Reflections on Proposal Writing and Management of a NSF STEM Scholarship Grant Program

In recent years, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has established a Scholarship for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (S-STEM) program to fund universities for providing scholarship to academically talented and financially needy STEM students. Based on the experience gained on the completion of a four year S-STEM grant and the development of two successful proposals, this paper reflects on the challenges and opportunities of managing the scholarship program, and the key ingredients of writing a successful proposal. S-STEM is found to be an effective and attainable tool for universities to fund scholarships to improve STEM student recruitment and retention. The paper provides suggestions on both S-STEM proposal writing and grant management in the hope of encouraging other educators to consider submitting their own proposals.