NASA Education Fellowship Activity, 2018 | NNH18ZHA003N

Opportunity Information: Apply for NNH18ZHA003N

NASA Education Fellowship Activity, 2018 (NNH18ZHA003N) is a discretionary NASA training-grant opportunity run through NASA's Office of Education. The program is designed to strengthen the future STEM workforce for NASA and the nation by funding graduate students while also connecting them to NASA mission content, facilities, and subject matter experts. In addition to building technical skills through research-based graduate training, the solicitation places clear emphasis on broadening participation and improving representation in NASA-related STEM pathways, with specific attention to groups that have historically been underrepresented in these fields.

Awards are made to eligible U.S. academic institutions, not directly to individual students, and are structured as NASA Training Grants. Each award can run for up to three years, with an award ceiling listed at $220,000. NASA anticipated making about six awards under this cycle. The funding activity category is Education (CFDA 43.008). The opportunity was posted January 17, 2018, with an original closing date of March 20, 2018. Questions were requested in writing to NASA.Fellowships@nasaprs.com by February 28, 2018 to allow NASA time to respond and, when needed, incorporate clarifications into FAQs or formal amendments posted in NSPIRES.

Student eligibility is tightly defined because the fellowship support is aimed at early-stage graduate students pursuing research-based STEM degrees aligned with NASA needs. Fellowship candidates must be U.S. citizens or naturalized citizens at the time the proposal is submitted; permanent residents are explicitly not eligible. Candidates must have earned a STEM bachelor’s degree before August 31, 2018 and must have at least a 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 scale. They also must be enrolled full-time in a master’s or doctoral program no later than September 1, 2018, intend to pursue a research-based graduate degree in a NASA-relevant STEM field (as defined in the full solicitation in NSPIRES), and have a degree plan that supports continuous full-time enrollment extending at least through May 2021.

A key gatekeeping feature is the academic credit limit, which ensures applicants are not too far along in their graduate programs. All graduate credits count toward this limit, including research credits. For master’s students, eligibility generally requires having earned no more than 24 semester credits (or 36 quarter credits) by May 31, 2018 and having a continuous full-time plan for at least two years after September 1, 2018. For doctoral students who entered after completing a confirmed master’s degree, the comparable threshold is no more than 24 semester credits (or 36 quarter credits) beyond the master’s by May 31, 2018, again paired with a continuous full-time plan. For direct-entry doctoral students (those entering a Ph.D. program directly from a bachelor’s without enrolling in a master’s program), the threshold is no more than 48 semester credits (or 72 quarter credits) by May 31, 2018, with the same continuous full-time enrollment expectation. The solicitation also clarifies special cases for dual degree programs (integrated master’s and doctoral tracks): students may be eligible above 24 credits if the master’s degree has not yet been confirmed, but become ineligible once a master’s is confirmed if they exceed the threshold. Students who already hold a doctoral degree in a STEM field are not eligible; however, holding a master’s and/or doctoral degree in a non-STEM field (for example an M.A., M.A.Ed., or M.B.A.) does not automatically disqualify a candidate. Applicants are also encouraged to promptly notify NASA if they receive or accept another federal fellowship or traineeship, signaling that overlapping federal support may require coordination or could affect eligibility.

On the institutional side, eligible applicants must be U.S.-accredited institutions of higher education with a physical campus located in the United States or its territories, and they must offer graduate degrees in the eligible STEM fields by fall 2018. Because NASA treats this as a formal federal assistance award, institutions must have standard federal registrations in place by the proposal due date: a DUNS number, an active SAM registration, a CAGE code, and an active NSPIRES registration (including for any proposed sub-awardees or subcontractors). Proposals must be submitted electronically through NSPIRES by an authorized organizational official, and all principal investigators and other participants must also be registered in NSPIRES. NASA stresses that institutions should start NSPIRES registration and proposal preparation early to avoid last-minute system or authorization issues.

Programmatically, the fellowship activity aligns with NASA Education performance goals focused on both excellence and equity. NASA explicitly ties the opportunity to a multi-year goal of ensuring participants in NASA higher education projects reflect the diversity of the nation, and to an annual performance indicator that emphasizes significant direct student awards across institutional types and levels, with representation targets for racially or ethnically underrepresented students, women, and persons with disabilities. Within that framework, the fellowship objectives include building STEM competencies one student at a time, expanding opportunities for a diverse population to contribute to NASA missions, leveraging NASA’s mission content and facilities to strengthen training, and improving graduate degree completion rates in NASA-relevant STEM fields for historically underrepresented groups.

Finally, the solicitation makes clear that the research itself is expected to be graduate-level, independently conceived, and responsive to the NASA research opportunities and topical priorities described in the full NRA posted in NSPIRES (http://nspires.nasaprs.com). Because NASA may post updates prior to the deadline, applicants are responsible for checking NSPIRES regularly for FAQs and amendments that could affect requirements, eligibility interpretations, or proposal instructions.

• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration in the education sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "NASA Education Fellowship Activity, 2018" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 43.008.
• This funding opportunity was created on Jan 17, 2018.
• Applicants must submit their applications by Mar 20, 2018. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $220,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Others (see text field entitled Additional Information on Eligibility for clarification).

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