The program awarded 10 grants of $100,000 each. Grantees also received funds covering up to 10% overhead, for a total grant award not to exceed $113,000.

Funds were approved for research expenses, including but not limited to purchase of data sets, travel to research locations, participant stipends, technology expenses, and research assistance stipends.

Grantees attended five in-person retreats that included individual and group mentoring aimed at strengthening their projects and long-term research agendas.

The EMERG Program supports scholars whose research focuses on deep mathematics learning and participation for students. The primary goals of the program are to:

1. Foster the professional development of a cadre of early career scholars whose research focuses on fostering successful mathematics learning, development, and participation for historically underserved students from African American, Latine, Indigenous, and low-income communities.
2. Cultivate a community of emergent, mid-career, and senior scholars who will usher in new approaches to mathematics education research that will lead to fundamental transformations in the experiences of target learner communities.
3. Develop a conceptual framework that guides future research and leads to forms of mathematics education that are worthy of all students, but especially those who have been underserved by existing structures.
4. Strengthen the evidence informing the K-12 strategy for supporting mathematics learning for learners from these communities, through both individual EMERG Scholars’ projects and the full community’s conceptual framework.

The eligibility criteria that applied to the 2023 call were:

1. Applicants must have received their PhD, EdD, or equivalent after January 1, 2016. Tenured and non-tenured candidates may apply.
2. Applicants must be affiliated with a university or research center in the United States. Non-U.S. citizens are eligible, but the proposed project must focus on K-12 education within the United States.
3. The proposed project must be a research project.
4. Only individual applications are accepted, submitted through the institution’s sponsored programs office.
5. Applicants may not be employees of the Gates Foundation or the NAEd.

Applications were reviewed by NAEd members and other senior scholars with expertise in relevant areas. All applicants were required to submit an online application, and semi-finalists participated in individual interviews with Executive Board Members.

Because candidates apply to be part of a learning process, and proposed projects are refined with support from the EMERG community, proposals were evaluated on their promise as much as their polish.

All applicants were notified of their status in December 2023. Ten research grants were awarded, beginning in the 2024–2025 academic year.

Proposals were evaluated on the following:

• Intellectual rigor of the proposed project.
• Compelling nature and significance of the research question(s).
• Intellectual breadth, depth, and richness — does this project consider other disciplines?
• Intellectual humility — will this candidate heed advice and support from other members of the EMERG community, understanding that the actual project could look different from the initial proposal?
• Contribution to the greater EMERG community — the program sought a cohort spanning diverse settings, locations, disciplines, and methods.

Reviewers also considered the applicant’s past research record, career trajectory, and commitment to the field of education research.

The 2023 application was comprised of the following. It is kept here for reference.

Information on the Principal Investigator
Contact information, institutional affiliation, and certification of PI eligibility.

Current curriculum vitae
Publications; presentations at research conferences; funded grants; dissertation title and committee; service; and experiences relevant to the application.

Institutional letter of commitment
Signed by an authorized institutional representative, certifying PI eligibility and confirming the institution’s authorization of the proposal and intent to enter into a subaward arrangement with the NAEd.

Project description / narrative
Limited to 10 double-spaced pages, with two additional single-spaced pages for references. A preliminary proposal covering the problem or policy issue, theoretical or conceptual framework, brief literature review, research questions and hypotheses, a statement on the contribution to the wider field, and a description of methodology and data. Project descriptions could include preliminary elements and were expected to evolve as the EMERG research community took shape.

Personal statement
Limited to two double-spaced pages, describing what led the applicant to math education research, their commitment to ambitious and equitable math education research, and their willingness to let their proposed project evolve with the support of the EMERG community.

References
Two references who can speak to the applicant’s promise as a scholar and to the strength of the preliminary proposal. 

Example of past research relevant to math education
A book chapter, dissertation, article, or other research, published or unpublished.

Budget proposal and current commitments
A simple budget using the provided template, plus a list of current and pending commitments on sponsored research projects.

The following FAQs are from the 2023 application. They are kept here for reference.

How is “early career” defined for the EMERG Program?
Applicants must have received their PhD, EdD, or equivalent degree no earlier than January 1, 2016. Candidates may be tenured or non-tenured.

Can a candidate apply if they did not graduate from a department or school of education?
Yes. Applicants can be in any field, as long as their research topic centrally relates to math education and works directly with the focus student populations.

How broadly does the NAEd define math education?
Quite broadly. It encompasses education in its many forms: formal and non-formal, U.S. K-12 classrooms, and both school and non-school settings.

Are non-U.S. citizens eligible?
Yes, though the proposed project must focus on K-12 education within the United States, and the applicant must be affiliated with a college, university, or research center in the United States.

Is the award made to the institution or to the individual?
The grant is awarded as a subcontract between the applicant’s institution and the NAEd, over two disbursements.

Can EMERG Scholars receive other concurrent funding?
Yes. Scholars may receive other concurrent funding for their project during the grant period.

Can proposals expand on dissertation work?
Yes.

Do candidates need human subjects review approval to apply?
No. HSR approval is not necessary to apply, but it must be granted before grant funds are released. Candidates are encouraged to request it early, as it can be a lengthy process.

In what style or format should documents be submitted?
The NAEd accepts all major formatting and writing styles (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.), as long as the choice is applied consistently. The project description must be 11-point, double-spaced Times New Roman, and all uploads must be PDFs.

The EMERG projects are based on research funded by (or in part by) the Gates Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Gates Foundation. Funders are not involved in research selections.