Hispanic-Serving Institutions: Enriching Learning, Programs, and Student Experiences (HSI:ELPSE)

Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs) are an important component of the nation’s higher education ecosystem and play a critical role in realizing the National Science Board’s vision for a more diverse and capable science and engineering workforce^1,2. Aligned with this vision and the NSF Strategic Plan³, the goals of the NSF HSI Program are to: 

1. Enhance the quality of undergraduate science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education at HSIs. 

2. Increase the recruitment, retention, and graduation rates of students pursuing associate’s or baccalaureate degrees in STEM at HSIs. 

Meeting these goals requires institutions to understand and embrace their students’ strengths, challenges, and lived experiences.  While this can happen in many ways and across many parts of an institution, the Hispanic Serving Institutions: Enriching Learning, Programs, and Student Experiences (HSI:ELPSE) solicitation is specifically focused on studying and improving the student experience in the following settings:   

• STEM courses, particularly for students pursuing STEM degrees;  

• Certificate, minor, and/or degree programs;  

• Academic departments or divisions; and  

• Schools and colleges that represent a part of the entire institution (e.g., a School of Engineering or a College of Natural Sciences).   

Institutions are encouraged to consider how their mission and designation as an HSI could reimagine and/or strengthen courses, degree programs, departments, or divisions. The HSI:ELPSE solicitation welcomes projects that look to implement, test and refine promising practices and/or conduct research related to broadening participation or improving recruitment, retention, graduation and other positive outcomes for undergraduates in STEM. 

The HSI:ELPSE solicitation supports projects that are purposefully designed to meet students where they are, accounting for both their assets and the challenges they may face. Identities and experiences are not determined solely by membership in a single monolithic population of students (e.g., Hispanic, first-generation, commuter, etc.). Consequently, institutions are expected to use institutional data to identify equity gaps, identify areas of need, and unpack the factors that shape students’ individual realities and shared experiences.  Perspectives gained from these data should be central to the design of the project.  

 This solicitation includes the following tracks: 

• Implementation and Evaluation Projects (IEP): Levels 1 and 2  

• Educational Instrumentation (EI) 

Please see below for specific information about each track. Generally, proposals to the IEP track will center on one or more of the following: courses; curricular improvements; pedagogy; support structures inside and outside of the classroom; degree programs; and student pathways. 

The HSI:ELPSE solicitation will also consider proposals designed to increase access to computing resources and/or laboratory instrumentation needed to provide high-quality undergraduate STEM education at the following types of institutions: (1) HSIs in EPSCoR jurisdictions; and (2) HSI Primarily Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) in all other (non-EPSCoR) jurisdictions. Please see the discussion of the Educational Instrumentation Track below for specific details.