NSF MRI: Required Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement
The National Science Foundation requires a statement to be included in proposals for grants under the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) Program that addresses institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts:
Institutional Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion – Using no more than one paragraph, describe indicators of institutional commitment to promoting diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA) within the awardee/subawardee institution(s). For example, if one or more institutional members of the project have a SEA Change Institutional Award (https://seachange.aaas.org/), the level of the award(s) could be provided; if an institution has or had an ADVANCE Institutional Transformation grant (https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/advance-organizational-change-gender-equity-stem-academic-professions-advance), its impact could be summarized; if nothing similar applies, other institution-wide activities sponsored by the leadership of the institution could be described.
Note: Proposals requesting over $1.4 million (Track 2) should address the potential impact of the instrument on the research community of interest at the regional or national level. For large multi-user instruments that enable usage beyond a single institution, concrete plans for enabling access by external users (including those from non-Ph.D. and/or minority-serving institutions) through physical or virtual access should be presented, and the uniqueness of the requested instrument should also be described.
NSF MRI Program Solicitation (NSF 23-519)
WSU Statement
The WSU Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Officers Group has produced the following statement in response to this requirement that can be used in WSU MRI proposals:
WSU is committed to promoting and sustaining a culture of inclusivity throughout its campus system and among faculty, students, and staff through various programs and initiatives. The Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Officers Group, a systemwide collaborative group appointed by the president, leads WSU’s efforts to integrate an equity lens into practices, programs, and policies for the WSU system. The Cluster Hire in Racism and Social Inequality in the Americas program aims to diversify faculty populations across the system, to build a network of scholars who are committed to conducting research that addresses historical and on-going racism, inequality, and injustice in their diverse fields of specialization—especially those committed to strengthening community-engaged scholarship and research, and to increase faculty retention by focusing on networking and mentoring. Another program that has helped WSU build its culture of equity and inclusivity is the NSF ADVANCE grant (2008–2015, HRD 0810927) which supports mentoring, professional development, and research activities of women and underrepresented and minoritized faculty in STEM at all stages of their careers. The program is now fully supported by the Office of the Provost, and it continues to disseminate best practices to support equity in the academic community and enhance inclusion and diversity at WSU. Finally, WSU leadership, including the President, the Provost, and the Board of Regents, reaffirmed the institutional Memorandum of Understanding the university has with thirteen Native American tribes and nations in the region. After twenty-five years in place, the MOU was updated and re-signed in 2023 to reflect WSU’s systemwide commitment to addressing its colonial past through inclusive and accessible educational and research programs.
In addition, you are encouraged to utilize the larger Broader Impacts section to discuss the impacts of the proposed instrumentation on the advancement of diversity, equity, and inclusion in your lab, unit, and/or area of research. Per the note in the section of the program solicitation excerpted above, Track 2 proposals must “address the potential impact of the instrument on the research community of interest at the regional or national level.” Further requirements are detailed for large multi-user instruments that can be used outside a single institution.
DEI and Research at WSU
WSU researchers in basic and applied sciences have incorporated DEI-focused goals into their NSF-funded work in a wide varieties of ways. The following examples include inclusive training and other DEI-specific goals as core project goals. It may be outside the scope of your MRI proposal to include such comprehensive programs, but the examples below should give a sense of how diversity, equity, and inclusion can be incorporated into research programs at different levels and in different ways.