Funding Opportunity Announcement of Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Scholarship-for-Service Program

The Department of Defense seeks innovative applications to cooperatively partner with eligible entities in the implementation and execution of its Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART) Program. The Department intends to award ONE (1) cooperative agreement award, with a maximum award of up to $450M over a five-year period of performance.

SMART is a highly competitive STEM-focused scholarship-for-service program, empowered to make full-tuition awards during any phase of a scholar’s education in a regionally accredited U.S. university or college. The program sponsors undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral study in 21 academic disciplines that the Department has identified as critical to national security and DoD’s future. Established by Congress in 2006, the program has awarded more than 3,700 scholarships, and aims to increase the number of civilian scientists and engineers working at Department of Defense (DoD) laboratories and facilities.“We are very proud of all the 416 recipients of this prestigious scholarship,” said Mr. Louie Lopez, DoD STEM Director. “I look to forward to seeing these next generation of STEM leaders’ contributions to the Department and the Nation.”

The DOD develops STEM talent through its K-20 STEM education and talent development efforts called DoD STEM. DoD STEM aims to inspire, cultivate, and develop talent to address the Nation’s technological challenges, now and into the future.The largest program under DoD STEM is the National Defense Education Program (NDEP). It fosters and enhances the DoD’s ability to develop and access high-quality STEM talent vital to national defense.

NDEP activities support the DoD STEM effort in providing authentic learning experiences through a variety of education and outreach initiatives in the form of scholarships, internships, enrichment activities, competitions, and mentorships by leveraging partners from industry, academia, and other government organizations with a shared STEM mission. One of the main NDEP efforts in addressing talent development and recruitment is through the SMART Program.

SMART is empowered to make full-tuition awards during any phase of a scholar’s education in a regionally accredited U.S. university or college. The program sponsors undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral study in 21 academic disciplines critical to national security and DoD’s future. Upon graduation, students move directly into employment at DoD facilities. Awards can be made during any phase of a scholar’s education and vary in length from a minimum of one to a maximum of five years. The service commitment is one year of DoD employment for each academic year of SMART funding.The funding announcement will be available in early January 2022 on Grants.gov (www.grants.gov), SAM.GOV (https://sam.gov/) and the U.S. Combat Capabilities Development Command’s Army Research Laboratory website.

The SMART Program will also hold a virtual Opportunity Day on 09 February 2022 from 1300 to 1600 Eastern Standard Time (EST). To register, email osd.smart@mail.mil. More details will be provided prior to the event. To learn more about the SMART Scholarship-for-Service Program and the participating DoD sponsoring facilities, visit www.smartscholarship.org.

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