Team Experience and Competition Grant Program

Background

NC Space Grant awards funding to student teams (undergraduate and graduate) led by faculty Principal Investigators (PIs) to help them participate in national competitions either sponsored or sanctioned by NASA or another science technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related organization or industry. Examples of such competitions are NASA Student Launch Initiative, NASA Human Robotics Competition, NASA Lunabotics, NASA BIG Idea Challenge, First Nations Launch, etc. Competitions should be in the fields of science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) and complement the academic studies of team members.

Objectives

Competitions should be in the fields of engineering, science, technology and/or mathematics (STEM), and complement the academic studies of the team members. Competitions must provide students with a hands-on experiential learning opportunities related to one or more of NASA’s Mission Directorates.

NASA Mission Directorates include:

• Aeronautics Research
• Exploration Systems Development
• Science
• Space Operations
• Space Technology

Teams should be interdisciplinary in composition. Team members within different majors, departments, and/or with skills such as fundraising and marketing, communications and social media, and education and outreach are encouraged to participate.

Award Details

• NC Space Grant anticipates supporting up to 11 team competition grants of up to $5,000 each based on available federal funding and strength of proposals.
• A costing schedule is now used by NASA (Appendix A). Funds can be used to purchase supplies and materials to support the team project, and/or cover registration and travel expenses for the competition. Funds cannot be used to fund equipment, promotional items or materials (e.g., t shirts), or international travel.
• The period of performance (POP) for this project is Nov. 1, 2024 to July 15, 2025 (≈ 9 months). NC Space Grant understands that some competition dates may extend beyond the period-of-performance (e.g., summer 2025), and that must be noted in the proposal.
• A team may apply for only one award. However, the same college or university may apply for multiple awards as long as funds are used for different challenges or competitions.

How to Apply

NC Space Grant invites faculty Principal Investigators (PIs) to propose collaborative teamwork experiences toward a challenge or competition, which must be named in proposal and should take place within 30 days of the period-of-performance of this award (i.e., no later than summer 2025). NC Space Grant should be notified of any impacts and changes in the proposed scope of work due to any changes in the competition.

• Proposals must be submitted by the faculty advisor who will serve as the Principal Investigator. Proposal must be submitted as a single PDF file to Sandy Canfield by email at srcanfie@ncsu.edu with “FY2024 Team Experience and Competition Proposal” in the email subject line.
• Submissions must be signed by the PI’s university’s Office of Sponsored Research or equivalent. Projects selected for funding will receive a sub-award through the PI institution’s Office of Sponsored Research or equivalent.
• Proposals should be double-sided, single-spaced on standard 8 ½ x 11 paper, no smaller than 12-point font and with no less than one-inch margins throughout. Text restrictions are inclusive of all illustrations, tables, charts, exhibits, etc. All pages must be numbered sequentially.
• Award announcements will be made approximately the week of Oct. 21, 2024.

Proposal Guidelines

All proposals MUST include the following information in the order noted below. Proposals not meeting these requirements may not be considered.

• Cover Page
  • A cover page must include the following information: funding opportunity name (Team Experience and Competition); project period of performance (November 1, 2024 – July 15, 2025); competition date (if known); total budget request (up to $5,000); PI’s name, institution, address, phone, and email; and signatures from the PI and an authorizing official at the proposing institution (e.g., sponsored research or equivalent).

Project Content (not to exceed 10 pages):

