This grant provides three years of continued support for the Sloan Scholars Mentoring Network (SSMN), a robust network for alumni of the Foundation’s Minority Ph.D. and UCEM programs (“Sloan Scholars”).  The SSMN serves many important aims. First and foremost, it provides an opportunity for the Sloan Foundation to continue to invest in Sloan Scholars after they have completed graduate study and are transitioning into professional life, thus increasing the likelihood that scholars will stay in STEM careers. Second, the network fosters community amongst scholars, understanding that community connections are especially important to those underrepresented in STEM. Third, the SSMN nurtures mentoring connections between alumni and current scholars—a connection both groups have been eager to engage in. Grants funds will support a strategic mix of workshops, grants, and networking opportunities during the grant period, including an Academic Job Market, a New Faculty Bootcamp, and an awards program that provides more research seed funding, mentoring grants, and travel awards to scholars. Additional activities supported under this grant include an expansion of target populations to include alumni beyond those in academe; strengthened efforts to connect current scholars and alumni; greater coordination and an initiative to expand network activities to include alumni of the Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership. All enhancements and adjustments to network activities are informed by feedback received from alumni, current scholars, and the SSMN advisory committee.

This grant supports efforts by the Council of Graduate Schools to provide services to the higher education community in the wake of the United States Supreme Court’s decisions in Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard and Students For Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina, two cases challenging the constitutionality of the use of race as one factor in college and university admissions decisions.  Grant funding will allow CGS to understand the ways in which the SCOTUS decisions are impacting graduate admissions and broader graduate education DEI efforts; to educate the graduate community about strategies for pursuing equity in the post-decision environment; and to build consensus about legally sound admissions practices for graduate education across key communities.

Founded by Mary Murphy, Endowed Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University Bloomington, the Equity Accelerator (EA) is a focused research organization that harnesses research, practice, and policy to create more equitable learning and working environments, from college to careers. This grant supports efforts by EA to enhance and improve its Classroom Practices Library (CPL), a collection of evidence-based resources created to help educators craft learning environments that promote a sense of belonging and support learning among students. Grant funds will support the development of an interactive online course on how to create inclusive, welcoming educational environments. Composed of a series of modules and informed both by existing CPL resources and by extensive user feedback, the course will cover a series of important topics, including student-centered course policies, how to take a growth mindset approach, and how to create a classroom environment where students feel welcome and safe in their identities. Other grant funds will support technology platform development; iterative, feedback-based improvement of the new course; and outreach and dissemination activities.

This grant funds an awards program by Film Independent (FIND), producer of the Independent Spirit Awards, that aims to help produce and distribute feature films with scientific or technological themes, or those that feature scientists, engineers, technologists, inventors, or mathematicians as major characters. FIND makes several grants each year to achieve these aims: one producer a year is selected to develop a science-themed script in FIND’s Producing Lab with a $30,000 Producer’s grant and a reception and promotion around this project (the Lab accepts ten producers per year); one producer or producing team is selected per year for the Sloan Fast Track Fellowship with a $20,000 cash grant and invitation to the Fast Track film financing market (up to ten projects per year are selected); one outstanding episodic television writer is selected each year for a $20,000 grant to develop a science-themed series in FIND’s Episodic Lab; and one exceptional science-themed film is awarded a distribution grant of $50,000 to incentivize buyers to acquire an eligible film for distribution. In addition, FIND will host both an annual Sloan Salon with a science theme and 100 attendees and an annual Fellows Party with about 500 attendees to celebrate the growing film pipeline and link the Foundation to the wider filmmaking community.