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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.
The deadline to submit a proposal for the NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program (SCOCD CAP) was July 13, 2026. To learn more about awards made between 2012-2025, please see NIST Standards Coordination Office Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program: Awardees.
Background
The Standards Coordination Office (SCO) launched the Education Challenge Grants program in 2012 with an initial budget of $150,000. During its inaugural year, six grants were awarded to support the development of new learning resources and course modules that integrated standards and standardization into business and engineering programs. In 2013, the initiative transitioned from a grant program to a cooperative agreement program, enabling SCO to collaborate more closely with award recipients and provide greater support for advancing education related to standards and standardization. In 2023, it was renamed the SCO Curricula Development Cooperative Agreement Program.
The number of awards made under the program has varied based on factors such as the availability of funding and the number of proposals received. Although the evaluation criteria have evolved over time as NIST has refined and strengthened the program, its core mission has remained consistent: to advance standards education at U.S. 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
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