• Summary of the Team Competition
  • Proposers shall state the official name of the competition and sponsor, competition date(s), and the defined goal or objective of the competition. Proposers must provide an active link to the competition website. NC Space Grant understands that some competition dates may extend slightly beyond the period-of-performance and this must be noted in the proposal. The competition should take place within 30 days award period-of-performance (POP) (i.e., the summer of 2025). If this is part of the NASA Artemis Student Challenges that should be stated in the competition summary.
• Project Description
  • Proposers shall provide a description of their project and how it meets the goal or objective of the competition/challenge.
  • Proposers shall describe significant tasks, milestones, requirement check-ins and competition dates. Images and tables are allowed to support the narrative.
• Description of Team Goals and Learning Objectives
  • Proposers shall provide one of the following:
    • A. For returning teams, a summary of the team’s past participation, lessons learned, and planned adjustments, modifications, etc. for this cycle.
    • B. For new teams, a description of why the competition was selected and what the team hopes to learn and accomplish.
• Alignment to a NASA Mission Directorate
  • Proposers must describe how their project is aligned to one or more (pick the closest match(es)) of the NASA Mission Directorates. NASA Mission Directorates include:
    • Aeronautics Research
    • Exploration Systems Development
    • Science
    • Space Operations
    • Space Technology
• Summary of Team Composition and Member Recruitment
  • A narrative description and/or a table with student team information, e.g., names, majors and/or skills sets (e.g., electrical engineering, computer programming, biology, atmosphere science, etc.) and/or team roles and responsibilities (e.g., club president, team leader, task lead, documentation lead, social media lead, public outreach coordinator, etc.) is required. Teams are encouraged to consider roles for non-STEM team members, such as fundraising, outreach and education, communications and social media, etc. If the composition of the team is unknown at the time of proposal submission, the proposer must describe plans for student recruitment, including the types of skills and roles they plan to recruit for and the timeline for student recruitment.
  • Refer to the section below, Required Reporting, for student data table and other reporting requirements. Please note that student data tables containing demographics and other information is required for all NASA funding and reporting under this grant.
• Outreach Plan
  • Outreach is not required in all competition guidelines; however, it is the mission of NC Space Grant to engage and inspire the next generation of explorers. Proposers should include a description of in-person outreach and/or online/remote engagement tools. This is an opportunity for teams to be creative, such as using an authorized YouTube channel, an online demo or launch, shared open-source materials, etc.

Additional Required Content (no page limit unless otherwise noted):

• Curriculum Vitae of the Faculty Principal Investigator (PI)/Advisor (two pages max).
• Letter of Support from the Department Chair/Head that outlines the importance of the proposed project to the department and/or the direction of the university, and confirms use of university labs, assets, cost-share, etc.
• Budget and Budget Narrative that includes a required one-to-one (1:1) cost match. PIs must use the template provided in Appendix A, issued by NASA. Funds can be used to purchase supplies and materials to support the team project, cover registration, and/or pay travel expenses. International travel is not allowed.
  • Funds cannot be used to support individual students directly.
  • NASA grant funds cannot be used to purchase equipment.
  • NC Space Grant does not allow facilities and administrative (F&A) costs. Unrecovered F&A costs may be used for required cost-matching. We strongly recommend that cost-match not exceed the $5,000 award since proposers will be obligated to report all proposed cost-match. PIs are responsible for following all internal institutional guidelines for committing to cost-share, including necessary approvals.
  • The purchase of team promotional items or apparel, including t-shirts, is no longer allowed by NASA. Stickers to identify team assets in the field of competition is allowable.

Eligibility

• A faculty member qualified to serve as a principal investigator (PI) at their respective institution must be proposer (i.e., a student cannot submit a proposal). Strong student involvement is encouraged, including during proposal and report writing.
• Proposals will be accepted from teams at accredited higher education institutions only within the State of North Carolina.
• Team members must be enrolled in an academic degree program.
• Some competitions require that team members be full-time students and/or U.S. citizens. Applicants should review all competition or program requirements and make sure the entire team is eligible to participate before submitting this proposal.
• The competition must occur during the 2024-2025 academic year, and no later than the summer of 2025.
• Release of funds is contingent upon acceptance into competitions for those with a competitive application process.

Period of Performance

The period of performance for this project is Nov. 1, 2024 to July 15, 2025 (≈ nine months). NC Space Grant understands that some competition dates may extend beyond the period-of-performance (e.g., into August), and that must be noted in the proposal.

Required Reporting

Please note that reporting requirements have been changed from previously released Requests for Proposals due to changes within NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement reporting requirements, which NC Space Grant is obligated to meet.

1. Student data tables are required by NASA. Data tables with required student demographic and other information must be submitted in accordance with NASA reporting guidelines and due dates. Awardees must submit student data tables with all required fields completed at these times. NASA may issue requests for student data at any time. PIs must log or otherwise collect student contact hours throughout the period-of-performance. At a minimum, this must be reported as part of the final report.

