Portfolio Evaluation of the National Science Foundation's Grants Program on "International Research and Education in Engineering" (IREE)

January, 2009
IDA document: D-3727
FFRDC: Science and Technology Policy Institute
Type: Documents
Authors:
Authors
Pamela Ebert Flattau, Bhavya Lal, Allison Laskey, Joseph J. Ford, III See more authors
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2006, the National Science Foundation, through the Directorate for Engineering, launched a program of supplemental grant support entitled the International Research and Education in Engineering (IREE) awards. Principal investigators with active grants could apply for supplemental funding through the IREE program, allow early career researchers “to gain international experience and perspective” and to promote the “closer research interaction between U.S. institutions and their foreign counterparts.” The Foundation defined early career researchers to include undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral engineers (including tenure-track junior faculty). In 2008, the IREE program was “paused” to permit a systematic analysis of specific outcomes and accomplishments attained by IREE grantees. To that end, the Foundation’s Division of Engineering Education and Research Centers asked the IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute (STPI) to assess the early outcomes of these IREE travel awards.