Law and Science Dissertation Grant Program

The project’s objective is to continue to nurture the next generation of law-and-science scholars by administering a Law and Science Dissertation Grant program. The current project continues a program that facilitates the production of high-impact, interdisciplinary law-and-science scholarship as well as aids in student retention, dissertation completion, and student’s subsequent performance in job procurement, publications, and grant success.

Using prior NSF funding (2016661), the Law and Science Dissertation Grant Program, administered by Arizona State University, accepted its first proposals in Spring 2021 and over the next three years received 168 proposals from students at 63 different universities. Between the start of 2021 and the end of 2023, the program made 32 awards to graduate students at 23 different universities.

The current project continues and enhances that program by issuing approximately 6 to 8 awards in each of two cycles a year for the next four years. Each award supports scientifically rigorous research activities by a graduate student in one or more of the fields that constitute the law-and-science research community.

Support for a well-trained stream of junior scholars is essential to the overall health of any STEM discipline and the current project enables junior scholars to conduct the innovative research that sets them on a successful career trajectory. In addition, the collaborative nature of the project--including the many disciplines that constitute the law-and-science research space in an oversight role -- strengthens the connection among the professional societies that comprise the law-and-science research community.

The principal broader impact is in terms of improved STEM education by facilitating the more effective training of graduate students. The funding will enable awarded students to engage in meritorious and unique scientific research that they might not be able to conduct otherwise.

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.