Delaware B-WET is a competitive grant program that helps deliver Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences for students in the Delaware Bay watershed in Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York. It encourages capacity building and partnership development for environmental education programs throughout the Delaware Bay watershed.

Delaware B-WET supports the development of programs that will reach all students in a given grade level across an entire school district in order to create systemic change. Successful projects advance the goals of the NOAA Education Strategic Plan. They provide hands-on environmental education about issues affecting the watershed for students as well as related professional development for teachers, administrators, and other educators who serve formal K-12 audiences. B-WET supports Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences, which are learner-centered experiences that focus on investigations into local environmental issues that lead to informed action and civic engagement. Learn more about past and current B-WET funded projects in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Rice Business Plan Competition gives collegiate entrepreneurs real-world experience to pitch their startups, enhance their business strategy and learn what it takes to launch a successful company. 2025 marks our 25th year of the Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC). To celebrate this milestone, we are proud to announce that Rice Business is our presenting sponsor. Rice Business, in its 50th year, is the home to the No. 1 Graduate Entrepreneurship Program and shares our mission to empower the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders. Hosted by the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship, the RBPC has grown to become the world’s largest and richest student start-up competition, with 42 teams competing for more than $1 million in cash, investments and prizes.

The E-Team Program, part of the VentureWell Accelerator, supports student ventures as you embark down the path you’re likely to take as an innovator and entrepreneur. We help you advance your invention through a powerful mix of up to $25,000 in grant funding, entrepreneurship training, mentorship by dedicated staff, national recognition, and networking with peers and industry experts.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Clean Energy Education Prize Round 2 Inspire Track aims to advance clean energy programming opportunities for younger students and clean energy connections for historically Black Colleges and Universities. The goal is to inspire HBCU-hosted summer or academic break educational programs that engage K–12 and community college students in clean energy topics. The Inspire Track supports the development or expansion of HBCU-hosted clean energy summer or academic break programs for K-12 and community college students. These programs will help explain basic concepts of clean energy technologies and illuminate possible clean energy educational and career pathways for students.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Mickey Leland Energy Fellowship (MLEF) Program is a 10-week summer internship for undergraduate and graduate students in STEM majors. As an MLEF participant you will:

• Complete a hands-on research project at one of DOE’s National Laboratories or DOE Headquarters.
• Learn from our scientists and engineers how we are minimizing the environmental and climate impacts of fossil fuels and industrial processes while working to achieve net-zero emissions.
• Receive a weekly stipend. Travel and housing assistance is also available.

NSF seeks proposals to create an NSF National Resource Coordination Center on Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) (IUSE Center) that will be an intellectual partner to the IUSE: EDU community and NSF. Working in concert with the IUSE: EDU program, the goal of the IUSE Center is to serve as a focal point and intellectual partner for the IUSE: EDU community. The objectives of the IUSE Center are to:

• Enhance the reach and influence of IUSE investments by facilitating communication, engagement, and networking among IUSE: EDU award recipients, prospective recipients, and other stakeholders; and
• Provide support and resources for development and maintenance of IUSE: EDU projects, especially for prospective recipients and those underrepresented in the IUSE: EDU award recipient community.

The IUSE Center will be expected to work collaboratively with NSF and the IUSE: EDU community to design, implement, and execute its activities and ensure the inclusion of diverse educators and education researchers representing the full range of the nation’s talent pool, of eligible institutions and organizations, and of STEM education efforts funded through the IUSE: EDU Program.

Lead the future of innovation at your higher education institution with the VentureWell Ecosystem Futures Fellowship. This new fellowship is an evolution of our Course & Program Grants that focuses on scalable science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) ecosystem solutions through the lens of environmental and social sustainability and inclusive innovation. This program offers professional development, immersive learning experiences, and a supportive community of leaders. It enhances the role of faculty and higher education leaders as ecosystem builders in partnership with industry and government.

Sponsored by the Office of Technology Transitions (OTT) at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the American-Made EnergyTech University Prize (EnergyTech UP) challenges student teams to compete for cash prizes for successfully identifying a promising energy technology, assessing its market potential, and creating a business plan for commercialization. Faculty are challenged to create innovative implementation plans that expand energy technology commercialization.

Students: Develop and present a business plan that leverages National Laboratory-developed or other emerging energy technologies developed by students, faculty, or industry. Throughout the competition, they receive mentorship and materials to help them succeed, all while competing for more than $400,000 in cash prizes.

Faculty: Develop and implement educational activities to engage more students in energy technology commercialization and entrepreneurship topics at their institution. While faculty have always been, and remain, welcome and encouraged to mentor a team competing in EnergyTech UP, this new track is designed to incentivize and support faculty directly, with more than $100,000 in cash prizes available.

Each year, Design Challenge teams create high-performance, low-carbon building designs that address real-world issues such as community impacts, affordability, and resilience. Finalist teams are invited to the competition event at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, in April 2025 to compete against U.S. and international teams.

The FLIPspace: Advanced Mobility Northwest Arkansas pilot program is a seven-month initiative that focuses specifically on addressing the transportation challenges of the region, offering participants the opportunity to develop and commercialize new mobility technologies that will shape the future of transportation. Throughout the experience, teams will gain a deep understanding of tech transfer, with support from the FLC FLEX Program, to refine their market research skills and evaluate federal technologies in a competitive business landscape. Participants will collaborate with industry leaders and expert mentors to shape their ideas into market-ready solutions that address real-world challenges in transportation and mobility.

JUMP (Join the discussion, Unveil innovation, Make connections, Promote tech-to-market) into STEM is a building science competition for undergraduate and graduate students at U.S. colleges and universities. JUMP into STEM aims to attract bright students from a variety of majors to building science. The JUMP into STEM program seeks to inspire the next generation of building scientists, focusing on creative ideation and diversity in the building science field. The diversity objective is inclusive of an interdisciplinary mix of majors and representation by students from backgrounds that are underrepresented in STEM. Challenge topics for this year are Building Affordability, Managing Peak Power Demand in Building, and Taking Comfort to the Extreme.