NOTE: The collection and submission of student data is a REQUIREMENT of the NASA Office of STEM Engagement in order for NC Space Grant to receive annual funding. As a result, all NC Space Grant funded projects MUST report student participant data (e.g., name, date of birth, gender, race, ethnicity, email address, contact hours, and field of study, etc.). To protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), NC Space Grant utilizes reporting systems that are FERPA compliant and meet or exceed the United States Department of Education Privacy Technical Assistance Center and the Student Privacy Policy Office data security recommendations.

2. NASA requires all students who are significantly engaged (160 or more contact hours) in the award to create a student profile in the online NASA Gateway system. NC Space Grant will provide a link to the NASA Gateway system to PIs. PIs must log or otherwise collect student contact hours throughout the period-of-performance to determine who must create a NASA Gateway profile.

3. Students who are significantly engaged in the project (160 or more contact hours) are required by NASA to be reported for longitudinal tracking. NC Space Grant uses the Education Programs Support Services (EPSS) longitudinal tracking system. Significant student participants will be entered into EPSS by NC Space Grant based on the student data tables provided to NC Space Grant by the faculty awardee. To protect Personally Identifiable Information (PII), NC Space Grant utilizes reporting systems that are FERPA compliant and meet or exceed the United States Department of Education Privacy Technical Assistance Center and the Student Privacy Policy Office data security recommendations.

4. NC Space Grant is required to collect information on publications, presentations, papers, patents, etc. generated from this award. This includes information about any public outreach/education events, competition check-ins, etc. NC Space Grant will provide PIs access to a Google Form to report this information.

5. A final report is due no more than 30 days after completion of the period of performance (i.e., no later than Aug. 15, 2025) but may be requested in advance (i.e., July 31, 2025) based on academic year information requests from NASA or the lead granting institution, NC State University. This report should include a description of progress toward significant tasks, milestones, requirement check-ins, and competition results. Qualitative feedback from students (e.g., quotes) about their experience should also be included. The report shall also note any final changes to the student participant data table (e.g., contact hours) that may have already been reported based on NASA data calls. Please note that some competition dates will take place after the grant period of performance. In those cases, teams can submit an amendment to their final report following the challenge or competition posted results, student data tables, and presentations, publications, patents, etc. under this award. NC Space Grant should be notified of any impacts and changes in the proposed scope of work due to unforeseen impacts.

6. Faculty awardees and students engaged in this award are required to complete surveys administered by NC Space Grant, an external evaluator, and/or program evaluations supported by NASA Office of STEM Engagement for the National Space Grant program.

Awardee Expectations

• All proposers MUST strictly adhere to the State of North Carolina and college/university guidance for classwork, teamwork, labs, travel, and other relevant policies and procedures. Safety first!
• The PI and designated team members shall collaborate with NC Space Grant to develop and implement a plan to share progress and experiences, including but not exclusively on social media, at the 2025 NC Space Symposium, in print, and on the NC Space Grant website.
• The PI and designated team members shall make activity and results public via social media during and after their projects, using accessible social media accounts and consistent hashtags (e.g., #ncspacegrant). PIs should designate a team member to visually document teamwork (e.g., photos and videos) during the period-of-performance. In accordance with NASA policy, PIs must ensure that necessary waivers are in place to share photos and videos publicly of team members (non-minors). NC Space Grant has a waiver template that can be requested.
• NC Space Grant shall be given credit for sponsoring the activity in all printed materials (e.g., logo, social media, etc.). Logos can be obtained from NC Space Grant.
• Teams are strongly encouraged to participate at the 2025 NC Space Grant Space Symposium taking place on April 11, 2025 in Raleigh, NC. Teams are encouraged to set up a model or demonstration of their project. There is no registration cost to attend the symposium for designated students who will run the model or demonstration. However, grant funds awarded through this opportunity are considered sufficient to cover travel costs to the symposium, including transportation of any equipment.
• NC Space Grant is required by NASA to longitudinally track all recipients of significant awards (≥160 contact hours) at least until they receive their first job after receiving their highest degree. PIs must have all students log or otherwise document/track contact hours on this award to be reported in the student data tables.

Contact

For questions related to this solicitation, please contact:

Sandy Canfield
Assistant Director
919-515-5943
srcanfie@ncsu.edu