Conference: 2024-2026 NSF CREST/HBCU-RISE/PRP PI Meeting

Non-technical Abstract: Proposed effort is focused on providing an annual venue dedicated to the NSF CREST/HBCU-RISE/PRP Programs community, where principal investigators, directors, faculty, staff, and students can meet and discuss relevant topics and issues, share best practices, and network. A three-year conference grant will bring together NSF personnel and broad CREST community. Three equally important components will form the basis of the annual meetings starting in 2024 through 2026. These are: (1) NSF Personnel Portion, with the beginning of each annual meeting will be dedicated to issues, topics, or information dissemination by the NSF personnel who are administering these grants; (2) PI Meeting Portion where each annual meeting will feature four sessions, workshops, or panels as appropriate, which will cover topics of importance for the collective PIs associated with the three programs (CREST, HBCU-RISE, PRP); and (3) Early Career Investigators Portion, with each annual meeting featuring a workshop for early career investigators focusing on grant writing and the merit review process. Technical Abstract: Planned meetings will promote sharing of best practices among CREST/HBCU-RISE/PRP community members, leading to improved quality of science and training at funded sites, more effective execution of grants, increase in competitiveness and research success across the spectrum of funded projects. External evaluation will provide informative assessment of outcomes and will help establish a model for similar conferences going forward. Networking across the CREST community and including NSF personnel will help inform both the program management and the community of researchers and educators, leading to enhanced opportunities for sustainable success. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.