fund has announced a $5 million investment in innovative education organizations nationwide working to close achievement gaps in low-income communities.

Recipients of the funding, part of a commitment by San Francisco-based NewSchools to provide additional support for education reform efforts after 150,000 people pledged to see the recently-released documentary, will be announced in the coming months. Directed by An Inconvenient Truth filmmaker Davis Guggenheim, the documentary features a number of schools operated by organizations in the NewSchools investment portfolio. The pledge goal was reached on October 8.

Founded in 1998, NewSchools provides funding and management guidance to entrepreneurial organizations working to improve public education for low-income children. NewSchools' investments include organizations that recruit and train teachers, start public charter schools, work to turn around failing schools, and create technology tools for the classroom.

"Waiting for 'Superman' shines a bright light on two important truths," said NewSchools Venture Fund CEO Ted Mitchell. "Excellent schools with outstanding teachers make all the difference in a child's life. But in some places in this country, access to an excellent school is a matter of chance. It's not fair, and we all need to step up to change the odds. NewSchools and its entrepreneurs are demonstrating every day that it can be done."

“NewSchools Announces $5 Million Investment in Entrepreneurial Organizations as 150K People Pledge to See Waiting for 'Superman'.” NewSchools Venture Fund Press Release 10/08/10.

Engineering Education Centers

Expected Number of Awards: 40
Estimated Total Program Funding: $8,000,000
The Division of Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) seeks to enable a world-leading system of engineering education, equally open and available to all members of society, that dynamically and rapidly adapts to meet the changing needs of society and the nation's economy. Research areas of interest include, but are not limited to:Increasing our understanding of how engineering students learn and the capacity that supports such discovery. Fundamental research is encouraged on how engineering is learned, including engineering epistemologies and identities; and how to evaluate or operationalize aspects of engineering thinking, doing, and knowing. Understanding how to increase the diffusion and impact of engineering education research. Research projects are sought that discover how to improve the process by which engineering education research is translated into practice; how to accomplish organizational and cultural change in institutions of engineering education that leads to improved learning outcomes; or identifying and overcoming barriers to widespread adoption of engineering education research. Research projects that partner with other engineering education stakeholders (e.g. private companies, NGOs, or professional societies) to measure the value and impact of engineering education research on practice are also sought.Understanding engineering education in broader, organizing frameworks such as innovation, globalization, complex engineered systems, or sustainability.