"The National Science Foundation (NSF) with numerous others inside and outside of the science and engineering community have heeded the call to strengthen and sustain America's leadership in STEM for nothing less than our future well-being. But the educational and workforce development paths by which we can achieve this end require even more substantial efforts than currently undertaken and ones that more aggressively capitalize on the underutilized and untapped talents of all citizens."

In response to the CEOSE mandate, the goal of the workforce development component of the SGW-I conceptualization project will be to produce a model of engagement and a strategic plan for human resource development, including integration of research and education (IRE), mentoring of students, while proactively addressing diversity and broadening participation. It is important that the program design has baseline information about workforce development, clear program goals and actions. During this conceptualization project the team will work to develop a performance management information system, evaluation assessment systems, and a series of milestones. The scale of these efforts must range from a local to a national scale and as appropriate to an international scale.

Elizabeth City State University, a Historically Black University (HBCU) in northeastern North Carolina will lead the SGW Workforce Development component. During the Conceptualization phase, ECSU will prepare its existing GRID computing training facility for support of project gateway related activities including hosting service, online survey services, project website development and maintenance. During the subsequent Implementation, Design and Execution phases, this facility will serve underrepresented students/faculty from minority serving institutions and non-R1 institutions, providing them a rich and supportive environment with vigorous training programs, appropriate facilities and staff.

The legacy of the SGW-I Workforce Development efforts includes the engagement of underrepresented minorities who are less likely to self-identify as contributors to or users of Gateway related sciences. The workforce development component will ensure that they take full advantage of the SGW-I, webinars, symposium series, and annual gatherings. In particular SGW-I conceptualization will provide funds to support the participation of underrepresented minorities in the 3 gateway workshops planned for relevant conferences including the American Astronomical Society, the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, Supercomputing, and the International Society for Computational Biology where SGW Birds-of-a-feather sessions and workshops will be conducted. In addition travel for one SGW team member to conduct a seminar at a minority professional organization conference will be supported.