Welcome to
EDGE Institute
Empowering the Development of Grant Excellence in Community Colleges
A FREE, 12-month (January 2026-January 2027) opportunity for 30 community college CS/IT faculty, adjuncts, and administrators to benefit from professional development and support as they design competitive grant proposals for projects focused on AI, machine learning, quantum computing, biotech, or the advanced pathways leading to these domains, and submit them to NSF solicitations such as CISE Future CoRe or IUSE: ITYC.
Supports include: 1-on-1 mentoring, online workshops and coaching, a digital library of templates and other resources, and a 3-day in-person lab (travel expenses paid).
Participant Timeline: January 5, 2026-January 31, 2027
EDGE Institute will support each participant as they design, generate, and submit a proposal to an NSF solicitation for a project focused on AI, machine learning, quantum computing, biotech, or the advanced pathways leading to these computer science/IT domains.
EDGE Institute will provide the following supports to each participant:-
1-on-1 mentoring from a grant professional to help you ideate, craft, and edit your proposal’s narrative;
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Asynchronous learning modules in key knowledge/skills: Project Roles, Goals/Objectives, Logic Models, Budgets, Merit Review Criteria, and more;
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Office Hours for additional support;
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Hands-on Working Webinar sessions: Decoding your RFP, Research/Evaluation Questions, Building your Budget Justification, and more; and
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In-Person Lab June 3-6, 2026: speakers, hands-on workshops, in-person coaching, cohort networking (travel expenses paid)
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Participant Timeline: January 5, 2026-January 31, 2027 Design, Generate, and Submit a proposal to an NSF CISE solicitation
(such as CISE Future CoRE or IUSE: ITYC) for a project focused on AI, machine learning, quantum computing, biotech, or the advanced pathways leading to these computer science/IT domains.Participants commit to the following activities to accomplish this objective:
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Attend and participate in Participant Onboarding Webinar January 5, 2026
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Complete Video Modules and related assignments (January 15-December 18, 2026)
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Participate in Hands-on Working Webinar sessions (February 2-December 18, 2026)
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Attend In-Person Lab June 3-6, 2026 (travel expenses paid)
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Work with assigned Mentor for 1-on-1 learning
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Utilize office hours as needed
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This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award No. 2535526.
Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.