Pratt & Whitney E-STEM Awards FAQs

We encourage you to watch our Applicant Webinar, where we provided tips and tricks for how to submit a successful proposal. Here is the recording of the Applicant Webinar, with English subtitles here: https://youtu.be/r7n3y3vPPCU.

No. We are most interested in the details of your proposed project. We encourage applicants to watch our Applicant Webinar that took place on June 8. The recording can be found here, with English subtitles: https://youtu.be/GKhrnBYE8LQ. We also encourage our reviewers to focus on the strength of the proposed project, not the applicant's writing skills.

No. Applicant organizations must commit to participating in professional development opportunities listed in this RFP as a way to strengthen your project and build your professional networks. We make every effort to use your time wisely, and make sure everyone benefits as much as possible from these opportunities. 

No. Applicants must be a school, academic institution, or university, or an organization tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code and not classified as a private foundation, or a nonprofit or non-governmental organization with recognized legal status in their respective foreign country that is equal to section 501(c)(3) status. If you have a strong project to propose, consider finding a nonprofit partner who can be the lead and submit a proposal and work with your organization on a compelling project.

Please watch the recording of our Applicant Webinar that took place on June 8. You can find the recording here, with English subtitles: https://youtu.be/GKhrnBYE8LQ. If you still have questions after this webinar, please email us at estem@naaee.org. 

The E-STEM Innovation Grants Program seeks to fund nonprofit organizations and their partners for new or expanded projects not yet completed. Grantees would also be part of professional development opportunities to help support their proposal implementation. The E-STEM Excellence Prize seeks to award nonprofit organizations and their partners for projects that have been successfully completed and that demonstrate excellence and replicability in E-STEM. For more information on the difference between these two, please refer to the E-STEM Innovation Grants Program RFP and the E-STEM Excellence Prize RFP. 

Yes. Data collection and analysis offers a great STEM learning opportunity, and is crucial in addressing environmental issues. We do ask that projects focusing on data collection and analysis also include a communication/engagement component as part of the process (See RFP Call out Box: What does it mean to take action?). 

If awarded, we will do our very best to accommodate your requested funding amount. However, we balance your request with the goal of funding as many promising projects as possible. If your funding amount is reduced, we will work with you to revise project deliverables to accommodate a lesser amount.

STEM projects should involve interdisciplinary learning that combines knowledge and skills from Science, Technology, Engineering, and/or Math. Here is a chart we found helpful in outlining some of the STEM skills we encourage: https://www.fix.com/blog/getting-kids-involved-in-stem/.

Schools that are registered nonprofit organizations can apply. However, if your school is not considered a nonprofit organization, you are welcome to seek a partnership with a nonprofit organization to be the lead applicant. 

No. Projects can happen anywhere—as part of an after-school activity, during school time, or completely unrelated to school time. The only parameter we have is that the audience is students aged 11–22.