Fostering the growth of a globally competitive and diverse research workforce and advancing the scientific and innovation skills of the U.S. is a; strategic objective of the National Science Foundation (NSF). U.S. global competitiveness depends critically on the readiness of the Nation’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) workforce and NSF seeks to continue to invest in programs that directly advance this workforce. As part of this effort, a supplemental funding opportunity is available in fiscal years FY 2021 and beyond to provide graduate students with experiential learning opportunities through research internships to acquire core professional competencies and skills to support careers in any sector of the U.S. economy. NSF currently invests in a number of graduate student preparedness activities and has historically encouraged principal investigators (PIs) to include such activities in research proposals to NSF. NSF will consider supplemental funding requests for up to an additional six months of graduate student support on active NSF grants with the following goals: 1) To provide graduate students with the opportunity to augment their research assistantships or NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) fellowships with non-academic research internship activities and training opportunities that will complement their academic research training; 2) To allow graduate students to pursue new activities aimed at acquiring professional development experience that will enhance their preparation for multiple career pathways after graduation; 3) and To encourage the participation of graduate students from underrepresented groups such as women, persons with disabilities, underrepresented minorities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), veterans, and persons from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. Supplemental funding requests may be submitted at any time with a target date of April 15th for each Fiscal Year.

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