Broadening Participation: 2021 MPS Workshop for Young Investigators

Non-Technical Description

This project is aimed at hosting a virtual workshop for new and future principal investigators (PIs) in the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS). Due to the unexpected nature of the COVID-19 restrictions, the two full-day workshop is planned as an online event on October 11 – 12, 2021. Since the first workshop in 2014, the main goal of the workshop has been in two-fold: (1) to provide PIs’ who have just received their first awards or who are attempting to obtain funding from the MPS programs with valuable information and advice on the policies, procedures, and opportunities available at NSF, with an emphasis on recruiting attendees from underrepresented minority groups, and (2) to train a pool of future reviewers for NSF in the designated group.

The workshop targets involvement of a diverse pool of new and potential MPS PIs to enhance their successful interactions with NSF. Technical Description

This project is for a workshop for a diverse pool of new and future principal investigators (PIs) in the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences (MPS). The Workshop will be conducted through an online platform. The workshop program is composed of two main parts: informational presentations by NSF Program Directors and invited speakers and mock panel review activities.

The topics of presentations are designed to provide the new and future investigators with information about the NSF process. Specific topics will include merit review process, funding opportunities in MPS and NSF policies and procedures. Over two days, the participants will be engaged in the activities emulating the full processes of panel review in breakout sessions guided by Program Directors.

The project uses an assessment planned to track the participants and to evaluate the efficacy of the workshop training through the success rate in securing funding and participation in the review process of the participants.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.