Grants up to $500,000 will be awarded to U.S. higher education institutions and organizations working in partnership to advance access and opportunity in STEM graduate education.
Submission Deadline: June 1, 2026
Informational Webinar #1: April 2, 2:00-3:00pm ET [Register here]
Informational Webinar #2: April 15, 2:00-3:00pm ET [Register here]
Call Overview
The Higher Education Program at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is seeking to invest in new and established partnerships between STEM undergraduate and graduate programs nationwide that seek to identify and remove longstanding, systemic barriers to STEM master’s and doctoral degrees with attention to programs that serve undergraduate students enrolled in nonprofit public and private four-year broad access institutions, two-year colleges, or baccalaureate and special focus institutions with strong access missions. We are especially interested in undergraduate partner institutions whose enrollment consists of at least 40% Pell Grant recipients.
Sloan welcomes letters of inquiry (LOIs) from institutions that:
- Demonstrate an overarching commitment through meaningful action toward addressing all significant barriers to STEM graduate education within their own programs and contexts in the fields of astronomy, biology, computer science, chemistry, data science, Earth sciences, economics, engineering, marine science, mathematics, physics, and/or statistics, and
- Have created, or demonstrate a commitment and capacity to create, partnerships that meaningfully address the most significant barriers in their programs in the above fields (within the institution’s comprehensive commitment and action to meaningfully address all significant barriers).
For more information on this call, including institutional and PI eligibility, examples of project activities, and submission components, please review the PDF document linked here.
About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a nonpartisan not-for-profit, grantmaking institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in four broad areas: direct support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics; initiatives to increase access and opportunity in scientific institutions and the science workforce; projects to develop or leverage technology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepen public engagement with science and scientists.
2026 Call for Letters of Inquiry: Exemplary Pathways to STEM Graduate Education
Grants up to $500,000 will be awarded to U.S. higher education institutions and organizations working in partnership to advance access and opportunity in STEM graduate education.
Submission Deadline: June 1, 2026
Informational Webinar #1: April 2, 2:00-3:00pm ET [Register here]
Informational Webinar #2: April 15, 2:00-3:00pm ET [Register here]
Call Overview
The Higher Education Program at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is seeking to invest in new and established partnerships between STEM undergraduate and graduate programs nationwide that seek to identify and remove longstanding, systemic barriers to STEM master’s and doctoral degrees with attention to programs that serve undergraduate students enrolled in nonprofit public and private four-year broad access institutions, two-year colleges, or baccalaureate and special focus institutions with strong access missions. We are especially interested in undergraduate partner institutions whose enrollment consists of at least 40% Pell Grant recipients.
Sloan welcomes letters of inquiry (LOIs) from institutions that:
- Demonstrate an overarching commitment through meaningful action toward addressing all significant barriers to STEM graduate education within their own programs and contexts in the fields of astronomy, biology, computer science, chemistry, data science, Earth sciences, economics, engineering, marine science, mathematics, physics, and/or statistics, and
- Have created, or demonstrate a commitment and capacity to create, partnerships that meaningfully address the most significant barriers in their programs in the above fields (within the institution’s comprehensive commitment and action to meaningfully address all significant barriers).
For more information on this call, including institutional and PI eligibility, examples of project activities, and submission components, please review the PDF document linked here.
About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a nonpartisan not-for-profit, grantmaking institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in four broad areas: direct support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics; initiatives to increase access and opportunity in scientific institutions and the science workforce; projects to develop or leverage technology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepen public engagement with science and scientists.