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NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program
Enriching college curricula to raise awareness of the role of standards and standardization in science, technology, engineering, math, law, public policy, business, and other related or multi-disciplinary fields.
NIST’s Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program (SCOCD CAP) seeks eligible applicants to develop and incorporate undergraduate and/or graduate level curricula on documentary standards, standards development, and standardization into seminars, modules, courses, and learning resources. Funding is awarded in an open, competitive process. The deadline to submit a proposal is July 13, 2026. Interested applicants may view the full FY26 Notice of Federal Funding Opportunity (NOFO) on grants.gov.
To learn more about the prior awards, please see NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program: Awardees.
Background
The Standards Coordination Office (SCO) Standards Services introduced the “Education Challenge Grants” program in Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. The program began with a budget of $150,000; six small grants were awarded to launch the program, supporting the development of new learning resources and course modules integrating standards into the formal curriculum in business and engineering programs. The following year, the program was changed from a grant program to a cooperative agreement program, allowing SCO to work more closely with award recipients and to provide greater support to strengthen education and learning about standards and standardization. In 2023, the name of the program became the SCO Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program.
The number of awards given fluctuates each year based on various factors such as the number of proposals received and funding available. The evaluation criteria have evolved as NIST continues to improve the program each year, but the essential goal has remained the same—support for standards education at US colleges and universities.
Program Criteria
Applicants are evaluated on their ability to meet criteria in four major categories:
- Project Approach and Project Execution Plan;
- Communication and Dissemination Plan;
- Qualifications and Experience of Key Personnel; and
- Resource Availability.
Subscribe for Updates
To receive email updates and information about this program, please click on the “CONNECT WITH US” box on the right of this page. Enter your email address, and scroll down to the heading for Standards.gov. Check the box for NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program News and Announcements, and click submit at the bottom of the page.
Updated News
Funding Opportunity for Standards Curricula Development Program 2026
Application deadline: July 13, 2026
NIST’s Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program (SCOCD CAP) is seeking applications to develop and incorporate undergraduate- and/or graduate-level curricula about the importance and impact of standards and standards development in domestic and global markets. NIST anticipates funding up to eight cooperative agreement awards up to $95,000 each in fiscal year 2026. The awards will have a project performance period of up to three years and will be fully funded in the first year. The recipients will work with NIST to strengthen education and learning about documentary standards, standards development, and standardization content into seminars, modules, courses, and learning resources using sustainable approaches that can be replicated and built upon. Click here for more details.
NIST Awardee Case Western Reserve University Seeks Collaborators for Case Studies
CWRU’s Case School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering and Kelvin Smith Library have completed their 2021 NIST SCO CD CAP project. The goal of the project was to develop standards education modules centered on case studies involving quality systems, biocompatibility, and software development for medical devices. They have developed lesson plans, tutorials, videos, homework assignments, and four case studies, including a moot court exercise on product liability that can be integrated into introductory biomedical engineering courses, senior design capstone courses, and graduate BioDesign curriculum. An impressive video of CWRU students’ moot court exercise can be viewed here, and the curriculum is available at https://osf.io/79s6z/. Looking ahead, PI’s Colin Drummond, Daniela Solomon, and Matthew Williams are actively seeking partners from standards development organizations and industry to co-develop additional case studies that will enhance the awareness, knowledge, and importance of industry standards. Please contact the PI’s directly for more information.
NIST Awardees Publish Book on Standards Information Literacy
A new publication, Teaching and Collecting Technical Standards: A Handbook for Librarians and Educators, is available for free download or purchase from Purdue University Press. Comprising 13 chapters, the handbook provides background information on standards and information on how to access standards, best practices for developing a useful collection of standards, and integrating standards into the curriculum. Additionally, it includes 14 case studies in many disciplines, including engineering, business, and law. NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program (SCOCD CAP) awardees Margaret Philips, Purdue University, and Daniela Solomon, Case Western Reserve University, are co-authors and co-editors of the book. Click here for more details.
To receive future program updates, please click Connect With Us and input your email. Then scroll down the list of subscription topics to Standards.gov, check the NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program News and Announcements box, and click "Submit."
Contacts
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NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program